Week 2 - Industrial

Well i survived my very first Christmas here in Torreón! It was definitely a different Christmas for me ha! Mostly because here in Mexico they only celebrate Christmas from 9 pm on the 24th until 4 or 5 am. So when I woke up yesterday it was just back to life as normal ha. Thank you for all the gifts! They helped me have a little bit of the Christmas spirit yesterday! Also I loved and hated skyping home! So fun to talk to you, but it was also the hardest thing ever. Anyway 1 Christmas down 1 to go here in the lovely city of Torreón! Also yesterday i had the opportunity to give a talk in church. I guess its pretty unheard of for us newbies to give a talk after only two weeks, but it went alright ha. This past week was fun and action packed! On Wed. we had our performance in the Town Square. Roughly 600 people showed up to hear us sing, and after that we got about 5 new teaching appointments for tomorrow. Thursday we had the activity with the president. We went ice skating, watched Captain America, had a great comida, and then had a talent show ha! Very fun! Friday, Saturday, Sunday, more of the same here! Lots of teaching and tracting. We have a girl named Salma who is 19, and her brother who is 14 that are very close to accepting our invitation to be baptized. Its very cool to see how they are changing every week as we teach them. Since yesterday my topic for my church was on setting goals, I just want to encourage all of you to try and make one goal for this next year how you can grow closer to our savior. I know we can all find one small thing that we can change to accomplish this. I find out everyday as I strive to be closer to Jesus Christ, how much happier I am. Its truly a blessing to have him in our lives. Well fam. I love you all the death! I miss you all even more! keep making good choices! Have an amazing week this week and don't forget about me down here haha. I LOVE YOU GUYS! Sorry this weeks is so short. I'll have more to say next week for sure! Make those goals and id love to hear them next week :) Hasta Luego! 

 Love Elder Richardson.

MTC Buddies

Christmas PJ's!

Ice Skating Christmas activity

Week 1 - Industrial

Well this week had definitely been an experience and a culture shock ha. we teach at least 15 lessons everyday, so we are keeping busy. My area is called Industrial, and is the smallest are in the mission. I thought it was big at first, but then on Wed. i went on splits with one of the zone leaders, and their area is GIANT!! on his fitbit it said we had walked 15 miles ha. My area is kinda the Ghetto of Torreon and is a little scary. If i wasn't a missionary i would be very scared to walk around here at night. I just never feel like i'm in danger as a missionary. My area is Very poor and has a lot of problem with drugs. Most of the families that we teach have dirt floors and no power. Its a very humbling experience to be here. My companion is great, although he gets mad at me when i don't understand what he saying ( which is quite often ). Other then that ive learned a lot from him. hes a great teacher. Im amazed with the people here. Almost every house we go to lets us in to teach. They are willing to accept the gospel, they just dont want to go to church. we had 65 people there yesterday, which is a third of how many members we have in our area. we currently have 4 baptismal dates. we got one new one this week. sadly none of them came to church ha. Everyday at 2 we have comida with a family in our ward. everyday without a doubt we have chicken, rice, and some kind of juice. Missionaries here arent allowed to drink coke which makes me very sad. They want us to stand out from everyone, and everyone here drinks coke like water so they decided we cant drink it. Although i found Dr. Pepper once and we are allowed to drink that. Also we aren't allowed to wear regular clothes on Pday. Unless we are playing sports. There's this one guy in our area that has a huge problem with drugs, and on Thursday he tried to steal my Bible ha, i just backed away and Instead he snatched my Book of Mormon and booked it. luckily he took my Book of Mormon to hand out and not my personal one. Yesterday we aw him get arrested so i don't think we will have anymore problem with him. This coming Wed. all the missionaries in Torreon are going downtown to sing hymns, so we´ve had quite a few practices last week and we have another one tonight. Its fun to get together with all the other missionaries from the ccm and swap stories. Its funny that after only like 1 or 2 days we all have crazy stories. ( some of which ill keep to myself ha ). Its been a great action packed week this week. I'm staying safe and working hard. This Thursday we have an activity with the president all day, so that should be fun. I think its sports and a movie. Sadly Christmas here isn't that big of a deal, so we just have more of the same on Christmas. Much love family! Know all of you are in my prayers ever day and that i miss you all with all my heart! Have a wonderful Christmas this week!!!

Love Elder Richardson.

Arrival in Torreon

Hello everyone! 

