Dear family,I love mondays! Every monday is like christmas, my favorite part is coming to the library and checking my email and seeing who was nice enough to send me a letter. So, im glad to hear that your trip was a success and that you didn't die. I really liked the postcard you sent, i think im going to tack it up on my bedroom wall so i can always see the beautiful picture of the temple. I laughed so hard when i read about aunt liz, i can't believe she didn't know i was on a mission, some family i have huh? Did you make sure to tell her i was serving the lord in South Carolina? If you did you must email me back and tell me her response. So, whats the weather like there? Is it finally starting to warm up a little bit? It rained all last week, it poured! Today its really nice, but i hear its supposed to rain again this week, darn! I got to go out on splits this past week, i went out all by myself with a 18 year old girl from our ward named andie bushman, we went out and knocked doors for two hours in the rain and got soaking wet, it was tons of fun! I got to start driving this week, it was really scary at first because going two month without being behind the wheel of a car and then finally doing it again in another state.... nerver wracking! But, one of the many great blessings at a missionary is the gift of direction, i always know where im going which is really crazy becuase before i came out i always had to mapquest, here i just know where everything is. I have met people who have lived her for seven years who don't know how to get around the city. I've been here two months and i know my way around, i am very blessed. Its good to hear that things at home are going well, tell mom that i got her letter and i will try to get one out in the mail tomorrow along with my recorder. By the way the recorder has some really really random stuff on there ,so just warning you. I love you all very much and i pray for you every night. I hope ya'll are recieving just as many blessings as i am.Love Sister Richards

Hello to home,Sorry i've been really bad about writing home to ya'll, its just very exahusting? to write letters, plus last week we took naps, so that was nice. I'm gald you liked my package, what do you think of the flag? The name tag was really random, but i cant use it because its broken and anyways i orderd a new one with a magnet on it...so nice. I went clothing shopping today and spent way more than i was planning and i still need more clothing, i guess it'll have to wait till next month when i get more money on my MSF (missionary support fund). I didn't end up buying the bike from the girl off craigslist, it was a pice of crap and she wanted 60.00 for it...it was covered in rust and needed new tires and some other repairs. Her Dad was not happy about that, not to mention he was a minister and the idea of driving all the way to meet us and find out that we were mormon missionaries... not good. Brother Kreiger our ward mission leader is still looking for us. So, its been a fast week, on tuesday we had Gladys Knight come to our stake center and she did a fireside, its been all of the talk since i got here, but it was great. We had two sessions and there were about 500 people at each, its going to keep us busy with refurals for a long long time and hopefully finish with a few baptisims. I got to sit in the VIP section with one of our investigators, it was really cool, i think i cried a few times. Other than that the week has just flown by. We were supposed to have a baptism on Saturday but he didn't show up for his interview on friday night and we haven't been able to get ahold of him since, that brings me down a little bit. We had transfers this week, im still in west columbia with sister temple, we got a new elder in our zone, he's been out for quite awhile, but his name is elder john's and he's from Nampa, our nicknames are Sister Spud and Spud Stud. I love the elders in our Zone (Nephi zone) they're all really nice and we're our own little family. Elder merkely, legua, davis, and stocks are in our district with elder legua being our district leader and our zone leaders are elder john's and elder adkins. They look to sister temple and i as sisters and mothers, last night i made all the elders no-bake cookies, they keep calling to see when im going to drop them off:) President McConkie came to sister temple and i's weekly planning session this morning, sister temple invited him...SURPRISE. I always love having my mission president walk into our luckily clean apartment to find me in my gym shorts and a piggly wiggly t-shirt with extremily hairy legs! After that Sister Linder took us out shoping to Target and Lane Bryant then to TJMax. I got some really cute cloths but i bought a voice recorder so it drained my cash:( But now i can send home voice messages and you can send me some back. It is the coolest thing ever! It holds up to 74 hours of sound, tonigt i think im going to record myself while i sleep, i have this really bad habit of talking in my sleep, and according to sister temple i say some really random things. Example from saturday night:me: i think your laundry is donetemple: yeah, its been done for a couple of hours nowme: you don't have to be so rude!me: its sounds like theres been a guy in hereI also pray, give lessons, and extend commitments, and i walk too! Sister Temple keeps a nerf dart gun on the night stand table just incase i get too loud!Well, i love you all very much and miss you every day. Tell Rebecca i said thank you for the package, it made my week! I made sure to share my cookies, they were amazing by the way! Oh, and its funny, but i really needed some shower gel, i was going to buy some today. Tell Erin i said thank you for the letter and money, i will write hopefully today. Like i said, i love all ya'll so much.

