Another Week Gone By!

Hey Family!                                                   30 November 2011

Thanks for the e-mails!!! Things in the mission are going great! We had a lot of Thanksgiving food on the 24th. Out of the 4 appointments, we had only two cancel. When we rode back to the apartment it was FREEZING and we didn't have our coats and we were both wearing our short sleeve shirts. It was also a good 40-55 minute bike ride home!......but it's all good!

This week I'll be on exchanges with some other missionaries while others are going to the leadership meeting up in Richmond. We'll be back at the apartment about Friday night.

As far as things go, the only thing I need are new front and rear lights for my bike.....and some goodies and some letters from the family and some really good quotes. Anything that you think would make a missionary happy! :-)

I'm also hoping that I'll stay in my area or at least on my bike. It's nice to be able to ride everyday. I can also stop anywhere and talk to anyone....That's the good part! I should hear about transfers on the 11th of December.

So I hope that everyone is doing great and that things are getting better. It's great to hear that Owen and Aidon are doing so well and that Amanda, Laura and Amy are doing so well. It really MAKES my Monday and the week when I get news like that. Mom and Dad, thanks for still writing me, it means a ton!!!! Thanks for the amazing stories about missionary work and service. Thanks for being missionaries!

ALSO, I LOVE you all and I hope you enjoy this great Christmas Season!!!!

Elder Richards

Virginia Richmond Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints

Riding High!

New Updates!                                                         21 November 2011




Here they are - hittin' the road.....just joking!  Lookin' good!

So....this week has been one of great surprise for my companion and I. We're changing a ton of new things; what we do, how we are doing it and why and of course using the same order that Preach My Gospel wants us to use.

Sooooo things are about to get more exciting!!! Today (p-day) we're playing football and on Thanksgiving Day we're playing Turkey Bowl, (but not in the Husky's stadium this time). Then we're having 4 - yeah 4!!! dinner appointments in the same day.....so lets just say that for Thanksgiving I'm really grateful for being in a bike area. HAHA!



Good 'ole P-Day & E. Jensen

Things have been going good. We're getting ready for our exchanges with the other Elder's soon, so I'm excited to learn a lot from the other Elders. Also, I'm pretty stoked to make a ton of new steps of change, (I'll let y'all know in my letter).

AIDON - HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!!!!! You're the man. I've still got a video of you telling me all about the ninja turtles!!

So, the weather here is weird. Right now its overcast but around 50-60 degrees; at least that's what it feels like.



More Beautiful Fall Colors in Virginia

Beautiful Waterway in Portsmouth, Virginia

Also our carpet in our apartment just got cleaned and it looks awesome and smells nice too. Just FYI, grease does come out of carpet. (Not sure if I know what that was about....Hmmmm.....maybe I don't want to know!)

So far my injuries are doing really well. I just had a little girl tell me I colored pink all over my arm with a marker. That made me think of the line from Robin Hood - "God likes variety"  HaHa!

I hope everyone is doing well! I'm really glad to have gotten your email Amy and Betsie. Dad.........in terms of design, I have no idea how that works in the Ardex world. Good luck with it though!

Mom, I hope to see those pics soon and thanks for all the emails and scriptures you send - it really helps A TON.

So here are some pics. I hope you enjoy my new glasses.......I'M A NERD!




Looking Pretty Good!

 Elder Richards

Virginia Richmond Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints

hello from "VIRGINIA...FREEDOM"!!!

Hey Everyone!

Thank you for all your emails! I really enjoy hearing how things are going and how people are doing back home.

Yes, Mom, I'll try not to get into anymore accidents! When I had to clear out the rocks and dust out of my injury, it hurt like the dickens! Right now I've got some liquid band-aid for it and it burns like crazy every time I apply it - but it works.

Our investigators are doing ok; they're understanding the messages we give them. We did, however, lose the baptismal date set for Dec. 10th and now we're wondering where we're going to go from here.

