May 21, 2012

Hola. did you like package :) not much in it, didn't get to go to the souvenir place that I wanted to but...next time.

We had a pretty good week this week. couldn't meet with a lot of our people but found some new ones! before Sister Ganpurev came here we talked to some Mongolian's on the street, we didn't know they weren't Korean at first but when they didn't understand us we were like ~ oh where are you from? and so we just gave them a card with our number on it anyway cause didn't know how to talk to them, Well they called us!!! wanted to meet...so we had Sister Ganpurev call and talk to them for us to  see if they really wanted or what they were calling for....and then she actually transferred here! so we met with them this week and I just sat back and listened to her teach hehe ...but I did catch on to what she was teaching sometimes! I heard "coffee" and by reading hand language she told them about the organization of the church I think hehe....but she said they are interested and the wife had actually been to a baptismal service in Mongolia so she thought it was neat to find our church was also in Korea. they seem very interested but they can't come to church cause they work...story of my life.  so we will see what happens...

I think maybe I told you about Carly? maybe not I cant remember sorry. Anyway super cute family that we are meeting with. gospel time is a little hard cause I know they aren't super interested right now. But we are getting so close to their family, I just love them so much and hope we can just love them into being interested haha. the mom always tells me to tell president that I cant leave this area  and that when I finish mission to come back and live with them or come visit, and she said yesterday this word that means like we seem like family and have this connection like we met in the worlds before ( from buddhist belief, but it lead perfectly into plan of salvation where i said no really we believe we could have met before this life too!)

We had  ward conference yesterday in one of the wards....it is such  a big deal here! because I guess they count how many people in sacrament and since the wards here are small they are scared they will make them combine wards and have to go somewhere else....so they go ALL out trying to get less actives and new people to church. it was good a lot of our less actives did come, and even a lady walking by the church decided to come on in too! it was great!

Well i probably should get going i love you so so so much, hope you have a good week! LOVE YOU! Sister Richardson

May 14, 2012

What a week!Sister Kang was pretty sure she was leaving...and she was right. when we first got calls I was a little sad...not because I wanted to leave but I was just a little jealous that she was going with Sister Paul...I just prayed to have a companion that would go running with me in the mornings, but then my companion got here :( haha but i am soo so so so so happy with Sister Ganpurev. She's the cutest nicest, most chill and clean missionary it's so amazing. I've been sick so we haven't gone running but i even think i might be able to talk her into it ;)

Our district leader gives me a hard time cause we always get fed...he says you just pick up investigators so they take you to dinner haha..he's just jealous...but seriously...we got fed every single night last week! It was crazy...but so cool :) especially since we don't have much food at home. We have so much traveling we run out of funds fast and don't get to go grocery shopping...so our fridge is a little lonely, but the Lord provides hehe. We had lots of good lessons this week..and even picked up two new investigators. Our English class took us to dinner and two of them said they wanted to start the 30/30 program! So cool. So yesterday was interesting...there's a girl from Scottsdale that just moved here 3 weeks ago to teach English, she doesn't want to go to the English ward cause its too far away so she came to our ward. So i got to translate all of church for her....luckily she doesn't know how much she missed or the fact that I made up parts hehe but it was pretty fun, definitely helped me focus and I think I understood a lot more than I thought. 

 

OK so I want to share a few of my favorite quotes of the week...and maybe from before then too. 

1)  I have a little investigator named Carly and we read a big book that has different stories in it and one was about Martin Luther King...well naturally she doesn't know about Martin and so I try to explain a little background about blacks and whites and she says " ya i don't know him, i just only know Obama." haha...yikes

2) First day with new companion. Find out her stomach is hurt , she went to Doc and he told her it's cause shes eating a lot of food (poor girls eaten healthy in her country (Mongolia) all her life and then goes to MTC and gains like 30 lbs) he tells her if she wants to die young she can keep eating that way, so she says to me "well Jesus and Joseph Smith died young, I guess it wouldn't be so bad"  haha...i said yeah but i think theirs was a little more honorable hehe.

3) While I was whining about gaining weight to Sister Kang (or maybe Sister Lee AH cant remember) she said " you aren't gaining weight, you just feel like it cause you are filled with the Holy Ghost"  nice come back right...missionary humor...gotta love it.

