Two Months-November 11

Hello my wonderful friends and family!

Oh how much I've missed my home this week. Especially when I had a hamburger on sunday! So awesome. But that was not the highlight of my week. 

 I really want to tell you all about our people. Everyone here that I love! Our investigators are pretty awesome, not gonna lie. Luis we taught my first night in the mission. He is 42 and is so sweet. I'm not sure how much he understands, because I can barely understand him. Hermana Vera said it is hard for her to understand him, so, yeah. It's fun to teach him. He is very receptive and readily agrees to do everything we ask. On Saturday night he was supposed to go to a party, but we advised him it was a bad idea as there would be temptations awaiting there. So, he asked if he could come and teach with us. Of course! It was awesome. He bought us ice cream, and helped us contact and teach a lesson. His baptism is this Saturday, so please pray for him that everything will go well! I am so excited for him, especially because I have been there with him every step of the way. 

 Then Maty, who I spoke about in my last letter. He couldn't come to church this week because he worked really late the night before, but from what I have asked from Nico his brother, he's still wanting to be baptzied. He's just awesome.

Patricia, who we call patchy, is Nico's (Maty's brother) girlfriend. One day we asked Nico why he hadn't ever invited his girlfriend of 8 months to talk to us. He wasn't sure why not, so we set up an appointment. She's a little doubtful, and said she only felt peace when she prayed. That's the spirit! We jumped into Galatians to explain that yes, that is an answer! She's been coming to church and we've had a few lessons so far, so things are going really well. I really just hope that she feels confident in her answer and that God really loves her and is looking out for her. 

We had a cool experience with María a less active. She hasn't been to church in a while because she has been really sick and feels weak. We talked further and she said that she feels as though God has abandoned her somewhat. As they were talking and I was sitting trying to understand as usual, I felt impressed to speak up. I'm not sure where it came from, but I explained out of no where that when God seems far away or we feel abandoned by God, it is not because he abandons us, it is because we move ourselves away from him. God will NEVER abandon us. She seemed a little shocked because I said it a little forcefully. Not too much, I didn't mean to, but it came out that way. But, it must have been what she needed, as to our wonderful surprise, she has come to church two weeks in a row! Oh I just love the spirit! It is so powerful and knows exactly what everyone needs. 

We have others as well that we teach, especially less actives. It is a big problem in Chile for people to be baptized, and then stop coming for whatever reason. Our ward list is HUGE! but only about ten or twenty percent attend. But I love our ward! Los Pimientos with our 50 or so members. They are adorable and I love them. There are some huge apartment buildings being built in our sector, so we're hoping that when they're finished, a ton more people will be in our limits which are rather small, and we'll have more people to teach! Because almost everyone we come in contact with has talked to or been taught by the missionaries. Literaly everyone, it's kinda crazy. So we're hoping for some new families to strengthen our ward, because I'm afraid we're going to lose some members in the coming years as everyone is fairly old. But let's hope not. 

But everything is good! I'm finally getting over my cold so hopefully I can start running again and have more energy during the day to stop sleeping during lessons. Here's hoping! I love the gospel, it is just WOW! The gospel is amazing I can't even put my thoughts into words about how much I love it. I am so excited to live it forever and ever and ever! Love you all!

Hermana Richardson

Saludos

¡Saludos!

This week was really amazing. We had intercambios on Wednesday, where I went and spent a day with Hermana Lefevre in Maray. She is from Delta, Utah. It was so wonderful to just talk and not have to think about what I had to say. In lessons, yes, but just walking around, I got to have some real conversations which was so nice. Then in the morning, I did training on my own, because we had a lesson planned during my training time. I was studying in Finding People in Preach My Gospel, and read the last bullet point, No Effort is Wasted. I had been really struggling with this lately, because the past week a lot of people had flat out rejected us. I was having a hard time finding the point for all my hard work. As I read, it related that when we do missionary work, we are planting seeds. Little smiles, hellos, prayers, and lessons, are all seeds of light that we are planting in others. These seeds can grow, slowly, but eventually bloom and be harvested many years later from other misisonaries or members. My effort is never wasted! This gave me a whole new perspective on my service. The next day I excitedly reported my findings to Hermana Vera. She told me a story of how when she was a baby, her grandmother had allowed two sister missionaries to come in her home, sing a hymn, and pray. Many years later, two elders asked to help her husband, hermana Vera's grandfather, to sweep his yard. Her grandmother and mother remembered the sisters from about 10 years back, and accepted the elder's invitation, and now Hermana Vera is on a mission helping others. How AMAZING! God is just awesome. So awesome. So all knowing. He knows exactly what he's doing. 

