The One With The Sister Son's Getting Back Together!

Monday April 18, 2016






SO ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING THINGS THAT COULD'VE HAPPENED WITH TRANSFERS HAS HAPPENED!!! THE SISTER SON'S ARE BACK TOGETHER!!! (A.k.a I'm gonna be companions with sister Peterson!!!)

 

Oh my gosh I am flipping out over here! So Sister Xiong is getting transferred to North St. Paul and is opening up a Hmong Sisters area and will be companions with Sister Brett. (a.k.a the sister Sister Teuscher trained after me). I am staying here and taking over La Crosse and Sister Peterson is my new companion. I've been really stressing out about taking over the area but now I'm just more excited :) God is good all the time, and all the time god is good!

So anyways! This Week,

So last Monday was AWESOME and basically a day full of Hmongness :) Sister Xiong and I went to a Hmong egg roll store because we have been craving them since forever (another food I have discovered I like on my mission)! It was so Yummy. Then we went to a cute Wisconsin souvenir shop in downtown La Crosse and I found a Wisconsin mug for my collection and a La Crosse shirt! That was fun. There was a bunch of high school students in downtown due to a school business function, so they were all dressed in business attire. It was weird. For once we didn't stand out. I felt more uncomfortable with everyone wearing skirts and dresses than just us wearing them. You can tell I've been out a while hahaha. Also on Monday I got a Hmong name! I'm Official!! I was named by a man named Cha Xiong. So now I have a really cute Hmong grandfather :) He named me Maiv Kawm Xyooj. For those of you who don't know how to read Hmong it's pronounced Mai-Ka Xiong. What it means is to study, learn and to gain knowledge continuously throughout your life. He said he gave me that name because he saw it was part of my nature to seek knowledge and to help me continue that through my name. I was so happy to finally get a name! Also I finally found the perfect fathers day present so I am all set :) Sorry Ashley, even on my mission and without the internet I still find gifts way in advance hahaha. Also keeping with the Hmong update of my life I've learned how to sing all three verses of I am a child of god in Hmong :)

On Wednesday we got to go to Young Women's and be apart of a Missionary Panel. The Young Women asked us a bunch of questions about what a mission is like and what are the hardest/ funnest things about missions, what do you do during free time, how do you deal with rejection everyday, etc... I was so impressed with these Young Women and their questions. They sincerely wanted to know about what missions are like. It was really fun, we all laughed a lot, and got to know them better. It was right up my alley, I love young women (they are the best) and i love giving advice based off of experience so i had a blast. Then my tender mercy for that day, Sister Endrizzi texted us that night. The Endrizzi's moved here I think 6 months ago and she has two girls in young women's. She texted us and said... "This is the first time in a really long time that Ashley has come home from Young Women's and said, That was fun! She loves you guys!" That made me feel so happy I can't really put it into words but it meant a lot to me. 

We had district meeting this week and were asked to give a training on one of the past general conference talks. It was frustrating that morning as we were planning for it because we COULD NOT focus our thoughts. Finally we decided how to present the training. We used the talk 'Tomorrow He Will Do Wonders Among You' by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and focused on the 5 things elder holland asks us to keep doing. Which are Keep Loving, Trying, Trusting, Believing, Growing, and why those things are important for us to keep doing and why it's important for our investigators to do as well. It went so good! Probably the best training I've ever given. Then afterwards Elder and Sister Beck took us out to Olive Garden for lunch which was DELICIOUS! 

