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