Happy Birthday Dad!!!

May 4, 2009

Dear Family,

I haven’t started oinking yet so I think all is well in the swine flu department, he he! I know lame joke but I think people are worrying too much about it. That may be because I really have no clue as to what is going on b/c of the lack of T.V. but like Eric says, do the normal preventative stuff that we already hopefully do and continue on. Well, they shut down the schools in Fort Worth I heard, but I think we are all in much more danger being killed by a drunk driver than getting Swine Flu. I guess I really don’t know the statistics, but maybe that would be something of interest for David to look into.

So, I get the latest email from Mom and she tells me, “Well, Katie is all moved into her apartment and so far, she seems to be enjoying it.” “What apartment?!” I thought. She told me about your cleaning it all up but I don’t know any of the background story behind her moving in. So, what prompted the move? How did you find it? - stuff like that. I demand details!! He he!

Hermana Brungage and I will be using the cell phones of a member family in the English ward. They both have 2 cell phones with the free weekend minutes and such, so I will be calling you all after we get out of church at about 3-4pm Texas time so about between 2-3pm Utah time, right? Basically, the rules are that I shouldn’t use over an hour talking. I’m so excited!!! Happy Mother's Day!!!

We have a baptismal date for May 17th for Flor!!! She came to church for the first time yesterday and really seemed to enjoy it!

I hope that my birthday card has gotten there by now for you, Dad! Have a happy, happy birthday!!! Don’t let anyone talk you into taking a bite directly out of the cake. It can turn out messy!

(For Heather’s birthday, her companion and the member family they had dinner with “talked” her into taking a bite out of her piece of cake without using a fork. They then pushed her face into the cake saying it is a Hispanic birthday custom. See cake smash photos posted earlier. )

That’s so great to hear the news about Hermana Escobar! She will do great there!
We are teaching a Hermana, Leonor, whose husband, step-kids are members, and that is really fun! We also hope to have the chance soon to teach her daughter. We contacted a woman who had ordered a free Finding Faith in Christ DVD and when we pulled out the Book of Mormon and started talking about it, she told us that she was baptized in Mexico when she was a kid. We will start the process of looking for her records! Many members when they move here don’t know how or simply don’t look for the church and we often reactivate and run into “lost” members.

We have a month of May Madness in which we will be working hard and smart and planning and studying well in order to reach the goal that all will baptize this month and have dates for next month. Go May! We are planning for Flor, Alicia, Ivan, and Eric to be baptized this month and 10 others next month – Gonzales family, Escalante family, Rosie, Beatrice, and Leonor.

We are in week 6 so be sure to not send things directly to the apartment as there is the chance that I may not be here to receive it in time. This week it would be best to send anything to the mission office address.

We have two new Spanish sister missionaries coming so we are all excited!

I love you all more than words can express!!!

Love, Hermana Richardson

P.S. We saw some frogs on the side of the road hopping along so we got out to look at them. I have video of Hermana Brundage touching them! We'll let you know if she gets wart, he he! We also often get to see a whole family of turtles in the pond outside of a recent convert’s home!

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