She's gonna do it!!!

She's gonna do it! Hermana Marañon decided that the 2nd that she wants to get baptized! And Brother Marañon is down for whenever! Your prayers are so strong. Yesterday after church they had the interview and we tried on clothes for them to wear for the baptism! And even cooler is that Elder Velàzquez is going to be commin too because Hermana Marañon said that she wants him to baptize her! It’s soooo sweet! And there soo happy about it. We went over to there house and they also gave us a Christmas present of chocolate which was sweet!(literally)
The whole branch is stoked about it and going to be going. And Sister Ortega said she is going to be making a cake for everyone to munch on afterwards.
it was sweet to talk with you guys on la Navidad and hear how things are going over there, I hope you all have a sweet new years! Our mission president wants that we be in the appt at 4pm on that day so we might do some extra studies and we might see if we can get the other elders to come over to play some risk or something later on... Elder Ika said he is going to be making cheese cake and his cheese cake is super delicious! He also makes teriyaki chicken and other delicious foods! so we are going to be having a great new years(after we finish planning anyways...)
tell all the family that I love them and I hope that they have good new years , and I am sorry its not a long letter but there isn’t much to tell, other than the super good news of the Marañon family!
Please keep them in your prayers though.
I love you all
Elder Richardson

PS I got the package and it was delicious, I shared the jerky with a bunch of ppl and they all wanted more but I then told them no cus the rest is mine! haha, jk...but not really...haha.
one of the bags of jerky went bad though...it got moldy and so that sucks...but the other 2 bags were good.
also thank you for the underarmor and the cd's...but I am not going to lie the Andy Mckee cd only had like 40 seconds of every song on it and Elder Goodman and I were listening to it and it was sooo good and then it would cut...that was tourture! haha.
and also thank you Grandma and Grandpa Robinson for the shirt, everyone at church calls me a rich boy because it was a fitted shirt and it has 2 buttons on the cuff and no chest pocket and so they all said that it was a rich mans shirt hahaha. but it fit good and is really nice, thank you for that and for the money, I love you guys, thank you so much.
I hope you all have a great new years!
-Elder Richardson

I'm not allowed to dance ...

I was able to get on for a lil bit more but seeing as we have not a p day today because of Christmas we have some appts and so I cant write you all a whole lot about the week but i can say it went fast!
Elder Ika is from Tonga, its tight, he is a good guy and has a heart of gold, he grew up in Tonga but has lived in the US for a few years and he lives in Oakland Califorina! (anyone remember the riots?...it was because the Tongans ate all the food that there was...haha jk) but yes it is true that Elder Ika eats more than Elder Velàzquez eats...that is a feat! but his parents are in Tonga for the holidays so that is why I still am not sure when I am going to be calling you because we don’t know how or when he is going to be calling his family over there.
It was a good week...saturday we had a Christmas party and it was sweet...and like hispanics always do after the dinner they had a dance and it was sweet cus we got the marañons to go and dance(Brother Marañon doesn’t like to dance but Ella does...) and so we pushed his shortness right out there in the middle of everyone and they ended up having a good time...there were a few people who asked me to dance (investigators) but I told her that we cant dance as missionaries...and Elder Ika came up to me telling me that they went to ask him if I could to make sure I wasn’t lying...haha...
The Ortega family brought 7 investigators to the Christmas dinner and it was sweet because one of the families they brought asked a bunch of questions...and were going to be planning with the Ortegas today to do a Secret Santa to one of the families because they’re in need (don’t send more money its already taken care of). Brother Marañon wants to get baptized the 26th but Sister Marañon isn’t sure she is here and there with the whole idea...she straight up confuses me...but I think its just the fact that she has been catholic for years and years and is a lil bit scared to change from that...but she loves church, she has learned a ton and is always the one who is reading...there studs. but that leap of faith is kickin her butt right now...but Brother Ortega has a plan! haha...at least he says he does...I don’t know what it is though...haha.
We’re workin hard and well talk to you soon but I g2g because we have an appt here in a few min. ill give you a call on your cell in the morning and let you know when were going to call. I love you guys tons and pray for you all.
tell Grandma Richardson I love her and grandpa too and that they have a merry Navidad!
love
Elder Richardson

One surprise and then another ...

Well...what I usually try to do is look through my planner at the last week and try to remember all the things that just happened...its kinda sucky beacuse I don’t have my planner right now...we got surprised this morning when Elder Goodman told us he needed a ride to the ZL's appt and that Elder Randall was going to be with us for the day,...the surprise didn’t end there because al come to the ZL's appt I found a certain Spaniard named Elder Santos there waiting for his companions for the day...us.
After a gianormous hug that about broke me in 2 we took off for the day...we started today at 530 in the morning! It’s pretty sweet to see this big ole lug Elder Santos again. We actually just have not really done a lot today but that is fine...its been relaxing.
Last week was a good week, we had an exchange with Elder Randall and I and Elder Goodman and Elder Valazquez went to Cumberland and for 2 days Randall and I knocked doors...and I realized how crappy it is sometimes to have 2 krackers knockin doors...no one answered...
idk if it was the fact that it was a unlucky day but all of a sudden I realized that I couldn’t do like we usually do which is put Elder Velazquez in front of the peep hole and me out of sight and when the hispanic person opens I jump out when they have already opened the door...haha that tricks them! but its fine cus were not immigration anyways...
so...2 days knocking and we had 2 return appts...(I don’t think it helped that Elder Randall had a big black coat on that made him look like secret service) it was cold and all we wanted was that someone would answer.
That is the bad news, but later we found out that Goodman and Velazquez didn’t have much better luck...so I don’t know what went on...
Anways, the Maranons are doing good...were still workin with them but they just have to act now...there ready and they know it but I dont think its completely hit them yet that they are ready...idk...sometimes at this point I just don’t know what to do, so we have just brought over a few members and had them share there testimonies...Brother Maranon just have a few doubts about himself he doesn’t have much spiritual confidence but he says that every time we go over he feels more and more like he can do it and go foreward...they have come such a long way! Thank you for your prayers.
Thank you for you letters too!... I am not going to lie, seeing Anne all preggie and whatnot is just kinda weird...maybe not weird because she is a cute prego lady but...idk how to describe it...so ill just leave it with kinda weird. haha
I pray for Grandma and Grandpa and their health all the time...just tell them that for a small period of time there going to have to cut back for a lil while and then one day they’ll have new bodies that will do all the work they want!
I was thinking about it one day while we were tracting, God gives us a huge variety of life...energetic and powerful and spiritual we in this probation experience everything. Grandma and Grandpa right now should not get discouraged... I know grandma and I know that even with all the vim and vigor that my Grammie has sometimes life just does that to us and we get down about things. I know that I am no one to be giving advice and I am sure it’s not new but mainly a reminder that there is something to be learned in all states of life. Discouragement just distracts our mind from the lesson at hand. I love them a ton! But be careful please and don’t get discouraged, come what may, and love it!
That includes you dad, talk about hard worker...we know you totally are like grandpa and you work you tail end off always but don’t get down when your doing it...I love it and I can think of many times when its like the very crappist situ. ever and you get frustrated and then all of a sudden you just smile...that smile is KING! I thought of those times and how I need to do that more this last week when I was out tracting and it was cold and we were frozen and I just decided to smile.
I love you guys Tennessee is a great place year-round. Your prayers are felt and I appreciate them and need them. I pray for you all too because we all need that helping hand.
I hope you have a sweet week,
love
Elder Richardson

Thanksgiving ...

