Week 31

Hello family!! this week was so good!!!

Not tons happened with our investigators, except that Jessie got baptized!! she was baptized on saturday and confimed on sunday. she is the most beautiful person, i am so blessed to have been able to teach her. the spirit was so strong at her baptismal service. she is so cute, she wanted us to go with her in the dressing room and stand on the side when she was getting baptized. when she came out of the water, we gave her her towel and she just held her face and cried. it was such an amazing moment i am so grateful i was able to experience.

this week we are going to focus a lot on finding because our teaching pool is getting smaller!! which will be an adventure in the heat.

i hope you have an awesome week!! can you beleive its July this week? thats weird.

love you!! 

filling the font selfie 

LOOK HOW CUTE SHE IS

i was changing and realized "hey this looks artsy" and took a picture

sunset 

Week 30

hello family! this week was so crazy, it feels like it flew by but also took forever? weird. i don't know. but good news!! Bret Seligman got baptized on Saturday!

Monday: well monday was kinda a rough day. we had appointments at 6 and 7 with investigators and they both canceled, and we got a call from Pam and she told us she smoked... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! So she is no longer being baptized on Saturday :( and it started POURING when we were out tracting. hahahah it was a rough one. but don't worry, we got a tub of butter pecan ice cream and all was well :-)

Tuesday: Tuesday was another crazy day. we had set appointments at 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8! its awesome being so busy but holy cow it's stressful!! three of them ended up falling through, but we were able to teach Kathy, who has tried to drop us a few times but she is still trying to figure out if what we're teaching is true! she came to church on sunday and is going to fast today! shes awesome. our appointment with Raymond fell though :/ We haven't been able to get a hold of him this week, which has been sad! he was so excited to learn more. hopefully he will get back to us. We also got a text from Jessie that she had smoked :( but we called president and he wanted to meet with her on Wednesday night, more on how that went later. Our 8pm lesson was with a member and she was helping at the church for mutual sewing stuff for trek, so we went and helped with that! when we walked in, it was like a movie, a girl yelled "MISSIONARIES!!" and a swaaarm of girls ran over and hugged us it was the cutest thing of my entire life. i love this ward and all the sweet people in it!!

Wednesday: so a fun thing we've started doing is running at a park near our house with our investigator Jessie In the morning! gives us motivation to actually get out of bed 30 ,minutes early and get over there, so everyone is benefitting greatly. its so fun! We had interviews with president on wednesday, and it was our last interview before the new mission president comes! i love getting to sit and talk with him one on one and get advice on how to be a better missionary. and when sister Davies was in her interview, i got so sit and talk with Sister Murdock which i LOVE doing. she has helped me so much on my mission and i will miss her a lot! i love that lady. Then we had dinner at the Harveys, who are my fave old couple in the ward. (there's lots) SIster Harvey is already stressed about transfers and says shes going to hide us under her bed and my parents can just come visit me... so, sorry mom. sister harvey claimed me. then we met with President and Jessie! and GUESS WHAT. he cleared her to be baptized on the 25th!!! yay!!!!!! so she is getting baptized this saturday, she is SO amazing i am so happy for her.
and our neighbors had a party Wednesday night too :) .............. WEDNESDAY NIGHT. ON A WEDNESDAY.

Thursday: thursday was finally a less hectic day. we taught Bret and Pam and thats about all the exciting stuff

Friday: we had weekly planning and a few lessons, and our last lesson with Bret before his baptism!

Saturday: Baptism day!! FINALLY. we got to the stake center early and made brownies and filled the font, and it was awesome. the spirit was so strong, and lots of ward members came and supported him.

life is good here!!!! life is also hot. but good. i can do this.

I LOVE YALL!! 

making brownies 

when we locked ourselves out of our apartment :-)

Pres and Sis Murdock 

Week 29

disclaimer, this is going to be the longest email ever because this was definitely the craziest week of my mission!!

Monday: remember the man in our ward that had surgery and was working in his yard like two weeks later? Brother Daniels is his name, and we've gone and helped him some more the last couple weeks, he is just the cutest old man ever. but he called us on monday and said he had some strawberries for us! he left a message and it said "hi sisters, i just called to see if you wanted some strawberries...... bye" He is so presh. but we stopped by his house and he had three carton of strawberries, one for his son, one for someone else, and one for us! so i think we're officially friends.

