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

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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