This week was AWESOME :) I learned so much. Thank you everyone for your letters.
Here is a summary of how my week was:
Sunday: We went to choir practice where we practiced
"Consider the Lilies" for the devotional on Tuesday. What a beautiful
song! If you get the chance go read the words because they are wonderful.
Heavenly Father loves us so much! The choir director was sooo funny. He told us
a story about a family who when the mom was gone went to go float the Provo
river. The dad sent 5 of his kids ALONE down the river in a raft. He just said,
see you at the bottom! (Typical dad) There were aged 12 and younger. He told
them to watch out for one part when they go under the bridge because they could
tip over if they didn't go under it right. Well they got to the bridge and
tipped and all fell out. They were OK but their raft left without them. When
they all climbed out there was their dad standing there, with there raft! He
hadn't abandoned them after all, he was actually following them in the car on
the side road, which they couldn't see. This is just like Heavenly Father! He
sent us down here and said "Okay, I'm going to put you here on earth
without much experience and I will see you when you get back." But really,
he is here every step of the way with us. He sends tender mercies to us to help
make the journey of mortality easier. I made a goal this week to count my
tender mercies and I wrote them in my journal. I will share some of them with
you :)
After choir practice on Sunday and after the devotional we watched
the Joseph Smith movie. (The short version) The spirit was so strong and at the
end when he was being led away for the last time and Emma was crying I
looked around at all the missionaries and realized THIS IS WHY WE(the
missionaries) ARE HERE! Because Joseph Smith restored the church. He
did not die in vain! Oh how I love the prophet Joseph. He truly is a prophet of
God and did translate the Book of Mormon through the power of God. I love this
church! My testimony was once again strengthened of Joseph Smith and the
Restoration. This was a tender mercy because my testimony was strengthened
again :)
On Monday we went to TRC (where we practice teaching
members) and we got an RM named Jordan who served in CA. The spirit was so
strong as we all shared our testimonies of the BOM and our favorite scriptures.
I love the lessons where the Spirit is really strong. As
we were sitting at dinner, a lady came over and asked us if we would help a
brand new sister missionary from the Philippines. We sat and talked with her
while she ate dinner and then took her to the front desk so she could be taken
to the right place. I was glad we could serve her! Also on Monday we got a new
investigator, Patricio! (Remember, it's all practice.) We started from scratch this time because we had to do a
door approach and actually had to talk ourselves in the door. Sometimes I don't
understand Spanish very well so when we were at the door he asked what his
purpose was in life and I (thinking he asked what OUR purpose as missionaries
is) started quoting "Our Missionary Purpose." My comps looked at me
funny and then I realized what he said. Oops. The spirit was very strong in
this lesson and we talked to him about the BOM. AWESOME.
On Tuesday we had a workshop about planning, which I really
needed because I don't feel like I plan very well! And then the devo that night
was also about planning! Tender mercies! In class we talked about learning
Spanish and how when it is motivated by love it's constant. The thought popped
into my head that sometimes it is hard for me to imagine my future
investigators in NYC so it's hard for me to learn Spanish for them. Then I
though, "If my family all of a sudden could only speak Spanish, I would
want to learn Spanish so I could talk to them!" All of a sudden it clicked
in my head because my future investigators are going to be some of my best
friends and practically family! So I am more motivated to learn Spanish now! I
know this thought was a thought from the spirit :)
Yesterday we had an AWWWWESOME lesson with our practice investigator
Ingrid. She has a baptism date for the 20th, so we thought we needed to talk to
her about the Word of Wisdom in case she had any problems. We read through the
pamphlet with her and when she read the part about god asking us not to use
harmful and addictive substances she sat there for about 30 seconds and then
started to cry. In those 30 seconds of silence the spirit came so strong! When
she talked again she said she couldn't be baptized because she is addicted to
tobacco. I explained that she could still be baptized but she will have to stop
smoking. She said she has tried and tried but has never been able to quit.
Ether 12:27 quickly popped into my head so I read that to her. All of a sudden
all three of us knew what to say because the spirit was telling us! It was
amazing! We are going to talk to her more about it tonight. Pray for us!
We also had another lesson with Patricio last night and we
talked more about the Book of Mormon. He said he has never seen any evidence of
God so quickly I said "I know the book of Mormon is evidence of God and Jesus Christ." And then read him 2 Ne 25:26. The spirit must have put
words in my mouth because it was a quick response! Especially since it was in Spanish! I am beginning to learn just what "open your mouth and it will be
filled" means. :)
Also, we got three new roommates yesterday. I prayed that at
least one of them would be a native Spanish speaker, because that would be so
helpful to us! Last night we went back to our room and met them and guess
what?! ALL THREE OF THEM ARE NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKERS! :) :) Yep. God loves me.
Today we got to go outside the gates of the MTC to the
health clinic because mi companera is sick! It was glorious and we were taking
pictures of everything since we have been stuck inside the gates (minus temple
and temple walks) for the past 6 weeks! We finally got to go into the outside
world and it was GLORIOUS!
Anyway, my time is up but I hope you all look for the tender
mercies in your lives this week! Heavenly Father loves us so so much!!
Les ama mucho!!!!
Hermana Richardson
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