Tuesday: so Tuesday is when the insanity began. we had a zone meeting in the morning, which was really good. they talked a lot about preparing for the new mission president. its so crazy the Murdocks are leaving so soon!! then we had a lesson at 2, 3, 4, dinner at 5, lesson at 6, 7, and 8. CRAZY. Four of them ended up canceling, but it was crazy. we were tracting in a trailer park, and we walked by a man working on his car, and asked if he'd help us with our survey, he said he was almost done and to come back in a few minutes. so we kept going, and came back a few minutes later, still not done and told us to come back! so we tried again a few minutes later! and eventually he talked to us! his name is Raymond and his wife died two weeks ago. he was so excited to learn more and we scheduled an appointment to go back on Friday! more on him later

Wednesday: I was in Fruita on an exchange with sister Paongo! and oh boy do i have a satory for you. we were in a trailer park for an 8pm member lesson, and we got there a little early. i had to go to the bathroom, so we walked to a members house to use their bathroom! when we got to their gate, we heard a boy yelling, and a dog barking and a bird chirping like crazy! i thought, well this is going to be interesting, and ohhhh it was! we walked in and there was a baby bird on the ground, and the dog was freaking out wanting to kill it, and the little boy WITH A HUGE ROCK IN HIS HAND READY TO THROW AT THE BABY BIRD. TO KILL IT. it was crazy. we were both like " no no no what are you doing??" "my dog got it, im just going to kill it (way too innocently) so sister paongo picked it up and saved it. it was a little baby! it kept holding its mouth open for food, it was so cute. it reminded me of all the stories dad has told about birds. anyways, long story short, we gave the bird to an investigators son who wanted it.... missions are awesome
     Well, meanwhile in Fruitvale! Pam, our investigator that couldn't stop smoking and did not want to set a baptismal date??? well, we committed her to pray and fast about a date and she DID. and guess what that date is? JUNE 25th!! so yeah. THINGS ARE GOOD.

Thursday: We have an investigator Bret, who is totally committed to the gospel, knows its true, but has a problem with tithing. he as significant debt, so he didnt think it was possible for him! we met with Bret, and the second counselor in the mission presidency, President Atkinson, and we talked about tithing. president Atkinson gave him council on how he can pay in his situation and how tithing it paid with our hearts. Then pres. atkinson asked if there was anything else that would keep him from being baptized, and Bret said, well no thats about it! pressident ased him "well, if thats all that is in your way, do you want to be bapized this weekend?"
bret said uhh yeah that should work!!
WHAT
then we settled on the 18th so our bishop could announce it yesterday. SO YEAH. BRET SELIGMAN IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY. we were so excited!!!
Then we met with Marie, who is amazing, she is having some issues with the Word of Wisdom, not necessarily living it, but she doesn't like the hypocrisy she sees in the church :/ she is wonderful and still wants to learn and has good feelings about what we've taught so far! her and her husband bobby are so kind and they are so fun to teach! she asks the best questions and is so willing to change.

Friday: Friday was a good day! we taught Jessie, who is also solid for the 25th! in order to get baptized you need to live the word of wisdom for two weeks. so saturday was the day she needed to start living it! and when we saw her we said, "well Jessie, tomorrows the day!" what day? she said, ive been living it since Sunday when i fasted?
of course you have Jessie. she is the best.
We also taught Raymond! He told us that the day we met him, he prayed and asked his wife to show him a sign of what to do and where to go, and then we showed up! that is the coolest feeling in the world. i've learned a lot about listening to the spirit on my mission. before my mission i thought i would always hear a voice when i needed to go somewhere, or feel an overwhelming feeling, but thats not how it comes. the Spirit speaks to us quietly ans simply and often just feels like our own thoughts! im so grateful we were in that area at the time of day that he was outside working on his car and i know it was the Lord guiding us to help him!

Saturday: finally our first not packed day of the week! we were exhausted. we did service in the morning, and taught jessie again! we also had the works yummiest ribs, but thats besides the point.

and yesterday was a beautiful, hot, Sabbath day! it is getting soooo hot here we are dying. but all is well!! i am excited to start a new week! this week was so good, and because there is an adversary, there were also some lows. but why the heck talk about those- the good is much more fun.

school gets out this week right?? so exciting!!!

also tomorrow is Flag day!!!!! what a special day!!!!!! It's Nates favorite holiday

hope you all have an awesome week!!

