New companion, Elder Malaquias

Taylor--in front of some building? Their apartment?

Great road

Happy faces!


Taylor and mission president and wife

Laundry day. . .

Proud of his U of U jammies--said everyone else has BYU. . .

I believe this is the washing machine!

Todo mundo! (Everybody)
E ai? Beleza? Ótimo! Então, aqui é muito bom. (Hey there. Beauty “good”? Excellent! Then it is very good here.)
Sweet guys.
Well ok this is pretty good for me, now I´m not a new guy anymore and I´m understanding more and more..... I think I´m at like 60% now.... That´s awesome!

You know, I love being here it´s great! I got a new comp last week, his name is Elder Malaquias, he is Brasilian, and we do get along just fine... He does work different than Elder Ellis, but that´s ok. We are teaching a lot of people and still walking..... I´m at 87 kilos now...
That´s like 191 lbs.... That´s a lot less from when I started. If you look at my face now and from when I started, everyone says it´s thinner..... It makes me happy! and I´m still losing weight!

Man the World Cup started this week, for about the next month we won´t have a lot of work to do... but I did hear the coolest thing the other day.... Our National Anthem.... I actually stood in the store with my hand over my heart with everyone looking at me... I didn´t care.... Eu sou Americano! I am an American! I did get a tear in my eye from it too! I love my country!

Man everything is great here..... I love it....
This week was fairly uneventful, sorry guys......
I hope you are all having a good summer!
I am having a good winter!
I love you all!

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

Love ya!

Abraço! (hugs!)

Elder Richardson

My District--before transfers! Front: Elder Capone, S. Nacimento, S. Pietroski, E. Ribeiro>> Middle: E. Wesley, E. Sajnaj, E. Porter>> Back: E. Novaes, E. Sevy, E. Ellis, E. Fidelis, E. Richardson>> this goes from left to right.

me and Elder R. Sousa



It's me! Supermissionary--breaking through a wall.



Me, Sister Pietroski, Sister Nascimento, Elder Ellis

Oi pessoas!

Today is transfer day here in Brasil, so for those of you who know what that means and for those of you who don’t it means new comps! I did get a new comp today, he is Brasilian his name is Elder Malaquias. He is pretty cool from what I can tell. I don’t speak much Português and he doesn’t speak much Inglês so here we go for the next fairly silent 6 weeks of my life! I’m still here in Americo Brasiliense.

It was a crazy week, we went to Ribeirão Preto on Thursday and helped with transfers, well I didn’t do anything because it’s a “secret” so I just sat there and read church magazines..... wow..... but we did got to a churrasco (barbecue) which was really good!

Sister Pietroski and Sister Nascimento

a typical plate of food

Man the World Cup starts in about a week! We have permission to watch it!

Everything is going great! I hope to hear about your lives, you hear about mine weekly! I’m so glad I’m a missionary, this is awesome! Other than this it was a fairly uneventful week!

It’s been fairly cold here lately, so I’m actually wearing a sweater..... This is me and Elder Ellis.

I’m enjoying life here in Brasil, in a couple of weeks I will hit my 4 month mark, it’s possible I will only have 6 more weeks here..... but I’m not sure, it depends on me and my comp, how we get along, how well we do, stuff like that..... But for sure I will be here for a total of 3 months.....

I’m learning a lot, and I’m actually able to kinda understand my comp and other people.

Man guys, have a good summer vacation, good luck in college, preparing for your missions, and heck even in high school next fall! Oh and all you camp people, have fun!

Muito grande abraço para vocês! (I give you big hugs!)

I am Elder Richardson, Junior comp of Elder Malaquias, in Americo Brasiliense, SP Brasil and I end mine epistle, amen.

Love you guys! Elder Richardson!

These are the only bikes we get to ride!

Pessoas!!!!!!!!!

E ai? Beleza? (Hey there? Good?)

Ok I realized I graduated high school a year ago! ´09! I hope everyone is happy, I know I am!

Only one more week in this transfer! Then I may have a Brasilian companion then no more English.....crazy! I think I´ll get by.

Holy cow, we had Zone Conference this week, I got my bag and 12 letters! My family needs to put more space in between my letters........and my friends, you guys need to write more! I feel unloved! Ha ha, but still I would love to hear from you!

Everything is going great here, we didn´t have any big things happen except Conference, and that made the whole week fly by......we are working hard and having a great time!

Oh man the funniest thing that happened this week was the sisters in our district made us pudim (pudding)! Yay! and I told one sister I wanted her recipe... but I had to say it in Português, she´s Brasilian, and I said “Eu quer você” which means I want you. But I meant to say “Eu quer sua recita!” which is I want your recipe! It was really funny! Everything is great, I love what I´m doing! It´s so great!

