PE....February 22, 2016

Dear family,

     I thought I would tell you that I have eaten more Panda Express in the last transfer than I have in my entire life. That's what happens when your companion is from Japan, ha. 

     Now that that is out of the way, I will tell you how the week has been. The week has been fun, to be honest. We found a lot of people in the beginning of the week and then we had a few field trips. Our first little trip that we took was, of course, to Huntington Beach to teach a Japanese lady that just loves to pile on the food. Non stop. Like we already ate dinner and she made us another just in case and she just kept coming out with more and more food. I was so full I couldn't walk straight haha. Our second trip was to downtown LA. Elder Miura had to go downtown so that he can renew his passport. It was pretty fun to walk and drive around downtown LA. I saw the music place that is in the movie Get Smart (Disney Hall) and from a distance saw the Hollywood sign. Cool stuff. We, of course, went down Broadway and all these different streets. There is this one part of LA that is little, just roads with just a ton of homeless people and panhandlers. It was kind of sad to see it. It really makes you appreciate the things that we do have. Then we went up to Whittier for a zone conference, it was good. We gave a miracle story and President Tew said it was the second most interesting one that he had every heard, haha. The story was about how this one lady rear ended us a couple of weeks ago and since we had her information like her address from the crash, we stopped by her house and picked her up as a new investigator, haha nailed it. 

     Marion just had his baptismal interview and he is good to go on Saturday. Now we just need to get all the times and who is doing what and we will be ready. It is truly awesome to see how excited he is about all of this and the steps he is making towards Christ. He's a funny guy. Sometimes he will just talk your ear off about the most random stuff like diabetes and sugar, love this man haha. 

     Well keep it groovy like a smoothie and love,

Elder Richards

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles

Neat Stuff.............February 15, 2015

Dear Family,

     The neat thing that happened this week was that we had a Stake Conference and we watched a broadcast thing for Church this week. Elder Runlend was the Apostle that spoke and some of the Quorum of 70. I got to tell you , I'm really liken Elder Runlend. He's pretty good at giving talks and is just a neat fellow. He talked about how we can answer every question people give us if we shortly  explain the restoration and then describe why we do things a certain way so they can understand that we have continuing revelation. He also spoke about how we need to love everybody and not treat people super different just because they are not part of the Church. We still need to respect them. There was lots of good stuff, really good stuff.

     Yeah and our boy, Marion, is still doing alright.  Unfortunately, he actually went into the hospital a couple of days ago so we are going to push things back a little. Don't worry, he's fine and he should be better by the end of the week. We gave him a blessing so it's all good.

     We also had another investigator who started throwing up like crazy so she didn't come to Church either, makes sense, ha. But yup, Satan's has chosen to get everyone sick but they should all feel better and we can get back to teaching them, so it is all  good.

     Crazy to hear about Ellen. She will definitely be in my prayers. But Valentines Day ! love ya guys 

Elder Richards

The Japanese lady Elder Richards has been teaching, kept asking Elder Richards if he was cold. After several times of being asked, he finally he gave in and said yes. The Japanese lady brought out this huge jacket for him to wear.

I did it!....February 8, 2016

Dear Family,

     You probably don't care but I'm going for the big news anyway. For the first time in my life, I solved a rubix cube, haha. My companion taught me and after a week, I finally did it--right before I came to email actually. Big things are happening.

     Anyway, on to things that actually matter. Now we get to make trips to Huntington Beach to teach this one Japanese lady. She fed us a bunch of Japanese food and some other stuff that tasted like she made it 5 days ago, haha, but don't worry, we ate it anyway. We had this weird tofu and fish soup. Elder Miura loved it, but to me it was just kinda weird, haha. Then we went to a less active member's house for dinner. Since they are also Japanese, we had this huge Japanese feast called Shabu-Shabu. Kevin probably knows what that is. It was really cool and pretty fun. You take a bunch of thinly sliced meat and put it in boiling water for like 5 seconds and then it is cooked. you can look up the rest haha. [Editor's note: Shabu-Shabu is a Japanese dish featuring thinly sliced beef boiled in water. The term is an onomatopœia, derived from the sound emitted when the ingredients are stirred in the cooking pot. The meal consists of thinly sliced meat and vegetables and served with dipping sauces]

     We are having a lot of progress with our boy, Marion. I say boy but he is 68. Anyway, he is just chuggin along with the lesson, he is reading the Book of Mormon and should totally be ready for Baptism on the 20th. Super pumped. 

     We teach this one lesson and we call it CPR. It keeps us alive spiritually. It stands for church C, Prayer P, and Reading R. I don't know why but our investigators just love that stuff , haha. They are all like " don't worry Elders, I'm doing CPR ". I love it. Now the real question is if they actually do those three things, haha.

     To be honest, this week has been kinda normal. I'm just getting used to a new companion and a new- ish district, but it's all good because the Lord is with us. 

Love,

Elder Richards

Traffic.......February 1, 2016

Dear Family

     Well, the big thing, I guess, that happened this week was that I got a new companion. His name is Elder Miura, he is from Japan. I love this  man, haha. He pretty funny and is always trying to work his hardest. He speaks English very well but sometimes he asks me how to say something or what a word means and it makes me really question my grammar skills, haha. He has been teaching me one Japanese word a day, so by the end of this transfer I should be speaking fluent Japanese, (chuckle ,chuckle) like a boss.

    I will tell you a story that kinda describes how people in Cali drive. Yesterday we were going home like any other day. Now the wind has been blowing a ton for the past two days and a lot of trees and stuff are in the road. As we are driving, a huge tumble weed that is larger than me and looks like a tree is just sitting in the middle of the road. We didn't really see it until we were up close. My companion stopped kinda suddenly and, of course, we get rear ended. Don't worry, every one is fine, even the cars haha.  This morning we had to go to the office and get everything sorted out. On the way back home from sorting everything out, I had the opportunity to watch a six car pile up, ha ha. As we drove by I watched as one car right after the other just ran right into the car in front of them on the freeway. It was kinda intense and I pray that every one is alright, but the whole time I'm just sitting there thinking... California Traffic, man. It's dangerous, haha, no lie.

     Now on the more Spiritual side of things. We have been teaching Marion and things have been just awesome with this man, especially after we went to the Los Angeles Temple with him. I am pretty sure he is going to be baptized soon. It is just awesome to see truly how much the Gospel and the Spirit have and is changing him. He now has dropped coffee, cold turkey, and is getting closer to his Baptism. I am super pumped. 

    Well congratulations Ben !! that is awesome.

I love you all 

Sayonara

Love,

Elder Richards