Friday we had all the contacting miracles. It was cool to see Heavenly Father maneuver us to where we needed to be. It has been downright GOREGOUS the past couple of days and guess what!?! DAD YOU WERE RIGHT! SPRING HAS COME!!!  As we drove to the church we looked at the trees and they have leaves! Everyone was telling me that one day you would  wake up and it would be spring overnight. THAT'S ACTUALLY TRUE! The green makes my heart so happy. Oh how I've missed it. So anyways it was like 81 on Friday so after trying a couple of people who weren't home or who had moved we needed to go get safety pins before our next lesson so we found a pharmacy close by. We were just going to drive there but i was like "It's so gorgeous lets just walk" so we did. That pharmacy was closed but there was a Kwik Trip across the street so we went over to see if they had any. We go to walk in and there was a guy outside that we said hi to and started chatting with. He was really funny and nice. Then we went into the store and almost ran smack into our investigator Brian! We were able to talk with him a little and he said he's planning on coming to church on the 24th so we're really excited. He want's to take us out to lunch haha, he's so awesome. Then we said goodbye to him, and unfortunately Kwik Trip failed us and had no safety pins but then we started talking to the man outside again as we went to leave and we mentioned that we were missionaries. He told us him name was Isaiah and asked us to say a prayer for him and we gave him a mormon.org card with our number on it and invited him to church. Then just as we were getting back to our car there was a man in the yard in front of our car talking to someone on the side walk. Their conversation broke up as we walked up (as does happen a lot) and we thought we would be ignored but the man in the yard started talking to us. Then his wife came out and they were both incredibly friendly and said they had to leave in a few minutes but said we could come back anytime. That was awesome and made my day. Finding people who are willing to talk to us and are kind people who realize we are normal human beings just trying to help others are my favorite.

Funny Moments of the Week:

#1. So we had previously met a really frail old lady while trying to stop by someone missionaries had met in the past. We has asked if we could come by this week and show her a video about Christ. She said yes so we came back this week to do that. She opened this door and Sister Xiong explained that we had come back to show her the video. She looked really confused so I asked her if now was a good time. She said yes and proceeded to step back inside and close both doors. We were so confused it was a really funny situation. We think she's probably not all there hahaha.

#2. I found a giant Chicken in Holmen yesterday and took a picture with it.

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

So I finished the Book of Mormon this week and have started in on the Doctrine and Covenants. I was able to pull connections from both the Book of Mormon and the Bible into what I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants which was cool. In D&C 5:7 it talks about how Joseph Smith was commanded not to show the gold plates to anyone and the reason being that...  "Behold, if they will not believe my words, they would not believe you,... if it were possible that you should show them all these things which I have committed unto you." Basically seeing isn't believing. People a lot of the times stumble over their desire to see, and think that if they can't see it in front of their face it doesn't exist or is not true. Thomas, one of Christ's disciples, was like this. He told the other disciple when they tried to tell him they had seen the resurrected Christ that "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (John 20:25). It's a part of human nature that we have to fight against. That's why, I believe the first principle in the gospel of Jesus Christ is to have faith. In Alma 32:34 it says " And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know..." We can't KNOW everything despite maybe the best intentions because if we do we will have no need for faith which is crucial for us to have and develop. And lastly Christ's promises that we will be blessed if we believe without seeing as he responded to Thomas by saying "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:29). 

p.s sorry for scriptural overload i just got really excited with all the connections i could make and how everything made sense :D

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

-Sister Richardson

The One With The Cure for Hurt Feelings

Monday April 11, 2016

So this week was clouds with bursts of sunshine. No I am not talking about the weather :) This week was kind of meh, but we did get to see some sweet miracles (that's what i mean by bursts of sunshine). So before I get into the miracles, I have somehow roped myself and our entire zone of 6 sisters into singing at this upcoming mission conference. I have no idea how it happened or what possessed me to offer but it has happened and i can't take it back. We've decided to sing Joseph smith's first prayer to the tune of come thou fount. But another tricky thing is that the other sisters in our zone are an hour and a half away so we are going to basically only be able to practice over Skype. I'll let you know what happens with that. I face palm just thinking about it. Another musical update, Sister Xiong taught me the basics of Bass Clef on the piano so i am teaching myself how to play how firm a foundation in the hymns made easy book! I love it!

