Dear Family and Friends,
So I am sorry that you guys were all anticipating an email yesterday. We kind of had a crazy schedule yesterday because we you had to travel to Legazbi for our trainer trainee meeting today. We were just going to email when we get to Legazbi, but it took a long time and we didn't have time. So they told us to email today after our meeting. We are in Legazbi for another night and we have our big Christmas Zone Conference tomorrow. All of the Missionaries in the entire mission will be here tomorrow, so that is really exciting.
Christian is doing alright. He is working to overcome an addiction of smoking. He wrote down a plan and has a lot of support from the member family that he lives with. We had a great lesson about how he is not alone doing this work that he can do it with the Lord's help.
We also had a great lesson with Rodel this week. He is really so prepared. It was funny we were reporting in our coordination meeting and they asked what his concerns were and I was like there are none. He really has just been waiting and prepared for the truth.
We also found some new investigators this week. It was actually a really interesting experience for me. We taught one new investigator who was a former member of Inglesia ni Cristo. Which is one of the most common religions here in the the philiippines and actually the founder was a member of the church. But anyway their belief in Christ is a little different because they believe that Christ was just a man not God. It was just interesting for me because as we were teaching it I just wanted to testify and testify that Christ is more than just a man, but it is by him that makes salvation possible. It is just so sad to think that people don't know the good news that we have a savior-the savior of the world to save us from sin. I also had an experience this week with another new investigator, Jese. She is the wife of an less active in the branch. Her Husband wasn't been to church for a long time, but has a strong testimony. Jese is from southern philippines in Mindona?, but anyway she is Muslim so they also believe that Christ was just a Prophet. We got to watch the Christmas Devotional and I couldn't help but think of these two individuals and think how sad that they didn't know about Christ and his role. That they don't know that Christ is born. It just brought me back to my purpose to invite others to come unto Christ. That is our purpose to help them come unto Christ by living the gospel of Christ. Our mission is to testify that Jesus Christ lives. This is the good news that we bring, just as the angels in Bethlehem shared to the shepherds so long ago.
It still doesn't feel like Christmas here, something about there being no snow and stuff. But they play all the Christmas music from america in all the stores about Frosty and White Christmas.
Anyway I don't have too much time today, but I promise I will include more next week. I love you all and am thinking about you all at this time.
-Sister Heather Richins
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Monday, December 16, 2013
December 9
Dear Family and Friends,
Well this week has been good. We had a good week and I continue to learn more and more. We had some really great days and then some hard ones too. But that is okay, that is how missionary work is. We were able to find a couple new investigators, which was good. It was interesting because for the past two weeks I felt that I had talked so many people and no one wanted to hear our message, but we had a couple of great miracles this week.
The first one was Rodel. So we were tracting in one of our areas and we saw one of the less actives that we teach. This less active we see him all the time, but he never wants us to teach him, but we was with his friend and he told us we could go and visit his friend Rodel. We set up an appointment with him for the next night. I am not going to lie. I was a bit apprehensive about the appointment I felt that he really wasn't interesting in our message, but instead interesting in the two white americans speaking Tagalog. But it is not that way he listened intently as we talked about Joseph Smith and invited him to pray. Also his two sisters listened too. When we came back, he said that he had prayed and felt so good about Joseph Smith, he said that he couldn't come to church yesterday, but next sunday he would be able too. So hopefully he will continue to progress.
The second miracle was Maricar. So there is this one street that we walk down everyday and all the kids on that street know us and always run up to us to give us hugs and high fives. We were walking down they street and starting talking to one of the pedjack drivers. He is like 19 years old and we started talking and we asked if we could visit him. He said that he lived on that one street. We went to the house and we taught his sister, who is married and has three kids. She said she had always watched missionaries walk up and down that street, but they never stopped to teach her. It was such a powerful lesson and by the end we were both in tears.
So Christian is doing good. He is working on giving up things in the Word of Wisdom. Yesterday he just kept on sayin that he couldn't do it, that he couldn't make it, but we testifyin about the atonement and that if he relied on the Lord, he could give those things up. He has so much desire he wants this so bad and through Jesus Christ he can do this.
So these were the highlights of the week. Of course there are stuggles too. We are still do hours and hours of tracting and street contacting. It is just so different becuase for the past two transfers we had so many appointments that we almost never went tracting and now I feel that is all we do. But it is good. I really do enjoy it. You get to meet so many people and share what we teach. There is a lot of joy in finding. We are still working to bring up our teaching pool and finding those that will recieve us, like Rodel and Maricar.
