WEEK 21 "Heart attacking and Heart attacks"

Hola! Que tal!?

One of my favorite people we met and taught this week was a lady named Marley. After finding out that Leo had a heart attack and visiting him in the hospital we were down and God knew we needed a little pick me up. I felt inspired to stay in a certain area to knock doors; I knew that God needed us to run an errand for him there. When we saw Marley speed walking down the street we decided to go talk to her. Marley is from Brazil and instantly lit up my world. She spoiled us with her love and has the cutest Brazilian Spanish accent. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and how it can bless her life and family. After our short lesson which totally broke up her work out she immediately responded, Why don't you come over to my house tomorrow and we can read it together! "WELL, OF COURSE WE WILL," we responded. She is progressing really fast and knows the Book of Mormon is the word of God :) She is moving back to Brazil in a few weeks, but in the meanwhile we are excited to teach her about the restoration! She is THE cutest thing ever and guess what? She walks 10 kilometers every day and told us that she wants to walk to church this upcoming Sunday for fun!

These past two weeks we have also been teaching the cutest family of four. They have one daughter that is 12 and a son that is 14. The son's name is Alejandro and he reminds me exactly of my little brother Noah! The cute mom has the deepest desires to bring their family together each week and learn more about Christ. She wants her husband to be a spiritual leader for their kids. (we are excited to teach them more about the priesthood). Last week we were teaching them about the story of Nephi and how he got the brass plates. The kids were loving the story and each time we go over they can't wait to learn about more stories. They are so giving, and each time we walk out with at least 5 little gifts from their kids. This week we are planning a "noche de hogar" with them and another family in our branch. This is where we sing, share a scripture and spiritual thought, play games, and eat treats. Every time we go over there it feels like I'm hanging out with my own family. The first time we met the  sweet mom Myra I legitimately thought I was sitting and talking to my mom. SHE'S THE BEST! 

We had a fire exchange this week (where we go with a different companion for an hour). And the sister that I was with only speaks English. SO I was a bit nervous because this was my first time that I wouldn't have a companion to help me out with the Spanish, and we were also knocking in the most Latin area ever! but that's okay because, "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." The first door we knocked on we were met by a cute Columbian abuela that only spoke spanish. She was hesitant and confused when she opened the door but as soon as I told her my grandparents lived in her country for a couple years she immediately let us right in and sat us down at her table. She was wondering about the differences between our church and other churches. So I went on to teach her the restoration with a segment of how we can be sealed with our families forever through the correct priesthood authority. I felt the gift of tongues work through me to not only be able to teach this lesson all by myself but to discern her needs and then be able to address them with scriptures. I love the gifts of the spirit and the more I learn about them the more I have been able to see them work in my life. We are going to go back and teach this sweet lady tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. 

We felt inspired to go visit the sweet lady from Sweden this week. She didn't answer the door so we decided to heart attack her. It was pouring rain and we were terrified that me might get caught haha reliving my childhood years created quite an Adrenalin rush. We are going to send the english elders her way from now on because she doesn't speak Spanish. But I love her so much so keep her in ya'lls prayers.

This week I have been able to study a lot in Isaiah, which I haven't really understood a whole lot previous to my mission. I have been comparing it with the Book of Mormon! Because when Nephi received the plates of Brass he was very inspired to quote Isaiah. As I have been studying I am marking the differences between the two different translations. It is super crazy to see how much the Bible has lost over the years of translations. I have found that there are themes and important messages that comet to light as we read both of them together. As there is something as simple as one word or one punctuation missing it changes the whole meaning. But it's incredible how much revelation and guidance we receive when we have two testimonies going hand in hand with each other to bring us the fullness of the Gospel. My testimony has been strengthened that the Book of Mormon truly was written for our days. And that as we study the words deeply we will be filled with a greater spirit of love and happiness. I challenge all of you to try and study the scriptures in a different way that you haven't before:) I promise that the small and simple acts of faith that we perform will eventually add up to incredible spiritual strength. Its beautiful!!

Besitos,

-Hermana Richards

Highlights:

- I finally fed my first flamingo this week after we painted at Flamingo Gardens

- We had the funnest picnic with the branch this week. There was a lot of food, fun Latin music, the world cup playing (of course), and a giant iguana that was swallowing huge watermelon ends whole- This iguana was terrifying and the men had to scare it away multiple times with big branches.. really funny

Low Light:

-Leo had a heart attack; but he's doing better now