Week 27 - Happy Spring!!

With Elder Young

March 23, 2015

Hello everyone,

How is it going??? The mission here is awesome. I am really starting to love Cold Springs, and the people in it. And Happy Spring!! I can’t believe spring is already here!! I can definitely say that I meet lots of cool and interesting people here, every day!! Many of the people we meet have cool stories or are into cool things, and I really enjoy getting to know all of them!

We had a more normal week, with less crazy stuff going on. Because we are the Zone Leaders, we get to go on exchanges with the Assistants to the President, and so we had Elder Young with us! It was honestly so much fun, probably one of my most favorite exchanges. Elder Young was my Zone Leader for one of my transfers back in Sun Valley, and he served in the Redhills Ward – just in English instead of Spanish. But he is the most bold and confident missionary that I have ever met. He truly "fears no man." I am so grateful that I got to spend a day with him, and learn from him. He has a cool story, because he joined the church as an 8-year old, but went inactive until he was 20 years old and in college. And he tells his story like this: "Well, I was a sophomore in college at Arizona State University, and after crashing on my long board, I decided to reactivate myself instead of join a frat." He is from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and he says that the reason he choose to go to ASU was because he Googled "hottest girls at college" and ASU was the rated number one at the time, so he applied and got in...hahaha...I thought that was pretty funny.

Elder Kingensmith and me

It just so happened on that day that we went with him, we ran into two random guys, and before we could get anything out of our mouths, both guys started bashing us. It has been a while since I have been bashed, so I was taken back by it, but by the end, I could barely hold in my laughter. These guys just LOVED to fight, and they were all very well-versed in the Bible, so they were like "do you know what this word means in the book of Corinthians?" and it was some long word I can’t even remember, and then all three of us were like, nooo we don't. And he was going off like "Wow you guys are trying to preach the word of God, and you don't even know what they all mean!" And all this stuff. My goal was just to "Kill 'em with Kindness" and bear a short testimony and get the HECK out of there. Because it was obvious they were not interested. Thankfully, both Elder Young and Klingensmith were very well versed in the Bible, so they kinda started to bible bash, and when that happened I just started slowly walking away, because these guys wouldn’t even let us tell a two-sentence testimony without throwing their two cents in. It truly was incredible and after each guy I couldn't help but laugh because of how ridiculous they were! Gotta love missionary life.

So this Sunday, (the 5th Sunday of the month) the Bishop brought up the idea to us of having the lesson be about Missionary work. We of course were like "heck yeah!!" and so we put our heads together, and came up with a few ideas of how members can do missionary work. We put them together on a worksheet and gave it to the Bishop. He loved the idea, so we are going to give a training to our ward this next Sunday on how to be member-missionaries! I will forward you the worksheet we came up with. But if you have any ideas, please shoot me a quick letter with them in it this week, so I can use them for this weekend. We are pretty excited about it, especially because we can tie it in with the "April Showers of Miracles" program that we are going to roll-out.

So a little bit about the people we are working with...we are supposed to have a baptism this weekend, but the man had an eye procedure this weekend and couldn't come to church, so we are going to postpone it at least a week. This guy is one of the old classic American Cowboys. He has a ranch with like 5 horses, drives a huge pick-up truck, and wears cowboy boots everywhere he goes. I love spending time with him, because he always has so many funny stories to tell. His wife is a less-active member, returning to church with him. We are excited for him. We have been able to do a lot of service for him, and spend some time with him. 3 years ago he got into a terrible accident, and was smashed into a semi truck by three cars going 70 mph each...(long story...) so he has poor memory and his brain is older than he is, but he is still quite healthy. He works out on his ranch and does more than he should, but that's what I love about him...he is just one of those classic hard-workers. We are excited about him...I will try and send pictures of him next week.

Hey look - a tree!
(There are like no trees in our area at all haha)

Well that's about it!! Life is good here in Cold Springs…can’t complain. I am so grateful for this gospel and the joy that it brings to our lives. I know that as we read the scriptures and pray daily, and attend church every Sunday, the Lord will bless us 10x over. Those three things really are the key. Almost every less-active person we talk to will come up with some excuse as to why they don't come to church anymore, like they were offended, or got a dirty look from a member...but when it comes down to it, the real reason they are having a struggling testimony is because they are lacking in one or two or all of those things (reading scriptures, praying daily, and going to church). I remember having multiple talks with Dad about this, and how even when people have doubts or concerns, as long as they stick to those basics, they will easily overcome whatever doubts or concerns they have. I am so grateful that I have two parents who do just that, and who taught me to do the same. I will be forever grateful for that!

Well that's about all this week. Sounds like you guys are having another snowy winter back there, but hopefully you can have fun at Rosemary Beach!! (but not too much fun without me...)

I love you guys!!

Elder Richmandawg