Full Speed Ahead

Life happens fast. It is crazy to think how drastically my life has changed since my last post. Yes...it has been a while and as I sat and thought about it I found it ironic that I blogged of my life pre-marriage and not now because marriage has simply been the BEST.

 Being Married to your best friend definitely has its perks! And as we are closing in on 10 months of marriage I can honestly say these past months with him have been the best. Life demands growth and change....almost constantly. The opportunity to go through that growth and change with someone you love is a definite game changer. It is definitely not all roses and sunshine but majority of the time, especially with a husband like Jordan, it is.

 February has been absolutely CRAZY for us. It started off with the flu. Which was round 2 for me.......yeah the New Year has been REEEEAAAALLL good to me. Two days after I recovered we left the country for 10 days to El Salvador! Jordan served his mission there and it was simply an incredible...incredible experience. (stay tuned for a post completely dedicated to the trip!). Also my birthday and Valentines day were celebrated the El Salvadorian way. Leaving for 10 days in the middle of the semester...not our brightest idea (yet...totally worth it.)

The saga continues with knee surgery last Friday. Thankfully this time around (this is my third knee surgery) I will not be on crutches for an entire month and have been walking around pretty well. However getting life back in order after an entire month of crazy happenstances has been an adventure. Our little apartment is a mess, our laundry pile is the size of Mount Timpanogos, and our pantry and fridge are quite bare. However, life is always better with a little crazy. Life is wonderful. I am excited about the roads and milestones ahead, especially since it is me AND my adventurous side-kick, love of my life husband.

Be adventurous!
Avec Amour,
Lauren Elisabeth

God Gives TOO MUCH

September 22, 2014

Well my friends. This is the last. The last. SO WEIRD. This past week was crazy. We have had TOO many miracles to count. They just keep coming. And we feel so unworthy! We are just trying our best and putting full confidence in our Savoir.

This weekend we have two Investigators getting baptized! Barbara and Michal. What a blessing! They are both solid and love the Lord. We would've had 3 but Sonia is leaving out of town this weekend! We have had such amazing investigators. So blessed. Michal has been doing great. Solid from the beginning. He has been to church every week since the moment we met him! He has been praying for the past few weeks about baptism. Finally we sat him down and were lovingly bold. He had attended a baptism Saturday and was really touched. We have been praying for him for weeks now to come to the realization that he is ready. So after the baptismal service we asked him to pray specifically for next Saturday (the 27th). Well we met with him Last Night right before our movie night (watched 17 Miracles!! woot woot) And we asked him....and he said, "ya, je suis prêt" ("yes, I am ready") Me and Soeur Magleby did our best to keep our composure....but inside it was like this "modihnergnqig!!!!!nmertjmgqmsdlfjmme!!!!!!!!g,qmlrgjqsf!!!!" aka we were freaking out! SO HAPPY!! Its fun to see the change in someone. To see it in their eyes, to witness them show their faith! 

Sonia is still on fire!!! She is BLOWING through the lessons! We see her almost everyday and are the best of friends! She also has made serious changes!! She is about finished smoking and we taught her Chastity, in which the day after she broke up with her boyfriend, and Tithing, in which she happily accepted by saying "with the money I will be saving on stopping smoking I will just give to the church!". She is so prepared and loves us beyond words!! Unfortunately I wont be present for her Baptism BUT we already figured it out and I will Skype in hahaha 

SO funny story of the week!!! The ZLs had a baptism this week. Well when the time came for the ordinance to be preformed we discovered the font had drained. #disaster So they ushered everyone back in to the sacrament room to finish of the talks....while the rest of us scrambled to fill a baptismal font that normally takes HOURS to fill up in 15 minutes. We literally had every tap going in that church filling up buckets. It was quite the experience! I can honestly say I have never gotten such a huge workout at a baptismal service in my life!!! haha We got that thing filled SO fast!! It was amazing! By the end all of us missionaries were sweating, laughing, and felt way to accomplished! HAHA ohhh the memories! I LOVE my mission. It has been so far the best 1 and 1/2 of my life and of course the best 1 and 1/2 FOR my life! 

