Week 4- Lindsay

Hello family and friends!

 Another amazing week here in Lindsay California with so many funny good memories! The work in our area is really picking up right now. We found 11 more investigators this week which is just crazy! We don't have enough hours in the day to visit everyone that we want to. We have a member in the Spanish part of our ward named Beto who just cracks me up. He goes out with us a few times every week and he has no fear to spread the gospel. We'll be driving down the road and he'll see a group of teenagers at a park or something and he'll swerve over and roll down his window and just scream something along the lines of this. " Children! We are the missionaries for the true church! Let us give you pictures of Jesus Christ and teach you about him. Then we will baptize y'all so you to can be as happy as I am.'' That man has no fear ha... Through Beto we did end up finding a man named Raymond who is really progressing and interested in the church. He lives in this little tiny camping trailer and is very poor. Keep him in your prayers this week. 

We went back to El Patio this week and did some more service for an hour or two. Cookie ( The Inactive member who owns the restaurant ) Always has us do something pretty crazy when we show up, but he always feeds us well. He might be shutting down pretty soon though because this is the time when all the field workers, which make up 70% of the town head north to where the fruit is ripe and ready to be picked. people are clearing out like crazy right now. They'll all be back in August when the fields are ready to harvest again here. 

Weeks are flying by now that I'm back in the swing of things again. I have loved getting to know the members and people that live here! I'm also amazed how much easier it already is to teach and testify of Christ after just 4 short weeks here. We were asked to speak in church yesterday about anything from the Book of Mormon. I chose to focus on the commandments and the promise it makes in the Book of Mormon that says if we are obedient to commandments we will prosper in the land. I know that to be true. So many people think of the commandments as restrictions to life, or things that hinder their fun. The commandments are like the string on a kite, The world thinks that if we were to cut that string, they would have so much more freedom and just soar right on up living a happy perfect life. We all know what would happen if we cut that string. The Kite would come crashing down and be destroyed. We need that string ( the commandments) to keep us moving and afloat in this crazy world we live in. True happiness only come by living worthy and being obedient to the commandments. They truly are loving instructions of happiness that we have been given by a loving Heavenly Father. They funny part about my talk yesterday was that right when I was wrapping up and sharing my testimony... All of a sudden people in the crowd started yelling and running around. It was just absolute chaos out there. I had no idea what was going on so i just closed really fast and sat down. As it turns out, there was this giant cockroach ( so big people thought it was a mouse ) crawling all over people, who would then freak out and flick it on to someone else who would then freak out and flick it on to someone else etc... It took probably 5 minutes to get everyone seated again and ready to listen to Elder Facer. It was definitely a talk to remember.

Life's good. I'm happy! I looooooooooveeee being a missionary again and bringing Christ into peoples homes. I'm working my hardest and loving the work. Be safe, happy, and healthy this week! I love and miss you all! Make good choices this week!


Love Elder Richardson

Week 3 - Lindsay

Hello Family and Friends! This week has been awesome! We have had so much success and fun serving here in Lindsay! Last Tuesday we had Zone Conference which was sooooo much different then in Mexico. I love how this mission is more serious about the work! President Clark is an amazing President! I can really feel just how much he and Sister Clark love us. As we were leaving that zone conference he gave us all a gold coin to help us to always remember our sacred calling as missionaries. Everyone is veryyyy sad that they will be finishing their missions at the end of June. At zone conference Sister Clark gave us a Book of Mormon  challenge because she said that she felt like to many people just read the Book of Mormon and don't study it. The challenge was to grab a new Book of Mormon and write something you learned in the margin on every page about what you learned from it. After 1 week of doing this I'm amazed at what new things I've learned. I challenge all of you to try the same thing. 

On Wednesday we got bible bashed harder then ever before. Thinking back it just makes me chuckle. People are so strange. I knew it wasn't going to be good when she pulled out her notebook of things that are wrong with our church... All we could do is testify of the things we know to be true and leave with our heads held high. People here are definitely harder to teach then they ever were in Mexico.  

Something fun that we are able to do every week is serve in this old Mexican Restaurant that is owned by a less active member. Usually he just has us cut up boxes and wash dishes for an hour of so. Then he always feeds us a Delicious meal for free. Seeing how he handles the food is quite disturbing, but thats okay. Poor Elders have to eat! Hes very nice but has no desire to return to church right now. We are working hard to change how he feels by slipping some gospel discussion in while we work. We are going to visit him tonight. 

We had Stake conference this weekend which I love as a missionary! For stake conference we had a member of the 70 come talk to us and he shared a message of the Book of Mormon. While he was talking all I could think of was the family that bashed us a few days before. They were so determined to prove that the Book of Mormon was fake. I feel so bad for them. The Book of Mormon is so amazing and it truly blesses us so much. I'm so grateful to have it in my life. How ever much youre reading it right now. Go read it more! 

Life's good right now. I love my area, my companion, the ward, and the people I meet everyday. There's no better feeling then serving the lord. I know with all my heart that I am supposed to be here in Fresno. Gods plan is always perfect no matter what happens. I love you all so much! Have a great week this week and make good choices! Thank you for all the prayers and Emails!

