Pictures--Doing Service

July 28

Hey Everyone! It has been a damp, gray, and cold week. The work is growing slowly, and the people continue to reject us, outright in the majority of cases. We struggle every day in an uphill battle, literally and figuratively in the cerros of Santa Sabina, for very little fruit. New challenges mount and the old challenges continue day to day. A torrential downpour finished the week off, driving people away from the church and from us in the streets.

And there is absolutely no where that I would rather be.

The life of a missionaryis not the easiest thing in the world. Turns out, far from it. But I absolutely love this work and the challenges that come along with it. To contact in the foggy streets with gray above and gray below, for hours at a time, and then to see that one person that shows interest and a sincere desire for us to come by at another time, is absolutely one of the best feelings in the world. And we did a whole lot of contacting in the streets.

Miracles in disguise were the name of the game this week. Constantly, some thing would come up or some plan would fall through and we always had the chance to go and help someone else in another area. I haven't seen this many unplanned service opportunities during one week in my entire mission. We helped weld, we helped with concrete pouring, we did a good amount of plumbing, we helped build a house, we helped build a bed, we helped a family of strangers move in to their own home (Thanks Dad, for the many hours of practice for that one!), and the list goes on and on. The vast majority of this service was not something that we expected to be doing, and our clothes and shoes and hands were well worn and dirty by the time we made it home each night. These people showed gratitude and appreciation for the work we did, and many seeds were planted.

I wonder if this is how a farmer feels when he first starts in a new plot of land. There is still a lot of weeds to clear up, and a few stumps that should be removed, but it is still a very good area of land. There are many seeds being thrown to and fro, and one day, the fruit in this sector shall be immense. As for now, we are patiently waiting on the Lord's time and in His way.

We also had an immensely powerful and very animating conference this week. Combined with the personal studies that I was able to do, the messages on preparedness, patience, and creativity did a great deal to give me new hope for the sector. I am immensely grateful for the chance I have now to serve here in the best sector in the mission, Santa ''Seed Sowing' Sabina.

Also, my companion is greatly obsessed with music, so I've been particularly interested in gaining animo and energy and inspiration from good songs and tunes. As we entered the Cyber today, a song I knew from before the mission came on, and I share a line of it with you today:

``Don't you worry, don't you worry child! See Heaven's got a plan for you!''

I know that Heaven, and especially our Heavenly Father do in fact have a plan for every single one of us. This is not a plan for failure, but a plan for glorious, incredible success. We should never allow depression or hard times or difficult challenges dissaude us from knowing this single, amazing fact. Our Heaven Father, all powerful and omnipotent He may be, has revealed that His work and His glory is to help us to reach our full and greatest potential. 

''It's a great day to be alive, I know the sun's still shining when I close my eyes'' (Or, when there is pure rain clouds up above until Wednesday, but the line still applies.)

I love you all so much, and hope that you have a fantastic week. Even if you don't, I hope that you can make it one with your decision to keep looking on the bright side, no matter where it may be.

With love,

Elder Richardson

Pictures from Santa Sabina

July 14

It is a brand new day, a brand new week, and a brand new cambio! We received our phone call from the zone leaders this morning and were promptly told that there would be some pretty big changes to our house in Santa Sabina. Elder Neilson, who has been a wonderful amigo this last cambio, is heading out to be a zone leader in the big city, Conce Central, and Elder Flores is also heading out to the sunny beachside city of Talcahuano. There were cheers, there were tears, and there were sighs of confusion as we got this news, but we're excited for the future.

It has been a rough six weeks, with a whole lot of exciting and terrible moments to go along with it, but this week probably tops the cake with some of the strangest moments of my mission. As we felt the end coming along, we desperately tried to fit in as much work as possible with the bum leg of Elder Flores. We passed by less actives like it was no one's business, we contacted in the street almost desperately, and we resorted to the lunatic fringe for creative ideas to try to find new investigators.

Oh, and Germany won the World Cup, so I was happy. I might have had my Germany jersey (Thanks Ben. You're a stud.) on underneath my white shirt and tie for the majority of the week. I happily paraded the fact that I lived in Germany for eight years to the soccer fanatics we encountered (And the fact that I was a small child for most of that time remained completely ignored). 