We had a great zone training this week, it was good to hear from our zone leaders. We talked about increasing the number of total lessons in our zone and extending baptismal dates early within the first or 2nd lesson, and continue to find people to teach. President encouraged us to teach 7 lessons a day-it is a lot, but It is good, we just have to reach higher and plan and teach effectively.
Well we have to work hard this week because next week we will be in Legazbi for two days for training and our Christmas Zone conference.
Thank you all for your prayers to find those that will recieve us here in Bulan,
-Sister Richins
Well this week has been good. We had a good week and I continue to learn more and more. We had some really great days and then some hard ones too. But that is okay, that is how missionary work is. We were able to find a couple new investigators, which was good. It was interesting because for the past two weeks I felt that I had talked so many people and no one wanted to hear our message, but we had a couple of great miracles this week.
The first one was Rodel. So we were tracting in one of our areas and we saw one of the less actives that we teach. This less active we see him all the time, but he never wants us to teach him, but we was with his friend and he told us we could go and visit his friend Rodel. We set up an appointment with him for the next night. I am not going to lie. I was a bit apprehensive about the appointment I felt that he really wasn't interesting in our message, but instead interesting in the two white americans speaking Tagalog. But it is not that way he listened intently as we talked about Joseph Smith and invited him to pray. Also his two sisters listened too. When we came back, he said that he had prayed and felt so good about Joseph Smith, he said that he couldn't come to church yesterday, but next sunday he would be able too. So hopefully he will continue to progress.
The second miracle was Maricar. So there is this one street that we walk down everyday and all the kids on that street know us and always run up to us to give us hugs and high fives. We were walking down they street and starting talking to one of the pedjack drivers. He is like 19 years old and we started talking and we asked if we could visit him. He said that he lived on that one street. We went to the house and we taught his sister, who is married and has three kids. She said she had always watched missionaries walk up and down that street, but they never stopped to teach her. It was such a powerful lesson and by the end we were both in tears.
So Christian is doing good. He is working on giving up things in the Word of Wisdom. Yesterday he just kept on sayin that he couldn't do it, that he couldn't make it, but we testifyin about the atonement and that if he relied on the Lord, he could give those things up. He has so much desire he wants this so bad and through Jesus Christ he can do this.
So these were the highlights of the week. Of course there are stuggles too. We are still do hours and hours of tracting and street contacting. It is just so different becuase for the past two transfers we had so many appointments that we almost never went tracting and now I feel that is all we do. But it is good. I really do enjoy it. You get to meet so many people and share what we teach. There is a lot of joy in finding. We are still working to bring up our teaching pool and finding those that will recieve us, like Rodel and Maricar.
We had a great zone training this week, it was good to hear from our zone leaders. We talked about increasing the number of total lessons in our zone and extending baptismal dates early within the first or 2nd lesson, and continue to find people to teach. President encouraged us to teach 7 lessons a day-it is a lot, but It is good, we just have to reach higher and plan and teach effectively.
Well we have to work hard this week because next week we will be in Legazbi for two days for training and our Christmas Zone conference.
Thank you all for your prayers to find those that will recieve us here in Bulan,
-Sister Richins
December 2
Dear Family and Friends,
Wow I can't believe that it is already December! Time just flies by
really truly. I am glad that everyone had a good thanksgiving over
there. Of course they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but after
district meeting on Thursday we went to Jollibee, where they have a
new special Mashed Potatoes. So we had our fried chicken and mashed
potatoes and we went around the table and said everything that we are
grateful for.
This week has been okay. We are really trying and trying to find
those that will receive us. Sometimes it can be a little frustrating
because we feel that we are trying to be everything in our power, but
we just haven't seen the results of our labors and efforts. But we
can't let that weaken our faith. We just keep on talking to everyone
and visiting members and encourage them prayerfully seek refferals. I
remember one day this week we had been talking and talking to people,
but we just were not seeing very much success and I started to think
about all of our recent converts and said all of them came from
refferals from members-member refferals are SOOO important. Pres
Guanzon said of every 200 street contact you will get 1 baptism, of
every 5 refferals you will get 1 baptism and if you have an
investigator with the right fellowshipper you have a 1 to 1 ratio.