Pues como estan familia mia?
Feliz navidad! Or at least that is commin up soon! Yeaaaaaaa!
I love Christmas time more than any other time…its sooo happy and even the church of Christ ppl don’t hate us as much in this wonderful time of the world!
I kinda already talked to you for a bit but this is the stuff I didn’t cover at all.
Anyways for thanksgiving we had a turkey bowl estilo latino! Which means we went and played soccer. It was colder than I ever expected and the wind was blowin a ton…now I think it was about 38 degrees out but I am not going to lie the cold that comes here in the south is a whole different beast to that of Idaho or Washington…the humidity is killer and everyone played in sweaters and thermals but the hispanos around here make true sacrifices for futbol…if only it was the same way for church…jaja. Anyways we played in the freezing cold and even with that the tempers got a lil heated at times, but all in all it was sweet. Brother Maranon drove us down there to Brentwood and we played at a park over there and the whole time it was 98% overcast….soooo cold. After that we just went home and cleaned up a bit (the house, we didn’t even sweat at all because of the frio) and later that night we went and had a classic thanksgiving dinner at the Ruiz family house and it was sweet it reminded me soooo much of our thanksgivings with Grandma and Grandpa Richardson because the whole family came together there were more than 20 ppl there and there was a ton of food and they also had about a gazillion kids there (all cousins) runnin around doing there different things and it was awesome…the only bad part was that the MP wanted that we would be in the house at 7 o clock and we had to cut the night short…but oh well…
As for the Maraon family there doing good, still truckin along the Sister Maranon had a tough time with tithing but only because money is tight for them right now. But we talked about it and when they learned that nobody is paid in the church for there callings and that tithing is basically just a giant leap of faith and relying on the lord it cleared up a bunch of doubt…but they just still need to make that leap of faith. But other than that they are doing super awesome. She doesn’t drink coffee jamas and he hasn’t smoked for over 2 weeks. And they tell us about there spiritual experiences that they have and there sweet…idk what it is with a lot of Hispanic ppl but they are very open to dreams and receiving their answers in dreams… Brother Maranon is like that and its pretty sweet. The spirit is workin hard on them.
An for the rest of the stuff going on around here the last week went by super fast, I don’t like that tooo much, I am not gonna lie that is kinda sucky but I deal…
As for this week its going to be super busy as well, the sisters in Madison called me and told me that one of the ppl that I know up there and that plays soccer with us is going to get baptized and he wants me to do it. That was a awesome call to get, his name is Ciro and he is about 17 and he told me that he is super nervous so if you could keep him in your prayers too along with the Maranon family and that they can not be nervous and not doubt. We had a great lesson with them last night and Brother Alduenda and Brother Alduenda shared his story and his conversion and it was really powerful and then we talked about actions of faith.
God makes us do challenging things so that we know more clearly and without a doubt that he was the reason we received a blessing, that is why there written in the scriptures. We see the promises and the challenge and after completing it we see the blessing and the testimony comes. Keep making those great leaps of faith, not the easy ones but the hard ones…
I love you all and hope you all had a super fantasticle thanksgiving day.
Elder Richardson(nide haizi)

The best man ... and a family needs your help

there is always way to much stuff to write and not enought time to do it...crud but what iam going to do is try...haha
ill start off withthe fact that last week i was the best man in the nortons wedding. in case you forgot there a family from cookville and john norton called and got special permission frm the president to be able to take me over there and when i got there he told me that i was going to be the best man... that was sweet. i didnt know what best men do so i just kinda stood arround and smiled and looked eagerly at the food and then told john that i was decided that if he decided to run that i would go to and beacuse of my spanish speaking abilty we could get arround pretty good...haha. it was a good wedding...there going to be going to the temple in april and getting sealed then and so you might be able to meet them then...but a few other questions i had asked to ask you all are if you might be able to send a post card from the differnt states (idaho washinngton, oregon if you go) beacuse a member is doing a project and needs internacional help. and jsut send them to my address of to
alduenda familia
1809 barnwell ct
hermatage tn
37076
also we had a super sweet lession with the maranon family last week...we had a plan to teach a lesson that we planned out in the morning but as we came up to there door the only thing that i could think about was watchin the movie "together forever"...well we started the lesson and for some reason elder velazquez asked me what we were going to be doing and i jsut said that movie beacuse it was super strong in my mind and i hadent remebered the other lesson that we planned it and in the middle of the movie i remebered that we had todally planned a completely differnt lession and so we started it and after starting it i remebered the other lesson and thought...crap...what happened there...
well after the movie i was thinking about what to say when jose just started talkin, he started saying how that movie was really good and how there was one of thoes stories that was alot like him and then expressed many things and told us that he and marisol were on the point of gettig a divorce when we started commin arround and how thing after thing that happnded that they did and learned that they felt themselvs growing closer to there hevenly father and to eachother and havent argued and faught scince that time and in tears(and you dont see mexican men cry ever) he told us how it saved his marrage and the tear in the family and somany things have changed for them. it was sooo super awsome...the spirit was so strong and it wsa a super good lesson. we are going to be preparing them for the 28th of november to get baptized, there so happy and such good ppl and right now need your prayers so that they can take this first step...they understand it really good and want to do it. its sweet.
well...family the week was good...so much happened and i really cant tell it all but we had a sweet lesson with a venesualian who owns a store arround here and that guy is a baller, super straight foreward and open and funny too. and well...today we dont have p day but were writing beacuse thursday the libaray will be closed. and also beacuse thursday in the morning were going to be having a turky bowl latino style...Soccer! and i wouldent have time to write even if the libaray was open...hahaha jk.
i love you guys tons
-elder richardson

Baptism got delayed

Man, I swear that the very first letter I sent had my new address in it... I know I had sent it but oh well...the address here is
1404 crystal springs ln
hermatage TN
37076
ya ya la teneis
well, you dad totally hit that one on the head when you said that p days were for rest or something like that...crud...about sunday night at 4 or 5 pm I am sooo done and we still have a few more hours left so I do a quick flashback of some Gladiator or Braveheart or Rocky scene and look at my planer that has GOTTAWANNA on the front and kick the last few hours butt. haha. but honestly when we get numbers in and planning done, I give a loud shout to Elder Valazquez and say "P DAY EVE!!!!" ...(he still asks why its called "eve" but I can't really translate that...but he gets what it refers to good enough) haha.
bad news but good news the Ortega family didn't get baptized on sunday, they just weren't ready, and there was a few other things holding them back, good news now there way ready and we are planning for there baptism on saturday and this time even
Sister Ortega is rite ready...i cant really explain everything but please keep them in your prayers, especially the Hermana Ortega.
yesterday we had another family go to church the Maranon family from Jalisco MX and la hermana ortega couldn't cus she got a huge bad bad migraine and they went to the hospital(she is back to 100%) and we also had another kid come named Aslan(if your thinkin lion witch and the wardrobe you got the right aslan) he is a stud but super shy and so while elder valazquez was with the maranon family i went to his class (he has 13-14 years) and byron vasquez was the teacher and it was a hecka fun class. byron is the ward clerk (one of many callings) and a stud he is from south Guatamala, everyone has nicknames around here and elder velazquez is trofeo(which means trophy but byron usually emfasized the "feo" part haha) and so we call byron la pulga(the flea) or patachucu(stinky feet) or frodo(the hobbit) haha...anyways it was a sweet day yesterday because the patriarch brother rose from madison came down to talk and it was sweet to see him again...
the maranon family really liked church...well the girl ingrid and the mom marisol more than the dad...he didn't really say much but we have a appt to go back and teach them on tuesday.
we also went by to see a guy named carlos last night, he is a joven from Gurrerro MX (actually not to far from where veronica and fransisco are from, the ones who are in clarksville) and it was kinda funny yesterday he started talking in a bunch of slang to elder valazquez trying to make it so i didn't understand but i started talking to him back and he got super surpised that i knew what he was saying and then got kinda embarassed (because it wasn't very good stuff) and elder valazquez was lost the whole time haha...we laughed but it was kinda sweet because it lead up to a good lesson, it totally was kinda sweet because when he was talking about the stuff he was there was no spirit there but then when we started to teach and talk with him the spirit came super strong and it was a hardcore contrast that everyone felt...and then kinda at the end of the lesson carlos got distracted with something and was about to start talkin about some stuff again and then realized what happened and said" wait...i better not talk about that now because were in the word of god and all and dang...you see how satan is trying to mess this up haha..." and it was super sweet because the spirit was straight up talkin to him because right after that he started putting a ton of things together and the gears started clicking and it was ballin.

anyways life is still good here, I am basically just loving the heck out of all of this...elder valazquez is like a brother, the kid is such a stud. but bad news is that transfers are commin up and no one want us to change...
well...not alot of time left and i have to write my MP
oh and tell brock that i haven't met even one uruguyian in my whole mission but for some reason everyone says that i talk like an uruguysian...which is weird because I don't try to and I don't even know how one talks but....oh well...
anyways i love you all bubba keep kickin butt at football and brie, you do the same with soccer everyone thinks its cool that you play and that your sooo good....bubba, sorry hispanics just don't understand football...so they think that's cool too but ...then again they really don't..haha. but i think its ballin!!!!
love you all
mom be good and just remember come what may and love it! if the house looks like a pumpkin ...it will be really easy to give someone directions to! haha
-elder richardson

Baptisms!