I mentioned the lunatic fringe earlier, and I would like to divulge a bit more into that. Elder Flores, after being trapped in the house for so long, and driven to uncomfortable extremes by the female doctors that daily massage his battered leg (With electricity. Its hilarious.), has decided to stretch his creative muscles and come up with interesting ideas to find. The first involved large cardboard costumes of the Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible. Taking these large and eye catching covers around town, we used them as visual aides, trying to entice people to wanting to know more. Needless to say, we had a lot more photos than solid contacts, but we had a great time. Hopefully the many hours we put into those books (Exquisite gold letters are a pain in the hindquarters to cut.) we be in good use in the future.

A bit more loco than the previous idea was something called the Pobre Forastero (Or Poor Wayfaring Man), conveiniently placed with the Ward Sandwhich night, a yearly tradition here in Santa Sabina. As the idea goes, a missionary dresses up as a vagabond or hobo, and is placed close enough for the members who are enjoying their activity to feel uncomfortable and want to unfortunate man to leave. This unpleasent individual is eventually rejected, but returns as the group sings the closing hymn of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. All of the members suddenly feel the weight of their judgemental consciences, and tears are shed. As it was, I had the joy of being the hobo, made all the better by a rasta cap with long dreadlocks and an unhealthy amount of shoe polish on my face to imitate a tan and beard. It was at first effective, as I looked like I had passed out in front of the entrance.

Almost immediately, the bishop came by and asked if I needed any help, at which point he noticed my still blue eyes and exclaimed ''Elder! What are you doing here?'' He left to go talk to the other Elders, and I changed my position to be a bit more inconspicuous. After a few little children passed by, making disparaging remarks and throwing rocks (Thanks Elder Flores, for that one), the first counselor came out and with a very serious voice, told me to get on my way. With his hand on his cell and with that tone of voice, I staggered my way out of the parking lot. The other Elders took their time in getting back to me, so I had a good amount of thinking before we reunited.

It was a good idea, but poor in practice. The large amount of children in the activity surely limited how we should developed the actual idea, and so the planning was a little spotty. As I came into the building a bit later with regular clothes (But still an unearthly amount of shoe polish on my face. That, also, thanks to Elder Flores), the Bishop and the few who knew had a great laugh about it. The first counselor also had a hilarious moment of dawning comprehension, as he realized that the poor drunk he booted out was actually the new gringo. It's definitely an idea with merit, but needs a good amount of planning and leadership involvement.

It has been a very interesting time, these last few weeks, but I have enjoyed them immensely once I found the secret of working without worrying. Sometimes things just don't work out how you would like, but life can still be very, very enjoyable.

Yes, even for a drunk german missionary in Chile.

I'm very, very excited for the near future. I hear good things about my new companion, and his Colombian citizenship should provide for a new view on the world that I haven't had the pleasure of seeing. Life is good, and it has the potential to get so so much better.

Let's get ready to rumble, Santa Sabina!

Love,

Elder Richardson

July 7

The title of this week's letter comes from a conversation that I had with Elders Bence and Neilson as they were about to leave to proselyte on Saturday, and I sat on the floor in a patch of sunlight listening to music. When asked how I go about with all the trials and labors that I face as a missionary, I responded with the above, which brought out a lot of laughter from the Elders. 

Why?

This week has been very, very different from the rest of my mission, as I have mostly sat in the house, trying to keep myself occupied. My poor companion, Elder Flores, hurt his leg pretty badly walking the hills of Santa Sabina, and the pain had progressed to the point that he was told by a doctor that he shouldn't even be walking for about a month. So, he got very comfortable with his bed, and I found out that our house isn't really that interesting.

Some of my achievements this week: Deep clean the entire house. Twice. 

Draw and color and laminate a large and intricate  visual aid for teaching the Plan of Salvation.

Design t-shirts that have a number of inside jokes for the Elders of Santa Sabina.

Read through about half of Jesus the Christ, by James E. Talmage.

Monitor the World Cup Results.

Using raw materials found in a large trash pile outside the house, repair a broken cabinet.