Members are sooo important!
Training has been good. It is really humbling for me and I have
learned so much from Sister Flake. It helps remind me what is the
most important in missionary work. And it is just so heartwarming to
hear her sincere testimony in broken Tagalog. It is so cool to see
how that sincere testimony can really speak to the hearts of the
people. It is weird because I remember when I was at her stage, I
kept on thinking, I am not making any difference here. But now I can
see that those simple heartfelt testimonies make a huge difference.
It is so cool and I love it.
So we have been teaching one investigator, Christian, who is 22. He
is one of the most humble people I have met. He drives a pedjack and
lives with the Llantino family who just recently started coming back
to church. We have been teaching him for a while, but he was
struggling to recognize his answer. This week on Thursday we went to
visit him and much to our amazement he said he felt something.
Because the last time we talked about the fruits of the spirit from
Ephesians and he was like, I feel love, peace, and I just want to guys
to come back every day and teach me more. I was so excited for him.
He is so great, he said that he doesn't just want to get baptized to
get baptized, but he wants to get baptized and stay active his entire
life. I am so excited for him.
On Sunday we had a special district conference to sustain the new
district President. So that was exciting to see Pres. Guanzon and all
the missionaries from the zone. President Guanzon is so great. He is
also so humble. He talked about the importance of callings in the
church and how every one should have a calling and magnify that
calling. He said that he hoped after his calling as mission president
he is called to clean the bathroom in the Church house, and he will be
so happy to clean that bathroom every week. He also talked about
tithing and about a humble pedjack driver that said he couldn't pay
tithing, but his branch president told him to "prove the Lord" and he
did. Now he has a pedjack business and can support all of his
children through school. I learn so much from President Guanzon.
I remember when President Nielson the area president in the
philippines was here and he said that a lot of times we are sent to
missions because the Lord knows what mission president will be the
best for us. He said that when the apostles call missions they talk
more about the mission presidents that we actual mission. They say I
think that this missionary needs to learn from this mission president.
That was an interesting insight, and I am trying to learn everything
I can from President and Sister Guanzon.
Well I hope everyone enjoys the Christmas season over there. It is
weird all the stores play Christmas music, but it is American music
singing about snow and then I walk out side and there is no snow. Oh
well.
-Sister Richins
Wow I can't believe that it is already December! Time just flies by
really truly. I am glad that everyone had a good thanksgiving over
there. Of course they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but after
district meeting on Thursday we went to Jollibee, where they have a
new special Mashed Potatoes. So we had our fried chicken and mashed
potatoes and we went around the table and said everything that we are
grateful for.
This week has been okay. We are really trying and trying to find
those that will receive us. Sometimes it can be a little frustrating
because we feel that we are trying to be everything in our power, but
we just haven't seen the results of our labors and efforts. But we
can't let that weaken our faith. We just keep on talking to everyone
and visiting members and encourage them prayerfully seek refferals. I
remember one day this week we had been talking and talking to people,
but we just were not seeing very much success and I started to think
about all of our recent converts and said all of them came from
refferals from members-member refferals are SOOO important. Pres
Guanzon said of every 200 street contact you will get 1 baptism, of
every 5 refferals you will get 1 baptism and if you have an
investigator with the right fellowshipper you have a 1 to 1 ratio.
Members are sooo important!
Training has been good. It is really humbling for me and I have
learned so much from Sister Flake. It helps remind me what is the
most important in missionary work. And it is just so heartwarming to
hear her sincere testimony in broken Tagalog. It is so cool to see
how that sincere testimony can really speak to the hearts of the
people. It is weird because I remember when I was at her stage, I
kept on thinking, I am not making any difference here. But now I can
see that those simple heartfelt testimonies make a huge difference.
It is so cool and I love it.
So we have been teaching one investigator, Christian, who is 22. He
is one of the most humble people I have met. He drives a pedjack and
lives with the Llantino family who just recently started coming back
to church. We have been teaching him for a while, but he was
struggling to recognize his answer. This week on Thursday we went to
visit him and much to our amazement he said he felt something.
Because the last time we talked about the fruits of the spirit from
Ephesians and he was like, I feel love, peace, and I just want to guys
to come back every day and teach me more. I was so excited for him.
He is so great, he said that he doesn't just want to get baptized to
get baptized, but he wants to get baptized and stay active his entire
life. I am so excited for him.
