The One With the Over Bearing Stereotypical Mother Hen :)

September 19, 2016

 Sister Myer & Sister Richardson

Hello outside world. So we had an awesome week teaching! I finally feel like Sister Myers and I have found our groove in teaching. We were running around Lakeville, Farmington, Rosemount and Elko like crazy trying to accomplish all of our weekly goals. We got so close! You know, I think I need to focus on reaching goals more often because this week was different than most. I was not only excited to do the work but was constantly thinking about thing we could do or needed to do that would help the missionary work in the area. I loved seeing that change in myself. 

So round two of exchanges has come and gone. Sister Corbridge came with me to Lake Marion and we had an awesome time teaching and serving :) She's a really cute sister. Oh and because of exchanges we saw a miracle in finding a new investigator named David! We were stopping by a less active part member family and they weren't home but their neighbor was just leaving so we stopped and talked with him. We taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet. So cool!

Also another finding miracle Sister Myers and I  had while were contacting around a park (fun fact we taught a lesson because of pokemon-go, see it's a great proselyting tool! hahaha jk). So we were just about ready to leave and we stopped to talk to these girls in their twenties on a bench. We started talking with them and were able to teach them. They were some SUPER cool girls and we've set up a return appointment with one of them named Amanda!

After that park contacting we had to run up to Bloomington for a meeting with the Stake President, President and Sister Forbes, and the Zone Leaders. It was funny we didn't have time to eat dinner because we wanted to be out in the park contacting so after the meeting we asked Sister Forbes if she had a granola bar or an apple we could have to tie us over for the night. She just laughs and grabs oranges, apples, multiple granola bars, cheese stick, etc. and dumps them in a bag. It was so cute. I love her she's so funny. She's your typical over bearing mother hen haha.    

Then on thursday we had a combined zone conference with the Lakeville south zone. So funny story. The day before the conference around 4 we get a call from the LVS zone leaders and they were like so are you ready for your training? To which we responded what training? They proceeded to tell us that we were supposed to give a 30 min training at the zone conference the next day. WHAT?! Don't worry we created a boss training in about an hour the night before and all went well. First time giving a training as an STL and I had less than a day to prepare. It's all good. See, I never get calls to ask if I'll do things ;)  

So on Friday we got to go on a road trip with the Apple Valley sisters down to Elko and New Market to do a Blitz. So fun!

Sister Card & Sister Richardson

I got to be with sister Card and we went tracting. We were able to teach someone and ended up with a new investigator! Then as we got lost trying to get back to the car we came across a pasture with a horse, two cows, and a goat. We were prompted to stop and take selfies, Pics to prove it down below.

Beautiful Minnesota 

Last but not least we were able to see Jolene this week. As of right now she is our most progressing investigator. We had a great lesson with a member who was just perfect for her. I love it, we are so close to setting a date with her! I'm so excited. One of my favorite things is getting to hear investigators pray. They are so sincere and the spirit is always there it fills me with such joy I love it. She's is changing and you can literally see it. 

Well that's about it for this week. Tune in next time!

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

So I finished the Doctrine and Covenants this week and a verse described one of the experiences that I had this week. The verse is from D&C section 136: 33-34 which says...

33 For my Spirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the humble and contrite, and to the condemnation of the ungodly.

 34 Thy brethren have rejected you and your testimony, even the nation that has driven you out;

So yesterday we taught a lady who was really contentious and was almost bashing us but trying to be kind about it. I HATE when people respond that way. It's the worst. Not because of what they're saying but in how they respond and the contention and the hardness of their hearts it drives the spirit away. I always walk out of those situations feeling gross and dark and irritable I hate that. The reason I shared the scripture I did is because that's not how God speaks to us. He enlightens those ready to receive him. Those feelings are the first steps in discovering truth from god. 

Love, Sister Richardson

The Week in Which I Was Slapped in the Face By God

September 12, 2016

Got flowers from my Family for My 1 Year Mark!

Hey Ya'll so first full week of September.... Check! Wow. Halloween is almost here, Crazy. I keep having flashbacks to where I was a year ago and what I was doing. It's really weird. So I got softly chastised by my parents for writing a short email last week so I'll try to do better this week hahaha. Soooo what happened?

We went out to Denny's with our sisters

Okay so we had MLC a.k.a Mission Leadership Conference, this last Tuesday and it was Sister Myers first MLC! Also it was raining buckets outside which was kind of great! I love when it rains hard, it reminds me of home :) I really liked this MLC because instead of just talking about how could we be better at finding or using ward council members we actually talked about something you cant find in preach my gospel but is a huge part of being a leader. Helping struggling missionaries. What I thought was cool was as we were discussing people where sharing what helped them while they were struggling. I loved how it showed that everyone sometime on their mission will struggle. It doesn't matter who you are and you made be very good at hiding it, but we all struggle. I really liked that :) Kind of put everyone in a new perspective.