I hope you all are doing great! These past two days have been a bit shocking for me ha. The 13 of us made it to Torreón yesterday at 8 in the morning. Presidente Reyes met us outside the airport, hes very nice and told me to say hi to all of you. He doesn't speak any English, just like my comp. My companion is Elder Fuentes. He is 24 years old and is from yucatan right by Cancun. Sense he doesn't speak any english, I guess that means ill have to learn quickly ha. After that we just had meeting with the APs and the president all day. I guess next Weds. all of the missionaries here in Torreón are going to go sing christmas songs in the city square or something like that? so last night we all go together and practiced the songs we will be singing. I love singing in spanish, ( even though i have no idea what i'm saying most of the time ). Yesterday was some huge holiday here in Mexico, something to do with the Virgin Mary, so it was just pure chaos in the streets. For that reason we had to be back to our house at 7. The ride to my house will be one I will never forget. In one small car they crammed 8 missionaries into the back seat. So there I was, first day in Torreón, running off 0 sleep for 40 hours, crammed into a car with 7 other latinos that don't speak English, flying through the streets of Torreón with dancers and fireworks all around me. It was a crazy night. Then to top it off, we had 2 extra missionaries with us for the night, so i had to share my small  twin bed with Elder Trejo. Its been an eventful day and a half. Tonight we have five teaching appointments! I'm a little nervous considering how much spanish i know currently. Pray for me ha. Life good. Couldn't have asked for a better trainer. I love you all sooo much. have a great week this week, and ill be on again next Monday. 

Con amor

Elder Richardson.

My New Home 

 Elder Fuentes and I

My Laundry Machine...ha 

Bedroom 

Kitchen

Last Week in Mexico City MTC

Well my time here is just about up... Yikes. I cant believe how fast these 6 weeks have gone. my Spanish is still no bueno, but i'm working as hard as i can. I met an Elder from Torreón this week and he was telling me all the horror stories about that city... Yikes again. Ill leave those stories to myself. Overall i'm really excited to head out. I'm excited for a change in my days ha. Me and the other 14 missionaries going to Torreón leave the CCM Monday at 2 in the morning. Our flight leaves at 605. I'm not really sure what to expect for this upcoming week. Glad to hear everyone back home is doing alright. My knees pretty bad again ha. Im now wearing my brace all day which helps a lot. Other then that i'm 100% healthy. To answer all your question mother, Our teachers are all 22-28 year old returned missionaries. All are native. The food here is alright, but ive heard from everyone that the foods 100 times better outside the walls, Which makes me pretty excited! Yes i am getting all of the treats that you are sending me. Thank you so much for them! I still cannot roll my R´s, and yes my knee still hurts. Its beginning to look like Christmas here in the CCM. They have put up tons of lights and Christmas decorations in every building. Also at night we can look up on the hill side and see all the houses with their lights on. For some reason in Mexico its a rule that Christmas lights have to blink and be colorful ha. It makes me chuckle to see every night! For our service project these week, they had us set up a Christmas tree in the chapel. Doing that made literally all of us homesick and miss our families.The holiday season is a rough time to start a mission haha. I hope all of you have a great week! now that ill be entering the field, i'm pretty sure My pday will be on mondays from now on. I love and miss you all soooo much! Pray for me as i'm about to really start my mission! wish me luck!

P:S: sorry these are so short. Theres just not a ton to say while im here in the CCM.... Next weeks will be longer im sure ha. love you all!

Love Elder Richardson.

Week 4 in Mexico City MTC

Hey there family! 

Glad to hear about my Buckeyes! Me and Elder Marckle were really happy when we heard! For the first time in a long time I have nothing wrong with me! ( except my knee that is ). This morning we were able to go the the temple again! The temple is decked out with lights! I really wish we could see it at night, but oh well. They told me we dont have a chance to go to the temple in Torreón, so today was the last time for 23 months. Im loving it here in the CCM. We leave here in 12 days. Yikes. I dont feel ready at all, but im sure ill be fine. Im making progress with spanish. Very slowly ha... 

Not a lot new going on here. it doesnt really feel like Christmas here, I try not to think about it too much tho ha. One night they turned on the Christmas lights all over the CCM for a night. They were every where. They also have those red Christmas flowers planted literally everywhere! SOOOOO pretty here. Elder Brimhall was sick on Monday so I had time to write you all a letter. They told me the mail takes at least a month to get back to the states, but keep an eye out for them!Sorry this email is so short. I literally have no idea what to talk about. Nothing new ever happens out here. At least not yet ha. once im in the field im sure ill have a lot more to talk about. 

I hope you all know how much I love, miss, and think about you guys. You all mean the world to me!! I pray for all of your familys everyday! 100000 times a day it seems like ha... Im pretty sure half of my mission will be praying. one thing we learned about this week is the importance of specific prays, and the importance of them. So thats been my goal this week, and ive already started seeing the blessing of them. I love you all! talk to you guys in a week!!!

Love Elder Richardson

My Zone

 Elder Verdugo and I

Mexico City Temple 

Mexico City Visitor's Center

Week 3 in Mexico City MTC

Hello Everyone!

