Well Guys,

Here we are again at an end of another year. Merry Christmas to all. And a Happy New Year!

I sincerely hope that everyone's Christmas was wonderful. Mine was.... let me tell you about it.
Well, we went to Church at 10 and like no one went, only about 60 people to our normal of about 90.

Then we went to lunch and we ate and ate and ate. We had a filled potato, or a batata recheada, rice with carrots, rasins, and such. We also had turkey and much more. We had ice cream for dessert and pineapple.

Then we went up to the Church to prepare to talk to our families. Elder Bird used SKYPE and then I did the old school phone call. It was pretty cool... like always. Then we went to a member's house and spent the rest of the night there and we ate sushi, homemade sushi, one of the guys there is Japanese. It was really good. I had a good Christmas.

I hope you all are happy... I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

and Happy Birthday Travis Cloward!

I hope you are well, I'll see you in 2 months.

I am Elder Richardson, LD, and I end mine epistle, amen

This one is called: Trainings, Cakes, and Baptisms

SO anyway guys, yeah, I´m going to write in English this week, I just figured that I should write one in Português at least once!

So yeah yesterday was a good day!
We BAPTIZED 2, I REPEAT, 2 PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEIR NAMES ARE THUSLY
LORRAINE, AND DANILO!!!!!!!!

AND ok I can take off caps lock now, ahem, and it was on my birthday! I got to baptize Lorraine! You´ll see the pictures.

So anyway, we had to wake up way freaking early 2 days in a row this last week, one at 6 and the other at 4h45! at 6 we had an LD training with Presidente Prieto and the Assistants.... sounds like a 60´s Surf rock band name....

Anyway it was a good training, I really enjoyed it, and I realized I had the most time there..... a year and 10 months. I´m so old.

Tomorrow we will have our Christmas Conference, this is going to be good! I´m stoked.... a lot!
Oh yeah,, and we got up at 4h45 so we could take Elder Lund to the Rodoviariá by 6, then we walked all the way back and then walked for like 50 minutes to go to the Sisteres area so we could have District Meeting. That was fun .

Then we heard some old guys telling a dog to shut up when it started barking, they said, "Shut up, I hate it when you bark, you stupid dog, you always do this, why do you do this you stupid animal!" It was pretty funny.

Then we went to a house that we visit, quite frequently actually, and they have a little girl who lives there, who loves us, and they have chickens and chicks and eggs and fruit and stuff like that. So the little girl painted the chicks nails pink and her grandma was complaining to us, (by the way she doesn´t breathe when ranting) and when she was ranting she said "and Manuella goes and paints the chicks nails all red!" and Manuella says "They aren´t red, they´re pink!" The old lady was trying to get Manuella in trouble but she (Manu) was oblivious to that and had to correct her and say they were pink! it was pretty funny.... we laughed our heads off....

That´s about it, it was a good week... and ended with Cakes and Baptisms.

Danilo is a girl in the ward´s boyfriend and is a pretty cool dude, and Lorraine is 15 and we found her using the area book and now she´s wanting to serve a mission!

It was great!

Happy Birthday to Andi (my cousin) Evan, ahem, Elder Epperson, and Mat Snarr!

and Merry Christmas to all!

Messy Kweznuz!!!!!!!

I am Elder Richardson, LD, and I end mine epistle, amen

Então tá, eu acho que eu preciso escrever uma carta totalmente em Português para vocês.
Porque eu posso, eu eu tô aqui terminando minha missão, então eu acho que é justo.

Então esta semana passada foi bom, mas bem cansativo. Nós tinhamos muitas adventuras.
A Gente tive muitas dias quentes e outros bem molhado com chuva. Que coisa chato. Muito chato chuva, especialmente quando seu companheiro é meio doente ainda. Caramba..... mas tudo deu certo, mas como eu já falei, muitos brasileiros não gostam da chuva.... então é quase impossível para trabalhar na chuva.

Um certo dia, nós estavamos ensinando uma menos-ativa e tentando ensinar a mãe dela também e eu acho a tia dela, e no final da lição, a mãe, começou perguntar algumas coisas, e não deixava eu falar! Então eu tentei tomar o controle da situação e piorou, a mulher começou me acusar que eu não sou paciente, e não sei o que é meu propósito ou como ensinar.... Ela terminou gritando comigo, e saindo com raiva.

