September 30, 2013

Maranda it is so great to hear from you. It sounds like life is also going great for the family.

Things this last week have been both good and bad. One day was probably the worst day I had had in a while. I kind of felt like the part of the movie Mega mind, when metro man is just kind of going through the motions and isn't really felling like the awesome child of God that he is. However I haven’t had a day like that since then. Yeah it just was a weird kind of cruddy day…

     A lot of good has happened this week. One thing is that church yesterday was great. One reason was I was sitting next to a brand new investigator. Her name is Blanca and she is from Guatemala. She is pretty nice and it is cool because she actually knows a couple of other people from church like our ward missionary from Guatemala, and some other people. We also had a member come and tell us she wanted to go with us to our next lesson with her because she has an autistic son just like the member, so he can help out with the son during the meeting. Also during sacrament it was the primary program. That was cool. I don't know if it was just the ward or what but they didn't sound as good as our primary.

Also a lot of the people can't sing in our ward. So I guess there are little things we can be thankful for all the time.

       This last week we also have been talking to sol about quitting smoking. And she is going to quit and hasn't smoked for a while and started not to long ago. This last week I did a lot of praying and fasted because I know that the lord will help Sol with her problems and help me to help her if I show my faith. So I’m excited. The church has a cool program just for smoking that I am using. We are also getting new investigators a lot more than we have been the last couple of weeks.

However it always makes me a little sad when we go to their home for an appointment and no one is there. That is always a little disappointing especially when you prepared and brought a member with you.

     Since it is pretty diverse around here, there is a lot of Dominicans as I think I have told you about that. There is one member who is Dominican and we work with a lot. And we were at his house and he helped teach us how to make something with plantains. It’s called mongoo but the way we prepared it, it was the quick way and it was missing some things. But it is like mashed plantains and you make it like mashed potatoes then you put like egg on top of it and also fried cheese which we didn't have, and can put onions and salami on it. It was pretty good. I get to try new things all the time.

I almost ordered the cabeza or cow head for the meat in my quesadilla at a restaurant but instead I just got the tongue again. It actually is really good. Oh and also we have several people in our ward from Ecuador and they have made food from there country its great. I love meeting people from new places, its cool. It’s going to be great in Brazil but its still cool here.

  There actually building an temple in Philly you can see pics probably on a church website or on line.

Its cool looking though but I like the Portland and San Diego and the Vegas temple a lot more. Well I will probably talk later next week. I am going to try to email Jason. He sent me a package with letters and colorings from his daughters and him and Laurel. What a great family. 

Well I love you and will talk to you later love, Elder Richardson

Pictures!

In the big leagues now....Haha

Playing the violin at Sols house

At the pagoda 

Tyler and Elder Callister

September 23, 2013

September 23

Hey how is my favorite sister Connie lou (Tyler’s nick name for me since I read the forgotten carols every year).

I hope things are going great I am sure you are busy with school and everything. Hey I got my birthday package it is sweet or as some people say around hear "its bangin" I don't quiet know what that means but I have even heard members say it so I think its ok to say.

So this week has had some cool things happen. However I feel like I am not doing as much work as I could be doing. Oh well Ill just continue to do all I can do.

  So this week I had a fun bike experience I was riding my bike and kind of wiped out. It wasn't super horrible or anything but I could have gone without it. So me and elder callister were booking it home, and we passed a member that we like, who just had gotten out of the hospital a couple of days earlier so I turned around to say high and wave to him or whatever and elder Callister had the plan to stop and talk to him.

I guess our brain wave wasn't working so anyway I ended up barely nicking him because I turned my bike once I saw him and after that kind of whipped out and skidded on the pavement on my back and on my shoulder.

So I just have a scrape on my shoulder. I was wearing a helmet and everything so it was good. And my backpack took the biggest blow. So my favorite adventure REI bag has a small hole in it and so does one of my white shirts. So I get to work on my sewing skills. Good thing Maranda the best sister, sent me some sewing stuff, she must of had a good feeling of what was going to happen to me. Oh I also love the sweet purple argyle socks I got in my birthday package.

We have a new district leader Elder Jorgensen from Salt lake area. He seems pretty cool and I like him. He's a good guy and a hard worker.

