Wednesday, September 29, 2010

"I Got a Tooth....and It's Sweet!"

"Every choice you make helps define the kind of person you are choosing to be." -Martin Luther King

For some reason I dont know why it is so hard for me to start this email. I have written and then re-written the first paragraph like 3 times. My week was a little rough. We have just had a hard time getting people to listen to us this week. On Thursday we got home and I was washing the dishes. The last four days had been full of walking around and finding people, all day. I was exhausted. My companion was in the shower and I just began to cry. 1-because it was so hard and 2-because I could really feel the love of my Heavenly Father and my family. I felt like I could almost hear you guys cheering me on. In that moment I was extremely grateful for all your prayers and support. I recently have really been able to feel the hand of Heavenly Father changing me. Its kind of weird. Things I wanted before aren't there and my desires have changed. I didn't think I would be able to feel it so clear. If I needed to have a rough week to mold me then so be it. I want it that bad. I want to be more Christlike. I am willing to suffer so that I can be made more better. Keep praying please. I am trying to make the choices that are right so that I can be what Heavenly Father wants me to be and what I have imagined I could always be.

The subject of the email is just a quote from one of our recent converts....he is so awesome! Him just telling us he wants candy. LOL!

Ok...imagine this....A BIG FATTY bowl full of fish and shrimp!!!! YUM!!!! NOT! I had that bowl put in front of me on Tuesday. Of course my companion and I had just eaten. Hermana Wright looks at me because she knows how much I hate seafood. I start peeling off the skin and legs off the shrimp and pray. I have never had such a hard time eating something. I really wanted to die. At one point I had tears in my eyes. It was worse than eating the cow stomach. One of my biggest trials. ew.....just thinking about it makes me sick.

We did get to watch the Relief Society broadcast. It was in Spanish....so I got the gist of what was being said. But I didn't get any of the jokes President Monson said. Conversational Spanish is still my weakness. Could you send me a copy of his talk? Everyone says it was awesome. I don't really know. HAHA!!

I helped one of our investigators break into her car after she locked her keys in. Hanger and srewdriver is all it takes! LOL!!! Maybe I asked the gangster black man to help, maybe I didnt. :)

Yes...it my Birthday on Wed. WEIRD! Where in the world did this last year go?? 22 sounds way too old. gross. Thanks for all the packages and mail. Aunt Janet---you rock! MOM---you always know what I like :) Even if on my Birthday there isnt anything special I will love it because I am a missionary. The only Birthday I get as a missionary! LOL!!! A day never to be forgotten.

Keep pressing forward. The Lord loves you! "Remember the rallying cry: Remember Him"----$20 bucks for whoever finds out what talk that is from and what its about. One on the greatest lessons I have learned on my mission. (not really $20 bucks...im poor. I will give you a smile though :)

I love you!
Sarbear

My Super Sweet Ward Party!

"Every happiness and every joy that has been worth of the name has been as a result of keeping the commandments of God and observing His advice and council". -President George Albert Smith

One of the biggest things that I have learned on my mission is that of obedience. At first it really hurt to change and to make the appropriate goals to be better. I liked the way I was. But I know that if I wanted to be a missionary with the Spirit and had the help of the Lord, I had to submit to the will of Him. I have found that as I have tried to be exactly obedient that the Lord has not only poured blessings down upon me but that I am actually stronger and better able to deal with hard things. We have these commandments for a reason. We learn in 1st Nephi that that Lord gives no commandment less he shall provide a way to accomplish it. As hard and as difficult it may seem, with the help of the Lord we can do what we all know we should be doing. It just requires something of our soul. Life is not easy because Salvation is not cheap. Make it a goal to recognize where you fault and CHANGE! It will hurt for a while but boy will it be worth it.

