March 30, 2016 Looking and searching for more people.

Week Update,

            This week has been a pretty good one, nothing too much exciting really happened. Here are a few highlights though.

            On Sunday one member who is moving brought a friend who seemed pretty open to attending church, at least I hope he is. We were able to get his phone number and he said he would be interested in attending conference which would be really good!

            On Thursday we were on a subway and were chatting with this one man who had a Book of Mormon and was studying with the elders, but when hurricane Sandy hit he lost his Book of Mormon and contact with the missionaries. So he was pretty excited to see us, we talked to him for quite a while, he said he was going to come to church on Sunday, but he didn't show up which sort of stunk. But hopefully he will come to conference. He seemed like a really nice guy! 

           Yesterday we were cruising around and a CNN reporter asked if I could do a interview, I told the interviewer I don't really know what the heck is going on in the world. And thanked her for the offer. But as I look back I wish I would have just gone with it! Oh well! 

            Friday night we were up in Inwood and we got into a nicer apartment building and got to teach a guy which was pretty rad, usually we don't get let inside. He had some interesting questions. But they were all genuine. He told us about his life, he is going to DC in April, to protest the government and he is planning on getting arrested which is pretty unique. He is also a physical trainer. We had a good chat with him, and he told us that we shared valuable information with him he would share some valuable info with us, so he taught us about how to buy good shoes to walk in, and also this back/spine stretch we can do to help after walking around all day. I got to be his demonstration. It was a pretty good stretch, but as I was stretching I had one of those what is going on with my life moments, where I'm sitting in some random guys apartment in Manhattan, he is sort of drunk and I'm laying on a yoga mat with my legs stretching up a closet door, while I'm trying to "crush" this guys foot will my tailbone. Regardless of how weird the situation was, it was a great stretch. I felt great for the rest of the night.

            Easter was really good, It was a pretty normal day for us. We went to church, had a great time. For dinner a member called us and gave us some left over’s from their family’s dinner, and it was way good we had lamb, beets and salad, which was all really good! I got a bumping Easter package also which was really awesome! Today we are going to go hit the big international car show. It's the same one we hit last year so it should be fun! Hope you all have a great week! 

This is the district 

Elder Richards

March 23, 2016 This week has been a good one, although quiet.

           This week has been a good one, although quiet. Thursday was St Patrick's Day which was pretty cool. It was fun to see bagpipes everywhere! We live in a neighborhood that has lots of bars and restaurants so everybody in our neighborhood was drunk at like 3 in the afternoon. As we were walking around too, a lot of the really expensive and fancy bars hired midgets to dress up like leprechauns which were bizarre! They probably make some good money though!

            Friday and Saturday were pretty slow, I caught a pretty rough sickness and those days it hit hard. We went to look up the same referral those days and Friday he told us to come back on Saturday and Saturday he wasn't home which stunk. Hopefully we will be able to catch him soon. We could really use some new investigators!

            Sunday was good! It was fun to be able to meet some more of the branch members! Everybody in the branch has a pretty cool story! We had great lessons as well! On

            Monday we got to go visit one of the members in the branch and share a short message with him! He is a really cool guy he bought us subway which is rad! I'm always down for a sandwich!

            Tuesday we had high hopes of meeting with another referral, but after about 15 minutes of waiting, he called and had to reschedule which was a little disappointing but we will hopefully meet with him on Thursday which would be rally wonderful!  All In all it was a quiet week, nothing much is really happening. Hopefully we can get this area going at a quicker pace.

            We have one somewhat progressing investigator, who I have never met. So we have been trying to find new people to teach which is alright. The one investigator basically likes the church for the social aspects, but wants to stay Catholic. The district is good though which is nice. We have some good missionaries and Elder Degraw is doing a good job. I heard about the bombings, it’s pretty sad; it is a good thing that nobody (missionaries) was hurt super badly. We haven't heard anything about having to change anything here and there haven’t been any restrictions or precautions! Today we are going to head to one of the chapels and play ping pong and stuff like that. Likely a quiet day!

Elder Richards

Sorry I didn't get Brayden's letter posted on time this week, its been a little hectic.

March 16, 2016 Subway rats, converts going to the temple and disgruntled Muslims, what a week!

