100% Reason to Remember the Name

September 8, 2014

This week was FILLED with Miracles!!! It just shows that with hard work and loads of Faith miracles follow!!!! 

So as you know we have had contact with Sonia!!!! She is a Miracle!!!! We taught her the Retab and at the end of it she said. "I am EXHAUSTED of looking for the truth. I have been searching my whole life...But I think that I feel a bit better." We invited her to pray to know if the LDM was true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Well....next rdv we followed up to see if she prayed. She had. That same night she had a dream. She was walking in the sacred grove and met Joseph Smith. She was dressed in all white. She talked with Joseph and after he laid his hands upon her head and she said she felt a peace she has never experienced in her life. (she has had a rough past). #MIRACLE We engaged her to be baptized for the 27th of Sept. But she might be out of town. SO SAD. I would have loved to see her story from beginning to end. Everyone start praying she doesn’t go out of town and is miraculously baptized. She is also in the process of stopping smoking. It’s hard. She got a blessing this Sunday after church and her smile after the blessing was HUGE. I love being a part of the work of God. 

Barbara our other investigator will be baptized the 27th. She is also miraculous! We taught her the plan of salvation and she was sooooo excepting!! After word we asked her, "well any final questions?" She said "yes just one....will you be there for my baptism?!" Of course my heart melted and I happily said "OF COURSE!!!!!" I love her sooo much!!! She was at church telling everyone about her baptismal date!! She is awesome! 

Our other ami Michel is praying to know the real truth. Is it the catholiques or the Mormons. HA I have no doubts or fears of what response he will be getting!! #heissincere He could also be baptized the 27th. He just needs to receive his answer!!! He is sooooo great! 

We have 3 potential baptisms for the 27th of September...so PRAYERS UNITE!! The work is BOOMING!! Our ward was out of this world happy when all 4 of our extremely cool amis came to church!! Sonia, Barbara, Michel, and Elise (with her two daughters!). Literally our ward has been giving our equipe references up the wazoo!!! They love us! We taught a JAs friend this Sunday. He is SUPER normal cool young guy! It went really well! His name is Fred. We are seeing him again next Sunday! 

It’s been such a fun week. All our investigators (ami's) LOVE US! Literally they keep saying...don’t leave Please!!!!!! One of our ami's broke into tears she was so sad I was leaving soon. I love Jamilla! She is the greatest!! She has been reading chapters in the Book of Mormon and LOVING them!! We have also been teaching her full on lessons. (we originally just went over to teach English). We had a dinner night with her! We made Egg in Toast or "wishing eggs" It was blast!!! 

This week has also been crazy busy with exchanges. We went to Dijon this week! It was weird to be out of Lyon. When we got back late the next night I felt like I had been gone for weeks and it felt good to be HOME!!! 

We had a crazy 1000-day. We united with the Paris mission and tried to find 1000 new potentials in one day! It was fun! We were also instructed to eat a mille-feuille pastery. Of course they two boulangeries we went to were SOLD OUT! Don’t worry we eventually found one! Mille-feuille translates to 1000 papers. It’s a pastry with 1000 sheets of pastry goodness and cream! YUM! 

Funny story! I contacted this lady on the metro and by the end of it she loved me sooo much she insisted on giving me this cute little angel necklace. GOODNESS, I love the people here. I love everyone. I just have felt this crazy overwhelming LOVE for every person here. I don’t want to leave at all. I don’t know HOW people know I am leaving. Honestly everyone comes up and asks how I am doing....they must of had some secret meeting about it or something! Soeur Magleby and I are so surprised each time some brings it up....HOW DO THEY KNOW! haha 

Long story short I am SO happy. I love doing the Lords work. LOVE IT. I am sooooooo happy. Leaving France will tear me apart.....not looking forward to it. But "it will all work out". God loves us, He knows us, and will give us what we need. 

Time Keeps Ticking

September 1, 2014

This week has been CRAZY. Literally.....crazy. I guess when you don’t really take a Pday that’s what happens hahah oh life..... Well this week was full of laughs, smiles, and tears. I get so emotional so fast! It just hits...often just so unexpectedly hahaha it’s quite humorous! 

Tuesday I went to my last Jedi Council. My last. Sigh. It was SPECTACULAR! Everyone presented well, Pres, Soeur Roney, and the APs! It was such a joy to attend. We finished with a beautiful video on the atonement. WOW....of course I was sobbing throughout it! And then the APs and President bore powerful testimonies #criedharder and then we sang our mission song #criedEVENharder Oh la la it was a little much! It just kind of hit me I guess. Time is limited. As I was literally sobbing through the song President just watch me and chuckled. I think he understood. He is the greatest. After I gained my composure we went around and said goodbyes. It was terrible as people said. "Soeur this is the last time!" Wow...ok people, come on! hahaha I had to say goodbye to some really good friends because I wont see them until after they get home. Long time. 