Luis was baptized on Saturday! He arrived home from work around 7. Perfect! We grabbed some empenadas to eat as we walked him over to the chapel. It started around 9 and we had a lovely little group there to support him. His hermanador (friendshipper) Herminio baptized him and he was confirmed on sunday by the bishop. We had a lot of opportunities after to teach him and talk to him. He is just so happy and I am so excited for him. 

We set a new date for Maty, and he is so ready as well. He came to church on sunday, and we had an awesome lesson with him on saturday. His brother is a big help as he is a member. We're hoping he will be able to baptize him next saturdaythe 30th. We also had an activity where some of the youth from the missionary prep class and some of the elders from our district, came to visit less actives from our ward and contact their street. We got so many referalls and everyone had a really great experience. I went with Claudia, who is leaving for the CCM to serve a mission in Mexico. So exciting! Everyone was so excited afterward and couldn't wait to tell us the people they met and what they taught others. Missionary work can be so fun and so exciting! But, I best be going. Please pray for missionary work, especially here in Los Pimientos! We need all the divine help we can get. I love you all!

Herman Richardson 

Bienvenidos a Chile!

Hello Beautiful family and friends! I am so excited to announce that I am safe and sound in Chile! What an awesome feeling. I am finally doing what I have been preparing for, for almost a year now. However, I could have never expected what I have just experienced this past week. I don't even know how to describe it.

Everything is different. The houses and shops are made for midgets, there are dogs everywhere, everyone kisses and hugs you all the time, everyone whistles at me because of my blonde hair, just the way things are done, it's all new. It's so hard to get accustomed to everything. Even the spanish is different. It's crazy fast and they drop endings off of words and add po to other words. I have no idea why.  But Hermana Vera is helping me. She is from Santiago, is 26, studying nursing, and is the best trainer I could ask for. She is so patient and loving, and doesn't mind when I get upset or frustrated, mostly from when I can't speak the language, or I get tired of people yelling at me that they love me or to marry them. I never want attention from men ever again. She is awesome, and everyone we come in contact with loves her. All the time people wave at her from all over the place and she can't remember who they are because she talks to so many people. However, she doesn't speak English, and I obviously don't speak Spanish, so we have an interesting time. It's fun. Most of the time I have not a clue what is happening. God has seemed to bless me with the gift of tongues, which is amazing, but I seem to be lacking in the gift of interpretation of tongues. I can't understand anybody ever. I can't even understand myself. It's a weird feeling. I'll just keep praying and hoping and trying and hopefully sometime soon someone will say something, I'll understand, and I'll fist pump and do a happy dance to myself. It'll be a great day.I just have to be patient, which is hard, but good, I'm learning. 

I really love teaching. I thought it would be awkward and weird, but I've come to find that the times that I am most tired are when I'm not teaching. When I talk to others about the gospel I get exhilerated and happy and want to tell them all about it and tell them to come be happy like me. Then when it's over and we're back outside walking the long dusty roads my legs start to hurt, the sun burns, and I feel exausted. So, I guess I just need to find more, teach more, and I'll be happy more! I still am tired, I've almost fallen asleep a few times while talking to people, but I'm working on it. I'll have awesome stamina soon. It'll be great. 

One lesson we had this week was with three men we met. One was a contact and we went to find him and teach him, and the other two were standing near us, and we invited them to come and listen. We taught in a member's house about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because I don't understand anything and can't help the lesson, I always give the baptismal challenge by memory when Hermana Vera looks at me a certain way. So, she looked at me and I challenged, looking especialy at Carlos, one of the men who had been looking intently at the picture of Christ and had not said much. The other two went on about how they were already baptized (a common response), But she specifically asked Carlos after all of that "Do you want to follow the way of the Lord and be baptized?" He said "yes, I think so yes" He looked so touched. The way his eyes brightened and his face was just a little softer, I could see that the spirit had reached him. He truley wanted forgiveness and direction in his life. He came with us to chruch yesterday and we have another lesson with him early this week. I am so excited for his progress! I am extactic that he wants to change his life and make it better. 

