December 29th

Hey sorry for not being able to talk to ya because our internet was down through out the whole rez haha and also our phones were too.  That is the Rez for ya! But here are a few pics! 

But today we just got done with an 8 year old's baptism.  They are a recent convert family so that was really good to see that!

This is my old brown pair of shoes

The roads on Thursday afternoon going to Tuba city

This is the middle of nowhere

This is how spread apart the Rez is

December 21st

Hope that everyone has a merry Christmas and thank you to everyone for the cards and packages.  I am very grateful for all of you and love you guys so much and just remember the real meaning of CHRISTmas!! Love every one of you and have a wonderful Christmas! 

Much love, 

Elder Richards

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