Surprise Visitors

Katie had a surprise visitor at work yesterday afternoon. Sister Escobar, Heather'e first companion in Texas, dropped by the Petitions Office to say hello. She was amazed, and we knew she would be, to discover how much alike Katie and Heather look. Over heard comments include "It's like I'm talking to Heather, but I'm not!" and "Oh my! you are even the same size!"

Thank you Shirley for going by to see KT. She loved it!!!

Greetings from stormy Carrolton, Texas

Monday
27 April 2009

Dear Family,

How is everyone doing up north? Things are going great down here! Hermana Brundage and I had eleven Spanish investigators and one English investigator at church yesterday!!! One family, the Gonzales family, that we have taught twice came, except for the Mom, Sulma, she had to go to work, but next week she hopes to be able to come. Natalia, who is four started to cry and so she came from the Primary and joined her Dad and us in Gospel Principals but then started to cry again. Hermano Miguel couldn’t do much in helping her stop so after the girls, Erica and Claudia got out of Young Women’s they went home but were sad to leave early. But they are excited to come back and hopefully with Mom being there next week and things not being quite so new, little Natalia will be more comfortable. They are the cutest family! The parents are originally from El Salvador but both met here in the U.S.! He is the one who I chased after to talk to and ended up being the one who had called for a Finding Faith in Christ DVD we were trying to deliver.

Hermana Alicia’s baptismal date has been postponed until they can be legally wed. They were married by the Catholic Church in Mexico but for some reason didn’t do it legally, so they are in the process of getting that done.

And we have a baptismal date for Hermana Flor!!! We were teaching the third lesson and I was teaching about baptism. I asked her if she would be willing to prepare to be baptized on May 17th. She asked what all she had to do before then to be prepared. We talked about it all and told her that she would need to ask her boss to give her a schedule that would allow her to go to church every Sunday. We talked about postponing it until the following week but she said that she wanted it for the 17th!! She is so amazing! She lives with her bother, her sister-in-law, and her nephew, Nefi, (her sister-in-law is an inactive member). We are so
excited for her!!!

This morning was eventful at the laundry mat! It was thundering and raining pretty strongly and the front door was open. Well, a crow got in and flew into the walls and front windows a few times. During this time, he flew a foot away from in front of me, then hit the back wall and conked out! Well, the young lady working there swept his dizzy self up into a dust pan and put him by the back door and left it open for him to take off when he came more to. He did and this time he managed to get out the door. It‘s amazing the animals here! We have a lizard outside our front door. And Hermana killed Wilbur the kitchen cockroach yesterday. (Yes, we had named him but that didn’t stop us from taking his life when the opportunity presented itself!) I killed yesterday a humungo spider in the shower. My first apartment in G.P. had bunny visitors and a possum visitor. In fact, the possum was just chilling out on the steps of the apartments! I saw a coyote in G.P., and last week I saw an owl hunting off the side of the road at sunset.

We met at church yesterday a man who has been investigating the church for some time that has moved here from Boston but he has lived in the Dallas area for most of his life. His name is Lavar and we may get to teach him, although that is up in the air still depending on whether he will decided to attend the single ward or not.

I gave one of the DVD’s you sent me, Mom, to the Elmore family. They were baptized just in March and they are so great! The parents are Caran and Steve and they have a 15 yr. old, Jonathan and a 10 yr. old Christopher.

Hope you all are doing well. I don’t have any details yet on calls on Mother’s Day but I will be sure to get them to you! If I still have my navy blue windbreaker, could you mail it off to me please? I have a notice here in my purse, telling me that I have a package in the apt. office but I wasn’t able to get it before the office closed Sat. night so I will get it after grocery shopping today!

Love you all so very, very much!
Heather

P.S. Way to go on your finals, Kat!!!

Hola from Carrollton, Texas 2009-04-13

Monday
April 13, 2009

Dear Family,

Things are busy and great here! We have been doing so much teaching! It's amazing how I am still working as hard as ever, but we have more opportunities to teach people. In fact, all of our nights this week except for one are filled up with teaching appointments! It is amazing the change in the areas and I’m relieved that we don’t have to do so much door knocking! We have a goal with Alicia, an investigator, for a baptismal date for the 26th of this month!! It has been a great experience teaching her and seeing her grow!