For Brock: yo quiero que sepas que te felicito. vos seras buen padre y yo me asombro que por fin llego tu tiempo! te quiero mucho che pero todovia opino que sos "un fatti" por casarte 2 semanas antes que regrese a la casa...y ahora ni tengo esperanza en verte jamas...me pongo triste vos...pero que me mandes fotos o te mato por seguro! jaja. bromeo...?o bromeo?...te quiero che. disfrutalo vos. que viva uruguay! y que gane a costa rica a fin que vayan al mundial!

Irmina y Manuel have a date for the 25th!
the rama [the branch president] was super stoked to hear that the familia ortega are going to be getting baptized the 25th of this month! Manuel is super super ready...he himself told us after we asked him how his prayers are going and he said that he feels 100% prepared...he is a stud. Manuel is a bigger guy: about the height of dad but has a Buddha belly and glasses like the dali lama and a sense of humor like I would imagine President Hinkley having. And Irmina is still praying and isn’t 100% sure but she still wants to do it. And their boy Imanuel or Alex went to church and liked it alot...its kinda hard to teach them all como familia because Alex speaks spanish but speaks more inglish and the gospel words go right over his head...so we kinda have to do bilingual lessons and through all of that the lil one called Abraham is runnin around like a lil ball of SUPER compact energy...its fun though... Irmina asked is she could adopt us... I told her I would ask...haha
but honestly other than that and a few other lessons our week was hecka rough...we were on bikes agin... and the cold came in...elder valazquez does not like cold...haha. he asked me if i was freezing cus i had a sweeter on and he had a long sleeved shirt a sweater and a SUPER thick wool coat and said he was freezing and i think it was only 55 degrees...haha. the bad thing is that at 55 degrees the wind feels about 30. the cold here is nothing like the cold in the west the humidity is pretty hardcore. and elder valazquez isn’t enjoying it. haha. but we get alot of hot chocolate and other mysterious hot drinks from our hispanic friends...haha.
Hermatage is a cool lil town its weird being in an area were there are borders that we can reach haha. Sunday a lady named Sister Martinez from El Salvador decided to just give us about 10 tamales after church because she loves us and that is fine with me cus she is a baller and I love tamales.
we still walk around all day quoting Hno Chacon and the Salvadoranos because their accent is cool... and Brother Chacon says some hecka funny stuff.
today were going to go and eat with the Ruiz family agin, and she is making pozole which I am stoked about!
well family i love you all and hope you are all still alive cus I haven’t gotten your letter yet. but by time is up...
i know the lord lives, and Joseph was his prophet.
-elder richardson

Short update

DON’T STRESS!!!!! if there was a HUGE accident with me in Tennessee, I truly don’t believe you would even need to worry enough to stop court, but also if there was a HUGE one you would be notified hecka quick...I do believe that Sister Hutchings works faster than ambulances...honestly.
...you know that a letter is going to be good when it starts off "well we lost a branch on the walnut tree... boi...an yer sis got 'er fut stuc' in da malth of en ole passu'm"haha...just givin you a hard time...haha
man, grandpa is a stud...don’t tell him I said this but he is kinda starting to get a lil older than your regular whippersnapper and he is still just truckin along...he reminds me of this old 90 year old mexican from Oaxaca who is working construction 4 days a week still!
mom, as for shoes I AM actually pretty good, I have these ecco's that are lastin and lastin no matter what I do to them...there great shoes and are most likely going to last till the fin...
as for extra stuff...idk...are there still some of the sunglasses that I had over there...I lost the last ones...grrr...that might actually be the only possible thing that I could possible use.
well bad news on the workfront...Rodolfo and Emilio are back to drinkin...we really couldn’t see them much this week due to being on bike and them livin in the boonies and 4 bike tire flats(where as we had not even one before now) and they didn’t go to church either...if you could pray for them to be humbled and have a real desire to do something that couldn’t hurt...its going to happen anyways...
the crappy part is they are studs...but its just hard for them right now...I don’t know how sure they are of if they really wanna stop drinkin or not...that is probably what were going to be talkin about tonight. but keep them in your prayers. there still truckin, and Myra stopped smoking! we did the stop smokin workshop and now she is a nonsmoker!
well I AM sorry for the not much written letter, time is about up.
I love you guys, thank you for your prayers, they really do help...without them thinks would be very very different for the lives of so many.
I love you all
Elder Richardson

If it isn't ok, it isn't the end ...

well, this week was a sweet and sour one...about how most are. for every blessing there is a hurricane of heck...but that is why I love hurricanes! haha.
last week we went to go and see a man named Rodolfo Escaramuza and Emilio Escaramuza and Myra Palamore. (try to say there names 5 times fast, with a good accent...haha) there uncles of the family Ruiz and we actually had a ballin lesson with them and they decided to start workin for the date of the 30th to be baptized!!! we totally pulled out a calender there in the lesson and filled it out and put there date and showed them that its ok (because they had the doubt) that they aren’t ready right now because we are going to help them out, all they need is to want to truly take upon them the name of their Savior through baptism and we will help them prepare. it was sweet. they are totally stoked and both Rodolfo and Myra prayed and Emilio said he would pray the next time and they would all do it every night.
honestly we need your prayers for them, Myra wants to quit somking and Emilio drinking and Rodolofo wants to quit drinking too. they are great ppl who are praying for help themselves and could use your prayers too.
Fatima is still truckin along as well...she is reading a ton but the biggest problem is that she still hasn’t gotten the work from the hermana at church. the problem is they need to finish up some things at the house so that they can start working and they still havn’t done it...if you might pray for that too. Fatima is working hardcore shifts from like 3pm to 5am friday-sunday...and sunday morning is half dead from work. so the new work is super important. she said that she feels good about the BOM and the restauracion when she prays and is growing alot in her testimony.
basically other than that the bad news isn’t important, because the good blessings and miracles that we have the opportunity of seeing are soo much better.
also there is a kid here from Veracruz, Mx named Iran Geronimo and basically his family came over here a few weeks ago with him and last week had to leave agin(because they came over on visas and there time expired or something) and Iran was able to stay with his visa. anyways right now there trying to change it to a student visa so he can study a lil but in the meantime he just pretty much chills with us...
we went over there one day and it was right when his parents and brother and sister were leaving for MX another time and they said goodbye and the mom asked me to watch over him for her and then they left! it was crazy... I still don’t completely understand what the plan is but the dad(you know how dads are) said " you might as well take him out every day all day, he dosn’t have anything else to do" haha. and Iran was totally down with it...so he has been going out with us a ton and been doin the work! the kid is such a baller! and we have a blast...its almost like Elder Jensen is back...except Iran speaks alot better Spanish haha.
oh speakin of Elder Jensen our MP told us it took him 4 days to get to his mission...he left here on a 12 hour flight to buenos aries on monday and eventually got to his mission on thursday...poor kid...oh well.
so that is life arround here, the work is sweet, I love it. I have really been focusing on my prayers at night and giving thanks for all the sooooo many things and I have had some incredible times talking with my Heavenly Father...prayer is maybe one of the most underestimated things...the Lord promises that everything will be ok in the end, if its not ok its not the end. ETTE
i love you guys
have a good week
-elder richardson

