Taylor and his companion Elder João

I walk down the dusty road and I look to my right and I see a field of grass, and I look to my left and see a dog walking along the street and in the distance I see someone walking toward us, and then I see the small store on the corner that is also a bar. I stop and take a look at my planner as I wipe the sweat from my head and wait for the person to come, I talk to them and I get the address saying, we´ll visit there another day, not knowing when I will be visiting them. They walk away probably with many things clouding their mind.... we enter the store to buy something to drink and to get out of the burning sun. I find what I want, Guaraná, which is kinda like Root Beer, well ok it has nothing to do with Root Beer, except you have so many different brands and it is all the same thing and everyone has a slightly different flavor but it is all.... GUARANÁ....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLI ROSENLOF!

So anyway this last week was good, but hard, we didn´t get in a single house this last week, well ok new houses, and even the older houses that was hard, like no one was home and no one wanted to go to Church, man it was really hard. It was a good week though, I liked it.

So anyway, I have a funny picture of Elder Passos eating pop rocks and he looks as if he is in horrible pain and I showed them to a girl and she about died laughing.

We always have a lot of drunk dudes talking to us about whatever, they ask for money, just want to talk, some just say hi, but always, always, always the drunk dudes get us.

We went to an English school again and made pancakes, that was fun, but I always forget to speak English....

During a lunch, we were waiting to pray so we could eat and then the lady and her son held hands, and so my comp said something funny thinking they were joking, and so I waited for the prayer and the lady looked at me and said in a stern voice, " take his hand." so I did and then she started to pray.... ok maybe for some of you that isn´t that bad, but here it is, that is a very evangelical thing to do and other churches do that, and so we try to avoid all appearances of other churches because it can confuse the members here and then other things will go wrong.

Oh I don´t know if I already said this but my comp ate McDonald´s for the first time a couple weeks ago and so on Saturday we got money for lunch and he wanted to go there, so we did, he loves McDonald´s..... hahahaaha

Oh I ate pumpkin for lunch last week that was the weirdest thing I ate last week...

That was about it, it was a good week.

I am Elder Richardson, I know this Church is true, I am a missionary, LD, in Araçatuba, and I fight for Truth, Justice, and God Almighty. I do what I must do, I encourage all of you to take up your arms and join me in this ongoing battle that we will win in the end, and I end mine epistle, amen.

As I walk down the street the hot Brasilian sun beats upon my tired and scarred face, scarred from the sun and the dirt that constantly flies through the air of the interior of São Paulo, I look to my side and I see a man, sitting in front of his house, and I know that he will not leave until it is time to go in to sleep, I look to the other side and I see a girl in short shorts and a tank top with a hose in her hand cleaning the sidewalk and her sister is sweeping the leaves, I then wonder who should I talk to? who needs the gospel in their lives? they all do so I tell my comp to take one side as I take the other, Then we knock upon the doors of the houses one by one, to see if anyone wants to hear our message now. Some say yes, some say no, some not now. When? When will they hear it? We may never know.....

Then I sing a song, hooray for p-day the best day of the week it always came with email and no lunch unless I pay!

This last week was good, I got to talk to my parents on Sunday, that was cool, my new comp is Elder João he is from Rio Grande do Norte, and he already served a mission but is now doing a cortopraza one to help out. The funny thing is I speak better portugês than him.

I talked to a girl that looked like a vampire and then some drunk dudes asked me about what team I go for, so I lied not to get in trouble and the guy said Hey look even the Elders go for that team!!!!!!!!

I actually asked to eat a tomato, and for those of you who know me, know I don´t like them, but I ASKED FOR ONE!!!!!!!

This week was good, we did a bunch of contacts and worked hard!

Here in Araçatuba we have some of the hottest girls ever! Just so you know!

I love it here, I want you all to serve. You all need to go so you can gain a testimony of the Savior and serve the Lord.

I love what James E. Talmage said about the Savior in Jesus the Christ:

“Even the profane sinner in the foul sacrilege of his oath acclaims the Divine Supremacy of Him whose name he desecrates.”

Even the bad know Him.

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

Well another transfer has come and gone and now we have the novidades!

I´m still here in hot hot Araçatuba and I will get a new comp, apparently he is a member from Américo Brasiliênse, my beloved first city. I will find out later today.

So anyway this week was good, it went by fast, and so did this transfer. Now I will have to do everything on my own, this kid hasn´t even gone to the CTM yet!

Now I´ve got to be a super missionary, for real this time!

This transfer will be good, I´m going to make a year and 3 on the mission at the end of this month, crazy huh?

So I really don´t have much to say except it was a good week, we worked pretty normally, I went to an English school again to help out, it was pretty fun.

I love it here actually so I´m not bummed out that I´m staying, I´m actually pretty excited to be here still.

I´m sorry this one is short. But hey nothing super crazy happened!

Love you all

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

Me and Elder H. Pinho

Me and Elder Brower

Me and Elder Thatcher


Me and Sister Vallem


Me and Elder Denyszczuk (my comp)(with their Tigger and Pooh Pez Machines)

Me and Sister Martins who goes home this week

It’s just another day, it’s just another daaay

It’s a dead man’s party, who could ask for more, everybody’s coming leave your body at the door, leave your body and soul at the door....

Man I heard that on the radio the other day when we were in a store, it had been 1 year and 2 months since I heard OINGO BOINGO!!!!!!

As of yesterday I have 1 year and 2 months on my mission.

This last week we had conferences, and so we went to Rio Preto and Elder Arrazola and Elder Squires came over and slept at our house.

It was a good conference and now everyone has to learn English, even Presidente Prieto. My comp is already doing good on that but still now it’s a rule.

