Week 4: Best week so far.

Hey All!

Wow! What a week. Proselyting was the craziest thing... like I'm almost speechless. I went on an exchange with someone from the Quezon City mission which is pretty close to mine. My companion for the day was a Filipino. And yes your typical Filipino, I towered over him. The surroundings we taught in were heart breaking. The houses aren't even houses. They are just tarps help up by string. How any human lives and can live in those conditions blows my mind.

The family we went and taught was the Moulton Family. They are less actives who really struggle with the Word of Wisdom. As we first showed up to the "house", we kicked our shoes off and walked in. Thankfully the house had concrete floors. As we began to say hi, I really struggled with speaking the language. Like everything they have taught in the MTC was a lie.

The family didn't speak anything I knew. So I sat there sweating (not just cause of the heat) but because I was so nervous. The family was so sweet to me still and wanted to talk to me so much. They didn't speak English to well but my companion would translate for me. Bless his soul. As my companion began teaching, I just focused on the less actives faces, because I've learned that if I can't understand their mouth, I can always understand their body language. So I was sitting there watching when all the sudden my companion turns to me and says, "and now Elder Richards will read these scriptures and explain them". My heart just dropped. I didn't have a set of Tagalog scriptures so I had to do my best of translating them. I said a quick prayer in my heart, and began to do the best of my ability and something crazy happened. I wish I could say that all the sudden I was speaking perfect Tagalog, but instead the feelings of the Spirit came over me and gave my heart ease. I can tell that the Spirit also touched the Moulton's. As the lesson went on they accepted the invitation to go to church last Sunday, which is one of the coolest things you could ask for. We ended the lesson with me bearing testimony and saying the prayer in Tagalog. I learned through that experience that I don't need to know the language perfect, as long as the Spirits in the room. I can testify to the strength of the Holy Ghost. 

After the lesson it began to pour rain. The family was so accepting and nice that they offered us crackers and hot chocolate. That may not sound like much but to those people it was everything they had. There house was probably 10 feet x 10 feet. They had a couch, a TV, and a stove. They fed us our treats on a spare chair that was lying around. It still breaks my heart to think about. 

It rains everyday here...

Something real cool is while I was out with my companion last week, we rode a Jeepney. Talk about a crazy form of transportation. My big butt barely fit on it. And it didn't help that my head was touching the ceiling so I had to slouch for an hour. It was SO cool still though. I just love being out here.

One of the craziest things about serving a mission is the 2 days I look forward to are P day, and Sunday. I never would have said that back home but once you are out here Sundays become the best. I never want Sundays to end. Nothing crazy has happened besides proselytizing. I just can't wait to get out but I do love how say and secure the MTC is. Like how I know that my food is safe to eat and that it will always be ready for me to eat whenever.   

Love and miss y'all.

Elder Richards

Elder Rogers: The Coolest Australian Ever!

We think we are all that.