Oh yeah, we met this dude again, we´ve talked to him before and he told me I have a lot of walking ahead of me and I´m going to China, apparently to preach after Brasil. He said my comp is now a citizen of Heaven and will preach in the US, and his wife will play the organ and have long hair.... and another lady told him he is going to heaven and so we figure he doesn´t need a visa now.... hahaha not a very good joke but ok. Oh yeah he started speaking in tongues too..... Pretty crazy.

I love it here. These pictures are of like our favorite family, actually it´s the daughter of the lady who we used her phone to call home (on Mother’s Day). Her name is Tamires and she is 7. She is way cool! So we were coloring together, it was fun.

And then there are some pictures of me cooking this morning’s biscuits and gravy. Well only the gravy. Maria, the Presidente de Ramos´ (President of the Branch) wife made us those (biscuits). We ate lunch with them on Sabado (Saturday). So she gave us food. So we had good food today!

(This jersey is for the Argentine team--a tribute to Taylor's dad!)

(I hope everyone notices this shirt--I love that my son bought an Italian jersey! Way to honor your mom--made me smile! For those of you who don't know, that where I served a mission!)

Everything is great here, I love being a missionary. I love you all!

My name is Elder Richardson, trainee of Elder Ellis, Missionary

Pessoas!!!!
Ok This week in Brasil comes the following:
We baptized one girl, actually the sister of the guy I baptized last week. Her name is Tamires. Here’s the picture!

Everything is going great here, the city is like this, there are different bairros.... neighborhoods. There is the Centro which is like the shopping distrito [district], and then houses and there can be stores and Igrejas [churches] in these parts..... the buildings are small...... more or less like West Valley City! It has been getting kinda cold and I actually wore my sweater.

We eat lunch with a member everyday..... sometimes its good and sometimes its not..... but we eat it anyway..... one of the worst meals was this...... Fish spaghetti..... It looks like spaghetti but tastes like trout...... YUCK MAN! Have you ever wanted NORMAL spaghetti so bad, then it tastes like FISH? NO! But we do eat these little pizzas for dinner sometimes called Esfihas..... oh they are so good! [Here's a link to Esfihas http://www.cookbrazil.com/esfihas.htm. They sound like empanadas!]

Man, everything is going great here. I love it here..... oh the funniest thing that happened this week was we were teaching an Inglês class and one of Elder Ellis’ friends on the mission called and so we asked him to say something simple in Inglês to the kids and he said “What’s your name E?” That’s how Brasilians pronounce it... and they didn’t answer so he said “What’s your freakin’ name E!” It was so funny!

Oh man I learned something that pretty much all missionaries learn, how to do the Rubik’s cube.... That’s right I did learn how to do it! That’s what’s going on here and yaya like I lost 13 kilos lost since I left home 3 months ago today!

Oh yeah Sundays are estranha [strange] here.... we get up and get ready and go to church by like 8:30—it starts at 9—and then we wait forever for people to come so we can have a ride to go pick up our people. Then we go to church . . .then we go to lunch at someone’s house . . . then we go out proselyting for the rest of the day . . . finish up our contacts for the week and everything else . . .and then we visit the greatest family here . . . then we go home . . . and then it’s P-DAY!!!! It’s great. Everything is.

Well ok guys I can’t think of anything else so, Rock on! May the Force be with you! I love you all and hope to hear from you! My Name is Elder Richardson, Trainee of Elder Ellis, Second in command of Missionary Work in Americo Brasiliense, Keymaster, and I end my epistle, Amen.

Doesn't this look like a great city? I love it!

More animals to teach?

Hey guys!
Yeah everything is great here in Americo Brasilense! You know what I’ll tell you about my city. It’s pretty small, but it’s great. There are houses and then shops sometimes they are mixed together.... There are lots of people here, and everyone has a dog, whether they like it or not. There are lots of bars and that’s where we get Guaraná! You know ice cream really saves your life here.....

Hey if anyone wants to send me mail or a package, that is accepted as well as needed and loved! Just send them to the mission office, I will get them every couple of weeks! Ask my mom what kinds of things to send and how it all works.

Guys I love being a missionary, it’s so great, those of you who are getting ready to fill out your papers, be excited don’t give up! It’s so worth it! If you can go but aren’t trying to, what’s up? Get to work! Faz Trabalho Filho! Rapido, Rapido! [Work son, fast, fast!] (Taylor wants me to tell you if you need help filling out the paperwork, that I am willing to help. Sure—I can do that! I’d love to see you all off on missions.)

You know I did something great this week, we got 2 baptisms! It was pretty much clean up from the last Elders.... but I got to baptize Kelvin, and the other boy is Maicon. It was really cool.
(It looks like a member baptized Maicon, but Taylor was lucky and got to baptize Kelvin. And isn't it cool to see the name of the Church in Portuguese? You can certainly tell what it is.)

