MTC week 5

"Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory to much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." (Alma 26:16)

The above scripture is just how I feel today! I cannot believe with the new change in missionary ages, that MY BROTHER AND SISTER, MISSY AND WILLIE ARE BOTH GOING TO BE IN THE MISSION FIELD SOON :) :) :) :) :) If I could put a whole page of smiley faces I would! Oh boy this week has just been the greatest ever! The church is true! Conference was amazing and many of the missionaries said it was their best one yet. It was neat to sit in the gym and have everyone paying attention to the Prophet and Apostles of the Lord. I wish you could have all been there when President Monson announced the age change on Saturday morning. As missionaries we were all shock and the Spirit was so strong! We are all so excited for this new change. This means that the Spanish speakers will only be here for 6 weeks instead of nine, and the English for 2 instead of 3. Crazy! I still leave on Nov. 6, so soon! I told my comps that next Thursday we will be headed into only 2 weeks left in the MTC! I can't believe how fast my time here has flown. I've learned so much and loved every minute, even the parts where I want to scream and cry. ;)

On Tuesday I fasted for Missy and Willie in their decisions to serve and also for dad in his desire to lose weight and be healthy, and what a day of fast it was! I felt so close to the spirit all day and I was speaking Spanish very well! It was such a wonderful day! And to top it off Elder Bednar was the speaker at the devotional! Woot! He is our favorite as we have watched a few of his past talks from the MTC each Sunday during our film time. He talked about a way to study the words of the prophets from General Conference. Look for the doctrine, invitation, and promised blessings. We watched few clips from Elder Bednar, President Eyring, and Elder Perry. In the devo Elder Bednar pointed out that when an apostle makes a promise he does it using the apostalic keys so the blessings are made sure! Such a wonderful thought. I know these men are called of God and that when they make promises, we better do what they say or we are missing out on a lot of blessings! I am just so happy to be a missionary and wear this name badge as a representative of Jesus Christ. I know who I am and I know God has a plan for each of us! Sorry but I am just so happy that Missy has decided to serve a mission! AHHHHHHH :) :)

Yesterday morning we had a great class with our teacher Hna Wetzel. She had us read 2 Ne 2:14 and then we made lists of qualities of a missionary who does not ACT, and a missionary who DOES ACT. Wow. The spirit was really strong and I was inspired to be a better missionary! I want to be a missionary who ACTS so that I can bring all the souls unto Christ that I can! As a district we also made a special assignment this week to pray for and do 5 acts of service each day. So far it has been great and I learning so much about myself and my capabilities!

On Monday one of my comps (Hna Peterson) was sick and I wasn't very patient with her because I didnt' want to have to sit in our room all day. BUT the Lord used this as a teaching opportunity for me and I humbled myself and sat in our room and studied. Hermana Lancaster and I actually had a really great discussion and then I got to talk to one of my new friends hna bean because it was her p-day. It was a great day of learning for me and I am grateful the Lord knows me better than I know myself!

 On Sunday we had a devotional and guess who the speaker was? Chad Lewis! As in the author of "Surround yourself with greatness" and the BYU football player who also played in the NFL! It was sweeeeet! I shrieked when I saw he was speaking and I'm pretty sure all the Elders in the audience thought it was pretty great too.

I must end now but please pray for me in my Spanish speaking! I fear I am far behind where I should be since I am leaving in almost 3 1/2 weeks and I am scared :P Pray that I will have the will power to practice my language as much as possible and to have the brain capacity to do it as well. Thank you!

I love you guys SO SO SO much and hope you have a wonderful week full of blessings and miracles! The church is true and the prophet is too! :D

Les amo MUCHO!!!!!

Hermana Richardson