I can't wait to teach more people and find more people. Everyone we come in contact with we talk to, and it is so fun. I did my first bus contact today on the way to the market, and I actually understood a little of what he said! I think he was talking slower though to help me out. Everything is great. I'm learning, loving, and overall changing myself to be more like the Lord, or trying to. It's hard to allign your will with the Lord's when all you want to do is sleep or dream of your mansions above. If any one has any advice it would be gladly appreciated. But, I love this work, I love the savior, who gives me strength to carry on each day, and I love the Lord who loves all of his children so  very much. I've already seen a tiny glimpse of his love, and I hope I will be faithful enough to be able to see more. The gospel is true, it is real. In the words of Hermana Vera "don't worry, be happy"

Con Amor,

Hermana Richardson

ps. please excuse my many mistakes, the computer says all of my english words are wrong. Or maybe I just don't remember english any more. It could be that as well. 

Chile!

After a very long two plane rides, a bus ride into Antofagasta, and another 7 hour ride into Copiapó, I am here! In Antofagasta I received my trainer Hermana Vera from Santiago. She is super nice and we are helping each other learn each other's languages. She is really good at contacting. Just today we have made about 5 contacts (maybe that's normal, I don't know) But everyone loves her and everyone keeps whistling at me. Super fun. But I'm excited to be here. I'm safe, I'm happy, and I'll write more on Monday. Love you all!

love,

Hermana Richardson

Our soccer group

Our last day as companions.

Hermano Brown's awesome mexican sombrero and poncho.

My mission

Our Mission October 22, 2013

I leave for Chile on Wednesday! I am beyond excited and scared and nervous and extatic that I can barely think about anything else. It's a weird feeling. Both of my compaions have left for their respective missions already, so I am currently tagging along with a companionship with one hermana going to Chile the same day as me, but Concepcion sur. I had to move houses in the middle of the night after Hermana Baumgart left around two in the morning. It was quite the advernture. Saying goodbye was extremely hard, but I now that I will see everyone again.

 

One taste I got early of the mission field early this week was when Hermana Pineda got pretty sick and had to be taken to the Emergency Room (don't worry, she's fine now). We left around 11:30 p.m. for the hospital and didn't return until about 7 the next morning. It was a long night. However, somewhere around four o'clock, we started talking to one of the ladies that worked in the waiting area. We asked her about her family, her religion, and she asked about us. She was curious about what we were doing so we asked if she wanted to hear our message. She agreed! We taught the first lesson to the best of our ability, but she could not understand us. It was way early, and our spanish is fairly awful to begin with, so we were having a hard time connecting. However, at one point, We bore our testimonies after Hermana Baumgart recited the first vision, and I felt the spirit. It wasn't huge, but I felt a love for that woman that I could not understand how it came so fast. I could see just a tiny glimpse of what heavenly father must see her as. She agreed to talk to missionaries that would actually be able to talk to her, and we got her contact information.We gave it to our branch president, and I'm very much hoping that she will find the right path. All I can do now is pray for her.

 