So we had a sweet miracle with a referral. Our bishop's wife, sister baker, texted us and said that a lady who had moved out of the ward like a couple of years ago had asked her to contact us and ask us to visit her friend Holly, who lives in this area whom she thought was at right time in her life to hear the gospel. So we went over on I think Wednesday and met her. She is SO CUTE! The spirit was really strong as we talked with her and testified about how the gospel blesses families. We offered to serve her or help her in any way she would need and she was really touched. She called us angles and said we could stop by whenever. We are so excited about her!!! 

So also something AWESOME!!! we were at coordination with bishop and the elders said that they were talking to Jessie Cruzan (the awesome lady who has been coming to church with her family for over the past two months) and she said that she is ready to start taking the lessons!  We are so excited because we'll get to teach her. Even more, she got up yesterday and bore her testimony and she said I'm not a member YET. Sister Xiong and I just gave each other a look that was like I heard that three letter word, that's right not yet but soon >:) SO EXCITED!

The last thing I want to write about I am just going to quote straight out of my journal from yesterday. (By the way I wrote this story the way I think someone in general conference would give it because it totally seems like a story that would be shared. Not that I'm EVER hoping to have to tell it in conference ;) ).

April 10th, 2016

Well today I made a discovery. I just found a cure for hurt feelings and bad days. I'm serious, I know it works because it just happened to me. I made a mistake while driving home tonight. We were in La Crescent, a place I've only been to twice before and it was dark. I thought we were on a double lane one way road, as is common in La Crosse, and a truck pulled in front of me going slower than i was. So I put on my blinker and went into the other lane to avoid using the brakes. To my surprise the car honked at me a I realized that the road was not a one way but was a two way and I was going in the wrong direction. I immediately slowed down and stopped to get over into the correct lane. The truck that had alerted me to my mistake also slowed down and stopped beside my car to make sure I knew he thought I was an idiot and apparently had personally offended him, his family, and the entire state of Minnesota by my mistake. That kind of lack of understanding makes me livid. I always want to yell "Yes. I made a mistake, I'm sure you've made plenty of them too", and I always want to share the story of the Savior when he is rebuking the accusers of the woman caught in Adultery. "Let he who is without sin first cast a stone at her". I let myself be angry for 30 seconds but quickly realized that that was not how the savior would react and I needed to let it go and forgive. That is not easy to do. What's worse is I got snippy with my companion Sister Xiong, who was just trying to help me feel better. My night had settled into a dull annoyance for and at everything and that's how i thought it would stay. But lucky for me Heavenly Father took this as an opportunity to teach me something that i hope will stay with me in year to come to help me. 

The cure to hurt feelings and bad days, which, is service. I know I've heard this a million times but it actually works. A lady in our apartment building, named Vicki, was having a bad day a few days ago and we could tell she was upset. Sister Xiong and I had bought cookies on Saturday to give to her with a letter to let her know that we loved her and to hopefully brighten up her day. Even though we didn't get done planning until after 9:30 and were supposed ti get ready for bed, we decided to do it tonight. So we cut out hearts and wrote her a card. We taped the hearts on her door and set the plate of cookies and the card on the mat, knocked and ran back into our apartment like the ninja sister missionaries that we are :). A few minutes late she knocked on our door to thank us. She started crying and said no one had ever done something like that for her before. She had been upset because she had just learned that she would not be able to attend her grandsons graduation, which she said she "would be willing to crawl through broken glass to get to". She was upset but immensely appreciated our love and service towards her. After we said goodbye I realized that i was happy and filled with love and light. that was all because of service. It's the cure for hurt feelings and bad days. Night! -Sister Richardson

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

Ether 6:7

7. And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters. 

This reminded me of the following poem I found in a past session of Conference..

 

All the water in the world

No matter how hard it tried

Could never sink the smallest ship

Unless it got inside.

All the evil in the world

And every kind of sin

Could never damn a human soul

Unless we let it in

If we don't let sin inside there is no way it could ever harm us. We need to be strong in our testimony of the gospel and application of it in our life. Just like water if it finds the tiniest crack or hole it will immediately get inside. When we are "encompassed about by many waters [we need to] cry unto the Lord, and he [will] bring [us] forth again upon the top of the water".

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Thanks for all of the prayers and Support!