Week update

            This week has been a pretty good one. It was another really quiet week teaching wise which sort of stunk. It is interesting to spend out the days in this area. But we stay busy. Which is good! I will share a couple of stories from this week though! 

            One night we were coming home from Harlem and we were waiting for the subway so while we were waiting we were kicking trash at the rats on the track, and this drunk gay Asian guy walks past us and said something about how he loves Mormons, which was weird but we were just like, “whatever". So he wanders off down the track and we stayed where we where and about ten minutes later, he came back and asked If there were gay Mormon, to which we replied that there are gay Mormons, and he was awestruck. This branch I'm in right now has quite a few gay members in it. Which is pretty unique. It's definitely a unique branch. It keeps a lot of people coming to church that normally would have left which is awesome! So we invited him to come to our church, to which he simply replied that he was drunk and he wandered off.

            On Sunday we had stake conference which was pretty rad! The president of BYU came and spoke; he had a pretty awesome message! He was talking about Jesus Christ and taught some cool stuff and brought the spirit really powerfully! It was a great meeting! I also got to see John Payne, he was a banker I got to baptize when I was starting my mission so it was really cool to catch up with him. He is getting married to the member who introduced him to the gospel which is really rad! He is getting married on Saturday in the temple. So it's cool to see an eternal family! He is a good guy! He wants to take me and my comp out to dinner when he gets back so that will be cool! It was a real cool experience! 

            On Monday we were cruising on our way home from district meeting and some Muslim guy stopped us, I could hardly understand what he was saying, but he managed to prove that the bible, and whatever other book Mormons believe in. (The Book of Mormon) wrong in less than thirty seconds which is a new record. Anyways he was saying something about how Jesus and Adam are brothers, which is actually true. But somehow that proves all Christendom wrong. Then at this point I think he bit his tongue or something but his mouth started bleeding which creeped me out severely! So I took a step back to get out of the splash zone and he babbled on for about ten more minutes, for some reason he was talking about how he met a Jew at a college down the street and that is important to his crusade for some reason. Anyways he came to a stop, in which we told him we politely disagree, and offered him a restoration pamphlet. And he walked off shortly after looking disgruntled. It was one of the more interesting encounters I've had with the Muslims! 

            Anyways it was a pretty good week! The coolest part was definitely seeing that John is getting married in the temple! I hope you all have a great week and a happy St. Patrick’s day! Have. Great week!  

Elder Richards 

March 9, 2016 It's fun to be back into the city.

Week update

        This week was pretty good, it was slow as well. It's fun to be back into the city. This new area I'm in is pretty interesting. I've met a handful of members. They have been pretty cool! I met one of our members named Mike. He has a YouTube channel which is pretty cool. He's also a flight attendant! But he is super rad! We went and visited him on Thursday! It feels weird to be back in the old apartment! It brings back a ton of memories! Our building supervisor is still just as crazy! 

        My first Sunday in the branch was pretty good! It is really small! It is pretty fun though! There were about thirty people in the branch. It is a really interesting branch. People opt into it so we don't really have less actives. So that's weird and everybody works during the day so the day is pretty slow! We are going to start looking around with the other missionaries to find members in their wards, most probably less active. And hopefully get them to come to this branch! So that will be good! 

           It was cool to see some of the people from the old YSA Ward I was in have switched and moved to the MSA branch which is rad! One of the recent converts in the YSA Ward is the new Ward mission leader which is really cool! We haven't had a whole ton of teaching opportunities it's which stinks but we will keep looking! I figure we will just try to get anybody we can and just send them as referrals. So that will be good. My comp is from Tula Rosa or something it's right by Irvine California 

          Today seems like a pretty quiet day! We are at the China town chapel and are playing board games and getting haircuts from this guy who hooks the missionaries up! Elder Degraw is pretty rad. we get along well! Not much happened this last week. It was a little boring. But hopefully we can find some more work this upcoming week! The branch members all seem pretty cool. Which is pretty cool.

        The city is getting pretty warm! Which is nice! I haven't had to use anything more than a sweater which is rad! I don't really know where to start in building up this area, it's pretty slow, and I really want to help it pick up. But it's interesting to try to find people. There is nowhere where we can really tract down here. And street contacting people who are eligible to be in the branch is difficult, but we will find a way! Like I said earlier we are hoping to find less actives in other wards to bring into our branch. But this last week was pretty slow. Which sort of stinks. I don't know if I have that much to tell. It was a pretty slow week! I did get some good pics though! 