We are working very hard with about three of our investigating families to get married. This is a common obstacle as many don’t have citizenship papers, have not yet divorced from an ex, or their spouse has no desire to do so. Another obstacle is that so many have to work so much in order to provide, that they can’t attend church. I don’t have much understanding about the economy right now except that many are having very difficult times, with many being out of work here. Please pray that these people will be able to overcome these stumbling blocks!

Last Monday we went and played futbal with our district/zone. Funny situation – our district is actually also our zone here!

I’m going to go get my haircut today so that will be nice to have done. I also sent one package home (WX) this morning. In it is some cookies called orejas (yes – ears) b/c they look like ears! You will have to wait to see ‘em! I also put in a bracelet for Kat. I am pretty sure that it is something that she would wear but wasn’t sure the rest of y’all so if anyone else wants one just let me know and I’ll get one for ya!

Went to both the Spanish branch yesterday and the English ward (well, parts of both). Went to Sacrament mtg. and Principals of the Gospel in Spanish and then to Sacrament mtg. and later relief society in English. We only had one Correlation mtg. with the Spanish mission leader so we were able to leave an hour earlier than we usually will.

Yesterday we also met a GREAT family, Family Gonzales! The parents (Miguel and Sulma) are from El Salvador and have lived in the U.S. for about 20 years. They have three daughters, Erica - 17, Claudia - 14, and Natalia - 4. He had requested a delivery for a free Finding Faith in Christ DVD, so we went to drop it off to him and his family.

Funny story: we went to knock on his door and there was no answer although we had called and arranged the previous day to drop by at that time. So, Hna. Brundage and I got back into the car to try to give him a call before we took off. We saw a man and his little girl walking down the sidewalk and we thought that they were so cute. So I got out and ran after him (he was headed the opposite direction and couldn’t see me) to talk to him. Well, he answered his phone when I got close enough to call out to him. I though that I was getting the shrug off like happens so often. Well, I told him I had something to give him and waited for him to finish his call and talked to his daughter and gave her a princess sticker while he wrapped up the call. Turns out it, he was Hno. Miguel and Hna. Brundage was on the phone with him! Right when he hung up, I see Hna. Brundage running to catch up to us! So funny! We went in, had a great, brief first lesson, talked about, and gave them the Book of Mormon.

Hope you all are doing great! Is the truck driver or his company going to pay for the damage? (Doug was traveling through a green light when the driver of a Pepsi delivery track made a right on red, swigging wide into Doug's lane. Since the Pepsi driver was 100% at fault, they are responsible for our repairs. Their truck only sustained a scratched bumper, but our little pickup didn't far quite so well.)


Take care and I love you all very, very much!
Hna. Richardson

Hola from Carrollton, TX

Monday

April 6, 2009

Dear Family,

These last couple of weeks has been packed! I am (as I guessed) here in Carrollton with Hermana Brundage! It has been a lot of work and great fun! We have a great, big area here. We cover Carrollton, Farmers Branch, a little bit of a city called The Colony, a bit of Plano (although Hna. has only been there once as the changes to the area have been recent), and Louisville. Wowie! I am also having a new experience in that we have a portion in our area that we are to teach in English! I feel so awkward praying and teaching in English sometimes I don’t feel bilingual at all, or even unilingual, rather half-lingual! So silly! But I am really enjoying the work here and love the members I have met so far since General Conference was yesterday!

Hna. Brundage is so cute, smart, charitable, and humble! I have been so blessed to have companions that have been such great examples of faith and love for others. I feel that I am growing bit by bit to be a better person and missionary. Sometimes I feel as though I would be lucky to become half of the missionaries that they are and know that with the Lord’s help I can become better.

Hna has a twin brother and like myself, is the fifth of five children! She also loves candy. I think more than I do! She wants to open a candy store someday!

Way to go Doug, being a good example to others! You really are such a good leader.

(This is in response to my sharing an experience Doug had. At a district music competition, because of their excellent reputation, Woods Cross High School was asked to perform last so all the other high schools would have a chance to hear them. One band director [I think from Roy, but I digress] particularly asked his bass trombone player to pay attention to the WX bass trombonist, who is Doug. This young man was so impressed; he talked to Doug afterwards asking for some tips and direction to improve his playing. A day or two later, Doc Shannon got a phone call from this other teacher relating that for the first time, his bass trombonist after talking with Doug had spent an hour practicing! Doc embarrassed Doug by sharing this with the Jazz band at one of their practices.