Love, Sister Richardson

The One with 7 Words for 7 Months

 

April 4, 2016

 

 

 

 

 So as of this past week I have officially been a missionary for seven months now. I came to a crazy realization as I was talking to Sister Xiong that i literally have less than a year left on my mission. (Granted I have 11 months which is basically a year but still). She asked me on Saturday (my month mark) night as we were writing in journals before bed if i had to sum up my seven months using seven words what would they be and this is what I said...

#1. Challenging. There have been countless nights and days of tears incredible amounts of fear, frustration, and being forced out of my comfort zone as I've tried to be the missionary my heavenly father needs me to be. Being a missionary is NOT an easy task.

#2. Fun. Despite how challenging being a missionary is I've also had a TON of fun. I feel like as a missionary you don't have a lot of time to just have fun and so when you get it you make the most out of it. Also the people i have come in contact with and have gotten to know both normal members, non-members, and missionaries have filled my mission with just good old fun.

 #3. Spirit-led. We as missionaries cannot do this work on our own. We don't know these people but heavenly father does. He knows them perfectly, he's there father, and without his help nothing would happen. Without the confirmation of the spirit in what we say is true and working in the lives of all those around us there would be no point in us being out here. I have had a lot of incredible experiences both in lessons, finding people (both investigators and less-actives), and simply trying to serve others when i have seen the spirit magnify my efforts to serve, teach, and convey heavenly fathers love and concern for others in a way i could never do on my own. 

#4. Cold. This one is kind of self-explanatory. I have never been so cold in my ENTIRE LIFE. Here's one to all of the firsts of winter for me. Big puffy Eskimo coats. Big puffy Eskimo coats on top of other coats. Hand warmers every day. Sticking those hand warmers in your boots to try to warm your freezing toes. Fleece lined tights. Wearing multiple pairs of fleece lined tights. Weird (but warm) head band things to keep your ears from falling off that i swore at BYUI that i would never wear. (I love them now, they are life (and ear) savers). Wearing two shirts, a sweatshirt, fleece lined tights, sweat pants, two pairs of socks, an outer jacket, with two blankets to bed, and finally being comfortable. There being such thing as wind chill that is oh so real and hits you in the face when you least expect it. And last but not least -20's. Ummm What? Why do people live here?  

#5.Service. From volunteering at food shelves, to salvation army, and just the everyday little acts of service we do as missionaries (especially for cute elderly grandmas) I LOVE it! I had never served very much outside of my family or if i did it didn't seem like it to me. I hope to make service apart of my life when i get home, it makes me joyful to be able to serve those around me.

#6. Love. This one little word blankets so much of my mission. It's what I have felt from the people in every area I have served in. It's what I have grown to feel for the Gospel and this incredible and miraculously restored church of Jesus Christ. It's what I have given and tried to show to those i serve with and talk to. What I feel from my family and all those back home who love me and are praying for me. It is what I have felt from my father in Heaven as I have pleaded for help to be more, do more, and accept things out of my control, and have seen his tender responses to those prayers. It is the reason why I am still serving a mission. I love this church and the gospel, my heavenly father, the wonderful and incredible people i have met and have yet to meet, my fellow missionaries, the fact my family can be eternal and will never be separated by death, the guidance and strength of the scriptures, the power and blessings of the priesthood and comfort it has given me, and last but not least my savior Jesus Christ who is the epitome of pure love.

#7. Growth. My dad said that as a missionary you can see yourself grow and change in some ways but that it's most apparent to those around you. If i have been stretched and pulled and molded so much in only seven months I wonder at what the next seven will bring. Heavenly Father actually did know what he was doing by telling me to serve a mission... go figure, hahaha.

So after ranting about me for forever. I'll give ya a quick rundown of what happened this week. p.s sorry about the random formatting of this email.