My week was great! Hermana Wright killed ourselves to make our goals. On Tuesday we were able to get 9 sit-down lessons! That's a lot for those of you who don't know. Haha! Heavenly Father has really blessed us this week. We exceeded our goals and I beat my mission records. LOVES IT! We had an amazing lesson on Tuesday where we taught this part member family. We taught the Plan of Salvation and had a really good discussion about the Atonement. In Preach My Gospel it says that one of the ways you can know if you are teaching by the spirit is when you learn something new. In that lesson I really felt like my testimony was straightened and I learned more about my Savior. It was a wonderful experience and made me have the desire to have all my lessons like that. No one could deny the spirit that was there. Sometimes in your mind things are just so clear. That was one of these moments for me. I could say that without a doubt in my mind that I know we all can be cleansed from our sins. Jesus Christ came and paid that price for us. Apply the Atonement in you life and I know it will bless you and make you whole.

On Friday we had a Ward party. Ok.....it was like the most hoppin' Ward party that I have ever been to. LOVED IT!! It was a celebration of the independence of all the countries(like 4th of July for us). Everyone dressed up in authentic clothes from their country and we had tons of food. My favorite part was the dancers they had there. they did all sorts of Hispanic dances with the huge, gorgeous dresses. The guys in full uniform with sombrero. Don't worry I took tons of pictures! Thats why I titled my email like My super sweet 16....cause it was that hoppin' HAHA!

We had a really good lesson with Marisol and Raimundo on Thursday. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so funny cause Raimundo was taking notes! LOL! Love him! And he was marking his scriptures and everything. I really love them a lot. The problem is that we cannot get their butts to church. Kinda frustrating. Please pray that they will come to church!!! They are so ready for the gospel.

Ok....who is excited for general conference????!!! I am dying to watch it! Needless to say it is like Christmas for missionaries when it is conference time. LOL

Well, gotta run! I love you all a billion percent! Keep smiling! Its getting cooler! The car said it even got down to 83 degrees yesterday. I cried. HAHA!

Hermana Richards

Monday, September 13, 2010

Finally Some Pictures!





:)

" I don't know their needs, but God does."

This last week has been really good. We have been teaching some amazingly ready people. One family that we are working with is really progressing. We had left them with a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read. Well, we came back and I asked how their reading was. She then told me that they had read 4 chapters and reviewed the introduction(which is what I had read from and taught them). I talked about how we can know for ourselves that these things are true by the Spirit. She then opened up the BOM and shared a scripture she read that reminds her of that. They are amazing! I have a lot of love for them. They always fed us dinner too. Last time they gave us iced tea and I had to tell them why we dont drink it and gave a small version of the Word of Wisdom lesson during dinner. They always say "our house is your house". We met these people like 2 weeks ago! I came home that night and felt really overwhelmed with the carga(load) on my shoulders---basically cried my eyes out to Heavenly Father. I didnt know why or how Heavenly Father has me, really imperfect me, teach these people. I dont speak Spanish well enough and I still lack a lot of knowledge. I didnt feel good enough to have these peoples souls in my hands. I want this for them so bad. I dont want to screw it up. I know that only by the spirit can I teach. So I have been basically handing myself over to the Lord. I dont know these peoples needs and trials. I dont exactly understand them. But God does....and I can be His mouthpiece. He calls weak people and makes them strong. And as for my strength I know I am weak but in the Lord I can do all things.

Every week we eat at the Bishops house on Wed. and then talk about our investigators. I love it!!! It is such an awesome opportunity to talk to the Bishop and work with him to help strengthen the people. He is a really good Bishop to be working under and I am so grateful to be in a ward that is functioning well. Its hard to find in Spanish Wards.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARA!!!!! Well....on Sunday. :)

We had more trainings this last week. We had Zone Conference. We did more role plays and practices. I took another 4 pages of notes. LOL!!! This whole learning thing as a missionary never changes. Always more to learn and always something to improve on.

