Hello One and All,
It's been a pretty good week. On Wednesday we went and helped out our Branch Mission Leader on his rancho. We planted crops and had a delicious breakfast. After enjoying some heuvos rancheros we went back to planting seedlings. Then Hna Lopez mentioned that they needed to kill 3 chickens. That's one of the things I've wanted to learn out here, is how to kill and clean a chicken. So I volunteer. After chasing down a chicken I am instructed to hold it by the head and swing it around in circles until the neck is severed. So I killed mine, Broadhead killed his, and then Tuttle went to kill his. We told him he had to swing really hard, so he did, and ripped the chickens head off, it took about two minutes for the thing to stop running around spraying blood everywhere, it was pretty intense. So yeah, turns out chickens actually do “do” that.
Our investigator Procoro got baptized which was cool. It almost didn't happen, but Elder Weeks and I were teaching him and he told us about how he didn't want to do it anymore. We were able to help him work through his concerns and get him to feel animado again about his baptism. His wife chose not to be baptized at this point in time. But she had a really good experience at the service, and now we can start working towards Procoro baptizing her.
There is some really pretty scenery up here, you just have to get out of the city. There's a 40 minute drive through a canyon right by the river that is particularly gorgeous. It's a nice town, a little ghetto, but a good town. Humble people that are ready to hear the gospel.
Love yall lots and look forward to hearing from you,
Love,
Elder Richards
Monday, May 28, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Yakitty Yakama
Hello One and All,
Well I am all settled in up here in Yakima. First off, here’s my new address:
Elder Richards
906 B South 41st Ave.
Yakima, WA. 98908
Life is pretty good. I really enjoy my companions and apartment. We
have a ton of fun, and we work a TON. I had almost forgotten what it
is like to work in a big city where there's all kinds of people to
talk with. And boy do we talk with a lot. As far as dangerous
ghettoness is concerned, it's not too bad. Really it's better this way
for us, because the more humble the people are, the more open to the
message they are.
In this short week we already have a ton of potential, this weekend we
have a baptism of Procoro and Anselma Arrogoite, so that will be cool.
We have several other promising investigators as well. This should end
up being a very productive last 2 transfers.
So I know this is short, but I don't know what all to say. I hope
everyone else is doing awesome. Have a great week.
Mucho Love,
Elder Richards
Well I am all settled in up here in Yakima. First off, here’s my new address:
Elder Richards
906 B South 41st Ave.
Yakima, WA. 98908
Life is pretty good. I really enjoy my companions and apartment. We
have a ton of fun, and we work a TON. I had almost forgotten what it
is like to work in a big city where there's all kinds of people to
talk with. And boy do we talk with a lot. As far as dangerous
ghettoness is concerned, it's not too bad. Really it's better this way
for us, because the more humble the people are, the more open to the
message they are.
In this short week we already have a ton of potential, this weekend we
have a baptism of Procoro and Anselma Arrogoite, so that will be cool.
We have several other promising investigators as well. This should end
up being a very productive last 2 transfers.
So I know this is short, but I don't know what all to say. I hope
everyone else is doing awesome. Have a great week.
Mucho Love,
Elder Richards
Monday, May 14, 2012
Adios Boardman ...Again
Hello One and All,
It was awesome talking with everyone yesterday. Fun times for sure. So you pretty much know of my goings ons. On Wednesday morning I'll be driving down to Hermiston to catch a van going to tri cities. From there I'll jump another van (or maybe car) heading up to Yakima, and from there it's shank or be shanked! In all seriousness though, I am really bummed to be leaving Boardman/Irrigon, I've made a lot of really close friends, and it'll be sad to say goodbye. But I guess the Lord needs me to do something up in Yakima.
After the phone call yesterday we began what was the greatest mother's day ever! (Enclosed are some pictures of the merry-making). So I called from the Brownings' house, they are an awesome couple in the ward that got baptized about 5 or so years back. Really cool conversion story. And now they are working on getting all of their kids baptized, (they're all grown and gone, except for Tory, he got baptized a few months ago and is living at home, he's 24). So after the call we went out back and visited for a while. Sis. Browning went and picked up Kristyn, one of our investigators that she is basically a second mom to. I tried my hand at horse whispering again, and apparently I did pretty good because when I dismounted the Brownings asked me if I'd ridden before. Philmont trip aside, I haven't, and I don't think that really counted, (dad knows what I mean). Then we had a tasty barbeque. Then we played croquet, Bro. Browning whooped all of us. Then the sun had started setting, so we broke in Sis. Browning's mother's day present: a new fire pit! Jokes, Ghost stories, and toasted marshmallows. It was one of those nights that I won't soon forget, and was a lot of fun.
Well, enjoy the pics. I love you all and hope everyone had a very happy mother's day.