Rely on the Lord

hey dad could you do something for me and tell Jordan that he is a great football player but I think he is still a big fatty ‘cus i told him he could write me in Portuguese so that he would write something and he still doesn’t write anything...tell him he is a stud though...and Brock and Jared too... Brock can write me in Spanish if he wants... I can have a ladyfriend write him in Spansih if he wants...whatever...
anyways I really got to tell you guys about this...
on Wednesday we had a hectic day but we had an appt with Fatima and not a ton of time until our next appt and we were on bike so we rushed over there and upon arriving there and talkin for no more than 2 min Sis Ruiz told us that Fatima was going to be moving to Mexico...
it was honestly like a "screech stop" moment in a movie, I was like haha...dumb joke Hermana.. and she said "ask her" and i turned to Fatima and said "tell me she is a liar...you can’t go to mexico, you’re just flat out not allowed" and she said it was true...she only has work on the weekends and it isn’t enough...she hasn’t been able to get any work anywhere else because they ask for SSN# or that they speak english and so she hasn’t found anything else and said that if she didn’t find work before the end of the month her dad (who is in MX) told her to go there so she could be with him... I told her "heck no you can’t go to Mexico and were going to teach you english...your first line is... I am not going to Mexico"and I wrote it on a pass-a-long card and gave it to her ...when they found out what I taught them to say they laughed...but we had to get going at this point and so we left to our next appt.
well...we got there and the person wasn’t there....and honestly I was pretty dang frustrated and while we waited to see if our appt was going to show was talkin to Elder Alvarez about the fun luck we have been gettin...but that we were going to find work because the Lord wants her to stay and be baptized and not leave like Benedito and Moises. well it just so happened that the appt came up then and she is a member and we talked to her for a bit as she said her sorries and vented about how she has a crappy work crew who just put down hours but not actual work and she is just to nice to really be a business lady... I shared with her about Jeff Port and how if I did a crappy job he told me even though they’re friends of the family and how I am thankful for it cus it kept my fat nalgas(butt) movin and that (because we need to relate everything to the gospel) that we cant throw our pearls before swine...anyways we tried to sneek in there that we have a friend that needs work and it was shot down very quickly cus she has heard so many ppl tell her that there good workers and they weren’t and she didn’t need more problems...we didn’t push it at all and we talked with her about some stuff and right as we were leaving she stopped and looked at us and said ...who was that that needed work? and we told her Fatima and she remembered meeting her in church and said that she liked her and that she was going to give her a try and on Friday she could start workin.
we were straight up stoked!
on our way back to Fatima’s (because we had to go tell her the good news) I fought with a dog and that was cool and we rode our bikes so fast that by the time we got to her house we didn’t even have the breath to tell her what happened...and finally we told her "we just had a miracle" and they laughed at me cus they think I am a big jokester or something and then looked at Alvarez for the confirmation...and it was confirmed...and right then came in Sister Ruiz's brother in law and his family just in time for us to tell her what happened...
it was soooo sweet, the lord dosn’t want her to leave and we told her she needs to be a hard worker(which she really already is) and as everyone was talkin in the kitchen she picked up her lil girl and told her “we got work baby! !e got work tell the missionarys thank you”, it was soooooo sweet!

I want you all to know to rely on the Lord, I really do know that he helps us with everything.

Faith in the face of adversity ...

[NOTE from Dad: Sorry I've been slow getting these last letters posted.]
Well...that is great news piled on top of the great things that just happened here!...gosh I am just going to die of happiness from all the great news that is going around...
well so you all know, Elder Jensen got the call...his visa arrived friday and he left about 3 hours ago to Resistencia Argentina. he is going to have a 12 hour flight to Buenas Aires and then a 12 hour bus ride to Resestencia in the middle of the jungle...
the missionaries over there all have machetes and wear big 8 inch waterproof boots.haha...but Elder Alvarez and i have now gone into a depression...no not really but Elder Jensen is a baller and we are going to miss him.
Progression is eternal and we will always get stronger...so if we have problems with something we should look at what were lacking, god knows how to get our attention, and also how to get that and the attention of others. I love you guys, god got my attention and I am going to say an extra prayer for you every day and make it a very special one for you, I know without a doubt that you have the faith and reliance in the lord. miracles will be wrought upon those who use their faith.
I also know Satan hates faith, but that doesn’t matter to me because I have it and know what it brings. and I know a man with a athletic heart will be ok. haha...tal vez first in the triathlaon. haha.
this last week was hard...and even harder with the time because at the end of the week we had to go and run errands for Elder Jensen. but after all the Lord showed us a miracle. Fatima who has had work but wanted to go to church on Sunday for some crazy reason and was able to go to church on Sunday because she was workin at night! it was ballin! so she and the whole family Ruiz went to church and she liked it a ton. the Ruiz family is also getting so dang strong, I truly do love those guys, Brother Ruiz went from drinkin and hadn’t of gone to church in over a year to stopping drinking and helping be and example for his uncle to stop(who is takin the lessons, se llama Rodolfo) and now is trying to see if he can come out with us on exchanges. he is going to help us teach his uncle.
there are a lot of great things happening through all the trials, Moises who is the husband to Lourdes and was getting ready for baptism moved to Memphis because he has had no work...that was hecka frustrating...but good news is that he too wants to get with the missionaries over there and go to church over there...
your prayers are really helping, I really love you guys and I would be scared what would happen if we didn’t have the prayers from you guys.
I am sorry my letters are always a lil scattered but its cus time is short and I am not very good at the whole typing business still...I kinda just type how I think...which isn’t very clear, especially after I learned Spanish...haha.
I love you guys tons
-elder richardson

We went through the whole teaching pool ....

this last week...well actually for mor than that I have really had the problems hittin us and I am not going to lie I have had my testimony tried...
sometimes you will be hit sooooo hard that it is obviously a trial and even though it is hard you know it’s a trial, and other times it is sooo subtle that some don’t realize its commin...well I can promise that if you do no more than follow the bounds the Lord has set you will see and be ready for everything. we literally went though our entire teaching pool and...nothin...idk why, or what is going on...I have ideas but basically all the people got dropped, none of them really wanted to learn and as fun as it could be to chill with them that is not my calling because if they don’t want it someone else does. and we dropped everyone except for Fatima and Rodolfo and another guy named Gordo (fatty). and we went a tractin agin...well the week was rough but we worked and walked and walked and I am not going to lie walkin in TN right after a storm when there is water on the ground and its 90-95 degrees is not very fun...haha but we decided to smile anyways and we ended up knocking this door were a guy from Guatemala answered his name is Edwin and he is a boxer, he is a flyweight right now but is going up to the next weight class and is doing really good(he didn’t tell us about how he is doing but his mom had all the newspaper clippings and trophies and stuff in chronological order for us) and it was a good visit and we set an appt and because of the craziness of life missed it by a few min(he kinda lives in the boonies) and when we knocked his door he was on his way out but his aunt was there and saw us and asked if we could go in and give her a blessing... Edwin had to go but we stayed to talk with the aunt. she described what was some crazy illness that i cant even imagine what it could be and then asked for a blessing. right after the blessing she told us that the burning that she felt on her skin cooled down and that her heart stopped jumping and she didn’t hurt and felt a lot better. she actually lives in Nashville so the other elders are going to teach her and that is going to be sweet cus she is super excited to learn about the stuff of the gospel.
I really wish I could tell you all more about he week but I am about to get kicked off the comp...it was sooo sweet though...we found so many who are wanting to learn about the gospel.
i love you all family
-elder richardson

Tough Week ... Lots of Work Though

hey mom, life is good, yes you got all that right about the 3 some companionship...Alvarez is a missionary here and Jensen is waiting for a visa to Resistencia, Argentina...although he would just rather stay and keep doing what he’s doing....the guy is a stud and just wants to do the work...he doesn’t care where...haha. but they told him 2 weeks wait and he has already waited 3 sooo....haha...I think the lord had a fun lil plan for him.

Anyways this last week we had 2 entire days in the appt...do to the fact that I couldn’t get hold of a single priesthood holder and one day Alvarez was super sick and the other Elder Jensen...they had the beaver fever and the throw ups....I felt sooo bad for them...
But it was kinda crappy cus just how it all played out we didn’t get to see Rosio 1x during the week or Josefa... Benedito just needs to face the fact that he has his answer and stop procrastinating...the next lesson we are going to have with him is going to be a fun one...
he basically has a full testimony of the BOM and Joseph Smith and studies the BOM ridiculously well...but because he is on such a quest for knowledge he hasn’t listened to the spiritual confirmation...but he has proved the BOM true with his intense biblical studies and this and that and the others... its interesting...he can prove the veracity of the book because of his knowledge but its not knowledge that a person needs...its an answer from the Divine... he is such a stud though...he'll get it.
anyways last week with 2 complete days shot we still got 25 lessons and we were on bike all week too! Elder Alvarez is such a stud and he and I and Elder Jensen’s personalities mix sooo good that we just are constantly having fun, making jokes and workin our butts off...its sooo ballin. Elder Alvarez and I decided we are going to be selling guarana and sugarbears after the mission(look up sugar bears online, they’re the perfect pocket pet) and were going to train them to fly pass along cards to the world! haha and guarana is just plainly delicious.

