STILL THE SAME...

Hey guys!

Things here are still the same. It is getting harder and harder to email you since nothing really changes. I will try and tell about some of the fun things we did this week. The first thing that comes to mind is having Elder Allen with us for a few days until transfers. He and I get along really well and it was nice to have someone else with us for a little bit.

We saved a duck! We were leaving the other Elders house when I spotted a random duck in the shade of a tree. I walked over to it to see how close I could get. Amazingly it let me walk right up to it. I then had to try and pick it up of course. It let me pick it up but soon it was not happy and tried to fly away but it could not really fly. We decided to try and feed it some bread and also took some pictures/selfies with it haha! We then decided we would take it to the nearest pond. We wrapped her in a towel got in our car and headed for a pond in a near by neighborhood. Surprisingly the duck didn't mind the car ride at all and was calm the entire time. We reached the pond and tried to put the duck in the water but as soon as it touched the water it flipped out and flew back to us. We tried to put it in the water but it did the same thing. We decided to leave but as we walked back to the car the duck followed us. It followed us all the way from the pond to the car. It walked into the street as a truck was coming so Elder Natay got out of the car to grab the duck when it decided to fly away for real. We never saw it again but it was an interesting experience.

We also had the opportunity to do some more service. We helped Shirley fix her water fall thing in her back yard. We also helped set up a huge fundraiser for the Billings Clinic. We helped out Friday evening and Saturday morning. It was fun to do that. Plus we did it as a one so it was even better. I guess it was a pretty big fundraiser though. Like $80 a seat or something and Leann Rimes performed. We also got free food which is always a plus.

For Preparation day we went golfing and played some Basketball. I played really well on the golf course and shot a 82. Not bad for someone who learned to play golf on their mission. It was a fun time. Also our new Zone leader, Elder Sumner, is from Highland Utah and is awesome. He is a big archery hunter so we spent a lot of Friday and Saturday while setting up for the Fundraiser and Preparation talking about hunting. He hunts the Wasatch front every year and chases some toads. His hunting buddy killed a couple of studs the last couple of years on the front. I will forward some pictures.

As far as teaching goes it was kind of a slow week. We are trying to plan a Temple trip with T. so she can do Baptisms for the dead with a family in the ward. Hopefully it will work out. Things with K. are still going well although he couldn't make it to church. We started meeting with a women named C. again which is awesome. We used to meet with her but it has been like 4 months and she wants to start meeting weekly again. She is an inactive member.

I love you tons! I hope everything goes well tomorrow with your doctors appointment!

-Elder Richardson

STAYING PUT IN LAUREL...

(THIS WAS ON MONDAY FROM JAKE)

Hey!

Ok so we have had a way crazy day with transfers and people getting ready to leave. So the news is I am going to stay! Haha. That is right! I am staying and guess what so is Elder Natay. We are both pumped we are staying. We are the only companionship in the whole Zone staying together! Pretty crazy. Anyways we are headed to dinner but I will write emails tomorrow to fill you in on the past week! Love ya!

-Jake

(FROM JAKE ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON)

So the transfer news is I am going to be staying here in Laurel! I am so pumped. I wouldn't have minded a change of scenery but at the same time I love Laurel! Also Elder Natay is staying so we will still be companions! Which is fine. Six months is a long time to be with a companion and you definitely have plenty of time to find out what you like and don't like about them. I have found the key is to focus on the things you like about each other and then you can pretty much get along with any companion! Other than Elder Natay and I no one else in the zone is basically staying the same. There were a ton of changes made. I am pumped for this transfer though!

Anyway so things have been pretty slow this week as far as missionary work goes. We had a few people cancel on us and what not. We have been making progress with on Less active kid. He is 20 years old. I might have told you about him his name is K. He is a good kid just looking for some answers. He came to church this Sunday and stayed for all three hours. Church was pretty good. We were at church from 8-3 because we went to both wards since Elder Allen's companion went home on Saturday and is with us until he gets his new companion on Wednesday. So we went to both our ward and theirs. My talk actually went great!!! It was probably the best talk I have given. I think because instead of writing the whole thing out I just made an outline with bullet points and went for it. I got a ton of compliments which was nice since I hate speaking!