Love Elder Richardson

Week 2 - Lindsay

Hello family and friends! This week was great! I absolutely love it here! I have met so many amazing ward members and missionaries this past week. I've really come to know that this is where I am needed! Fresno and I get along pretty great! As you know Elder Facer and I are both very new in this area and the Elders here before us weren't having very much success, so we have put a huge emphasis on finding new people to teach this week. This week we found 12 new Investigators!! We have found new people to teach everywhere we turn! Its so amazing to see the people that are prepared for the Gospel in their lives. Tuesday we had interviews with President Clark. I love President. He such an amazing man who goes above and beyond for his missionaries. He makes sure to email every missionary every week and we have interviews with him every transfer which i think is amazing. Ive found out that white people scare me a little. They are just so mean compared to the Latinos here. 9 times out of 10 its a white person that slams a door in our face. Latinos almost always let us in the door and are so happy to talk to us. I wish everyone was as nice and accepting of the Gospel as them. On Thursday we met a women named Maria that let us in and we taught her all of The Plan of Salvation. She loved it and was so excited for us to come back to see her. We have an appointment with her tonight, so ill let you know how it goes. We have a lot of hope for her! One of the many things that I love about my area is how beautiful it is. Everywhere you look there's rolling hills of Orchards. Also we found out today that we can go and hike the L on the mountain just like we do back home with the Y, so we want to do that next preparation day :) A lot of fun things going on here in Lindsay. This has to be one of the happiest times of my entire life! I love representing Christs church again and bringing people unto him. This week I worked really hard to be exactly obedient to every little tiny rule that we have here in Fresno. Even the ones I don't 100% understand like the 5 Minute showers. I can testify that obedience truly is the way to Miracles here in our lives and  have seen them during my week this week more than every before! NEVER let someone else keep you from following the lords commandments. Even the little tiny ones you dont quite understand yet. I love you all so much and I was so happy to talk to you all yesterday. Be happy and make good choices this week. When in doubt, choose Christ. Until next week!

Love Elder Richardson 

Week 1 - Lindsay

Hello hello friends and family!

These past 4 days have been strange and hard but oh so wonderful. I'm so grateful to be out here serving the lord again! So Friday I was the only Elder on my flight, and I had President Clark Hermana Clark there to greet me, as well as the assistants. They were all so nice and happy to see me... They made me feel right at home! My first thoughts of the mission are that they are the most serious, focused, obedient mission out there. President Nelson visited the mission a few months ago and those were the words he used to describe our mission. That also means that there are some rules that are quite a bit stricter. For example we are not allowed to listen to any music other than MOTAB. Us Elders are required to have a part in our hair. A few years back one of the Apostles visited the mission and he promised that if the Elders would part their hair the baptisms would double, and sure enough they did. We also wake up at 6 everyday. Theres a huge emphasis on finding ways to sacrifice as much as possible at all times of the day. For that reason we wake up a half hour earlier, take only 5 minute showers, and cut our lunch time in half. I love how obedient this mission is. That was one thing that was really missing in Mexico. So after they picked me up the assistants took me out to lunch at some really good Italian place they have here in Fresno. The cars here in the mission are so nice and new and clean. I was shocked! After that we went to the offices really fast to get some things taken care of and to have me sign some papers. Then we got on our way to my new home here in Lindsay California. Its this small little town about an hour and a half outside of Fresno. There's roughly 10,000 people here. We also cover a city called Strathmore thats really close to Lindsay. My Companions name is Elder Facer and he is a great Elder. We get along so good and have a blast together. He is also Exactly Obedient which I love. So Friday night I was back out teaching and doing the lords work. Theres a huge drug problem here just like Mexico, but it just makes me feel right at home. We have a set of sisters that serve here in Lindsay with us, and they are awesome. They are actually killing us. The Elders before us had very little success in this area so they left Elder Facer and I with hardly anyone to teach, but thats okay. We have our work cut out for us. We also take the place of the English Elders here too. So on Sundays at 9 We have English Sacrament, then 2nd and 3rd hour we can choose whether we want to go to the English or Spanish classes. Then after that at 12 we have Spanish sacrament. Its so weird to teach in English, but i love how much easier it is to say exactly what i want to. Spanish is coming back to me very slowly. I probably should have studied it more when i was home but thats alright. Nothing I can do now. I've noticed that the Latinos here are a lot less accepting to the Gospel. We get a lot more doors slammed in our face than we ever did in Mexico. The sisters found out that it was my birthday on Friday so they went over to our house and left me a huge birthday message and a treat. Classic sister thing to do ha. Its also required of us to fun 2 or 3 miles everyday here, so my legs are killing from that. Im definitely not used to running like that. Elder Facer always calls me an old man sense ive had all my knee problems and cant run to well. My knees doing good so far though. No problems to report there. Our apartment is soooo nice compared to what im used to as a missionary. Compared to where the sisters live, ours is still garbage ha. Things are going great right now. Im trying my hardest again and soooo happy to be here. no crazy stories yet but im sure they will come! There was a baptism yesterday in our ward and they asked me to speak and I was just all smiles. ( Especially sense it was in English and I could actually talk. ) I love being a missionary again and spreading the gospel. The Gospel is truly the best thing out there. I love the mission, I love my companion, and I love this area that im serving in! Lifes good! 

If anyone wants to send me anything the mission home address is - 1814 N Echo

Fresno CA 93704 United States

Love Elder Richardson!

Leaving and Arrival in Fresno - May 5, 2017 Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Hey parents! I made it alright! My preparation day is on Mondays. I know that my area is all the way on the southern tip of the mission and that my companion is from Texas. Things are going well. Love and miss you guys! Talk to you on Monday!

Secretary, California Fresno Mission

Office:(559) 445-1008

Fax: (559) 445-1477

Email:  2011360@ldschurch.org