SIX MONTHS?!?!?!
Date
November 14, 2016
Area
Boulder Colorado
Companion
Elder Layton
SIX MONTHS?!?!?!
So things have been going pretty well here in Boulder, CO. Elder Layton and I spoke in church yesterday, and that was actually really cool. I spoke about teaching with the Spirit, so I didn't prepare a talk at all and just winged it. Just kidding… I actually did prepare and it went really well. Elder Layton talked about gratitude. He was super nervous, because he doesn’t think he’s a very good speaker. He has to write his talk out exactly, and he did a really good job! It was cool to speak in sacrament meeting with him!
This week was a good one, but it was kind of tough. We didn't accomplish as much as we had hoped to. We had several people who said that they were going to come to sacrament meeting and only two of them came. We were still super excited! There are a few people that we are teaching that are a bit frustrating. We have really good lessons with them and the spirit is there, and I can tell that everything we share with them makes sense to them, but then we leave and they talk with people at their church and we start all over again. This morning I was studying a talk about how we need to help people learn to have spiritual experiences on their own and help them learn how to study the scriptures so that when we aren't there to teach them, they continue to learn. That is what we are working on right now. Helping people learn for themselves, so that they gain a testimony independent of anything we say. Hopefully, we will have luck in the future with them.
So, I can't hold it in anymore. This morning we found out about transfers. We went to the mission office to pick up the mail, (I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but we pick up the mail every Monday for the whole Zone) and while we were there, the Assistants to the President were in the office sending out all the info for transfers. They hadn't sent out the email yet, so while we were talking to them, they gave us the transfer list for us to see where we were. I knew right away what our fate held. We slowly turned the 4 pages until we got to our Zone. When we saw that Elder Layton’s name and my name where next to each other again, we hugged and jumped up and down like little girls. It was quite a great moment. All of the senior missionaries in the office just laughed as they watched us. So that means Elder Layton and I will officially be together for Christmas! And officially we will serve together for at least 6 months, if not more! CRAZY! We have had our tiffs, but we sure are grateful for what we learn from each other!
Last week, a package was delivered to the office for me, but after we had picked up our zone’s mail. That means I was going to have to wait until the next Monday to get it. But two of the senior sisters called me and told me they had a surprise for me but only they knew about it. Turns out they saw the package I had receive, and they wanted to sneak it to me so I wouldn’t have to wait a whole week. I laughed so hard. They are sweethearts, so Elder Layton and I are buying them flowers later today. The package contained Holiday English Toffee from my sweet Mother. She sent it early just in case one of us got transferred and we wouldn’t be spending Christmas together.
In other news, things are going pretty steady, like the last few weeks. Emiley is a rock-solid kid, and we are helping prepare her to go to the temple for the first time. Anna and Ben are still great and we are very slowly helping them learn and come closer to Christ. We were able to get some more materials in Mongolian this morning, so hopefully that will help with teaching Anna! We have several other investigators, who we will be meeting with this week. We are hoping they will come to church. We have two lessons later tonight with people that we taught for the first time last week, so hopefully those go well! Both are girls who were raised going to church, but no longer believe that there is a God, and they don't think there is any way to know for sure. So we left them a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read last week and are going to help them understand how to get answers.
We have a few less-active members that we are meeting with that we are trying to help get back to church. There is one girl who was raised in the FLDS church, and she joined the LDS church a few years ago. She is super solid, but there are things holding her back. We are trying to figure out what they are. We had an AWESOME lesson with her Saturday where she started to open up a little more. I hope this next week when we meet with her we can find out more of what is holding her back.
Anyway, I am going to end this because we actually have to go do some service today for the City Art Association. I will leave you with this thought that I shared in my talk yesterday:
"The spiritual guidance received by each individual is strictly up to that individual."
