Hello One and All,

This last week was crazy! Wednesday night a storm hit, it started out
as snow but evolved into freezing rain that went all night. and the
majority of the next day, and it just kept going. It turned the roads
of Hermiston into glass, and as a result we were...grounded. No
traveling aloud. It was a rough 3 or so days. Cabin Fever definitely
set in. In addition to studying and being productive I also started
and completed an entire scarf, it actually looks pretty good. Frankly
it's a miracle one of us didn't snap and kill the others with knitting
needles, but we all made it out ok and still sane. Barely.

Despite the crazy elements we still had a pretty productive week.
Maria is willing to give up the tarot cards and really wants to get
baptized. And we have several other investigators that are progressing
nicely.

We also had a really good group FHE, last week; it was all about
Family History Work. We had a big turn out and Diaz and I cooked 14
pounds of Carne Apastor for the occasion, it was a big hit and a lot
of fun. Next FHE will be about missionary work.

This last Sunday I was called on to give a talk in sacrament. I
focused my remarks on the Doctrine of Christ. It's a really important
Doctrine, but nobody seems to know about it. It consists of 5 basic
things, faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy
ghost, and enduring to the end. Pretty basic right? well, it's really
important. And if you are looking for it you can find it EVERYWHERE in
the Book of Mormon. It really is the one of the single most important
things this church is about. I'm giving out a homework assignment,
everyone who reads this paragraph needs to go read 2nd Nephi 31. That
is the best example, 3rd Nephi 11 is another good one. It is the first
thing that Christ teaches when he reveals himself in the Americas.

We had zone conference yesterday (hence why I am writing today) and it
was awesome. We had it up in Kennewick, so it was a good chance to
catch up with Anderson and others from my old area. Several people are
getting baptized there which is exciting. The conference itself was
great, it was all about the Doctrine of Christ. During the conference
I felt inspired to make the goal to read the Book of Mormon and
highlight the DoC, by the end of the transfer, so today I bought a
pocket BoM in the distribution center after our temple trip (which was
also good).

The address I sent last week is correct, if there is ever any doubt
all mail sent to the mission office will be forwarded to me. I haven't
gotten to Boardman yet, but hopefully soon. I hope that everyone has a
great week and keeps warm.

Love,

Elder Richards