I don’t even know what else to say honestly. two many miracles to share, details, funny stories.....and with only a few days until I will be telling them. This last week I was crazy stressing about coming home. But then I talked with a few missionaries and they gave me some great advice to read my patriarchal Blessing and WOW it was a crazy enriching. I just came to the realization that I have work to do other than here in the mission and to continue progression it’s a normal thing to return home and continue! So I am super at peace about it BUT still gonna work my tail off these last few precious moments I have. Because once a missionary, ALWAYS a missionary!!! 

Love you all. 

See you soon. 

God bless you! 

PeanutS Butter Ice Cream

September 15 2014 

Where to even begin....Well we taught 21 lessons this week, 5 LA/RC, and engaged 3 to baptism...the Lord is setting our work on FIRE! 26 Lessons in one week...it was a BLAST! En plus, every single lesson was a legit RDV, no random street lessons. We were running around all week accomplishing the Lords work and it was FABULOUS! We saw so many miracles! Our investigators are soooo amazing and progressing super well. We found out Michal (the polish who is praying for the 27th of Sept) stopped drinking Alcohol a month ago after meeting us....another way the Lord has prepared him! Sonia is SOARING! She would've been baptized the 27th of September but is going out of town to Spain for a bit. Also found out she is a great filmmaker and has filmed things that have won awards at Indie festivals! #legit You can watch a short film she made on YouTube...its called "Invisible Old People". She is literally the best! We spent just about everyday with her! And she is now determined to marry in the church to someone with the same principles! She melts our hearts every time we teach her! She has continued to cut down on cigs. She is at 4 a day. from 20 to 4 in this short of time is a miracle! She has also stopped all coffee and beer! Woot Woot! Jamilla is also doing incredible! We are teaching full lessons and she is pounding out the LDM. We cry every time we think of leaving each other! We have decided a few nights before I leave we are having an American girls night (ice cream, candy, junk food, and tears!) hahaha 

This week I had my last Zone Conference. I had to give  the infamous "dying testimony"....it was miserable. I cried of course but people still understood it! I had loads of people come up and thank me....its weird to think its actually coming to a close. WAIT.....seriously? There is an end? Sigh. 

The Dating Academy Activity for the Young Women went fine...my oh my how France is different. They just don’t understand the idea of dating....its...weird. But I had them create a list of qualities they want in their future husband and put a focus on them trying their hardest to become those very qualities themselves! Light attracts light! They seemed to really like that idea. I told them to put faith in the Lord that if they are preparing themselves for a temple marriage someone else is preparing them for that too! Marriage is a vital step in the progression process! I am praying the CTR! 

Well...I came to the realization that I only have 14 days left. After Zone Conference I talked with Pres for a bit and he said, "Well I will be seeing you real soon"...of course I couldn’t even make eye contact with him in fear of bursting into tears. Then he said with tears in his eyes "you know its not easy for us to lose a Child but luckily I know I will see you again" We both cried a bit then I said my goodbyes to other missionaries. Real goodbyes...possibly never see again goodbyes. WOW. It was a bit tear filled but I survived. I don’t want my mission to end. I don’t. But Its what the Lord wants and needs. If I am to continue in his gospel plan it is a necessary step. I NEVER would have guessed I would be "that" missionary. That I would BEG for more time. That I would PLEAD to my Heavenly Father for time to slow down. But I am. And I am soooo proud to be a missionary for my Savoir Jesus Christ. To be His hands in the work of Salvation! I know he lives. I know this is true. Put your lives in order to experience the joy that comes from this Gospel. IT IS WORTH IT. 

que Dieu vous benisse! qu'il soit avec vous chaque jour!  

Avec bcp d'amour,

Soeur Richardson