A CHALLENGE...

Hey,

This week was not boring but not to exciting either- lol. Abby was pretty busy so we didn't get in with her but she came to church again. She is so solid. I cant wait for her to be baptized and recieve those blessings she will see in her life from it. We taught a few more lessons this week. I did have the oppurtunity to give a blessing. It was for a ward members daughter who is 40 something and has a really bad disease and  doesn't have long to live. She asked me to give a blessing of comfort. During the blessing I felt the spirit so strong and in turn I cried (like a little girl). But she was so thankful and said it was just what she needed to hear! I honestly cant remember half the stuff I said in the blessing when I was trying to go back and think about it. It is so cool to just be a tool in the Lords hands! 

Saturday we went to the Canadian border. Our area is huge!!! On the way there we saw some elk, a fox out in a field jumping around (I think on mice?) and 2 moose!!! It was such a beautiful drive! I took some pictures so I will try and get them to you soon. 

It really is hard to have to be with someone else 24/7. But everytime we get in a disagreement, I am learning to not try and find what he is doing wrong, but now I look to see what I can change in myself. It is really weird. It is almost like I am maturing! haha. 

Every one up here has been getting sick. I havent gotten it yet and I would like to keep it that way. But since everyone is sick it is hard to get in to teach people. I hope it goes away and fast. 

Yesterday in church there was a lot of talk on Patriarchal blessings. It reminded me to read mine. I am so grateful I have mine, it helps guide and comfort me. I want to challenge all my friends and family to read yours this week, and if you dont have it you should really pray and start thinking about getting yours. It has helped me so much and I know it will help you!

I think that is it for this week. 

Love ya lots.

Elder Richardson

GOING WELL...

Dad -

It is going well. Abby has set a date for Feb. 25th. But she still might want to do it in a lake or river?!? Any way it sounds like hunting has slowed down and if I were you I might try ruby or even somewhere like molino basin to try and stay focused on Coues deer. We have seen tons of deer and turkeys here but pretty much no bucks - which sucks. I bought an elk diaphram call to mess around with for like 5 bucks and I'm actually not as bad as I thought I would be. Anyway I'll tell you more about my week in my bigger letter to mom.

Hey,

I'm glad you decided to email this morning. The shaws invited us over to email since the library is closed like you said. The Shaws are so awesome and just make Columbia Falls feel more like home to me. Elder Shaw and I get along really well. His son just got done guiding an elk hunt for someone that sponsors clothing and equipment for cabelas. He shot a bull that scored 381. I guess after they shot it the guy took hundreds of pictures and changed his clothes, gun, scope, etc around to promote stuff. Man I wish I could have his job! 

This week has actually gone really well and we have found 2 more, possibly 3 more people to teach. One is D. B. His wife is a member and he has been visiting with the missionaries for many years now. He has gone through the lessons a few times so I think we are just going to see what he expects from us/his desires and go from there. We ate dinner at the Pences this Tuesday. He is the Bishop for 2nd ward. They invited their neighbors over to join us. They are a young couple with a 6 year old son. During dinner I found out that the dad is a huge hunter and a bowhunter at that. I found out he shoots a Bowtech Insanity just like me so we got into a deep hunting conversation. Anyway long story short he told me while he was on a moose hunt up in Canada he came across a whitetail dead-head that scores 169 and 7/8! He told us after dinner we could go over and see it since he got it back this week from his guide in Canada. So we shared a thought with them and we headed over to his house to see the dead-head while the wife stayed and talked to Sister Pence. He has so many mounts -an elk in the high 380s and a mule deer he says that scores just over 200. Anyways he showed us that whitetail he found and it is unreal! Just huge!!! He said we could come back and visit anytime and get a picture to send you Dad. While we were over at their house Sister Pence gave J. (the wife) a Book of Mormon and she said she would love to read it. I guess the Pences had been working on these guys for a couple years and finally gave them a Book of Mormon so I'm super excited to see where it goes.

Abby has chosen a date to be baptized!!! The date is Feburary 25th. She still might want to be baptized in a river or lake so that would be pretty cool but super cold. She is just awesome! She comes to church every week, she is already half way through Alma, and she keeps all her commitments. I cant wait for her to be baptized.

So we had to talk this week in 1st wards sacrament meeting. I thought coming on a mission would help me not be nervous but I was wrong. I'm just glad it is over -haha. 