 On exchanges with Sister Christensen

Also this week we had our first round of exchanges for this transfer. We went on exchanges with the Apple Valley sisters, Sisters Card and Christensen. I went with Sister Christensen to Apple Valley and Sister Card went with Sister Myers to Lake Marion. So fun seeing old friends in the Apple Valley ward as always :) Also I found out that Sister Christensen is a movie nerd like I am!! Finally, someone could talk movies and loves them as much as I do. I haven't had a companion on my movie level yet hahaha. It was also really good that we went on exchanges cause both Sister Card and Christensen have been dealing with some personal issues and it was good to give them a break from normal routine and companion. Also it was nice to just get to talk with them and let them know that we really do care about and love them, and that they can come to us with anything. I love those sisters so much. They make me happy.

The Major Lesson Learned: So I learned a rough but really cool lesson this week. So we decided as a zone to focus on inspired goal setting and reaching and Sister Myers and I, not for lack of trying, have had a difficult time reaching our goals both daily and weekly. So on Saturday we got super excited and decided that we were going to work super hard and reach all of our daily goals for the day. It was the most excited I'd been to go out and do missionary work in a while. Like I was totally fine with cutting dinner short for more proselyting time and trying to do a bunch of finding activities. We even biked at night to save miles and try to see as many people as possible. I was so pumped and then it started getting later and later and we hadn't taught anyone. I prayed for help with reaching our goals, really reaching out to heavenly father for help. We didn't teach reach any of our goals. I was really confused and I pretty much lost the faith to find. The missionaries in the rest of our zone were all seeing awesome miracles and nothing was happening for us and I really didn't understand why. I kind of lost my desire to do things cause I didn't believe that it would work. Going to church helped a little bit with having two investigators there, but I was still pretty down after going home for lunch and comp study. I reflected on Saturday and realized that we had had the opportunity to reach every single one of our goals but we didn't open our mouths and teach. That however didn't help but made me feel like an even worse missionary, who still won't get outside her comfort zone and just flippin teach! That's all I've been called to do for this year and a half and I felt like I still didn't have it figured out! However, we got to work anyways on Sunday after lunch. We ended up having an incredible, miracle filled day. As a result of Sunday, we taught 3 lessons in less than two hours, got a new investigator, reached our weekly goals for investigators to sacrament meeting, other lessons, and referrals! The lesson I learned was this. Saturday was pretty much a smack in the face/ wake up call from god. Our job is not to worry about looking in every nook and cranny, and under every rock trying to find people. God will put him in our path. Our job is to open our mouth and testify. To bring up the gospel and like I said, just flippin teach! It was a two day lesson that I am so grateful I learned that lesson, I just hope I never forget it so I don't have to go through learning it again!

Well, Yup, That was the week :) ONLY TWO MORE SUNDAYS TILL GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! I'm so pumped!

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

So we had a lesson with Nette and Brother Lightner and Brother Lightner said something really profound that I wanted to share with you all. So we asked Bro. Lightner to share his testimony about the Book of Mormon and how he knew it was true and he started talking about the purpose of the scriptures. Basically what he said was that God doesn't want to just give us a book (either the Bible or the Book of Mormon). He doesn't want to give us words he wants us to understand feelings and develop a relationship with him and that's the best way that we can. For instance how can you communicate the meaning or feeling of faith? How can you understand God and Jesus Christ's love for us? How can we understand what forgiveness means and what repentance feels like? The scriptures are our best tool to understand these things, but the reason we need to apply them in our lives. Trying to develop faith, charity, habits or repentance, etc. Is so we can understand the feeling and meaning behind the words. That's what the scriptures are there for. To help us act and learn for ourselves. I love the scriptures so much!!! They are so amazing.

Love, Sister Richardson 

The One with Everything Deep Fried, on a Stick, and in a Bucket

September 5, 2016

Hey Fam.

 

Hey soooo I hit my year mark this last week. Woah. It really doesn't feel like it's been that long. Crazy, I only have 4 transfers left the end is coming near quickly. ;)

We got to go to the Minnesota State Fair this Week!!! It was so much fun!  Oh my gosh. We tried Elk Burgers, Walleye, Sweet Martha's Cookies (They give you a bucket over flowing with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies), and the famous cheese curds and corn on the cob. 

Literally everything at the fair is deep fried, on a stick, or in a giant bucket. The point of the fair is food. Literally your job is to eat your way through. You feel like death when you’re done. The Best part of it was that sister Peterson was there so we got to spend almost the entire day there! So fun, we stayed with Sister Cupkie so she bought us almost everything, and she took a TON of pictures. Mom please contact her on Facebook to get pictures (her name is Mikela Cupkie) also transfer pictures of Sister Peterson and I. 

They are TOO CUTE. We rode Roller Coasters and generally just had a really fun time :) I loved that day :) 

So Sister Myers and I had kind of a slow week missionary work wise but we're working on it. Hopefully this week we'll see some success and miracles. We get along SUPER well, I love being with her!

