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Monday, December 19, 2016

Just another week

Hey all! It's been a pretty easy week with not much going on. I wish I had some great stories but it really was just another week of work and hoping for Christmas to be soon.  I forgot to take pictures this week. I am so sorry, since I fogot this week, I will allow you guys to Skype me ;) LOLl jk. Promise I will take lots of pics this week. Sadly no baptisms this week. 

Love you!

Elder Richards

Monday, December 12, 2016

It was a Beautiful White Christmas Saturday!

Hey All! Well this week has been jam packed with a little bit of everything. 

I guess I will start with the White Christmas baptism. Let me first say that it was amazing to see 18 people baptized at once. As full time missionaries we had the opportunity to see the baptismal candidates a song. While we were up singing and I was looking at all these candidates dressed in white, I felt the Spirit. It was a confirmation of the work we were doing was right. My district did awesome at White Christmas. Of the 18 baptism, my district alone had 11 of them. And there were 3 districts present at the baptism. 

Now for a little bit of unhappy news. Rowena was not baptized on Saturday. They weren't able to get married in time before. This was heartbreaking to me at the time, but I guess everything happens for a reason. I am just going to keep telling myself that. For a little bit of happy news. We did have 1 baptism. Her name is Jane, and she is the niece of one of RC's. (Recent convert).  It was amazing to have a baptism, but hot darn I wish everything would have worked out in time with Rowena. I guess another Saturday will do. 

Outside of that we have been jam packed going every where during December. I don't mind being busy. Better busy than having nothing. I miss you all so much and hope everyone has a great week. 
2 weeks till Christmas!!! 

The White Christmas Group


Cute Jane

Day of Service
In the Christmas Spirit

How cool!


Monday, December 5, 2016

Feeling super Grateful!



 Hello all. I am missing seeing you all, especially during this Christmas time. It's not the same feeling when you don't have a White Christmas, but I guess the heat will do for me right now.
This week has been another week of working hard. Rowena should have everything figured out for Dec.10th to be baptized so I am more than excited and thankful right now. All the prayers, long nights, discussions, blisters from walking to her house, tears are now finally paying off with her baptism this Saturday. I can't even put into words what I feel at this moment. I want to scream at the tops of my lungs "YAY"!!! 

I am not gonna lie it is hard at times when I know it is Christmas season and I can't go to parties with my family. It makes me look forward to Christmas a little bit more. I hear my mom is making the family do service, and let me add that I think that is a great idea. Before my mission I wasn't the biggest fan of service. I was selfish with my time and did not have the desire to serve the Lord's children. But since being on my mission I have felt something grown within my heart. A feeling of love for everyone that is here. I don't know what has developed within me, but I love serving people. And I love serving people so I can see them smile. Not to say that I served. To me, a smile from a child makes anything worth it.

Elder Tagal cracks me up. For some reason he thinks I am really good in Tagalog (which I am not) and is always telling me his life stories in Tagalog. Truly I don't know what he is saying half the time, I just pick up on certain words, but when he starts laughing I know he just said something funny, so I start cracking up too. You know when you fake a laugh, but then it turns to a real laugh because you think you are funny for faking a laugh? Yea... I have done that a lot this week. But I love it. I love hearing his stories and how enthusiastic he is about everything. It really makes my day to just laugh with him, even if I don't know what is going on. Laughing for no reason just makes the heart feel better. So if you are having a rough day or a bad moment, just laugh at something and remember that everything will be ok. 

Love and miss you all! Have a great December week! Be safe in the snow! Bundle up, drink some hot cocoa, watch some TV, and laugh! 


Elder Porter Richards

First pic: Elder Tagal and I, with Maggie. Child of sister Genice.
Pic 2: Genice's kids
Pic 3: That is what I made for Thanksgiving. And we put up that little tree so we could feel the Christmas spirit.
Pic 4 & 5: We went to a museum for an activity and they had paintings all over walls.