Wednesday, August 24, 2016

August 24, 2016 Kenny is progressing and visits with the President

Week Update

Yesterday I found out my. Returning group of missionaries is me and two sisters which is wild! It's got some potential to be pretty awkward but oh well. It doesn't really feel like I'm going home soon, It still feels like I will be out here for another couple of transfers. It's bizarre. I'm just making the most out of every day I have.
Elder Essler is up to his usual antics. That kid can chat. He is doing good though He is having fun. It seems bizarre to be realizing I'm not going to be a missionary forever. Missionary life is pretty neat. But there is a time and a season for all things. I was reflecting this week on how I've changed and I was thinking about my love and my relationship with Christ and how much He means to me. It's literally one of my most favorite things to do is to read about Him. It means so much that He suffered for me and that He did it just for me and just for everyone. I don't like to imagine His suffering. I don't like to think about it. But I know that He took it for me. That He stood in my place and felt what I will feel and also took my lickin for me. It hurts me to realize that I have caused Him that suffering and it makes me want to not cause Him anymore. And it also makes me want to help ease the suffering of others. Because as I do so, the Savior feels their ease. I am eternally grateful for my Savior, who bled and died for me and for everybody else. But I know He would have done it even it would have been just to save me, and I know that I'm not unique in that respect either. But that He would do it for anyone even if it would only save just them. His love is truly incomprehensible. I really love being a missionary. Best choice I could have made. The education I gained as a missionary is greater than any other education I could have gotten anywhere else in the world at this time of my life.

So let’s get going!

Update #1
The New Hartford Temple is nearing completion! So as missionaries we have been handing out all sorts of invitations for it which is pretty neat! Yesterday I was talking to President Smith about it. And he was saying that missionaries could get permission to leave the mission to go to it with an investigator or less active, granted they met certain requirements but it is really cool that the missionaries here will have that opportunity.

Update #2
I went on a split on Friday which was pretty neat. I went with our Zone leader Elder Paullen. He seems to be a pretty cool guy. We had a pretty good day, we met some interesting people tracting. We found an abandoned Italian resort that has been converted to a low income housing community, It seemed like it could be a scene of a horror movie it was wild. We met some pretty wild inhabitants there also. We met some Pagans which is always a treat.

Update #3
We have been talking to Kenny a lot about baptism and also baptisms for the dead, he found out he can be baptized for his father and it has really touched him. He has been really excited to be baptized and he has moved his baptismal date up a week to September 11. He also shared with us how he came to know the Book of Mormon was true which was something I had never actually heard from him. But he said he was praying one day and he asked if it was true, and he heard a voice tell him it was and then the same voice told him to get up and walk and he did. And Kenny was in a serious car accident a while back and so he struggles to get around and usually uses a walker but he said he was able to walk fine. Which is an amazing miracle and he has a stalwart testimony of the Book of Mormon which is super solid.

Update #4 
We got to build a rock wall with one of our investigators Jack, We were talking to him during it about classic cars and he said he is headed to a car show on Thursday and he has some friends he wants us to meet which is really rad!

Update #5
Yesterday I got to go to the returning missionary meeting with the Smiths it was pretty cool! We talked about college, work, dating, and marriage. It was a pretty cool meeting. The spirit was very strong and I could feel President and sister Smiths love for me. It was a great meeting and I got a ton of good advice! I took lots of notes! 

Anyways that's the latest for this week! I hope you all are having a good one! 



Elder Richards 

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