I'm doing great like always! Life here in the CCM is pretty much the same! Im now 100% over my sickness, but now i currently have a small infection under my tooth or something. Im not really sure what he called it. He told me he thinks these really strong pills will kill the infection. If not ill have to go to the dentist here and i really don't want that. ( they look way scary ) I think the pills are helping me tho. The pain goes down everyday. Ill keep ya posted. Sunday was a little scary for me. some how me and three other guys got picked to do a musical number in sacrament meeting and we are all awful at singing ha... It sounded awful haha. everyone was trying now to laugh at us ha. Then right after that I got chosen to give a talk. Which was soooooo hard in Spanish ha, but it went alright I guess. More of the same stuff this week. Thanksgiving was pretty great. We had a devotional from Provo for two hours in the morning. It was by Neil. L. Anderson. Usually we have a devotional from provo every other Tuesday. They are always my favorite. We had a Thanksgiving lunch that was actually pretty good. They had Costco pumpkin pie that was amazing! Other than that the day was the same as usual. Didn't really feel like a holiday ha. Today we got to head to the Immigration office in downtown Mexico City. Mexico city is just such a crazy place. Driving here is sooo scary... I got my fingerprints taken, and i'm officially allowed to stay here for two years! Overall im doing really good! I love my district. We are all going to Mexico. 3 of us to Torreon, 6 to Pachuca, 1 to somewhere else.. No Sé. My knees starting to feel a little better so that's good. lifes good here. Thanks for the packages. I love them. Let me know how my Buckeyes do tomorrow. Hope they win! Spanish is sure hard. Its not coming very east for me, but i have faith it will eventually ha. Thank you so much allison for the little black book where everyone wrote in it. I read them alll the time during my down time. ( although moms novel in it kills me everytime i read it ha. ) I sure love and miss you all soooooo much! Talk to you all again in 5 days! Have a great weekend! OH!!!!!

Love

Elder Richardson   

Week Two in Mexico City MTC

Hello Family!

This last week was really hard on me. Saturday night me and Elder MCintosh came down with a pretty rough infection in our Intestines. Then later we got the flu mixed in. We didnt eat anything for two and a half days. We were just in bed for 3 whole days, sick as dogs. Sundays I was able to read the entire " Our Heritage" book. Then Monday I started making my way through "Jesus The Christ". My knee´s still acting up a little, not sure what to really do about that... But other then that im doing amazing! I love the CCM. 

Things I forgot to mention last week.

Mexico City is FREEZING! I use my huge Heavy coat all the time. I was expecting it to be hot and humid everyday. I met Elder Markle and I see him often. One day he came running up to me and asked me if I liked his tie. As it turns out, Uncle Jay gave him that tie. I thought it was hilarious. Small world. yes I got the doughnuts, but the DP never showed up. Elder Mcintosh is from Cali and Elder Eddy is from Colorado. They are both older then me and Elder Brimhall. I think thats it?

Overall im doing really good out here. The CCM is pretty much just America though. The spanish is not coming as fast as i would like it to ha. I still cant roll those R´s, which makes it even harder.. But im working my butt off! More of the same everyday. lots of studying and teaching. Days here move fast. Some Elder in my building has the entire Lord of the Rings soundtrack on his ipod, and plays it every morning when we wake up and go to bed. He just blasts it ha. I miss you all so much! Send me some more pictures please! i love them so much. I dont really know what all to say. Nothing too exciting happens. Everydays just the same. I still love my companion. we get along great and have a lot in common. Hope everything back homes going alright. My P-day next week will be on Friday just so everyone knows. We have to go the Immigration office or something like that. I hope you guys know just how much i love and miss you all! send me more doughnuts or something ha. Love you guys!

Love

Elder Richardson

Week 1 in Mexico City MTC

Hey Family, this week has been hard but soooo good! Ive never been this busy in my life ha. I love the Elders in my room. Me and Elder Brimhall get along very well and actually have a ton in common. this keyboard im using is actually kinda broken so bear with me. SPANISH IS HARD. its not coming very easy for me, but im trying my best. I like the food here a lot, but its kinda strange eating Mexican food for breakfast most days. Thats so exciting that i have a new niece ha. Its kinda sad i cant meet her until shes 2! I have two other elders in my room. Elder Mcintosh, and Elder Eddy. Both are great guys that ive gotten very close to over the past week. This morning I was able to go to the temple and it was such an amazing experience, but it was way hard in Spanish. Mexico City is a crazy place. Every single night we fall asleep to the sound of these giant fireworks that sound like cannons ha. Me and Elder Brimhall teach a lesson to this lady named Samantha just about everyday. There is so much we want to say to here but cant because it has to be in Spanish. Its hard and stressful, but its probably when i learn the most. Some fun facts about the CCM, there are currently 700 missionaries here, 600 Elders and 100 hermanas. My district is made up of only 10 Elders. Its beautiful here! by far the prettiest MTC. Its basically a 90 acre garden. its three times larger then the Provo MTC. The walls surrounding the CCM are 25 feet high, with security that patrols them all night. There are times that I feel like im in a prison. I play volleyball everyday, but yesterday i jumped up to hit the ball and my knee popped and has been hurting sense. Im sure it will be fine. Just need to take it easy for awhile. Lifes good, im doing well. not much to say really. Every days the same here pretty much. wake up, study, class, lunch, teach, study, study, study, bed. I just want to let you all know how much i love you all so much! ill talk to you all next week! Ill also have more time next week. The temple took a lot of our time today!

Elder Richardson

First email from MTC

Hey parents I made it safely! My companions name is Elder Brimhall from Lehi, Utah. He was the first elder I met at the airport back in Utah. life´s good. I'm happy and excited. Don,t have very much time but just so you know my P-day is Wednesday. but it wont be tomorrow. it will be next Wednesday. i love you so much! 

Love Elder Richardson