April 27, 2016 Teaching about receiving answers to our pryers!

Week Update,

            Thursday elder Burton had a doctors appointment that we went to, in the evening we did less active look ups in the Harlem area, it was a pretty decent night.

            Friday was similar to Thursday, we were able to meet with Oscar, which was pretty good. Friday was also Paul Cabals from Inwood birthday so we went up and gave him a short visit. Which was pretty nice. All in all a good day.  

            Saturday was a very spiritual and a very sacred day, I certainly grew a lot and had my testimony, especially my testimony of eternal families strengthened.

            Sunday was pretty good as well. Church was good and we had two investigators come which was a good thing.

            Monday was a pretty busy day, we had district meeting and we went to chic-fil-a for lunch, which is always a treat. Anyways afterword’s we were cruising down around Brooklyn bridge area. And we ran into some very kind members, which was nice. Then we taught a lesson to a guy the zone leaders found and referred to us. It went pretty well, we taught about receiving answers to our prayers. Which is always a good thing. He said he is going to come to church on Sunday, which would be really cool. Then we went and tried to find some less active people but it was to no avail.

            Yesterday was another good day, we went to Roosevelt island to try to investigate a possible service opportunity, but they wanted us to give urine samples and provide references and have a physical just to push wheel chairs so we are going to keep looking. Then we went to a grilled cheese place for lunch, it was pretty good. Then we taught a lesson to Oscar, and I feel like it's the best one yet. We taught the restoration, but we went pretty basic on everything and he seemed to comprehend it better this time, so I am eager to see his retention. We had a lesson with Anthony scheduled but he didn't show up so that's all right. We then we're at the chapel and we met a member from Taiwan and she introduced us one if her friends who's supposedly pretty big at the UN so we had a pretty good lesson with her at the chapel and on Thursday she wants us to go see her office at the UN so that will be cool. All in all I had a lot of growth this week. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Richards

April 20, 2016 Transfers last Saturday!

Week Update

            This week has been a pretty good one.

            On Thursday we were able to meet with both Anthony and Oscar, so that was pretty good. Our lesson with Anthony was pretty interesting, he had a baptismal date way back in the day, but he got in a disagreement with one. Of the missionaries who were teaching him over how friendly he was being with the members of the ward and he quit investigating, He said he does want to be baptized though. During our lesson he stopped us and said he had something important he wanted to talk to us about, but after the lesson. So we thought it was going to be something big but it turns out he just wanted to tell us he had a girlfriend. He is an interesting guy. Our lesson with Oscar was similar, he is a interesting guy as well. He really wants to make friends and I'm not too sure how interested he is in the gospel aspects of the church, but rather he is more into the social scene. But he is willing to keep commitments so hopefully it will soon dawn on him the importance of the gospel aspects of the church.  It was really glad to be able to meet with them both though. 

            Friday and Saturday were both relatively slow. Saturday we got Transfer calls, Elder DeGraw got transferred to Darien Connecticut. And I got Elder Burton from New Paltz New York. So that was a twist. 

            Sunday was pretty good, Oscar came to church and pulled me aside, and asked me if he could get a girlfriend at church, I didn't understand if he thought the church would assign him a girlfriend or if he was asking if he could date the members, So I told him if he met somebody and they were interested he could date them, He then wanted me to introduce him to all the sisters in the ward, so I told him I would love to, but I didn't really know any of them. But I did introduce him to the elder’s quorum president, so hopefully he could keep him on the right track. The rest of church was pretty good.

            Following that Monday was pretty quiet Elder DeGraw had to pack and then Tuesday was transfers, So I spent the morning and afternoon waiting for Elder Burton to arrive in the city, it was nice though because I got to hang out with Elder White one of my homies in the mission he is serving in a Spanish Ward in the Bronx right now. Anyways we came home, and Elder Burton unpacked and then we spent the evening looking up less actives. Elder Burton is from Holliday Utah. I don't really know too much else about him yet, he definitely has some quirks, today we are playing a game called gatorball then we are going to go to the MET, which is one of new York’s Art museum. All in all it should be a good time. I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Richards

April 13, 2016 Finding is the work!

Week update,

Hey guys it's been a pretty good week, I'm working on really applying the lessons taught from general conference and working to keep growing. I really want to make the best of these last couple of months. I hope you guys are all doing well. Wednesday night was pretty good, we went and visited a less active in Inwood who is in the age range of the branch, and invited him to come, he said he would but he didn't end up showing up which stunk!