I am glad that Brie went to the camp...its weird at first...but its sooo fun to be able to go somewhere where you can just focus on one thing and get good at it...especially if you love it.
and Bubba, you’re my hero, te quiero mucho che! you just keep on doing what your doin and don’t forget to read one page in the BOM every day ok? it’s a tough read but a ballin book!
anyways I love you Mom and I am glad that you wrote me this week...thank you. I hope you have tons of fun with the family and tell g’ma and g’pa that I love them super tons and ask them if they got my letter?
I love you all and keep on keepin on, stay classy
-elder richardson

Lots of Miracles

hey familia,
ok...first and I am sorry to say I have no audio to the video...and as much as I do want to watch ppl from my beloved family talk to me as I practice reading lips...creeds lips are hard to read and I don’t get a lot of time her eon the computer...haha...its crappy.
also the videos take up a ton of my space on my mail and so I have only gotten 2...but I think what we could do is if you burnt them to a disc and then sent them and then I might be able to find a member to play them sometime...sorry...these computers are kinda chafa.
also...nope I didn’t get your letter last week...probably for cause of the videos taking up all the space...sorry
but all is well...tell creed and auntie J I send my hi's...

I really wish I had time enough to tell you all the miracles we had this week...
elder alvarez had told me that he hadn’t had even 1 exchange the whole time he has been here and I set the goal with elder Knaras ( he is our ZL now) of getting 12 lessons with a member...we got 12! we had 4 exchanges and a few other lil pas buys during the day where members went with us. it was ballin. we also got 32 lessons total and elder alvarez said he has never in his mission had 32 lessons in a week...we are flippin dang dog tired but it was soooo sweet... I wish I had more time to tell you. but it was a super great week.
please keep a man named benedito in your prayers also rosio and josefa. and also keep the norton family in your prayers. i only have 2 min more on the comp before it’ll just shut down and erase everything so I am sorry I got to go...it took me a long time to read all the letters this week and I am sorry I haven’t written much...but everything really is just going soooo awesome.
I love you all
thank you for your prayers!
love ya!
elder richardson

Transfer

super crappy news...here in my new area we go to the library to do email and I don’t have speakers to listen to the videos...tell creed and aunt jozet that I will find somewhere to listen to those though cus i have my flash drive with me.
well...I kinda gave you a mid week email...this place is cool!
elder jensen decided he doesn’t want to go to Argentina because he just wants to work instead of having that looming phone call of his departure constantly around...he really has some neat experiences though that kinda made me think that he quite possible be meant to stay...idk...there are a lot of things that have happened that make me think that...but it’s a big story...anyways he said I could go in his place so if you don’t hear from me in a while its because I am lost in sur America.
also this area is sweet...yesterday was the first time I got to bear my testimony in Spanish as a Spanish missionary and nothing else! it was sooo sweet to not have to worry about translating or directing or worrying about the meeting and setting it all up or all that stuff... we went and chilled with our investigator that came...and chatted with the Spanish branch and there all ballers!
there is a lot of work here...lots...we had a good fourth of July...happy b day brie! and it was cool cus it was a beautiful day and then we had one of those Tennessee storms come in at night with Huge lightning bolts and rain like you never ever see in the west.
anyways I love you all I am sorry its short but so is my time cus I haven’t gotten a letter yet here and so I am only on a visitors pass here.
ooh really quick my new address is:

300 Kate St #F15
Madison, TN
37115

I am sorry that I cant write a lot but I love you guys tons and ill talk to you later.
-love elder Richardson

Update!!

[NOTE: sorry for not getting some updates in here ... Josh has stayed in touch with us, but I've not kept all the updates in ... my apologies.]

well the week went good...but kinda not too...I have never had so many appointments fall thorough! I mean given that the Hispanic people remember appointments worse than me without a planner but still!
Tuesday was zone conference...it was truly awesome.
there is a quote by Spencer w Kimball that states that he believes(believed) that one day the south will baptize more souls than all the state side missions combined...and we are the flippin’ belt buckle of the bible belt. I can really see a great change in the mission, everyone is baptizing more but it is really because there are just more people who are asking those very important questions of the soul. those questions that many many other churches just plain out don’t have the answer for...I know this because I meet tons of people daily and hear what they say and I have heard a noticeable difference lately...
the economy yes is sucky but I have the blessing of seeing families and people look to god more because of it...and instead of buying that nice m8ustange(mexicans love mustangs) getting the stuff for there family specifically...god gives us challenges out of love. my only hope is that I can learn and overcome my challenges with my faith always.
wherever there is a lesson there is a teacher close by...
Miguel is doing good, he is really trying and working on his faith...he has overcome so much but he still has more to go..he told us he wants to be baptized but we just don’t have a date yet. he said that he really felt from the spirit that this is the right church. and that he says that he is going to do it soon but he will let us know when.
Fransisca and Denis are going good. they are both reading and praying(at least Fransisca is for 100%) Denis is a stud he is finishing a house this week and afterwards decided he is not going to do another, he has 2 jobs and said how he is tired of not seeing his family "this is no type of life" he said...he is really focusing on the more important things in life...his wife and super cute lil daughter Jalena.
BTW his last name is Saquecagua...say that 5 times fast.
also Juan Francisco is doing good...he is the guy who is married to the lady from Thailand. she told us to call her ting because we cant get close to saying her real name...haha. Juan also said that he will get baptized if he gets an answer to his prayers. he is such a good guy, his family is cool...his 2 kids understand Thai, Spanish and English...and that is amazing. Juan also speaks 4-5 other dialects which is incredible because you have to learn dialects by hearing mostly because they aren’t written.
all is going well here. last week we went on exchanges and I went with an elder named elder martins. he is from Rio de Janeiro Brasil and speaks Portugese Spanish and English. elder martins is a flippin stud! the guy is just a champ and it was an awesome exchange. he is teaching me portugese so I can talk with him and Jordan and so I’ve been learning that...its super similar to Spanish...the accent is different and because he is from Rio the accent is even more different but its sweet.
and would someone shake there fist at Jordan and tell him he is a man di vaca(you say it like man gi baca) because he didn’t write agin!
anyways it was a super awesome exchange and next week elder Burnett(ZL and old comp) is going on exchanges with me and it will be the last time I will see that man...he is a stud and has as of today 14 more days left of his mission! after that he is most definitely getting hitched...haha...I give him about 2 months at the max...his girlfriend is pretty and loves him so. haha
tell Anita I got her rebuke...yo escribire mas, lo siento...pero in el mismo tiempo me gusto por fin a recibir una carta de ti, aunque me echaste la bronca! jaja
I didnt get your stuff sent out but I have it. I am going to try to do it today, we don’t have plans to do anything so I am going to clean the house and write letters.
also yea I got those pictures of Jeff and those were flippin hardcore! that guy sure does know how to crash...tell him he should send it into scarred the tv show. how many staples did you get? da da da dannnnggg gina!
I wanted to share a good experience that happened yesterday. it was a thing that really showed me the love and power of our Heavenly Father. always in a mission your constantly trying to be as good as you can...I am not the best but I sure do keep pushing myself. yesterday I had been right on though and during church I was translating agin and this guy got up there with a few books and a bunch of typed out papers and had about 25-30 min left...he was the last speaker...and I was like ooooooohhh crap...
a lot of times people don’t realize that translating is flippin hard...you have to hear and speak at the same time and do it in 2 languages. well I have done a lot of translating but there are those speakers who flippin rock me because the talk sooooo fast. well...he did just that...that guy talk sooo fast and he read from books and scriptures without pausing...the talk was amazing but so hard because he was using huge ridiculous words and it was rough...a few min into the talk I realized how zoned I was, I literally was speaking Spanish faster than I ever ever have before, and I was soon stinkin shocked because I like had stopped in my mind and kinda was shocked what I had been doing...my Spanish was correct and I was speaking fast. I just got in that zone agin and was literally keeping up almost word for word with the guy(keeping up word for word is actually impossible because something you have to say differently) but I was soooo amazed...and I honestly felt the spirit of peace come over me and my mind listened and spoke without pause. it’s a promise I have felt and experienced myself that as we truly do what the lord has asked he blesses us with help, strength, peace, clarity, guidance, new ideas, and our needs that we need. our Heavenly father has promised us that as we keep his commandments we will have our needs provided for. I know this because I felt that strength. I love you all and hope that you all have an awesome week. I love your letters and I hope to get some out today.
keep on keepin on vosotros!
-elder richardson