Ela também falou que ela não acredita em José Smith e a Restauração da Igreja. Mas ela me deixou falar até este ponto.... que raiva!

Mas isso não foi bom......

Nós estamos ensinando uma mulher de 24 anos e ela é muita legal. Ela é bem inteligente e ela tem muitas perguntas, ela foi na Igreja esta semana e a gente vai tentar batizar ela esta semana!

As perguntas dela são ótimas, e são difíceis.... mas até agora nós consiguimos explicar tudo para ela, e as lições estão indo bem com ela.

Também nós estamos ensinando uma moça de 15 anos e ela vai batizar esta semana, ela está bem animada para ser batizado! E ela me pediu para batizar ela! No meu aniversário! Que legal!

Oh, a gente foi para Bebedouro este semana também para fazer alguma entrevistas para Elder Lund, e de repente Elder Sharratt apareceu com um novinho..... isso foi uma surpresa!

Foi doido......

Então tá, eu acho isso é tudo, foi uma semana ótima!

Eu sou Elder Richardson, LD, e eu termino minha epístola, amém

E aí galeira!
Tudo bom?

Wait, this guy sounds like a tourist...

That´s from the movie "RIO" which we just watched. That was a pretty good one. Seeing as we can watch movies on P-Day, we watched that one and "Tangled" the Rapunzel story, that was pretty good too. We are probably going to watch "Pirates 4" here in the afternoon time.
So we took a break and came down to the Lan House to send our e-mails. So here we are.
So anyway we had a good week, it was the first week of the transfer so it was kinda crazy, but it was good.

My comp is kinda sick, and has been for the last 3 months..... so yeah, we need to work kinda slower.... like walking and taking breaks because he is weak.... so that´s about it, but we are doing well and the Lord will bless us in this time of need and bless us with the people we need to talk to.

We found a few cool people this last week, some of which that I had already contacted last transfer and we finally got the time to talk to them and they are ready and willing to do what we ask and what the Lord asks.

One lady is named Maria, ok I know a very normal name, but she´s real! She has accepted everything and she read and prayed about the Book of Mormon. She just needs to go to Church.

Another Lady named Aline, she is very cool and we taught her yesterday night, and she accepted everything, she actually wants to go to Church. She even had a bunch of questions, one of which, just us visiting, answered.... and that is were we racist? She is really, really black. So we fixed that problem, and she loved the message.

We have a girl that will be baptized on the 18th, which is my Birthday, her name is Lorraine.

She is very excited to be baptized!

So we are finding lots of people and working with many others. The work is hard and very satisfying.

This week should be a good week. I´m excited, my comp should be getting better so it will be even better!

Man we are kinda feeling Christmas, but it´s hard when you´re not at home, but we need to make do..... I think the hardest part is the fact that we have no SNOW...... AND IT´S REALLY HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! That´s my biggest problem.

But I love it here in Brasil. I love Christmas and I love using all the facts about it while I teach....From the Birth of our Savior to Santa Claus, or Papai Noel as we say it here.
I hope we can all remember the real meaning of Christmas, especially hence the name... CHRIST-mas. It has everything to do with our Savior. It is to remember His birth... His coming into the world....The beginning of perhaps the best 33 years our world has EVER known.
We need to remember this. I love Christmas, yes the presents are great. But I love the REAL meaning of Christmas. I love the fact that we can remember our Savior, at least for one day. Where mostly EVERYONE, from the devout Christian to the devout Sinner, can have peace and reconcile for one day, because of our Lord and Savior, who is called, Wonderful, Councellor, The Almighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

I hope you all remember this, I love you all. I love this Holiday, I love this time of year and most importantly I love our Savior.

On another note, I´d like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY OBORN!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANDELLE JENSEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

I am Elder Richardson, LD, and I end mine epistle, amen.

