October 21, 2013

 Dear Maranda

 I just wrote a master piece of a letter to Josh that took a little bit of time so don't be to mad if I skimp a little bit on this one. Hey how about our little brother wart dog, not too shabby huh. What a stud. Sometimes I wonder if I was bringing him down or a bad influence on him at home so now that I am gone he is spreading his wings and soaring at almost everything. Or maybe it is because I am like the jedi trainer and I taught the young padawan well and now he has passed me up. Or also maybe it is because I am being a stud out here and working and enduring so young wart is being blessed.  Who knows? It sounds like things are going good for you and I am glad to hear that. Well I think I might start with the general email if that is cool.

Well this week has been for the most part great. Since our numbers last week were so crappy this last week we were able to triple the # of lessons we taught. So that was a good feeling. I also had some good lessons. One I like was I taught the plan of salvation in Spanish and I think I did pretty well I even invited the person to be baptized and she said that she needs to ask her husband.

We also had some other good lessons. One thing that was also cool and maybe even a small miracle happened yesterday. So we were contacting people and going to houses that were on our less active list and we also visited a house that the sister missionaries told us to visit. Well we did that and no one was at the house. However since the houses here are like all row homes and touching each other, the neighbor was like on the same porch.

Well she didn't seem so hyped up about talking to us so we just asked her about her neighbor. Then I decided to talk to her a little more and I asked her if she spoke Spanish and if she just said she was cold to her son in Spanish. Then we talked a lot more in Spanish and she opened right up. Its amazing how small talk and small talk in Spanish with Latino people in America can go a long way. Because that lady told us all about her family and how she got here to Reading and everything.

So that was cool and that might not have happened because we were about to leave the house porch when I talked to her. Then while we were talking more people came out of the other door, which was like a house split into 2 apartments. Well a girl came out of the house and I recognized her and we had talked to her my first week of being here in Reading. It was crazy. Before when we talked to her and she told us she had a friend that was a member and she herd about the church red the book of Mormon some and wouldn't mind hearing more. Well we gave her as a referral to the other missionaries because she speaks both Spanish and English but her friends are English speaking so she would want to go to church and have the lessons in English.

Well anyway we never herd what happened from after that day but I always wondered because we don't meet people like that often. Well so here on the lady’s porch yesterday this girl came walking out and we had another similar conversation and the missionary’s either didn't talk to her or weren't able to so we talked to her more and she said she went to church before and again wouldn't mind talking to the missionaries and hearing more. So it is really cool seeing the way how God works and places people in your path.

         This week we had a ward culture night on Friday. That was a kickin party. At first no one was there because I guess in Latino culture everyone is like half an hour late and even one of the guys in the ward said it wouldn't be a real culture night if it were on time. I made a poster of Washington and it had the Seattle Temple on it and had some cool facts about Washington and junk like that. It was pretty cool. Washington isn't actually that bad and I am almost a little proud of saying I’m from there especially when the other people from my district are from Arizona Utah and Idaho lame of what. And the parts they are from are all full of Mormons and Have seminary as a class at school and junk like that. So yeah compared to those places Washington is incredible. J

Well any how we all made posters and had a table with pass along cards and behind us we had a ton of temple pictures and an American flag. The other parts of the night were cool. There was a lot of good food and we had a Mexican chef in our ward who made a lot, and a lot of Dominicans made some good stuff. And I had food from El Salvador and Honduras and Ecuador and stuff so it was great.

Also someone hired a bunch of Mexican dancer people who were decked out in sombreros and stuff it was cool it made me want to dance with Cory in our cowboy boots back home. Like we used to do.

And then I saw a lady in our ward from Uruguay and looked at her pictures and then I thought about my mission in Puerto alegre Brazil and I thought about that and even got a little sad I wasn't there. Also sometimes I would watch a Mormon message thing or one of those Im a Mormon things on the Internet with Brazilians and it makes me even more trunkie to go to Brazil.

So I have to admit I got a little depressed when I compare Brazil to where I am now. Also when I thought about what I have heard about people waiting for there visas for like 6 months in there re assigned area.

Well after feeling sorry for myself I did some praying and scripture reading and thinking. And I realized feeling sorry for myself isn't going to change what's happening with my visa and being happy is my choice and I can choose how I look at speaking Spanish in the Ghetto as just as hard to do mission work in Reading PA compared to speaking Portuguese In Brazil so that is my only kind of low part about this week.

    Things are also starting to cool down here literally and riding my bike home at night gets cold. But it’s all good in the Hood.

      Well I love you a lot and thanks for all that you do and for your prayers Love always elder Tyler Richardson. 

October 15, 2013

Oct. 15 2013

Dear Maranda

How is life? Hey I have a Question. Have you herd about my S A T scores yet I want to know if it is good enough to get into Harvard yet. NOT. I know I probably blew it but if you want and have the time you can feel free to tell me how I did.

    This week has been kind of rough. Number wise it probably has been the worst week of the mission. And I am to embarrassed to tell you. Part of it is because a lot of times we have really good plans and then they fall through and don't work out or the person is not home or can't listen right then. But that's mission life. This week the weather has been kind of cruddy some days and it poured hard core.

 It reminded me of some of the cross-country invites I had in high school, especially the day we were walking around and walked past a really big green park and it was pouring down rain and there was green grass with leaves all over it. So it kind of reminded me of home. We are finding people all the time who want to hear more or say they want to which is good and I guess that's a lot better than nothing. Sometimes I just wonder if there’s something that I could be doing different that might be holding the work back but I don't know.