sent 3/10/09

(this is how they come from Amanda - no time to check punctuation or spelling)
I don't want to say i'd rather be in your shoes in terms of weather, but im havning a hard time adjusting to the heat so far. This past week its been in the 70's and 80's with a nice cool breeze. When i get home every night my face is more burnt than before and im wet with my own bodily secretions, which happen to make me stink very much. When people ask me how i like the weather they laugh at my reply and say just wait till July! Well next month i will be able to wear sandles and ditch these nylons! Im glad erin and william have both bought bikes, my companion and i have both been trying to buy some, it hasn't been easy. There is a bike store in town called harrles and they supposedly have used bikes in the basement, although every time we go in they caim to be all out, or have nothing that would fit us, oh well. My companion did manage to find a bike on friday, we were teaching this group of old black guys who were sitting out front of their "shanty?" smoking and when we were done my companion asked who owned this old schwin taht looks like it could be from the 80's, she offered the guy 25 dollars and is going to pick it up on thursday at our next appointment, she's very excited. As for me no luck yet, im kind of a bike snob, i don't think i could ride a not nice bike, but then again im not really willing to pay more than 30 bucks for a bike. I am planning on purchasing a camelsback this week, with the heat i need to drink lots of water and that is really the only feasable way i can think of to do it. It was nice to hear of Ben's experience at the two branches in Moscow.
jTell everyone that I love them,
Love, Sister Richards

email from 03/02/09

Things here are going pretty well, we have been having problems with our teaching pool, they've all been getting baptized so it’s been depleting, the other problem is finding new investigators. This past week we only found 7, our goal is always 14 :( This weekend we were supposed to baptize Linda Walker, she's been an investigator since November, anyways she canceled the morning of, but luckily she's still came to church yesterday. I'm sure some day she'll get baptized. Her main hang-up is that she was baptized into some other church in 1991 and doesn't see why she needs to be baptized again. This is a pretty common problem here in the south, the other one, which really drives me crazy, is exaltation. People just don't understand the fact that we have the opportunity to become like God, they think we mean that they will become God, and then they're always like, "Well I only have one God!" Not that we are going to be God, I just don't see how they don't get it, we are his children and as such we have the right to gain all that he has, they don't understand that. Oh, well. No more problems with feeling the need to come home, just so you know. Something that really comforts me is the song "Lead Kindly Light", I listen to it all the time or when I start to feel down I hum it. There is a part in the first verse where it says… the night is dark and I am far from home, lead thou me on... anyways, it helps none the less. The weather here is crazy! A few weeks ago it was 70 and nice, then it has been in the low 50's for the past two weeks, and then day before yesterday it started to rain, it’s been almost non stop! I was raining in sheets Saturday night while we were on our way back to the apartment and I could barely see out the windshield, last night we were out contacting in a Wal-Mart parking lot about 8:00 and it was misting! Needless to say my hair is a constant ball of messy curls and I hate it! It was supposed to snow last night...5-6 inches... I woke up this morning and to my surprise... no snow :) What was really funny about the whole thing was that they already canceled school last night :) The south just shuts down in the cold, for church yesterday it seemed like half the congregation was missing. So, how are things there? How is everyone doing? Molly? I wish i would get more letters from ya’ll, e-mails are nice, but letters are always more personal, some pictures from the grandkids would be very nice! I'm sure ya’ll have not forgotten me but some days it does seem like it. I'm going to try and buy a voice recorder, there’s this cool one my companion has by Sony where it doesn't have tapes but it holds hours of storage, maybe I’ll invest, it would be nice to hear everyone’s voices. Did anyone bear their testimonies yesterday? If not it’s okay, I myself didn't even get a chance. Maybe next time? Well, I have to go; I love you all so much! I love Ya'll! WRITE ME!!!
Sister Richards