Elder Richardson in Guatemala: DECEMBER 15 Email "Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God"

Tortillas: 57

Steps: 38220

Wow! What an amazing week! The highlight of course, the baptism of Familia Sop Chavez!

Though the water was cold, we were warm with the feeling of the spirit! It was such an amazing experience, and with all of the trials that we have gone through with them I am so grateful that they have taken this very important step to baptism. I know that they will be strong members of the church.

Hro. Jorge testing our the water for us the morning of.

Also, we had our special night of Jesus Christ. What we did is I read excerpts from the Book of Mormon of prophets testifying of the birth and divinity of Jesus Christ, explaining the timeline and important information. Between each testimonies of the prophets, we had a member come up and share their testimony of Jesus Christ and of the Book of Mormon. My favorite was the final, which was Caterino, the father of Familia Sop Chavez. Though it was short, it was one of the most beautiful testimonies for me to hear. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have taught their Family and I look forward to helping them grow in the church! Right now we are also working with 4 other families! All in different stages of progression, but all interested in the gospel. The most progressing of these is the family of Tino. Their is Tino, his wife Odelia, his son Alexander (14) Oveimar (11) and a young seven year old that I cant remember his name. Oveimar has been coming to church and even participated in the primary program this week! The others came to the baptism on Saturday, but could not make it to church. They are very interested in the church, and very interested in baptism! The only problem is they want to be baptized in warm water! Also, Odelia cannot read, and so right now we are working on getter her a copy of the Book of Mormon in audio so that she can read and gain a testimony! Heavenly Father has blessed us so much this week with success in our lesson, and I am excited to see what is to come!

Mejor Milagro:

This miracle is about one of the four families that we are teaching, Familia Perez. The father, Agusto, lives in Camoja, about and hour away from the church, but he is good friends with the branch president, who lives in la democracia close to Camoja. Last Sunday the daughter of Agusto was at church, and on Wednesday Presidente Villatoro invited Agusto and some of his other children to Noche de Jesucristo. At Noche de Jesucristo, I came up and introduced myself to him after the program and he said that he was not a member. The odd thing was, that he was dressed in a suit! Here, for members, it is a big thing if they show up to church in a white shirt and slacks, let alone and investigator showing up to Noche de Hermanamiento in a suit! We talked about what he thought about the presentation, and it was clear that he had felt the spirit. I asked him when we could come by and teach him and his family, and he asked for us to come the next morning at 8! We said that we needed to study in the morning, but we could come at 10! So, the next morning we took the drive to Camoja and met him and his family. We had a beautiful lesson about the restoration and the Book of Mormon, and we invited him to pray about what we had taught. He agreed, and asked us how soon he could receive a Book of Mormon! We had run out, but we said that we could give him one on church on Sunday. He was sad, but he agreed. To end our lesson we explained how to pray and ended with a prayer, which he volunteered to do! I am so excited to teach him! Sadly, on sunday we had a conflict and had to go to Huehue and could not go to church, but we gave his daughter a Book of Mormon to give to him!

Testimony Time:

This week each day I have been studying one general conference address each day in personal study. The title of the email is from Moroni 8:16 and Elder Lynn G Robins quoted it in his talk. He talks about how we need to be firm in defending our beliefs. As a missionary, I am called of God to defend his gospel, and I truly have been given authority to be bold. This week I have been working more to be bold and truly but out our beliefs, helping others to come unto Christ. Really, we all need to remember the importance of defending our beliefs, and never be afraid to be bold! You to have authority to defend the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever you live! I testify of the words of the modern prophets and prophets of old. I testify of the divinity of Jesus Christ, and that we have the responsibility to stand up for what is right! I know that as we do, he will bless us and strengthen us. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all!

"This week we have! Family night, making Chicharones, they are fried puffy things, hard to explain.

The pictures after of the city and the mountains are of Camoja, a city in our area about 2 hours from where we live. We have a family of 9 we are teaching there! It is super beautiful.