PS I have had 10 comps this YEAR, in 2011...

check it out:
Elder Duncan - One Transfer (6 weeks)
Elder Espínola - 4 Weeks
Elder Brower - 1 Week
Elder Denyszczuk - One Transfer (6 weeks)
Elder João - One Transfer (6 weeks)
Elder Gomes - One Transfer (6 weeks)
Elder Negreiros - One Transfer (6 weeks)
Elder Castro (my son!!!) - One Transfer (6 weeks)
Elder Ribeiro - One Transfer (6 weeks)
Elder Bird - so far one week.....

That´s all my comps THIS YEAR!

I, Elder Richardson, LD, now end mine epistle, amen

Hey guys!

Well today is yet again another transfer day, and well, yet again, I got a new comp!

Every Transfer this year, I got a new comp.

My new comp is Elder Bird. From Washington, or Idaho, seeing as his family moved just after he left. He has 5 months out here. I´m his "Step-Dad" or his second comp. This is the 4th time I´ve done this.

So Elder Ribeiro, he went off to Araraquara....

I´m going to be here in Vila Virgínia for my Birthday, Christmas, and New Year´s.... This is going to be cool.

This last week, in my study, I finished Jesus the Christ again. I love that book. It is a wonderful book to read....

I also made another hole in my belt.... It´s the 4th hole in this belt... Man I´m getting smaller..... it´s nuts.

Well, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.... I guess I did..... it was a really hard day, no one wanted anything. SO we needed to find out what we were grateful for....

Well, Evan and Ben Epperson, this is my farewell to you, Good luck. Have a great mission, get out there and have a blast.... You´ll understand this much, much, later..... and you´ll thank me for it. Every minute on a mission is worth it, even the bad parts.... It´s hard but wonderful. You´ll never regret it....EVER. I don´t.... and I never will. Get out there and baptize the world!

Everyone that is wanting to go or is having doubts about going, just do it. Just go, don´t think twice and get out there. You´ll love it.

This last week was good, we took a girl named Lorraine to church yesterday and she said she wants to get baptized! Woo-Hoo! And we are working on a bunch of other people to get baptized here soon. I´m glad to stay here for this transfer, it´s going to be a good one. This is my second to last one.

I only have 3 months left and about 84 days.....

I am Elder Richardson, LD, Step dad of Elder Bird and I end mine epistle, amen

This week, was well, um, it, well, um it was, like, um, a, sorta, like, hum, one of those weeks.....

So anyway this week was normal, it rained like no other on Tuesday and we had to walk for about 50 minutes in the rain to District Meeting.

This transfer is coming to an end and we have no idea what will happen seeing as we both got here this transfer.

I could leave and my comp could go with me, we could stay or just one will leave.... we´ll find out later this week you will find out next week!

Yesterday, was the day of crazyness..... we talked to a cow for about 20 minutes, we talked to a crazy girl for about a 1/2 hour and it took us like 5 minutes to remember her, she always says hi to us on the street and she told us about all her boyfriend problems and we will go teach her this week..... We walked on the freeway for about 20 minutes, met an inactive lady and at her house we were instantly loved and they always give us free fruit. We ate Melão (don´t have translation) Melancia, (Watermelon) and Abacaxi! (Pineapple) We ate sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much of it..... it was great!

We are going to try and baptize her daughter as well.... we met a girl on the street who greeted us as if we were old friends and then we went over to her house and she was inactive, she went to church with us on Sunday and pretty much just needed to have us go over there to show her that someone cares.... sometimes the members remember but don´t do anything to help them.
We had a good week, not much with lots of details happened but lots happened, it was a good tiring week, love you all!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!

I am Elder Richardson, LD, and I end mine epistle, amen.

Well, my friends, this week was nuts, but nevertheless a good week.

It went by freaking fast, and then it rained too, but we are in the rainy season here in Brasil. It will probably rain at least once a week.

I sadly found out that I have 98 days left on the mission...... here in 2 weeks I will start my penultimo transfer.....

We had a week very similar to last week, we talked to lots of people and not a lot of people wanted anything.

We taught a guy named Danilo, he is the boyfriend of a member, and he is a good kid, but just needs to pray to be baptized.

A member has brought his son and his girlfriend for the last 2 weeks and they are liking it and we are going to teach them this week.