JOSE got baptized...honestly that was a pure blessing from the lord...we really didn't do anything that man was sooo prepared and ready that we just joined in basically. he is such a stud and he got the priesthood on sunday and he is going to go out with us soon...not sure when but it will be sweet.
we also had a inactive member who had wanted to have his name removed but we stopped by and talked with him about stuff for a while. and that sunday he brought his wife to church...she really wasn't sure what to think about it because everything is so new to her..but it went good. and later that week he gave us a call and just asked if we could stop by for a second at night and we were on exchanges with brother wehage who actually doesn't speak a word of spanish because he served in brasil (he is a baller) and we stopped by and they gave us a HUGE tres leches cake(3 milk cake) and it was probably the most delicious thing i have eaten on my mission...it was definitely very expensive and we couldn't believe they got it for us but it was so nice of them!
we had a weird week because of zone conference and a huge mission wide service day and some other stuff that came up that we didn't really have alot of time in our own area...i really didn't like that but..asi pasa...we couldn't do anything about it...
about that service day...we ended up going to this area and for 8 hours we pulled literal seats from cars that had been imbedded into a mountain for years out of the mountain...also we pulled out tires and sheet metal and a toilet and a bunch of stuff...i really think that there was more crud than ground...and after 8 hours of trackin through this forrestie stuff (my allergies that i have never had before going off like a flippin rage) we get back and this lady comes up with my most not favorite thing in the world...shots...
we then found out that all day we had been trackin though poison ivy and that we now all had the pleasure to find out that because no one had told us my legs that were shodden with shorts were totally going to be screwed because of the poison ivy and just so that we didn't die from the mass exposure to the ivy we were to all get shots...yay...NOT!
that was a sucky night sleep...
anyways elder treu was super nice to me and today gave me some zyrtec so that i am not practically knocked out from the dollar store brand allgery medicine. he is a good guy.
anyways ..i midway threw the week gave myself notice that jordan was done done...holy crap...good luck with the human world brother!
i love you all tons...tell jordan i am going to set a date this week and i will be doing it for the lord and the person but in a way for jordan too.
i love you guys!
Elder Richardson

Jordan's coming home! Cholos! More...

holy flippin crap!
jordan is done? that is stinkin increadable!(and i cant spell)...
how is he already done? that is soo weird to think of...i am such a pedazo de crap cousin cus i didn't write him much...i at least hope he got what i did write...i never got a confirmation of that...
dang...
well, if jordan's done that means...fudge...
anyways,there is nothing like a boy typing a commentary like he is speaking espically when he cant spell...but by any means i will work through it and you will understand beacuse i pray that you have the don de lenguas.
anyways last week was awsome, we got tons of lessons with members and the members are giving us referals to there friends and family and people they know. its super fun actually, elder santos and i don't even have to tract very much(we still have to tract alot but not anything compared to what it is usually like for a new area).
elder santos is a baller, we get along super well. he used to be a cagefighter in MMA so he and i fight alot, but its mostly just him teaching me how you can kill someone in 2 punches or something like that...not so useful for the missionary work but definately interesting. haha.
we had 2 investigators at church yesterday. jose cojem and rosa rodriguez. jose has a date for the 25 of this month(i think its april right?) and rosa is a wife to a very inactive member who really didn't want to come but when she came she liked it super tons. please keep them in your prayers.
other than that there really isnt too much exciting news...we have had some run ins with the cholos here, there from a gang called south 13 or sur 13 and there stubborn and not real nice but they at least don't jump us or shoot at us cus we are "holy men" haha.
yes we have a house and furniture...it all smells like smoke but...what can you do...oh well...
oh i just though i would tell you about hno. uki who is from peru but his ancestors are japoneese and he speaks spanish japanese english and portuguese...he is a baller, and he kicks everyones butt at futbol.
he told me he would teach me some portugese too so then i can talk with jordan...
anyways... my dreams are entirely in spanish and we speak spansih all day...i cant really do english too well sometimes because santos is learning english so we switch the roles and he only talk to the english ppl and i mainly talk to the spanish haha..its funny sometimes ppl start talkin to me in english and i just ask santos what they say and then he talks to them in english and translates for me and they get surpised when i don't speak english but he does haha...i am gettin pretty good at dumb looks and acting like i don't understand...haha.
also i am about out of time...sorry. but life is sweet...were dead dead tired every single night by the time we get home...
anyways tell brie i will absolutely pray for her...i pray for you all anyways so you might as well give me specifics so that i can pray for what you need help with. i love you all...tell jordan i love that stud tons and if you see him give him the BIGGEST hug you can for me and tell him he is the man that i always though he was...i cant really explain what kind of example he has been for me...
i love you guys tons...i am doin good here life is good. everyone is helping us so much...just remember that when you see those missionaries there at home and remember they also have families hoping they get taken well care of in there mission.
love you all
elder richardson

Update!

[NOTE: The last couple of communications from Josh have come in snippets and so they have not been posted. Suffice it to say: He got transferred to Burgess Falls, Tennessee. He has a new companion - Elder Santos from Barcelona, Spain - who he loves and is excited to be with (they have been telling people for a few months that they would be companions at some point). Burgess Falls is a new area for Spanish speaking missionaries, so they are opening a new area, with a new apartment (so new there was no furniture in it when they moved it ... including no beds). And they have been challenged to have a Spanish branch there in 3 months! This week's email follows:]

hey guys...your really going to hate me...i really dont have alot of time.
and honestly its due to the tornados that are dropping all over and the crappy weather were getting...i actually sent a pic of a tornado that i saw drop with my ver own eyes...it was about a mile from me and sooo flippin crazy.
but today were here, this last week was super chafa, santos had to go to sing in the choir so i was on exchanges with the english elders for the last 4 days...when we got here it was sooo flippin crazy...but that is a story that ill have to tell later all i can say is that satan really really dosent want us here...it was ver very clear upon trying to come over here and throughout our days together. but all is well santos and i are now reunited and with ganas we are going to tear it up here.
i sent pics!
and sunday i had to translate for the spanish agin...and i havent translated for sooo long...i was so nervous that it would be super crapy but it wasent i truly felt 3 min befor the sacrament a peace come over me and my mind started translating with such an ease that i have never had ever befor in my life...iam not going to lie it was really good, and it truly was beacuse of the help the lord gave me beacuse i have never never had that peace and ability befor in my best moment of speaking. it was odd how i fell back into the normal way of speaking afterwards. haha, so awsome is my god!
and iam really really sorry that i dont have a ton of time to write...i hope you dont hate me but we really have to get going. they told us that htere is another storm commin and we have to go and find somewhere to be. i love you all tons.
bubba,i hope you realize the importance of you practices now, there hecka important but i know that it wasnt all your fault and that your a stud and you get a move on, but sometimes were givin trials beacuse we are ready to learn lessons...learn and grow young padawan!
brie, your such a flippin studette! keep playing, the very best players are the ones that worked thourgh years of trials but for the love of the game and eventually kick some but and were so amazing that nobody could keep up...work yourself hard!
mom and dad, keep on keepin on! thank you so much for the videaos and my new address is:
1589 walter ln. #1
cooksville TN
38501
LOVE YA!
-ya boi yealda richarddd!
(your boy elder richardson)

ESTOY!
with all the tornado warnings its hard for us to get our email done...sorry

114-0118 elder knaras y su nino
114-0127 el bautizmo de jose
118-0019 knaras y yo y divina y hugo en su bautizmo
118-0078 a tornado that i literally saw drop in frount of my face(friday the 10 2009) it was about 1 mile from us and we took off in the car hecka fast and there was 1 inch hail falling too! frickin hecka crazy!

