Pics from Lakewood West

The first pic is at the beach, and the second is with my two companions, Sis. Dahle and Sis. Bell.

MTC Pictures

The First pic is Sister Caldwell and I in front of the temple. The second is the elders from my MTC district

Baptism Invites. Oh, yes. :D

Hello Everyone!

 

I remembered my camera this week. Be prepared for pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. :D

 

This week, I invited someone to be BAPTIZED for the first time!! We were in a single's FHE, and there were three nonmembers. I made a boo-boo and only invited Mike and Cindy, but Sister Bell invited Rob and covered for me. We had just taught the Plan of Salvation and I asked Cindy first, then added, "And you too, Mike?" Without hesitation, Mike said YES!! (Not like that, though. That was my enthusiasm.) Cindy was too overwhelmed and not ready to make any commitments. Don't worry; she's coming to FHE again tonight and we're hoping to get over there to teach her again. Here's the real problem: All three of them are not in our area, so other than FHE we don't get to teach them. We officially handed Mike over to the Elders yesterday. If he keeps coming to Church as consistently as he has been, we'll still get to teach him on Sundays. :D

 

We had another new investigator this week named Shelly. She's the nonmember sister of a less-active, Denise. Denise is divorced and has her two youngest children living with her, and Shelly lives with them. They've had some hard times, so Denise came to see the Bishop about welfare and such. Shelly came with, but was so nervous and stressed that she drank rum earlier in the day. That was at four o'clock, and she hadn't eaten since (this was at seven or eight). One of the things I've learned on my mission is that it isn't good to drink and not eat. (Wasn't what you were expecting, was it? :P) Well, we were listening to Shelly talk about all the hard things going on, and tying it to the Atonement, when all of a sudden Shelly asked to go to the ladie's room. Once there, she "lost her cookies", as she put it. Apparently, rum tastes a lot worse coming up than going down. :P She needs to gospel so much, and we're hoping she'll be open to it. She already loves us, and we're going back to paint their porch steps this week. Service is the key to entering these people's hearts!

 

I love you all so much! You other missionaries, thank you for sharing your experiences and testimonies with me. You all inspire me. I love this missionary support system we have as we all preach the same gospel all over the world! :D

 

Family, it was wonderful talking to you yesterday. I love you all! Have a fabulous week, and keep writing me letters. :D

 

Love, Sister Richards

 

Hello!

This week has moved twice as fast as the first week did. It's like in the MTC when they said that it moves faster after the first Sunday. That principle applies out here. I've heard that in the field, the first three months feel like the same amount of time as the last fifteen. We'll see. That scares me a little bit, not gonna lie. :P

This week we had some cool encounters. First off, Sister Bell and Sister Dahle (which is actually pronounced "Dolly," so their names don't rhyme, unfortunately) have been working on "The Musical Rendition of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" fireside for weeks, and it was last night. We had 20 nonmembers there! It was so cool. I want to do it again later in my mission. We had lots of ward members involved, lots of youth (so lots of squeaky violins), and five investigators, plus us missionaries. Even though the musical numbers weren't all perfect, the Spirit was there. Sister Bell sang "His Hands" by Kenneth Cope, and it was BEAUTIFUL!! Elder Graf (our district leader) sang "A Disciple of Christ", which I'd never heard before, but it's all about being a missionary, and it really touched me, and hopefully members of the audience as well. Afterward we had refreshments (Costco cakes supplied by the High Priests with tablecloths and everything; who knew?!) where we missionaries mingled and taught. The problem is, for me and Elder Moreland at least, that we can hardly tell the nonmembers from the members we haven't met yet! So I found one I knew was a nonmember and talked to him. He's in high school, very intelligent, and very skeptical. After I answered all sorts of questions about tithing and prophets and he started getting into the nitty-gritty, I handed him a Book of Mormon and said, "All your questions will be answered if you read this with an open mind and an open heart." I put our number in it and said, "Read it every day and call us in a few weeks." He got kinda fresh and said, "Will it give me the answer to quantum physics?" But I laughed and said, "All your religious questions. Just remember, open heart." I did a hand gesture like a flower opening, and he caught on and asked, "Like a flower?" We both laughed and left on really good terms. I hope he actually reads and won't just leave those questions undone.