   This week I’m pretty excited. I'm going to try to help Sol to quit smoking. I have been reading the churches 15 step program and it seems pretty cool and works in 7 days. It has some things I have never herd of before like drinking grapefruit juice and taking a lot of vitamin c because it helps get rid of the nicotine out of your body and also helps prevent the bells that smokers have from going off that trigger the desire to have a smoke. So I am pretty excited and I hope and pray that everything will work out well.

This last week hasn't been the most effective I think in some ways but then again it was great. We didn't teach a lot of lessons. But there were some cool experiences we had. Like we wanted to go and find this one persons house who we meet with and wanted to hear more but didn't give us his address and then one day we weren't going to go to one of our investigators who we have been teaching and we went and the guys friend was there and told us his friends address.

Another day we were walking find some people who the missionaries had taught before, but stopped coming. Well on the way to their houses we meet several people who were members and knew about the church and wanted to come back and even find the missionaries. And another day that week we met the dad of a recently converted person who elder callister hasn't seen for like over 7 weeks. So In a way a lot of cool things have happened even though we didn't teach a lot of lessons and things like that.

  My Spanish is also getting pretty good. And I can communicate decently with a lot of people and even can joke around a bit and show my personality even though I’m speaking Spanish.

However everyone’s Spanish is a little different, a lot of the people on the streets we meet are Dominican and Puerto Rican. And they speak differently than others and at church we have a mix of a lot of places. Like Mexico and Guatemala and Ecuador and Columbia and a chunk of Dominicans and some Puerto Ricans. I still am practicing learning and deciphering if a person is Latino or not when I am on the streets. A lot of times I have started to speak Spanish to someone who looks like they could be Dominican or Puerto Rican and they end up being African American so I guess that could use more practice. Well that's the life.

Oh they are making a lame change for all missionaries in the world I will tell you about. They are having us get rid of our backpacks by the 1st of January so I will get to use a girly shoulder bag instead. How lame. How are you supposed to ride a bike with a shoulder bag? What kind of missionary image is that? Missionaries with their cute shoulder bags who get out of a nice car and pull out their I-pad. I hope it isn't like that in Brazil.

Well I love you and everyone so much I tried to make this message more general instead of to you and my fan club. Oh by the way do people even read this and do you know who?

well I love you and will talk to you later. Love Always elder Richardson

  

September 16, 2013

Hey Maranda how are you. This week has ben action packed. I even wrote a list because I didn't want to leave anything out today when I wrote this letter.

Ok so I think I will do the crazy not too spiritual stuff first. Well yesterday I got a biked fixed by a investigator because the chain broke. So I rode it and left it outside an investigators house Sol. And here in Reading everyone stoops or just sits on their porch and talks to there neighbors who are a foot away, because everyone lives in row homes. Well there was a bunch of people outside. So we left our bikes out in front and walked to a member’s house for like 10 minutes.

When I got back the kids were like, elder Richardson, that guy who was here took your bike. What the crap! My first day and the bike was stolen!! However it was temporary because the gut who took it knew Sol and actually just cut my companions hair. So he took it without asking and brought it back. And the kids said they told him it was mine and he said he didn't care.

Well he eventually brought it back and I was feeling Christ like so I didn't beat him up J. Later on I told this to a member named David who is Puerto Rican and he said, oh is this guy Puerto Rican he sounds like a Puerto Rican that's something they would do.

Another cool thing about this week is one day we were hungry and this lady, who is really cool and a member in the engilsh ward but lives in our area, took us out to dinner. We walked down the road to like a bar restaurant thing that was more like a bar. And they were playing this jazz type Santana Latino type music it was actually kind of cool.

A couple of days ago we did some service for our kind of wealthy Bishop. He owns 2 houses and rents one out. And both are nice especially his house. So we were helping him take some old carpet out of the rental house and then there was like this linoleum floor under, so we tore the linoleum or whatever off because there was a wood floor underneath.

Well under the stuff was a bunch of old newspapers and they were from July 1945 and talked a lot about World War 2 and shooting down Japanese planes and other stuff like that. So that was kind of crazy. And after only working for like 1 hour, the Bishop took us to this Mexican restaurant with his wife and the other Spanish elders in our district. Well I ended up trying something new and authentic so I got a enchilada with cow tongue. It was great, the meat is so tender and taste like roast beef.