Funny Moment of the Week:

So we tried to confirm our dinner this one day and both the husband and wife didn't respond so we just decided to go and knock on the door. As we walk up the mom pulls out of the driveway in her mini van and speeds away. That was funny and awkward but we decided to knock still. We knock on the door and the dad pulls in the driveway and stares at us as the daughter answers the door. So we're awkwardly trapped between the two and I didn't know who to talk to or what to say so I literally just said "I don't know what to do in this situation". So we slowly back away and go and talk to the dad, and they forgot they signed up. Yeah, that was fun.

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

So I had a really cool study this week on desire. It came from a talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in the April 2011 General Conference, entitled Desire. I highly recommend you read it, it's so good! But I think the biggest take away I got from the talk is that we all have natural desires. We want food, sleep, shelter, etc... Those are natural tendencies. But we also have the ability to arrange our priorities ahead of those basic needs. For example we can overcome our desire for food with a stronger desire to fast. And we can overcome our natural desire to sin, no matter how small of a sin (like being unkind, or slothful) and change to align our will with the savior. With his help we can change our desires for the better and we can become like him. That's what this gospel is all about. Change.

Love you all,

-Sister Richardson

The one with a companion of my very own!

August 29, 2016

Back in Crystal for a baptism w sister p, Myers, and elder and sister McKay 

Hey so I finally have my very own companion!!!!! I'm so happy to be out of the constant tripanionships. I switched on Sunday and went with the Apple Valley sisters for Monday and Tuesday and it was fun :) However Tuesday night was not fun. Sister Christensen had been sick for almost 2 weeks and then on Tuesday started having really bad stomach pain which moved up her torso and into her chest. She has a heart condition and so everyone was really worried about it. So we called elder fife (the person in charge of missionaries medical care) and were off and on the phone with him and then finally decided around 10:30 to go to the hospital to get her checked out. After  spending a bunch of quality time with sister card, Christensen, and our ER nurse it was determined that her heart is okay and she just had a small infection which led her to not drink water which cause her heart to act up. So no crisis here thank goodness. We finally got home and to bed around 1:45 am. It definitely took me several days to recover from loosing that much sleep hahaha. 

Me and Myers in some free onesies :)

 So transfers happened this week and i now have a new companion of Sister Myers! She's my 8th companion, crazy huh? She's awesome I love her a lot! We get along really well and shes adorable and ready to work hard. She's from highland Utah and has been on her mission for 7 1/2 months. And she's spent almost her entire mission in Crystal (where I was trained up in Minneapolis!). So Fun story she had a baptism in Crystal scheduled for the day after transfers so we called everyone we could think of and no one could take us. It was getting down to the wire and so finally we asked if one of the senior couples working in the mission office could take us and Elder and Sister McKay volunteered! 

Lunch before transfers

Oh my goodness we were so grateful. As sister Peterson would say they're the real MVP's. So we headed on up to my old training ground. It's was weird to be back, cause i hadn't been back since i was in training. 

Finally seeing my soulmate (a.k.a sister Peterson) again after 3 months

But Sister Peterson was transferred back to Crystal so I got to spend Thursday evening with her! I've missed her so much! So fun, and I got to see some old ward members which is always fun.

Also awesome thing that happened this week is Sister Richards committed to coming to church! She is a less active lady that feeds us Brunch every Sunday and we weren't quite sure how to approach her because she can get offended. But we basically laid it out straight with her and she asked us to pray for her and said she would try her hardest to come to church this next week which hasn't happened since I've been here! So cross your fingers and pray she comes this Sunday!

Funny Moment of the Week:

So while we were at the ER Sister Christensen was hooked up to a heart monitor for a time so they could see if there were any irregularities. Sister Christensen is also one of the jumpiest people I know so sister card and I wanted to see what would happen to her heart monitor if she was startled. So I threw a mint at her face and she jumped and her heart sped up. It was so funny we were laughing really hard.

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

So there's a section in Preach My Gospel about how the Book of Mormon answers questions of the soul and which chapters are good for which sections. One of the questions posed was How can a belief in Jesus Christ help me? And the Chapter to read is Alma 36. So I read through it cause that's a pretty good question to know the answer to, and this is what I found...

 3. "...I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."

19. "...I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more."

20. "And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!"

30. "as much as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and ye ought to know also, that inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence."

So a trust in god and jesus christ (which is pretty much one in the same since their purpose and their wills are always in harmony with the other) means we will supported in all of our trials, troubles and afflictions. Through Jesus Christ we can let go of the pain and guilt of our mistakes and replace that pain and guilt with joy. As well as prosper in everything we do and receive the blessings of god. I don't know about you but all those reasons seem to make life easier and more enjoyable and gives us hope to move on and be better. A world with out Christ will spiral into horribleness, but a world with Christ at least has hope and a reason to be better.

Love you all!!! Sister Richardson