Sunday, November 22, 2015

For the Beauty of the Earth!! November 16, 2015

Buenos Dias All YALL!!!

So this week was awesome. We saw some amazing miracles. We did a lot of finding and tracting. We tract in a trailer park on Gardere. We were able to teach a couple of people the restoration but sadly they didn't want us to come back; however, we saw the lord provide us with miracles as we contacted some people. We contacted a guy named Amos. We were able to teach him the restoration. He said he wanted to learn more about the book of Mormon so we set up a return appointment with him. We also taught Hector about the Restoration also. It was really awesome because he had questions about why there are so many translations of the bible while we talked about the apostasy. It was so perfect to be able to share the experience of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He was so thrilled to learn about he Book of Mormon especially that it was kept in its purity. We also scheduled a follow up appointment with him to discuss more of the Book of Mormon.

We also had a couple of follow-up appointments with our new investigators from last week. We visited with Noel and Luis and shared the Book of Mormon Lesson. They really enjoyed it. When they read the introduction they had a lot of questions about the tower of Babel. When we read Moroni's promise they shared experiences when they had felt the Holy Ghost. We testified to them that they would feel that same feeling while reading the book of mormon. We also had a follow-up appointment with Raphael. He had a lot of questions on the Priesthood and how Joseph Smith used it while he was prophet. It gave us the opportunity to talk about Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon.

We also had a lesson with out progressing Investigators Juan and Carla. We discussed a little bit about the Plan of Salvation. They had questions on families especially about if homosexual marriages were allowed in the church. We told them No and they agreed and it gave us the perfect opportunity to talk about the Proclamation to the World. We didn't have copies with us but we told them we would bring pamphlets with us next time. They were really excited to receive a copy of the Proclamation.

We did this crazy service project for Veterans day and the African American Museum. We helped them with a remembrance thing for African American Veterans. We did this march with them under the Interstate of all places. I am not going to lie. I was biting my lip to not laugh. Lets just say that one of the speakers said and I quote "Freedom is when you are the son of an immigrant and have a mother of a different race and are elected the first african american president..." 😕..... WOW!!!!!!! In the museum there was a huge Obama shrine..... OH MY!!!!

We got to help out at a food bank which was fun. We also taught English class.  Do we notice the little things in Life? One of my favorite hymns is "For the Beauty of The Earth." As with Borghild. Do we reconize the beautiful things in this world, or do we take them for granted, May we continue to give thanks to God for the little things in Life. For this beautiful world. For the trees, the flowers, the sunrise. Do we have a lot to be grateful for.

One of my favorite talks of President Monson is Finding Joy in the Journey and The Divine Gift of Gratitude. One of my favorite stories in Finding Joy in the Journey is the story of Borghild Dahl. She was born in Minnesota in 1890 of Norwegian parents and from her early years suffered severely impaired vision. She had a tremendous desire to participate in everyday life despite her handicap and,through sheer determination, succeeded in nearly everything she undertook. Against the advice of educators, who felt her handicap was too great, she attended college, receiving her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota. She later studied at Columbia University and the University of Oslo. She eventually became the principal of eight schools in western Minnesota and North Dakota.
She wrote the following in one of the 17 books she authored: “I had ony one eye, and it was so covered with dense scars that I had to do all my seeing throughone small opening in the left of the eye. I could see abook only by holding it up close to my face and bystraining my one eye as hard as I could to the left.” 7

Miraculously, in 1943—when she was over 50 years old—a revolutionary procedure was developed which finally restored to her much of the sight she had been without for so long. A new and exciting world opened up before her. She took great pleasure in the small things most of us take for granted, such as watching a bird in flight, noticing the light reflected in the bubbles of her dishwater, or observing the phases of the moon each night. She closed one of her books with these words: “Dear … Father in heaven, I thank Thee. I thank Thee.” 8

Borghild Dahl, both before and after her sight was restored, was filled with gratitude for her blessings.

In 1982, two years before she died, at the age of 92 her last book was published. Its title: Happy All My Life. Her attitude of thankfulness enabled her to appreciate her blessings and to live a full and rich life despite her challenges.

In 1 Thessalonians in the New Testament, chapter 5,verse 18, we are told by the Apostle Paul, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God.”

Do we notice the little things in Life? One of my favorite hymns is "For the Beauty of The Earth." As with Borghild. Do we reconize the beautiful things in this world, or do we take them for granted, May we continue to give thanks to God for the little things in Life. For this beautiful world. For the trees, the flowers, the sunrise. Don't we have a lot to be grateful for?

