Week 10: Guns and golden sunsets

Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 

Que tal everyone! I hope you have all had a great week! 

This week felt like a blur. Felt like we just had p day. Time flies when you are working hard serving the lord.

Alright, so about the title. We got a glock pulled on us. Yeah like for real. We took another priest in the ward out oym-ing (open your mouth) with us, and we were about to be done. We go up to this door, and I had a bad feeling about it, but we knocked. The guy comes out and starts swearing at us and crap, and we are like sorry sir we are just going around sharing messages of Jesus Christ, but we are sorry for bothering you. We say have a great night. He says it too lol. And then we walk off and kinda start laughing because we are like what the heck just happened. Like a dude goes from swearing to wishing us a good night lol. And then we turn around and we see a glock in his hand, he points it out and says "you wanna play like that huh?" "I see how it is!" And we are like sorry we just share messages of Jesus Christ. And he's like "that's what I thought, keep walking." So we walk far away. But our car was parked in front of his house. And we had a priest with us. So we tell him to have his mom pick him up far away from the house, and we wait till she comes. She picks him up, and we start walking back. And then we see a car pull up behind ours. The dude really called his friends. The mom comes back and she's like yeah I heard yall got a gun pulled on you. She drives to our car and waits till we get in and we hop on and zoom out of there. Crazy stuff. 

Our friend Steven came to church yesterday! So freaking awesome. He said he enjoyed it. So that's awesome. He is progressing really well, and is coming closer to Christ. Keep him in your prayers! The adversary will be working really hard right now because he doesn't want Steven on the right path. He knows that Steven is doing the right things and will do everything he can to stop him. But we know that through Christ, we can do all things. 

We had zone conference this week, which was super awesome. Great trainings and inspiration. Great to be able to see how we can do better. The APs are so awesome. One of them is finishing his mission this transfer, Elder Davis. Dawg. Gonna miss him. President Edwards talked about his mission to Costa Rica and Panama, and learning this crazy native language on these string of islands near Panama. He talked about how we can access God's power through the circle of discipleship. He's such an awesome guy. Super nice and full of wisdom and knowledge. I learn so much from him. And Sister Edward's made us Christmas ornaments. Super cool.  President and Sister Edwards are both so awesome. Very lucky to have them.

We had interviews with Pres and he told me all the reassigned missionaries have their visas except us 4 Bolivian Elders. But it's alr. Gotta trust in the lord. I'm still praying for my visa, but I know I need to be here right now. President also said I should be getting more Spanish opportunities depending on how long I'm here. So that's good. I get to speak Spanish a good amount, but I definitely want to speak more. I'm trying hard to study but it's tough because I don't get an allotted time. But I'm trying to squeeze it in. I know that the lord loves effort. 

We had some gas dinners this week. So blessed to get fed by the members. One of the nights was with the Frizzel family. They are converts. Brother Frizzel served In the army and used to do bodybuilding competitions. He's huge. He gave lots of good advice on fitness. And shared so many cool stories. He's hilarious. We could have been there all night we were laughing so hard haha. 

The atonement of Jesus Christ is so incredibly amazing. I've seen it Bless my life and the amazing people here. The atonement applies to everything. And through Jesus Christ and the atonement, we can do all things. 

"I can do all things through christ which strengtheneth me"

-Philippians 4:13

I love this scripture. And I love Jesus christ. I know that everything is possible through him.

I love you guys! Have an amazing week! Enjoy Thanksgiving and eat some great food!

-Élder Richards