Richie Tackles Reno: Week 34 - Happy Mother's Day!!!

Skyping with my family on Mother's Day!!

May 11, 2015

Well…long-time-no-talk guys!!!

Haha – not much new since last night. But it was SO much fun to talk to you guys last night, everyone looks awesome! And I totally spaced it, but HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!!!!!!!!!!! I meant to say it to him yesterday, but I totally forgot!! So Happy Birthday dude, I wish I could be with you, but thanks for talking with me yesterday!!

So we had a pretty good week. We had two full days of meetings and trainings, and Elder Krey and I gave trainings at both Zone Training on Tuesday and Zone Conference on Thursday. We also gave one last week, so we feel like that’s about all we do nowadays! But we are still way stoked about our families...we even found one more family with 5 kids – all of them nine and younger! The other families haven’t progressed much...we had a lot of canceled appointments this past week – which we were SUPER bummed about. But this next week we should get things rolling. We are hoping to have some Family Home Evenings with the new families and the Krum family, the family who had us over to Skype home yesterday! Two of the new families we are teaching actually know each other, and they made the connection that we are teaching them both when one of the kids brought a Book of Mormon to the other family's house...and they were like “Hey – what the heck, that’s ours, please don’t steal it!” And the kid was like, “What?! This is my Book of Mormon” and he had his name in the front cover, but what a small world!!

On Exchanges with Elder Baker

One cool experience that happened a few weeks ago on exchanges that has really impacted me was we were in a lesson in Truckee, California and I was with Elder Fletcher. We went in to a lesson with a member who isn’t very active, and we taught about the Plan of Salvation. After we wrapped up the lesson, she looked at me and said, "Elder, you are such a powerful teacher. I can tell that you really believe in what you teach, and you are eager to tell others about it." Those words have just been playing in my mind over and over again, and it was such an answer to my prayers because I was beginning to wonder if I was a good teacher. I feel like I understand the doctrine fairly well, but last transfer we weren’t having much success in finding new people, and so I was getting kinda down on myself, because I felt like I was not portraying my message well enough. And then when she told me that, I was overwhelmed with peace and comfort because I knew it was Heavenly Father telling me that it was all ok. And I still have SOOOOO much room for improvement, but it was such an answer to my prayers, and a huge moral boost from Heavenly Father.

There's another experience similar to that one that I had before my mission that I want to tell you all about - and I share this experience with permission from Beth Kirby:

After being ordained to an Elder, (but before I left on my mission), I was called upon last summer to go with Brother Jones to visit Sister Beth Kirby in our ward and give her a blessing. I was very nervous, but I remember my other friends who were already ordained and had the chance to give blessings had said that it was a wonderful experience and when they started the blessing they immediately felt Heavenly Father prompting them exactly what to say, and how cool it was. So I went and expected to have a similar experience. Brother Jones called on me to actually give the blessing, and when I started, my mind was just absolutely blank, and I struggled to know what to say. I left feeling very disappointed in myself, and wondering if I was worthy to hold the Priesthood or what I was doing wrong to not receive the revelation that all my peers spoke about. I just kind of went on for a few weeks, and then at Stake temple night, Sister Price came up to me and said that she was Sister Kirby's visiting teacher, and how Sister Kirby said that the blessing I gave was exactly what she needed to hear, and helped her so much. When I heard that I was overcome with the Spirit, because it was again Heavenly Father telling me that it was all ok and that the blessing worked. I also received a letter in the mail from Sister Kirby when I first got into the field a few months ago saying the same thing.

God knows each and every one of us. He loves us. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to be happy. He is there when we are at our lowest points, and he is there at our highest points. I am so grateful for Him. I am so grateful for the chance that I have to share this message with every single person I talk to. It is truly a pleasure.

I love you guys!! Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms out there, you all are the best, and you all are certainly under-appreciated. Thank you for all that you do. And to MY Mom, you are the best! Like I told you yesterday, I would not be here right now without you. Thank you for all that you have taught me, and all that you do now to teach me. There are certainly lots of things that I have questions about, but I do not doubt that my Mother knew it, and that she taught me that if I do not doubt, the Lord will deliver. I love you Mom, you are the best!!!!!

And to the rest of you who aren't my mom, I love you too!!

Love,

Elder Todd