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114_0127.JPG

118_0019.JPG

118_0078.JPG

Conference Weekend ... letter from President Hutchings

dang gina! my cousin brock is so such a stinkin stud! i love that guy...i hope he gets married to the most beautiful awsomest lady there is...that speaks spanish too! in fact if he has problems i know a bunch of puerto rician ladys! haha
welll guys juan carlos and estela got back together and are doing hecka good, there relationship[ is soo strong now and estela is supporting insted of tearing down and assuming. juan pedro is going to be getting baptized...we just have to figure out the day.
and douglas, he is a baller! i dont think i have meet many ppl who are cooler than he is, he is such a good man and so very very focused and is reading tons and tons in the book of mormon. its so incredable. and as for life arround here...well its at an end.
tomarrow are transfers and iam leaving, iam going to the farthest east our mission goes and iam going to be opening an area with a stud of a missionary elder santos. it sucks rocks that i have to go right when i feel like i got a huge grip on this area...everything has done well and is doing well and will be doing awsome and now i have to go...one of the members actually got mad at me cus iam leaving and told me to go and tell the mission president that he cant do that...i told him its god doing it so he can go have a talk with him if he wants...haha. jose got mad too and told me he is probally going to move now...i doubt it...but that guy is such a stud,please keep him in your prayers. and the chilano family ...dang iam going to miss them, and hna. embodi's cookin...there so awsome. my new area is called burgess falls and santos and i will be the first spansih missionarys in this area ever! iam hecka nervous,iam defintly going to work my pants off, president wants a branch in 3 months...pleas pray! haha
elder santos is from barcelona spain and is a stud...we have been tellin everyone that we were going to serve together forever now and now its finally happening! were pretty stoked but we have a bunch of work to do...
also its final elder spencer is going to be training...the mans super stoked about it, nervous, but i told him hell be fine...he is such a stud!
anyways i love you all tons...iam super super super stoked to hear about jordan! that man is in ever one of my prayers...and you can tell him that yo falo poco portugues y no estoy brincando. haha
love you all
elder richardson

ps elder jacob is speakin spanish? sWeeT!!

i just kinda wanted to send this to you beacuse it is a very powerful letter that our president wrote and it explaines a bit of what were doing here in the mission(or did in the mo of march)

---

Elders and Sisters,

I felt impressed to write to each of you and give you an update on where we are as a mission on the March Madness Missionary Miracle Month. We had a conference call tonight with the zone leaders and they reported a total of 52 individuals that have been baptized with 44 future dates for the rest of the month. That equals 96 if all goes well. You and I both know that some will fall off at the end of the week, so we really need to set 10 to 15 more for the rest of the month. Tonight we received 9 new future dates with 5 of them being for this month. That was way exciting and many miracles accompanied those new dates. We also have 32 future dates so far going into April.

Here are some highlights so far. If everything goes through the Franklin and Spanish zones will exceed their goals. The Hopkinsville, Nashville and Paducah zones are within 3 of their goals. That is so exciting. Also, if everything goes the Spanish and the McMinnville zones will have 24 baptized each. The Spanish zone has 18 as of tonight and the McMinnville zone has 11 baptized.

Listed below are some districts where each companionship either has baptized or has a future date for March:

· Paris district (Elder Mayes, Hine, Beech and Comstock) will have 8 when all goes through.

· Franklin Spanish district (Sisters Sulz, Ethington, Elders Richardson, Spencer) will have 5 when all goes through.

· Stones River district (Sisters Zeller, Sprinkle and Elders Beck, Garrison) will have 2 when all goes through.

· Fairview district (Elders Calkins, Nelson, Horner, Orr) will have 7 when all goes through.

· Columbia district (Elders Boswell, Lawrence, Massey, Stacey) will have 3 when all goes through.

Congrats to each of these districts where everyone in the district baptized this month.

6 of the 7 zone leaders companionship will baptize this month. Thank you zone leaders for your example and hard work.

Listed below are some of the companionships who have or have solid dates for baptisms in March:

Tanner-Allen = 3, Pearson-Kim = 7, Richardson-Spencer = 4, Geohagan-Tupou = 4, Sisters Smith-Cordon = 3, Santos-Haire = 4, Sisters Munoz-Gasca = 6, Beech-Comstock = 4, Yadernuk-Rasmussen = 3, Wagstaff-Bousfield = 3, Measom-Alvarez = 3, Treu-Reeder = 7, Calkins-Nelsen = 6, Mayes-Hine = 4, Campbell-Hanson 3. Congrats to each of these companionship.

My sincere thanks to each of you for your great work and dedication to the Lord. You have done well.

Can you see what is happening? There is a new spark in missionary work in this mission. I give you the credit and thanks. You are wonderful and a joy to be with as we are engaged in the work of the Lord.

Reminder to pray at 12 noon today(Thursday) as this is the time the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve pray in the temple. We need to join with them in asking God for miracles, the mission to reach its goal of 100, retain the dates we have set, and set 10 to 15 new dates for this month.

I would also ask that each of us begin a fast after dinner on Thursday and end it on Friday at dinner time. The purpose of the fast is to do the following:

· Fast for the mission goal of 100

· Fast for those who have set dates to be baptized that all will go through

· Fast for miracles that have and are taking place. We need to ask God specifically for more miracles as we are obedient to His rules and work.

· Fast specifically for those in your districts and zones by NAME (either progressing investigators, investigators or those with a date)

I must confess that I haven’t seen as much opposition or things put before us that gets us distracted in the work as I have in the past 30 days. We need to keep praying for strength. Remember that God’s work won’t get frustrated. We don’t want Satan to win any battles so let’s be on our “A” game. Stay focused and remember that when difficulties come – blessings are right behind them.

Obedience is the key to our success. If you were to talk to many missionaries, you would hear of their testimonies that when you are obedient – God will bless you quickly. We need to have a quest – a yearning for being obedient. This is important and will be the cause of our missing the goal of 100. Pray with everything you have. Talk to our loving Heavenly Father. What He wants from us is our heart. With that, anything can happen.

In the first part of April, I am going to send a letter to President Monson where I will tell him that the great Tennessee Nashville Mission baptized 100 individuals and brought them to Christ. I will further explain that we did this for 2 reasons. One is to help these individuals qualify for salvation and the other is as a testimony to President Monson that we sustain him as a prophet of God. That our works told of our inner desires.

I am also going to write to Elder Ballard and invite him to tour our mission. It will be an added boost if I can tell him that we just baptized 100 and this mission is on fire.

For the past three days, I have had the privilege of interviewing ½ of the mission. There is a greater faith present in our interviews. By the power of the spirit I have discerned the blessings of God have been extended to more of you in the past month. Some I have perceived a blessing that has been bestowed upon you in that God will sustain you in your work. A few of you He has instructed me to teach of this level of what I call spiritual maturity. For those whom God instructed me to teach, we shed a few tears together as I taught them of this great blessing. God in his kindness allowed those individuals to be told by me of their service and that it has pleased God and He will sustain them in their work. Why God instructed me to teach only a few and not all those who have reached this level, I don’t know. I can only testify that the spirit instructed me with a handful to teach of this level, but others he held my tongue and I was not permitted to inform them. More of you are reaching this level and God in his kindness is granting unto you the righteous desires of your heart. Thank you one and all.

I wish I had the ability to give each of you a “Title of Liberty” that we could hold, display and discuss that would adequately portray our feelings as we go into this last week of our March Madness Missionary Miracle Month. Some of the statements I would write on the “Title of Liberty” would be the following:

· Let it be said of us, by our works that we believe in God the Eternal Father.

· Let it be said of us, by our works that we believe in Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord and His Atonement, which is available to all.

· Let it be said of us, by our works that we believe in the Holy Ghost. We recognize Him, and we follow those impressions that He gives us.

· Let it be said of us, by our works that we believe the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet of God who was the instrument God used in restoring the church today.

· Let it be said of us, by our works that we believe in the restoration of the gospel. That the priesthood has been restored and President Monson is a living prophet today.

· Let it be said of us, by our works that we know the sealing powers have been restored and those blessings are available to all who come unto Christ.

· Let it be said of us that our testimonies stand against the fiery darts of the adversary. And that by our faith and works do the powers of God prevail over this enemy.

· Let it be said of us, by our works that we not only represent our God, but our families, friends, home wards and stakes, and our inner most desire to serve God with our heart, might, mind and strength.

· Let it be said of us, that our testimonies will stand as a witness for or against this people.

· Let it be said of us, that we contributed in a mighty way in more fully establishing the Church in this part of the Lord’s vineyard.

· Let it be said of us, by our works that peace, joy and happiness can all be contained through living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I could go on and on. Suffice it to say that this “Title of Liberty” would be displayed in each of our apartments and discussed every morning before we go out and work. That together we unit in this great cause. In part, I see us doing that. I thank you and encourage you to keep working hard. Hold fast to the iron rod. It does lead to the tree of live and it is delicious to the taste. Trust me, I know.

I express my sincere love and respect for who you are and what you are doing. This is the greatest work there is. We are witnessing history. We are a part of something that words cannot describe. We are about our Father’s business. Please, join with me as we consecrate all our time and effort in this last week to reaching our goal and showing the eastern United States missions that we can and we did break the 4 minute mile with convert baptisms. Pray, hard work, obedience, pure love of God and mankind and the key ingredients to this success. I express my love to each of you. Come, partake of this experience and witness first hand of His outstretched arms towards you. The end is in sight. The victory is ours. Endure to the end and watch the blessings flow.

