April 23, 2013
OH MY WORD. I will be in France in 3 short weeks!!
My MTC experience is half way over?!?!?!?!?! WHERE DID THE TIME GO!! So this
week has been fabulous!! Lost of fun stories!!
I just am so happy with the things that I am doing
and I know its right. Its an amazing feeling knowing that you are doing exactly
what the Lord wants you to do. I love it!!
Ok so lets get to the good stuff!! So how about a
funny story! So my comp and I teach lessons every day! We have two
investigators Fabian and Christopher. So one day in our lesson with Christopher
we were teaching him the concept of prayer. And I used to jot down a few notes
of point I wanted to hit or questions to ask...Well it was my turn to talk and
as you can Imagine I was a little nervous...well somehow I just randomly asked
him...."Will you pray for us.... like right now" You should have seen
his face...and you should have seen my companions face... Surprise... confusion
...a mix of both...Oh man!! It was funny. I then realized what I had said and
was surprised and confused myself!! What on earth!!!! But he did it so...I
guess the bright side was I got him to pray. I mean overall the lesson went
well it just was a not really the direction I thought I was going and then next
thing you know I just drop a bomb on him!! Hahaha! When we left the room we
burst out laughing!! My face was red with embarrassment but you just HAD to
laugh!! SO funny! I definitely would say that was a highlight.
Now for a low point. So we do a thing called TRC.
It is where volunteers come in and we give a visiting teaching type message to
them. We get to know them then share a thought. Obviously we do all this in
French. Well it got to my turn to speak and I opened my mouth and there were
just no words to be had. My brain was blank and I had absolutely nothing to
say. Immediately tears started to gush down my face (me...always a crier.) I
had the craziest mix of emotions. I was scared, embarrassed, frustrated,
exhausted but the spirit was SO strong. I finally just forced "Je"
out of my mouth (which means "I") and words came. I bore my testimony
on prayer and how it influenced me to be where I am today and how grateful I am
to have that means of communication. It was an amazing experience. I literally
had to leave it 100% to the Lord. I
don't think I really have ever done that before. I am very comfortable with
doctrine and discussing church related things...but I had nothing. I
couldn't speak in English and I had to use a language I DONT even know how
to speak. It’s frustrating to love and know the gospel with all your heart
but not be able to convey those feelings because you can't speak the language.
But you know during TRC...I was able to do both. And it was completely
100% because of my Heavenly Father. It was a wake up call. I cannot rely
on myself to get things done. They just wont happen. "I need thee
every hour." I am so grateful that good taught me that lesson only 3 weeks
in. Because now, every single thing I do each day I do with Him—from laundry
to teaching lessons. He is there every step of the way.
Elder Scott spoke at our devotional last
Tuesday and he spoke on Prayer. I realized how petty my prayers are. I was
embarrassed to think that I had better conversations with my best friends
than I did with my Heavenly Father. Ever since that talk I have made it my goal
to approach Heavenly Father as my best friend. I make my prayers more
conversational. I express my feelings the way I would to any of my
friends. It has made the WORLD of difference. I think of how desperate
Heavenly Father has felt for a conversation to me. I think of it
this way: My Father has not really ever had a good, normal conversation
with me in my entire life. Think of how strained our relationship is?! But
fortunately He is my Heavenly Father. And He loves me in spite of my lack
of sincere communication to Him. How grateful I am to my brother
Jesus Christ, for his sacrifice on the cross. So I challenge each of you to
just talk. Talk with your heavenly father as if he was your best friend. Last
night a line in my prayer sounded something like this: "Heavenly
Father...I am just down right exhausted. I feel like I am dragging a
lifeless body from place to place. I need thy help. I need more energy. Help me
to think of ways I can become more energized and ready for each day."
Prayer is wonderful. Everyone needs to be as addicted to it as I am!!
So here are some funny things people in my District
have said while "popcorn teaching" (which is where you each take a
few minutes of a lesson and then another companionship picks up where you left
off): 1. “We should pray by your body.” HAHA so Soeur F. was trying to say: “We
should pray with your heart.” But the word for heart is: coeur and the word for body is corps.
When you actually say them...they sound very similar....oh it was great. 2.
Ou est ce que Jesus-Christ a vous? Which means: Where is Jesus-Christ to you?
Hahahah. Elder that was playing the role
of investigator was so confused and he said..."en le ciel??" which
is: “In the sky?” hahaha. We all burst
out laughing! What he was trying to say, “Who is Jesus-Christ to you?”
So one of my teachers is named Frere S. He is MY
AGE!! He just got home from his mission 6 weeks ago and he has a lot of mutual
friends with me and Soeur Mod. from our freshman year!! It is the craziest
thing!! One day in class I had just finished an apple and all of us always
"shoot" our trash into the garbage can. Well, I NEVER miss. You know
me ;) This time, however, I shot my apple core to the trash can and it and it barely
nicked the edge of the table which diverted it right into Frere S.'s
backpack. It was so AWKWARDLY funny!!
The whole class was dying with laughter and I felt sooooooo stupid!! The ONE
TIME I miss--it goes into my teacher’s backpack during class!!
Oh and by the way...I was called as the Sister
Training Leader which is the new calling for Sisters. It is the equivalent to Zone Leader.
It’s been fun! Especially that me and my comp were called together! It’s
really helped us to get to know all the sisters in our Zone. I can say that Sister Missionaries are the
greatest!! Hearing each of their testimonies is such a blessing. A lot of the
elders in our districts are here because its their "duty." Every single
one of the Sisters, on the other hand, is here by choice. It brings such a
different spirit to things. So future Elders of the world: if you view your
mission only as a "duty," I can promise you that the first few
months of your mission are going to be hard. Choose now
to "choose" to go.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!! Everything was
PERFECT!! Oh and I want Tyler to go get Coconut Joy ice cream from BYU
Creamery!! He would love it!! Wednesday and Sundays we get BYU creamery ice
cream...I literally have two bowls of that stuff every time because it is SO
GOOD!! And it’s the only food I enjoy in this place!! Oh and Dad, when are
you going to be in Chicago?? In May?? I have a layover in Chicago while I am
flying to France. My travel plans are SLC to Chicago. Chicago to Halifax,
London. and then London to Lyon. I will be leaving sooooo soon!! I leave May
13th!! Goodness time is going fast!! Oh and I also talked to Sister
Esplin (from the Primary General Presidency). I told her to say Hi to you
dad. She gave our RS lesson! Church here is the best!!
Well goodbye my family!!
Je vous aime!! Je sais que Dieu vous aime
aussi!!
Hugs and Kisses.
Soeur Richardson
