не могу без тебе

Dobar Dan my loves!

The title of this email is the song I know that My Redeemer Lives... in Serbian it's, "I Can't Without You." It's one of the easier Serbian songs so we used to sing that for our opening song in class all the time, then our teacher told us a story about him singing it and we all started singing it and finally we are at the point where we can tell what a lot of this stuff means. The song basically says.. I can't without you, my Lord. I can't without you. I LOVE IT. Elder Christopherson (sp?) talked to us this week and Ballard, Bednar, Nelson, Anderson and Oaks were also there. It was powerful. He talked about how we can't do a mission. I hope that made English.. we can't but if our faith is in Christ and not ourselves, we can! I can't without the Lord. We sang in the choir for that devotional and had to run and go out to another building right before (20 min) before it started. I think we went out the wrong door and we walked past all the important people like Bednar and had to keep is cool and play it casual.. then some security guard diverted us to another path woops.

Another dana hlaca. Pants day. Time is flying at the MTC! So much to say. I hope these emails can do my stay here justice. I am working out with the new Czech sisters sometimes and they all push me and made me sore every day, so that is good. The new mission presidents seminar was this week.

WE GOT TO MEET PRESIDENT AND SISTER GRANT. Our new mission presidents. I love that man and his wife so much already. We only got an hour and we all basically introduced ourselves. He is a tall man and when he shakes your hand it envelopes your own and you just have to accept the fact that his hand will eat yours. Wow I love them. DAD oh my and I asked him about if there were any announcements made about electronics, etc. because we are a nerdy fam and I explained that hahaha and he said he's not sure if it's included in our mission but that parts of Europe will be getting iPads and, like a bike, they will be paid for by the missionaries and then used for area books, video and showing media, etc. and then at the end of your mission you take it home w/ you and are expected to keep in contact with those converts you worked with and such. I WAS SO GIDDY DAD. I ALMOST CRIED BUT I DIDN'T. Even if our mission doesn't get them the Lord knows how to hasten His work if he wants to. I hope I'm allowed to share that tidbit of information.. if not you can take it out before you blog-post this! They seem so dedicated and loving. They left this morning and take over July 1st. Also our transfers will be 9 weeks. 

Now for the stories you love.. brought to you by.... my lack of vocab! This week in a lesson Valentino asked us why we kneel when we pray with him. None of us knew the word for "respect" so I basically said we don't say "Eh Bog, Kako ide?" in a really casual way.. we say "Dragi Naš Nebeski Oče" or.. Our Dear Heavenly Father. We do it in respect! We also made a matching game "Sluboda Izbora" (free agency) to play with him for another lesson and it was like memory matching game of things like baptism & the Holy Ghost,  God's word & the scriptures, the Word of Wisdom & Strength. Somehow he matched "Thomas S. Monson" with "Alkohol" so we all had to laugh for a while on that one but it ended up being a great lesson. Sestra Kawai bore her testimony and ladies and gentlemen.. I cried. I finally did it. Okay I know I say like every letter that I cry but that was the first real one. Even our teacher/investigator was so surprised. I think everyone thinks I am a robot. I taught another lesson just 1-on-1 and words just kind of spilled out of my mouth. It was the strangest thing, but it felt so good. Gift of tongues, everyone.

THE BEST okay probably the highlight of the week. Janice Kapp Perry and her husband spoke to us Sunday night and she said they met at BYU in a music class (of course) and they both kind of liked each other the whole class but never said a word to each other. One day before one of their clarinet tests, he leaned over and said, "I was thinking those lips look like they were made for something better than clarinet!" BAHAHAHA. At this point in the devotional, this frail old man hops up out of his chair, zips up to her and kisses her! The audience of 19-20-21 etc. ROARED with laughter and clapping. Wow. It was sooo funny. We need those moments of less seriousness to keep us alive.