So, we got some new family history pass along cards and they look amazing!! I can't wait to get home and test all the software!!

We haven't gotten any snow lately but it's been getting warm and then freezing, so we're packing our jackets with us all the time.

  

As you can see from the beautiful trees
Autumn is there - as it is here!
November 2011

I hope Amy really enjoyed her letter from Emily and that things there are going well. It's always good to hear that someone is doing great!

Soooooo in dealing with stress, my companion likes to play pranks on me alot! with shaving creme...and it's working really well!!



Guess Who???  E. Jensen!



Boys will be Boys!

Anything to get the stress away; so we're trying to get better at that!

I hope things are going well for all of you this week.

Amy.........I'm still looking in the mailbox for your letter. Be sure to let me know if you've seen any blessings from giving service in any future letter or email.

I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon.

Your son,

Elder Richards

Virginia Richmond Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints


More Great News from Portsmouth

Hey Family & Friends.....who read this!

Things have been great this past week! We're teaching a Jehovah's Witness and we just set him for baptism on DEC. 10th. We're excited! We now have a new Bishop in our ward. He's really stoked to help us missionaries so we're gearing up to receive new members into the ward and to re-activate current members. The great thing is that the assignments that we get from the Bishop are going to benefit the ward in more ways than we thought at first. It will help the Elder's Quorum and the Relief Society.

Lately, we've had some senior missionaries come over to our apartment while we are studying. They help us plan, communicate, teach & learn in so many new ways-it's not even funny! It's been EPIC! The senior couple were suppose to report home but they were able to start a new church pilot program that was approved by our Prophet and we, as full-time missionaries were able to participate in this new program. So their calling has been extended and we are helping in the program which will eventually help missionaries world wide. It is AWESOME!

So we have this new investigator. For the past few lessons I've felt a prompting to 'show him the baptismal font' - but kept putting it off and forgetting to do it. Last night, at the end of our lesson, I had the same impression to 'show him the font'. As it was at the end of the meeting I remembered the prompting. I did show him the font and once we did, we found a concern he had and were able to calm his worries and now he is more excited to continue with the lessons! Today, this investigator is going to be joining us in basketball on our P-day along with some other missionaries!

As far as my week went; my injuries are healing and my bike is doing fine! We were riding on a road that had no sidewalks and were anxious to get on one that was coming up ahead. When I saw the sidewalk I started to ride faster. At the same time a car came zooming past my companion and I and I think it brushed against our sleeves. The car gave us no leeway (sp?) and I rushed to the sidewalk. As I did, I swerved to avoid the powerbox in front of us and went to the left and then tried to swerve right back onto the sidewalk. Well, when I did that my bike hit some grass that was there by the road and wouldn't you know....my front tire sliped out from under me and it went one way and I went flying over my bike the other way! My wrist impacted the sidewalk first and I slid across the sidewalk on my forearm clear up to my elbow. As I was 'sliding' about 10 feet, I took up a good chunk of grass between the cracks and then I just LAID THERE! I was thinking "wow, did I just do that?" I FLEW...kinda cool"! At which point in time, I then looked down my arm and found a wonderful surprise of red fluid! OUCH! Sorry to gross y'all out but I'm fine and so is my dignity!!!

We had some members pick us up and take us home (and patch me up!) as we were in a rush to get to an appointment after that! Here's some more pics of my battle wounds!

Enjoy!

Elder Richards

Virginia Richmond Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints

NEWS UPDATE!

Our missionary was in an accident! As far as I know, this is the 2nd time that he was almost hit by a car. This picture below was taken by a ward member who helped him out and they texted and sent this to Don's phone (who is in Chicago).

They said that it was either hit the pavement or get hit by the car. He took evasive action and this was the result. At least he will have some battle scars to tell his children about someday.

I don't believe he was actually crying in this pic (I hope he isn't!!)..we were led to believe that he was demonstrating to someone there what happened at the time...(then again, MAYBE he was crying....!)

