December 14, 2015

HEY!! 

Things are still going good and it is kind of slow lately with no one home.  It seems like all of our investigators have left and fell off of the face of the earth which really sucks!!! But not much you can do about it haha.

It is actually snowing right now as well not too much but just a little. 

I got her (Caylee's) package and I am going to send her an email after this. 

I am staying here with Elder Udy so nothing has changed with transfers.

But this week was pretty slow so that was the bummer but also when are you leaving to go to Richfield? I have a package I need to send and also I sent you a letter and I was wondering if you got it??

Poor Elder Udy getting hog tied.

December 7, 2015

HEY! Thanks for the package.  We just got it before emailing today! I haven't opened it just yet but after I will! 

Everything here is going alright.  This past week NO ONE was home, so that really sucked but it is what it is. It is starting to get a little bit chilly but not too bad. We are lifting at the gym in the mornings 3 days a week and since we have been going hard on working out I have lost 7lbs so that is good haha.

This week with the investigators we weren't really able to see them at all except Eric, the one Chris and Nikki met, and he is doing great. The initiative is doing great. It is really helping us to talk to more people because you can just hand them a card and tell them to watch the video or something like that but it makes it easier and less awkward at times. 

Besides all that it is going good. Thursday we had a ward holiday dinner which was really good got some people out to it. Also yesterday at church we were able to get 16 less actives which was awesome. 

November 30, 2015

Hey everything is going great here! We went to Page today and that is why we are emailing so late.  Had to get groceries for the month! 

Thanksgiving was great. We had dinner with The McCarty's they are an awesome family and also with the Keith's and one last one with the Noyes ( the senior couple here)! 

It was really good to see them (The Wise Family) here. No it didn't make me homesick  haha.

This past week wasn't the best because of the fact of no one was really home because of the holiday season so that was a bummer but what can ya do? 

Our investigators are doing good, not as good as we are hoping for but they are doing good! We didn't find any new investigators this past week so that was a bummer but also on the bright side we are doing a big Christmas initiative call ( A Savior is Born) the church put a video out for us and it is awesome! It is going to be a great proselyting tool! 

Everything with the comp is going good, we are still getting a long really good! The Noyes here are an awesome couple and they do a lot for us as well! 

November 23, 2015

HEY!! First that would be pretty cool if they did stop by! (The Wise Family while they are doing service on the Rez during Thanksgiving).  Saturday would be best because we are super busy on Thursday with service and also dinners and stuff like that! But again that would be cool to say hi to them! Yes i got an ax and thank you for that and also I was wondering with the money left over if you wanted me to use it on stuff for Christmas for you guys? There is a Flea market ( it is the best in the Rez) and wondering if you wanted anything from that or for Holden and Kinley?? 

Everything here is doing great. We have a couple of investigators that are doing great Their names are Alresha and Myrna. We found them while teaching Tyra and Myra( Tyra's mom). Myrna is Myra's sister and so Myra and Tyra invited Alresha over one night because she was going through a hard time and so we gave her a blessing and it was awesome and now we are teaching them! So we are hoping that if one of the families will accept a Baptismal date then the other one accept as well! The Rez is still good it is a lot of fun. The P-day's here are a lot better because we are able to go on hikes and do a lot of other stuff! Saturday night we had a fire with the other Elders in Kayenta, that was a lot of fun!! We had smores and roasted hot dogs too! The really good thing about the Rez is the Navajo nation really doesn't have a whole lot of laws around here. The only law that is strict around here is the no selling of alcohol on the Rez. The comp and I are doing great and getting a lot of work done here which is great!

What weight is Holden wrestling?? Who is he wrestling this week for Red/white?

