Week 6: By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them

Hello Family and Friends!

Another scorching hot, but great week in Chi Town!

This week was so stinkin great! Sister Jili and I were getting pretty frustrated, because our area is was feeling so dead. People have a terribly hard time keeping commitments, and so nothing was really happening at all. But this week, we have started to see the fruits of our labors!

We were able to set 6 baptismal dates this week, and that is huge for our area! We are so happy. We're praying that everything goes well, and that our investigators keep coming to church. The Lord truly has led us to those who need to hear the message of the gospel. Amazingly enough, people have come to us and said, "Sister I need you to teach me. Please, just teach me". There's no better feeling!

The Elders had a baptism on Saturday that we were able to attend, and one of the little boys who got baptized bore a powerful testimony after. He's only nine years old, but stood confidently in front of the congregation and said "Brothers and Sisters, I am happy to stand here and bear my testimony. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church. I know that The Book of Mormon is true. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." It was so simple, but so incredibly powerful to hear this testimony from a nine year old convert.

We saw one of our investigators preparing for baptism on Saturday, and he was so drunk. Drunk people are so chatty! He could've gone on and one. Anyways, he brought his other drunk friend to the lesson, and we made it verrryy short because we didn't think they were really getting anything. At the end of the lesson he turned to us and said, "Sisters, I really think my friend needs to hear what you taught me last time." We had taught him several of the commandments, but I couldn't tell which one he was wanting us to teach. And then he says, "The Law of Chastity." Oh shoot. Well before we can say a word, our investigator has started teaching the lesson, and even has his friend reading quotes from the pamphlet. Here I am, sitting in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe, watching two drunk guys trying to get to the bottom of The Law of Chastity. It was probably the funniest thing I have experienced up to this point in my lifetime! Then his friend said the closing prayer, and asked that all of our enemies burn in the fiery depths of hell. My companion and I LOST IT. It was one of those silent laughs where your body just shakes because you're trying not to make any noise. Safe to say we will be reviewing The Word of Wisdom again this week.

As we went over the parable of the Ten Virgins this week in District Meeting, it really hit me that the oil of conversion cannot be borrowed. As you come on mission, you are testifying of dozens of things eight or nine times a day. You can't testify of something you don't already know about. We have to convert ourselves, save up our oil, so that one day we can testify of the gospel - whether it be about the cleansing power of the Atonement, the reality of God's love for each of us, or of the Book of Mormon. The oil of conversion cannot be borrowed.

I love this gospel with everything I have, and my heart grows more fond of it every day. The church is true!

xoxo Sister Richards

We call our house the celestial kingdom because it's the nicest house in the mission. Here is my bed with the african sun shining through the windows. Doesn't it look celestial?

 My Area

 My Area

 My Area

 The African Sunset

 My favorite kids in our area! They're trying to teach me shona. 

 We are not allowed to hold babies on mission, unless the people would be offended. And we were not about to say no to this Gogo (grandma) who handed us this newborn baby, because she didn't speak a work of english, so we didn't know how to! So we took advantage of the opportunity and took pics.

 The tan. The tan is real.

Sazda and fish. Mmm. Tasted just about as good as it looks. But the spirit helped get that down. 

Week 5: You Know You're In Africa

Family and Friends!

A great week down in the books! This week I was in both Chi Town and Kwatzana, because we had exchanges.

This week we went and saw Brother Lameck. Sister Jili and her old companion and taught him a little, but I hadn't seen him yet. So we get off the kombi and start walking, and I ask my companion where he stays. And she thinks for a minute and says, "Hmm, you know that really busy street that we walk down all the time? Well you just turn after that and then turn again and then we meet under that big tree that's there". You know you're in Africa when you know EXACTLY where your companion is talking about when she says you meet under a big tree off a busy street.

So for exchanges, I was in Kwatzana with Sister Bert. Yes, two white girls walking around Africa. I now can see why President never does that. We left the house at 10, got to the area about 10:30, and have 45 contacts before 11. We weren't contacting people, people were contacting us. It was hysterical! I wish I stayed in Kwatzana for a couple more days because we got some serious appointments set up.

We had another great lesson with Brother Timothy, and he said something that just made me smile. He has been having a super tough time with a lot of things in his life. But he looked at us and said, "you guys helped me to stand back up again." And that's really what the gospel does! As missionaries, we're there to help people stand back up, and realize that there is hope.

Also something funny. Brother Lovemore, the guy that could talk FOREVER, almost had a heart attack when he realized that the footnotes in the Book of Mormon weren't written by Nephi. Hahaha I  was trying to hard not to laugh but he was just so concerned that we had to put the footnotes in ourselves and that the prophets couldn't do it themselves. It was so funny.

Scriptural thought for the week:

"And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard went forth, and he saw that his olive tree began to decay; and he said: I will prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it, that perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches, and it perish not." 

When Heavenly Father sees we need to grow, he takes the time to prune us, dig about it, and nourish us. These can be seen as trials. When have we felt like we have been pruned? Although these trials may seem hard, Heavenly Father sees it necessary for us to shoot for young a tender branches, that we perish not. The branches may not be very big or strong, but he's willing to put all the work into us just to see a little change.