Ever since the Jedi council I just felt a little overwhelmed with everything. Life, Mission, Health...everything! The last week of last transfer I had really felt like I should get a priesthood blessing. But I just put it off. I knew there were probably loads of other missionaries who were much more in need of a blessing than me! But the thought just kept coming and coming. Get a priesthood blessing. Then I started thinking....from whom? All I want is my dad. I just want a blessing from my dad! But for very obvious reasons....that just wasn’t possible. So I debated just letting it go...but I just felt like I should get a blessing. So I did, but I felt SO stupid asking. How sad is that? Have I learned nothing on my mission? I just didn’t feel comfortable asking anyone but Dad. But then I realized I had to of my Best Friends serving in Lyon. Elder Taua and Elvidge. Literally they have become to me dear dear friends. And I asked. They were prepared and more than willing. Even with their CRAZY busy schedule (they are the APs) They found an hour out of their day to come and cater to the one sheep. Oh how grateful I am. I couldn’t have asked for a better answer to prayer. I feel so spoiled! I got a beautiful priesthood blessing from two of my great friends! WOW the lord loves me. Ever since the blessing I have had a renewed energy and I have been sleeping!!!!!!! I haven’t slept through a night in 6 months! I just have been floating on a cloud since. We are so blessed to have worthy priesthood holders on the earth today! 

Speaking of blessings we had a really cool experience with an Amie. Barbara (a less actives daughter) was supposed to come to church Sunday but didn’t show. We had some things to drop off at her Moms house so we went over. We found her on the couch stricken with pain. Tears were streaming down her face! We asked her cousin how long it had been going on for. It started last night. (viola why she wasn’t at church) We then prayed with them. I felt inspired to ask if she would be ok with receiving a priesthood blessing. She said, Yes. (an act of faith) We called David (a member in our ward) and he came over immediately. We talked a bit then he gave her a priesthood blessing. We continued to talk a bit and her pain was still there. Then about 10 minutes later she sits up, then stands up, and then with a BIG smile wiggles around dancing!!!!!!! LITERALLY biggest miracle I have ever seen!!! It reminded me of this bible video: 

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/peter-and-john-heal-a-man-crippled-since-birth?lang=eng

We were blown away....and in all honesty so was she and her cousin! Literally in shock! Of course we seized the opportunity to teach! She was basically hugging me at the end of our thought! She was SO happy. Best member present lesson EVER! David and us walked out of the apartment shocked at the miracle we just saw and so ready to take on the world! 

Speaking of miracles...we saw Sonya! I don’t know if you remember her she was the woman who had read the BOM on her own in a Library in Spain. We talked with her and she wrote in my planner Alma 26:12??? Well she is finally home from vacation AND is still the biggest miracle ever! We went to pass her, she was home, let us in, had an unplanned lesson with her, where she basically stated out where she was weak in her knowledge of our church. She said "I just have a few problems...I smoke"  we asked "do you want to stop" and she said "more than anything." #miracles She is golden! We are seeing her today #noPday PRAY 

There were so many BIG miracles we saw this week. It was MIRACULOUS! How blessed I feel to be a servant of my Savoir Jesus Christ! I LOVE MY MISSION. I wish it would never end. Sigh. I guess one day I will except the fact I am going home #nevergoingtohappen

Bonne Semaine! 

Bisous

Soeur Richardson 

Grandma Richardson!

August 25, 2014

Well the week is already over! Crazy how it flies. Each moment a precious gift from God. 

This week has been a blessing. God has blessed me with the opportunity to see every single one of my comps with in a week period! Well all but one, Soeur Bayles. I saw Soeur Bentley, Mod, Caldwell, Bowman, Obel, Roberts, Beeny...and will see Soeur Luthi tonight! It has been a blast!!!! Honestly it was a blessing much needed! I try not to dwell on the fact that time is limited. I DONT want it to end. The thought sickens me. But "it will all work out" #PresHinckley I have adopted that as my theme for this next little period of time of my life. I don’t know exactly in what ways things will work out, where exactly I am headed BUT "it will all work out"!!

So the big news of last week is.............IM A GRANDMA!!! Yes one of my baby blues trained!!!! Soeur Caldwell! The best part about it is I got to be at the birth! hahaha meaning when the blues received their trainers!! It was actually quite a joyous experience! I just LOVE Souer Caldwell and her sweet Blue Soeur Holmes is fabulous! I was soooo happy for them both! They are lucky to have each other! 

This week was CRAZY! We literally had 16+ Sisters staying at our apartment each night this week. It was rather exhausting! But its crazy how much help I have felt from the other side of the veil. Quite literally...I have never felt so supported. I cant help but think of all my ancestors standing beside me, learning on me when I am needing that extra energy. Especially Granddad. I know he is beside be me. It’s a touchingly unique experience. With all the hassle and bustle of transfer week, old missionaries leaving, new missionaries coming we got to work loads with the APs. I am so blown away by their spirits and dedication! I think they started to feel bad for how much was thrown upon our equipe! There was a moment when we were trying to get answers from them about the next group of 16+ sisters to stay with us and they just realized how crazy it was.....then they started feeling guilty and avoided our questions by laughing and running away....next thing you know we are chasing the APs down 2 flights of stairs in an uproar of "yeehaws" and "woot woots" only to end up in a big huge laugh attack!! I seriously have so much respect for all the things they do! AP would be HARD! Respect for all those who served as AP! Woof! Elder Taua and Elvidge are two of the greatest missionaries I know! We have way too much fun!!  

Even though we had crazy amounts of Sisters in and out all week we got a solid amount of work done! We had fixed all our rdvs for the weekend so we spent the weekend RUNNING all over Lyon! Goodness I love this work! I am so blessed to be apart of it! It literally is a joy to drag my dead body out of bed each morning, put on my tag, and serve others! My flesh may feel weak but my spirit is willing 150 percent! This is His work! I love it, I live it, It is who I am. Oh how grateful I am. 

Have a fabulous week! 

Love you all. 

Soeur Richardson