Hello All! Hope you're doing great!
WHAT AN INCREDIBLE WEEK!!! Holy COW! It has been the
craziest week of my mission so far- we have been working soooo hard.
On Tuesday was Transfer Conference- fun stuff! My new comp
is Sister Taylor! She has been out 1 transfer longer than me- she came out in
November. This is her first time being transferred- she was in her last area
for 6 months! (With the way my mission has gone thus far, I can't imagine being
anywhere for 6 months, hahaha. I hope it happens in Sparta though. this place
is great.) Sister Taylor claims Florida as home, soccer is her PASSION, and she
is INCREDIBLE! :D
I spent most of Tuesday hauling luggage it seems like- I
helped Sister Tueller get all of her stuff downstairs (and of course, I'm
carrying the really heavy stuff lol. Gotta love 3rd floor apartments) and
packed it in the car (I inherited mom's packing skills. it was seriously
impressive that we got all of it to fit) and then we drove to transfer
conference! whoo! we got there and I was trying not to wig out- it's crazy
there! We get through conference, I meet my new comp, and we head out to the
cars to switch stuff. The parking lot after transfer conference is a pretty
funny sight- sisters and elders carrying luggage and all sorts of things all
over the place, and trying to return journals and papers and get everything
straightened out and headed to the right place. So I unpacked the car, repacked
the car, and then help pack Sister Tueller's stuff in her new car with her new
comp- She is actually serving with my MTC companion, Sister Hindman! too funny!
We get out of Morristown and start heading home to Sparta-
whoo! We went out and did some contacting, and we ended up teaching 2 street
lessons and getting 11 contacts! our mission standard for contacts is 10 a day-
we have hit or exceeded that EVERY DAY THIS WEEK! probably the first time
that's happened in Sparta for a while. We weren't able to do much contacting
last transfer. I LOVE IT! (and i kinda hate it too- talking to strangers is
scary.) but. it's awesome to just go out there and be like You know what? I
have a message of hope and peace that will help you to come closer to your
family and your Savior. (BAM haha) Bold and loving- it's a crazy feeling! We
have also knocked on so many doors this week- I've never really done random
door knocking before. We have definitely gotten the "not interested"
and slammed door in the face (I barely got my sentence out lol) and some that
are nice and take a card and go on with their day.
We've taught a ton of lessons this week- a total of 26. Some
of them were pretty normal. others were totally weird. We were headed to this
house and we were going to knock on it and a voice just comes out of nowhere-
"I wouldn't knock on that door!" I turn around and try to figure out
where the voice was coming from. It was from the 2nd story window in the house
across the street. Just imagine- 2 missionaries standing in the middle of the
street talking(yelling?) to a guy in a window. it was pretty funny. We talked
to him for a while, he was pretty interesting.
We also went contacting on this street called "Richmond
Hill Rd" (Sis. Tueller and I passed it a little while ago- she said there
was someone on that street that needed me, haha). That was pretty cool. Haven't
found anyone yet. But that's okay!
We've met so many interesting people- found a couple of
investigators, passed one off to the Spanish-speaking missionaries (first time
since I've been in Sparta area that I've met people who don't speak very good
English. We definitely found where the Spanish people are in our area! Our joke
for the week is that there will be a Newton Spanish Branch in the future)
One of the funniest contacts we had this week was this group
of guys. We were walking past, and one of them yelled after us "Hey!
What's that book?" Well- boy can we tell ya! So we go back and introduce
the book of mormon to all 4 of the guys. One of them had some pretty
interesting beliefs- about vibes and sending out good energy to the universe
and it will come back to you. A couple of them seemed genuine- we were talking
about how the Book of Mormon is about the people in the American Continent and
that Christ visited the Americas. It blew their mind haha. At one point, one of
the genuine guys kinda looked at us and was like- this might be a dumb
question, but do you guys go to church? We were like Yes! definitely! He
sincerely wanted to know- his buddies kinda made fun of him but we invited him
to come to church. He didn't come, but maybe he will in the future! The crazy
thing about that guy is that we actually ran into him again later that day, on
our way home. It was funny, but also suuuuper weird. Fun stuff!
I could go on and on about all the contacts we had this
week... We contacted this family that had really sweet little girls that had
crazy long gorgeous hair (one of them has the same birthday as me. Not sure how
we got on that topic lol) and a woman who had actually been to church in the
past, knows some of the members, and has a LOT of potential. We actually ran
into her twice this week, once on Tuesday or Wednesday and again last night.
She is really incredible- 78 year-old lady that is just super cool.
In fact- that's another funny story. (baha. y'all get a
really long really random email this week. yay you!) We were on our way home
from a dinner appt, and we had to park in a different lot because of the show
going on in the local theater. one of my hearing aids had starting giving its
warning beeps that it was dying, and in the middle of the dinner appt it
actually died... so I was pretty useless as far as being able to talk to
people. We ran into Bobbi (the lady), and Sister Taylor starts talking to her
and I just pass out cards on the street- to everyone that walks by. A pretty
large portion of those people walked past me once to the liquor store, and then
walked past me again with a bag full of beer.... sad face. I ended up
contacting like 6 or 7 people while Sister Taylor talked to her. I had an
interesting conversation with one guy who actually had a Book of Mormon and had
read a little bit of it. I couldn't hear 80% percent of what he said... but he
was cool! ha. He was telling me about some of his beliefs and i think it was
along the lines of if you believe you will be saved, and that you will be
shocked when you get to heaven and see all these people who did really bad
things and they got there because they believed. (boy does he need the Plan of
Salvation. I should have given him a pamphlet. Silly Sister Richmond)
Anyway- It was a CRAZY week and it was awesome and i love my
new companion and I am sooooo excited for Sparta ward- It's going to start
growing! WHOO! We have one investigator that is getting baptized on the 31st,
and the elders have 2 baptisms this week, and there are like 2 child of record
baptisms this week- I think by the end of May the ward will have had like 6
baptisms? that's SO AWESOME! :D :D
I hope everyone has an AWESOME week this week. I have one
last thought, i guess, to share- we have been sharing Moroni 7:33-34* a LOT this
week. It is the mission scripture for the month, and the focus is faith. I have
definitely seen verse 33 be applied directly to my life and to this area-
"And Christ hath said: if ye have faith in me, ye shall have power to do
whatsoever thing is expedient in me." with our faith in Christ, we are able
to do His will and do those things that he asks of us. It's incredible!
LOVE YOU ALL! MISS YOU!
Love Always,
Sister Richmond
*You can click the scripture reference to read this scripture or here is what it says -
33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.
Awesome experiences! So happy you had a great week!
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