Eat a whole lot of toast, ramen, and flan. I have gained three kilos this week. (Exaggeration.)

Make my bed.

Update a great deal of my journal that had fallen behind horrifically.

Write a short story (About fifteen pages).

Have several philisophical ponderings.

Shoot my struggling companion with a Nerf gun many times. 

Get to know the Dueña a whole lot better when she sneaks into our house during the day.

Battle the slugs that infest our bathroom (These suckers are about a half foot long each).

Needless to say, it has been a whole lot of fun. Also needless to say, I wouldn't wish this on any Elder that I know of. While we have been able to catch up on any lost sleep we've had recently, I have never felt this angsty. I am itching to do some real proselyting and working. We talked about this the other day, and we feel that this is how many missionaries feel after returning home. There just isn't a purpose to our existence at this point.

There truly is great joy in work. It, by definition, is not easy. But as Elder David A. Bednar put so eloquently last conference, 'Happiness is not the absence of a load, but the load helping us to develop and gain the spiritual traction to progress.' Or something like that. A missionary without work is not a happy missionary. The other Elders in the apartment tell us that they are super jealous of our current house arrest, but I really want to trade places with them. There is great happiness in being efficient.

As nice as it has been to rest a lot, work is something that every person, missionary or not, needs a solid testimony of to enjoy this life. If we work, we will find that there is wonderful satisfaction to getting things done. It is nice, and good, and proper, to rest from time to time and relax a little bit, but it only is well deserved if it is following good work.

Our Heavenly Father has incredible plans for us. I'm a bit scared of what He has planned for me, allowing me to rest in this calm before the storm, but I am assured that whatever comes my way, He is in control. No matter how fierce the storms of life may rage or the winds may howl, the Savior (Of Whom I gain a stronger testimony of every time I open Jesus The Christ) is ready to reach out His hand and calm the tempests. 

Being a missionary is a great work. I love it so much. I love it so much that I hope to get back to it soon as possible. I can't ask for anything else, because nothing else brings the same level of happiness nor satisfaction. There's a not a whole lot to it, but what can I say?

I live a very simple life.

With love towards you all,

Elder Richardson

June 23

What a week! Every period of time in the mission deserves its own special place in history, but weeks like these one remembers for the rest of their lives. For all the things that happened this week, I can definitely tell that there will be repurcussions of these seven days for many many years. Missions are pretty incredible like that.

We were working hard this week. Being a new sector, we have had to start from close to scratch, but we are determined to bake this scratch cake into a marvelous three layer masterpiece. We have contacted streets, we have knocked on doors until our hands ache, we have begged and pleaded for references from the membership, and it has been a whole lot of fun doing so. The new people, the hilariously bad street contacts, and the wonderful memories we gain from doing these things never will be forgotten.

One of these new people is named Jose, and is exactly what every missionary fasts and prays to find. As we were knocking doors close to the Catholic church (Desperation does wonders), we happened on this joven about 23 years old. He didn't seem very interested, but when we grabbed his attention with statements of living prophets and continuing revelation, his interest was peaked. He invited us over for another cita, but when we passed by with a member, he sadly told us that his dad would not permit us into the house. I had the idea to take him down to our church, and he was ready to go in seconds. 

Jose has developed incredibly fast. The message of the Restoration just clicked with him, and he committed to baptism and a date just three weeks away on the first lesson. By the second, he had prayed and received his response ''Like three times. I know its true already.'' He actually came up to us and said that he only needs friends in the church and he will be ready for baptism. When he came to church on Sunday, we happily introduced him to every single guy we could find, and he happily attended a baptism for the other elders, telling us that he would be doing that soon enough.

Unfortunately, we found out that with the way that boundaries are set up, his house is actually in the sector of the other Elders, so we, with plenty of tears, handed our golden investigator over. It was still very sweet of an experience though. I'm so happy that this young man is making these incredible decisions. It really doesn't matter who teaches him, and I am so glad that I could have the blessing of working with him. Our loving Heavenly Father wanted to show us that there are prepared people everywhere, even in the literal shadow of the Catholic church haha. 