Then sunday was beyond amazing. I still hadn't talked in church yet so I knew that I would most likely be giving my lección. It was on the life and mission of Joseph Smith. As I pondered about it sunday morning I wrote points about what I would like to address. I thought about other prophets and how Jospeh had been called in the same way, through humbling experiences. Such as Moses from prince to shepherd, Nephi from wealthy Jerusalem-ite to wandering in the wilderness, and even our Lord Jesus Christ, the first son of God, born from a mortal woman in a manger. For Jospeh, already extremely humble, had to admit to himself that he needed God to be able to know, and that he could not find the truth on his own. In the prophet pattern of being humbled and then asking God, he became one of the greatest prophets of all time. As I was thinking of this and writing, I was starting to realize all of the things that Joseph Smith had done for me. This whole church, God restored through Jospeh Smith. EVERYTHING I have, work for, love and cherish are because he was humble and great enough to establish the gospel on the earth again. All day I was thinking of new things the prophet had done and I could not stop talking about him or giving thanks for him. During my talk, as I testified of him, my face flushed red, my voice was a pretty animated and I started to cry as I listed the things that he had done for us. He is so wonderful! At the end, I quoted the standard of truth that I had learned at the Hill Cumorah Pageant so many years before. I saw elders silently quoting it with me and I was beyond excited. His mission is our mission. It is the same. We are working together to help bring all of our brothers and sisters back into the fold of God. It is our duty to proclaim this Gospel. Joseph gave his entire life and being to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The least I could do is give 18 months. The least every member can do is invite, love, serve, and help. We all need to be in this work. ALL of us. Jesus died for us. Joseph died for the work. The least we could do is give of ourselves to continue it. Continue the legacy of faith and commitment in the gospel as was started by Joseph Smith.

 

This is all I have for now, but thank you for being so wonderful! Pray for Angeles please! Pray for the missionaries! Pray for opportunities! Get lost in the work!

 

Love,

Hermana Richardson

Another week has flown by! I can't believe it is my last week at the CCM. I don't feel like it is even possible to leave this place. It really has become my home and I don't know how my mission will be without it. But, I'm way stoked to go to Chile so it will be a good change. Nothing too interesting happened this week, just waking up, eating, soccer, studying, class, investigators, studying, planning, meetings, more eating, more studying, sleeping, and then all over again. Everything blurs together so It's hard to remember what you did just a day ago.

I do remember one instance during TALL time, which is a computer program to help us learn spanish. My companions and I were in the bathroom when suddenly they both ran out of the bathroom. I was confused and started to wash my hands untill I looked up and on the wall right next to my face was a moth the size my forehead (probably bigger). I whelped and ran out of the bathroom to the safety of the hallway. All of the elders around heard and ran to see what had happened. They made sure there weren't any hermanas in the bathroom and then tried to catch it. Worst night ever. My heart was pounding for about an hour afterwards.

In soccer I scored a goal by volley kicking it. I felt really cool and the one elder who is really good said me gusta to me. I felt very accomplished. Then later he bicicle back flip (I really can't even comprehend what he did) kicked it and scored so... yeah. However, I'm still proud of myself and the progress i've made soccer wise.

But I'm even more proud of what I've become spiritual wise (If I'm allowed to say such things). Thanks to a lot of very humbling hapenstances, I've really been working hard on changing myself. After conference and other things I had a very strong desire to change. I made some small goals to start, but I can already see progress and that makes me so thankful to God. He wants us to go through trials so that we can have a broken heart and a contrite spirit, so it will be easier for us to come unto him. At first I didn't want to change, but then I realized that this is what I am going to be asking my investigators to do. I will be asking them to change their entire life to follow the savior. The least I could do is change parts of myself to become more like Christ. It seems so selfish of me when I don't want to change the way I am, which gives me an even greater desire to become more like Him. I really had to let go of my pride these past few weeks, and I'm sure many know that that is something I really struggle with. I had to accept that I can't do it on my own, that I need help, and that I have a TON of changing to do. Which can be upsetting, unless you look at it like a growing opportunity! Every time I'm painfully reminded of how prideful I am, I just think 'God is helping me be better, this way I'll be a better missionary, and a better friend, a better wife, a better mother, and ultimetly a better daughter of God. Yay for better! So I get excited when I'm reminded because I get to gain more new attributes that are much better than the ones I had before.

 Spanish is fun and I can't wait to put my skills (or what I think are skills) to the test in just one week! I know it will be super hard, but God makes everything possible, and he will even help and random girl in Chile with spanish problems. Oh he is just so good. I love him. And I love all of you! Have a fantastic week and hopefully the next time I write I will be safe and sound in Chile!

 

con amor,

Hermana Richardson

Our view walking home everyday.(except when it is raining)

The beautiful CCM campus

Elder Fuentes and Elder Gonzales, the elders we met in the clinic. Elder Gonzales is next to me, and the one who tried to say, may I go to the bathroom.

Penguions

So Many Friends

Hello wonderful family and friends!