Sister Richards 

Week 28

hola familia

our planners this transfer are Spanish planners so i find myself using more spanglish than usual

anyways

HOW ARE YOU? this week was good, not as killer as the other weeks, but still awesome.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Tuesday- tuesday was MLC's (mission leadership council) so sister Davies was in Vail and Sister Paongo came here! i was super nervous because its been awhile since i took over the area for the day! and we were teaching three lessons, and one lesson we were dropping her :/ so i was SUPER scared, but of COURSE IT WAS FINE. i always overthink things and then they dont ever end up being as bad as i think it will be! and i prayed a whole lot, so of course Heavenly Father and the Spirit really helped that day!

Wednesday- we taught our investigators Pam, Jessie, and Marie. who are probably our most progressing investigators. Pam is trying to quit smoking completely, and os really hesitant to set a baptismal date. her testimony of the gospel and especially of the Book of Mormon is SO strong, she is amazing!! we committed her to pray and fast about a baptismal date and to let us know when we see her next (tomorrow) when she thinks the Lord wants her to be baptized. we're really hoping for the 18th!! we'll see! Jessie is amazing, her dad passed away a week or two ago, and she is so ready to be baptized, she has been prepared for a long time. we LOVE teaching her, she is like a sponge! and Marie is ALSO AMAZING. we're blessed here in Fruitvale, can you tell? Marie is married to a less active member, and we're trying to get them both prepared for the 25th, so he can baptize her! which will be so cool. we teach her in her mother in laws home and they are so much fun, and Marie asks the best questions.

Thursday- alright, thursday not much happened but i have a hilarious story for you. so our district is me and sister davies, elder chase (district leader) and his companion elder zimmerman, and elder capps and bergeron. i was asked to say the closing prayer, and we kneel when we say the closing prayer at meetings, so i got up to the front, and knelt down. i watched everyone to make sure they were ready and i see elder zimmerman kneel down, and then continue to lay down until he was flat on his stomach with his hands folded in front of his head. I WAS ABOUT TO DIE LAUGHING. but i cant laugh during the prayer, thats evil! so i had to say a VERY frantic pre-prayer prayer to help me not laugh through the prayer. IT WORKED- PRAYER IS REAL PEOPLE. and after, i told sister davies what happened and we laughed and laughed. oh missions, they're so fun.

Friday- We taught Marie again, and after the lesson she said "okay, this might be inappropriate to ask, but ive been thinking about it a lot" we're sitting there worried about what shes about to say! and she says, "what are your first names??? because i've named you in my head, and im so curious what your names actually are!" hahahahaha so she told us she (in her head) named me Rachel, and sister Davies Sarah. So funny! i love marie so much. and i got a letter from dad on friday!!! it was kinda a rough day, so it was much needed. thanks dad!!

Saturday- so saturday was AWESOME. i was on am exchange with sister Harshaw in Fruita, and GUESS WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN FRUITA ON SATURDAY?! oh, just mike the headless chicken festival! have you heard of that chicken? he lived 18 months without a head, and he lived in Fruita, Colorado. so naturally, the only true way to honor him was a festival every year. it was sooo awesome. i got a t-shirt, cause how could i not. i'll send a picture. we also did service for a woman that needed help picking strawberries and pulling weeds, and she let us keep the strawberries!!! it was so fun, sister arshaw is awesome, so it was a super fun day. (we also taught lessons, don't you worry)

Sunday- yesterday was fast and testimony meeting, and the youth went to girls camp this past week so all but one of the testimonies were girls in the ward. it was so sweet! i cant wait for Abby to go to girls camp this summer! my favorite moment though, a girl got up, and she has some mental challenges, so she is just so cute and sweet (this is the girl we made a trek skirt for). the theme of girls camp was super heros, and our wards hero was captain america, and so she was talking about camp, and got a little side tracked talking about captain america, it was SO good. she said "we found out he was under the ice for 75 years! ... sometimes, that's hard for me to believe. ... but, he truly was the first avenger."

i love our ward

anyways, that's about all i got for this week, it is SO HOT. and not even whimpy hot, like high 90's. i'm dying. but tis great. i love you all!!! have a great week!!!! its the last week of school?? probz. have a great last week of school!!!

Sister Richards

Week 27

May 30, 2016

Maddie didn't do a weekly email this week, but here are some recent pictures! 

"Shave ice, and a dog we saved!! it was running in the road and we captured it and called the owner"

Happy 6 Months on a Mission!