4) met a guy who wanted to learn English, my age...came to English class and we invited to soccer and he came a few times...one of the times while we were on the bus he tried to speak English and say his foot was sick. in Korean sick and hurt are same word...so he translated to English but used sick instead of hurt haha I laughed pretty hard...maybe i already told you that story sorry.

I will think of more while i go read your letter

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

May 4, 2012 - May 6, 2012

Sister Richardson marks her ONE YEAR OUT Day!   Can't believe how fast the time has flown!

Well you're on a cruise so iI dont feel bad for writing a short letter :) I'll have some good pics for you next week and I get to talk to you soon!!! hoooray!

This Wednesday is parents day! ( no fathers and mothers day...just one parents day) so HappyParents Day...thanks for being amazing parentals :) May 5th is also Childrens Day...so next year we can celebrate and you can tell me Happy Childrens!:)

We had a great week but I'll  just tell you one really cool story and then i have to go.

We were trying to find a members apartment but since theres a million hyndai apartments in korea we realized it was harder then we thought...so while standing in the parking lot - lost and confused - a cute lady with 3 kids comes up to us and asks if we are from the church..But she said the old translation of our church. She said she used to go to our church when she was in middle school and knew that the church was right by her she said she had thought about going before but just never did. So anyway she wanted our number and said she might come some day....well she called back a couple days later and wanted to meet. So we got to go see her at her home. We found out she's not a member she just went to church with her friends for a little while. I have never met someone who is searching for the truth like she is. For the first time someones after truth..not english! hooray!  She looks like Kate Hudson, and has 3 adorable kids...and she really is just so confused about religion. So we get to teach her! I'm so grateful God let us meet her...we definitely weren't planning on being where we were but he planned it out just right. Unfortunately she didn't make it to church but we hope to see her again this week and start lessons!

LOVE YOU! have fun be safe... see you soon and talk to you even sooner!!!

Sister Richardson

April 29, 2012

So this week we had an exciting call...one of our members was like screaming over the phone "come here now!" so we ran...( after getting permission to leave the mission boundaries of course) to our members work....apparnetly someone that worked there trashed the place and tried to burn member records... so she needed help cutting the records out of the plasic cause they were all wet from killing fire. So anyway...I felt like a detective...and it was sweet.  The cops came in and took pictures and such...but whats really cool is...the ladys boss was so shocked that we would just go help and at first thought we were just friends but then saw our stuff in the other room and looked at the Books of Mormon. So he asked her a little about us and sparked some interest. Kinda cool cause he said how koreans say we are a cult and he said oh its doesn't seem like that at all basically. So she wants us to go back and give him a Book of Mormon and try to talk to him a little more about it. She her self is less active...so it was cool to see that she really does believe and want others to know too...

We got to have President interviews this week....porbably last one with this president :( i will miss him so much he is so amazing. If anything is wrong in the world and you just walk into a room that he is in...the problem is gone. It's quite amazing. he doesn't even have to say a word he just smiles and you can feel Gods love...it's...wow. I'm sad next transfer is his last...and you might never get to meet him :( I better get going. have a good week! please please please drive safe. Can't wait to hear your voice on Mother's Day! LOVE YOU.  - Sister Richardson #2

April 16, 2012

Happy Easter....

It finally came to Korea! :) since we watched general conference last week we celebrated Easter this week...which is why I was so confused! We went to Boondang Ward this week and it was so fun. The primary children sang 2 special songs in Sacrament...so stinkin cute! The girls all had flower wreaths on their heads and there was 2 little girls up front that were so loud haha it was great...they sang the song that goes like... " hossanna...blessed be the name of the most..."yeah that one...only in Korean. So 2 people would sing the verse and then they'd all scream HOSSAANNNAA.... we tried so hard not to laugh...but it wasn't possible. It just made my day.

So we got to see that girl again on friday...we went to her house...she lives in like the nicest area! Her apartment was so stinkin nice and she looked so good...showered and everything...she just needs friends...she was really happy to see us again...and she gave us so much food and makeup and random things..and on the way out she hands us a purse ( im pretty sure its chanel! ) it was weird...I wasn't expecting that nice of a place. We are going to see her again tonight and try to do more gospel time...we only ate dinner with her last week. so we'll see how it goes!