We've been going down our ward list and trying to meet with every nonmember and less-active in our half of the ward (we get Bay Village, Rocky River and Fairview Park and the Elders get Lakewood). We called one lady, set an appointment, then found out that she is a "do not contact"! But, she set the appointment, so we went anyway. (It was just Sister Bell and I, because Sister Dahle was sick and at home with Sister Frampton, who is part of the other tripanionship.) Her name is Cathy, her son is a 16-year-old pot addict, and her house is foreclosing and she doesn't have good relationships with  her family. She needs to come back to church. She basically laid out her whole life story for us (people in Ohio are very open) and invited us to come back any time. Why? Because her visiting teachers have been coming religiously as her friends for years while missionaries have been asked not to. Members are the key and, in this case, the miracle.

We have a new investigator! He is the husband of a member, he loves the church, knows the doctrine, and basically has a testimony. He's had all the lessons twice already, but wont' be baptized because he doesn't want to be a "hypocrite" because he has some "bad habits" that he won't give up. We just need to teach him the eternal significance of the gospel. Third time's the charm, right? :)

On Tuesday, Sister Titera (the stake president's wife) brought us to the Family History Center and showed us the ropes so we can teach investigators. I was able to find sources (scans of old censuses and such) for Great-Grandpa Richards and Grandpa Larsen. Go on Familysearch and see what I did! It's pretty cool. I didn't realize Grandpa Larsen would be on a 1940 census (the most recent census we can see) but I found him! I think he's like six years old or something. Anyway, take a look. The changes to family search are pretty awesome.

Thanks so much for the letters! Keep'm coming! :) I love you all. Have a wonderful week!

Sister Richards

Hello!

 

Firstly, I need Nathan's email and any other family member's emails so I can send it to them directly also. Please and thank you. :)

 

Secondly, I'm in the Lakewood West area. President and Sister Vellinga live in the ward next door, so we see them a lot. My companions are Sister Bell and Sister Dahle. I'm in a trio! Sister Bell is on her last transfer, and Sister Dahle's only been out six weeks. They are 25 and 26, so I'm super young. Sometimes I feel like a little kid tagging along, especially when I'm asking a bunch of questions so I can understand who we're teaching or what's going on. They are very patient and answer everything, but I still feel like Pinnochio: "Why? Why?" I'm learning, though, and getting the hang of things as best I can.

 

We flew into Cleveland on Monday. It was a long day. There were 35 of us coming in, and only 5 leaving. Holy cow!! There were so many of us that we had to be split between three different homes to stay. I stayed with the Titera's, who ended up being the Stake President of the stake I'm serving in.

 

On Tuesday we went to Kirtland. You know Carl Anderson, who wrote The Savior in Kirtland book? Well, he came with us to the Temple and then the Whitney store to talk to us about the significance of Kirtland. And, guess who got to ride with him from the temple to Historic Kirtland? That's right. I did. Be jealous. ;) Kirtland is called the "cradle of the restoration." Sister Bell quoted someone saying, "Not just anyone is called to serve in the cradle of the restoration. Missionaries here are hand-picked." There's also a revelation in D&C (I can't remember specifically where without looking) that says that the Lord will "send forth and build up Kirtland." Brother Anderson said that I missed two words when I read it aloud. It hit me really hard after he said that: "I will send forth my missionaries and build up Kirtland." "I will send forth Sister Richards and build up Kirtland." I know I was sent to Cleveland for a purpose. I hope I can do my best to live up to it. It is an incredible mission.

 

The weather here is almost crazier than Idaho!! It was in the forties, then it got up to eighty and humid, and then back down to forty and frigid. What?! It's annoying. I'm almost excited for the warm. Sisters Bell and Dahli are warm bodies, so the truck (we drive a truck!!) is almost always colder than I would have it. When it gets too warm outside I think we'll all be on the same page temperature-wise.

 

Teague, this is for you: We got to serve an inactive woman and her nonmember sister. We hope it will be a chance to teach her the gospel. This woman's name is Sister Teague. She has your name! Maybe we'll help her sister get baptized. Maybe it's the newbie optimism, but I'm hoping.

 

We do A TON with members. We only tracted for half an hour last week! We gave away two Family Proclamations, and didn't get in to see anyone. No one yelled at us, though, which is good.

 

One investigator, Sundee, fed us dinner the other night. She made it entirely gluten-free, complete with a cake! She is so sweet, especially since she hadn't met me before the dinner! She also gave me gf bread to bring home. The people here are really so friendly and generous. They are a little reserved at first, but if they know you (or in my case, they know my companions) they are open and the nicest people.

