Turtle in Tree!

Hey Everyone!

As you can see, there is a dead turtle in my plant that one of the other Elder's put there. Haha! It's sad that it's not alive - but it's all good. If only I were afraid of dead animals........!

So these last few days have been great!

Thank you for all your emails today. It's great to hear that Mickey is Dad's HT companion. There is a video on lds.org entitled "On the road to Damascus" about how people are waiting for something big to happen when they will not SEE it. How they need to just commit to the gospel and look at the BIG picture of how the gospel will affect people's lives.

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#waiting-on-our-road-to-damascus  Click here and watch this great video!

It's great to feel the wonderful fulness that the principles of the gospel brings, to see what happens when we give to others. When giving something valuable to others, even when we really don't want to but do it anyway, there is a feeling in our hearts. Something that fills (an empty space) we didn't know was there. A satisfaction that fills every facet of our minds and bodies. That is the gospel. Read Alma 1:30, Alma 7:23-24. (BEAUTIFUL scriptures!)

It's AWESOME!

I'm grateful that the lessons in the Relief Society are so good (Mom) and hope they continue to be (inspiring). Being able to see how the gospel has effected people's lives is AWESOME! Even after so many years; and yet it's the small moments that those people remember and the fact that someone listened to the Spirit in order to follow that prompting and blessed someone's life. It made an impression (mark) on them and they remembered that. It's great!

So I am stoked to hear that the Sisters are coming over and planning what to do with investigators and the less active. Dad, one thing that will really help with the ward growth is matching members up with investigators for fellowship. Someone they can relate to, someone they can call anytime and explain something about the gospel to them. 

That fellowship is KEY; and inviting them to activities is great also.

So this week is hopefully going to be more fulfilling. I hope that we're able to get our lessons in with the people we're teaching. We're meeting with Daniel tonight. I just spoke to him over the phone last night and he's ready to meet tonight. We're going to be trying to help him overcome his addiction to smoking and possibly help with his drinking; so keep him in your prayers that there will be distaste for those things.

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed these things. I hope you all enjoy your week!

I love you all!

Elder Richards

Virginia Richmond Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter Day Saints