It sucks when it rains here, people don't like the rain. I'm not quite sure what to say.... this week was fairly uneventful.... But I know that this next week will be great.

I know this work is the work of the Lord. Yesterday I had to give a talk in church about missionary work, and pretty much I burned the crap out of all the members, but everyone said that it was a good talk, that they needed to hear that.

I finally sent a picture to you guys, I hope you like it, it says I want a bicycle! I thought it was funny.

Well, I hope this next week is a little more eventful for you guys to hear about next week, so I will talk to you then!

I am Elder Richardson, LD, and I end mine epistle, amen

Hey guys what's up?

So this last week was probably the best week we had here, because we got a lot of work done! We found a bunch of new people to teach and they all accepted baptism! Now we just gotta work hard to keep them happy for it!

We also confirmed Maria yesterday, we still need to take a picture with her so that's why you haven't seen her!

This week was hard but good, like I said, we found some good people.

We had a visitor from the CTM in Provo and he talked to us, it was a really cool experience, and it was justamente on a holiday so we got out of walking in the hot sun and doing nothing for a day!

It was hard, we almost were to the point where we thought, man it doesn't matter what I do here, stay at home or walk around, no one will accept it anyway, then we decided to keep going and in one day we found about 4 people! We walked all day in the hot sun to do so but be succeeded!

I just want to tell you all that I know that this is truly the work of our Lord and Savior, I am proud to say that I take a part in it. I love this work and I encourage you all to take a part in it as well, you will be blessed and so will your families but also many, many others and their families, those people that only will respond to the Restored Gospel through you. You are God's instrument, let him use you. You will love it here, it is so wonderful to do this work.

I know this Church is the ONLY TRUE CHURCH ON THIS EARTH, THERE IS NO OTHER CHURCH THAT IS TRUE, WE HAVE A LIVING PROPHET AND 12 APOSTLES, AND JESUS CHRIST LIVES. HE IS THE KEYSTONE OF OUR CHURCH.

I want you all to know that I KNOW this, if you don't know, pray about it, read the Book of Mormon and go to the Church. Then pray with all earnestness and you will know, TONIGHT, that this Church is truly the Church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and He, through Joseph Smith, restored His Church here again on the earth EXACTLY as it was before when He was here in His earthly ministry.

Happy Birthday Brandon Androes!

and Clayton Preston!

I hope you all have a good week,

I am Elder Richardson, LD and I end mine epistle, amen

I look to my left and see the house that we must knock on, so we knock and a
woman in her late 20´s answers the door and lets us in, accepts the message and
as we close with a prayer, the Thunder hits.....BOOM...... Then the rain
starts..... the rain in Brasil, is RAIN..... it was very powerful...... so we
take off running and within 2 minutes we are soaked to the bone, we work for
another hour or so and then end up going home........ this happened twice this
week!

Then this week we baptized Maria!!!!!! Hooray! Next week I´ll send a picture, she is an older
lady of about 60 years and she accepted everything that we had to say..... so
she was baptized, she was pretty happy!

This week was nuts, it rained twice and we didn´t get a lot done done because of that....

We are having a hard time here in the area, seeing as we didn´t have anything to start with...... We are doing our best and we are working very hard...... it´s hard but it´s better
this way....

We got a bunch of references this last week and we will get even more and we are going to visit
and baptize a bunch of people!

It´s been a long time since we have baptized someone in this ward, so the people are getting excited again, that we are here to make the difference! woohoo!

So anyway, I´m liking it here in Ribeirão yet again..... and we are being really positive about
everything.....

It´s better this way.

I love you guys and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL IN OCTOBER AND FOR NEXT WEEK!
LET´S SEE WHO I REMEMBER.....

LAURA DAMEWOOD, ELDER

PASSOS, MY COMP ELDER RIBEIRO, SISTER BENNETT (TODAY) AND TOMORROW XELA HOUSE!

Sorry if you were forgotten......

I STILL LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

I am Elder Richardson, LD and I end mine epistle, amen

Me and Elder Ribeiro waiting for the phone call. (The last missionary lost the phone.)

Capyvara--world's largest rodent. This one is about the size of one of the pigs you see at the fair. ("Tick" fans--this is "Speak.")

