Hello, friends and family!
Incredible, isn't it? Five weeks have come and gone. We are right in the middle of our final week at the Missionary Training Center, and preparing to leave around next Monday or Tuesday. It is ridiculously exciting, to the point that everyone is pulling their hair out in anticipation for the flying out. Not that there is a whole lot to tear out, mind you. The Hermanas who run the small Hair Cutting Salon here know two different styles: ´´Ridiculously short´´ and ´´I had to look twice to make sure you weren´t bald.´´ It´s a bit hilarious to see new Elders going in with full heads of hair and coming out with just enough fuzz on their heads to barely keep several small insects warm during winter.
Life is still going quite well. I can certainly understand the warnings we received initially to keep an eye out for repetition and routine. Those two aspects are absolutely murderous to progress when the Missionaries get too ingrained. The language learning ceases to improve, and even decreases in many cases. The Spirit completely removes itself from the lives of those who don´t put in the effort to keep it. The secondary warning, that our easiest temptations would come not from the people we encounter and teach, but from our fellow missionaries. It is incredibly easy to fall back on English for conversations, and with far more native English Speakers then Spanish Speakers now, the urge to easily communicate in our native tongues in far too tempting. Additionally, an idea of relaxation sneaks in after the first two weeks. The thought process being ´´We´ve worked so hard, maybe we can take a break.´´ Very quickly, the short relaxation to rest our minds can quickly become days without learning anything at all. Many of us, soon to head out, are realizing that the only stuff that we're ready to take out into the field next week or soon after is the basic material learned in the first few days or weeks. This has been an incredible lesson for me. I hope never to get stuck in to routine, to let my schedule define my work ethic. Those first few weeks were mind numbingly difficult, but they were certainly far more enjoyable and rewarding then anything since. I like the analogy of the fire hose. If you´re thirsty (For Knowledge!), you have two options here. There is a full blast fire hose and a slow dripping faucet. The hose certainly hurts your head to drink from, but you fill up quickly and you end up far more full then you thought you could be. The faucet takes things at a nice easy pace, relaxing even. But you don´t end up full, even after a far longer time of drinking from it. Life lesson learned!
Amusing stories for you all:
We were walking to the store the other day, looking forward to spending our weekly allowance on Mexican candy and various treats for a big Preparation Day fiesta, when we encountered a a large group walking the same direction. We asked them if they were going to the store, received an affirmative, and bemoaned the long lines that inevitably formed when a decent amount of people showed up. Their leader called us out, telling us ´newbies´to shape up and get used to it, to the laughing of the whole group. A little questioning and we found out he has been here about three weeks less then us. As soon as we told him, he got very quiet, very fast, and didn´t say another word the entire time in the store. It was the kind of situation I dream about.
We have also become very talented in the art of bug catching. Literally, we can each snag bugs straight out of the air without even thinking about it, though now a days, we´ve tried to add some pizazz to the ´sport´. You'll occassionally see missionaries, during lessons or teaching appointments make tremendous effort in catching mosquitos, large gnats, or other bothersome pests. I've also seen diving catches, through the legs grabs, and one backflip catch. Tallies are kept, and the current MTC record lies at around 45, though it has been heavily disputed. My personal record occured this last week, and I was able to get 23 bugs over the course of the day. If any of us are losing weight, its because of the mosquitos, quite literally, sucking liters of blood from our systems, and our incredible efforts at vengeance. The term Guerra de Zancudo has become quite commonplace among the gringos.