Maddie dropped the box :)

Week 26

May 23, 2016

IM STAYING WITH SISTER DAVIES IN GRAND JUNCTION!!!!!!!

oh happy day. she is SUCH an amazing missionary, I'm learning so much from her and i cant wait to keep serving with her! also, she is hilarious and SO fun. 

so this week, i was feeling a little under the weather, so not much happened the first part of the week. 

on Tuesday i slept a lot of the day, but the elders brought us some canned chicken noodle soup and some chicken broth hahahah s'cute

Wednesday i hit SIX MONTHS!!! A REAL MILESTONE!!! i cant believe its been 6 months, half of me feels like it has been 5 years, half of me feels like its been a week. time on a mission is weird. and thanks mom for the cupcakes!! that was SO fun to come home to!! 

Thursday we had our last district meeting! Our district leader, Elder Bang, is going home so we just HAD to take the classic funeral picture, incase you're confused by that's picture hahaha 

Friday was weekly planning, which is always a rough time hahaha our investigator Josh was quitting coffee that morning so we fasted breakfast and lunch and that just added to the pain of weekly planning, it was so funny. 

Saturday we were feeling REAL good. we had two lessons that fell through, and we realized half way through the day that we forgot our area book (with all the addresses and stuff. muy importante) and we pulled up to our apartment and our neighbors were moving! so DUH we offered to help and they actually let us!! so we ran inside and threw on some pants (literally the best moment of any week- the moment i can wear pants) and packed boxes and carried them into the truck! and GUESS. WHAT. (sidenote- it was a couple, Jasmine and Spence, and Jasmine's parents were there helping) jasmine and her parents are members! inactive, but MEMBERS! it was so funny. they were so sweet, it made us sad we hadn't gotten to know them earlier! and the best part- Jasmine was cleaning out her fridge and freezer and gave us a TON of food!!! BLESS HER HEART. so saturday night we had hamburgers and fries, and sunday for lunch we had a pasta alfredo thing. we're livin large over here in GJ. 

Sunday was amaaazzzziiiiinnnngggggg. because we were down and out a lot of the week, we had lots of time to make up! so we had church, and then lunch and went tracting! and it was SO good. tracting is not my favorite thing in the entire world, but yesterday was so good. we drove onto the street we were going to tract, and decided to start on the end closest to the main road, and met a nice lady named Lynda! she wasn't interested in our message, but said we could come do service on wednesday! so we're pumped about that. Then we met Rogelio, and he was a lil shy and didnt want to set a time for us to come back, BUT he took a book of mormon and said he and his brother would read it. and THEN we were supposed to leave, because we had chosen another street to tract on at 3, but we both felt like we should stay. So we went to a house that was having a garage sale inside (genius, btdubbs) and met Sandy! and you wanna know what SHE asked US for?! a book of mormon! oh man. she is so prepared. we have an appoitment on Wednesday to see her too! then we met Robert, a very interesting fellow, and are seeing him Tuesday. SO MANY MIRACLES 

and then guess what. so our dinner never called us back to confirm, so we thought we would just stop by incase she was planning on it and hadn't checked her phone. we got there and she had forgotten (which was all good, we weren't hungry at all) but said we could sit down and visit. and guess who walked in? oh, just her nonmember roommate Christine! who we gave a book of mormon and set a time tomorrow to see her :-) 

so good 

we're focusing a lot on praying to be lead to people and to have them be lead to us, and it is working!! we got two calls this week of people that want to meet with missionaries.... that NEVER happens!!! 

life is so good 

i hope you all have a GREAT week and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY!!!!! 

love yall 

sister richards 

Week 25

May 16, 2016

hola familia! 

so this week FLEW by! I'm loving Grand Junction so much and love sister Davies and the ward and my life is good, reeally good 
 
Wednesday we had our zone conference and it was SOOOO good!!! the trainings were amazing and just what i needed to hear. Sister Davies and i did a special musical number (yeah, scary) AND helped president with a role play on inviting people to church. it was stressful but i think it went well! neither of us remember what we said so that means it was the spirit, so holla. oh, and we won cleanest car :-) 

On saturday, President Murdock met with our investigator Pam, who is AMAZING. she is working so hard to quit smoking and loves the book of mormon. she is living with a man, more as a roommate so we asked president to interview her so he could discern the situation and he says she is okay to be baptized!! now we just have to help her quit smoking and she is golden. i love her SO much

We had stake conference this week and president and sister Murdock spoke! i love them so much. and they are leaving so soon!! its so weird!!! next transfer they leave. 

ugh 


thats about all the major things that happened this week. we get transfer calls on saturday and i am praying my lil heart out that sister davies and i stay together!! i'll let you know next week!! 

love you guys!! 

ps, i will hit 6 months on wednesday!!!