I hope you all have a great week! Some each some chick fil a for me.

Love, Sister Richards

Week 4: Downpour in Chi-Town

Family and Friends!

Another great week in Chitungwiza! Also known as Chi-Town. I wish I could say I made that up, but I didn't.

This week was hot, cold, full of miracles, and the spirit! One day you wake up and it's 98 degrees, the next day is pouring rain and 40. Sometimes I wonder if I'm still living in Utah because the weather is so bipolar. 

First off, we got to watch conference this week! Wow, it was so incredible. I came away feel inspired, comforted, and empowered. The feelings that were felt in that meeting testify that there is a God. Those words could not have come from men. How blessed we are to live in such a time where God reveals His word to us through His servants! It was verrryyy cold in our chapel (tent), so we seriously packed on the layers. It really makes no sense, because here I am with a sunburn on my face, yet I'm wearing two sweaters, a scarf, and a coat. Thank you, Africa.

We have a new investigator named Brother Lovemore. Oh my. This guy is something else. He could just talk and talk and talk and talk. It took us two and a half hours to get through the restoration alone. He has so many questions, so it's been a great learning experience for me! As we taught him the Plan of Salvation, he had a question he thought could ever be answered in this lifetime. The spirit spoke to me to open a scripture from the book of Alma, and I handed him my scriptures and asked him to read it. After he read it, there was a moment of silence. He looked up from the book and into my eyes and said, 'the scripture says it all'. The Book of Mormon truly says it all.

Here is my latest dilemma. I have such a hard time understanding people on the phone. They speak so fast and their accents are so thick, so usually Sister Jili just talks. Well one day I see that the AP is calling, and so I answer and we talk for a minute or so and I'm understanding him so well and I'm just like YES I'm getting better at this. Well then he says, "sister richards I have a favor to ask. Will you make invitations for zone conference next tuesday?" and in my mind I'm thinking "uhh why do we need invitations for zone conference I'm pretty sure everyone already knows about it". Well obviously I'm new here so I wasn't going to question him, so I said that I would. Then he proceeds to talk more and I can't understand anything so I hand the phone to Sister Jili and give her a heads up about having to make invitations.Turns out, the AP was asking me to give the INVOCATION at the Zone conference, not make invitations.We laughed and laughed and kept on laughing. Safe to say I won't be having any important phone calls in the next little while.

Well, this week I can tell you all that I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real, and it is for all of us. Jesus Christ will be there for us through it all, and will not provide us only comfort, but strength. "What matter is that you are His. Because He loves you, He will find you and put you upon His shoulders and rejoice."

Far and wide we'll tell the Father's story. Far and wide His love proclaim!

xoxo Sister Richards

Week 3: Little White Girl Takes Chitungwiza

Yes, they do call me little white girl here! Chitungwiza is something else!

We're about a 45 minute kombi ride from Harare, and it's really beautiful. Kombis are 13 passenger vans, but there's usually about 28 people in them. If there's not room, people will just sit on your lap. Yes, that's real. 

I've been so surprised by how shocked everyone is to see me! We'll be walking down the street and someone will see me and yell "muroogoo!" and then everyone will turn and yell "how are you!" All the little kids chase after me and just giggle. They're so stinkin cute! Always lifts my spirits. 

My companion's name is Sis Jili, and she's AMAZING. She's from SA and knows a little bit of Shona, so that makes things easier when contacting. But people love trying to speak English with me. 

Last night we had dinner at a members house (we ate caterpillars), and we got there at about 5:30 and then didn't eat until 9:00. We call that African Standard Time. Nothing starts on time around here, except for church! Hooray for church! They asked me to give my testimony during sacrament meeting, and the whole meeting was really nice. Everyone asked if they could touch my hair. They would tug on it and ask if it was real and then be appalled when I told them it was. Haha too great. 

We have four investigators preparing for baptism right now, and we're crossing our fingers that they go through! We're trying to work out some stuff with legal marriages and word of wisdom issues, but we're getting there. The people here are so willing to listen and learn. I love them!

*drum roll please* WE ARE GETTING A TEMPLE!!! Hallelujah! Amen! We haven't watched conference yet but we got the good news last night!!! The people here are so faithful and I know that a temple will just change their lives! Harare! Harare!

The gospel is truly a message of hope for the people of Chitungwiza. Hope for happiness in this life, and a better life after death. The past couple weeks, I've really gained a testimony of missionary work (imagine that). We've been so incredibly blessed by the gospel all our lives, and I can't imagine trying to keep that happiness to myself. If that means I have to walk miles and miles in 102 degree weather and eat caterpillars every day, I can do that. You can do anything for 18 months, right? Let's do this thing.

I love you all so much and thank you for your emails!! President Mkhabela has given us permission to email our friends now because the mailing system is so unreliable.

Please enjoy the nice spring weather for me! Please!!

"And he denieth none that come unto him; black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen, and all are alike unto God"

xoxo Sister Richards

Week 2: Next Stop: Zimbabwe

Family and Friends!