 

There's a member of our ward who has Cystic Fibrosis. She has one daughter who competes in level six gymnastics. We're doing FHE with their family tonight. I'm excited to get to know them more. They seem like really nice people. :)

 

So, we share our apartment with another trio. There are six of us, two bedrooms, and one shower. Two toilets and sinks, though. It's squishy, but it's OK. We're also neighbors with all of the senior couples. We spend too much time at the Jacklins, but we love them so much! I love this area; we are so close to the mission home and office and all the seniors. I'll miss that when I'm transferred. Hopefully I'll be here until I'm done with my first three months.

 

I love you all. Please, please, PLEASE everyone write me. I've been a week without a letter, and it makes me sad. :( So write me and make me happy! :) This is also one of the longest letters you'll ever get from me, so don't get your hopes up. ;) Have a wonderful week, and I can't wait to hear from you.

 

Love,

McKayla

McKayla's New Address:

22453 Lake Road #C-105

Rocky River, OH 44116

Dear All,

 

Wait... wasn't it just my first week in the MTC? It's almost scary how quickly we come in and out of here when we're not learning a language. However, I feel like I should be ready for the field by Monday (especially since I'll have a senior companion to help me :P). My teachers are incredible. I got a chance to talk to one of them, Brother Handy, in a one-on-one interview yesterday. He says he's seen me progress in the last eight days, and I can see it too. I still don't have a ton of confidence in my teaching, especially when we do role-plays, but I'm getting better. I also can feel that my testimony's grown. Yesterday was "In-Field Orientation." Basically, from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm (with just a couple of breaks) we went between two classrooms, but with lots of different teachers, learning about what it's like in the field. It wasn't as logistical as I was expecting, but it was still extremely helpful. There were two things that really touched me during the meeting: They showed us a movie of the Sweetwater crossing, narrated by Gordon B. Hinckley, focusing on the three boys who carried almost the entire Martin company across the river. It was so powerful, and it made me want to spiritually be there to carry people across. I know that I have been carried across so many times when my testimony hasn't been strong enough, here and at home. I just hope I can return the favor to an investigator someday. The other thing was the clip that Dad showed us a few years ago. It has a map of the world (starting with the U.S.) and shows the stakes and temples growing as the church has grown, accompanied by "The Spirit of God." It stops in 2010, but the effect is there: We are part of a huge work. Although we're only laboring in one place, we are helping to build a worldwide church, and the Lord is hastening His work. It's incredible, and a miraculous time to be out in the mission field.

 

Alright, story time. On Monday, Sister Caldwell and I began TRC, which means paid actors are our investigators and we go teach them. Lawanna was ours, and she was referred to the missionaries before us by her friend Jessica. Sis Caldwell and I went to teach her, rather scared because we didn't know until five minutes before even what TRC really was. The appointment went... less than stellar. Lousy. It crashed and burned, actually. Lawanna had a question that we tried to answer, but it just confused her more, and then Sis Caldwell's "bold testimony" was mistaken for "being defensive." In the end, she asked us to leave her house, and we left distraught. At least, I did. Sis Caldwell got over it and was looking forward to our next appointment with her on Wednesday while I was still crying. (I couldn't help it, and the Elders in our district saw me crying about it. One of them, who is a slightly awkward child named Elder Poe, said he would hug me if we weren't missionaries.) I didn't ever want to see Lawanna again. I felt like a failure and was terrified of seeing her again. I was sure that she would slam the door in our faces and tell us never to come back, even though we were in the MTC! However, with much praying and pep-talking and divine intervention, when Wednesday came I actually felt kinda excited to try again. We had our humble approach, a different answer to her question (which was that we don't really know the answer and just rely on the Lord) and my own "Gospel of Jesus Christ" pamphlet, because the TRC ran out and I felt like it was important, so I gave it up. And, would you believe it, she let us in! We talked about Christ as our friend, and she started to cry. Apparently, that day was the birthday of a friend who was murdered a year and a half ago, and we were able to use that to show her why a relationship with Christ is important. It was a very neat experience, with a happy ending! I know not all stories in the mission field will have happy endings, but this one gave me hope.

 

Our other investigator, Sam (played by Brother Handy) has been kind of wishy-washy up till now. We haven't covered a lot of doctrine because we've been answering questions and trying to follow the Spirit. Despite that, in our discussion yesterday (which was only ten minutes) we invited him to be baptized, and he said yes! Even though he doesn't know a lot, we explained that Christ just wants us to have faith in Him, and we could teach Sam the rest. I know he's not a real investigator,  but having him say yes felt so, so good.

 

Our district is incredible. I've decided it's like having older siblings: They tease me something awful (though not nearly as badly as they tease Elder Poe) and build me up with their testimonies. It's incredible. I love them so much, and I'm sad that after Monday I won't see them more than a few times a year. I'm so grateful for this time in the MTC, even though it's been hard. (I now have permanent bags under my eyes.) I think I'm more ready than I feel like I am to get out into the field. Just think: My next letter will be from Ohio! I'll be sure to write you by hand when I get there, since I don't know when my next P Day will be.

 

I love you all. Thank you for the letters they completely make my day. And Grandma Brailsford sent the best package with lots of food. I may have to leave some on the sharing shelf, but other girls will appreciate that. :) Also, I'll send pictures soon. I think there may be a way to download them directly, though I'll still send home the memory card every few months so I can have a good copy of the pictures. :) I love you!!

 

Sister Richards

April 6. 1st letter from MTC

April 6, 2013

Hello Family!
Today is...not a P-Day. BUT, we are allowed to do laundry, so our Zone Leaders told us to do email as well, and no one begrudges it at all. So, I get to talk to you! My next real P-Day is next Friday, so email me back before then!

Alright, so here's a bit about my MTC experience thus far: Sister Caldwell is my companion. She is twenty years old from Pleasant Grove, UT. She is such a sweetheart. I had kinda a rough evening yesterday, and she was so kind and supportive. All the sisters in my room were. Sisters Nielsen and Planer are the other sisters in our district. Brother Handy and Brother Summerfeldt are my teachers. They are wonderful! Brother Handy is role-playing "Sam" our new investigator. When he takes on the role of Sam, I can hardly remember that he's really my teacher. It becomes essential to teach him by the Spirit and Sis. Caldwell and I have felt the Spirit's guidance in preparing his lessons. I think this is because we not only need to learn to teach, but also to teach by the Spirit, so the Spirit is teaching us how to feel his presence and influence. The elders in my district are amazing. We have multiple used-to-be-inactives, an ex-Marine and some really strong lifetime members. I'm the second youngest in the district, which would never have happened as a sister until the age change. The only one younger is Elder Lutul, and he turns nineteen in a month or two. All the elders in our district are going to Cleveland too, so we'll have elder friends in the mission field, which will be nice. We're already starting to bond as a district, and I can tell that they will be my greatest support during this time.

So, guess who's in my zone? Elder Harker! We have Zone Teaching and gym time together, plus his classroom is two down from mine. I see him everywhere! I hope it makes him as happy as it makes me to see a familiar face, at least way, deep down inside:) I've also seen Logan Michelson, Quin Kirkham, Jaleeesa Jensen, Kimmy Gidney and a couple aquaintances from BYU, and probably a few others, but I can't remember them all. There are so many people, with more expected over the next two months. It  is so exciting!

I've been told that if you can make it through Sunday the rest of the time at the MTC flies. I hope that's true. I've felt myself grow and I love the work and gospel even more already, but it's hard work. Hard, hard work, and every day seems so long. Last night was the hardest, though. I haven't felt homesick at all (no offense, you know I love you!) but I felt really discouraged last night. None of my practice discussions were going well, but the point is that I learned from each one. Nothing the teachers or Sis. Caldwell tell me I could improve on makes me feel bad, it's all my own feelings of inadequacy. I need to buck up and realize that no one has it down yet, and I still have time to learn. There are so many rules. I know they're all there for our good, but when they give you a letter (from Mykal Kay, actually) and say "You can't open it until 9:30" and then you get to your residence hall at nine and they say, "You're here early" even though we had nothing else to do, I start to get tired of them.  Still, I'm trying to be obedient, and I know I will be blessed if I am.

I can receive emails from friends in the MTC, but I don't know about the mission field yet. If anyone wants to email me, make sure they know not to after April 14th until further notice.

I love you all dearly. Enjoy General Conference! Let's see what the Prophet tells us this time. "D May the Lord bless you all!

Sister Richards