Oct 21 2009

hello everyone! just to answer the previous questions that my family had for me:

How do you like doing jumping jacks to the names of the apostles (or do they even do that any more)?

no we don't do the jumping jacks thing

How many times did you pray yesterday?  (I want to share this with my class to give them an idea of how different missionary life is).

I pray at very least about 12 times every day

What's the weather like now?

The weather has turned a little chillier here, but nothing uncomfortable.

What's a "day in the life" of Richard like now?

I'm in class approx. 13 hours everyday it was long during the first few days but now the time is zipping by me. It helps to have 50 minutes of Gym time which I rock out with hard-core missionary 4 square.

Do you have a place to weigh to track whether you're progressing or regressing?

I do have a way to track my weight, and I'm doing well at holding it down

What's the policy on giving out your email address?  I haven't shared that with anybody except immediate family (i.e. me, mom, Leah, Jenna, Josh).  Check with your ZL's to see who is allowed to email you, and I'll share it with them as well.

and I'm pretty sure that most people can email me, I just can't email them back... but I'll double check that one.

Well I've had many spiritual experiences and have heard many great messages from the Lord's servants from the Quorums of the Seventies, and it's helped me become more focused and helped me have more of an idea of how to effectively use the Lord's time.
I laughed when I read Dad's comment about what have I done with my name and what I've done with my time, because I used that story in a spiritual thought a few days ago.

Things are moving by so fast that even when I write in my journal it's hard to remember everything that has happened over the course of the day. I know about all the big meetings and events, but remembering all of the small meetings of people you know and things that set these days apart from each other.

I have met at least 7 people from my BYU days, and it's been really awesome to be able to sit back and talk to them about all that has happened, but only for a few moments, since we're almost always busy doing something.

My district is really interesting. I I'm one of the oldest Elders. The Sisters are older than me by default, but the way our district interacts with each other is funny. We all have fun joking around with each other and becoming closer friends. Oh, and you'll never guess where 7 out of the 11 people in our District is going. Tucson, Arizona Mission. How crazy is that! It's was funny to see and hear that they we're going to our Hometown. Don't get me wrong Cary is my Hometown too, and I always say that I'm from there, but Tucson is the town I was raised in so I'll always have both as my hometowns.

Tell Josh that things will get better, and the harder he works in school the faster time will fly until I'm home again. I guess that Leah and Jenna are doing pretty well if they haven't put up any complaints...

And I'm sorry that I'm not around to help out with the renovations of the house. Just make sure that you don't make things too hot for when I get home :P.

I hope things continue to get better at home. I still haven't gotten the package from you guys yet... hopefully soon. Tell the kids to dear elder me once in awhile, it's great to hear from you all. I'll have my journal with me next time to tell you more about my experiences here.

I know this church is true and that it will bless our lives and the lives of our families as we strive to do what the Lord has commanded us and I know that Joseph Smith is one of the Lord's prophets and that the Lord restored His true church through Joseph and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.