Love,
Elder Richards
It was awesome talking with everyone yesterday. Fun times for sure. So you pretty much know of my goings ons. On Wednesday morning I'll be driving down to Hermiston to catch a van going to tri cities. From there I'll jump another van (or maybe car) heading up to Yakima, and from there it's shank or be shanked! In all seriousness though, I am really bummed to be leaving Boardman/Irrigon, I've made a lot of really close friends, and it'll be sad to say goodbye. But I guess the Lord needs me to do something up in Yakima.
After the phone call yesterday we began what was the greatest mother's day ever! (Enclosed are some pictures of the merry-making). So I called from the Brownings' house, they are an awesome couple in the ward that got baptized about 5 or so years back. Really cool conversion story. And now they are working on getting all of their kids baptized, (they're all grown and gone, except for Tory, he got baptized a few months ago and is living at home, he's 24). So after the call we went out back and visited for a while. Sis. Browning went and picked up Kristyn, one of our investigators that she is basically a second mom to. I tried my hand at horse whispering again, and apparently I did pretty good because when I dismounted the Brownings asked me if I'd ridden before. Philmont trip aside, I haven't, and I don't think that really counted, (dad knows what I mean). Then we had a tasty barbeque. Then we played croquet, Bro. Browning whooped all of us. Then the sun had started setting, so we broke in Sis. Browning's mother's day present: a new fire pit! Jokes, Ghost stories, and toasted marshmallows. It was one of those nights that I won't soon forget, and was a lot of fun.
Well, enjoy the pics. I love you all and hope everyone had a very happy mother's day.
Love,
Elder Richards
Monday, May 7, 2012
One Year Older and Wiser Too
Hello One and All,
Well first off, unfortunately the Romeros' baptism did not go through. The druggy/prego aunt showed up in need of attention. But it's ok, we will keep working with them and move things along. It's been tough ever since Inez started working night shift; she sleeps all the time now. But during interviews we got permission from President Greer to teach her whenever necessary. Even if it means we have to go over at midnight before she starts working! So yeah, it'll go down, we just dont know when yet.
This week we've been tracting in our down time. We found an awesome guy, Jorge. He's 49 and a single dad (his wife up and left like a cholla) but he is responsible and takes care of his 4 kids and 2 grandkids. He invited us in right away and we spent the half hour visit just getting to know him a bit better and introduce some of the doctrine. He told us how he doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, and tries to take care of himself. We joked around afterwords because we half expected him to go on to say, "and I try to eat every herb in it's season, you know what I mean? And meat sparingly..." He's pretty golden, his concern he voiced to us was that he believes everything that people tell him about God, but they can't all be right, so he wants to know which ones are. We're pretty excited to see this guy progress.
My day of birth was fine I suppose. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just like any other day. I got a teddy bear from one of my converts, I named him Winston. The real party was on Saturday. We had a joint party between me and Eloisa, it was a ton of fun, and we had a bunch of people that we work with there. Before the night was over Jon (the big guy with tattoos) even offered me a job when I get off the mission. He is in the process of starting up his own photography company, I helped him come up with the slogan on his business cards and we got to talking about photography and movies and whatnot, and he said if ever I'm around Boardman he'll have work for me to do. So that was pretty cool, we'll see if anything comes of that in the future.
Another cool thing to happen on Saturday was that a spanish radio station was throwing a big cinco de mayo party at the marina here in Boardman. Juan Saldanas (an awesome member from Kennewick) is one of their head dj's, so he was there MC'ing. We went and said hello, and got to talk with him for a little while which was way cool. All the Hispanics I knew that were there were way impressed that I knew a celebrity. We even got some autographs for this kid we work with, he was pretty psyched. It was a lot of fun.
So yeah, the mission continues moving forward. I can't believe Jeffrey is home, that's so crazy. Mom, if you could send the Clutter's address, I'd like to shoot him a letter. Hope everyone has a good week; I'll talk to yall on Sunday.
Love,
Elder Richards
Well first off, unfortunately the Romeros' baptism did not go through. The druggy/prego aunt showed up in need of attention. But it's ok, we will keep working with them and move things along. It's been tough ever since Inez started working night shift; she sleeps all the time now. But during interviews we got permission from President Greer to teach her whenever necessary. Even if it means we have to go over at midnight before she starts working! So yeah, it'll go down, we just dont know when yet.
This week we've been tracting in our down time. We found an awesome guy, Jorge. He's 49 and a single dad (his wife up and left like a cholla) but he is responsible and takes care of his 4 kids and 2 grandkids. He invited us in right away and we spent the half hour visit just getting to know him a bit better and introduce some of the doctrine. He told us how he doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, and tries to take care of himself. We joked around afterwords because we half expected him to go on to say, "and I try to eat every herb in it's season, you know what I mean? And meat sparingly..." He's pretty golden, his concern he voiced to us was that he believes everything that people tell him about God, but they can't all be right, so he wants to know which ones are. We're pretty excited to see this guy progress.