Seen so many people this week. The Clarks (He spoke at USU, they're serving in Fresno as mission presidents) and I told him that he did great at the lecture I went to! Noah King, Katy Dunbar, Parker Wilson, yep. Also I've stopped really doing my hair.. or putting on makeup. I still shower though like I look presentable but hey. 

My companions and I are on a 2-day English fast. Every time we slip up we have to do either 10 push-ups or 10 sit-ups. The only exceptions are talking to new missionaries who don't know English, and even then we have to first say it in Croatian and then we can say it in English. That has been good practice! Sestra Mahabier almost shut the door while I was brushing my teeth and I said "WAIT NE NE NE NE!" So they made me do pushups right then and there because I hurriedly didn't say "Čekaj!" We are reading from the children's Book of Mormon stories each night. One or two before we say companion prayers. The language in those is much easier to read and to understand. 

I love and pray for you all! Have a great week.

Love, 

Sestra Richardson

pictures: with Samuel Smith, writing with the new markers mom sent (THANK YOU*10000), me writing on the board, accidentally matching, what a typical day on my desk looks like. 

Birati Ispravno (choose correctly)

Bok svi!

Oh wow how I love typing. Especially in English. Last P-Day we did TRC- it's teaching to a member instead of an investigator and we taught these two RM sisters from Croatia and then just spoke to them in English for so long about the mission. Basically here are the things I learned: they have the prettiest views, BEST food and fruit juices, and ice cream (one said it is a close second to Aggie ice cream- hard to believe though) and that people like to answer their door not clothed. So that was interesting. I also learned the longest Croatian word- prijestolonaslijednikovia- it means wife of an heir to the throne. Croatian has really obvious words like.. doručak. Ručak means luck, doručak means "until lunch".. so breakfast!  I heard Croatia lost their first world cup game but won to Cameroon? today 4-0. Whenever you tell non-missionaries (MTC employees) where you're going on your mission they update you on how that country is doing in world cup. It's great.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOMMY AND PAPA! 29 years (I hope that's right) I'm glad two Aggies met in a institute building and marriaged. 

At the temple today, as we were leaving an older fellow said, "Give 'em heaven!" Hahahaha I loved that. And that's exactly what we're planning to do. I continue to study hard each day and do the best I can because I want to be able to communicate and be the best I can be. I know the Spirit it what truly teaches lessons, though. We learned about waiting for the spirit to guide us and to ask inspired questions this week. It was amazing. I really have noticed a huge change in our lessons. 

We bribed Valentino (Brat West)-  one of our investigators with candy if he'd continue to try to stop smoking and to pray for Heavenly Father's help with it. We had "Robert" (Brat Bell) come to one of our lessons with us as a member. Brat West wrote and we sang a song for Valentino about riječ mudrosti, the word of wisdom. 

Nemojte pušiti i, piti, kavu i čaj, 

Samo vočne, čajeve, to je, nama, riječ mudrosti!

Stvorili smo ovu pesmu za tebe, naš dragi Valentino, hey!

(sung to the tune of Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked!)

Wow I love my teachers. They challenge us every day to be better, study harder, and learn more! I don't like letting them down. Also they keep us updated on an occasional few things from the outside world, so. There's that. "Work" in Croatian is "rad." Working hard is really rad. I also learned that chain is "lanac" because I wore by gold chain and everyone called me a thug..

I was walking and a Sister said she liked my outfit. I said, "Thanks! Skirt from the DI (the best) and top from J. Crew! A passing Elder yelled, "I love J. Crew!" Now I see him everywhere and such. 

"Se" is a reflexive something or other in Croatian.. still trying to figure out what that means but basically this week I said "Ja sam se jela" which means.. I ate myself. Instead of saying I ate. 

HAHAHAHA okay the best-- so sorry if I bore you with the word mix ups but they're so funny. So Sheri Dew came and spoke to us Sunday and it was amazing. In class the next day we were talking about it and also talking about the Holy Ghost- Sveti Duh. (the Duh sounds like dew) So Brat Jacobsen said, "Sestra Dew" and we all thought he said, "Sister Ghost" hahahaha but he meant "Sister Sheri Dew". It was in the middle of a very serious lesson so I tried so hard to hold all my laughter in. Don't worry we laughed about it every free moment we had for the rest of the day. 