On Sunday we had a special district conference to sustain the new
district President. So that was exciting to see Pres. Guanzon and all
the missionaries from the zone. President Guanzon is so great. He is
also so humble. He talked about the importance of callings in the
church and how every one should have a calling and magnify that
calling. He said that he hoped after his calling as mission president
he is called to clean the bathroom in the Church house, and he will be
so happy to clean that bathroom every week. He also talked about
tithing and about a humble pedjack driver that said he couldn't pay
tithing, but his branch president told him to "prove the Lord" and he
did. Now he has a pedjack business and can support all of his
children through school. I learn so much from President Guanzon.
I remember when President Nielson the area president in the
philippines was here and he said that a lot of times we are sent to
missions because the Lord knows what mission president will be the
best for us. He said that when the apostles call missions they talk
more about the mission presidents that we actual mission. They say I
think that this missionary needs to learn from this mission president.
That was an interesting insight, and I am trying to learn everything
I can from President and Sister Guanzon.
Well I hope everyone enjoys the Christmas season over there. It is
weird all the stores play Christmas music, but it is American music
singing about snow and then I walk out side and there is no snow. Oh
well.
-Sister Richins
Friday, November 29, 2013
November 25
Dear Family and Friends,
Well Transfer week. It was an especially crazy week because I am training now. We went up to Legazbi on Tuesday when we had our trainer's training. Then all the trainers spent the night at a hotel (because the mission home still is not finished) then we all got up in the morning and waiting for the new missionaries to come from the airport. They all had a little overview and then they announced companion ships. They started in the North of the mission and worked down. Of course Bulan is in the very South of the mission so Sister Eracho and I were the last ones. By the time it got to me and Sister Eracho, there were two Americans sisters sitting on the other side. At that point I knew I would be training an American. My new companion is Sister Flake from Vernal, UT.
It defiantly has been a good experience training, it defiantly brought back a lot of memories from my first week. I have been reading my journal a lot from those first weeks when I was trying to understand the culture and felt completely lost and really trying to help her understand that I know what is like and trying just to love her. President Guanzon said our first job as trainer is to make them feel at home. It is really a completely different world and culture and it takes a little time to adjust. It defiantly brought back memories as my companion kept falling asleep in daily planning at night because she is still getting used to the time difference. She kept on apologizing so I read her my journal entries from the first week and told her I did the same. It takes a little time to adjust. It has really been a very humbling experience, for once in the mission someone is looking to me on how to say things in Tagalog. And I am thinking, I am not perfect at Tagalog, but okay.
It has been an interesting week too, because we split the area we really needed to find new investigators. Literally we had nothing we could do, but go tracting for the past two days. Of course not the ideal, but that we didn't have any referrals or appointments so we spent the whole day yesterday tracting. We actually were able to have a lot of success. We were able to teach 3 lessons and at least 2 of those seem interested, so that is good. It has been weird because it is just me leading all the lessons. Yesterday though we had three branch missionaries come with us so that was good, they are great! Hopefully I will be able to help her with her Tagalog and she will learn it faster than I did. That is my goal that she will be a better missionary than me. I am really trying to become the trainer that would have helped me the most. It was a little overwhelmed in trainer's training and I was getting a little nervous, but one of the APs said something that I though was really good. He said that it takes time for new missionaries to adjust and it takes time for new trainers to adjust. He said not to be too hard on ourselves. We need patience with our companions and with ourselves.
Anyway though it has been a very humbling and rewarding week. I am sure we will spend a lot more time tracting and finding this week, but that is okay I really enjoy it especially when you see miracles and people let you in their house and teach. We did have some other miracles this week. We had so many referrals from members and they members starting inviting their friends. You can see such a difference in this branch since when I first got here, even at sacrament meeting the benches are getting so full. The Lord is in this work. The lord only asks about our availability and he will take care of our capability.
-Sister Richins
Well Transfer week. It was an especially crazy week because I am training now. We went up to Legazbi on Tuesday when we had our trainer's training. Then all the trainers spent the night at a hotel (because the mission home still is not finished) then we all got up in the morning and waiting for the new missionaries to come from the airport. They all had a little overview and then they announced companion ships. They started in the North of the mission and worked down. Of course Bulan is in the very South of the mission so Sister Eracho and I were the last ones. By the time it got to me and Sister Eracho, there were two Americans sisters sitting on the other side. At that point I knew I would be training an American. My new companion is Sister Flake from Vernal, UT.