 

Another week has gone by, yet it has felt like an eternity. Nothing terribly exciting happened this week, but we did get two new 'investigators'. Both of our teachers became investigators and we teach one a day. One of my teachers is Hermano Brown. We were teaching him a lesson one day when he started to talk about his family. He asked if we wanted to see a picture, and of course we said yes. He showed us his phone which had two little kids on it wearing, guess what, Hill Cumorah Pageant t-shirts. I just about died. I had to control myself as we finished teaching. But after our lesson when he came back in our room, I excitedly asked him when his family had gone. They were there this summer, and he had been in Hannah's cast team. Craziness. We talked about Hannah and other fun pageant things before dinner. It was so nice to talk to someone about something close to home. The next day he told me that my sister had said hello, and that the Miller's (who were his mission presidents) told him to give me extra TLC. It absolutly made my day.

 

Also relating to knowing people, my companions have been making fun of me for how many people I know or find people I know in common with others. Every time someone mentions where their from and I get excited, they groan and say, why do you know so many people! I guess BYU and pageant just supplied me with endless amounts of people, which is awesome. I love seeing familiar faces or finding with someone that we are friends with the same person. I also re-met my old primary classmate this week from San Juan Capistrano, Spencer Manning. It was fun to talk about old people and places I haven't seen for a very long time. We said goodbye to all of our Mexican friends this week. A ton of them asked for our emails and pictures, two or three of them confessed their love for Hermana Baumgart, and one sent a friend to tell me I was pretty. We are really going to miss our very fun friends, who love to make fun of our spanish. I love that wherever you go, there will always be memebers of the church and you will always have the gospel in common. The gospel is all about friendship. How wonderful!

 

The food continues to be delicious, and the weather has been very sunny and warm, with an occational torrential downpour just for fun. We also got to use the earthquake circles once when the alarm went off. I thought it wouldn't ever happen. I got three bugs caught in my hair yesterday. The best was early in the morning, Hermana Baumgart started to play with my hair and told me not to freak out. I thought she was just brushing it untill I heard I very loud buzzing noise right next to my ear and I freaked out. My district looked at me like I was crazy as I inwardly sobbed and rapidly put my head down as I waited for her to get it out. I saw the huge moth fly around the room, that had been in my hair. Nasty. Soccer is coming along well, and I even found one of my BYU tennis club friends here, so we play tennis together sometimes when my companions dont feel like working out.

 

We had TRC this week which is just sitting in with natives and talking. We talked with one sister, who was very nice. I couldn't understand a thing she said, but I could feel her spirit as strongly as I ever have. I knew that God loved her. She told us her conversion story and asked us why she didn't get a lot of answers from God. We told her that we knew God loved her, she just needed to be patient, and maybe the answer she was looking for wasn't the right time or the right thing. Afterwards, I saw two little kids walking with the parents from the TRC lessons. One little boy looked like a Mexican version of Jeremiah, and one looked like a Mexican version of Lily. I broke down. I missed my family so much in that instant it was really hard to think or move. So, I thought of my testimony of eternal families, and I knew I would always be with my family. It was an amazing feeling.

 

I love you all, but I love what I'm doing, and I can not wait until I get to teach people that have been prepared for me in Antofagasta Chile. What a wonderful knowledge we have of this Gospel! We will always have family and friends and love.

So much love!

 

Hermana Richardson

Jumping in the rain.

A Mexican torrential downpour.

Me and Brian Del Rosario from OCMCO. I love seeing friends here!

My Garden of Eden

Another lovely week here at the CCM!

 I'm growing more in love with Mexico as the days go by. The food continues to be awesome. We had tamales this week, huevos rancheros, puff pastries, flan on top of chocolate cake which apparently is called chocoflan. That cake changed my life. Probably one of the most delicious things I´ve ever had. I love trying all this new food. I also forgot to mention last week that my companionship was called to be our Zone Sister Trainer Leaders. It seems like an intense job except for the fact that we have four sisters to watch over, two of which our leaving today for the field. So we are watching over a grand total of two! sisters. However we might get more today, we're not sure.

