July 27, 2016 Set a date for Kenny!

Week Update

           

Highlight #1 

            We had a branch BBQ on Saturday which was pretty neat. We had what I guess is a ton of less actives come, because there were a ton of people there who weren't there on Sunday. Anyways it was all pretty fun, there were horseshoes flying all afternoon. Elder Matson was really into that. After all was said and done I think the best part was we got to take home the leftover hamburgers.

Highlight #2

            Sunday I got to speak in church and it went pretty well. My topic was keeping the faith and I hope I at least said something useful. I used a lot of quotes and talked about the iron rod.

Highlight #3

            The car has a bumpin AC

Highlight #4

            This week we have been getting some really random isolated thunderstorms, but they have been really cool as well. I guess this part of the state is in a drought as well. But it's been nice to have the rain and thunder! 

Sort of highlight #5

            Elder Matson broke a tooth or something so we headed to the Dentist on the other side of the mission twice this week. It all taken care of now, but it sure took a lot of time. He is feeling a lot better now though which is good.

Highlight #6

            We got to help a member’s sister move yesterday. We spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon helping these ladies move. They were really nice. And one of them was a first responder during 9/11 It was really neat to hear her story. She has gone through cancer since then and the Doctors think it was due to all the crap that was in the air from the aftermath. It was neat though to hear how she would do it again if she needed. I'm proud to be an American

Highlight #7

            Our Investigator Kenny called us Monday morning and told us that he has decided on a baptismal date. Which is great he is thinking August 4^th.  He has had a couple of baptismal dates in the past. But we are hoping that this is the one. Kenny leads a really interesting life but he is a good guy. He has got a ton of health problems though which sort of stinks. But he keeps a positive attitude. 

That was pretty much this week! Hope you all have a good one!

Elder Richards

July 20, 2016 First week in New Paltz was great!

Week update.

            This has been my first week in New Paltz, it's been great and I love it. It is definitely the backwater part of the state of New York. It's pretty fun though! Everything is super green and there is a state park in the area which is pretty neat! Everything is super spread out though and that is the only weird part. There will just been corn fields or forest for a couple of miles and then all of a sudden there will just be three random houses and then back to corn fields I’m having a great time though! There are deer that live in our back yard but anyways I will get to the week

Week Highlight #1

            There is a Cracker Barrel in the zone we hit it on the way back from a meeting on Thursday and it was a treat! A ton of food for a small price and its way good. A chicken fried steak is always a treat.

Week Highlight #2

            I met pretty much all of the investigators this week and they all seem to be classic car enthusiasts which Is rad! Kenny our investigator is a retired tennis big shot and used to have a ton of nice cars back in the day, He had a baptismal date for a couple of weeks ago but he lost a ton of money in a sketchy bet and he told us he almost got his legs broken! I didn't know the mafia was in the boonies. So he didn't get baptized that day so we are thinking now about a date in early August.  I met another one of our investigators named Jack Klix, He is a old Volvo gear head. And has a ton of old Volvos. But we were chatting with him. He's a very no nonsense guy He told me he doesn't believe in the word of wisdom or the law of tithing. So we will have fun with that. All in all he is a great guy though!

Week Highlight #3

            The Branch is definitely a branch. I met with the branch mission leader on Friday and he was telling us to focus mostly on less active work, so I figured ok, we will have a list of 30 people and most of them will have probably moved. Fast Forward to Sunday and we cruise into church and there is like 30 people and the records have like 150 so we have some work to do. There is a lot of recently less active and part family less actives as well so it will be fun!

Week Highlight #4

            One of the less actives lives in a Rest Home so we were able to go visit him and he was telling us a ton of stories about when he was a US Marshal and it was pretty neat. There are a lot of really cool people that are out in the sticks here who have cool stories and are now just hanging low. But anyways he was telling us about when he was in Vietnam and about his trip to Gettysburg, then about some of the people he arrested when he was working for the government.

Week Highlight #5

            This area is one where the elders give a lot of service which is pretty fun. We chop a lot of wood and move a lot of stuff for people.

In the upcoming week we are digging up a stream bed. It's fun though to be able to do some physical service.

Week Highlight #6

            I found out that it's not safe to drink the water here! So I've been drinking bottled water! I feel like I'm in Alaska! I want to take some samples and send them home to see if the rumors are fact or fiction!

That is pretty much all the highlights of the week I can think of right now! It's been great! Have a great week everybody.

Elder Richards

July 13, 2016 Transferred to New Paltz

Week Update, 

            This last week has been a good one! Here is what happened. Wednesday in the latter part of P-day we went to the World Trade Center and we got to take an elevator to the top which was pretty fun. It was neat to be that high up, we got some sweet pictures of it. I will attach them below. Later that evening we had dinner with Ray Smith, He lives in Poughkeepsie, but he has an apartment on the Upper East Side, so he comes down but he took us to dinner and it was really fun. 