The good thing about lots of meetings is that I get to see my old companions. I seriously LOVE them. Especially Hermana Hammar. I feel bad cause she is struggling with her comp right now. I feel like she is my family out here. The thing about Hermana Hammar is that 1-she is my mom(mission mom....my trainer) and 2-she really doesnt open up to a lot of people and really never tells people she loves them or hugs them 3-she is the one that in my blessing President gave me that he said we would be friends for the rest of our lives........I love her. She said she loved me the other day. I almost cried. Because unlike other people in the world she uses that word rarely and means it when she says it. She was there for me when I was a snot nosed greenie that was homesick. And for that I will be eternally grateful. I'm sure you may not understand why I feel like I need to put a whole paragraph about her in my email. I am just really grateful for her. There are very few people in this world-besides family-that I feel like I love as much as her. Heavenly Father has really blessed me to know her. I am going to cry my eyes out when she goes home in December.

I feel like this email is basically looking into the feelings and mind of Hermana Richards. I hope some of this makes sense. I am just really grateful to my Heavenly Father for His love. Especially when I am such an imperfect person. Missions are hard but its a decision that I will be thankful for the rest of my life that I made. I hope you all have a wonderful week!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Sarah

Hermana Richards is....Hitch?

I bet you are all wondering what the significance of the title of my email is. It all starts yesterday.....

The first little prize was when we were driving to an appt yesterday and it was raining really hard. I was driving, and we had to drive through this puddle thing. Well, after we get through the puddle/pond I hear this weird sound. We pull over to find that this peice of plastic is hanging off our car!! great. We are already late for an appt. I swear ONLY ME would this happen to. I have the worst luck. So I get on my hands and knees to check it out. It is raining and there was so much mud and dirt. I realize that the part is hanging on by one screw. Right about then me...in my skirt, is on the ground looking under the car, when these 2 Hispanic men walk up and asked if we needed help. Perfect. Luckily I speak Spanish and could tell them what was up. They then proceeded to get under the car-all muddy and gross to look at it. After about 10 minutes they had it off so I wouldn't be dragging this part as I drove. Count it---this is now the 2nd time a Hispanic man has to come to my aid to fix my car. they are so nice!! The funniest was when they were walking away and both of them were COVERED in mud and dirt. Yes, of course they used the puddle rain water to wash themselves off. LOL! Thank you Hispanics!

But dont you worry my night of fun does not end there. We then get to our Dinner appt and cute little Hermana Martinez made a feast as usual. Well, Hermana Wright and I were eating when Hna. Martinez asked why we were eating any of the chiles. She then proceeded to put one on our plates. After picking off the seeds, I ate mine. Kinda hot but I could handle it. I look over to see the puppy dog eyes of my companion. I forgot that she cant eat really spicy food. So I sneak and eat hers as well. Everything's good. I finish eating when of course I have an itch in my eye. Me-being the idiot I am-touch my eye. Then came the BURN! I forgot that I had just used that hand to pick out the seeds out of the chile. I excuse myself to the bathroom where I shove my face under the water faucet to get rid of the pain. I am sure I looked ridiculous because I was franticly in the bathroom using water, towels, anything I could find to get rid of this pain. I almost screamed out ot my comp in pain. finally I was able to get my contact out(Kill me) and the burn wasnt as bad. I then look at myself in the mirror------Yikes!! I looked like straight up Hitch off the movie. My whole left side of my face was red and swollen. My eye was SO red. I walk out of the bathroom and tell my comp we have to leave. Luckily the member is tight and wasnt upset. We then ran to wal-greens to get my eye drops and benydryl. It was just like the scene out of the movie Hitch. LOL!!! I really thought I was going to die. I think I was having some sort of reacton so I opened the benydryl before I even bought it and took some. We went home and I feel asleep by 8pm. Oh my life! I am going to wear my glasses for the next few days to be safe(lame). My eye looks normal for the most part. Dont you worry----I def took pictures last night of my eye. HAHAHA!!! Gross.

So that was my day yesterday---full of rainbows and sunsets.

On Wed. and Thurs. all day we had Sisters Trainings. It was really good but imagine sitting in one chair from 8-6. We would be taught a principle then we would break into groups to role play(my fav.-not) It was really good but draining. President Saylin asked if I could sing Abide with me tis eventide. So I did the EFY version of that.

I realized that Sunday was my year mark from going to the temple. Me and Hermana Wright happened to take out our endowments on the same day. It was a nice reminder of the importance of the temple and the blessings that come.

