Date
October 23, 2017
Area
McKeesport, PA
Companion
Elder Dane Williams
Week 17 in McKeesport!-Miracles amidst the trials
Dear Family!
Oh that pork tenderloin with olives sounds like heaven right now... haha!! I miss your cooking so much mom!! ❤️ but mostly I just miss you all! I loved your letters and emails this week!! (:
Anyways, Brother Mosley took us and Elder Taylor and Elder Li to Pittsburgh today, so I don't have much time... but we had such a wonderful week! The weeks keep getting faster and faster and better and better!
More than anything, I just want our investigators to progress!! Sometimes I feel like we have so many people we are working with, and it is so hard to keep track of them and what they need. And none of them do anything. BUT, Lots of changes have been made to the way we plan and do things lately, and it helps us put most of the focus on those who are progressing the most. It's been effective and helpful! Missionary work just keeps getting better and better! (:
We have been trying to add people on Facebook and share spiritual messages and have daily contact with those we teach. It's been different, but good! Still getting the hang of it...
Our investigator P has been struggling with lots of questions. She says she wants to find out for herself if this is true, but she just has not truly committed yet! We have been trying to help her feel the Spirit, talked a lot about how to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. AGAIN. And Nothing. She reads, but doesn't sincerely pray. She just brings up lots of concerns all the time. So this past week we just decided to ask if she needed some service with some yard work. She accepted, and the entire day I was just praying that the service we rendered would soften her heart. AND IT WORKED! And she was really really committed to start truly reading and praying now. She said she is going to start looking past the concerns she keeps having and go into this all the way. Thank you Heavenly Father!
We also did some finding this week, and found a new investigator, N, who seems ultra prepared! Super interested in the Book of Mormon, so we are excited to work with him more in the future! Hopefully we will get visit him this upcoming week...
Another thing we got to do this week was work with Sister H. She is a less active lady who is slowly coming back! And we just love her so much, she is so sweet and has such a good spirit about her. She said she's going to start making some major changes in her life and really try hard to come back! It's hard for her, because she struggles with depression and lots of awful family issues. But the gospel will bless her life!!
Aaaaand we contacted a referral, F, who requested the missionaries online to visit his home and teach him how to pray. So we gave him a restoration pamphlet (which talks about how to pray) and a Book of Mormon, and invited him to read and pray about both of those things. HE ACTUALLY READ THEM! And we went back to teach the rest of the restoration, and before we even began to teach, he said he was super interested in learning more about Joseph Smith, and prophets, and the Book of Mormon, and how these things can bless his life. And he prayed with us at the end. And he said he just felt so good about what we have taught! He wants to come to church and continue learning!! And teaching F was just such a blessing. We have been pretty down in the dumps about nobody progressing around here, but we just needed that one experience to ignite our missionary fire once again! The Spirit was so strong in that lesson. Every time I teach the Restoration, my testimony is strengthened more and more! I know this church is true, and President Monson is Gods prophet on the earth today!!
Not too many other highlights from this past week. I loved my exchange with our zone leaders, I went to Oakland with Elder Bryner. And he is just an amazing example of what a leader should be from the white handbook! He taught me so much on how to plan more effectively, using time wisely, and how to find with the Spirit. He has so much love for everyone! I'm so blessed to be serving in the position I am in, and to serve around those I do. I love being a missionary!! I am just so full of joy all the time!! This is the greatest work!
And as far as a spiritual thought goes, I may have shared this before, but I've been reading in 1 and 2 Nephi a lot, and I love this verse in 2 Nephi chapter 2:
25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
Short and sweet. But powerful! Adam and Eve had to leave the garden of eden and experience misery and pain in order to truly understand what joy is, and that is the purpose of life! I am so grateful for my struggles and trials that have turned me into the person I am today. And I love my savior!! He strengthens us in our trials, and forgives us when we repent!
I love you all SOO MUCH! Have a wonderful week!!
Love,
Elder Richardson!
Pictures!
1-7- In Pittsburgh today!! Museum of natural history, Heinz Chapel, and Carnegie library! (If you like Batman, you'll recognize this building! :)
8- "DO NOT PARKING" -Good ol' Pennsylvanians!
9- On Brother Russin's beautiful new Harley Davidson!
10- ZONE CONFERENCE!