The One Where your Companion Slaps You

5-23-16

 

So i swear everyone in our ward knows that we're running low on MSF (A.k.a missionary support fund, a.k.a the money we get every month to live). We had dinner with sister Paul on Monday. She is a really cute lady who LOVES the missionaries. There are so many adoptive grandmothers to the missionaries in this Ward I love it! Sister Paul is one of those grandmas. After dinner she gives us almost all the left overs and then proceeds to practically empty her refrigerator and freezer with food for us. It was crazy! We love her so much. We were

trying to tell sister Paul "we don't want to take all of your food! You don't have to give us all of this!" And in her cute accent she replied "I love doing it! You guys are like my grandchildren, and I'll do anything to help you. This is my small contribution". Talk about an amazing woman. She is always trying to serve those around her in
anyway she can. Another person I hope to become someday. Then another MSF miracle, sister Miller took us to check out the food co-op here in la crosse. Everyone talks about it and uses it to give directions to other places and we've never seen it before. She took us there and gave us a tour around and she bought us some food! That was awesome.

So on Tuesday we had an interesting experience. A drunk black man tried to bible bash us. I say tried because he wasn't very successful. We met him when we tried to stop by a former investigator and he was sitting out on his porch and we started up a conversation with him. It was weird, he like expected us to have the entire bible memorized and so would ask us what random verses talked about. We asked him right back about certain verses (cause you can't ask/ expect us to do that if you can't) and he couldn't do it at all. I was actually really
impressed with myself, usually Im not good at answering questions because I don't want to offend people and don't know if they'll accept my true answer. For example I know something because I've prayed about it or when they ask who established the church saying Jesus Christ etc... So usually when questions like that come I give small answers not really stating my whole belief on the subject but I seriously held my own against this man. I was able to answer the questions he asked and we basically taught the entire restoration. We are gonna drop by
some other time. Now will he remember what we talked about? Guess we'll see haha. It was so funny cause he was trying to bash us using the King James Version of the bible which is what we believe in and use, so the whole time he was trying to catch us and we were like YES! if it's in there we believe it. #werebothright 
#webelieveinthesamebible!




We had another lesson with Jessie and Chris on Wednesday. I love going over there for lessons. It just makes my heart happy. They had been thinking about and praying about their baptism date of June 18th and when Jessie started talking it sounded like they were gonna push it back. But surprise they want to move it forward and be baptized on June 4th! So two weeks from now! Which means we have two teach them two lessons this week on one day. Chris is taking off work on Thursday and we are just gonna go over and teach them both lessons at once.
That'll be interesting. Never done that before, but I'm excited 😃! So golden.



Then on Thursday I think it was we went to the International gardens here in La Crosee with the relief society. That was really fun and the gardens were so beautiful! Don't worry we were constantly missionarying. We taught a troll there the first discussion. I've included pictures for those of you skeptics who don't believe me.

We had a Zone conference in in Rochester on Friday. It was really good, we had a lot of good trainings and sister P and I sang in a musical number. We sang with both sets of Rochester sisters. We sang I am a child of God in three languages. Sister Sperry and Bingham sang the first verse in English, Hermana Koopmans, Atendido, and Sperry sang the second verse in Spanish, and Sister P and I finished it off with the third verse in Hmong. It went really well and we pronounced all the words right! It was cute, our elders (the only Hmong speakers there) were sitting in the front row and were so excited me proud of us when we finished haha.

Also this week we taught seminary and the 16-17 year old Sunday school class. We did great on both. It was funny, as we were preparing our lesson for seminary I was like, yeah I'd like to be a seminary teacher. Then when we gave the lesson and everyone acts (and some looked) like a zombie and are silent and I remembered the struggle seminary was for me I was like um yeah no. Just kidding I don't want to be a seminary teacher. Teaching Sunday school was much better because they were actually awake and would talk. That was fun and I surprised myself with my teaching skills. I still am not used to this ability that I've developed to teach.

Funny Moments of the Week:
So Sister P and I were talking with Mai about her life problems and sister Peterson was talking. I said something (I'm assuming pretty snarky) and she reached over and slapped me so I slapped her right back. It was pretty funny cause it happened really quickly and Mai was like "woah what just happened". You know you're too good of friends
when getting slapped by the other person doesn't even faze your friendship just adds some more color to it hahahaha.



Another funny moment this week. We went up to La Crescent Minnesota to visit a member of our ward, sister Olson, and she took us to go see two less active women that she visit teaches. They were not home but
their guard goose certainly was! Yes you heard me right they had a guard goose! It was so funny, I have a video of it that I'll attach.




Spiritual Thought of the Week:
Shout out to my trainer sister Teuscher with this one. I came across
her favorite scripture this week! Romans 8:35-38, 39

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword?
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I love this for the same reason Sister T does. It lays out plainly
that NOTHING can separate us from the love of our savior. The only one
who separates us from the love of Christ is ourselves and even the
it's never not there. We simply choose not to see it or feel it.
Everything comes back to our Saviors love for us. Every principle of
the gospel can be traced back to Christ and his love for us.

Love, Sister Richardson