We found 3 less- actives this week. My nickname in the mission is basically the LARC (less active-recent convert) Queen. I find more less actives than anyone times like 5. I guess I am just lucky like that. One family we found is awesome and we are excited to get them coming back to church. They are so amazing.

My favorite person we are teaching right now is Julia. Her son, Kevin (8years old) just got baptized and now we are working with her. She wants to be baptized and knows that it is the right thing to do but she is scared of falling after. She doesnt want to make any mistakes. We have been teaching her about the atonement like crazy. PLEASE pray for her. She is praying about a baptismal date right now. She is so ready. she is basically already a member with how much she is involved in FHE and activities. I love her!

Hermana Wright and I are working so hard and really trying to follow the Spirit. We realized how much we have been blessed recently. Hermana Wright is so amazing. She is just so nice. One day I got out of the shower and she had made my bed and everything(cutie). She also made me this cute little picture of Christ with this quote(one I told her was my fav) so I could hang it on my wall. she is jsut so nice. She is helping me try and be better. I definitely lack in the nice/thoughtful section of my life.

I hoope all is well with you! Happy Birthday DAD!!! Glad the Utes won!

I love you!!

Hermana Richards

Bikes-Yikes!!

"God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges we face." ----Elder Holland

I was reading the talk "The Ministry of Angels" this morning and this quote is from a part of it. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and that He has a plan for each one of us. Even if at times we can't really see why things are happening to us and why we have certain adversity. Turn to him and He can make you whole.

I bet you are all wondering where I got transferred to........drum roll..........I am now serving in Houston 8(yes, I know that has no meaning to you) HAHA!! I basically moved one area over from where I was before. I still meet at the same church and so I will see all my people every Sunday. BUT listen to this----my companion is Hermana Wright. Now for all of those that don't remember she was my comp. in the MTC. YEAH! We are back! I love her so much. The tough thing is that she really has a hard time with her Spanish. SO I have the weight of the world on my shoulders trying to speak and understand everything going on. Even after only 5 days I have really learned a lot and grown. It has made me stretch a ton! (sometimes it hurts :( ) I know I say this every week but PRAY for me! We have some amazing investigators and I dont want to screw it up. LOL!!!

Leaving my last area was hard. I was just starting to love those people. My investigator Francisco gave me a water feature(just a fancy way of saying a platic water fountain) to remember him by. You bet you bottom dollar I have it on my desk and just need to get batteries to operate it! haha...love him.

We have a set number of miles that we can use per month. Well, I got to my new area to find that we didn't have any miles left. SO I have been on my bike looking beautiful, glistening(ya right) in the blazing heat. I actually like my bike cause I can contact more people and it just makes you feel more like a missionary. If only it wasn't a million degrees outside.

We had Stake Conference yesterday. They had this youth choir sing the EFY Melody-in spanish of course. Well, I guess I was emotional or something because just looking at the kids on the stand, knowing their backround and lives- made me cry. I loved it! It made me realized how much I really do love the Hispanic people. Which was something I struggled with at the beginning of my mission. I will basically do anything for these people.

My address to my apartment is: 6601 Harbor town #1222 Houston, TX 77036. You can send letters to that address but send packages to the mission office. Its just easier.

I just love you all so much. I hope you know that you are all in my prayers. I marvel at what the Lord can do if you submit to His will and are obedient. I have seen miracles happen. I love you!!!

Sarah :)

HOLY GARBAGE......WHAT????

Ok...so I got a call about an hour ago telling me that I am getting transferred!!!! I was completely shocked. I just got to this area 6 weeks ago. My comp has been here for a while so I was dumb-founded. I will know on Wed. where I am going. CRAZY!!! I seriously JUST unpacked all my stuff and put up my pics. Lame!

I am really going to miss the people in this area. In only a short 6 weeks I have really grown to love them. I am sad because we have about 3 people lined up for baptism and now I have to leave. :( Not to mention I love Hermana Taff....I feel like I have become best friends with all of my companions. Its really sad to leave them sometimes. We are totally bummed. I am going to try and send pics soon. So dont send anymore mail to the address on Rampart. Send only to the Mission Office-4627 Austin Parkway Sugar Land, TX 77479.

