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

A Super Good Week ... lots of investigators!

well...new news...
we had a super good week this week, we worked our butts off and we found a bunch of super awesome ppl and we had more investigators at church this week than Franklin has ever had before. we have one family from peru of 3 and a group of brothers from Hondurous and a 2 mexicans and it was super sweet! when we came to church with all the investigators it pulled everyone's eyes towards us, because the sacrament is translated and we go with the english ppl and we walked in and the spanish members were super excited(especially Jesus Cazares a new convert of 6 mo. who is probably one day going to be branch prez.) and then all the english ppl were lookin at us too because we 1. arrived on time and 2. there was a bunch of us walkin in! haha
i am not going to lie though...elder Burrnett was translating and i was down with the investigators and I was on pins and needles because we had 2x the investigators as members and i couldn't sit by them and help them feel comfy and whatnot and i was soo nervous but then it was sooo awesome beacuse the family from peru (Gallardo, mom and 2 daughters) had had bad experiences at church before and so i really was hoping they would have a good one here and a girl stood up to bear her testimony and it was soooooo awesome because it was perfectly the things that the Gallardo family needed to know...and in that moment i felt the spirit super strong and almost felt the words said to me " don't you worry, they are in my hands now"
it was sooo sweet. and in this moment the members kinda paired up with the investigators and i was talkin with the honduranian and the spirit too care of everyone! it was soo sweet all the stress i had left quick and the spirit was so strong that all the investigators left telling us they would come back! haha!
other than that we brock [I think that is just a Freudian slip of Josh's ... he probably meant broke ... but Brock works mighty hard, so therein lies the slip] in our shoes real well tracting tons and tons and we found alot of ppl that were going to teach or have (by this time) ya taught.
please keep in your prayers Ramiro, Kevin, Themis and her family and Sergio. they are all very very awesome investigators that really need your prayers. they all are fighting the world right now and really need the extra help that they can get.
i love you guys and i hope you all had a sweet week! i stinkin loved the package ! it was super sweet except for the fact that Jesus Cazeres ate 3 of my cordial cherries and i about scissor kicked him in the ole' melon for that one~! i love the shirts and pants and i am going to not wear the shirts but to conferences and church only so that they stay white! haha.
also the tape was awesome! there is so much i want to write back to you guys about the tape but i cant...cus there isn't enough time!
mainly this though....
bubba...don't stop,or let up, or not have fun....wrestling is made so that you can learn and have fun and get better...so that means if you think your good enough, ya aren't, but only because you can get better...and if you aren't havin fun, start, cus its not about being bored or not liking it...go and smile and learn and smile and learn and kick sum butt dude! cauwabunga!
and also, try the dollar store because i can still hear the country music on the re-taped over tape haha.
and dad...your starting to sound EXACTLY like grandpa on the tape...your voice is sooo much like his i am shocked.
and i think one of the coolest parts of the tape was hearing mom wash the dishes and talk...it really doesn't matter what is said on a tape but more just saying something..even if it is when your doing dishes hahaha
and also it made me laugh hearing the part that was recorded almost a year ago and hearing michell and ashlyn tryin to talk over bro and sis krohn. and hearing lil kindra use the talents that i taught her! hahahaha

i love you guys tons,
"stay classy"
elder j richardson