Elder Ballard spoke to us Tuesday. In the MTC choir we sand Consider the Lillies. It was beautiful. He said to be strong in faith and wise in service. He counselled that the prophet and the twelve will never lead us astray, and that the noise of the world will always try and stop missionary work. I challenge everyone to not be ashamed of the happy message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

I got to be a host this Weds for the new missionaries. The first one I had was an international and didn't speak English so that was interestingly great. Later I saw Morgan Robinson (great friend and USU Ambassador) on the curb as her parents drove off and hug-attacked her and screamed and we hit heads pretty hard. Worth it. I helped her to her room and all that great stuff! It's always amazing to see a familiar face. Lots of WX kids came in this week..

When we think of endurance, what do you think of? Running. It's hard, it's tedious. In the end, it is worth it. You feel so happy and you know you've done a great thing. Life is the hardest run EVER and so are missions. But it's short- look up that four minutes talk from last conference. If we endure it well, how great will be our reward. Endure to the end, folks. Love your neighbors and homies and everyone around you. Read EVERY DAY. I am turning into a chastising-by-email missionary. I want to hear where you are currently reading in the scriptures and why it is helping you/how you are applying it in your life right now. 

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

Love, 

Sestra Richardson

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY (tjedan četiri)

People I love,

Sorry these emails might be getting longer and longer.  DADDY. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY. Wow I love you so much. Behind the frame in your office (the Fed. one) I left something. No opening 'til Sunday! Love you! I wish everyone in the world could have a dad as great as you.

An FYI to all- we print our emails in the morning on P day, read them in our res., then get to reply to them later. So if you send a long email it's fine but if you get a short reply I'm sorry we still only get an hour to write back! Dad I already wrote you a letter about this but the Sister Christiansen that was in the NPR broadcast you sent me is going to my mission! She is so sweet! I gave her the article. It was awesome we were all so excited to see that. She is a solo sister because she's learning Slovene.

I'm feeling so much better. Thanks everyone for your concern and love and prayers.

My English continues to get worse as my Croatian and Serbian get better. I only share the funny/weird things I learn but I promise I am learning how to teach, how to communicate like a normal person, etc. I learned to puke translates to "to throw the iron." Šišmiš sounds so weird and literally means "the hissing mouse" but it's bat. I sometimes forget to switch my brain back to English phrase and structure mode and say a sentence like, "How do you need what is time?" Or something. I also accidentally asked how cows meow in Croatian.. hmm. I don't know if I mentioned this before- but I realized you wouldn't know that our teachers speak in ONLY Croatian. With the exception of Brat West, who slips out a phrase here and there. Since day 1 orientation that's all we hear. Even lessons you think we'd have in English are in HR. (Croatian (CR) and Hrvatski (HR) mean the same thing) like when they teach us how to have effective daily planning, etc. I picked up on them calling me OCD the other day because I like the board to be wiped off perfectly clean and I called them out on it.. Da razumijem!

THE LORD FAVORS: hard work and obedience and wow it shows. I know when I get into bed at the end of the night and I have been faithful and diligent in my studies and actions, prayers and example I can even sleep better!

I read all of the book of Mark this week. (28 chapters of course) The Savior lived an amazing life. I am so happy when I think of him and his example and that he died for each of us because he loves us! He is the ultimate example and I am proud to be a part of his church.

We got 5 new Czech sisters this week and 1 Elder. As the STL, I bore my testimony and gave them a tour and all this fun stuff. (missionary= ambassador) We are no longer the gušters! Literally means lizard.. but means greenie.  I am so excited to have them! They are all so sweet. It's cool to see each reason sisters chose to serve.