I love you and miss yall. I will still be emailing next monday because they moved transfers to Tuesday because of Thanksgiving. Love yall so much stay safe make good choices!!!!

Elder Richardson

Prayer of Thanksgiving!!

HEY ALL YALL

This last week we saw many miracles in finding. We contacted a referral from the English missionaries for a guy named Frank. We taught him the restoration and he told us that he felt warm and that he knew the message was from God. Is was really neat to feel the spirit in that lesson. We were able to find a bunch of families and couples. One of the couples we contacted was Ricardo and Noel. We taught them the Restoration. They asked us to come back this Saturday. They became really interested when we told them that part of the restoration was the doctrine that families can be together forever. We were also teaching two brothers named William and Luis. We taught them the Restoration also and they were engaged in reading the pamphlet along with us. They also had questions why there are so many churches. They were also wondering why there are no more prophets today. They were very excited in learning about the restoration.

We also had a really cool miracle with some guys named Daniel and Samuel. Daniel already knew about the church and Samuel knew a little bit about it. They told us they did not like the idea of the Book of Mormon. It almost started to get to the point where they were bible bashing. Then we got bear our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and how it is evidence of the restoration and that we can the church is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet by reading the Book or Mormon. They were stunned. They thought the Book of Mormon was suppose to replace the Bible but they didn't realize that it was through the Book of Mormon we could gain a knowledge that the Church is true. They wanted us to come back and they also asked for a book of Mormon!

We also got to go to Branch Temple night. It was so much easier to go through in Spanish this time. I didn't think I was going to die this time. HAHA! It was easier to understand. Plus it was my favorite film where all of the comets are hitting the earth. It was really cool to see it in spanish. Plus it was SO AWESOME!!!! The first room has a mural in it!!!!! It was really awesome mural!!!! It had the Louisiana swamp look. There was an aligator, a deer, rabbits, ducks, pelicans, and other birds. It was really neat!!!! The Celestial Room had new furniture. It was awesome. I definitely needed that temple trip HAHA.

We also got a new Branch Mission Leader! He actually was the last Temple President, President Huerta. He is really cool. He told us that he is going to try and get President Hansen's permission for us to perform Initiatorys in Spanish. He thinks it would really help us with our spanish! THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME!!!!!! I am excited to have him as our branch mission leader.

So my Spiritual Thought is on.... Guess..... GRATITUDE!!!!!! AGAIN!!!! In the Scriptures we read continually about giving thanks to to Lord. Having a Prayer of Thanksgiving.  For example. Alma 37: 37

37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day

May we continually prayer with Thanksgiving in our thoughts and continually thank our Heavenly Father For the blessings which we have receive. May continue to live with an attitude of Gratitude daily!

I love yall so much!!! YALL THE BEST!!!!!
Elder Richardson


Because I have been given much November 2, 2015

HEY ALL YALL!!!
So this week has been awesome! We were able to do some contacting and taught the restoration. We are making new progress with some of our new investigators Juan and Carla. Hopefully next week they will come to church. Last night we read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon with them.

One thing that is interesting this week is that our mission president got rid of contacting as a key indicator. He changed it to service hours. He was really into contacting and would talk about it all the time. It is really interesting about a new effort the church is doing that i have not talked to yall about. The church recently released a website called Justserve.org It is away for the church to provide volunteers for other organizations and churches. It is away to build bridges to elminate false ideas about each other on both sides. We had an instruction on it a couple of weeks ago and there was a survey about churches and the "public" opinion of them. Mormons rated fairly well but the thing that people said about Mormons especially those in Utah is that Mormons are very seclusive, meaning we tend to only be around each other. The church is wanting members to build bridges with other faiths and organizations. It has been interesting seeing this start up. It will be interesting getting this stated up. We have looked at a couple of service projects.


On saturday we were hit with a big storm. It was cloudy and we knew a storm was coming. We were walking around contacting in this neighborhood. And it got dark and green really quick. It was really creepy. And then did it pour. We even had our umbrellas ready and we were still soaked. The area we were in flooded really quick so we hurried and got in the car and went to a walmart to take shelter. We still heard the rain and thunder in walmart. We were did not want to leave until it slowed down a little. Well everyone in Baton Rouge except us got a text to stay in because we were under a Tornado warning. Well we ended up not getting the lock down text haha.