The experience you asked for your lesson would be:

Victor Dominguez, He has been baptized for a year now, He was the one that was baptized when I came into the mission field. He had been taught for about 30 or so years on and off. His dad had been a member for along time in Mexico but he didn't want anything to do with it really. When he moved to America he was living with his brother and the missionaries came over and started teaching his brother but he wasn't progressing. Then the missionaries stopped for a while.  Elder Sanchez and Castro started teaching his brother and then Victor started listening in more and more and after a while his brother stopped listening, yet Victor was more and more interested in the gospel. After about 18 weeks he was finally baptized. Now he is a boss in the branch and is a ward missionary and also teaches in priesthood as well! It just shows that it may take time to finally get some one into the gospel so don't give up and keep trying and trying by being bold BUT with love, if you are over bearing then it is just annoying! Also Victor is going to the temple some time soon!

The greatest missionary tool is the members!! The missionaries can not do it alone.

Our trip to Page

The night of the fire.

    

November 16, 2015

HEY! Everything is going good here!! We had an awesome week.  We met almost all of our goals so that was an awesome feeling. We picked up 4 new investigators and that was awesome! Their kids are super into wrestling and we may or may not help out a little with that and also go to their meets as well! They are an awesome family again! 

Last Monday we went on a hike. We were looking for these caves that were "suppose" to be on one of these monuments in Monument Valley. (By the way Monument Valley is awesome. I have a few pics). The way that the four of us took was pretty sketchy. We almost fell a few times and the scariest part was coming down the monument, because we had to go down the same way we came up! Elder Udy got to a certain point and slid down the mountain on his butt. It was a little funny, and just before that Elder Searle fell down as well on his butt.The worst thing about this whole trip was we didn't find one cave at all haha so that was a bummer!! 

Thursday we went to Tuba City for zone training that was good. Our zone is awesome! We don't have any sisters thank goodness, That is not meant in a bad way haha 

Friday we had interviews with President Adams and Sister Adams that was really good. He told me that I would finish my mission in Spanish so I am glad for that! Earlier that day we went to help Chris Keith( a legit member) haul coal for his friend. That was a lot of fun it took 4 hours but it was worth it. Here in the Rez people either have wood burning stoves, pellets, or coal that they burn. It is a pretty simple life style but the thing is they choose to live like that. 

Also this past week we had a Shima( an old Navajo grandma) out with fixing her windows. We had to put all new siding around it with plastic covering it to get it winter ready and after we caulked it all up to keep it water tight.

We live in a duplex with the other 2 Elders here sorry i forgot to take pictures of it but I have others from last Monday and such! It is pretty good, a little dirty, but good! We are working on cleaning it! 

No I don't need a GPS anymore since it won't do any good out here so don't worry about it haha. I don't need any more clothes, but ties are always nice and that is really it, oh also hair gel. I can make it until Christmas for sure though. I just thought of this but those jackets that dad has that he gets from work for free, Something like that would be nice because of how it rains here and snows so something light like that would be ideal. 

About the package it is my temple clothes, I wont be able to go the year following because I go home before it happens.

We have a few members that have offered to feed us on thanksgiving so we are good there and here are a few pictures

The first one is of the Utah border sign in monument valley 

This is the mountain we hiked, that part were it is notched out, on the right side of it at the top is where we were

These next few pics are from the top

Oh ya also,dogs are a real big problem here so if there is any way you could sent some dog repellent stuff that would be awesome because these dogs just don't really care who you are they will still attack 

This is the Crew that went hiking with us, it was our whole district

Also today we are going on another hike to see some old Anazi ruins, they 

say that the Anazis are the Gadianton Robbers because Anazi means old ones

November 9, 2015

HEY!

So the Rez for the first week was good.  It is a lot different than Farmington that is for sure! Ya there isn't much out here so ya we mainly focus on 3 areas here and that is the NHA( Navajo Housing Authority), this trailer court and High school housing. We have 4 investigators that are super promising. Myra,Tyra and Anisha and Eric! Myra Trya and Anisha are awesome and the lesson we taught this week was awesome. We are hoping that they are going to get baptized! We told them to pray and come up with a date and we will see this week what it is! Eric is sweet, he has cut back from 10 dips of chew to 3-4 a day now so that is really cool! He also know that he needs to get baptized as well! 

Elder Udy is from Tennessee.  He is awesome and we are getting along great! Yes he is a hard worker and he has been out for 3 months or so! 