President Hutchings

A short up-date ... Themis gets baptized!!!!

well, the good news is that Themis, Jysell and Melissa were baptized and confirmed this last week and that was flippin sweet. we (the Spanish group) now have 3 rows of seats that were taking up in the sacrament! I wanna get 4 or 5 before I leave. all we need is 3more men to get baptized to make it a branch and that would be sweet!
also we have transfers coming up! I am pretty stoked about the whole business, its always exciting-ish...I think Elder Spencer will be training 'cus he is such a stud haha...I'll send pics of us. and life is going good, the work is progressing and i hope only that i will be able to keep it all organized so that we don't lose any progress that we have. it sooo sweet!
I love you guys, I am sorry for not writing alot but I felt like I should tell you all to whom we pray, and through what name because it is how we conquer, be disciples of Christ.
i love you guys
elder richardson

and always remember you guys are ballers!

Baptism this week! News from Clarksville! and District Leader!

well, transfers are all here and unfortunately elder burrnett is takin off he is going to west nashville and i am going to be staying here in franklin. and president made me the district leader for this area. the only problem with that...there are 2 sister missionaries in the district...
hahaha just kiddin mom... there cool
anyways, other super exciting news!!!
elder knaras called me up and just unloaded a ton of news, 1)knaras is training!! he is getting a native too which is just what he was hoping for too 2) he is leaving clarksville and 3) divina and hugo are getting married! they finally got all the paperwork and whatnots done that they needed to and now there finally gettin married and baptized...they only problem is that now...neither knaras nor i will be there for it but they told him that they would send alot of pictures! divinas dad disowned her for it but she already has a kid with hugo and they are really in love so i think he will get over it when he stops being stubborn.
also, jose melendez here in franklin is doing super good and is super excited to get baptized on this saturday. he is stopping smoking so please keep him in your prayers as much as possible.
themis and her 2 girls are doing super good and there is a familia here named the allen family and bro allen is a stud...to be honest the whole family are studs but brother allen has been going out on exchanges with us alot and he went on his mission to el salvador and he finished his mission the very month the war started down there. but! he still speaks spanish super super good. its been a loooooong time since his mission but he still speaks and he speaks well. dad, keep your chinese, your never going to know when your going to need it.
anyways the allens invited themis and her 2 girls over for familia home evening and so tonight were going to go do that and were all pretty stoked!
also we found a really cool family(we found more than just 1 family this last week but these guys are super cool) and there names are mosies and maria and thy have some kids but there super cool and were pretty excited to teach them. also another mexican that is really cool named alvarao who is (oddly) into chinese stuff and has a huge dragon tatoo on his shoulder.
we also went to the temple this last week and that was super cool, for a lil while i had headphones sot hat i could listen in spanish. that was super cool... i really do love spanish.
well basically those are the highlights to the week, we tore it up on our lessons we taught and a bunch of other stuff because we just kept truckin and elder burrnett is such a stud so that helps alot too!
hey can you guys send me tylan and jacobs address. and dad when you get a hold of nate tell him that he is the man and i am determined to send him a sweet tie! idk if that even matters to him...probably not...but that is about all i've got...so yea.
anyways i g2g and i love you all and ill talk to you lata
love
-elder richardson

With the Lord's Help ... What a Week!

hey family
this last week was super super good and pretty dang crappy...but all in all i think it levels out to be a pretty sweet one.
it actually started off with ...PDAY...but that's not the point...
on tuesday went to Themis's house(pervuiana) with brother Allen(stud) and it was super sweet...we went over there with the ganas to teach the book of mormon to her and when we got over there and we started talkin, she told us about a dream that she had and she started it off with the fact that it was a beautiful dream and she feel really really good when she had it and it is the only dream she has ever had like it before in her life...and then she said how it didn't make alot of sense to her what the things in it mean but she liked it...then she went on about her dream, she had fallen asleep on the couch and in her dream 2 ppl walked in her door and it was a marriage group...like a mom and dad or like husband and wife....(crap i cant think of that word) it was 2 married people...anyways, they walk in the door and there was alot of light shining in and the were dressed all in white. they then sat on her couch and the husband pointed to the wife and told Themis that she(Themis) needs to pray for her(the wife) and in that moment she opened her eyes and found herself with the book of mormon in her hands.
she told us that she doesn't know what it means but she said that she thinks it means that this is the right church.
when she was talkin about the dream i had a strong feeling come over me that it was a special dream for her and after she finished i felt like i knew what it was about. the spirit was sooo strong and we had yet to start teaching. as we started we taught her exactly what was the book of mormon and we read the introduction and it was truly awesome the spirit that all of us felt when we read the promise that god gives us when we pray that we will receive an answer from him of the truth of the book. Themis was sooo soo excited and so happy of everything and we asked her to read and pray about the book of mormon.
Themis and her 2 daughters now have a bap date for the 7 of march.
there were soo many other experiences that happened last week but i wanted to tell you guys about that one and one other about Jose and what has been going on in his life.
his wife has left him and because of that and work we haven't been able to see him like we need to but he is such a stud that he is still going foreward. we are going to be moving his date to the 28 because he needs some time and needs to quit smoking(the stress of the recent events haven't helped that prob) but he is such a awesome guy that with all the heck that satan is throwing at him he is still whoopin some trash, and its cus he is doing more and more the things that he knows are right and he is getting help to conquer them. but we had a sweet time last sunday because Brother Deere(producer of a bunch of bands) and the band Due West(mom check them out) and Brother Trueman(from Diamond Rio) all put on a fireside and the Nashville Tribute band did some songs from the Joseph album and the Trek album and we took Jose and Jose loved it. it was super awesome because (I don't know if you have heard the discs but they're good) but everyone loved it and Jose got the chance to relax and listen to country music that he likes alot and feel the spirit of peace for a night after a week of heck.
please keep Jose and Themis in your prayers and their families. Always when someone is doing good they get hit by a ton of bad to try to distract or take them off the path. I know the Lord wants them to have peace and joy and all the blessings he can give them, keep them in your prayers.
i love you guys tons!
thank you for all the help you give us out here! and I am keepin you all in my prayers.
love
elder richardson

PS for p day were going to be going to find ryan scheklers house because he lives over here and a member is a good friend of his family.
oh and mom i heard Dan Trueman play one more day by Diamond Rio ...i though you might like to know that.

Another Baptism!

hey family
franklin is doing pretty sweet...the week went by super quick. thank you all of you guys that sent stuff...i really cant tell you how much it ment to me. all you guys are soo dang awsome and iam really thankful for it, you are all a blessing to me and my life.
like i said franklin is doing good... jose melendez has a baptizimal date for the 21st of feburary! it was a pretty funny lesson beacuse we were on exchanges with our mission leder(bro lawless) and he was super super tired so he kept falling asleepish during the lesson...it made jose smile though and all was good, it was a super good time and there was alot of spirit there.
but with all good the bad attacks just as hard as it can, i really cant say much but please keep jose in your prayers, he is a good good man and he really needs them.
the others are doing good too, the peruvian family is doing good, but her husband got a super bad stomach virus on friday and there were in the hospital all friday until saturday night...but themis and her girls came to church on sunday so that was super good...
also kevin and orlando(the hondurianans) are doing super good, we had a sweet lesson with them and another guy too from another church (he lives with them) and he was really aginst joining the lesson for a lil bit but then we just testified of christ and he sat down and started listening...we read outloud the proclmacion to the world and jesus the christ and everyone really really liked them and there was a good good spirit there. but when sunday came so they couldent go to church beacuse the mexicans that they live with (upstairs) went out for the day and gave the hondurianians(basement) there kids to watch...
we had a good week though, we went to see a lot of inactivos and recent conversos and see how they are all doin and we had some really good lessons with them...
the lord is soo sooo merciful, i really cant explain to you how much so, he really blesses us sooo sooo much and we really arnt even close to what we should be for all of thoes blessings. the area is doing really good and life is good... as with all things always the adversary wants to "echar la zancadilla" and cause problems but the lord always wins...beacuse christ already defeted him in all ways.
i really have come to know...sooo very much more about my savior, jesus of nazarath is the christ, the imortal son of god. his power is so surly felt for thoes who turn to him. i love him. he is our savior. i work, and i pray that i might learn ever so much more of him and grow or become that much more closer to him.
i love you family, be safe, change alot, and please strive to be closer to the savior always.
love,
elder richardson