chicago chronicles October 27th

Dear Family, There were many ups and downs this week. In particular, a lot of appointments we had set up with people were cancelled. But we're still working, and doing our best to try and teach more people. Elder Miller has been off-and-on pretty sick, and I may be catching it (unfortunately), but it hasn't affected the work too much yet. In other news, I'll be accompanying a duet for a Christmas musical number in the ward at the end of next month. The music they gave me is pretty difficult, but I'm hopeful that I can learn it well enough to sound decent. It's been pretty cool to see just how much I've been playing piano at baptisms, meetings, and elsewhere on my mission. Those of you preparing for a mission, don't hesitate to learn a few hymns before you go! One of our goals for the next few weeks is to get this Ward more excited about home/visiting teaching. There are a lot of great members here who are used to simply not doing it. In line with what I said last week, it's essential that we home and visit teach to serve and look after the other members of our wards. I'm worried about Chief and Don, two brothers we baptized in this area. They haven't had much of a drive to come to church, and I think half the reason is that their dad has zero interest in religion. We're trying to get other youth to fellowship them better, but it's still difficult to continually ask them if they're coming to something and find a ride for them. Something my mission president suggested was in lessons to make our message more fun and similar to FHE activities, to try and get the rest of the family involved. We have some good ideas, but I wanted to ask each of you - what are some fun object lessons or games that you have used or seen in Family Home Evenings before? I love you and am full of gratitude for all the things you have done to support this awesome work. Remember that praise for the miracles that have happened go not to the missionaries, but to God. :) - Elder Jared Richardson P.s. As missionaries we're not allowed to wear costumes, so Elder Miller and I found a way around it for our Ward Halloween activity. He wore a Superman shirt under his shirt and went as Clark Kent, and I donned my suit and went as a Men-in-Black-esque agent (seeing through the dark with sunglasses on is really difficult, by the way). The girl is the middle is a member who was sealed to her family last week. :)

"Buenos Dias!" -D. Todd Christofferson General Conference was excellent! I received a lot of answers to the questions I had written down before and during the sessions, and I am definitely going to enjoy studying the talks in the coming weeks. We watched one session at a less-active member's home (who actually took some notes, which was really cool to see!) and we also watched a session with Karlie, who was baptized last week. My favorite talks in particular were Lynne G. Robbins, Jörg Klebingat, and President Uchtdorf (especially his Priesthood session talk). It was also really cool to see Elder Hamula of the 70 talk Sunday morning, after seeing him in person just a few short weeks ago. What wereYOUR favorite talks? The other highlight of this week was going with Karlie and the McLaws family into the temple to perform baptisms for the dead. It was a great experience for her, as much as it was for Elder Miller and I, who got to be witnesses and perform confirmations. Being a Melchizedek Priesthood holder is a great privilege - one that I will always cherish. Speaking of baptisms, this week I will be heading back to Hebron for a day with Elder Potter to go to Scotty's baptism, the last of the Decheske's family to be baptized. Scotty has actually asked me to be the one to baptize him, which I feel really honored. It's going to be a great week. :) And I hope it'll be great for all of you as well! Love, - Elder Jared Richardson