But then at the mandatory parent meeting for the music trip, Doc brought it up again.
In giving direction and expectations for the music trip, it was mentioned by Mr. H (Choir director) that you never know when you will influence someone else. To illustrate, Doc called out, “Doug? Doug Richardson? Where are you?” He then related this experience to the 400 or so people in this meeting.)

The baptism and confirmation for Hno. Alfonzo Hernandez was amazing! He is so happy and I know that he will continue to be great. He has such strong faith and has a great testimony of Jesus Christ! It was disappointing to have to leave Grand Prairie and not see him progress more. Hna. Brundage however, served in G.P. as well and we plan to go to the temple this month to see the sealing of the Hernandezs (not related to Alfonzo) and Rivera families.

Speaking of G.P., about a month or so ago I met for a short minute (as we had to go get investigators to church) a Sis. Graham (maiden name I think) at the church who is a friend of Pat Crookston. She said hello and I told her I would pass along her hellos to you all. I feel bad for forgetting for this long to do so!

I don’t remember if I told you all about church my last Sunday in G.P. but in case I didn’t, I’ll go ahead and share. All four of us Hermanas were invited to share our testimonies. It was really special although I felt so nervous inside! The second to last Sunday was also amazing! President Porter (Stake Pres. for Dallas) bore his testimony with the help of Hno. Weening to translate. He was so powerful and he loves the people so much! He is such a good example of love as he always greets people and even did so on his way out as he had to leave Sacrament Mtg. early to go to another mtg.

Great to hear that Kat and Susan won some prizes and that you all were able to go treat yourselves to some gelato! (We told her about going to Deseret Book’s Ladies Night during the Priesthood Session on Saturday, April 4.) I know that Susan will enjoy Temple Square and the movies!

I’m surprised to hear you are putting together an album for me although I am excited to get it after all of the work and love you have put into it Ma. There is no rush on it and I wasn’t even expecting one so take your time on it, and thank you for being thoughtful to make it for me! It means a lot! I’m also excited to get the picture from Jake and have been enjoying all that Jake, Lindsey, Maggie, and Ben has sent me!

I also sent one more box home so hopefully it arrives sometime soon! Let me know when it gets there!

I love you all! Hope you all are doing great!
With lots and lots of love, Heather

Hola mi Mama!

Monday

April 6, 2009 11:27 AM

Hola mi Mama!

Since I am writing a quick note to you first, I might as well tell you where I've been transferred to! I'm here in Carrollton and loving it!

I just wanted to let you know that the cavity (or dark spot) has disappeared! I had checked by brushing thoroughly more than once to be sure that it was a permanent spot on my tooth and not some food, but the last few mornings Mr. Spot has not been home. So I count myself blessed that I don’t need to get myself to a dentist after all!

I will probably like a listing of Doctors in case I may need to see one.

Love you very, very much!
Con much carino!
Heather

Dear Kat

Mon,
Mar 30, 2009

Dear Kat,

I just wrote you an email and it didn’t send and now it’s all gone! So here is a short version!

I heard from Mom that your talk in Church was great! If you have a copy I would love to read it!

I love all of the b-day presents! I especially loved and ate all of the rice krispy treats! But I did remember to share too! Thanks a million!

Hna Escobar is planning on returning to the Y this fall. She is a blast and I know that it will be fun for you to meet her. (I think meeting Katie will do a NUMBER on Hermana Escobar's brain!!!)

I Love You Oodles!
Heather

Baptism of Hermano Hernandez

Hermano Hermano Alfonzo Hernandez's Baptism

I'm packing my bags

Monday,
March 30, 2009 11:23 AM

Dear Family,

This last week has been a busy one!

Hermano Alfonzo Hernandez was baptized on Saturday and was confirmed with the Holy Ghost yesterday!!! He is so happy and says that he feels so clean! Hermana Escobar and I went in on a white shirt and zip up tie for him b/c he didn't have any special Sunday clothes. He looked so happy in them yesterday.

All of us sisters were invited to bear our testimonies in Fast and Testimony Mtg. yesterday. Many complimented me telling me I have great pronunciation and others tell me that they think I'm smart. Their kind words help me feel like the Lord is continuing to bless me with the ability to speak in Spanish!