Elder Richards

Hey look its a Mustang!

March 2, 2016 Making a full circle! Transfers. Elder Degraw.

Week update. 

          So this last week has been pretty good! Thursday was good, unite frankly I can't remember a whole ton that happened.

          Friday we got to go work at the rest home for what would be my last time, we had a good time though. It was really cool to get to know all those folks personally. They had some cool stories! The rest of the day was a quiet one.

          Saturday was good, not a whole ton happened, the highlight was we got transfer calls, I got released as zone leader, and sent to the Manhattan single adult branch. It's a pretty interesting branch! It's like a prototype unit the church is trying it's for people that are too old for YSA wards. So it will be pretty interesting, the new area is the entire island of Manhattan, which is pretty cool! It covers both of my old Manhattan areas! I'm also living in the apartment I started my mission in! Which is sort of weird! It feels weird to be back in the apartment! It still smells the same! The work in the branch is very unique also, we can't really tract a whole ton, and everybody in the branch, has to work to be able to afford to live here. So nobody is home during the day. So the work is interesting here. But I think it will be fun. I'm excited to be back into the city! It will be fun to walk around again! Being in a car all day is pretty good, but walking and getting out is nice also! It's also fun to have the entire island as my area! I'm really excited about that!
           Sunday was a good day, church went well. It was weird to say goodbye to a lot of the members. After church was pretty good as well. We had a dinner with the Rosdahl family which was really fun! They have been a really nice family to work with! Anyways! After word we went to mission prep and then we when home and I started packing!

           Monday was good, We went to district meeting which was nice, then we went and got Taco Bell for lunch! Then we went and I sent home my bagpipes. Then we went out and tried to visit some investigators with one of the priest. Then we went to dinner with sister Ohrn which was pretty good! Afterwards we went home and I finished packing.

          Yesterday was transfers. President moved transfers to Tuesday instead of Wednesday which I think is a pretty good idea! But yesterday I had a pretty smooth transfer! Which is always rad! 

I unpacked yesterday bought some shampoo, and we had a dinner appointment which was pretty great! Today we are going to get groceries and monkey around which will be pretty nice, So I'm looking forward to that! Anyway have a great week! 

Elder Richards 

Transferring Missionaries

February 24, 2016 New investigators!

Hey guys this week has been a pretty good one! Thursday was a good day! 

   Thursday we spent the morning at Waveny, the rest home. Which was a pretty good time, then afterwards we drove up to Danbury to drop off my iPad at a repair shop! It was a nice drive! Then we drove back to New Canaan and had a dinner appointment with the Gutierrez family in our ward! it was really nice, we spent the rest of the evening cruising around New Canaan looking up investigators which was pretty nice. 

   Friday was another good day, we picked up mail then drove up to Danbury to pick up my iPad, it was nice to have it back in working condition! Then after that we were out visiting members!      

    Saturday was a slower day, we spent a while trying to find a place where we could get a map of New Canaan, but we didn’t really have any great success which sort of stank. But nothing really exciting happened on Saturday. 

   Sunday was a good day! We had some new people who we have never met before come to church and it was a Russian family, for some reason we teach a ton of Russian people. But anyways we got to give them a book of Mormon and tell them about the church so hopefully we will see them soon!    

   Monday we had district meeting and that went good, afterwards we went and spent the day trying to find people. 

   Tuesday was pretty interesting, they had shut down a lot of the roads due to a storm we got, but the storm wasn't bad which really surprised me. But not many people were out yesterday so it was a longer day. Transfers are coming up soon! Which is weird! This last cycle has flown by! I hope I will stay with Elder Judd, its possible but not very likely! Things have been going good though! The people that live here had winter break so they all went skiing in Utah, so church was super quiet as well. All in all it was a good week just a little quit! 

Elder Richards

February 17, 2016 Saturday was a great day!

Hey guys this week has been a good one! 

   Thursday was a good day, not much happened. We helped out at the rest home again, because the people who usually help on Thursday weren't able to make it. So we helped out again. 