It defiantly has been a good experience training, it defiantly brought back a lot of memories from my first week. I have been reading my journal a lot from those first weeks when I was trying to understand the culture and felt completely lost and really trying to help her understand that I know what is like and trying just to love her. President Guanzon said our first job as trainer is to make them feel at home. It is really a completely different world and culture and it takes a little time to adjust. It defiantly brought back memories as my companion kept falling asleep in daily planning at night because she is still getting used to the time difference. She kept on apologizing so I read her my journal entries from the first week and told her I did the same. It takes a little time to adjust. It has really been a very humbling experience, for once in the mission someone is looking to me on how to say things in Tagalog. And I am thinking, I am not perfect at Tagalog, but okay.
It has been an interesting week too, because we split the area we really needed to find new investigators. Literally we had nothing we could do, but go tracting for the past two days. Of course not the ideal, but that we didn't have any referrals or appointments so we spent the whole day yesterday tracting. We actually were able to have a lot of success. We were able to teach 3 lessons and at least 2 of those seem interested, so that is good. It has been weird because it is just me leading all the lessons. Yesterday though we had three branch missionaries come with us so that was good, they are great! Hopefully I will be able to help her with her Tagalog and she will learn it faster than I did. That is my goal that she will be a better missionary than me. I am really trying to become the trainer that would have helped me the most. It was a little overwhelmed in trainer's training and I was getting a little nervous, but one of the APs said something that I though was really good. He said that it takes time for new missionaries to adjust and it takes time for new trainers to adjust. He said not to be too hard on ourselves. We need patience with our companions and with ourselves.
Anyway though it has been a very humbling and rewarding week. I am sure we will spend a lot more time tracting and finding this week, but that is okay I really enjoy it especially when you see miracles and people let you in their house and teach. We did have some other miracles this week. We had so many referrals from members and they members starting inviting their friends. You can see such a difference in this branch since when I first got here, even at sacrament meeting the benches are getting so full. The Lord is in this work. The lord only asks about our availability and he will take care of our capability.
-Sister Richins
Nov 18
Dear Family and Friends,
First off I just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I am so grateful for all of your love and prayers. I am so blessed. Of course they don't celebrate thanksgiving here, but I will be thinking of you. On the bright side at Jollibee they have a limited time special that includes Mashed potatoes so that is fun.
Wow from the sound of it, it sounds like we were truly lucky here not to be affected too much from the storm. It is so crazy that it wiped out the whole tocobalon mission. On Tuesday one of the zones from the Tacloban mission came by barge to Matnog, an area in our zone, and President Guanzon went and picked them up. We will probably get some of those missionaries in our mission. It will so so crazy to hear their stories.
Well the first news transfer announcements came and I will be training! Crazy! Actually Sister and Eracho and I will both be training. We go to Legazbi tomorrow and then the new missionaries come on Wednesday. So we will see who my new companion is then-philippino or American. It is defiantly a little scary to train and humbling. I know that the Lord trusts me and with his help I will be able to do it.
Of course that means we will be splitting our area. It was a hard decision to decide what area each of us would get. And we also realized that now that we have more time to dedicate to each area we can work on really finding less actives and finding new investigators. Our current apartment only have one bedroom so the other there is a new apartment is next door. So we spent the morning moving all my things into the new apartment and getting ready for the new missionaries.
So in our district now there will be 8 sisters an 2 elders. Isn't that crazy! We are a sister's district!
On Saturday we had a lovely Baptism for brother Tamboong. He is so amazing and he is now inviting his friends to church. So awesome. I am really sad that I won't get to continue to visit them because he is not in my part of the branch. But at least I will get to see them every Sunday. So a lot of change this week, but change is good. President Guanzon always reminds us to always remember that your area is the best area and you have the best companion.
-Sister Richins
First off I just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I am so grateful for all of your love and prayers. I am so blessed. Of course they don't celebrate thanksgiving here, but I will be thinking of you. On the bright side at Jollibee they have a limited time special that includes Mashed potatoes so that is fun.
Wow from the sound of it, it sounds like we were truly lucky here not to be affected too much from the storm. It is so crazy that it wiped out the whole tocobalon mission. On Tuesday one of the zones from the Tacloban mission came by barge to Matnog, an area in our zone, and President Guanzon went and picked them up. We will probably get some of those missionaries in our mission. It will so so crazy to hear their stories.