My day of birth was fine I suppose. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just like any other day. I got a teddy bear from one of my converts, I named him Winston. The real party was on Saturday. We had a joint party between me and Eloisa, it was a ton of fun, and we had a bunch of people that we work with there. Before the night was over Jon (the big guy with tattoos) even offered me a job when I get off the mission. He is in the process of starting up his own photography company, I helped him come up with the slogan on his business cards and we got to talking about photography and movies and whatnot, and he said if ever I'm around Boardman he'll have work for me to do. So that was pretty cool, we'll see if anything comes of that in the future.
Another cool thing to happen on Saturday was that a spanish radio station was throwing a big cinco de mayo party at the marina here in Boardman. Juan Saldanas (an awesome member from Kennewick) is one of their head dj's, so he was there MC'ing. We went and said hello, and got to talk with him for a little while which was way cool. All the Hispanics I knew that were there were way impressed that I knew a celebrity. We even got some autographs for this kid we work with, he was pretty psyched. It was a lot of fun.
So yeah, the mission continues moving forward. I can't believe Jeffrey is home, that's so crazy. Mom, if you could send the Clutter's address, I'd like to shoot him a letter. Hope everyone has a good week; I'll talk to yall on Sunday.
Love,
Elder Richards
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Plastered In Oregon
Hello One and All,
Sorry about the email confusion. Today we had a temple trip so Pday and Monday were swapped. Just like the good ol' days, and yet it feels weird this way. The temple was awesome, a good spiritual boost. Also I got to reconnect with some old companions which was way fun. I had time to think a little and especially about my current situation. 21 years old (almost) and 3 months left of the mission. I made the mental decision that I want to work my backside off these last 3 months. Not that I haven't been working already, but really throw my all in. I'm sure you know what I mean. Dad, in regards to mother's day call: My church is 10-1, so feel free to pick a time that works for everyone, (for me after my church is best, so afternoon or evening probably) and send me the conference number and I will call in. Mom, I got a package on Monday, thanks very much. The cowboy hat has already been put to use, but everything else is still unopened. Whit and Cody I got your package, thanks very much. We are already planning out drive-by's.
The week has been a good one. We got our tire situation all resolved. So that's a happy thing of the past. The work continues onward. We rototilled a garden, which went well. Halfway through the project we went and talked with a recovering drug addict and gave him a blessing which was cool.
On Sunday the bishopric got reorganized which made for an enjoyable and spiritual meeting. The new bishop was a big surprise to everyone, a very quite shy man, but he'll raise to the occasion I'm sure. It made me reflect a lot on when dad was called/released from bishop.
Partridge and I recently discovered that we both know the Otis family, are they still around? Whatever happened to them?
This Saturday we have an awesome birthday party planned with a recent convert, and investigators and members, it's going to be awesome. Also on Saturday we have interviews with President and Sister Greer, and the Romero's baptism is all set to happen that morning. So we are pretty excited for this weekend to arrive.
So yeah, life is good. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. Hope everyone has a great week.
Love,
Elder Richards
Sorry about the email confusion. Today we had a temple trip so Pday and Monday were swapped. Just like the good ol' days, and yet it feels weird this way. The temple was awesome, a good spiritual boost. Also I got to reconnect with some old companions which was way fun. I had time to think a little and especially about my current situation. 21 years old (almost) and 3 months left of the mission. I made the mental decision that I want to work my backside off these last 3 months. Not that I haven't been working already, but really throw my all in. I'm sure you know what I mean. Dad, in regards to mother's day call: My church is 10-1, so feel free to pick a time that works for everyone, (for me after my church is best, so afternoon or evening probably) and send me the conference number and I will call in. Mom, I got a package on Monday, thanks very much. The cowboy hat has already been put to use, but everything else is still unopened. Whit and Cody I got your package, thanks very much. We are already planning out drive-by's.
The week has been a good one. We got our tire situation all resolved. So that's a happy thing of the past. The work continues onward. We rototilled a garden, which went well. Halfway through the project we went and talked with a recovering drug addict and gave him a blessing which was cool.
On Sunday the bishopric got reorganized which made for an enjoyable and spiritual meeting. The new bishop was a big surprise to everyone, a very quite shy man, but he'll raise to the occasion I'm sure. It made me reflect a lot on when dad was called/released from bishop.
Partridge and I recently discovered that we both know the Otis family, are they still around? Whatever happened to them?
This Saturday we have an awesome birthday party planned with a recent convert, and investigators and members, it's going to be awesome. Also on Saturday we have interviews with President and Sister Greer, and the Romero's baptism is all set to happen that morning. So we are pretty excited for this weekend to arrive.
So yeah, life is good. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. Hope everyone has a great week.
Love,
Elder Richards
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