I've alwso been making a lot of fun new friends! We especially love talking to the natives that are here. Probably some of the most hillarious english I have ever heard. While in the clinic one day waiting for one of our companions to talk to the doctor, Hermana Baumgart and I started to talk to some Mexican elders that were there. We talked in spanish and I asked them how their english was coming along (they all learn a little bit while here) and one of them said "meh uh guh te thu bahrwoom?" I look really confused so he said "puedo usar al baño?" He was trying to say may I go to the bathroom! I had to hold back my laughter as I tried to teach him the right way to phonetically say it. It wasn't much of a success, but it was way fun. My spanish is acctually coming along fairly well, and they told us they could acctually understand us. Yes!

I've also started to play a ton of soccer recently, and I'm getting to the point were if I kick it, it will mostly go where I want it to go. Hooray! I'm really starting to love it. I even headed it the other day (in the right direction I might add) and I was told it looked cool. It better have looked cool, because it really hurt (but of course I didn't tell anyone that).

So last time I mentioned our investigator Rogelio, well our lessons progressed and we told him that for him to be baptized he needed to be married. We told him to talk to his girlfriend and report back to us. He did and he said the soonest he could get married was a week but his pregnant girldfriend wanted a week and a half. I had been expecting a few months! So I said, what if we give you two weeks? He thought that was funny and said "dos para uno!" like a salesman, muy gracioso. We all laughed and I challenged him to be married in two weeks and baptized on October the 10th. He said yes. My feelings that day were off the charts. I couldn't hold my happiness in. If this is the feeling and more i'll get when teaching an investigator I can not wait to get out in the mission feild. Also, Rogelio became our new Maestro, and yesterday he told us that Rogelio was a realy person with a real family whom he had taught on his mission. He showed us pictures of there wedding and their baptism and it made me want to cry.

Yes this work is amazing, but it is hard work. I'm excited for Chile to become my Garden of Eden. Last Sunday in Releif Soceity the Mission President's wife spoke to us about being thrust into the lone and dreary world many times in our life, but having those experiences become our Garden of Eden. The first week here, after leaving my garden of a home, it felt like a wilderness and it was scary. But now as I am growing more comfortable and happy, the CCM has become my new Garden of Eden. However when I leave I will again be thrust into the wilderness, to learn and to grow more. This is God's plan for us. He sent us down ways and paths that we don't want to follow or seem hard, but it will be for our good and our experience, and we will grow the way he wants us to grow. She also likened this to a fruit tree. Heavenly Father will cut us down and purge us (we were purged of our worldy and material things when coming here) so we can grow the correct way. Also, when a tree is purged of lesser fruits, more of the tree's energy can go into making the better fruits bigger. It is the same with our spiritual lives. When we purge the distractions, we can send our energy to the most important place, the gospel. And our fruit of faith and knowledge and testimony will grow to sizes we never knew they could.

I love mexico, I love missionary work, I love my savior and I love God!

I love you all!

Hermana Richardson

Viva Mexico

Hello Family and Friends!

This has been the most exhilerating and exhausting week of my life! It is still weird to think that I'm in Mexico. It's been a hard but extrememly gratifying week. I have two companions Hermana Baumgart from Atlanta, Georgia and Hermana Pineda from Anaheim, California. We live in a cute litte orange casa with some other companionships. Thanks to my four years of spanish in high school we were put in a intermediete class, with six other elders. We're all fairly good at spanish so we tend to get more accomplished then the other begginer classses. This place is beautiful! It is so tropical and lush (probably from all the rain) and there's parrots and birds everywhere. Although, that's really only how it is in the CCM. The city itself is a different story. It's just concrete building stacked on top of each other. But I really do love it. It's usually cloudy and foggy and usually always raining but when the sun shines it is beautiful. The food here is amazing! I love mexican food anyway so this place is like heaven. It's pretty authentic and I resolved to try everything the give us and try a different kind of juice and pastry every day. I love it. Like crazy. A lot of elders and sisters here I see just eat frosted flakes or fruit for every meal. They're crazy. Crazy Americans. But you should all be jealous of the delicious empanadas, tacos, sopas, pan, pollo, y muchas más. Oh and by the way john, best watermelon ever. Mexican melons are the best melons.