The ward is good.  There is a lot of less active work to do here so that is our main focus and if we get investigators that is just a bonus! haha.  I am not so sure of how big our area is because we just stay in the Township of Kayenta. 

We email from a members home who has like 10-12 computer so a small library haha but they are awesome members! 

We are able to go to Page, AZ once a month and buy what we need there.  Also I have a doctors appointment next week some time and I was wondering if you could put some money on my home card so I can pay the co-pay on the appointment and medication? 

Here a few pictures

2nd day it snowed and the roads get pretty bad here, as you can tell by the truck

here is Kayenta from our place

This is snake rock

And from his group email.

It is pretty barren here. There isn't a whole lot mainly just Navajos and Navajos haha and there are a few white people that are sprinkled in! It is not as bad as I thought it was going to be, I do miss the Spanish people and the Spanish speaking but it will be good! 

We went to a playoff game on Saturday for Kayenta and they lost but it was a lot of fun going to it though! 

So funny story of the week, we were talking to Jeremiah, a potential, and his brother on Thursday night and this place is a pretty safe place but we were talking and then a white yukon pulled up and the brother got a little serious and said he had to take care of some business and that he would be right back. So he left and came out with his girlfriend and they went to their car grabbed some stuff and went into the car all while we were talking to Jeremiah and then his brother got out of the yukon and put quite a bit of something into his pocket and came back like nothing happened and told us not to say anything and then he just started laughing but we were a little freaked out since we were part of a drug deal there haha but those guys were pretty cool! Love you guys and have an awesome week!!

Elder Richards

Here are a few pictures from this week!   

Some of the roads

This is Kayenta, AZ

Thank you and also we do a lot of wood chopping here in the near future and was wondering if i can have some money for an ax??

Easton's new address

Elder Easton Richards

PO BOX 151

Kayenta, AZ

80633

November 3, 2015

Facebook message from Barbara Palfreyman:

Hope you aren't tired of me posting and taking up space on your Facebook page. I thought you should hear another Elder Easton Richards story. We have a special lady in our ward who has some needs. She is 78 years old and is raising two of her "great-granddaughters," ages 6 and 9 because their mother has addiction problems. We (Terry and some Elders) have spent a few weekends painting and fixing up. 
Tomorrow they are planing on fixing a crumbled front step and porch. Elder Craghead the ZL, not in our ward either, has done concrete work before so volunteered his talents. When I asked him if they would need more than just the three men to do the work, he said, "yes." I asked, who he would want to help, and piped right up and said "Elder Richards, he will be the biggest help and the most capable." Love that kid!‪#‎greatjobmomanddad‬ 

asds s

November 3, 2015

Some goodbye pics that Barbara posted from their "Last Supper" last night.

Many tears were shed last night.

November 2, 2015

Hey so this past couple of days has been kind of sad.  This is just as hard as leaving home so ya haha. Here are a few pictures of families that i had to say bye too! 

This is Daniel Tarango he is a member, super nice kid.

This is the Myers Family. They are AWESOME!!

The Eyring family.  He is the Branch President and she is the Primary President.

One of my favorite families for sure.

These are the Adamsons and they are investigators. They are my favorite non-member family for sure haha. I love them a lot it was pretty hard saying bye to them!

But ya it is going to suck not being able to speak Spanish, but there is a reason why I am needed in Kayenta. My companions name is Elder Udy, I think he is from Idaho, if I remember right. All i know is that it is pretty small and the closest Walmart is 2 hours away because Walmarts are not allowed on the Rez but it will be good! There are a few fast food places and that is really about it out there. But it is going to be a ward I am serving in.  (He's only been in branches up to this point).  I'm saying goodbye to a couple of other families tonight.  I'll get you my address when I get there.

October 19, 2015

Hey Mom!!

Everything is going good here and couldn't have asked for a better week! 

