Check out the long wavy hair from the humidity.

These birds look just like Moni's birds--Peri and Sweetie (who wasn't very sweet).

Sister George.  (Moni said to notice the clean stove in the background.  She cleaned it!)

Sister Olsen with a chocolate beater.

 

New haircut!!

 

This was an interesting week!!! So I'm going to start with the raccoon. We were driving the other day and this raccoon jumped out in the middle of the road and we almost hit it! Luckily, we missed it by a hair. When we were about a holler away from it, we just started laughing. The shock had worn off. Then I told Sister George, "Good thing the raccoon didn't jump onto the windshield." Then I hissed and put my arms up like I was the raccoon. It scared Sis. G so bad haha :) She was driving so lucky we were on a back road with no other traffic :) We'll be a little more careful next time. It was funny though.

So I went to downtown Richmond this week. I had a doctor's appointment so the Chappells (the senior missionary couple) took me so we wouldn't have to use our miles. That was lucky. So after my appointment, it started pouring. LITERALLY! So Elder Chappell ran out to the car to grab his umbrella and he was soaked by the time he got there. It was funny. So anyway, they had an appointment at the prison, but apparently it was locked down all day. So they couldn't go to that. And since we were already in Richmond, they needed to run a few errands. So I got to go with them. It was pretty fun.

 

I saw the state capitol, which Thomas Jefferson designed and which was built before the Civil War. That was cool. I also got to see narrow houses that had just a teeny alley in between them. I thought those were just in movies but I guess they're real. :) I saw lots of other cool things too :) Also, we drove through a really ghetto part of town and it was a little sketchy. It was complete with graffiti on the walls, murals on the walls, bars on the windows, and a random girl leaning against the wall. Richmond is interesting.

 

Oh! And it was the Chappell's 45th Anniversary and since they were already out, they wanted to go to lunch. So Elder Chappell asked me to be their surrogate child. So I agreed and he took Sister Chappell and me to lunch. We ate at this cute little place called the Strawberry Street Cafe. I had a rockfish sandwich :) YUMMY!! It was awesome.

 

Then we went back to little old Farmville and I rejoined my companions and we contacted a referral and got 4 new investigators and 3 of them have a baptismal date for September 21!! Awesome, no?

One last story: I don't know if you know, but I am sooooooo afraid of spiders. We hates them. But anyway, we were tracting last Saturday and I saw this HUGE spider run across the road. It stopped about half way because it knew we were there. It was a wolf spider and it was about the size of a ping-pong ball with an egg sac on it's bum. Well, I froze. I told Sister George to squish it and she said she can't squish big bugs. So I told Sister Olsen to step on it. She said, "Step on it? It's gonna step on me." So here we stood at an impasse. Anyone looking upon the scene may have laughed out loud. There were three Sister missionaries standing in the middle of the street frozen in fear. Then a movie quote came to me from "We Bought a Zoo."  "Twenty seconds of courage." Then the next thought was something that my brothers and I would always say. "I'M GONNA EAT YOUR SOUL!" (Said in a low, creepy voice.) Then, as my companions would tell it, I took a deep breath, stomped over to the spider with my hands clenched in fists, and TRIED to step on the spider. I got the egg sac, but that just made the nasty creature mad. So I lifted my other foot and squished it into the ground, moving my foot from side to side for good measure. Then I started hyperventilating. I had just conquered my greatest fear. I probably will still scream and run out of the room if there's a teeny one on the wall, but for a moment, I was not an arachnophobe. I was a spider bounty hunter.

It was a pretty eventful week. Not many conversion stories, but we planted a lot of "seeds" this week. It was good though because we were committed :)

Ok just kidding. One more story: So last week, Sister George was making brownies to give to some of the Elders in our zone, and she stopped after the batter was done and she left the room. So Sister Olsen and I grabbed spoons and put batter all over our mouth. Then we sat outside of the door and waited for Sister George. When she came out she laughed so hard!!! We were like children haha :) We have lots of fun :)

I love y'all!! Have a blessed week and share the gospel with someone you know!!