I got a package (man that was hard to spell) and I know I was loved, now I have about a year’s worth of Deodorant, so I won’t be using the Brasilian stuff on my mission.

I found out on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 in the Favelas in Rio de Janeiro they actually speak Português so when I get home I’ll know how to win even faster, they say what they are doing so know I speak the language and so it won’t be a problem for me. hahahahaha

Ok yesterday I asked Heavenly Father for a miracle, just looking at the sky and saying Please we want a miracle today, help us out, and I do, I do, I do believe in Miracles! 2 guys we have been working with finally went to church.

It was awesome!

Yesterday we visited some less actives and we told the lady I was from Porto Alegre and she believed me and we were talking that night and I was talking and she still believed me and then when we left I said I was American and she said, but how you have no accent..... that’s crazy!

So I guess I speak Português pretty good.....

This last week was good, I had fun, it was very tiring and fast. This is now the last week of this transfer so transfers are next week and so you know the drill, maybe I won’t email you or it will be later! srrsrsrsrsrsrsrrsrsrsrsrsrs so yeah that’s about it.

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

I’m having a good time......not.......

No I’m kidding I’m having a great time!

yep I’m still here, and loving it.
This week was crazy as was the other weeks, we work so hard and then we come home so tired. It is so hot here, you can hardly stand it. You can’t help but lose weight, I’ve lost a little more..... like 2 or 3 kilos....in a MONTH!!!

We have a College bem perto de nossa casa (next to our house) and so we’ll get lots of people from other places, we even met a dude from Bolivia, he spoke only in Spanish to us and I understood everything but the city where he’s from but it’s because I’ve never heard of it.
It’s crazy I speak like no Spanish but I understood him.

It was pretty cool

We walked a lot again. and this coming week we need to walk even more. We did another interview for the sisters and this week they may be baptized.... it is so cool doing interviews.... you have some really cool experiences and you get drained too.... you can’t really do much after... You get tired.... the Spirit does that to ya....

We met some really cool people this last week and they were really excited to have us over there..... I hope they will want more, so we can help them, we found some cool inactive families and we are going to start to reactivate them. One lady wants to give us dinner, which is great because we don’t normally eat dinner....

I love this area, it is great here, we have a bunch of members that want to help us and that will. Me and my comp are getting along great. We only have 2 more weeks of this transfer and we have no clue what may happen, so be ready for anything.

We have 2 groups of people we are working with and it’s hard because they are about 3 kilometers or more away from each other so we have to pick who we will teach everyday.... it’s hard but good....

Araçatuba is a great city, it is very hot but I love it here.

Anyway, I love you all.

I am Elder Richardson, Líder de Distrito, Missionary in ala Santana, Estaca Araçatuba and I end mine epistle, amen

The bumper sticker says to get souls for Jesus, that's what I do!

The girl is now my woman, she is a shoe model.... and not slutty.... rare for here....

Interviews are crazy man.....

Ok as an LD I have to do interviews and I got to do my first one on Saturday. It was a really cool experience but it takes a lot out of you. It was cool though.

So anyway this week was good....we had interviews with Presidente Prieto and it seems that he is very happy with me. He said I know how to work hard and I know what to do when stuff doesn't happen. So I guess that's good, he said again he is happy to have me as a leader and to continue on and I will be a great missionary. He said I knew you were an awesome missionary, and your name has power.... ELDER RICHARDSON..... I guess so.... so, I just gotta keep going.

This week we bought 90 eggs because they were cheap and then I walked over 3 kilometers with them or a little over 2 miles....

We had a good but fast and tiring week.... they changed our number system again and now we have to do stuff daily..... not just weekly.... It was a good week again we felt good about the week and that we did our best.

I still love it here, I don't have much to say this week, I don't know why..... sorry.... I love you all, I hope to get letters from you all.

Love you lots, I am Elder Richardson, LD, and missionary and I end mine epistle, amen

Elder H. Pinho, Irmã Neuza, Irmã Clevenir, Me, E. Jeppson, E. Denyszczuk (my comp)

E. Hudson, D. Souza, Denyszczuk, Me

Vixi Maria Altíssima!!!

How you doin'? I´m good. I hope you are too.

I hope all of you watched conference, I hope all men and young men went to the Priesthood Session. I watched what I could but I missed some of Conference because of our lunch hour and some people here in Brasil just can't seem to do lunch earlier.... But whatever, we got to eat and see some of Conference, we even got to watch the Priesthood session even though it started at 9 at night for us.

SO anyway, I liked Conference, I love being able to hear from our living Prophet today. I got to watch about half of it in English, and during the Português parts the translators messed up.... A LOT. I thought they were professionals..... Man, they messed up during the announcements, prayers, you name it. But Nevertheless I loved it, it is so wonderful to be able to watch conference.

I hope you all had a good week. This last week the Assistants came out here and did divisions with us, it was cool I got to go with Elder Jeppson, an old friend. Then because of Conference we lost like 3 days of normal work. But man we worked hard, we came home dead.... literally dead. Yesterday we decided we had very clear consciences and we did our best, we didn't get all the numbers that we "should" have but we literally did our best. We did good.

It was very hot this last week, like always, and it finally started to rain on Saturday.... We walked so freakin' far this last week, and yes I got back into drinking Tereré, an old favorite. Man I love that stuff, I'll show you guys what it is when I get home, that and Chimarrão, you like it... maybe....rsrsrrsrsrsr

I don't have much to say really so I'm going to let you all think about Conference. I'm still happy here, I love it. We all need to serve missions, that´s what our Prophet said....

If you believe in Him why aren't you out here? We need your help. The Lord needs you. You need to do it. Be a man and serve.

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