Not a whole lot happened Monday, just regular p-day stuff. On Tuesday we went to the Bishop's Store House and did service by filling truck orders and helping out with that. On Wednesday we were on exchanges with 4th ward and we had a 5 lesson day which was great!!! We also went to mutual. At mutual they taught how to butcher a chicken and a pig and then they actually butchered a chicken which was fun!! Thursday was just district meeting nothing to exciting. On Friday we found a new family who hasn't been taught before so that is good and we are excited for them. On Saturday we did the service project and that was fun. There was about three of us who knew what we were doing out of the seven so that was kind of funny, Then later that night the Tarangos were having a party for their 2 little girls ( Synthia, and Andrea) it was fun. 

So I have been thinking of what I need for Christmas.  A GPS would be nice. Razors and toiletry stuff like Old spice deodorant the (anti-perspirant  and deodorant), Old Spice head and shoulders and also razors for Gillette and body wash as well and toothbrushes and paste and if at all possible being able to send the book Miracle of Forgiveness in the Halloween package would be awesome. But that is all I can really think of! 

Love you guys!

October 12, 2015

HEY!! 

This past week was good it flew by so fast!! On Monday we were able to go and play football again like the good ole days when i first started out and Elder Castro and Rubio were there as well so that was fun!! On Tuesday we had Zone Conference and that was really good! Elder Hozman and I had to do a role play for everyone and had to plan it out. It went better than I thought.   We didn't have as much time to do what we would have liked but it was good. 

After Zone Conference I went on exchanges with Rubio and Castro in Bloomfield because Elder Hozman went with Elder Craghead to do zone leader stuff.  So I was  in a trio with Castro and Rubio! We had a lot of fun and I was able to see a few people there that I haven't seen in a while which was a lot of fun! On Friday we had another exchange. I went with Elders Weaver and Rigby.  They are pretty cool guys and we had a lot of fun with them. They are struggling right now but hopefully we are able to help them out to get back on their feet!:) That is probably the only good thing about being a leader is being able to help out other missionaries and that is for sure the best thing about being a leader.

 

Elder Hozman is doing good.  We had comp inventory on Friday and I told him how he was being prideful and about a few other things and then he was really surprised and he said how he was sorry and then I let him borrow the talk that you sent me "Beware of Pride".  He was really accepting and hopefully it helps. He has been out 10 months now. 

Victoria has fallen off the face of the earth so that is great!! (not really) so we are trying to figure out what we can do with that whole situation!

So my shoes are starting to fall apart.  My brown ones are being held together by "shoe glue" and the black ones just suck haha.  But I should be able to last a little longer I think. 

To answer your question about Christmas,I can't really think of anything to ask for. Ties are always good, and white shirts( but only like a couple though).  Have you found any Spanish music?? 

I'll keep thinking about anything else and i will let you know because i don;t really need anything. Gift cards maybe. I don't know!! haha 

We also had a mini MTC for the youth here it was awesome. Here is a pic of the missionaries I was with.

October 5, 2015

Hola! 

Hey everything is going good. It is now suit season here until April, so we have to wear our suits everyday. Which kind of sucks a lot but it is all good. I will get over it haha! Yea everything is going good.  We watched conference and it was awesome.  I have a request to get a couple of talks sent to me if that is alright. 

Uchtdorf-Priesthood, saturday morning

Foster-Saturday Afternoon

Hales- Saturday Afternoon

Lawerence- Saturday Morning

Eyring-Priesthood

Monson-Priesthood, Sunday Morning

Anderson-Priesthood

Keetch-Sunday Afternoon

If it is possible to get these talks to use that would be great:)  We were able to watch conference at the Stake Center and at the Palfreymans.

It is starting to feel like fall here as well. It is getting to stay in the 70's.  It rained yesterday and this morning so that was really nice.

We have Zone Conference this Tuesday and also I am going on exchanges with Elders Castro and Rubio so that

is going to be great.

Victoria is doing alright as of now. We haven't met with her in the past week so that is getting us a little worried but it is all good. It will work out for the best! Thank you for everything!

This is one of the churches here and it looks like a mall and it 

also has a starbucks in there haha

September 28, 2015

YAY!  Heard from Easton finally today.