Some words in Croatian just don't have vowels. It is so strange. Like prst (finger), smrt (death) and čvrst. (firm)  To countdown instead of saying "3,2,1" they say "tri, četiri, sad!" Which means 3,2, NOW!  One of my teachers sneezed and I said, "You're welcome!" instead of "bless you!" Ah, the days go on.

DOBRO STORY: when changing for gym time one afternoon, I had this feeling I needed to wear the mission shirt I bought.. even though it was dirty. So I did. My companions thought I was crazy.. I told them I had a feeling I needed to wear it and they were just like k... just wear it? Anyways so we were walking to gym and this girl stopped us and was so excited and her great grandparents were from Croatia and she was a visitor, her name is Jamie. She is not a member but visits the MTC to have lessons taught to her. We talked for a while, went to gym (I WAS SOOOOO GIDDY ABOUT AN ENGLISH SPEAKING INVESTIGATOR) and then later taught her a lesson about the plan of salvation! She asked a lot of very specific questions and was very knowledgeable so we feel like she's probably a member/ actor that comes to the MTC, but nonetheless it was amazing. I am so glad a wore a smelly shirt to gym. :) We will continue to teach her! Sestra Mahabier prayed that night, "Please bless Jamie, whether she is real or whether she is not. We still love her so much and we know you love her and want her family to be able to return to live with you forever."

Random question: Is the weatherman Eubank in MoTab or not? We get to watch music and the spoken word svaki njedeljak and I swear he is. Someone please google this since I cannot. Also the Spurs are beating the Heat? Here at the MTC, the heat is winning wow everyone just sweats so much hahaha happy summer from Provo, UT where the sun is blazin'. (I'm sorry I'm not even funny anymore I need to end this email) Also my eye keeps twitching randomly? The left one?

The whole MTC is prepping for the first presidency to visit for mission president training in late June- we are all so excited! They are literally scrubbing every inch. I've scrubbed men's toilet stall walls, the underside of ceilings, stairwells, etc. It will be so cool though. Look for me (if they somehow publish them) in the choir for the Tuesday night devotionals- they're always broadcast to all the other MTC's! It's crazy all the prep that goes into everything here. They even have this mirror on a pole thing and someone goes around before the devotional starts and checks under all the chairs, stairs up to the pulpit, the stand, etc for bombs. Crazy!

Quentin L. Cook spoke to us this week and casually ended his talk with, "I know the voice of the Savior, and I know that he is at the head of this church." Wow. Powerful. I know that the Lord loves us and he wants us to return to him. I know that WE ARE HIS CHILDREN. We are a family and we should treat one another like a happy family would.

I love and pray for you all. Thanks for the letters, DearElders, postcards, and packages. #blessed
Love,
Sestra Richardson

Tjedan DVA (Week TWO)

Bok (means hello and goodbye, since some of you asked) everyone!

Here is my week: basically I got sicker. Woke up with pink eye and was coughing a frog up and my companions made me go to the doctor. $40 and a lot of drugs later I am feeling much better! My voice was almost completely gone and the doc told me I couldn't sing or give talks, scream, etc. so that was hard or I'd have to get steroids.. um but I got a blessing from Elder Stakebake and I am feeling 100% again. And I have drugs to give to everyone I got sick.. tender mercies. I learned how to say I got sick which translates to something like "caught the draft." I have also learned how to sleep while sitting- a great and useful skill.

This week I felt the spirit WHEN SOMEONE SPOKE CROATIAN. My teacher Brat Jacobsen bore his testimony to us. I have made a lot of language mistakes this week- but better here than in the field! I accidentally said, "I want your brother" instead of "I want to teach your brother" to our investigator.  

We had a devotional about using the Lord's time appropriately and working hard. He is our LITERAL Heavenly Father and he wants the best for us, just like every Father would and we can show that we love him too by using his time wisely.

We now sing all our hymns in Serbian (in our class anyway) and it's rough. Much quieter. I'll attach a pic of my name in Serbski. 