Oh ya, we went sledding last p-day which was super fun until one of our Zone Leaders Elder Burrows broke his finger. I was on this huge sled with him when he broke it and it was nasty!!! He had to go to the hospital so our p-day was cut a little short. I think we are just playing B-Ball to day so that should be fun and warm. It actually hasn't been too cold. It has been in the 20's for the most part although it did get down to 3 one morning (see picture)! Thanks for the updates...we actually got to watch the end of the 49ers game and the start to the Ravens game! Some members with a less active son we went to visit yesterday basically forced us to stay for a little and watch the game! I wasn't going to complain but I'm not going to lie - it felt weird and I did feel guilty afterwards! :/

I'm including pictures for ya. I think that is it for this week!

Love,

Elder Richardson

Snow Shoeing in Glacier National Park on p-day 1-7-13

 Glacier National Park while snow shoeing 1-7-13

 Yep - it's REALLY that cold!

 Deer 

 Great stream

Eagles feeding on dead deer - awesome!

 Wild turkeys - WILD! 

 Me with some of my Christmas loot.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT THIS WEEK:

Who can you invite to church, to dinner, or over for a quick thought, or to share your testimony with? 

Call your missionaries...they want to help you and share what they know!

NOT EVEN HOMESICK...

Hello -

I'm doing great! Im not even homesick that much anymore. I've found when you are working all day and staying busy you have no time to think about anything but missionary work. I hope you all are feeling better, everyone up here is sick :(

This last week was a pretty good one. First off, Abby is doing really well. She wants to be baptized 100% but she wants to be baptized in a river! Which would be awesome but she wants to wait until spring when it starts to warm up. We are trying to tell her the blessings she will recieve from being baptized now rather than later. We have a lesson with her this Thursday so we will hopefully have a final answer then! Unfortuanately we have not been able to get back in with Brother W.'s girlfriend, they have been pretty busy. 

Some other good news...we have the oppurtunity to speak in 1st ward next week on how members can be better member missionaries! I'm actually kind of excited to speak lol. 

Snow shoeing in Glacier National Park was a blast! I love Elder and Sister Shaw! They treat us like their own kids and help us however they can. We went over to a less actives house this week to do some service. His name is Jimmy M. We were planning on just moving a safe and some other thing down to his basement for him, but after we got done he asked us if he could teach us how to reload bullets!!! So Elder McKee and I realoaded 50 .357 shells for him. It was awesome to learn some tricks from him and how to reaload in general.

So I think the weather up here is going to start to get worse. It has been snowing almost non stop the last few days and hasn't got over 20 degrees :(  Although we did have some sun shine last week, at least enough to need my sunglasses! 

We got transfer calls this morning and only 1 Elder is leaving from our zone. But he is one of my best friends up here. His name is Elder Nielson. He is from Blanding Utah and was serving in Eureka. He leaves tomorrow at  for Billings. He is the new online AP. He is now over all online missionary work and works in the mission home. He is excited but sad at the same time. 

We are going sledding for P-Day today so that should be fun. I think that is it for now. Oh ya - we also found out when the new missionaries (18 year olds) get here, they are going to divide Columbia Falls and have 2 sets of missionaries here, and I might be training at 3 months into my mission! :/ Im kind of nervous about that. Hope you all have a great week and dont get sick!

Love,

Elder Richardson

p.s. Thanks for the package!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT THIS WEEK:

P-Day Fun in Glacier National Park...

We received an email and this picture yesterday and wanted to share it with you: 

Dear Brother and Sister Richardson:

Just a note to tell you how much we are enjoying having your son in the mission with us.  We were in the MTC the same time and arrived here a week before he got here.  We were able to meet him when he arrived on the bus and he lives just down the street from us.  We have been able to spend quite a bit of time with him and he is great.  What a great attitude.  His trainer Elder McKee is one of the most humble YM I have ever known  and they make a great team.  It really is a pleasure to have him here.  He taught in our District Meeting this week and I just love how he says it like it is.  We don’t have a lot of time to beat around the bush out here and he thinks a lot like I do.  We took the Zone snow shoeing this week on PDay and introduced him to some Montana winter out in Glacier Park.  I have attached a photo of him on the river crossing.  If you would like to send me your mailing address I will send off some more pictures at some point.  The camera I use creates files that only allow me to email one at a time but we have taken quite a few since he got here.  Thanks again for sharing Elder Richardson with us.  He fits right in with us up here.  Sister Shaw and I are from Alberta Canada so we are no strangers to the cold and snow  and  it is important to enjoy the seasons.  I am familiar with your country as I went to ASU as a young man.  I love Arizona and like to go there every winter for a few weeks to escape the cold.  My brother has a place in Casa Grande that he purchased a couple of years ago as a vacation property so it has been nice to stay there.  We have very close friends in Mesa and they come north in the summer as well.  I always take the time to go to the Desert Museum and we visited there again about a year ago.  I won’t be making it down that way for a couple of years so save up some sunshine.  

