January 28, 2015 Did someone order SNOW!

January 28, 2015

So, 

   This weeks been pretty good! We have been busy, Thursday we taught a ton of lessons! Which was pretty bumping, we had a really good lesson with one of our investigators Penelope, we found out a lot of stuff that was making it hard for her to understand the church but we address them and it's going much better now! We got her to come to sacrament meeting which was awesome! Anyways, Friday was good also a bit slower but still good! We got a good amount of planning done also!

Saturday was really busy we basically had lessons straight for the entire day which was really awesome, we also got a referral that is looking pretty solid, so that's super awesome! Then Sunday was busy too, we had a good correlation meeting in the morning and then sacrament meeting them we has lessons until dinner then we headed home. Monday was pretty interesting, we had cut district meeting short due to the storm coming in, and we went and got some grocery's and then we had to be in early due to the snow, then Tuesday was a snow day which was nice we planned and got everything we could think of done, and it was only 12 so I caught up on some sleep which was very nice.

All in all it was a pretty good week! We found the only Chick-fil-A the island and allegedly in the mission, and I went hard! The food court was full so we took it to go and ate it on a cool little street downtown. It was pretty cool anyways yeah! It was a good week! Have a great week!

Elder Richards

The man with a mission! Shoveling out from the storm.

Found the only Chick-fil-A on the island, had to do it HARD!

January 21, 2015. Great Baptism

So this weeks been pretty good! 

We started teaching a returning less active! He just decided he wanted to come back to church, so he is but he is totally awesome! It's amazing how the spirit changes people! Saturday we had Johns baptism and it was super awesome! He's a amazing guy! It's amazing how he has made learning the gospel a priority and how he has been blessed with a testimony because of it! He is awesome! He works on Wall Street! Which is cool! His testimony has grown so much! It's awesome to see him from day one, to today! It's amazing how the gospel brings so much joy to people's lives! It's awesome to see him so excited about the gospel! It was a great baptism! He also had magnolias banana pudding which is a New York classic! It's so good! 

Anyways Sunday we also  had some talks about faith and hope! They were stellar. I took a Ton of notes! It was awesome! Monday I stared getting sick which really stinks, but whateves. I conducted district meeting and I decided to do a big role play as our district and I had each companionship pick an investigator or someone they are working with who they haven't been able to get to come to church. And they pretended to be that person and the rest of the district taught them a lesson with the goal to commit them to come to church! It was awesome to see all the different styles come together and everybody said they learned some stuff they can try. So hopefully it will help! 

Yesterday was pretty good, we had probably the best lesson of the week. We were wondering which member to invite and we kept having this one member come to mind! So we texted her and she could come, we met with her and Penelope our investigator, we have had difficult lessons with her in the past. But she really opened up this lesson and it was awesome! She had so many issues with the church which we found the root of, and then once she figured it out she is super open to learn now! Having that member there totally made the difference though which is awesome! 

Last p day I got to go to the natural history museum which was totally awesome! It's huge and amazing! Now today we get to go to the temple which is awesome too! Me and elder Cloward are having a great time! It's awesome! The work is going well and it's fun! Have a great week! 

Elder Richards

Ps we saw Taylor swift! She lives in our area and would go to our ward so we are definetly going to go tract her apartment building! 

John is a new member

Taylor Swift!

January 14, 2015. Every Thing is Awesome!

January 7 through the 14th 2015

So...this last week has been a super busy one but I love being busy! Me and Elder Cloward have been working hard and it's been awesome. We are starting to teach new people which is awesome! One guy we are teaching is named Sait he is from Peru and he is a less active, but he is so solid! It's awesome! He has so much faith! It's radical! It's so fun to teach people who God has prepared! Anyways yeah, we have a baptism this Saturday! So that's awesome! Our investigator John Payne is
getting dunked! He works on wall street and is awesome! We have been all over the city as of late! A cool thing happened we saw Lindsay Sterling at church on Sunday. She sat next to me during gospel
doctrine which was awesome! We have been trying to place a Book of Mormon everyday, it's definitely hard, but certainly possible. We have been volunteering at a food pantry lately which has been fun! Nothing super crazy has happened this week. Which is pretty nice. I had one of
my name tags get ran over by taxis though and it got bent, it's cool looking now! But it falls off even easier but luckily I just got a new one! Also the other night five fire trucks showed up in front of our
apartment and had sirens and everything, so we start to wonder if our building is on fire! But then they all packed up and left so that was weird! I hope you have all had a great week! Love you! PS! I am a Face book missionary now too which is fun! Check it out!

Elder Richards

Evening Update:   

I went to the museum of natural history today in Manhattan and saw some really cool rocks! I took some pictures of my favorites! We just taught a lesson! And now we are headed to another! Then to bed! Love you so much! Have a great week! 

I had no gum gum for this dum dum!

January 7, 2015. Transfers! Welcome Elder Cloward

Hi guys! I've been in a trio this last week and it's been pretty fun I've enjoyed it! It's interesting also to work two different areas and teach a whole new set of people! It's really fun though! This last week's been pretty awesome! It's  nice having working companions! We have stayed busy and I have loved it! I'm really excited for my next companion I hear he is basically the opposite of my last companion which will be awesome! I'm looking forward to that a lot! We got to teach a guy named John st fluer from some tiny country in Africa. He was really struggling with the after life. Until we read some verses from the bible! Them he accepted it completely! We need to work with him to gain a better testimony of the Book of Mormon though! Anyways that was good. We gave the apartment a very deep clean it really needed it. I've been studying the Old Testament along with the Book of Mormon and its really interesting. I've learned a lot and there are some wild stories in there also! I'm thinking about starting a bible study class for our Asian investigators because the majority of them don't really know much about Christ at all. So I've found in our lessons we explain many of the bible stories. I'm currently on my way to transfers. My new companion is Elder Cloward, this is his last cycle and he is coming from being a zone leader in the Bronx so I think it will be pretty good. I was asked to be district leader too. It's gotten really, really cold here but luckily I have warm clothes so I can stay mostly comfortable. We may have two new investigators soon which would both be awesome! I love just having a day full of appointments! It is so awesome! This week I've been doing my best to utilize planning to the very best point I can, and I think it's helping! I feel a lot more effective as a missionary! So update on the golden plates, they didn't have any. They did have flattened gold disks with engravings on them though. From the same time period as the nephites so that's pretty cool. Well I hope everyone has a good week!

Elder Richards

Manhattan Zone! We ROCK!!

January 1, 2015 Happy New Year

Brayden took a screen shot from his iPad because it was on the blink.
This picture looks like a LDS church add.

Brayden doing what Brayden does best!