Elder Max Richards 2023-2025

Monday, Oct. 30, 2023 Que tal!  Well, I am officially in the Mission field! After a long travel day with good food at each airport, I landed in Albuquerque around 5:30 pm. The Mission president and his wife and the AP's and the STLT's were there to greet us. They had us get everything we would need for the night and we put everything else in a trailer. Then we drove to a church where we had food, played some games, met with the mission president, and filled out a bunch of stuff. And we met our trainers over a zoom with the whole Mission.  Then the AP's took us elders to these things that they call "flop houses" its basically an airbnb that they own just for missionaries in an apartment complex when they get here or when they come up north for transfers. So me, Elder Mitton, and Elder Tillman stayed in one and the rest of the reassigned Elders stayed in extra room with the AP's(the missionaries who were originally called here stayed at the Mission home). So tha...

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023  Que tal everyone! Another week that flew by. It's crazy. I leave tomorrow at 4:07 am I will be getting on a bus, then to the front runner, and then the green line to the airport. Then my first flight leaves at 11:00. And I fly to LAX where I have a 3 hour layover. And then to Albuquerque. I'll land there around 6. Its kinda crazy that I am flying to LAX first  and not straight to Albuquerque haha. But I think its just because of flight availability. And I am honestly pumped because it gives me the chance to eat food in the salt lake and la airports. You already know I'll be getting some Bueno comida. I am also setting a goal to give out a book of Mormon to someone at the airport. Which I know will be a little nerve wracking but I'm gonna be  doing that pretty much every day for the next 2 years. So it will be awesome. The last week here has been great. Played even more volleyball, and dominated of course. We also had a special devotional on Mond...

Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023 Que tal! How's it going! This week was a good one! Another one that flew by fast. Lots of stuff happened this week. But I'll sum up some of the highlights. Our district played more sand volleyball, and also some basketball and pickleball As you all know I got my reassignment to the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission and I'm hyped I sung in the choir again for the devotional and it was awesome  I played some chess  Got to go to the temple today to witness sealings which was awesome.  Learned lots of more Spanish and felt the spirit every time.  Met so many missionaries here serving all over and speaking all sorts of languages.  Started hablar su idioma, (speak your language) which means that we speak Spanish as much as possible here. It is very hard but I know it will be worth it.  Anyways, that's all! I love you guys! Keep sending me emails throughout the week i appreciate them so much. I don't have much time to respond to them but know...

Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023 ¡Qué tal! How's it going everyone!!? I can't believe that I have been here for 3 weeks. The time is flying. The days are long and the weeks are short haha. I only have 2 weeks left. Which is crazy. And for those of you who didn't know, Bolivia visas are taking longer right now, so reassignments will be coming in the next couple of days. The anticipation is crazy, I cannot wait to find out where I am getting reassigned. I want to get to Bolivia as soon as possible, but I know that if I get reassigned, I am supposed to be there at that time, wherever it is. It's all in the Lord's hands.  This week was overall really good. Another week of Spanish immersion. Our district started this thing where for every word we say in English in class, we have to do 5 push ups. It's hard at times, but it pushes us to think in different ways and motivates me to work hard to learn Espanol.  Our district played more sand volleyball and some soccer this week, w...

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023 Que tal! How's everyone doing! This week was pretty great. Mostly because of conference! Oh my goodness conference was so incredible! It was such a blessing to be here in the mtc to watch conference. So many amazing messages. And hearing our beloved prophet speak was really awesome.  I don't have a lot of time to write this email so I'll just add some highlights(also I forgot to mention last week that Elder Kearl is here too) Elder Higby's room is right next to mine so that's hype Started Spanish immersion and it's going well so far We had to release the mantis We had a devotional with the President Freeman and her husband and my mom was covering it for Church News so I got to see her!  I sung in the choir which was Incredible Our district played beach volleyball a lot which was fun Anyways that's all! Love you guys sorry for the short email 

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023 Well my first week at Provo is complete! It was honestly a great week. I got here last Wednesday and met my district and companion. We got settled in and had a welcome devotional.  The next day we met our branch, and our branch presidency. Our branch presidency is incredible. President and Sister Shumway were mission president in Arkansas, and they are both so kind and loving. President Shumway has amazing advice and counsel and had incredible stories and life lessons. And the first counselor is President Sitake and his wife. He is Kalani Sitake's uncle which is pretty awesome. He brings the spirit very strongly and is such an incredible man.  After we met with them I got called to be District Leader! Which has been so awesome. I love my district so much. The food here is not as bad as people have said. It's honestly pretty good. Only one meal was completely terrible.  My district has loved playing beach volleyball and we do that pretty much every...

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023 Dropoff at the Provo Missionary Training Center.