Downtown Miami digs

Here are a couple of pix out the window of his Miami apartment. Very cool!

repentance and new pix

I have been slightly chastized for not keeping Richard's blog up-to-date. So, here is the latest. Richard is now a trainer. He has a brand-new comp. We got a copy of the letter from his Mission President calling him as a trainer which was very complimentary and at the same time gave him a great responsibility. But as we have found out, with great power, comes great responsibility.

Here are his thoughts: Transfer info came in lastnight and you guys wouldn't believe it, I'm a daddy! (Right at 9 months too, not a day too late right?)
I'm training a greenie gringo. I'm so young! (in the mission that is) This never happens, seriously. They usually make you senior, then DL, then train etc. The average age of a trainer in this mission is around 15 months, Pres. said that though I was young they needed me to do it.

Here are his thoughts on the scriptures: We were talking about how great the Book of Mormon is the other day in reference to our understanding and the understanding we had before the mission. We've come to the understanding that 1) we sound like nerds telling the youth how awesome the book is. and 2) that it's something you can't understand (the pure power of the B.O.M.) until you use it to fight the real darkness in the world. It's hard to appreciate such a potent source of knowledge and doctrine without fully using it to teach and understand God's plan. It's such a great book, have you ever tried to put together the Gospel or imagine Christ's church by only using reference to the Bible? Imagine why people were so confused! It honestly sounds like a complete doctine with pieces rearranged and even taken completely out. How can anyone imagine the state of the spirit before judgement and resurrection by only relying on 1 Peter? Alma 40 owns! Or even the Eternal nature and difference of being without the JST Moses and Abraham? Even then Joseph Smith needed a collection of revelation to restore the church in it's entirety. And the upon thinking of how (I was reading "Truth Restored") a young boy could establish a world wide church with such complete doctrine in a world almost completely against him without the inspiration of God, it's impossible! Let alone the perfection of the Book of Mormon. The B.O.M. wasn't even thoroughly studied by the church in the CES until the early 1900's, and yet if Joseph Smith had written the book for the proof of anything, why wasn't a greater emphasis placed on it in the development of the church? (of course it was used in missionary efforts etc, but not even close to it's fullest potential. The majority of the historic congruence that the Book of Mormon contains has been fairly recently discovered.)
Bottom line, it's a sweet book. It's pure and powerful.

Nice level of growth and maturity, no?

How about some new pix? One and two are Richard in the attitude of "studying".