Elder Ribeiro and Açaí

As I walk down the deserted streets of Ribeirão Preto on a Sunday afternoon, the cold wind hits my face as if I were on a mast of a boat lost at sea. The darkness in the skies looms over us in the form of darkening clouds, churning with rage and threatening us with hours of cold, harsh rain. I slowly look up at thm and shake my head in disbelief and quietly think to myself "Not Today" I quickly look down again at the dirty sidewalk to not get the flying dust particles in my eyes. As we near our destination and turn down another deserted street, I see a piece of loose paper fly in the powerful wind, as we turn the corner I heard a sound of tumult and we arrive close to a bar and hear the people drinking and laughing and listening to the live accordion music, I steal a look to the side and smile and as we turn for the last time we arrive at our destination.........some time later.......A rich dark amber liquid falls into my cup like the descent of a cascading waterfall, the liquid is as cold as ice and small droplets of water slide down the glass making it slippery and cold, stinging when you touch. Despite the intensity of the heat of the air and the extremity of the cold, I lift the glass to my dry chapped sun-burnt lips. The cool liquid flows into my mouth and soothes my dry, dirt- ridden throat. As I finish my cup, it leaves a refreshing taste and a tingle in my throat......The cool liquid was indeed......Guaraná.... The liquid of Brasil.

So anyway that was my week, how was yours?

TODAY I MAKE ONE YEAR AND EIGHT MONTHS ON THE MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So anyway, I got emergency transferred....again.... this is the 3rd time in my mission! I went to Ribeirão Preto and stayed there in a place called Vila Virgínia, my comp is now Elder Ribeiro from Curitiba.

We started with ZERO and we had to work from there, we were both new to the area, seeing as he got trasferred here on Monday I got there on Wednesday, on Tuesday the Assistents called and asked if I could help them and told me I was getting transferred the next day. Oh well. Things happen and when the Lord and your Presidente have trust in you, you gotta answer the call.

So not much happened this week but this week should be good!

I am Elder Richardson, LD, and I end mine epistle, amen

So anyway I´m sure you guys want to hear the results of Transfers, huh?

I'm still here in Jaboticabal with Elder Castro!

Nothing happened, this is the first time this year (2011) that I stayed with a comp for more than one transfer!

I was switching my comps a lot there for a while. So it's possible I could have at the most 2 more comps. I hope just one more, and possibly 2 more areas... just one more.

This last week was good but.....WET.

I'm not kidding we got rained on 7 times in one day! We got pretty wet.

It's hard to work in the rain seeing as lots of people (most Brasilians) have a fear of the rain, they don't want to get wet or something, and also they think you will get sick if you go out in the rain.

People don't stay at home, I don't know where they go, it's possible that they just stay at the store they are at. Then if they are at home they don't answer the door. or they make up the excuse, but it's raining.... Look I know it's raining, but what does that have to do with you hearing a message about God? Nothing. So can we come in and talk to you? It's raining..... I know it's raining....

That's how it is.

We had a good week despite the rain. We met some really cool people and we are going to baptize them.... for sure.

We had like 10 non members at church yesterday, and now we need to contact them. Most of them came from inactive families. So we are going to reactivate and baptized and complete familes!

This transfer will be great, I know it.

We met a lady yesterday who talks A LOT but is really cool. She was passing by the church and talked to some members there and forgot to give her address to them and sent her son with a paper that had her address and put it in the mailbox. Well we found it a couple days later and got there on Sunday (yesterday) and she was really cool and really wants to be a part of the Church.

It was a really cool experience.

Everything we did last transfer was obviously to prepare us for this one. It will be great!

Love you all!
I am Elder Richardson, LD, pai do Elder Castro and I end mine epistle, amen

So anyway E aí?

eu tô bem.. e vocês?

So this week was pretty good, it was one of those weeks that was just like totally normal.
We actually have a new rule in the mission, that on P-day, we can watch Disney movies or Dreamworks movies.

So last week we watched Tron, that was a really cool movie! and later today we will watch Kung Fu Panda 2. So anyway, that´s what we can do on P-day, now, pretty cool huh?

Next week I need to see if we can get ahold of Pirates of the Carribean 4, I want to see that one.