Lesson with 2 Brian’s and Mai:

 So we went over to Brian Spindlers house on Thursday for our appointment and brought Mai with us for rule of three. Also she's like one of my favorite people ever. And we get there and he had totally forgotten we were coming and had a buddy of his with him but let us in. And showed us a bunch of old pictures of the two of them back when they were rock stars. (They actually were believe it or not). We got talking and talked a lot about Christ and parts of the restoration and testified. Mai did such a great job! She's been a member for about a month now and is so solid! And she really liked coming teaching with us too so YAY! Brian's buddy was also named Brian but he's Brian F. and he was really interested in what we had to say and wants to know more so we got his phone number and will hopefully get in contact with him soon! That was so great. Brian S. was acting kind of strange and were thinking he wasn't all that sober. But regardless the spirit was there (I think more for Brian F's sake hahaha)

Sang in Hmong:

I learned how to sing I am a child of god in Hmong and there was one word that you have to pronounce with the back of your throat and i DIED laughing. After trying (and failing) all I could think about was the best two years when elder rogers tries to help elder Calhoun speak Dutch and he just goes "okay, yeah, you keep working on that". So funny.

 

 

 

 

Prank War:

Also this week we started a prank war between us and the elders. Mai texted us on Friday and was like "it's April fool’s day we need to play a prank on the elders!". I was soo down so we decided to saran wrap there car and we did. It was so great and so fun. I've always wanted to do that to someone. The elders were so confused. I'll send pictures. But then i was really surprised with how quickly they got us back. The next day they (including Mai) wrote with shaving cream all over our car so we had to go take it to a car wash. Soo sneaky >:l It's on.

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Youngblut to conference:

Sister Youngblut came to the morning session of Conference!!! We were so excited and then Sister Baker came to the church to see her and they hit it off so well! They were friends a while ago and it seemed like they just picked it right back up where they left off. That made our hearts so happy, that's exactly what members are supposed to do. Make people feel, loved and missed and wanted. WOOO!

 

Food with Der: 

We went over to teach over investigator Der and she has still not gotten over the fact that we only have 1 hour for lunch and dinner to cook and eat. So, she made us pho (pronounced fuh). If i had to describe I would say it was like a build your own Ramen bowl. There were noodles that you put in a broth you make and then you can add more meat and vegetables and sauces/ spices, and bean sprouts, and garlic etc. It was pretty good. It was a little bland for my taste but with a little more flavor i would really like it. I also took pictures so I'll attach those as well

 

Mary:

We went to find and old lady whose less active Named Mary and we did. She's 87 and HILARIOUS. She is such a spit fire. She has such a strong testimony of the gospel and loves her family. It was funny right as we met her i asked her how many grand kids she had she just goes "Don't ask stupid questions!" We were thinking oh no, we are going to die this lady hates us. Don't worry she likes us, she just can't remember stuff haha. Then we showed her the Easter video and she was talking about how we are all brothers and sisters. Then she's gets super straight faced and goes "I've got some ugly ones". I cracked up laughing. She is a hoot. I am excited to see her again :)

Well that's it from Wisconsin... Until next week!

-Sister Richardson

Spiritual Thought of the Week:(Some of my favorite quotes from conference)

"An unforgiving heart harbors so much needless pain"- Kevin R. Duncan

"We all know Saul like individuals with Paul like potential"- Kevin R. Duncan

"God looketh not upon the color of the jersey or the political party"- Kevin R. Duncan

"If life were truly fair we would never be able to be resurrected or be clean in the presence of god. I am grateful that life isn't fair" Dale G. Renlund

"We leap over the boat full of faith and determination and quickly learn we cannot do it alone"- Ronald A. Rasband

"Just because you have questions don't loose faith in your testimony. If you are diligent in keeping the commandments and serving in the church god will eventually help you find your answer." (Not an exact quote. This is my words/ impression) -Jairo Mazzagardi

"You might as well be baptizing a bag of sand as a man if it is not done for the remission of sins and to receive the holy ghost." - David A Bednar

"If you don't know where you want to go it doesn't matter which path you take" -Thomas S. Monson 

"May we choose the harder right than the easier wrong"- Thomas S Monson

"Challenges are sometimes a sign of gods trust in you to deal with what you face"- D. Todd Christofferson

"There is no life so shattered that cannot be rebuilt"- Dieter F. Ucthdorf

"The Great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying" Jeffrey R. Holland

"After Heavenly moments we, in essence, always return to earth"- Jeffrey R. Holland

The One Where I Ran into a Door.....Twice!!!