This sunday was mexican national independence day which was the coolest. All week the catholic church has been shooting of canons in celebration which is pretty loud. However, some of the sisters have told me that loud gun shots are not uncommon here, and they usually hear them a few times a day. We had a Noche Méxicano where we sang the national anthem of México, watched history and videos of México, watched a traditional dance troupe and a singer. It was amazing. And the best part was at the end all the performers sang the medley We are as the Army of Helaman and As Sisters in Zion. I had no Idea they were members so it made the show that much more powerful. The CCM president thanked them at the end and told them they were a shining example to the youth of México. Then on sundaynight we got to participate in the Grita de México. We got special persmission to stay up past 10:30 (crazy!) and watched it live from the plaza. The presidente would say things like Libertad! and all the natives would cry Viva! Justicia! Viva! It was a great culutural experience. I'm really starting to fall in love with México even after just one week.

I really do love it here. The first week went be sluggishly slow, but i've heard it flies by. Every day is packed with learning and studying and everything else involved with missionary work. You'd think it would be like a prison here but surprisingly most of the time is up to us to study what we want to. we mostly study for our lessons with our investigator, Rogelio. Our lessons with him have been amazing. The first one we taught about the restoration and about the gosple of Jesus Chirst. It went so well. But the second one was even better. We talked about the plan of salvation. The spirit was so strong throughout the whole lesson because we had tailored it exactly to what he needed to hear. I brought up the end of the lesson with mortal death, the spirit world, the judgment, and being with god and our families forever. When I said that he perked up. He asked how and I told him through sacred covenatns in the temple (in my awkward spanish). He asked if he could go there now and I told him he had to be baptised. He asked how to do that and my companions told him the correct way to be baptized. There was a slight pause and the spirit told me to speak up so I asked " Quiere estar bautizado?" My spanish was so bad but he replied, yes! I couldn't handle the rush of joy I recieved from what happened. We continued on and he closed the lesson with his first ever prayer, which was so heartfelt and sincere. Yes, this investigator isn't exactly real, but he is a real person, and the spirit is real. The spirit was there and that was not fake. Afterwards we hugged and prayed as a companionship and I started to cry. Up to that point I had successfully not cried all week, but this was a happy cry, so I was okay. All I could think about was my testimony that I bore to him about eternal families and I realized that I get to be with my family forever, and that is one of the greatest blessings in the entire universe. Well I really don´t have much time because I have much else to do today, but next week I'll try to give more details of how it is at this wonderful place! I love México! I love Missionary work! I love the spirit! I love this church! And I love God! ¡Viva!

con amor,

Hermana Richardson

Hello

We were told to write to our families upon arriving! I am so happy because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to write until next week! Now mom can't stress about me being in Mexico City with no communication. But I won't say it's nothing to stress about. This place is completely new. As the bus drove out of the airport I was in awe. Even in the plane I couldn't believe it. This city is HUGE! I couldn't even see the end of it through the fog. It seemd to stretch on forever from my plane window. Then the city itself was crazy. Brightly colored buildings everywhere, narrow streets with no lane lines, no lights, and crazy drivers. It was so different. It is not the nice, clean, and proper Fountain Valley and Provo that I'm used to. The big bus bounced along everywhere as we would take bursts of speed at some points and suddenly stop due to congested and weirdly placed off and on ramps. The bus driver pointed things out to us and laughed at the wide eyed missionaries. I must have looked especially innocent because as we passed a fruit stand some teenage boys pointed at me, laughed and smiled, and waved. I waved back and thought about how silly I must look to the people who lived there. Also at one point we were going to a hill and the temple spire came into sight from pretty far off. The bus driver said "templo!" and made a triangle with his arms. This made me and Hermana Jackson laugh and repeat it. He laughed and we all did it together.  My flight went well. I read the Book of Mormon pretty much the whole time. I'm still trying to finish which is what I was supposed to do a little while ago... but I'm almost done. So far I like it here. The campus is beautiful. White buildings and green grass. And the weather is cool and cloudy which I very much enjoy. Well, I best be going. I need to go fill out some papers, find my house, eat today, and other such things. I love you all so much, but I can tell that I will love it here and would rather be doing nothing else! Have a lovely week!

 

Sincerely,

Hermana Richardson

Little Mary Ann