This week I got to go on exchanges with Sister McClellan to her area. We had a lots of fun...and they have an investigator who is a soccer player! First woman athlete I've met! She is even going to Mississippi to play for a university! I was so happy to meet her and she was pretty excited that I had played too. She is getting baptized this weekend ..pretty cool...she wants to get together somehow..someday and play some soccer :) it was a fun lesson..all the commandments, so we had some girls from the ward teach with us and it was pretty entertaining teaching law of chastity haha...the investigator couldn't even read the pamphlet without laughing.  Anyway...the next day we had Sisters training...so all the sisters in the mission got together with AP's{Assistant to the President} and President and got trained...it was way good...and fun to see everyone...there's not very many of us anymore and they are almost all younger (in the mission) than me...its so wierd.

Sorry out of time! Hope you have a good week!  I loev you and miss you!   리차드슨 자매

Happy Easter ~ April 8, 2012

I dont know exactly how I got confused but Im pretty sure it was announced that Easter was next Sunday...so I didnt know that it already happened...so I'm thinking maybe I'll  celebrate this weekend anyways.  But I'm so glad you got to go to roosevelt and enjoy family and friends. Sounds like everyone made it home safe..and hopefully getting over sicknesses and sun burns and cactus stings.

This week was really good. Met some great people, and had fun doing it. The weather is getting much better...today is actually pretty warm. Get rain or snow randomly but its been alot better.  I feel like I need to apologize to dad for making fun of him eating those nasty things out of shells at the payson chinese reastaraunt...I eat them now...whether I love it or not , well thats unimportant...but I eat them. Weird to see how far I've come hehe.

We got to watch general conference this weekend...we had a bunch of missionarys and we all brought snacks and watched it on a big screen tv at church..it was a dream. We went streetboarding after conference yesterday...and had a very interesting event if you will haha....this lady walked by and we talked to her...couldn't tell if she was drunk or not but...something was different...anyway long ( though very interesting) story short...she felt sick and wanted the elders to carry her home...but they couldnt...so i gave her a piggyback haha....we got to the building and I swear she said 3rd floor but when we got there...she said keep going haha. I mean she was skinny...but...it was a good workout hehe. she was fun, shes 26, and I think she needs a lot of help....but I felt like we were really supposed to meet her. We left and started streetboarding again but she came back! She was hungry and bored...and pretty much I think just needs friends....we spent a while with her ...it was uncomfortable but cool in a lot of ways. I was glad i had just listened to a talk on not judging others haha.I really got to see what she can be in the future and not the state she is in now. we took her back to the church to try and watch a movie or something and get out of cold but just ended up talking. her leg is hurt....i think its actually out of the socket ( hence why she cant climb stairs) so we asked how she hurt it and all she would say is i met a bad person. yikes. when we first saw her hair looked like she didn't wash it in awhile and make-up was packed on and smeared, she washed her face in the bathroom and I braided her hair out of her face...she looked like a completely different person, she looked so beautiful. We had to help her back to the place we took her before. We are gonna try to see her on tuesday again. When we were talking at the church she said she had seen me before, it just kinda reaffirmed that we were supposed to meet. I'm not sure how we are going to be able to help her, but I could feel Gods love for her, and I know he wants to help her too. Hopefully next week I'll have a good update on her.

Our district is going on a picnic today! hooray for good weather!!!! I hope you have great week and enjoy april while it lasts hehe....they seeem to be flying by!

LOVE YOU! Sister Richardson

March 25, 2012 and April 1, 2012

March 25, 2012

Hello!

Well this week went by pretty fast! My companion is on an airplane headed to America right now! :( I'm pretty sad she was so fun. But she was really excited to go.   Here are the four of us before they left

Right now I'm back with Sister Kang because Sister Ha also left. So we are together at least until transfers this Wednesday but we will know tonight if we are staying together or not. I think we probably will. I think they are going to join the 2 wards again, so it should be fun, it will be a really busy transfer if that's what happens.  This Wednesday starts my 7th transfers....so weird! 