Our District, and several others, had the opportunity to play Capture the Flag this last P-day in a large grove of trees out on the edge of campus. It had become quite overgrown in the last week or so, and the grass was about knee height. The rumours of wild animals of all sorts (Snakes, lizards, elephants and tigers being quite prominent) and the lack of purpose that the forest has has led the missionaries to label it either The Sacred Grove or the Forbidden Forest, depending on preference. Fangorn Forest has grown in popularity, and also ´The one forest in that M Night Shyamalan movie The Village´.Regardless, several broomsticks with brightly colored bristles and large cardboard boxes from the new washer dryer sets were... Liberated... from the storage closets and the game was on. People quickly charged in and out and the games were fast and intense. The highlight of the game, for me, was the Tank Charge. Several of our team had the brilliant idea to load up in a large cardboard box and chagre their lines. As the Tank would be encountered, a player would jump out and tackle the defender to the ground, holding him in place so the Tank could move on. Our battle cries were ferocious, but lack of cooperation from our team and near death at a large stone box randomly dug into the ground caused the destruction of our beloved box and the failure of our wonderful and brilliant idea.
Additionally, there have been dozens of smaller stories of wonderful quality and humor here, thanks to the large assortment of hilarious individuals and a great mix of personalities. I would love to tell you the dozens of inside jokes we've experienced, but that would take far more time then I have left in the MTC to write and explain. Just know they're funny!
Sam: Oh, it was wonderful receiving your email! Thank you so much for your nice letters and the great thoughts within them. I hope you're enjoying Ohio! Its colder and rainer there then what you're used to, I wager, but I sincerely doubt that will get your spirits down! Keep enjoying your good experiences with Kayla, she sounds awesome. Sad news on Caleb though. I hope everything works out well, and you'll be getting the ring through mail in about a week! Haha. Thank you again for your letters. They are wonderful! You are in my prayers as well. Stay strong and happy! You're the best!
Mom: I can't say that I have received the package yet. Mail here is spotty at best, and packages are not guaranteed at all. They're still trying to figure out the post system, so for all I know, its been waiting in the corner for a week now. We're trying again later today, so wish us luck!
My health has greatly improved. Two and a half weeks of miserable bowels later, mind you. But perseverance, prayers, fasting, and few good medicinals from my secret stash and a roommate have done wonders. I still have the occasional problems, but nothing is as bad as they were. In fact, I think some of the recent issues have been caused by the large amount of candies I've eaten in celebration. Weeks without sweet things have left me ill prepared for eight Hershey's Cookies and Cream bars in a single evening. Other strange things of ill health have occasionally struck, but mostly everything has sorted itself out by now. Three ingrown nails were handled painfully by my unskilled surgeon's hands, and they all feel incredibly better now.
I really haven't take very many pictures around here. The occasional picture of a beautiful scene (Usually some absolutely incredible clouds) or a person doing something amusing fill my camera. We've had several events on our Pdays where many pictures are taken, and I hope that the most amusing of the group will be sent to me by my fellow District members, so I can share the hilarity with all of you.
Thank you again for Elder Pugmire's letter. It is an incredible prepartory tool for my eventual entry into Chile. I can't wait to have similar experiences among the Chilean people!
Gracious, I am so excited/terrified/ready/unprepared for the triumphal exit of the CCM. I do believe my bags should comfortably hold everything that I need, as we did have extra room when I left. We've received letters giving us more information about what we need to do in preparation for the arrival to our prospective mission fields, so we're working hard to make sure everything is prepared. Of course, there have been several books and other objects that have not seen any use here, but I maintain that the possibility of use exists, so I'm not quite ready to part with them yet. There is a 50kg max scale in our laundry room, so I do believe we should know well beforehand if things need to be removed or not. We don't know exactly when we will leave, but the Latino Elders leave on Mondays, so the general idea is either Monday or Tuesday.
By the way, about Wil! I haven't been able to see much of him, but I certainly hear plenty. My roommates are in his class, and essentially think he is the best person/teacher/saint ever. Walking on water is only the beggining of what he is capable of. I hear his stories on regular basis, and hear descriptions of his pictures and experiences. The fact that I know some amusing stories involving him (Ping pong) has elevated me to the coolest person in the apartment at times. I didn't think I would become famous by riding on someone else's coattails, but it has certainly happened that way!