This last week, we found some really cool people, now we just need to get them to go to Church. Then they can get baptized, they even accepted to be Baptized, so we need to get them to go to Church on Sunday.

We had a good, good, long week.

On Saturday I had to go to Ribeirão Preto to do a Division with Elder Brower, so I could do some interviews for him. Baptismal interviews. We had a good day, but man we got back to our house at like 10. it was so late and we were so freakin' tired. Then on Sunday, it rained like no other. It was the first real rain that my comp got on the mission.

WIFE POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WIFE POINTS, is a point system similar (but not the same) to the well known, BROWNIE POINTS. It is only for missionaries, so the way you gain points is thusly, walking in the rain, sun and similar things like that, that are hard and sometimes challenging, and that would make you not want to continue or do something for protection.

like using an umbrella..... wimpy thing to do.

Walking in the shade, another wimpy thing to do.

And your future wife will be prettier and all other good things about her.

To "Uglify" your wife, you need to drop your scriptures, PMG, and other dumb stuff and also fubecagems.... It's fairly easy to get a TOTAL HOTTIE FOR A WIFE!!!!!!!!!

Next week is tranfers, but I think that we will stay here for this next one. But be prepared....

Next week we will have Daylight Savings, so when you think of me, think of me one more hour ahead of you!

Pray for us!

Love you all!

I am Elder Richardson, LD, Father of Elder Castro, Only American in Jaboticabal, and I end mine epistle, amen

Look, Look, Over there, THERE´S A BIRD!

HA HA MADE YOU LOOK!!!

There´s no bird!

ahahhahah

So anyway, this last week was pretty good. We watched Conference which was like the highlight of our week. We went to Bebedouro for the most of it. I watched half of it in English and the other half in Português.

It was pretty cool seeing my Uncle speak. For those of you who don´t know Matthew O. Richardson, is my Uncle, and yes the pictures that were shown, were of my cousins.

I loved Conference, for those of you who didn´t go, or watch it, man you missed out. I´m sure that most of you who didn´t, are probably being fubecas.

They talked a lot about missionary work and obedience and repentance. All essencial things.
I think you all should serve a mission, and well, so does the Lord.

That´s why we need to do it.

I love hearing our Profeta.

I had a good week, other than Conference it was fairly normal, work and that´s about it. We couldn´t find a lot of people at home a lot. That kinda sucked, but that´s ok, that´s why we have this week.

I love my comp and my area.

I love the mission, it is one of the best places you can be, and we all need to experience it.

I am Elder Richardson, LD and I end mine epistle, amen

Hey people of America!!!!!What is up?

Not much is going down here, just the normal missionary work. Finding, teaching, listening to the Spirit, failing, getting rejected, and going home hungry and tired and satisfied.

I love it out here.

Man, yesterday we were looking through our addresses that we have gotten over the last few weeks and we looked at one my comp got and felt like we should go there. We didn't know how to get there, it was a place that we had never been to. So we followed the map and to our surprise it was very close to a member´s house. So I already knew how to get there. So we taught the girl and she felt the Spirit so strongly when we told her about Joseph Smith. She was amazed at that, and I´m sure she already knows that it's all true. She said she will go to conference with us on Sunday and probably Saturday and will be baptized the next week, she agreed to that, so we will work with her on that.

We found some other people and they have agreed to read the Book of Mórmon and we will need to go over there this week. This week for us will be busy. Very busy. But will be good. We are very excited for General Conference. We are planning on bringing people to watch it. The Girl we taught that lives far away is named Livia, and she was excited at the fact that we can actually listen to the Prophet.

That was about it, oh yeah the Correios or the Post office is having a strike but it will only affect us to a small effect. Our letters will take a little longer to get to the destinations, so I will get your letters but it will take a little longer than normal.

I am Elder Richardson, LD and Pai do Elder Castro, e eu posso escrever esta carta inteiro em Português mas eu não vou. and I end mine epistle, amen

So anyway my beloved friends from the North, I'm back.

So anyway, this last week was pretty good, it went by really fast. That only comes when you work your butt off and do everything the way it should be. Listening to the Spirit in absolutely everything, teaching by the Spirit, finding by the Spirit and being guided by the Spirit. Man it's awesome.