         I have experienced some cool things this week. One day when I was on exchanges we were driving to the church and elder callister had found a cd and so when me and another elder picked elder callister and our district leader up, we put it in to see what kind of cd it was. Holy cow it was ghetto. Not only it was a cruddy recording and sounded terrible because of the words. We would change it every time we heard a bad word, the shortest time we had on a song was like 3 seconds and the longest was 15 or 11 so after that while driving I rolled down the window and tossed it like a frisbee. Last week while at Wal-Mart on pday I saw some Amish people that was cool.

         And then yesterday we went to a Puerto Rican ladies house for dinner. Anyway there was a big group of maybe like 8 kids in the street and they had boxing gloves and would do fights I though it was fun and kind of wanted to fight some of those punky little 10 year olds. Instead I cheered from the side walk.

So that's what has been going down this week. Hopefully this week will be better. No in fact it will be better almost guaranteed. Because one reason is today we have a member present lesson, also this last week I had exchanges and went to a different area and elder callister didn't get anything that day and the next day was the day he planed out and we didn't get anything, so I know this week will be great and we also have another exchange but I am staying on my side of town and the district leader is coming to me.

Oh by the way today I actually bought some stuff to cook with. Like Potatoes and ketchup. And last week I bought eggs, Usually I just buy milk and cereal but I am going to do something more this week and can make some fried potatoes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes maybe some breakfast burritos oh man I am excited. Just wish me luck.

       dear maranda again how are you. It is crazy how long I have been out sometimes it doesn't seem like it at all. I just hope by time I get to Brazil I can learn the language quick enough so that I can speak the language fluently and say almost everything I want to say. Yesterday I actually watched one of those I'm a Mormon things on Mormon .org about a guy named Felipe who is from Porto Alegre and now I want to go there even more. But here it is cool. I have a couple of week left in the transfer and after that I don't know what is going to happen. We often think about all the different options but since I am a visa waiter that makes things even more different.

For example, elder callister has already been here half a year but would they take him out and have me introduce someone to the area even though I could go anytime? So those are things I think about sometimes. I love you and it sounds like you and the family are doing great. It is going to be really weird when I get back and see Ellie.

Well I'll talk to you later

 LOVE always Elder Tyler Richardson Your Favorite Missionary.

October 7, 2013

 Maranda how are you?

 it seems like it was only last week I was talking to you. Oh wait it was last week that I talked to you. I got a letter from josh and it sounds like little screecher is doing pretty good. I bet if you go see the family during Christmas time that Mom will have some prime presents for her sitting under that green home grown Washington tree. If things turn out right I will be in Brazil by then or that's what I am assuming because I put my visa papers in clear back in march so its only been like 7 months, no big deal. I just wouldn't mind going to Brazil before it gets cold here. And if I do leave here in the winter I would be going to Brazil in there summer. Crazy. That could be a slight adjustment.

Well the work here is going. Some days are kind of slow but its all good in the Hood especially the hood of Reading PA. Its only kind of hood here I guess. Yesterday I was walking down a street and I passed a guy peeing on a fence on the side of the road. Also I was told to be careful around here because it can be kind of ghetto. But so far nothing too much which I guess is a good thing if you think about it.

Yesterday before I saw the guy peeing, I walked past a church and there was a person on the steps who invited us to go in and pray with them and learn more. It wasn't your normal church though it was like an Muslim church called the church of Islamic something. This guy was talking to us for a while about their prayers and there prayer circles they do in the morning and how they do other things and something about Allah. The door was also open and I could see people inside sitting cross legged on the floor with like their little prayer bed things that the guy on the steps had and just told us about. And the people inside were looking at me and elder callister like, we were weird like "what are those Christian white boys doing out side our church?" It was a little weird. And while the guy was talking to us there was a guy who had a mic and started to do like a prayer call into the mic in a different language. Usually the only language I here out here is Spanish English and ghetto. We had to go after a while because we had to go to an appointment. Which is a slight bummer because we would have went in too. And the appointment ended up falling through.

            I had a cool experience this week. Elder Callister let me lead in where we were going to go and what we were going to do so I went to visit some people who were potential investigators and former investigators. At one house no one was there so I decided to knock on the neighbors door to see if they new there neighbor and use that as an excuse to break the ice and find if they want to learn more.

Well I was talking to the women and she looked kind of preoccupied like she was cooking so she asked if I wanted to talk to the husband. So I said sure and he invited us in. That never happens. It was cool because the guy was Dominican and spoke only Spanish with us and I actually understood him and talked to him a decent amount. He was from a different faith and shared some scriptures with us from the bible. I also noticed he had a guitar next to his piano so I  asked him if I could play it or use it and he said sure. So I played a little bit and then he did. He was amazing. And he played like a Spanish style of guitar with a lot of finger plucking.

Also he could sing beautifully and played songs and sang them in Spanish that were from his church. Then my companion Elder callister who is a great singer, started to sing songs out of his small Spanish hymn book. The guy then started playing cords that went along. it was really cool and he even sang some of the songs from our hymn book that was also probably from his book to so it was really cool. Then we had to go and got a return appointment and left. We also told him about conference and we showed him how to get there from his laptop. It was legit. Then we ended with a prayer and left happy and energized. A good day.

          Conference was great and I liked a lot of the talks. The priesthood session had a lot of the best ones I thought. I also liked the one that talked about enduring and being spiritually fit and he talked about playing basketball in college and running the cross-country course. I liked that one because I like sports and it made me think about running and that's something I have been doing with elder Jorgensen in the morning.

    Anyway conference was good. Even though it was a little ghetto at first they couldn't get it to come in through the satellite so they had it on a laptop and they hooked it up to the projector and then they used the microphone to be next to the laptop for sound however by the time the priesthood session came, a guy there found this box thing that hooked up to the sound system. So it was cool. Well I love you a lot and have to go talk to you latter Love always-elder Richardson