HEY! I am doing good.  Sorry I wasn't able to email yesterday because of the temple trip, we didn't get back until 6ish so it was a long day. It is crazy to see how much I forgot about the temple this past year. I am for sure making it a goal to go at least once a month when I get home that is for sure!! 

Ya Elder Hozman is doing alright. I am for sure getting more patience on the bright side haha.

On the bright side, Victoria (their investigator) made her boyfriend move out because she realized how bad of an influence he was on her so that was good. It was a little stressful for her to have to do that.

We don't have to many investigators, but the ones we do have are doing great, There is this one family the Adamsons and they are awesome. Ron, he is a in-active member since he was 16 so he doesn't know a whole lot about the church, but he for sure knows a lot about the unimportant stuff.

The medication works for sure but just till about 1-2ish then it wears off and then it is hard to stay focused sometimes.Since i have been on the medication, I am able to slow down my speaking and very little stuttering so that is good too!

To answer you question, yes I know Elder Walters he is an awesome missionary. He was here in Farmington for a long time and now he is in Cameron,AZ and doing awesome!

Here are some pics from the temple trip

 Elder Easton, Elder Rubio, Elder Castro

Elder Larsen

September 28, 2015

No email today.  Elder Richards went with his mission to the Monticello Temple.  Here are a couple of pics. Can you find Elder Richards?

September 21, 2015

So to answer your question, in the service pic, that was Elder Craighead he is one of the Zone Leaders here!

Everything is going better with Elder Hozeman, so that is good, I confronted him with a couple of things and so now we are on the same terms, Victoria (one of our investigators) is doing great still and she is still progressing, She didn't come to church because she was really sick so that kind of sucks, but she is awesome!! Not much has happened besides the fact of us doing some service and we went on a couple of exchanges and also I am staying here in Farmington for transfers, so that is good!

I forgot to take  a picture with my glasses, but I will do that and get it to ya next week!

 Elder Hozeman from Columbia.  My current companion.

September 14, 2015

Hola mi familia!!

Things here are going great.  We just had stake conference this past Sunday and that was great! They talked about keeping the sabbath day holy and how we should do better at it. It is always funny to see the people that go up there and just try and boast about how good they are in keeping it holy. There was this one lady who told about how she does so much to keep it holy and then one of the members in the stake council got up after and basically said some things that were the opposite of what she was saying so it was pretty funny haha! Victoria is doing great. We went over the ten commandments and she said she will live them all and the only one that she is really struggling with is using the Lords name in vain. She is already trying to quit smoking and drinking coffee. She is Really GOLDEN!!!

So question for ya.I was just looking at the pictures and saw the one with Kinley and Kadie. How is Kadie doing?? She said that she was pretty sick for the summer and now she is doing better! but ya just wondering!

Thank you for the Hump day package. Time really does fly by really fast out here! it is kind of scary to think that i am going to go home in a year and it really is going by way too fast!! Thank you for the book and I was pretty surprised by that last picture in there hahaha 

That is really cool about you guys reading the Book of Mormon. I am planning on reading it at least 2 more times before I get home! I have started it right now and I am going through a BOM (the ones we hand out) and just underlining everything that has to do with the atonement and how it applies to me! it is crazy how much I am finding in there and I am only in 2 Nephi 7, so that is going really good!

So with teaching the law of Chastity the easiest way that we teach it is to be BOLD with it and mainly focus on the blessing because that is the most important part! Just a tip that you can use if you want!

To answer your question, you guys write me enough so don't worry about it! The packages are great and maybe just send me some printed out pictures instead of email because those are better to have on person than only being able to look at them on the email once a week! So like the ones you sent today would be good printed out and some of Holden playing golf and Kinley as well playing tennis too! Also would it be ok for you to send one of those amazon food packages? Those were really nice to get. Like canned chicken, juices and other things that are good for meals and not a whole lot of snacking items.

So I got a Wok last Monday for $5 at Walmart, so i have been making fried rice and teriyaki chicken. So if you have any other recipes that would be great too thanks!:)

Love ya!

Elder Richards

Here are a few pictures of burning my shirt and tie for my year and 6 month mark.