Sadly, Elder Graham (from New Zealand) left us this week. We love him so much and we know that he is doing a good thing. We learned a lot from him though before he left like, "You don't just knife a cow" and that "chunder" means to throw up! Hahahahaha. Also that New Zealand is "not as crap as you think" -his words. We weren't even saying anything about it and he just said that. We will miss him so much but he should be able to return to the mission field in a bit.

I got 93 chapters in of Doctrine and Covenants this week. Just straight read it. All the way. Wow it's powerful. I challenge you (Elder Richardson-style) to read from there if you have not for a while or at all. Revelation through Joseph Smith is definitely real. Wow. 

Sunday they let us "watch movies" and we saw "Legacy" as a district. I felt unholy watching them kiss, if that is ANY indication at all of how awkward I'll be when I get back. I laughed, I cried (I really did) it's like the cheesiest, best movie I've ever seen because it's the only one I've seen lately. We all agreed we should see that one every week.

Sestra Mahabier shared this with me this week, "I decided to read the story of the Army of Helaman because they are freaking awesome. We aren't them, but we are GOD'S ARMY which is just as cool and he is blessing us." Wow I love her and Sestra Kawai. Now we are a district of 11. Three trios. She also taught me that "eekhorn" (pronounced: acorn) means SQUIRREL in Dutch. Yes it does. Sestra Kawai's aunt sent her some pico de gallo? BUT THEY TOOK IT. We opened up the package and there were chips and a note saying "someone tried to send you ___salsa____ but it is against MTC policy to send perishable items so we have thrown it away. So. We literally all cried about it.  I eat Marshmallow Mateys every day and everyone laughs at me. Even the salads don't sound good anymore. Sorry for my complaining- also go to Old Bridge Cafe in SLC. They have great Bosnian food- get a meatball sandwich because apparently that's what I'll be eating the whole time. 

I ACCIDENTALLY SAID "baptism the bathroom" instead of "use the bathroom." Koristiti= to use Krstiti= baptism. Woops. I also asked our teacher how to spell "bell." My brain is fried.

This is dumb.. bust Sestra Marlow's parents sent her these like small rubber chickens and aliens and you can fling them. Also someone gave us bubbles. We spent a whole hour playing with them. I don't even know. Anything to be entertained. OR GO OUTSIDE. I must say my sand volleyball skills during gym time are now fine tuned. Also I have made friends with every Elder on the track in the gym because they all did cross country and do more laps than me. Woops. "No jogging dates though" don't worry I just say Bok while I stretch to some of them. 

Also. I got a calling. Sister Training Leader. You can ask me what that means but I'm not sure yet.. I go to all the meetings for it Sunday. Our whole zone (like 40 people) are leaving so on Tuesday it will just be my district of 11. 

STORY: so the server was down and the teachers didn't know what to teach because the syllabus is on there. So they had a do mock tracting. The first companionships knocked and they talked to our teachers and gave them a Book of Mormon. When we 3 went, they LET US IN. So we actually had to teach! I seriously taught all but saying a prayer and like one more sentence. My verb conjugation was AWFUL I already know and I used phrases like "know God loves us truthful" and "you need to reading about Books Mormon." When I asked if we could end with a prayer, they said "Da!" And so we proceeded to.. but I noticed they didn't shut their eyes or fold their arms and I laughed so hard I cried. They stared at us wide-eyed. I said, "Holy Ghost feel strong" and wiped my eyes and they said they understood. It was a great cover up. Then I motioned that they should close our eyes and fold their arms and we prayed. Good practice though! My teachers make me laugh so hard. We try and make them tell us about their lives because we are deprived of info and sometimes we make up our own stories about what we think they do on the weekends, what cars they drive, etc.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. We call each other "brothers and sisters" because that's exactly what we are. God's children. Whenever you are upset or impatient with someone, remember that they are your brother or sister. It can change everything. I know GOD LOVES US! Bog nas voli!

Dobar dan!

-Sestra Richardson