It is nice to hear that everything is going fine! I'm glad that the Temple is open again. According to Steven's suggestions, I repeatedly insist that Mesa is the greatest Temple on the face of the Earth! Have fun going to the Gilbert!
Those cat stories always bring a smile to my face. I have a few pictures of them left on my camera that I didn't erase prior to leaving, so I still get to see them every once in a while. I miss the little felines quite a bit more then I thought I would. I'm glad to see the our resident fat cat is being less lazy and going hunting more. Good for him!
Thanks for keeping the Ward updated! I love and miss them, and keep them in my prayers.
You're story was excellent! I really want to read this book after I get home (Add it to the growing list. That's a story for a different time though.) and try to apply it to my life. That passage was absolutely phenomonal. It is absolutely, 100% true. I just want to read it again and again. If our printer was functional, (Turns out, having a hundred different people trying to print at once on an old computer doesn´t work. Funny stuff.) I would print it out and carry it with me! The importance of our becoming more like the Savior daily has really grown in importance in my mind. One of my companion and I's first study goals was the Attributes of Christ in Preach My Gospel. It has been a wonderful, and difficult at times, journey to try and take these timeless aspects of good and try to shape myself to be more like Him. Thank you so much for the quote, and for the other words of wisdom and encouragement that you had.
Life continues, life goes on. Above all, life is a glorious adventure for us to experience. There are blessings and trials in plenty, and each is for a reason. This is a time for us to grow and be happy and work hard and enjoy the fruits of our labors. Oh, how I know this is true. These last five/six weeks at the CCM have been an incredible bounty of lessons and life applications that I will be continuing to use for the rest of my time here on Earth.
It has also been a bit of a refiner's fire. Difficult experiences and trials of character pop up with increasing regularity. But I wouldn't replace them for the world, or any similar item of equal value to my interests. You don't get a diamond without high heat and high pressure, and though I am far from the beauty and clarity of refined and cut diamond, I feel less like the original lump of carbon every day. Hard times teach us humility, love, and gratitude, all aspects that I needed work on desperately, though I did not realize it before. Incredibly frustrating experiences with other people have forced me to learn the foolishness of my pride and the blessing a kind word can be to other people. Probably most importantly, this work can not be done without the strength of the Savior lifting us up and the Spirit filling our hearts. Though certainly difficult at first, learning to come to my knees in times of challenge and times of joy has been an marvelous blessing. My testimony of the love of God has been renewed and strengthened. The faith in the power the scriptures can have in our lives has been multiplied tenfold.
I know that this is true. I have heard Apostles testify of God and Christ. I have seen the blessings of application of the scriptures. During the hardest times here, when I saw strife and contention divide a large group, the words of prophets came into my mind a blessed my life. It has been said many times before, and still has many times to be said, but this life and this Gospel have never been said to be easy. No, they are certainly not easy. But they are worth it. I have seen genuine and real change come upon hearts here. People changing for the better, myself being among those ranks. And it is a wonderful experience. In less then a week, I will be heading to a far off nation to see this change come into the lives of people I've never even met before. Hearts will be softened, and as it says of blessings in the Old Testament, ''The Windows of Heaven will open up, so that there will not be room enough to receive it.´´
I love you all so much! Your letters and emails and experiences are the great treasures that strengthen me and build me up. Your prayers and thoughts are felt and they give me the courage to carry on in times of trial. An experience this last week involved one of our Latino Elders: Elder Nava. His final prayer on the eve of his departure was one of the most heartfelt and powerful I have ever experienced. His words were spoken with love and care, with faith that the Lord will bless all those he asked for. Oh, the beauty and the power! Thank you all so much!
I am so excited to be in this grand work. Great things are about, and the Lord is hastening His work in these last days. Oh, how wonderful the ways of God! Oh, that I were an Angel, that I could speak with the voice of a trump to all the nations. Let us all go about in so great a cause!
With love,
Elder Richardson
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