Sincerely

Elder and Sister Shaw

Bowling, Snowshoeing, and the Plan of Salvation...

Hey guys,

This week was the first "real" missionary filled week in awhile! We didn't have any parties for the holidays so it was all missionary work all the time! Which can get a little exhausting but makes you feel so much better! 

Anyway for P-Day we played sports as normal but then after dinner we went bowling for 2 hours for New Years Eve! It was fun to go bowling with the zone! 

The Shaws (Senior missionaries) came to our district meeting this Tuesday and talked to us and gave us some advice which was really nice of them, and it took some time up so our discussions didn't have to be as long.

 So the other night we ate dinner at Brother W's place. He just recently got divorced so we thought it was going to be just him. To our surprise his new girlfriend and her two sons were there. We found out that Brother W. took her to temple square this Christmas to see the Christmas lights. She loved it and they went into the visitors center which has really interested her in the church. After dinner we actually ended up teaching her a 2 hour lesson on the Plan of Salvation!! We are hopefully going back this week! 

Abby finally got back in town so we went to visit her. We were a little scared to see what her parents would think about her investigating the church. They told her she should do whatever made her happy!! We talked about baptism in the lesson and she said before she decided she wanted to go to a baptism first. There happened to be one the next day. Sister Holyoak, Abby and us went to the baptism and afterward the first thing she said was "Who is going to dunk me?"! So now we just have to pick a date! It is so great to see how much she loves the church!! I cant wait for her to be baptized! 

Other than that this week was a whole lot of people either being sick or to busy to see us which gets old real fast haha! Today we are going Snow Shoeing up in Glacier so im super excited for that. I'll take lots of pictures for you! Also transfer calls are in a week. They shouldn't effect me until next transfer since you train for 2 transfers, but they might. 

Also could you send some deer jerky in the package this week if you get time?!? :)

Love ya,

Elder Richardson

FOOD FOR THOUGHT THIS WEEK -

Christmas Nerf Gun War...

We thought you would enjoy seeing your Missionary at the Christmas party we hosted for all of them!  We truely appreciate your Missionarys and the work they do here in Montana! We also have a son currently serving in South Carolina and we understand the sacrifice the family makes and what a blessing it is to hear from members who have spent time recently with them.

These pictures were taken on Friday night 12-21-12. They are all well and seemingly happy!

Thanks for Sharing your Missionary with us!

Steve and Cindy Holyoak

Dear Brother and Sister Holyoak,

We just got back into town from a family members funeral in California and I can't thank you enough for the pictures of Jake and the rest of the group. After a very hard weekend...they brought a smile to our faces. He speaks very highly of you and your family, and has enjoyed being in your home. We are so grateful for members like you that take these fine young men into their homes and hearts and welcome them like they were family members. I know it makes a difference in their lives while they are away from their own families...so THANK YOU! Your kindness helped Jake (Elder Richardson) endure his first Christmas away from us I'm sure.

We wish you all the best in this new year,

Scott & Kendra Richardson

Brother and Sister Richardson,

I am so sorry to hear that you have suffered a loss!  I pray for you and that the emptiness your loss brings, will be filled with  the the comfort of our Heavenly Father. What a blessing it is to have the Gospel and to know that there is a plan that can help us all be together forever!

  I have a little sign on my computer desk that says.. " Mis-sion-ary (noun) someonewho leaves there family for two years so that others may be with their families for eternity".

As I have had 2 of my sons serve a mission, I often read and re-read this sign and find great peace in knowing that others are learning the Gospel and my son is growing spiritualy and understanding the Gospel in ways that will bless him the rest of his life.

Your son .. Elder Richardson has a beautiful and sincere testimony and is doing a wonderful job here in our ward/area.  I meet him and Elder McCee every week to give the missionary lessons to a young lady who is very close to being baptised. His testimony and love of the Gospel has been  a great blessing to this investigator, and she deeply appreciates these 2 young men.

Thank you again for sharing him with us, and thank you for raising such a valiant youn man! 

Sincerely,

Cindy Holyoak