 This picture was taken at my last Zone Conference.............>>>>

hmmm...Some fun highlights.....maybe I forgot to tell my greenie, who hasn't been to the MTC yet, that you can't be alone. But after I figured out she jumped into a taxi and took off....I thought maybe we should go over a few of the rules! haha   Yikes! We were having lunch with a less active member and she gets a phone call and starts freaking out so she gets up and starts walking out of the restaurant but all of her stuff was still at the table, she just had the phone, so I thought she was going to call or something...no...she left. haha. but she met up with Sister Ha and Sister Kang so she wasn't alone for long and I was with  a member so it turned out ok...but yikes...I don't know what they were thinking putting me as a trainer...good thing she will get retrained haha.

Well we had a good week of visiting members. We don't have very many investigators and all the ones we do have cancelled  this week. But we had a lot of meals with members and less actives it was really good. We visited the Relief Society President and her husband. They were so fun. They were telling me about all this weird food they eat...and said we might have to go eat some together! :S   She said when she was little they ate frogs all the time...it was cute how she explained how they cooked them haha... he plays soccer with us every Saturday so he always says I'm so good and I need to go every week haha.

I almost ate dog this week but my comp really didn't want to so we didn't go. One lady who started coming to English class said she will take me though :)

Most woman here won't eat it just cause it's dog, But men do and I've heard it's soooo delicious.

[I asked her  "Do they keep them for pets - or like chickens- to eat?" ~ Her reply was "no the ones for pets are different...I think they raise the ones you eat probably like on a farm of some sort...but I don't really know, I just know they are big, and they aren't pets!]

April 1st
Hello!
Well we had a great week this week. Transfers were this week but Sister Kang and I are still together and serving in both areas.  It is a little hectic and a lot of time is spent on the bus but we were still able to
see a lot of people, and pick up new investigators! While street boarding one day with the Elders this older lady marches up to them and says she wants her daughter to study English with them...of course we were the ones who got to go :) She literally pulled us off the street and took us home. She was such a funny old lady and i just thought wow this is going to be interesting. So we walk into the house and she peaks her head in the first room and says "I found English Teachers they are here..and we hear  "HUUUH??" I was like uh oh we are gonna get kicked out but we walked in and the cute little granddaughter (9years old and the exact Korean version of Evanna!!) comes out and says Hi and then her mom (the one who i thought would say no way) saw us and said "missionary's?" we were so shocked cause we don't hear that word in English...and surprised she knew it we asked how she knew, i guess her Dad or someone else in her family used to study with us too! We ended up having a good time with all three of them! So cool!  They want to meet like every day! We went back the next night for dinner as well...super cool.  Some elders in our zone sent us a text with
information on a former investigator of theirs that lived in our area now and they said she doesn't sound like she has much interest but I guess you can try. So i wasn't expecting much when we called, but she wanted to
meet! and we had a really great time with her and will hopefully see her again this week!

    One of the craziest stories of the week...we went and ate dog with Irene! It wasn't too bad actually...the only gross part was the stomach...and it was just the thought of it that was gross it didn't actually taste too bad.  Luckily we followed it up with ice cream though :) She is so nice...she knew I loved this snack
you can get on the street and she bought me the mix to make it at home and the special spatula thing to make it with!

We were able to pick her up as an investigator too...she said she is curious and wants to
know more about our church...and if she has time would come to church...she didn't come this week...but maybe next, next week!  I'm kinda sad that the area is 2 wards because we will only get to go to
each of them 2 times this transfer. So it will be hard to get to know the members...they are both such good wards...but lots of members in them so I don't know if we can visit them all either.

The weather is getting a little warmer...mornings are nice but afternoon and nights are still cold...and of course wind...i think this month the yellow dust from china will come...not too sure how bad it is...some people have said you have to wear masks and glasses and such, but then some people say you'll hardly notice. So who knows?

We met a guy from Cali/Utah  he is in Boondang ward now...he moved out here for work, but family couldn't come yet so he's all alone out here. Retired from Navy and is doing something else now...not sure what, but
it was cool to meet him.

The elders in Boondang ward with us are Elder Rowe and Morris ? I think thats his name haha hes a greenie ,
but cool thing is it's Elder Rowes best friends little brother...and he got to train him. Pretty neat. They are fun. Well I'm  gonna try to see if I can send some pictures. So i'll get going now. I guess you will be at roosi this weekend without me :(    have fun.... if you have too.
hehe.. stay warm, I love you!