On Saturday we were walking in a part of Jaboticabal that I don't know and we got a little lost and couldn't find the street name to find ourselves on the map. And a little girl walked down the street and so we asked her where we were, and then we asked who she lived with and she told us her Mom, and we asked if we could go up to her house and talk to her Mom. She took us up there and we taught her Mom, her name is Shirley and she even had prayed to have something happen in her life, and we showed up like a half hour later. She even accepted to be baptized, so probably next week which is conference weekend she could and probably will be baptized!

We are working with some wonderful people and finding even more. This week will be an even better week to find people and teach them and bring them to the knowledge of the Truth! This is my work, I love it. I bring others unto Christ, who is our Savior.

Oh yeah I forgot last week

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIMONA!!!!

and anyone else in September that I forgot.

Oh and UTAH UTES BEAT BYU 54-10 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

THAT'S WHAT I CALL A VICTORY!!!!!!!! As one of the few Utah fans on the mission, this is really good for us, there are not that many of us.....so yeah, that was my week!

Love you all!

I am Elder Richardson, LD, father of Elder Castro, Utah Man, and I end mine epistle, amen.

Elder Ilustre, Elder da Costa, Elder Richardson, Elder Campbell, Sister Santana, Sister Albequerque
Back Row: Elder Britton, Elder Holmes, Elder Boren, Elder Wright, Elder Ramos, Elder Belland on the far right at the piano, Elder Porter

Sister Prieto, Presidente Prieto, Elder Castro, Elder Richardson

Elder Britton, Elder Richardson, Elder Campbell, Elder da Costa, Elder Holmes, the Trainers!

Well, this week has been nuts. My comp is a total stud, he wants to work and wants to be here.
His name is Elder Castro, he is 20 and from Brasília. His dad even served a mission. He's an awesome kid, I love him a lot. We are going to make a difference here in Jaboticabal!

And I am known as his Dad! or his trainer!

It’s pretty fun training, you have to explain a lot though. I have forgotten what is was like to not know what was going on.

I’m way way way into the groove of things so it’s kinda hard to remember that and have to explain absolutely everything.

But sometimes it can be good, especially when you know your way is a good effective way to do it, for sure your comp will do it.

We got into Jaboticabal on Wednesday, we missed our bus on Tuesday, but it was ok, we ended up teaching a girl in the Rodoviária. We only had one Book of Mormon and it was in English, and luckily the girl spoke fluent English. So she got the Book.

Then we got our bus the next morning and we ended up having an ok day. Not much happened, but we did find a lady who owns a restaurant, and we taught her and she loved it, we ended up teaching her many times this week and she really wants to hear more, and she loved the Plan of Salvation.

We talked to Josiane, the mother of the 2 girls that me and Elder Negreiros baptized and we made a goal with her to be baptized this month. She accepted.

We had a great week and on Sunday we went to the Catholic Mass, man I told my comp that the Spirit would leave and to be prepared for that. We got to the first step and the Spirit was gone. We stayed for maybe 2 minutes and had to leave. It’s so sad.

Then we prayed to know where to go and we walked for about an hour knocking on doors, and finally at 9:10 we found a family who was ready to hear about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was pretty good.

Good week.

I am Elder Richardson, LD, father of Elder Castro and I end mine epistle, amen

Me Elder Lund, Negreiros, Christian

E aí galéra!
Como vai?
Cara esta semana foi ótimo, foi legal mesmo.

Ok sounds good, my mom will get mad at me if I write the entire letter in português.

So anyway, this week was the last of the transfer and we had a good week, we couldn´t like find anyone at home. So it was fairly uneventful.

But it was a good week.

My comp got transferred and I will stay in Jaboticabal and I will Train! Hooray! That´s all I wanted to ever do on the mission. Now I can.

I´m freakin´ stoked for this, I will let you all know who he is next week.

I saw a Brasilian Biker gang this last week.

That was something I haven´t seen yet. It was cool.

Man I don´t have much to say this week, this next week will for sure be full of adventures, with my son.

I´m so freakin´ excited for this!