Speaking of addresses....I need the address for Denise and Sam &Linds(new apartment). You may have told me and I am an idiot and lost them ;) I have a letter for Denise but dont have an address for her.

Most important information in the email---------------HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYGEN!!!! Mi amor!
Have a rockin' Birthday! I am sad I am missing it but I am SURE you are going to be OBSESSED with my Birthday card. I know I was ;)

I was able to go to Galveston on Saturday for Javier's baptism. It was so awesome. It was a surprise that I was going to be there. So when the family showed up I was hiding and I jumped out of the bushes. Maria- the mom started bawling when she saw me. She is so cute. I found out right before the baptism that Javier wanted me to give a talk. It turned out well-even though it was in Spanish(thank you Heavenly Father) and they had me sing. I picked I feel my Savoirs love. Its one of my favs. The baptism was so great and he was so happy. Javier is 16 years old and his mom is a member. They are a family that was in-active when I found them in Galveston. Now they are completely active and going strong. I consider them one of my greatest blessings and miracels of Galveston. I love them a lot.

We got a new car on Thursday. I feel like I am a queen! My comp. cant drive cause she got in an accident a couple transfers ago. I drive 24/7---which you all know I like cause I always like to be the driver. BUT...guess what???!! I was so used to the old car with its automatic lights that I may or may not have left the lights on Friday night. We had a major dead car battery in the morning. We called our zone leaders(cause they are the only ones who have a car who are near) and they came to help us jump it. The only problem was that the parking spaces next to the car were taken. We tried to put the car in neutral but the instrucions were really detailed and would take forever to do. I had this feeling(the spirit) that I needed to knock on this one apartment door to see if one of the cars on either side were theirs. The apartment was random and kinda far from the parking lot. But I did it anyway. I asked the lady(in spanish....dont think there are white people where I live) and the black SUV was hers. I nearly died! I couldnt believe it. She moved her car and an hour later we had our car fixed. It took forever and we were all sweating in the blazing hot sun! I am grateful for the help of the Spirit. Otherwise I dont know how we would have gotten the car fixed in a timely manner.

Raul's baptism had to be pushed to next Sunday. It was this huge drama----because of a member. Dont worry he is so ready and still planning on getting baptized. I am sad because I might not be able to come back for it. :(

We were eating dinner at a members house on Thursday and as we were eating I counted 12 cockroaches in the kitchen/dinning room area. Hermana Taff wanted to die. I killed one with my shoe as it ran passed me. Welcome to my life family. Disgusting.

I had probably the worst experience on my mission thus far on Wed. We went over to a less- actives house and it turned into her saying some really nasty and mean things about us and the church. She had some bad experiences in the past. After an hour of recieving her wrath she kicked us out. I said one word the entire time. We left feeling like failures when the Bishop pulled up and said "Hey Hermanas how are you??" What a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. We just got killed with words by a less active and then the Bishop comes right after to cheer us up. We got in the car to leave and Hermana started bawling. It really was probably the worst experience thus far on my mission. Rough!

Well, I now realize that I have to go back to the apartment and throw all my junk into my bags again. Kill me! You should see that amount of stuff that I cram in those bags. Maybe I sit on the bag to close it, maybe I dont. LOL!!!! HAHAHA!!

I love you all a lot! You are in my prayers. Maygen----Have a fabulous Birthday- Te amo!!

-Hermana Richards

:)

Mi Familia!

"There is no tomorrow to remember if we dont do something today and to live most fully today we must do that which is of greatest importance. Let us not procrastinate those things which matter most." -President Monson

I love this quote. President Monson is so amazing! It is SO true, verdad? Some of my greatest memories-on and off the mission are from moments when I have been doing that which is most important. I LOVE this work. I LOVE being a missionary. I feel like I have found a greater happiness as I have focused on the things of the Lord. For my mission my mind has been off the things of the world and onto the things that bring eternal happiness. Live today like it were your last. "Live like you were dying"------(country song quote?? what?) Smile through the trial and find joy in the journey.