As I talked and shared about my personal experiences of seeking for an increase of the Spirit in my own life, I promised those in the congregation that if they desired an increase of the Spirit, or a more acute awareness of the promptings of the Spirit, that it would be theirs if they truly desired and sought after it. I know that this is true and that it truly is up to us! A few members of the ward came up to me afterwards and asked if I could share with them more of my experience and help them to see lasting changes in their life. I am so grateful for everything I have gone through and my chance to use my experiences to help others. The Lord is at the head of this work and He always will be!
Elder Richards
This week was a good one, but it was kind of tough. We didn't accomplish as much as we had hoped to. We had several people who said that they were going to come to sacrament meeting and only two of them came. We were still super excited! There are a few people that we are teaching that are a bit frustrating. We have really good lessons with them and the spirit is there, and I can tell that everything we share with them makes sense to them, but then we leave and they talk with people at their church and we start all over again. This morning I was studying a talk about how we need to help people learn to have spiritual experiences on their own and help them learn how to study the scriptures so that when we aren't there to teach them, they continue to learn. That is what we are working on right now. Helping people learn for themselves, so that they gain a testimony independent of anything we say. Hopefully, we will have luck in the future with them.
So, I can't hold it in anymore. This morning we found out about transfers. We went to the mission office to pick up the mail, (I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but we pick up the mail every Monday for the whole Zone) and while we were there, the Assistants to the President were in the office sending out all the info for transfers. They hadn't sent out the email yet, so while we were talking to them, they gave us the transfer list for us to see where we were. I knew right away what our fate held. We slowly turned the 4 pages until we got to our Zone. When we saw that Elder Layton’s name and my name where next to each other again, we hugged and jumped up and down like little girls. It was quite a great moment. All of the senior missionaries in the office just laughed as they watched us. So that means Elder Layton and I will officially be together for Christmas! And officially we will serve together for at least 6 months, if not more! CRAZY! We have had our tiffs, but we sure are grateful for what we learn from each other!
Last week, a package was delivered to the office for me, but after we had picked up our zone’s mail. That means I was going to have to wait until the next Monday to get it. But two of the senior sisters called me and told me they had a surprise for me but only they knew about it. Turns out they saw the package I had receive, and they wanted to sneak it to me so I wouldn’t have to wait a whole week. I laughed so hard. They are sweethearts, so Elder Layton and I are buying them flowers later today. The package contained Holiday English Toffee from my sweet Mother. She sent it early just in case one of us got transferred and we wouldn’t be spending Christmas together.
In other news, things are going pretty steady, like the last few weeks. Emiley is a rock-solid kid, and we are helping prepare her to go to the temple for the first time. Anna and Ben are still great and we are very slowly helping them learn and come closer to Christ. We were able to get some more materials in Mongolian this morning, so hopefully that will help with teaching Anna! We have several other investigators, who we will be meeting with this week. We are hoping they will come to church. We have two lessons later tonight with people that we taught for the first time last week, so hopefully those go well! Both are girls who were raised going to church, but no longer believe that there is a God, and they don't think there is any way to know for sure. So we left them a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read last week and are going to help them understand how to get answers.
We have a few less-active members that we are meeting with that we are trying to help get back to church. There is one girl who was raised in the FLDS church, and she joined the LDS church a few years ago. She is super solid, but there are things holding her back. We are trying to figure out what they are. We had an AWESOME lesson with her Saturday where she started to open up a little more. I hope this next week when we meet with her we can find out more of what is holding her back.
Anyway, I am going to end this because we actually have to go do some service today for the City Art Association. I will leave you with this thought that I shared in my talk yesterday:
"The spiritual guidance received by each individual is strictly up to that individual."
As I talked and shared about my personal experiences of seeking for an increase of the Spirit in my own life, I promised those in the congregation that if they desired an increase of the Spirit, or a more acute awareness of the promptings of the Spirit, that it would be theirs if they truly desired and sought after it. I know that this is true and that it truly is up to us! A few members of the ward came up to me afterwards and asked if I could share with them more of my experience and help them to see lasting changes in their life. I am so grateful for everything I have gone through and my chance to use my experiences to help others. The Lord is at the head of this work and He always will be!
Elder Richards
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