            On Thursday we got to go visit Sally Kader, She is the UN lady we ran into a while ago. Anyways she called us and wanted us to come visit her at her office. So we went over there. And it was pretty neat! I didn't take any pictures which really stinks but oh well! Anyways she had a ton of interns that work for her and she had one who was a transgender from Singapore and she was in the army there and also she went to prison there for attacking her mother with a knife! I don't know how she got out but she is a student at NYU and interning for a peace organization at the UN. Anyways she was basically raising up an insurrection at Sally's offices and turning the other interns against Sally and encouraged laziness. And she would do weird chants in the office with all the blinds closed and lights turned off. Anyways she was being nuts one day and threatened to kill Sally so she fired her and all of her other interns. She was having a rough day so she felt inspired to call us. And we hadn't talked to her for a long time. So we went over there and talked to her, we blessed the office she has, and gave her a blessing as well. Then we talked about temples. And she offered to hire us as replacement interns. This was pretty neat. We told her we would think about it after we got home from our missions but it would be neat to work so close with the UN. 

            Friday we were at the Fed-ex Store while elder Burton Mailed some stuff home and I was fiddling around with one of the Kiosks designing calendars. When this guy who I ran into on the subway way back when I was with elder DeGraw came walking in. On first Glance this gentleman looks crazy, but talking to him he seems pretty sane, anyways when I was with elder Degraw we told him to come to church and we would set up times we would meet weekly during church. Which I regret doing. Anyways, he didn't come to church that Sunday and I forgot about him. Then we saw him all this time later. So I started talking to him and he was telling me about how badly he wanted to meet with us. And how he wishes we would have called him. I started to feel so guilty. He then told us about how he has been lately. And how he is diagnosed with kidney cancer and isn't expected to make it past March. I felt horrible at this point so I apologize to him for my laziness and set up a time we could meet and told him we would see to it he was baptized soon.  Needless to say I had a long prayer that night. God was giving me someone to teach and I was to prideful to teach him. I felt horrible. Thankfully God gave me a second chance and I didn't let him down this time. 

Saturday we got transfer calls, They are combining my area with the morning side heights Ward elders, and I got sent up to New Paltz NY, So I made sure that the elders knew all of our investigators and Made sure they would meet with Wade (the guy from the fed-ex place) I guess I missed my opportunity to teach him due to my negligence but I'm glad at least he will get taught. Saturday night we killed what we think is the last of the mice infestation. I and Elder Newbold took the night shift, and killed a big mouse! And we also got the crap scared out of us by a cockroach I caught it on film so I will also attach it. (you have to watch the whole video it's hysterical.) 

Sunday was good, it was fun too run into all the people I taught and interacted with. We saw Bryn Bass, she is a recent convert from the morning side heights ward, but she had me baptize her for some reason. Anyways she gave me here final parting wisdom. Afterwards we went to Central Park with Dwight and had a good visit with him there.  Monday was a lot of packing and stuff. And then yesterday were transfers. New Paltz is in the Boonies. I actually really like it though. It's way nice to have some quiet and be in nature. I'm really looking forward to my time here. I don't know how much work is here right now, but I'm sure if there isn't a lot we can find some. The branch here is really small. It's where Elder Essler started his mission. There is a lot of need in this branch, not only spiritual and temporal. But they need strong backs and weak minds. So I've heard from the few members I've already met that they will be having us doing a lot of physical service which I'm excited for. My Companion is elder Matson from Orange County CA. Elder Dutson one of my favorite comps trained him and he seems really cool so far. Today we are running errands getting settled in. The apartment here is super nice! The nicest one I've had on my mission! My desk is legendary! And we have a fake fireplace and a deck! It's great! I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Richards 

July 6, 2016 Happy 4th of July!

Hello all, this week has been a pretty quiet one here are the updates.

            We had another solid lesson with Alex, he has had some struggles with his family and some legal issues and his dog has been sick, and this guy loves his dog! We had a really good lesson where we talked about forgiveness and how we work on forgiving others and why trials come to us. He really opened up to us and it was great. It was a wonderful lesson. Hopefully things will get better for him!

            This week we have set a bunch of traps and caught a ton of mice in the apartment which is pretty neat. They are all over the place but we keep catching them which is good. Hopefully they will be cleared out soon. The Fourth of July was pretty uneventful, I've been really sick the last couple of days, since Saturday but we had lunch with a member, (and we saw a fight break out which was neat) but then we went home and I yakked it all. So that stunk. I’m feeling pretty good today, which is good.

            Nothing much is really happening. A lot of people were out of town this week which stinks and it's already got hot today. It's usually nice when it's raining but it stinks after the sun comes out.
It's been wet lately and today is the first sunny day we have had in a while and it's super humid. I've sweating like crazy. 
           Visiting with the Brandner family was a treat, it seems so long ago I forgot it was this week, it was weird to see people from home it seems like home is a whole different world, mostly because we deal with a entirely different crowd here. It was fun though.
 Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Richards