I also had a great experience this week with a little interview with Presidente Arrington. It was a powerful reminder of my real reason for being here, and the great help that anyone, called of God, can do in their responsibilities. He quoted the Jeffrey R Holland talk, reminding me that an apostle is 'one who is sent.' In that context, in these short two years I have the incredible opportunity to be an apostle (With a lower case a haha) to the people of Chile. This is the once chance I have, so I had better make it good.

At the same time, we all have our different responsabilities and callings in this time. We all have been sent in our respective areas, and I have a strong testimony that whom the Lord calls, He strengthens and helps. I know that in each of the things that we have in our lives, He is willing to give us all the aid we can accept.

Also, my one and only birthday in the mission has passed, and it was a wonderful experience. Waking up to several people in the mission calling to sing the song and a great breakfast of hamburgers at a members house was fantastic. Even moreso was the traditional Nerf gun war that we waged afterwards, with darts flying in every direction. I have never eaten so well in my life, and the vast majority of it came from people that had no idea it was my cumpleaño. Our Heavenly Father really knows how to bless His sons and daughters!

Before I sign off for the week, I should warn all of the dangers of movie trailers. As we sat down for lessons and visits several times this week, we would be shown the new or slightly old trailers for a gamut of movies. After seeing in particular the trailers for Transformers 4, Non Stop, and the Lego movie, we were seriously infected with trunky-itis. Stop the spread of this infectious disease.

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Elder Richardson

June 16

Wow, what a week! I can't say that I have had a week completely like it during the rest of my eleven months in the mission. It has been something that I will never forget, and the memories will last for the rest of my life.

Where to start? Well, for all the fathers in the world, especially my dear own Dad, I want to wish a great Happy Father's Day! Chileans celebrate with just as much love and affection as Americans, with a special World Cup flair to it. Countless fathers received Chile mugs, flags, or soccer balls. I think its a great tradition. We should have the world cup every year.

Speaking of that grand festival of futbol currently raging in Brazil, it has been crazy to witness the effects it can have on a spanish speaking country. The world has gone crazy with red, blue, and white, and every single television and radio is fine tuned to the games. It was so crazy that any attempt to proselyte or contact on Friday was absolutely lost, people yelling at us ''No puedo entender, Vamos Chile!'' as they ran by with bags of chips and other party treats. Even when Chile wasn't playing, lessons would be delayed or cancelled as other countries have played. I have fully joined in on the craziness, setting up my own chart of who is playing who, and predicting my own winners. We have a flag prominently displayed in our house now, and have gotten very good at cheering 'GOOOOOOOOOOOL!' whenever the occasion strikes. 

Its a hilarious contrast that with the constant animo and good cheer that the Chilenos have for the World Cup, this week was a bit of a downer! Heavy rain and wind storms pounded down as lesson after lesson fell through. We're all hoping that despite the bad weather on the horizon, we'll be able to press forward with faith and hope to conquer every hill in our way (And in Santa Sabina, there are a whole lot of hills!).

The highlight of the week was centered around Futbol, with all of us hiding in our house, essentially throwing a house party of our own and watching Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration during the game. We enjoyed Papa John's pizza and though we wanted to be working, cracked plenty of jokes and had a relatively good time.

After a bit of a depressing start, I found unexpected aid during the week from the bible. Reading psalms and proverbs, finding many that could apply to my life and my situation was surprisingly therapuetic, as well as a general scripture study of what I am fighting for personally. My stud district leader was responsable for both of those suggestions, and it really helped out a lot. It amazes me constantly just how applicable these books are in our lives, every single time, no matter the situation.

I also regained appreciation for the video that the church released, se llama Thanks To Him. A link is here, https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng .  I have found that the church produced videos lately have been of the highest quality, and does wonders to animate the missionaries and the investigators and everyone else to greater levels. I am very grateful for these messages.

Well, that should be everything! As this week progresses, things should turn for the better. Hopefully the World Cup doesn't interfere as much this week! 

With love and prayers for all of you,

Elder Richardson

P.S. I'm seeing advertisements everywhere for How To Train Your Dragon 2, and I am honestly more homesick for that then for any other happening in my mission. I'm more excited for that than for the World Cup.