Love,

Sister Simona/Moni Richardson

It rains in Virginia!

 

So last Saturday we set someone for baptism!! This guy names Charles grew up Methodist I think and we told him about the Book of Mormon and he was so excited!! He is 86 and he grew up in Virginia and he was in the army. He's really funny and lonely. He talks a lot and he talks LOUD. However, we were able to teach him the full Restoration of the church last week. It was hard and it took forever because he kept interrupting, but it worked. :) So anyway, about half way through the lesson, the Spirit told me that we needed to ask him to be baptized. It was Sister Olsen's turn (and she always forgets) so I nudged her and told her. So she asked him and it was great. He said that when he knows it's true, he will get baptized. And he might come to church this week. Hopefully! That is the hardest thing besides getting ahold of people, is getting them to want to come to church. I'm not even sure why. It's just strange. Anyway, Charles is funny. He kept using these terms (mostly medical terms and some other ones) and I knew what most of them meant. So anyway, because I knew everything he was talking about, he was tickled. (At least, that's what he told us. He said he was tickled like 4 times.) But anyway, he told me that I would get married first out of my companions. He also said that I look like the youngest. We told him that Sister George was the youngest and she doesn't turn 20 until December and I do in less than a month and he was soooo surprised!! He thought I was like 16. He's not the first. Charles is pretty cool :)

This week we also visited a less-active blind member of the church. The only reason she's less-active is because she's blind and can't drive. Plus she lives in Keysville which is like half an hour away so it's hard for her to get a ride. She is a spitfire though!! She read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon with us though... in her Braille B.O.M. That was sweet. It was sooo super cool!! She is great :)

So we went to the Richmond Zoo last Monday. It was awesome!! We went as pretty much our whole zone. It was a lot of fun :) You get to feed Giraffes and it is just an awesome zoo. They have bats and we were all (well like half of us) in the little bat house thing and one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Harris, said, "Bats are like the spiders of birds." I immediately walked out of the bat house and said I'm out!! Then Elder Dayton, the other Zone Leader, apologized for his companion. It was super funny. I have great District and Zone Leaders that are awesome and willing to give blessings when needed!! They are super cool :)

I love Virginia!! It has been strange summer and has been raining constantly (which apparently has NEVER happened in Virginia.) We've only had a few hot and humid days (knock on wood) and it has been SO nice!! I love it!! There is a chill in the air and hopefully fall will come just in time for my birthday :) Usually it doesn't come until October, but I think it can make the deadline :) haha

I love y'all and hope all is well with you!! Have a blessed week!!

Love,

Sister Simona M. Richardson

An awesome amazing family--the Moore family!

 

So probably the best part about this week was last Thursday. Sister George said something so I got fake mad and chased her down the hall. She ran into our extra room and locked herself in. Sister Olsen was all sorts of confused, but it was funny. I went in and sat on Sister George's bed to wait for her. After like 10 minutes, she comes out and I have the bedroom door shut, but I heard her. So I yank open the door and scare her. In her hands, she held an iron and my waterproofing spray. We both laughed sooooo hard!! It was way funny. It was great fun.

So this week, we helped a less-active member paint some rooms in her rental house. It was fun :) It was also good to visit with her more. We also visited another less-active member who is dying of cancer. It's a strange cancer. It was supposed to be attached to something, but instead it attached itself to her muscles and bones. It went from Stage 1 to Stage 4 very fast. We're trying to help her to strengthen her relationship with the Lord so she can have comfort. I hope it works.

 

We also have another investigator that fed us dinner!!! It was awesome haha. She's feeding us again this week. I'm excited!! She's gonna feed us fish!! YUMMY!! Haha.

Life in Virginia is good!! Hopefully our work will pick up at least a little bit once school gets started again, but for now, I'm happy!!

 

I love this gospel and how much joy it brings to my life and the life of others. The best part about that joy is that it is eternal if we work for it :) I love my Savior Jesus Christ and know that He loves me. I hope y'all have a blessed week!

Much love,

Sister Simona Richardson