The smells here are good, bad and different. We have to usually eat everything all together, and they always make me eat more..... so I tell them I don’t want to be gordão! So they usually let me off on that.... (Taylor hates stroganoff and we used to tease him that he’d go to Stroganoff Capitol of the World. On Mother’s Day when we talked, he said we were right—Brazil is Stroganoff Capitol of the World—everyone makes their own version of stroganoff, but he is trying everything and says he mostly likes Brazilian stroganoff.)

I’m understanding a whole lot more than I did about a week ago......

I hope you will send me some mail! Missionaries love letters and packages!!!!!! Thanks for everything! I love you guys!

See you in 2 years
Elder Richardson

Oi pessoas!

Nossa! This week has gone by fast! I´m learning so much so fast! It´s great! I love being here, wow so what happened? Let´s see.....

Sometimes people aren´t out so we don´t get a ton done, but we did get some work done! We have a few potential people to get baptized but we´ll see.... There is a family we go to a lot and their kids love us, they we trying to make me laugh yesterday, porque they think I´m super serious.....

Everything is great! I really don´t know what to say.....
We have like 15 flavors of TANG here! I love Guaraná, it´s so good!

Wow, the people don´t stop for pedestrians, I mean when they are driving their cars and stuff!

I love my area, and everything about it, my companheiro is super cool! We have been teaching some people one moça is really hard to teach, she won´t be home when she says or she won´t read and all kinds of crap.....

A couple of other people are really ready for baptism, and so is another family. I love being a missionary! I love what I get to do! Well Até proximo semana!

Eu te amo muito!
- Elder Richardson


We had a wonderful phone conversation with Taylor on Mother's Day. He sounds so happy! He didn't have a single negative thing to say about anything, which makes for a happy mother. He is in a small town of about 30,000 people and it is fairly rural. He loves his companion, who is a good missionary and is showing Taylor all the ins and outs of being a missionary. They are both new to the city; his companion is just coming out of the mission home after being the Financial Secretary for 6 months. He only has 3 months left and is excited to be a proselyting missionary again. It sounds like they are both trying to work hard as they learn how this city works. I took notes on the phone conversation, so when I get those notes in front of me--I'll see what else I can tell you! --Mission Mom

This is Taylor's best contact so far.

I'm guessing this is the new city, but am not sure.

Taylor and Elder Cunha--Taylor thinks he looks like Antonio Banderas (although he says not in this picture--maybe if Antonio would put on the white shirt and tie, they'd be twins).

Picture from the CTM. Very nice. He'll be a great tour guide one day.

The Elders in the CTM district; well, at least their tags.

Oh, here are the faces to match the tags.



Beautiful skyline--of what city? Not sure.


Elder Snyder and Elder Richardson--CTM comps.

Not sure who, you match the face with the tag this time.

Taylor in his "Man Search for Happiness" pose. If you don't know what that is, ask your parents--they'll know.

Look like happy missionaries leaving the CTM, going to their mission. Good picture. Was this the 3 a.m. pose? Kind of a crazed look in some of those eyes. . .

Oi pessoas!

Ok, I’m in the perfect place, a little city called Americo Brasilense! My Trainer is Elder Ellis, a surfer from California/Hawaii! Super cool dude! It’s just us two here... we live in a little house thingy. Our city is just south of Ribeirão Preto. I’ve seen so many thing, I can’t remember them all. There is a bar on at least every block.

Everyone send my letters to the mission home, I’ll get them every few weeks!
Ok in order to go to Ribeirão Preto, we had to get up at 3 IN THE MORNING!!!! Then we got there and ended up having 3 breakfasts! One at the CTM, on the plane and then when we got there and met the Assistants and the Secretaries. Then we went to Presidente Veira’s house and had lunch and a get-to-know-you interview.... He doesn’t know much Inglês so it was interesting!

Then we got our trainers and the área that we are in! Then we waited forever to go, we all got a bus to our new áreas. It’s super cool here! We have lunch with a member everyday! Everything is great—I absolutely love it! Sleep comes so easy.... I’m so tired when we get home.....

Man I got 81 contatos this week, and 19 addresses! I’m learning so much, so fast! Church here is super small; we had 70 people come, and that’s a lot! We have one lady who is way ready to be baptized, so we just need to get her an interview and her husband too! They are totally cool!
I got offered alcohol this week, almost been ran over like at least 6 times a day, sometimes people think we are the police it’s crazy! Everything is great, you know on Sunday I was actually looking forward to having beans and rice, it’s so good! I love the food, and people go way out of their way for us!

Oh we drink this drink called Tereré and you have it with pear juice, it’s kind of like mate, but cold and it’s super good, you drink it out of a horn, yep a horn, you know from a cow! It’s so good! Tereré is like mate, but it’s cold. (Mate is a drink Taylor’s dad had on his mission in Argentina.) The straw we use is called a bomba.

I love it here! I love being a missionary! Write to me!

Love you guys!

-Elder Richardson!