December 23, 2015 Mission Christmas devotional

This week has been a good one!  
   Thursday was a pretty good day, we did our planning, and did some service. 
   Friday we had the mission Christmas devotional it was petty cool, I played Bagpipes in it. I haven't played in a while, you can see a video of it on my blog. It went pretty well! It was also really cool to see all the missionaries in the mission.   It was a really fun time to catch up with everyone.
   Saturday was a pretty alright day, we spent the day finding. A lot of people are out of town for Christmas so we didn't run into very many people. 
   Sunday was pretty good, we had a scary experience, we were filling up the baptismal font for a family baptizing their kid, and we thought there was a dead spider in the corner so we went to clean it up, and it wasn't dead, but a different spider jumped at us, then the one we thought was dead was jumping at us too. We freaked out and got out of there. We ended up killing them and I will attach a picture of one. They were like cricket/spider hybrids it was super weird! They could jump super high. Anyways I played my pipes again that evening for a mission  devotional for the investigators. So that was fun.   Monday was a mess. Missionaries were doing really inconvenient  things that we had to sort out. So that stunk, but oh well. We got it all figured out. 
   Tuesday we did a lot of service, we spent the evening picking up mail, and tracting with a member. Nothing really to amazing happened. Today we have a zone activity so that will be cool. We are doing a white elephant gift exchange, which should be a good time! I hope you all have a great week and a merry Christmas!

Elder Richards

Cricket/spider

December 16, 2015 Its really warm to be Christmas.

This week was a good one! 

   Thursday we had to take our car to the dealership to have a tire sensor replaced, and it took a lot longer then we thought, so that sorta stunk. But after it was finally done we came home and weekly planned. Which was pretty good, that was pretty much the highlights of that day. 

   Friday we helped a family that is moving donate a ton of their stuff. We basically just hauled all of their stuff into a big truck! We then went and looked around for one of our investigators that has seemed to disappear, 

   Saturday we got to go to a baptism that happened in Elder Judd's last area. It was pretty cool! It took up the majority of the day but it was a lot of fun! We had to drive over to Poughkeepsie NY.          Sunday was pretty good as well we had the young men's Christmas program, they had a whole choir and once we arrived we got invited to be in it! Surprise! It was pretty cool though! Later that day we had a meeting with the Stake President and President Smith just coordinating missionary work in the zone. It was pretty cool to be able to see how they work and plan! Then afterwords we went to a mission prep in the Ward! 

   Monday we had district meeting, then we went home had lunch then we went and visited a less active member and then we went to sister Orhns house for dinner! 

   Yesterday we went and gave service at a rest home! It was pretty fun!, later that day we spent making member visits! This week was a pretty good one! We had a lot of good times and things are picking up,which is awesome! Me and Elder Judd are having a great time! It's been really warm here lately which is super bizarre like 50's and 60's. It's kinda nice to, I just hope it doesn't get super cold! Things are good here, I will be playing my bagpipes on Friday at the Christmas devotional. It doesn't really feel like Christmas because it's so warm!
 

Elder Judd and I with sister Ohrn

Elder Richards

December 9, 2015 Transfers, Meet Elder Judd

Week update. 

Hey guys! This week has been a pretty good one, things have started picking up so that's good. 

On Thursday we had MLC which was pretty good, nothing to crazy to report. 

   Friday was a pretty quiet day I went on a split with Elder Casela, he is from the Philippines. We had a good time though, we did a ton of tracting. 

   Saturday was pretty cool we got to help set up the Ward Christmas party then we had the Ward Christmas party. It was fun! It was really neat how they did it, they had made all the hallways and classrooms look like the streets of Bethlehem, and they had people wander around and it was super interactive which was cool. Anyways we got transfer calls that night and Elder Judd is coming to be my companion so I am staying in new Canaan, Elder Judd is a really cool guy! I'm looking forward to this next cycle. 

   Sunday was pretty normal. We had one of our investigators come to church so that's really cool. It was Sheryl, so hopefully she will stick around and not disappear this time. 

   Monday and Tuesday was pretty much spent going around with Elder Johnson while he said goodbyes, it was pretty good though! Anyways I hope you all have a great week! Love you! 

Elder Richards 

Me and Elder Judd

December 2, 2015 Thanks on Thanksgiving

Week update

This week has been a pretty good one. Nothing to crazy has happened but I will fill you in. 

   Thursday was Thanksgiving. It was a pretty good time! It was a bit of a slow day, but it was really fun as well! We went over to a family in the wards house, the Reids. They had a couple of other families from the ward come too, It was really cool! We spent a good time there, We got to know a lot of cool people in the ward also. So that was really good! We ate a ton also! 

   Friday was good, We spent the morning doing service for a lady in a neighboring ward. It was pretty fun, once we finished her yard we went and helped her neighbor do their yard as well. Later that day we went on a split with a district leader, I stayed in the area, It was a pretty good time.              Saturday was spent looking up people and trying to find people to teach, we didn't have any success but that's alright. Saturday over all was a slow day which is alright. 

   Sunday was good, none of our investigators came to church which really stunk, but oh well. The rest of the day was good, we went to a dinner with the Rosdahls, It was a good time. The Rosdahls are a really good family. 

   Monday was good we had district meeting, then we got lunch and had to drive to Ossining for Elder Johnson's exit interview. President Smith was running a couple hours late, so we were there for a while. 

   Tuesday Elder Johnson went to the Temple with all the other returning missionaries. So I was on a split with Elder Essler, So it was a good time to see him again! 

   Anyways today Elder Johnson wants to go to West port and look around. So I'm not sure exactly what happening, Transfers are next week so that is cool. It seems like as it has gotten colder things have slowed down a lot. people are a lot quieter. but whatever! I hope you are all doing well!

Anyways have a great week! 

Elder Richards