Thursday was pretty quiet, we had our interviews with President which went well. Then we had a lesson with a guy named Anthony, but he canceled again, so that stunk. The rest of the day was pretty quiet, nothing much too really report on!

Friday was another pretty quiet day. We weekly planned, tried to find some people to teach, and called some less actives!

Saturday was pretty good, we taught a referral from the sisters, it's this guy named Oscar. He seems nice enough, we taught him the restoration. I'm not sure how much he understood. From the questions he asked we will need to be pretty basic with him. He is currently living with his parents. And he says he is taking care of his dad, but he is really lonely and he wants to make some new friends through church. So that's pretty good, later that afternoon, we were out trying to find some people to teach, and we stumbled across a random bagpipe parade, so I will attach some pictures it was a pretty cool thing to see! It was a pretty rainy and windy day which would have really stunk to have been playing in! I was happy to be a spectator.

Sunday was pretty good, it was a pretty quiet fast Sunday but testimony meeting was on fire, there were some great testimonies. Oscar came, but he had to leave in the middle of the sacrament. He waved over to me on the stand, blessing the sacrament. And wished a good day and said he would see me later.

Monday was pretty good as well, we had rescheduled with Anthony again for Monday but he didn't show up which sort of stunk, Later that day we went to a really rad place for lunch, It's called “Burger Joint”, but the way you get to it is you go into this really fancy hotel, and there is a weird little dark alley behind  the check in desk with a neon burger at the end so when you get to the end you turn a corner and you step into this super grunge burger restaurant it's super rad, and they have really good burgers. Anyways the rest of the day was pretty quiet, but we stayed busy by finding some people.

Tuesday was pretty alright, we had a lesson set with Oscar but he got lost, and couldn't find the chapel. So we rescheduled for Thursday. We had a dinner with the Elders quorum president which was pretty good!  We went to a vegetarian place. I had a burrito with some weird fake meat. Today I saw a homeless guy who had a sign with a link to his pay pal account! It was pretty crazy! 

Love ya

Elder Richards

April 6, 2016 Consumed in Conference!

This week has been pretty good,

            The car show was lots of fun, I will send some of the highlight pictures! Thursday morning President Smith invited us to go to the temple with him which was a real fun time! A funny incident happened as well! So we went to the first session of the day and it was way early. So we go and have a great session and on our way to the changing room we see none other than Brother Vince Rosdahl! One of the main cats from New Canaan! It turns out he is a temple worker Thursday morning anyways we catch up for a bit, then we proceed to go into the changing area, and he sort of just follows us in! So I fold up my white cloths and he's talking to President Smith about some bet between the temple workers, "that its one of the missionaries" So I make sure I still have the key to my locker, and proceed to go to my changing stall and brother Rosdahl follows and so I know something’s up at this point. Anyways once I open my stall I suddenly hear it! My iPad alarm was going off to wake me up at 6:30! I forgot to turn it off! Luckily the alarm I chose is a Random MoTab song! Anyways we had a good laugh! The temple President was in our session as well! All in all it was a good time!  We went and got breakfast afterwards with President Smith. And had a good chat! Later that day we were helping get a member in the branch moved, and they were moving to a building in Inwood that a lot of the members up there live in so we stopped by and visited a member up there. We visited Paul Caball he is a really nice guy, a little quirky but he is still a card! It was fun to see how he was doing!

            Friday was cool the church was hosting a interfaith conference and we got to help out, we really didn't do much other than carry bottled water up stairs but it was still nice because we got free food! We didn't actually attend any of the conference!  So that's always a win!

            Saturday and Sunday were consumed in Conference but they were both really good! I think this has been the best one on the mission! I really liked Elder Nelsons talk and also Elder Hales! And a ton of other ones! But it was a really uplifting experience! I got some good notes!

            Monday was good we had zone meeting which was pretty alright, then we cruised around the city trying to find people to teach!

            Yesterday we had interviews with president. I enjoyed the zone study part although it went pretty long, So long in fact president moved our interviews to Thursday so that will be good! The highlight of this week was definitely General Conference! It was really an awesome one! 

            I felt like a lot of the talks we very relatable and that I was able to comprehend a lot of them! I'm really excited for them to be put into print! I'm eager to go back and study them some more! Today is a cool day for church history! So that's fun! A lot of big things have happened on this day! But I will let you figure them all out!

Anyways I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Richards