October 10, 2016
Sister Card and I's last time together before she got transferred to La Crosse
Found a random fort
The Beauty of Minnesota in the fall!
I don't even know how to describe this week. This week was
really hard. (Explanation: Kaitlyn was asked to fulfill a 1 week
assignment with one of her past companions Sister Christensen. Kaitlyn was her trainer and she dearly loves
her. Sister Christensen was having some
medical difficulties and President Forbes was trying to decide which would be
best, having her stay in MN or return Home. Eventually it was decided that returning home
would be best for her overall health.) I
finally asked for a blessing and that helped. First off I just loved that when
I asked for a blessing the elders were so concerned and wanted to help right
away. That always makes you feel good and feel loved. Elder Calderwood gave me
a great blessing with a couple things I needed to hear, I am glad I finally
asked for one.
So amidst the struggles of this week it was actually really
nice because Wednesday and Thursday were the breaks that I have been craving!
It was nice to be able to still go out and do missionary work and fulfill our
purpose but also get to take some breaks and just be myself and only have to
focus on taking care of one person. Sister Christensen was fun to be with and I
am really grateful that I was with her for her last couple of days because even
though I didn't feel like I did anything she said it really helped her so I'm
very grateful that I could be there for her.
Sister Spiers and I :)
Also another positive, I LOVE our
tripanionship. Sister Spiers is AWESOME!!! It's so funny she's like a perfect
blend of Sister Myers' constant happiness and weirdness, and my sassiness.
She's great and we don't want our tripanionship to end. We laugh so much I love
it, although it's hard to maneuver three sister’s stuff and the sleeping
arrangements in our dinky little apartment. I've been sleeping on a recliner
and sister Spiers suitcases are all in the living room, but hey we're making it
work :)
Jolene and Mary were at church on Sunday!! That was awesome!
We had an AMAZING fast and testimony meeting! It was so spiritual and then gospel
principles was just as good :) Jolene really enjoyed both hours and felt the
spirit. She's progressing so well :) The preacher we met last week dropped us
right before our appointment so he's a no go, which is weird cause he set up
his own appointment but oh well, agency, whatcha going to do? Oh we were also
able to see Laurie Lawson, the sisters have been going by forever. She is a
doll and I love her so much. She's really planning on coming to church on
Sunday and we are hoping to start seriously teaching her soon :) So yeah those
are the investigators of the week.
Sorry I don't any more awesome spiritual experiences for ya
this week, it was really chaotic as you can tell and there wasn't a whole lot
of teaching that we got to do with everything that happened. But I'm hopeful
for this next week :)
Love, Sister Richardson
Spiritual Thought of the Week:
I started reading the Book of Mormon again and was reading 1
Nephi chapter 11 and something really stuck out to me in the beginning of the
Chapter.
In Verse 1 Nephi states that "I had a desire to know the things
that my father had seen". So that's normal right? Wanting to know? Then in
verse 4 the spirit of the lord asks Nephi the question "Believest thou
that thy father saw...?" And Nephi responds in verse 5 "... Yea, thou
knowest that I believe all the words of my father."
I really liked the
message in these verses. Nephi already had faith in what his father had told
him. He believed his words to be true but also asked for his own witness so he
could know for himself the truth. I think that is something we can all work on.
Striving and putting in the effort to know for ourselves if what others tell us
is the truth. As missionaries we ask investigators to do this all the time, and
are we not all still investigating the gospel in some way, shape, or form? We
need to maintain our testimony of the gospel and of the church, but also reach
out and receive for ourselves that sure knowledge that will keep our
testimonies alive during times of trial and doubt.