Well I my spiritual thought today is on one of my favortie poems written by Grace Noll Crowell called "Because of Thy Great Bounty" In 1985 her amazing poem was transformed into a hymn called Because I have been given much.
Because I have been given much, I too must give;
Because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live;
I shall divide my gifts from thee
With every brother that I see
Who has the need of help from me.

Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care,
I cannot see another’s lack and I not share
My glowing fire, my loaf of bread,
My roof’s safe shelter overhead,
That he too may be comforted.

Because I have been blessed by thy great love, dear Lord,
I’ll share thy love again, according to thy word.
I shall give love to those in need;
I’ll show that love by word and deed:
Thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed.


It is so easy for us to forget the blessings the Lord has given us. May we use this wonderful month of November to reflect on the blessings the Lord has given us. May we also not only live with the attitude of gratitude, but may we live with a heart of giving as we live the new emphasized fourth fold mission of the church in helping the needy and poor. I am so grateful for my Family and this gospel. I have received an abundance of blessings from these two. May we share the love the Lord has given us with others. Thus shall our thanks be thanks.

LOVE YALL!!!! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!!!!!

ELDER RICHARDSON

Truth reflects upon our senses






















Truth Reflects Upon Our Senses
Robert Richardson <rrichardson@myldsmail.net>  Oct 26 at 9:47 AM
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Message body
HEY HEY HEY ALL YALL!!!!

So This week was awesome! Very Wet and Raining though! We saw amazing miracles during our finding this week. We tracted into a couple of familes that were interested in learning more about the gospel. There was a crazy miracle that happened where we took a member with us to our most progressing investigator, Leo, to an appointment we had with him. When we got there he wasn't home but his neighbor who we had already tracted into opened his door. He ended up inviting us in and the member was able to answer difficult questions which would be hard to explain in spanish. He also bore his testimony how he was like them, a catholic, had questions about life, and didn't want to change. Then he asked. When are you going to come back? It is so true that god puts you into situations where you are needed when you dont expect it. We also contacted a guy named Luis who was interested in the book of mormon we were holding. We shared the restoration with him then asked if we could return. He said he would talk to us at our church on Sunday. Well of course he didn't come so we follow up with him and he told us because of the rain he didn't go. So we decided to do the Book Of Mormon lesson. He loved it and asked us to come back on Wednesday. We have been having amazing experiences as we have been diligent in finding and doing the work of the lord. We have seen Miracles!

So yall probably saw the Pictures but it was so awesome!! I GOT TO GO TO AN LSU FOOTBALL GAME IN TIGER STADIUM!!!! Which is acutally one of the largest football stadiums in the US. LSU sisters hooked us up with free tickets in the lower bowl!!!! They played against western Kentucky! IT WAS SO AWESOME!!! They of course won. We weren't able to stay for the whole game so we could make it back home in time for our curfew. IT WAS CRAZY!!!! Very loud. AND SO MUCH RAIN!!!!! But SO FUN!!!!!! I am so glad I went!!! Definitely want to do it again!!!! It was a little difficult without having the yellow line the computer does for the first down but it was awesome!!!!


So for my spiritual thought comes from one of my favorite hymns Truth Reflects Upon Our senses. So I took the challenge from the talk "What Lack i Yet" and also an instruction that President Hansen gave on Repentance and asked what lack I yet. I got the answer to think more postively about others. So what I have been doing is reading a hymn every time I think judgmental or criticize someone called Truth Reflects Upon Our Senses It says

1. Truth reflects upon our senses;
Gospel light reveals to some.
If there still should be offenses,
Woe to them by whom they come!
Judge not, that ye be not judged,
Was the counsel Jesus gave;
Measure given, large or grudged,
Just the same you must receive.
2. Jesus said, "Be meek and lowly,"
For 'tis high to be a judge;
If I would be pure and holy,
I must love without a grudge.
It requires a constant labor
All his precepts to obey.
If I truly love my neighbor,
I am in the narrow way.
3. Once I said unto another,
"In thine eye there is a mote;
If thou art a friend, a brother,
Hold, and let me pull it out."
But I could not see it fairly,
For my sight was very dim.
When I came to search more clearly,
In mine eye there was a beam.
(Chorus)
Blessed Savior, thou wilt guide us,
Till we reach that blissful shore
Where the angels wait to join us
In thy praise forevermore.

May we Be people that look for the good in others as we go about our days. May we continue to have the mindset that we are all brothers and sisters of our loving Heavenly Father. May we see people as the Savior sees them. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that allows us to change to become better. I know the church is true!

I miss all yall! Be safe!!! And Make GOOD CHOICES!!!!!!