So I got a call from the Assistants Saturday night with the news that I am to pack my bags b/c I am headed for a new area! Hna Veliz and Escobar are of course going home but Hna Medlyn will stay here in G.P. in the south and get a new companion. They will have two Elders transferred into our area. Some say that they don't like the idea of having Elders and others are excited. So funny the members' reactions :)! It was nice to say goodbye to everyone yesterday and a couple more today.

We plan to have an FHE with the Picazo family tonight! We think we will do an activity helping them to learn an Article of Faith. They are so cute! The other night they called us b/c they were having trouble finding a scripture that they wanted about tithing. They were studying the scriptures together! He will be ordained next week!

I am mailing a whole bunch of things home b/c I was feeling a bit heavy! So I'm sending the letters I have received home for Brooke (St John—our neighbor) to scrapbook along with some teaching materials clothes that aren’t working very well for here.

Love you all very, very much!!!
Hermana Richardson

Hello from Grand Prairie

Monday, March 23, 2009

Dear Family,

How is everyone doing? Sounds like some pretty great things are going on there.

Mom - Thanks for the Benny card! I received it and now have it in my wallet. I also forgot many moons ago to respond that I do have an insurance card with me. I'm sorry that it has taken ages to receive my answer!

Transfers are next week. I don't have any information as to whether I will be staying here in G.P. and receiving a new companion or if I will go conquering new territory. This happens Tuesday of next week (so I have at least one more Preparation day here). I think I may have a cavity and may need to see a dentist, so will you please send me info on who is on our plan.

We have been able to teach Ana Perez a couple more times recently but haven't gone over much in those visits, as the kids needed a lot of her attention both times. We also have met a couple weeks ago, I think, a really cute couple. They live in an apt. complex that only has one English man there, and the rest are Hispanic. They are really great and we are excited to teach them more. Turns out that she has learned a little bit from missionaries before in Mexico. They like it that as a white girl I know Spanish. So many are impressed that I would learn Spanish so I can communicate with them. I feel that it helps them understand how important the message that we are sharing is, that myself, and many other missionaries put so much work into learning another language in order to teach.

Hno. Alfonzo is amazing and is excited for his baptism this Sat. at 4pm. The missionaries that taught him in Arlington have received permission to attend his baptism in our mission! Hna. Escobar and I want to work it out for one of them to baptism him. We pray that it can happen!

We met a woman, Camelia (Kuh-may-lee-uh), this last week. She told us that she doesn't let "church" people come into her home very often but felt "something" good tell her that we are sincere and truthful. She reads a lot from the Bible and wants to learn more about the B of M. We are excited to go back tonight!

I've a bit of a tan going! Amazing huh? Never thought it would happen! :)

We are planning on going to the zoo today with the rest of our district today (4 other elders) instead of the museum. The zoo is cheaper! And probably more fun for the Elders! :)

Going to wrap this up now!
Love you all very, very much!

Email from Grand Prairie, TX

March 16, 2009

Hey Everyone!

How's it all going? It's going great here! So Alfonzo Hernandez (the man we gave a Book of Mormon to back in Jan. but lived in Arlington, but now lives in G.P.) has a baptismal date for March 28!!! He's so amazing in his testimony! It turns out that that day in Jan. that we met him was his birthday and he was so sad b/c he hadn't received a gift from anyone. He said that out of all of the many, many people there that night that we gave him the Book of Mormon (a gift from God on his birthday)! He said that it was so cold that night and that there were so many people that he is so happy that we met him. What a miracle!

If you could do me another favor Mama, it would be great! My mailbox is getting full. Perhaps you could print off anything that should be printed off, and delete the old stuff? I'll send you via snail mail, my password and how to access my email account if that is okay.

We had Zone Conf. this week on Tuesday. It was great! We learned more about how to have the Spirit with us in our teaching and all that we do. I can't believe that Hna Escobar is going home at the end of this transfer on the 30th! Hna Veliz is also going home! So sad! We are going to be getting two new Spanish sisters in May! Yay! We will have six Spanish Sisters then. But then Hna Brundage goes home in July and Hna Medlyn in Aug.!

We are going to go play baseball today! I've to wrap this up now!

Love you all so, so much!
Hermana Richardson