Walking Weehawken, Service, and Cookies!

Hello Everyone!!

I hope everyone is doing GREAT! (: 

This week was a pretty normal week, if those really even exist in the mission field... haha. 

Monday evening we went with the other sister missionaries in the ward to help out an investigator, so that was fun. We helped her clean up, do dishes, and I put my cleaning skills to good use- I helped clean out the fridge. You'd be proud of it, mom ;)

Anyway, it was great to meet her and she is wonderful. I don't know how much more contact I will have with her, since she's not in our area and the spanish missionaries are actually teaching that family.

I also made cookies on Monday- I was very excited (I miss baking, and I will definitely do it more now that I have recipes and supplies!), but a little worried because there was a potential snow storm Tuesday, and I had planned to take the cookies to District meeting... I definitely don't need 3-4 dozen cookies around the apartment, especially when I'm the only one who can eat them! But- everything worked out. No snow storm, AWESOME district meeting, and I got rid of my cookies. Everyone enjoyed them. So it was fun. With the new zone, we changed buildings that we meet in for district meetings, so we got to figure that part out. It was fun though. District meeting was really awesome- we talked about making contacts through the Book of Mormon, and likening scriptures to the investigators. It was awesome, and I learned so much, as I always do.

Wednesday and Thursday was pretty normal- visiting homes to figure out if people still even lived there, visiting with some people in the ward, and the "Hour of Power" - our ward is trying to work with the missionaries more, so they started the "hour of power" - getting enough people together at once to go on splits with the all of the missionaries - so, potentially, there would be 8 lessons taught at once. it was fun, but there wasn't enough sisters so Sister Pack and I drove the other sisters and a member to their appt, and we went and tried to pick up another member, realized we weren't going to have time, so we turned around and visited a less active before going to pick the sisters up again and head back to the church house. It was a crazy night.

Friday we taught lots of lessons! It was cool to have several lessons in one day, and all of them went well.

Saturday was the really fun day- our walking day. (normally, that's thursdays, but with the hour of power we switched our driving day- it was hard enough with a car let alone not having one) We hopped on a bus to Weehawken for an appt (which fell through, sad face!) and had a list of people to visit for the day. We walked SO MUCH- it was crazy. The worst part, though, was not the walking- it was waiting an hour in the very cold wind for the bus back to Secaucus. We were very numb, and very cold, but it was a really good day. 

Sunday was a really great day as well! Church was great! Sacrament meeting was wonderful, lots of amazing testimonies were shared. 

During 3rd hour, all the missionaries, plus a bishopric member and his wife took over the primary so the teachers could have a training. It was quite the adventure! It was great to work and get to know the primary kids, and to sit with them and teach them. It was also quite funny because some of the missionaries ended up in the small nursery-size chairs, and we really don't fit on those! (in fact, I ended up on a big chair at one point and a little girl told me to move because it was her chair, hahaha. I moved.)  It was great to see the missionaries teaching the kids- it was hilarious and we got a kick out of it, and the kids got to learn. 

That brings me up to today! There was a big fuss about a winter storm that was supposed to hit last night, and there was a driving ban already set for today, and all this stuff- and we wake up and its a dusting. It was a Washington snowstorm- hahaha. The driving ban was lifted and we didn't even really have to scrape our car or shovel. If this is the last snowstorm, we are okay with that!!

Scripture for the week- Alma 36:3*. Put your trust in Heavenly Father, and everything will work out. 

Love you bunches!

Love always,

Sister Richmond

*you can click on the scripture to be taken to that chapter in the Book of Mormon - or here is the text:

 "And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."