   Friday we had zone conference which went pretty well. We talked about accountability and working with members and planning. It was all a fun time. 

   Saturday and Sunday were both pretty cold! It really stunk!  But Sunday we had a really good lesson with Joanna, she's been really prepared, she was telling us about how she believes in Mormon's promise before we had even told her about it, she had just figured out that that's the way to receive revelation. So that was really cool! We taught the restoration and it went really well! She read the chapters we left with her last time and she really loved it! Which is rad! She told us she believes in the Book of Mormon and that it is scripture! So that's really solid. 

   Monday was good! We went to district meeting and then we helped a member move, and that was pretty much the whole day! 

   Yesterday was pretty fun! We woke up and had studies then we went and got Taco Bell breakfast! Then afterwords we went to the rest home and helped out there. Then we went and looked up some of our potential investigators. During which one of the our members called and invited us over for dinner which was rad, so we hit Chipotle for lunch then we spent the rest of the afternoon doing look ups and then we went over to the Whites for dinner, it was really rad! Because they hooked us up with a ice cream cake for my birthday! Which was rad!         

   Today we Are going into the city! So that will be fun! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Richards 

February 10, 2016 Great lesson on Sunday!

This week was a good one, nothing really to crazy happened. It seems like crazy things don't happen like they used to when I was in the city. 

   Thursday was pretty quiet. 

   Friday we had MLC or Mission Leader Conference and discussed the need of the mission. It was pretty good. Nothing to exciting happened to report on. We have zone conference this week. It seems like we have had a ton of meetings lately, which kinda stinks because I'd rather be out and about than in a meeting but oh well. 

   Saturday was the same.

   Sunday was good we had a great experience in the evening. We stopped by the Ukrainian family we have been trying to get a hold of the last while. So we decided to just stop by and they were home and invited us in which was awesome! We taught the first discussion and it went really well. The best part is the whole family seems to be in on it which is rad! Hopefully they will continue to be able to meet! They seem like a family that has been very prepared! The rest of Sunday was pretty slow. We stopped by the Rizzi Family earlier in the day, but they were leaving for a party and didn't seem super receptive. So that sort of stunk. 

   Monday we had zone meeting. It went pretty well. The Zone seems to be doing good. Following Zone meeting we went to a Chinese Buffet which was pretty rad! 

   Yesterday was good we spent the afternoon trying to look up our investigators who we haven't seen for a while, but we didn't find any of them which stunk!

But we will keep trying. All in all a really quiet week! I hope you all have a great one!

Elder Richards

February 3, 2016 Trials come to polish us up!

   This week has been a pretty good one! It's has also been a pretty average week, I have a lot of those. The highlights have been we gave a Book of Mormon to one of our members personal assistants two Sunday's ago, and we didn't really think much would come from it, because we thought she just took it more out of courtesy than interest, but this last Sunday she showed up to church and said that she had read the pages we left with her and she loved it and wants to learn more. So that was really awesome!

   On Saturday Elder Judd and I went on splits with some priests and we went and stopped by one of our investigators who's not progressing a ton , but we ended up getting a referral from her which was awesome! We also have been able to get in contact with the Ukrainian family from a while back which was really cool as well!

   The work in this area is picking up petty nicely which is Awesome! We haven't been able to see the Rizzi family last week. And Shawn was the investigator who gave us the referral.

I have come to know that we all have trials come to polish us up, to refine us so we can truly understand celestial glory. In order to know extreme happiness you also must understand extreme sorrow. But through our sorrows and afflictions we are always blessed so it doesn't seem so bad.  

   It's pretty much spring here now the temps have been super nice lately, last night we went cruising around in just white shirts with rolled up sleeves! The weather here oddly reminds me a lot of California which is weird. But I've been enjoying it!

   This week when we went to serve at the rest home we saw a fight break out in the dementia unit, this one lady was sitting next to her "husband" whom she actually isn't married too, but she was also sitting in this one other old lady's favorite chair, so they start dukeing it out until the nurses got involved. Needless to say it was the most intense part of the week.

Nothing to exciting else happened! But I hope you all have. Great week!

Elder Richards

January 27, 2016 The service that snow brings!