March 28, 2016

So I know you are all dying to hear what is new in Wisconsin, never fear i am ready to deliver all the juicy details (not really they aren't that juicy but clearly your still reading this so you must be interested in what i have to say >:) ) (I know..... I'm weird)

 

So this past Monday night we had dinner with our ward mission leaders family the Ebbert's. They are so fun and Mai was there. She's is a recent convert of about a month and she is SO FUN. I just love her. Dinner was incredibly yummy i asked Lawson (their 10 year old son) before hand just  how yummy this soup was and he said a 10.5. He was not wrong. Then we had FHE with them and Mai all about Easter and holy week, and then played a dice game called Zilch and I won. So clearly that was the best game ever. I was very happy but trying to be humble about it ;) 

 

On Tuesday we had a really cool lesson with a lady named Jessie. She's been coming to church with her kids and husband for about 2 months now. Her Grandparents were converts to the church and she received an answer to her prayer that she needed to start coming to our church. However she hasn't met with the missionaries because she wanted to make the first contact to ask us to teach her and she invited us and the elders over so she could get a blessing and ask us some of her questions. She is so sweet and kind and open and all she wants is to know what god wants her to do and to do it. I really admire her, she has so much faith and trust in god. She said she is going to start praying about when the right time to start meeting with the missionaries is so hopefully we'll hear from her soon and can start teaching her! :) 

 

So it snowed this week >:( i was not happy. I am SO DONE with snow, it's like a clingy ex, trying to come back and stay a while when you are just completely 100% done with it. Anyways... It was supposed to snow 5-12 inches on Thursday and it did start snowing but was very wimpy but our cars got grounded for half the day anyways. It did end up snowing pretty good during the night, but the next day our cars weren't grounded at all. Figure that one out. AND we had snow for Easter which is the first time that has ever happened in my life! Good thing about it, Sister Xiong and i went out and made snow angels. Sister Xiong had never made one before! I got to witness it :) 

 

So I LOVED the general women's broadcast on Saturday. Our Relief Society had an hors d'oeuvre potluck dinner an hour before which was yummy, and then we watched the broadcast and then had designer cupcakes and ice cream afterwards. (I say designer cause they looked like the cupcakes you see on the food network channel). 

And Last but not least HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! We had a good Easter. We sang in the choir and sung a pretty song called he is risen. Then i had a cool experience during our relief society where i learned that you really can receive personal revelation through church attendance. That was an awesome experience and i almost started crying in Relief Society as i saw one of my prayers answered and knew that my Heavenly Father was mindful of me.

Funny Things of the Week:

We were stopping by a less active member of the ward at night and his house was really dark but i thought i saw a light so i leaned in towards the door to see if he was coming. Little did I realize he had an outer glass door and I slammed my face on it. We left very quickly. Not only that but then I did it again! We were at our bishops house for breakfast and coordination and I ran into THEIR glass door as I was trying to leave. Man i'm as bad as those crows on the Windex commercials.

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

So i have been terrible about ponderizing scriptures but i have decided to pick it back up and i LOVED this scripture i came across while reading in John. (if you don't know what ponderizing is may i refer you to the October 2015 General Conference talk 'my heart pondereth them continually'.) 

John 16:33 "These things i have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

This is so appropriate it having just been Easter and considering the past bombing in Belgium. This world is crazy and is in a lot of ways scary and it is not easy. We don't need to fear and can have peace in the knowledge that Christ has overcome all of those things. He truly has overcome the world. All of it's fear, hatred and any and all of the many negative things and feelings that exist in this world can be overcome through our savior Jesus Christ. He is truly mindful of us. 

I Love you ALL!!! 

-Sister Richardson