I hope you all have a good week!

Love you all,

I am Elder Richardson, LD and Father, and I end mine epistle, amen.

Baptism of Elder Negreiros' Mom

Stuffed Peppers (of course Taylor would have never eaten this at home)

I am Elder Richardson and I am writing this epistle to the Americans of the Northern Continent and I say unto you:

Elder Richardson, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be a Missionary, separated unto the gospel of God, (which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy Scriptures,) concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: by whom we have received grace and missionary service, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: To all that be in the USA, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift and some worldly gift for this I am sending this epistle, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
I am debtor both to the Americans, and to the Brasilians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in the USA also.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Americans first, and also to the Brasilians.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.

So yeah that´s how I feel, I found that in Romans, Chapter 1 verses 1 -19. It was changed a little bit, for me.

So anyway, this next week is transfers and I don´t know what will happen.

Ok this last week was nuts, my comp had an ingrown toenail and had to get that removed so on tuesday we didn´t work at all. He couldn´t walk. Then he got sick and I gave him a blessing and had a cool experience with that.

Then we had a normal week but not a lot of people wanted to let us in.

Then on Friday we were in Monte Alto, going home from lunch when Presidente Prieto called and he said that he wanted us to go to Ribeirão Preto on Saturday at like 3 in the afternoon, so we said ok and that was all he said. We wondered why.

Then Saturday came ( seemed like forever) and then we went to Ribeirão Preto and Presidente came and picked us up and then he took us to a church and he told me to do an interview, so I went and did, and you´ll never guess who I interviewed....

I did the Baptismal Interview for...... are you ready for this?????

Elder Negreiros´ Mom!!!!!!!! That´s right his MOM.

His mom wasn´t a member and she took the missionary lessons and then she wanted him to baptize her so she talked with Presidente Prieto about it and Presidente said it was ok for her to come here for him to baptize her.

Elder Negreiros almost fainted when he saw his Mom. It was pretty funny.

Cool cool cool experience.

So now his mom is baptized and confirmed.

By him.

Awesome huh?

So anyway that was the highlight of our week.
and the highlight of my comp´s mission.

I hope you all have a good week and we´ll see what happens next week.

I am Elder Richardson, LD, and I end mine epistle, amen

Well we had another nutty week in the podunk town of Jaboticabal.

This is like the second smallest city I have served in, the smallest was my first, Américo Brasiliênse.

It was a pretty good week, we worked so hard and we got so tired.

This week I will make a year and six months on my mission, oficialmente on Wednesday. Man that means I got a sister mission done! So anyway, this last week was great, we went to a lot of places and found some really cool people.

Me and my comp are getting along just great and we are working very hard. It can be hard, but you can´t give up. The harder it is the better and more worth it it is.

The mission is great, and I love it here in Brasil.

This last week was a battle to get people to church, this old dude who's wife is a member went to church and he said he loved it, he has lightened up with the missionaries since I got here. Then their Grandchildren went too, and a lady whose daughter has been going for like a month straight went for the second time and so we are going to work with them to see if we can baptize them this week.

The girl who speaks English (Amanda) she didn't go to church sadly, this is getting really hard to get her to go to church. The Enemy doesn´t want her to go. So we are doing absolutely everything we can to get her to go on Sunday.

We are working with Josiane as well, the mother of Maiara and Tainara, she is still smoking but we are helping her with that.

This week was an awesome week. We are going to work even harder this week.
I had a goal to read to Alma 32 by the end of the Transfer in Português seeing as I was a fubeca and had never tried to read the Book of Mórmon in Português, because I always heard that if you study in your own language then things are more profound for you. So I studied in English. Now I repented and am in Alma 58, so I am way ahead of schedule. I have 2 more weeks and I think I'll be able to finish. Every chance I have I just read the Book of Mórmon. I am also studying Preach My Gospel in English and Português and Jesus the Christ for the second time. Oh and I made a goal that I wanted to read the Bible cover to cover once on my mission, I'm in ROMANS!
I'm getting there!

So anyway, that´s about it. I love you all and I'll see you in 6 months!

I am Elder Richardson, LD, único Americano em Jaboticabal, and I end mine epistle, amen