The One With #Merica🇺🇸

July 5th, 2016

We got to road trip through Minneapolis and Saint Paul for our dinner appointment on Friday!

The Skyline is my beautiful Minneapolis which I miss so dearly! 

Okay so we find out about transfers next Monday which is crazy because this transfer has gone by so quickly! I feel like i say that every time but this ones for real cause i was only in Apple Valley for 5 weeks instead of 6. But I do have some sneak peaks and information about what might happen and let me just tell you it's gonna be crazy! 

So last Monday around 8 we got a text from our mission president and all it said was call when you get back to your apartment. No context for what he wanted to talk about, nothing. So i just thought great! He's waiting for us to get back to our apartment so that he can say something that's gonna cause a lot of stress or drama emotionally. So we call him and he wants to talk to sister card and says "okay, i want you to be completely honest. Just tell me your first reaction to this. How do you feel about being called to speak Karen?" (For those of you like me before my mission who have no idea what that is let me explain. It is an Asian language that is pretty difficult to understand and has no written language. The language that the missionaries have on their tags is Burmese because that's the closest you can get to it. There's no book of Mormon in Karen, we don't have any native speakers in the mission, and if you are called you are in the same area with the same companion for the rest of your mission). Both our jaws just about hit the floor. She said she would be willing if she were called.

So that was crazy enough to think that that was a possibility for sister card. Then we were talking to the AP's on Thursday and he said that sister cards first trainer sister fine has been Emergency transferred into doing Karen work and that president is looking for a tripanionship in that area. So as of right now we are waiting to see if she will be called to speak Karen. So. Crazy things are happening this next transfer. Well, I guess I'll let you know what the verdict of that is next week! 

So one of my tender mercies was going and visiting with Brother and Sister Bradford this week. I can't remember if I already told ya'll about them or not. They are a cute old couple that live in a really nice assisted living place. They are so amazing I absolutely LOVE visiting them. They both have such strong testimonies and they are so kind to us and love the missionaries. While we were over this week I don't know why but the spirit was really strong while we were talking and Sister Card and I teared up. Brother Bradford looked over at his wife and said I think these are two amazing sisters don't you? They just have something special about them. He asked me to say the prayer and I almost started crying as I was giving it. They definitely have found a very special and fond place in my heart.

So the other awesome lesson we had was with Brother Lightner and his girlfriend Nettie. Brother Lightner is a less active and recent convert in our ward who just started dating a non-member named Nettie. They both came to church last Sunday (so i lied in my last email when i said we didn't have any investigators at church...sorry) We set up a lesson with both of them and it was so cool! We decided to treat it like a less active visit because we didn't know if she wanted to take the lessons so we talked about personal revelation and shared the Mormon messages patterns of light part 2&3. It was kind of comical. While we were talking about it Brother Lightner was the one who was voicing doubts and questions and uncertainty and Nettie was just like it makes sense and I've experienced it. It seemed like their roles were reversed and Nettie was the member and Brother Lightner was the unsure investigator haha. At the end when we asked if they'd be able to come to church again, again bro. Lightner seemed unsure and looked at Nettie and she was like yes we'll be there. The spirit was really strong and we are so excited about her. She set a reoccurring appointment with us for every week! She's so golden!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! The 4th of July was so fun! Our zone met at the stake center in the morning and did a zone study together, and then sister card and i headed off to the Mall of America to help with the Blind Convention we were assigned to. So first of all the mall is HUGE. 

It has a full blown amusement park in the center and a legit aquarium on the bottom, and just about every store you can think of. We walked around with the prior lake elders for about an hour and then met up with the convention director. So what does a blind convention at the mall of America entail? Well we were paired with a blind person and walked with them around the mall describing what was around them and letting them feel things and helping them buy things they wanted. It was very interesting and very different. I had a cute older lady named Darlene. 

She was adorable and really fun to be with. She wanted to go in stores and try stuff on and was so sweet and bought me a bracelet and smoothie. When we got back to the bus she kept saying I'll be praying for you and you are a good girl I bet your mothers proud of you. She was too cute!

So Sister Cupkie picked sister card and i up from the mall and then we went and grabbed the prior lake elders from the Bursnville chapel and took us back to her house where the rest of our zone and plus some were. SO FUN. We played some games and then almost everyone started playing signs outside in the back yard. As we were playing brother Cupkie and his kids come around and sneak attack us all with water balloons! It ended up a full blown water fight elders versus sisters and we all got DRENCHED!! Ah so fun! Then they started up a fire in the back yard and we roasted marshmallows and then all set up lawn chairs and they started setting off fireworks. Like the illegal kind that you have to go across state lines to buy hahaha. Definitely one of the funnest days on my mission and one of the funnest 4th of July's I've had. I don't have any pictures from this yet cause some of the other missionaries in my zone have them so I'll attach them next week.

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

Alma Chapter 5:

So one of the questions Adrien asked us a couple weeks ago was why does god love and reward someone who is bad their entire life and then turns it around at the end of their life as someone whose striven to follow him for their entire life? How is that fair? I found the answer today as I was reading Alma this week. Alma throws out that exact same question in regards to the people of Zarahemla...

10 And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?

Speaking of his father Alma Sr, who grew up a very wicked man and who repented and was instrument in gods hands for much good he says...

13 And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

It was a that change that occurred in their hearts and their faith and trust in God that allowed them to be forgiven and saved. And I think also that that little section at the end of verse 13 which says "they were faithful until the end" is the key to this explanation. People all come to know god and Christ at different parts of their lives. The deciding factor is how they act after they have received that testimony. For some they come to know god earlier in life and others later. Even though it can seem unfair to have to strive to follow god and do good for longer than others, we are all on our own personal paths back to him and your path was tailored specifically to help you grow and progress in the way you need to. God knows us perfectly and individually. Trust him and leave what fair and just to him.

Love, Sister Richardson