Elder Richardson

Lord accept our true Devotion October 19, 2015

HEY ALL YALL!!!!
So this week fairly good. We again did a lot of tracting and contacting... We saw some crazy things in the ghetto like always. HAHA. We contacted a bunch of people. Some of which were families who wanted us to come back. So this week we had a lot of finding miracles. We have contacted a lot of families and taught them the restoration. One of these families, William and Rosia, we taught them the restoration and testified how families can be together forever. They really enjoyed it and were very excited when we offered we will come back with a Book of Mormon. We also have been having luck with some of the younger adult hispanics. One of these was Omar, we contacted him while walking through a neighborhood and taught him the restoration. We also saw Hector and Giselda. We Finally got Giselda to pray!!! It took a lot of convincing from Hector. We also found a member that will come to us with to our most progressing investigator Leo. He reads the book of mormon, and wants to come to church, but I think he is a little nervous because he doesn't know anyone. We are so happy we have a member with us going on Wednesday and we think that would help him attend church.

It has been so amazing seeing the miracles in this area when we first opened it to where it is now. I am so grateful for the help the Lord has given us as we have seen these tender mercies of how receptive the people are to our message.

So my quick spiritual thought comes from the book of James where it says

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works:shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

May we show our faith in Christ by the way we live our lives. As we follow the savior may we show are Christian belief through the way we live our lives. I know that as we follow the example of the savior we will increase our faith in him!

Love yall so much!!! Stay safe!!!!

Elder RIchardson

True to the faith October 13, 2015

HEY ALL YALL!!!!

So I will be staying in Baton Rouge for another six weeks. I'm glad that I will be staying another six weeks but I think I will definitely be ready to be transferred in six weeks because the work is kinda slow here.

This week we were able to see are usual investigators. We have been trying to get them to progress more in the Book of Mormon. It is so hard when people do not take the gospel seriously.... We were able to see Leo, jose, Hector y Giselda, and Mercedes. We also did a lot of walking around to contact people. We got a couple of return appointments but nothing to crazy.

We were able to help with the Bishop Store house on saturday. It was really fun being able to help with that.

So my spritual thought comes from a preisthood talk from President Gordon B. Hinckley entitled Four Bs For Boys.

President Hinckley enphasised the importance of being smart, fair, clean, and be true. He then gave this story.

I should like to tell you of three eighteen-year-old boys. In 1856 more than a thousand of our people, some of them perhaps your forebears, found themselves in serious trouble while crossing the plains to this valley. Because of a series of unfortunate circumstances, they were late in getting started. They ran into snow and bitter cold in the highlands of Wyoming. Their situation was desperate, with deaths occurring every day.

President Young learned of their condition as the October general conference was about to begin. He immediately called for teams, wagons, drivers, and supplies to leave to rescue the bereft Saints. When the first rescue team reached the Martin Company, there were too few wagons to carry the suffering people. The rescuers had to insist that the carts keep moving.

When they reached the Sweetwater River on November 3, chunks of ice were floating in the freezing water. After all these people had been through, and in their weakened condition, that river seemed impossible to cross. It looked like stepping into death itself to move into the freezing stream. Men who once had been strong sat on the frozen ground and wept, as did the women and children. Many simply could not face that ordeal.

And now I quote from the record: “Three eighteen-year-old boys belonging to the relief party came to the rescue, and to the astonishment of all who saw, carried nearly every member of the ill-fated handcart company across the snowbound stream. The strain was so terrible, and the exposure so great, that in later years all the boys died from the effects of it. When President Brigham Young heard of this heroic act, he wept like a child, and later declared publicly, ‘that act alone will ensure C. Allen Huntington, George W. Grant, and David P. Kimball an everlasting salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God, worlds without end.’” (Solomon F. Kimball, Improvement Era, Feb. 1914, p. 288.)

Mark you, these boys were eighteen years of age at the time. Great was their heroism, sacred the sacrifice they made of health and eventually of life itself to save the lives of those they helped.

They are part of the heritage that lies behind you. Be true, be true to that great inheritance.

True to the faith that our parents have cherished,
True to the truth for which martyrs have perished,
To God’s command, Soul, heart, and hand,
Faithful and true we will ever stand.


I know that as we do our best  by living the commandments we will be true to the faith of those who have blazed the trail for us having this gospel. May we live the gospel to the fullness of our ability as we stand true to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I miss yall!!!! Hope yall have an amazing and safe week!!!! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!!!!

Elder Richardson