This week was a pretty good one! 

   Thursday was p-day so we talked then! But it was a good day! 

   Friday we had a meeting for all zone leaders and sister training leaders, it was a training on how to be a leader, because there were a lot of new leaders called this last transfer. It was pretty good though, I still learned a ton of good stuff! 

   Saturday we got the big winter storm! It was pretty awesome! Our car got snowed in, in our parking lot and we couldn't get out, so we wandered around the neighborhood helping people shovel! It was a lot of fun! It was the first major storm this year! 

   Sunday was good! They shortened church due to the storm! It was another quiet day with lots of snow shoveling!

   Monday was a good day, we got to teach one family we found finally! It's the Rizzi family they are super nice, they are Catholic, and Catholics are hard to teach. They say they believe in everything we do, but they don't. It's weird to explain anyways. It was a good lesson!

   Tuesday was spent trying to meet with less actives, we did get into talk to one which we have been trying to meet with for a long time which is really cool! Not much has happened though, it's been a stormy and short week!

   Today Elder Judd and I are going sledding so that should be fun! I will take pictures! Have a great week!

Elder Richards

Elder Judd and I after shoving snow!

Our Zone sledding activity

January 21, 2016 Missionary broadcast was great!

Week update

This week was pretty good. Nothing super crazy has happened!           Thursday was good, it was a quiet day. We taught a lady we found hanging out in the area book, she's from Colombia and almost got baptized there but then her parents wouldn't let her, so the elders quit coming by so four years later we find her in the area book and start teaching her again. So hopefully things will work out with her! We had a really good first lesson and she is going to read the Book of Mormon, she is going to Colombia for the next few weeks but we are going to meet again when she gets back! 

   Friday we helped deliver meals to older people at their houses. It was pretty fun. 

   Saturday the sisters in a different area had a baptism so we went and taught the restoration while their investigator was changing, but it was also really fun to be at a baptism again! 

   Sunday was good, it was a typical Sunday. We had a lot of meetings, one of our investigators canceled, we had a great dinner appointment though! 

   Monday was good, we had district meeting, which was good. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon looking up some of our investigators and potential investigators. 

   Tuesday was spent doing the same thing. We spent the morning at the rest home doing service there which is always a blast! 

   Yesterday we had a really good worldwide missionary broadcast. A handful of the apostles were there. It was really awesome they talked a lot about the importance of teaching repentance and baptizing converts. It was really awesome because our mission has been emphasizing how it's important to make sure the investigators understand repentance before baptism and that they know how to repent. Because it makes them stay active a lot more often. 

   Anyways it was a good week. I'm staying another cycle with Elder Judd in New Canaan so it will be good! 

Have a great week! 

Elder Richards 

January 13, 2016 Elder Holland is in the house!

This week has been a pretty good one! 
   Thursday we drove down to the mission office to work with elder Gardner, a senior missionary on car stuff. The sensor in our car that wigs out when you speed was acting up so we went and worked on it with him! We then came back and weekly planned and had a pretty normal day. Our appointment with our investigator was postponed because she was sick so that stinks but oh well. 
   Friday was pretty quiet just a lot of knocking doors. 
   Saturday was really cool we had a mission meeting with Elder Holland, It was really awesome! He taught us some really cool stuff! It was a really awesome treat and I took a ton of notes! He gave us some really cool instruction! It was a real treat! He shook all our hands then afterwords he told us that he does that whenever he goes to a mission. He does it to interview everyone. He said when he looks in our eyes he interviews us! It was kinda scary but I guess everyone passed. He also said Its a good thing we are all obedient or else he would go ballistic and we would be crawling out of there! Anyways that took up most of the day! 
   Sunday we got to meet our new ward mission leader. He seems
like a really cool guy I'm excited to work with him!  We had church
which was good, then we had dinner and then mission prep! It was a busy night! But a good one as well! 
   Monday we had interviews with president and it went well! Not much happened. We later got to have dinner with sister Orhn, one of the awesome members here and a investigator who we have been trying to work with so that's awesome!
   I'm not to sure what we are doing today but I'm sure it will be fun!
Anyways have a good week!

Elder Richards

I hadn't seen a water faucet like this in forever so I took a picture!

Stamford Zone Rocks!