By the hair of his chinny-chin-chin!

March 24, 2008 started with some excitement for Josh, it was the day he was to leave the MTC to fly to Nashville. Josh and his companion (Elder Knaras, who will also be serving in the Nashville Mission) were to report to the MTC Travel Office by 6:00 a.m. Josh reports that they may have stayed up a little late on Sunday night getting ready to go and saying good-bye to good friends in the MTC. They set their alarm to give them plenty of time to get ready and to the travel office on time, they set out their clothes for the next day (Josh even pre-tied his tie!), and went to bed. According to Josh, "I don't know how it happened, but everybody in the room slept through the alarm." They were awakened by an announcement over the intercom (which Josh claims has "HUGE" speakers in the residence buildings): "Excuse me elders, but are Elders Richardson and Knaras still there? They were supposed to be in the travel office 10 minutes ago." We would have paid a lot for a video of this, Josh claims he moved fast that early in the morning! They jumped out of bed, pulled on their clothes, grabbed their bags (who knows what, or how much, was left behind) and "ran as fast as [they] could physically run" to the travel office, only to be told that the staff there believed the bus had already left for the airport. Someone in the Travel Office got on the radio and spoke with the bus driver, who said he was just pulling out of the parking lot ... he was willing to wait for the two sleepy-heads.

By the time Josh got to the phone to call us, he had already given away a pass-along card. He IS READY TO WORK! One other comment from him that brought a smile to our faces: "Wow! Even just being in the airport here in Salt Lake is waaaaay different than the MTC!" Yes, it is ... and now his mission really begins!!

Josh will dearly miss his Tongan friends in the MTC, a group of people to whom he got very close! He reports that he is now a Tongan. One Tongan elder would always bring a bowl of ice cream over for Josh. On the one occasion that Josh got one for himself, his Tongan guardian angel made him eat the one he got for himself and the one the Tongan brought. Josh really loves those friends. Josh picked up a little Tongan, and there is a phrase that seems to be his favorite, in English it is: Roll the Rock! Referring to the rock that King Nebuchanezer saw in his dream, the one cut out of the mountain without hands and which rolled to fill the earth. It is a beautiful saying.

Josh has been closing his letters with a Tongan phrase:

miea a'aku vhe
miea a'aku loto
miea a'aku uma
ki he otua

He gave us a rough translation ... my arms, my legs, my heart, are for God. It captures Josh's attitude. Look out Tennessee ... here comes Josh!

this week was the slowest blur of a week i have ever experinced in my life.

What a description! (unfortunately, it seems to apply equally well to his short letter) Well, Josh just received his flight plans and the people in Tennessee are now preparing for our Spanish-speaking son! He'll be in Tennessee on March 24. So how does Josh feel about it? "anyways today is a HUGE day beacuse we got our flightplans. ... iam sooo stoked! kinda crazy thinking about leaving here and never comming back but i am sooo excited to get to tn. ... we all were excited for our flight plans so it made the entire week seem like christmas eve...aaaaahhh! haha" (yes, that is his spelling ... not my typing.)

Josh reports that spanish is coming faster now ... in class they are mostly just reviewing and teaching the lessons three times a day (he says: "[I don't know] how we find the time"). He says: "there are tons more goals we set and now we speak spanish and have an ingles fast
every day until lunch and tuesday and thursday are full day fasts. its way hard but i have learned tons and tons of spanish and iam so grateful for it. hevenly father has been very kind in helping me out with my spanish and other things."

The most information we get as to how things are going is: "the trc was fun this week and really powerful but i cant seem to remeber much more than that beacuse of the previously mentioned blur^ haha"

He states he is not gaining any weight, but is still trying.

We'll close with this thought from Josh:
"i have a quote for you guys from my teacher hmo taggert and it is "no pressure no
diamonds" so just know that all the hard trials(it took me a min to think of that
word cus i could only remeber it in spanish)...trials you go through in your life
just make you stronger and prettier. so no pressure no diamonds "

Spanish, a drummer, and a love of the Gospel!

(NOTE: this incorporates letters and a tape from two weeks ... given my schedule, I was not able to keep the weekly update going. Apologies. Blogmaster)

Three weeks left in the MTC ... give or take. As Josh has been quoted as saying: "the days here are long, but the weeks go fast!"

Spanish:
Josh claims to be struggling with Spanish, though we hear the other side of the coin as well. For example, Josh and his "companero" get to teach in the "TRC" (teaching resource center) ... where they teach members posing as investigators, which then helps them with language and teaching skills. Recently the two of them taught a "fifty-some minute" discussion to a man named Napolean, and Josh describes the experience with great zeal ... partly for a reason explained below. In the past few days he and his "companero" went to the TRC but, due to a lack of staff, they had to split up with other elders so they had 2 - threesomes rather than 3 companionships. Josh's threesome taught Napolean ... here's what Josh said about it:

"The whole lesson was a bunch of testifying and everyone could feel it so strong. Napolean started to tear up and I got a rush of the Spirit and all of a sudden I didn't know what I was doing but I was speaking and faster than I had before, the part I didn't know was what I was speaking. It was like I was describing this mental picture of Jesus Christ's atonement and what it has meant in my life and while the picture was the same the words came out in a language that was not my native one ... I was speaking spanish and saying words I had only slightly ever heard and using them in the right conjucations. Thank you for your prayers. They are working. HARRAH FOR ISREAL!"

Because he feels his Spanish is not as strong as he wants it, he and his companion (his district too?) went on a two part fast ... one: the regular fast; two: an English fast. It is hard to keep the timelines exactly straight since we get periodic letters, and intermixed will be emails and then we got a tape that seems to have covered two weeks ... or at least two p-days plus more, but as near as we can tell, the English fast preceeded the experience with Napolean. We all keep, and encourage you to keep Josh in our prayers that he may be granted the gift of tongues that he may preach with power and clarity.

A DRUMMER
You were just introduced to Napolean. Josh describes him as "the BOMB!" and Josh has had at least two opportunities to teach him in the TRC. Josh has taken a real love for this brother. But one of the things Josh is really excited about with him is he "was the drummer for Santana" (Carlos Santana that is ... the guitarist extraordinair!) (Of course, the fact that Dad loves Santana and tried to pass that on to Josh (who also loves great guitar) only made it better ... says Dad.)

A LOVE OF THE GOSPEL
To hear Josh on the tape is to hear great excitement for his mission and an incredible love of the Gospel. It is amazing to hear Josh rave about "Jesus the Christ" by Talmadge. Grandpa Richardson has often been quoted as saying "When you read Talmadge, you need two things: a lot of time and a good dictionary." Josh has repeated that, with a third thing you need: "a good highlighter." Given Josh's decided lack of interest in most gospel scholarship (very different from the gospel, wherein he has ALWAYS had an abiding testimony), it is greatly rewarding to hear him preach his love of this weighty tome! Josh's testimony continues to grow, and we love to hear it with each letter and email ... and tape. He is getting truly excited to get into the field and preach to those the Lord has prepared!