Things have been pretty crazy with transfers and everything but hopefully by Thursday things will be back to normal. Tonight we have to go into Billings and pick up a couple of missionaries who are staying in Laurel for the night because of transfers. Some exciting news though. The mission just got 3 brand new Toyota Corollas and we are getting one!! We were actually just in Laurel to clean a car for Elder Hopkins the vehicle coordinator. While we were there we talked about the new corolla and he even let me choose which one/color I wanted. He is awesome!!  We are getting it this evening when we go pick up the missionaries who are staying in Laurel. I will make sure to send some pictures of the new car when I get a chance!

Yes, I miss monsoons a ton!!! We have got a couple of rain storms but nothing like AZ. Although someone was saying it is supposed to start cooling off which is exciting and scary haha. Hopefully it doesn't get to cold before I come home! Sounds like a lot has been happening with family and friends thanks for all the pictures of the weddings and baby.

Now for the important stuff. PLEASE APPLY FOR THE JOB IN LEWISTOWN! It is beautiful up there and I would love to come back to Montana. Plus Managing a refuge would be sweet!!!

I love you a ton and miss you!

-Elder Richardson

P.S. Will you put some gobstoppers & reeses pieces in my package this month so I can share with the other missionaries in the area. Other than that I will love whatever you send my way!! oh I could really use some old spice denali anti perspirant deoderant. Thanks mom!!!

________________________________________________

Hey Dad! 

So I wrote a way long email to Mom that has all the new and exciting information from this last week! I loved reading your email. It sounds like a pretty good week. Especially if you got out to go fishing even if the fishing wasn't the best! You bet I will help you put out those nest boxes! Sounds like fun to me.

So you have got to apply for that job in Lewistown!!! You would love it there! And plus managing a refuge sounds like fun!! It can't hurt to at least apply! Plus why wouldn't they hire you! You would be perfect!

Anyway I can't lie. I am getting more and more excited about chasing coues this fall! I was also thinking it might be a wise decision to maybe sell that little trailer we have and put it towards optics of some kind! I am going to send you a box with the trail cam and bullets etc. hopefully this week. I am just waiting for Bro. Pollock to finish an extra 20 round he said he had and would give us! I hope you get some sweet trail cam pics of a bear or something!

Hey check out this monster this nice old lady made me take! We do service for this little old woman (87) named Shirley twice a week usually. She is a really nice lady. Well we were leaving her house yesterday and I asked her about this buck that I always admire when walking through her garage. She told us the
story about the deer and asked what I thought about it. I told her I thought it is awesome and I would love to know what it scores. I asked if I could take it home and score it when we had some down time and bring it back. She told me that would be fine but I just couldn't bring it back. I told her I couldn't take it since it was her husbands but she literally said she didn't want it and sooner or later it was going to be thrown away. So I decided to take it. I figured she really did not like it and now I can have something to remember her by. Anyway, I scored the deer last night before bed and came up with 185" but with the deductions for the extra points and normal deductions it scores 171". It is a beast with unreal front forks!!!

Love ya!

-Jake

MEETING ELDER RUSSELL M NELSON...

Hey!

This week was decent and ended in an awesome way! Nothing to exciting happened throughout the week. Just teaching the same people. We are really trying to find some new people to teach but that isn't as easy as I would like it to be! We are really focusing on getting referrals and contacting them within 24 hours which has been successful in past areas so we will see. As for the districts attitude. It just seemed like none of the missionaries in my district were really enjoying there missions and had an attitude that missionary work isn't fun. So for District meeting we just played games (gospel related like scrpitionary) so they weren't stressed out by another meeting. I was also hoping they would see that if we could have fun at a meeting that we can definitely have fun doing missionary work. Tomorrow we have another District meeting that will be focused on attitude and the blessing it is to serve the lord! Also the joy that those that served the Lord in the scriptures felt. In other news I have been asked to speak this coming Sunday. Oh Joy! Haha. I am sure it will be fine but I still am not a fan of speaking in church!