All I know...is that he must be doing some great work or Lucifer wouldn't be trying so hard to stop him. Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be "3" times a charm.

The members of the Virginia Richmond Mission are AWESOME! They take such good care of the missionaries there - it definitely gives Don and I peace of mind; also strengthens my testimony that the Lord watches over all of his 'stripling warriors'!

Don texted back to them to give him our love and concern and that he is in our prayers!

Susan

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for the emails and all the great insights on some great things!

Today for Halloween we get to go inside for the holiday....but....we get to enjoy that time at a members home, so it'll be NICE!

Portsmouth, VA

Here are some other things that have been happening:

We had a baptism!!!!!!!!

We have a great new investigator (who is really questioning all the good stuff/everything) and I'm staying in Portsmouth. So other than that things are going well!!

 

Our ward is AWESOME and we're really getting to know a lot about our area. I had my interview with President and it was so nice to get to talk to him and get to hear his counsel on things I should do.



I believe these are members of his ward!

I'm sorry this e-mail isn't too long. I just had a LONG conversation with a really nice woman about religion......but I'll send these pictures your way. (It sounds like he is busy sharing the gospel....I don't mind getting short emails since he is doing the Lord's work!)



Elder Richards

Virginia Richmond Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints.

Hi from Virginia!                                         24 October 2011

Thanks for the emails Mom and Dad; it was great to hear that you are all doing great!

Riding HIGH in the Sky!
(Can you tell they're bored?)



 The last 7 days have been GREAT! My companion and I hammered out some things in our comp. inventory and now we work together better; that really is a nice blessing to have. Preach My Gospel is incredible!!!

Lately, we've been working with some people that have major trials in their lives. The feelings I have felt and the love I have felt towards them, reminds me that missionary work IS a work of love and will go on for the rest of my life. Each person I've met has changed who I am and has helped me see the big picture of who I am - it's INDESCRIBABLE!

If anyone is wondering how to so call "find themselves" then do these 4 steps:

A. Pray often and give an accounting to the Lord.

B. Serve those around you for NO reason and pray to be filled with love for those you serve.

C. Clean up after yourself (said my companion!) - (Yeah, I'm guilty - ha!ha!). Just as a clean engine works better than when it's dirty, so does the Spirit work better in our lives.

D. Don't be afraid to give correction BUT do it with love; build them up and then express feelings towards them, as well as take correction yourself.

Yeah - things are going really well.

Lately we've been teaching a person the lessons. I kind of set them for a quick date - for the 29th of October. Then we met with them last night, and they want to get baptized this Wednesday. We were so surprised that we didn't even get around to talking about what we had planned. Having the Spirit direct that lesson last night was GREAT! To see this person make a solid commitment and continue on with their lives is incredible! So....YEAH....it was awesome!!

So my companion and I got really bored the other day, which should explain the pictures, but hey, we're missionaries and you can only do so much with what you have....! HA! HA!



Glad to see he is brushing his teeth!




I call this one "Monkey Face"
(They must really be bored!)




Sleeping High in the Sky
(Silly E. Jensen!)

Other than being bored, we're doing GREAT! I've been worried about how things are back at home with everything and how everyone is doing! I also hate asking for things (I'm like you dad, admit it LOL) but I pray that everything is going well.

This talk, which I've listed below, was given to me by a sister missionary as she was preparing to go home. It has helped address some of my concerns and other hard things. As well as helped my understanding of why we have adversity and it also addresses the question "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people." I hope you enjoy it:

http://lds.org/ensign/2000/03/cast-not-away-therefore-your-confidence?lang=eng&query=cast+away+therefore+your+confidence

This scripture (this week) is also wonderful:


Alma 6:6:
"Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God."

I hope all is well and that your days and weeks will continue to get better. It gives me great joy in hearing from you all and I hope to hear from you soon.

Elder Richards

Virginia Richmond Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints