July 8th Letter

Hola Todas las personas!

Madre, my fourth of July was a blast and even in the mission field there is still a little pyro in me…when the locals get tired of lighting off fountains and such. I will send some pictures. The language, like I said, is improving each and every day and immensely each week, but I still am faced with trials in it a lot of the time. I am absolutely enjoying the work, but there are times when it is hot and no one is home and then you get a prompting and you run into an ice cream man who was an old investigator who dropped, but then tells you he is coming to church. Those moments are absolutely the best, and his name is Javier!

The hardest times are when nothing seems to be happening, and you do not realize that there are little blessings, but you just aren't noticing them. A typical day is to wake up at 6:24 and to pray and then get up and get on it and exercise for thirty minutes around the dirt and asphalt roads around our house running, sprinting, jogging, and walking. I sometimes lift some little weights to get my heart rate going and then we go in and eat breakfast and prepare for the day and get to studies by eight. While training we have studies until noon usually, except for specific days. Then we eat and go out and see people from 1 to 5 usually and then we eat dinner sometimes it is a quick stop at a fast food restaurant. We go visit some less active and part-member families in the evenings mostly, or sometimes we will have a dinner with somebody, we usually do. We get home, plan and then go to bed. That is the typical schedule of a missionary. I hope I answered your questions!

Let's see tell the ward that I love them and miss them, but tell them that if you are doing your part the Lord will send forth miracles and blessings and answers to prayers like you wouldn't have ever imagined. Tell Bishop Eldredge that being enthusiastic has been something that has kept me going and actively engaged in a great cause while being out.

We had many miracles this week, but it was a major trial of our faith, especially mine. We decided to follow promptings and found people we wouldn't have found before. We talked to a Jehova's witness at a members home as well as her other sister, who came to church yesterday along with the Segavolla familia y la familia Gallegos! Fue un milagro para nosotros! Este semana fue incredible!

We had a record of two families attending church and seven new people! It was amazing! This new President and his wife are really making some cool and effective changes to this mission.

P.S. when you send a package make sure you put my first name and middle initial, because there is another Sterling R. in this mission.

Have a great week,

Love, Elder Richards

Miracles and Mariachi Music

Hola everyone,

 

This week was pretty interesting to say the least and I had several new experiences....but no dog bites or sun burns. Half of the week it was super hot like in the upper 100's and one time I looked at our truck and it said 120 degrees and I was very concerned....luckily it cooled down and out of the blue it started raining! This week was pretty tough, because we lost a lot of lessons because of people not being home when we showed up, but we prayed to find miracles and people to teach.

 

We did a lot of teaching with the Paisano/Acosta family this week. This family is very awesome and they have so much potential, because two of them are already members! They make some really pecoso or super spicy food that is very delicious, but you cannot get around the burning sensation in your throat and stomach as you eat it. They always have their grandma and aunt over and they give me a hard time. Mexicans like to joke about setting up Elders with their daughters....but they just joke, however, they started calling me cunado or brother in-law this week, which was pretty strange to me.

 

We heard a lot of mariachi music and when I heard a tuba I could locate it. In fact, a miracle came from my sense of hearing. We had gone to Silvia Villescas' house and no one was answering so I heard a tuba in the back yard and we walked around the corner of the house and there was one of our recent converts Erik! He walked up to us and we had a short 15 minute lesson from both sides of the fence and said a prayer and were on our way, but he hadn't been coming to church for a while and it was good to talk to him.

 

Also this week we had the opportunity to teach an entire family not just Elsa. Her husband Obtavio wasn't too sure about having the missionaries over, but he wanted us to come over. He is paying his tithing and is prepared. We taught their family and I am looking forward to inviting them to be baptized this next week. They are awesome! Their daughter Miriam plays trumpet and piano, which is super cool.

 

Ricardo's dog Pelluza didn't bite me this week. She ran away, but Ricardo is much happier now as he is changing his heart and growing closer to Jesus Christ. We taught him several times this week and he started reading more in the Book of Mormon and is liking what he reads and feels a lot more.

 

Cesar and his family are doing awesome. Jonathan and Julissa were going to be baptized this Saturday, but Cesar has to work and he wants to perform the ordinance, so we are going to wait a couple weeks until he can be there, but they are prepared!

 

We experienced another miracle in finding on Friday night. We had an appointment cancel on us right when we got there and we had no clue what we were going to do, but then we felt like we should walk and go visit a man who we got a referral for. Previously, we visited the wrong apartment number, but then we knocked on Apt #1 and there was his wife Irma, but Carlos was in the back tending to his garden in his sombrero. We walked up to him and started talking to him and he had us follow him. This man liked to talk and he talked for two hours and we taught for about 5 minutes, but he is being softened.

 

The Gomez' apartment was full of Catholic symbols and it was a new experience for me. Their home was decorated in a very unique manner, but apparently this one wasn't as subtle as Mexican homes. The couple accepted the Restoration pamphlet and we are going to visit them. They are great people!

 

Two other miracles that we saw were with a referral and then with not having enough miles. The first occurred on Wednesday. We decided to go contact a referral. The woman had about 4 kids and her name is Marta. She already has fellowship with Silvia, and she is super prepared. She had the exact same questions as in the Plan of Salvation lesson: "Who am I, Why am I here, and where am I going?" It was awesome. Yesterday we didn't have enough miles to go teach the Paisano/Acosta family and the investigator and recent convert Cesar came and picked us up and it was such a miracle! We had a great lesson about the importance of church and Carlos is definitely progressing. :)

 

 Have a fun 4th and a great week!!!!

 

Love,

Elder Sterling Grant Richards

(your son) :)

 

PS: niece is la sobrina in Spanish. 

Sunburn...OUCH! (Letter from 6/24/13)

Hola todos personas!!

This week has been really interesting and full of miracles and tender mercies from the Lord. On Tuesday my companion and I had the wonderful blessing and opportunity of going up the '70 and having a noche de hogar con la familia Gallegos who are an awesome less active part member family. We watched the Testaments with them and the Spirit was so strong in the room, it was truly incredible! After the movie many of them were in tears and I was too because of the Savior coming down to the Americas as described in 3rd Nephi 11 and the Atonement in our lives is truly a powerful and wonderful privilege and an ultimate gift.

After that movie I pondered about all of the people whom I serve whether they are other missionaries, investigators, ward members, part-member families, or less active members how they might come closer to the Savior throughout anything life throws at them. I had a special experience in a lesson with Ricardo Malduno. I told him that he was a miracle in my mission, because he had the faith to stop smoking and to start reading the Book of Mormon and he will be baptized in mid-July sometime which is truly a blessing and tender mercy from our Father in Heaven.

This week was full of excitement, because my companion had his "golden" or his twentieth birthday and we celebrated the best way we knew how to. As a district we went to Sonic because of their 1/2 off shakes and celebrated. Later that night the Orduno family (the dad is a recent convert of 3 weeks ago) Cesar, Roxanna, Jonathan, Julissa, and their whole entire family had us over for dinner and threw my companion una fiesta! Earlier that day, we decided to weekly plan for nearly three hours in 108 degree weather and I came into our trailer really red and burned. At the party they served enchiladas verdes, but in New Mexico they put all kinds of hot peppers and spicy seasonings on everything they make so my companion and I were turning red and sweating. Green chiles here range on the spicy scale and we had been given some of the hottest ones.

We were given Tres Leches right after that, and I was so full, but my sunburn helped me to not worry about the pain from eating too much. We took lots of pictures and there were so many words just shooting by in the air that I did not understand. Here, they use a lot of slang and do not think anything of it. However, my companion warned me about the words that I shouldn't say and pointed them out. Mama Cantana the mom of Roxanna and Nayelli is very into gifts on birthdays, but not only did my companion get a gift bag I got one too and what better to give missionaries than a Hershey's bar and a tie!

The sunburn has been painful, but it has taught me to think of the atonement and although we are all going to fall short, we can better ourselves through leaning on the Savior and praying to find an answer!! No dog bites this week, but the dog that bit me sadly ran away and the investigator Ricardo was pretty upset, but he has shown such an amazing increase of faith lately and it is miraculous the way the Lord works!!

Saturday, we took a map and marked all of the less actives in our ward, which is about 3/4 of the ward and we started making visits and being constantly productive. Saturday we did not see much success, but I had a wonderful opportunity. The same investigator Ricardo that night we told him about the priesthood a little bit and then he asked for a blessing. This was in Spanish and it was my first annointing in Spanish, but my companion helped me out and it went just fine.

Yesterday, my companion conferred upon Cesar Orduno the Aaronic Priesthood and he is going to baptize his son and daughter Jonathan and Julissa hopefully in two weeks!! The last speaker Hermana Garcia spoke about George F. Richards and she pointed me out to the congregation and it was incredible. We had the blessing of doing service for her last Thursday and we got to help out so much, and it was really fun!!

We had a worldwide missionary leadership broadcast yesterday and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and President Monson shared messages on how missionary work is changing in this "digital age" and progressing in a way that it hasn't ever before!! I am really excited to see how much that will increase productivity, instead of just tracting and wasting time.

Hasta proxima semana,

Con Amor,

-Elder Richards