So the big news for the week! On Sunday we had a special dual Stake meeting that only lasted 1.5 hours and was the only meeting for that Sunday. We had a couple special guest, Elder Russel M. Nelson and Elder Stanfill the area 70. It was an amazing meeting and it was awesome to here an Apostle of the Lord in Person. We got there 2 hours before the meeting started to get good seats which worked out perfectly. At the end of the meeting we got to go up and shake his hand and what not. We waited until the very end so most of the people were gone which gave me the perfect opportunity to ask a question to fulfill a bucket list item of mine which is to trade ties with an Apostle. That is right I asked Elder Nelson if he would trade ties with me!! He laughed and told me that the tie he was wearing was a Fathers Day present from his wife. It was worth a try though. I was so scared though haha! Also Elder Stanfill was my Stake President while I served in Columbia Falls so it was great to see him again and get to hear him give a message in his new calling as an area authority!

Things here are going well and I am nervous for transfers this Sunday! I hope nothing changes and Elder Natay and I stay together. Elder Natay and I have hardly anything in common but we love serving with each other and the members here seem to like us a lot! I love you tons and will make sure that I write on Monday next week so you don't worry!

-Elder Richardson

________________________________________

​Dad,

I am glad your tag found you safe and sound!! I was a little nervous!

I don't have a ton to say as I have told Mom pretty much everything in her email. We did have interviews with President Mecham yesterday which are always awesome! I love getting to talk to him. We discussed a lot of stuff mainly focused on my District. By the sounds of it I will probably be staying in Laurel which is fine with me! I also got to talk to him just as a friend about golf for a little and how to fix my pull slice when I drive! He is an amazing person!

I loved the pictures you sent! I honestly miss the desert so much. It is a lot greener down that way than up here. Where do you plan to put the trail cameras? I am going to send you the other trail cam and the bullets here soon. I honestly can't wait to put a coues on the ground!

Love you tons!
-Jake

TRACTING FUN...

Hola!

Thought I would start out with some spanish since we saw 3 real life Mexicans up here in the great white north speaking Spanish for the first time on my mission - it was great!!!!

Anyway, this week was pretty solid. The biggest thing that happened was probably exchanges. We went on exchanges for a few days with the Zone Leaders. It was way fun and we were able to have fun and get a lot of work done. We tracted a ton which wasn't so successful but is always fun/interesting! We talked a lot about the Laurel District which was needed. Elder Hiatt and I discovered some problems and some solutions which should fix those problems! One of the biggest problems being our districts attitude. This District is pretty negative so we are going to try and change that! Hopefully District meeting tomorrow will help with that. That was pretty much it for exchanges though.

We were able to meet with A. and go over the last of the commandments. Which went well. She is still kind of struggling with some word of wisdom issues. :/ We also talked about her baptism date. She doesn't feel ready so we encouraged her to pray about a new date that she feels is right and we are going to do the same. We have a lesson with her this Thursday and hopefully we can set a new date and get things rolling with her!

I also got to talk with Elder Hiatt about staying here in Laurel. He said he thinks I will stay put which was music to my ears. Although that could change. I would really love to just stay here until I finish. I seriously love everything here! The ward, the people, my comp., the District, and the atmosphere of the town! I guess we will see here in a week and a half! Pretty crazy to think I only have 3 months left. The more I think about the more bummed I get. I love being a missionary! I honestly would rather stay out here! Haha. Don't worry Mom, I am still pumped to come home but it will absolutely feel like leaving home to come home if that makes sense! (I totally cried when I read this part!)

I love you guys tons. I am happy to hear you are starting to feel better!! I am also happy to hear Jessica was able to travel safely and get settled in and is enjoying London!

-Elder Richardson

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Dad - 

Not a lot of time to write this week but wanted to send some pictures to you. You can read all about my week in mom's letter.

The first picture is a door we tracted. As you could probably tell they weren't to interested haha, but signs don't stop me! The next 2 pictures are of a bear that Bro. Pollock in our ward killed. The bear is big and supposedly 18 years old! Check out how worn down his teeth are! I know I look good in my golfing outfit huh! haha

love you!
Jake