This week flew by!! I was on exchanges with Hermana Knapp for 3 days. She is this cute greenie that is serving in my old area. It was fun to get an update on the people and area. She has only been on her mission a couple of weeks. She reminds me a lot of myself. The only thing was that she doesn't speak ANY Spanish. I could not get that girl to open her mouth for the life of me! LOL!!! SO that means Hermana Richards was on her own for all the lessons, talking, etc. We got home Wed. night and I had lost my voice from talking so much(7 lessons later!). On thurs with Hna. Knapp we taught a gypsy----scariest thing of my life! I didn't understand her accent very well(hers and Cubans-never). I prayed the entire time during the lesson that I could understand her and teach to her needs. It ended up going well....huge tender mercy from Heavenly Father.

Raul is all set for his baptism next Sunday! So excited! Last Sunday they announced a singles dance and he totally went on Friday. He is solid. Yesterday he was making all these comments in the gospel doctrine class and obispo(bishop) asked where he learned all of that and he pointed at me. HAHA!! I love him! We had a bomb member lesson with him with a couple here in the ward. Love him! PLEASE pray for him cause yesterday he told me he was super nervous about his baptism and he is not sure if he knows enough yet. The fact is that he is super intelligent and knows more than I think most Hispanic members. Next sunday is going to be great cause we have 5 baptisms for our district set. YEAH!

Ok...so super sad---I wasn't able to go to Galveston yesterday to see Sandy get baptized. I was bummed. I am just glad she finally made the decision about baptism. I didn't need to be there. But luckily Javier is getting baptized on Sat. so I can go then. Galveston here I come!! I am dying of happiness!

In the mission there are certain goals that you try and always meet. 2 of them being getting 20 sit down lessons each week and and average of 10 OYMs(contacts) per day. Hermana Taff and I got our 20 sits by Sat. so we had to spend most of our time yesterday talking to people. It was SO hot!!!!! I literally wanted to die. At one point my companion was so hot she finally just sat down under this tree and almost started crying(I am laughing while typing this cause looking back it is funny). I was able to convince her to keep going but only with the bribe of giving her my Gatorade. LOL!!!!! love her! I really am grossed out at the heat here though. Ugly August is really turning out to be true! There is no way to NOT be ugly in this heat. LOL!

Funny story----Our Bishop(he is white) here teaches the Gospel Principles class. He is a teacher so it is always so good. But sometimes when he speaks he will be speaking normal and then all the sudden he will go into this creepy, story tellers voice. I laugh almost everytime(I hide it of course). But yesterday one of our investigators, Francicso heard it and then looked at me with this really funny face. I laughed so hard. Luckily I was on the end so no one saw or heard me.....maybe it was one of those you have to be there moments. LOL!!! I think he goes into creep voice when he is trying to use conjunctions---like when he is adding an idea. I have examined it in detail cause I think it is hilarious!

It is really nice to be back in the same church building as my first area. I see Missouri City ward members all the time. Not to mention I get to see Jhon Wilches every week. He is still active and doing good. I am obsessed with that man! He said once he gets papers(who knows when that will be) he wants to come to Vegas so I can show him how to gamble. LOL! He was just joking but you get the idea of how awesome he is.

We have been getting trained like crazy on all these new stuff....well old stuff but new trainings. It has been a good learning experience. Now I just gotta figure out how to put it all into practice and remember it all. There is so much to remember as a missonary!

Welp....I feel like I have been rambling this whole email. Ya'll just got a look into the mind of Hermana Richards for a while. I am grateful for your support and love. I feel Heavenly Father blessing me everyday! I pray for you and I know that Heavenly Father will bless you and help you as you turn to Him. He loves you. My eyes have been opened to the blessings that come when you are obedient and do all possible to follow Jesus Christ. Follow Him and He will lead you along. Down a path that is less traveled but worth it. I love you with all my heart. Keep smiling!

Love----Hermana Sarah Richards