Well that's what’s been happening. This week has been kind of slow. We have been trying to get new investigators because we don't have a lot of people to teach. So one day I decided to fast and fasted for almost 24 hours it was hard.

Especially when we went by Arby’s or when it was hot out and we were walking and I wanted juice. Or when we would go to visit people and they offered me food. However the blessings came.

That day we meet a guy who wanted to hear more and then when we were talking to him a friend of his came who was an inactive member from the DR and wanted to go back to church maybe. And the next day we got like 3 new investigators it was great.

It was raining and thundering and really windy and a little lightning, if that's a word. And when we were walking in this we would go and talk to the stoopers on their porches and talk to them and they would take pity on us and talk to us and since we were not going anywhere we would talk about anything and then ease our ways conversation about the church. And we got some new investigators.

Also the lady named Sol went to the English ward again even though she worked at the club late into the morning.

Well I don't know much of what else to stay don't feel obligated to remember all of this, I have to have something to share with people when I get home.

Hey Maranda how is school and the little girl? I hope she is feeling better.

Oh I was also talking to this member named sister Moore at Alicia’s house and I was telling her about you and the family and she thought you looked beautiful as always and she also thought Ellie is cute. Yeah you know what they say about good-looking people? They have a good-looking family. So that is a polite and vain way of saying that you and me are good looking. Yeah sister Moore said that I’m going to be scooped up quick when I get home.

You know she’s a single mom. So I can keep that in mind ;) Just joking I’m not about that life. I am however starting to think about a new teaching method that will allow me to get more numbers. It's called flirt to convert. If anything it will be a trial run and I will see how effective it is. Haha.

I'm glad you know me and my sense of humor and how to read these letters. Oh by the way my Spanish is getting pretty good I can talk to people on the street and start conversations I am so glad for my high school Spanish. And people can understand most of what I say I just wish I could do the same. Well I will talk to you later Love always elder Tyler Richardson. 

September 9, 2013

Hey Maranda I’m glad you got my package card letter thing in the mail. I hope you like it and I know your probably wearing it right now. Things in the mission life are good. We are improving each week and getting more and more lessons. We do need to get some more investigators though. However the ones we have are actually progressing. This guy named Porfirio who showed us the video last week is actually reading the book of Mormon. Which he hasn't done a whole lot of. So that made me happy.

Also the lady named Sol who is pretty thug had a hard week. Sometimes good things come from things like that. She had a problem with one of her daughters so she I think moved out, and her husband she either kicked out or moved out. She is the same lady who works as a bouncer and beats people up at a bar type club. But she loves me. Even though she appears slightly scary. She even went to church this last week and it was to the English ward though because she was tired from working at the club. But she went to church which she hadn't done before, and the missionaries have been visiting her since May. One day this week when she was feeling more down than ever, me and elder callister visited her. We talked a lot about struggles and trials in our life.

I bore my testimony to her about the savior and his love for us and his trials and how we need to love those around us and not let bad things bug us just like how the savior didn't let things bug him and was worried more about others. Like when he told the apostles to watch over his mom from the cross, or when he healed the guards ear after the atonement and taking upon all of our pains he still cared for others and not himself, and we should try to do the same. Well I shared this and some other things and bore my testimony and it brought some tears to my eyes and a lot to Sols. After when we were leaving she told me that she can feel something every time I talk to her and share something with her. That made me feel great. And me and elder callister were thinking maybe she is the reason I am here in Reading PA.

Also lately our most choice investigators who are golden, and have a lot of faith moved. One was Karina and her son Ishmael who moved to the other elders area. It is good though because she is still in my ward and now has her own place because she had been living with her crazy neighbors after being kicked out of her house. And she is really happy and hopefully going to be baptized soon. The other guy was the Dominican named Oscar who I contacted the one night and he loves elder callister and me. Even though he has a strong Dominican accent and I cant understand more than half the words he says. Anyway he is going back to the DR and is right now spending time in Long Island with family before going to the DR. But he asked us about going to church so when he arrives in the DR we will have to sick the missionaries on him. He likes us so much he at first wanted us to go to the DR with him and since we cant, he wants us to go to the DR and visit him when we are done, and eat delicious food and go swimming and stuff.  Well we have a zone unity picnic thing soon so I have to go. Love Elder Richardson