Another amazing week down in Joburg! Still loving every second here, and the sunshine is amazing. 

On Sunday, we had a great Ward Council meeting, and a really beautiful sacrament meeting. I spoke on the power of the Book of Mormon and I'm so glad that was my topic. I LOVE that book! We sisters sang How Great Thou Art for the musical number and it was very nice. We had a great FHE that night with great games and AMERICAN candy (thank you Sister Ashton!)

This week, Sister Buthelezi and I finished up our lesson with Brother Dunn and Jake, and Sister Adjua. We worked soo hard with Sister Adjua and she finally accepted the invitation to be baptized! We extended the invitation and I was totally expecting her to say no because she was so hung up on the fact that she was already sprinkled with water  as a baby, and then she said yes. I just looked up and her and was like "wait are you serious" haha probably not my best response but I was PUMPED! Then today, we had to teach President Ashton as an investigator and it was so nerve wracking! But we taught the Plan of Salvation and it went so well.

The leadership council got to ride in the car with President and his wife to the Joburg temple on Tuesday and on the way home we stopped at McDonalds!!! Let me tell you, I have never tested anything so amazing in my LIFE! We've been eating horse for the past week (not a joke) so fries and ice cream tasted like heaven oh my goodness. That night in companion study and prayer, Sister Buthelezi said and I quote, "we are very much grateful that we got to go to mcdonalds, as my companion was so crazy about it". Yeah it was a big deal.

We still don't have power in our rooms so we can't plug anything in BUT we did find this fan thing that we dry our hair with now after we shower. It's changed my life.

We leave this Tuesday morning at 4 am for Zimbabwe! I am so excited!! I'm really sad to be leaving all friends here at the MTC (all 9 of them) but I can't wait to teach people for real! Sharing my personal witness of the gospel always brings tears to my eyes, and I never imagined loving sharing the gospel as much as I do.

Thank you all for your emails and support, and next week you'll hear from me in Zim! 

"Called to know the richness of his blessings. Sons and daughters, children of a King."

xo Sister Richards

Week 1: Bless the Rains Down in Africa

Family and Friends!! My peeps! Everyone!

I have now been in the MTC for 8 days in Johannesburg, South Africa and am loving every single second! Seriously, who would've thought. I have a great companion from South Africa, Sister Buthelezi (boo-tah-lez-ee), and we work so well together, and are having the best time! Sister Erickson, Walbeck, and Ziqubu (zee-(click)-oo-boo) are the other companionship, and let me tell you, these girls are my best friends!! I am slowly, but surely, learning Shone, Zulu, and xhlosa (klosa). Zulu is really clicky, and I'm getting the clicks down pretty well. They're just hard to say really fast. But in the words of Sister Ziqubu, "Sister Richards, you're practically African". Oh stop it, I'm blushing. 

I got made Sister Leader the first day we were here, so it's been great being able to learn how to be a leader! President and Sister Ashton are so incredible, and I've already learned so much from them. 

Joburg is beautiful! It's been raining like crazy every day, and it gets pretty loud in the atrium. It's so pretty having everything green here, and it's the perfect temperature down here! We went outside for Book of Mormon study the other day, and our teacher, Sister Neo (nay-oh), said "oh no it's too cold out here" and all of the utah sisters were like "are you serious!! this is so warm!!" and we're just sitting there taking off our cardigans and basking in the sunlight. I'm guessing it was a solid 70 degrees out there. We got to go to the Joburg temple on Tuesday so Sister Ziqubu and Elder Chaparadzda could go through for the first time. Such a cool experience. 

Our teachers are absolutely AMAZING! I don't know if I've even been in a place where the spirit is so strong, and these teachers know the gospel like it's nobody's business. They can recite hundreds of scriptures, and I am learning sooo much from them. Sister Neo and Van Zyl (fun-sale) are our morning teachers, and Brother Kubekah, Ventzel, and Moshani are our afternoon/night teachers. They all act like our investigators, and it's so hard to keep their names straight haha. 

I'll spare you my real feelings on the food, but know that I am alive and well. Also, cranberry juice will get rid of the taste of ANYTHING. Seriously. The toast is good, though. And the chocolate pudding.

My testimony has grown more in the past 8 days than I ever could have imagined. I've learned to recognize the spirit more clearly, and I can testify to each of you that if you open your mouth, the spirit will fill it with words. I went into District Meeting on Sunday not knowing what I was going to say to my sisters to help them, but as soon as I opened my mouth, the spirit took over and we had an outstanding meeting. Each one of mine and Sister Buthelezi's investigators has accepted the invitation to be baptized, and I could cry every time they say yes.

There is no place else in the world I would rather be than in South Africa right now preaching the gospel. I love this gospel with everything I have! The Lord truly is hastening the work, and I can hear it in every testimony of the elders and sisters here (all 9 of us). Let's preach this gospel!!

I'm really sorry that was so long, but there's just so much to say! As the Africans would say, I am "so much grateful" for each of you. Your testimonies have gotten me where I am today, and the people of Zimbabwe will be able to hear your testimonies through mine.

This is Africa's time. This is C Rich signing off. 

Sister Richards