Well the first news transfer announcements came and I will be training! Crazy! Actually Sister and Eracho and I will both be training. We go to Legazbi tomorrow and then the new missionaries come on Wednesday. So we will see who my new companion is then-philippino or American. It is defiantly a little scary to train and humbling. I know that the Lord trusts me and with his help I will be able to do it.
Of course that means we will be splitting our area. It was a hard decision to decide what area each of us would get. And we also realized that now that we have more time to dedicate to each area we can work on really finding less actives and finding new investigators. Our current apartment only have one bedroom so the other there is a new apartment is next door. So we spent the morning moving all my things into the new apartment and getting ready for the new missionaries.
So in our district now there will be 8 sisters an 2 elders. Isn't that crazy! We are a sister's district!
On Saturday we had a lovely Baptism for brother Tamboong. He is so amazing and he is now inviting his friends to church. So awesome. I am really sad that I won't get to continue to visit them because he is not in my part of the branch. But at least I will get to see them every Sunday. So a lot of change this week, but change is good. President Guanzon always reminds us to always remember that your area is the best area and you have the best companion.
-Sister Richins
Friday, November 15, 2013
November 11
Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you all for your concern after the big storm that came across here. Luckily we were really lucky here and the storm didn't do much damage here. The bulk of the storm missed us here so that is good. Everyone was really worried about flooding, but it was mostly really strong winds, but not very much rain so that was good. The wind knocked down a lot of trees, but I was amazing how well the little houses made of sticks held up. There were a few houses that suffered minor damage, but nothing too bad unlike what happened in Tacloban. That looks just devastating. So the storm came here on Thursday night. We were told to come home early and prepare food and stuff. We got back and we were worried about flooding so we moved all our stuff onto the top shelves to save them in case of flooding. Then we went to the other sister's apartment upstairs and all 6 of us sisters slept up there together for two nights. We stayed in all day Friday as the storm passed. On Saturday every thing was back to normal in the town. We helped a few people pick up there yards and sweep up leaves, but really not nearly as bad as what was on the news.
A lot of the members close to the beach went to the church house to spend the night.
So we had an interesting week. One member said that there is a couple more storms to look out for in the coming weeks. So hopefully we will be okay. We were defiantly really lucky here.
So other than that big storm we had a good week we continue to look forward to the baptism of Brother Tambong this Saturday. I really love the Tamboong family. There are so great. Yesterday we were teaching an investigator who was 13 and Rosylyn Tamboong was so excited to come with us and teach her. They are so great! I am so excited for that family and for there goal next year to be sealed in the temple. They always tell us that our goal is to have our investigators dressed in white twice. Once for baptism and once to go through the temple to be sealed as a family. So true.
I also love Sister Michelle Benches. The sister that was baptized with her two kids two weeks ago. She is go great. She shares the gospel with all of her friends and neighbors. We are now teaching all of her neighbors and they are coming to church. It is so great. So wonderful.
On Saturday I started teaching piano lessons to some of the youth. They are so excited to learn to play the piano. I am teaching them the basics first and hopefully I can get a simplified hymn book so they can start to play hymns.
We had a great day of church on Sunday is is so great to see the benches in the church house slowly fill up more and more every week. I hope that we can continue to find more investigators and less actives to fill up the rest of the benches.
On Thursday we had zone training and we talked about loving our companions and being exactly obedient. These things are defiantly so essential in missionary work. So you can receive the blessings of the spirit in this work.
On Tuesday was MLC, and my companion and I were invited to attend to report of our work in Bulan because they assumed we had secrets or something because we had the highest number of investigators attend sacrament meeting last month. Legazbi is really far and we didn't want to lose a day of work in our area so we asked if Sister Fonua and I could split so we could still work in our area. Sister Fonua is a brand new missionary from California, and we worked together in her area for half of the day and ours the rest of the day. It was a lot of fun, it was defiantly weird because I was acting as trainer for a day and it was weird to have someone look to me for Tagalog help, but I learned a lot and it was really helpful.
Well transfer announcements are this Saturday we will see what happens. Actually we are pretty sure that Sister Eracho and I will split the area. I am so thankful for Sister Eracho she is so wonderful. I have learned so much from her. She is always so diligent and hardworking and has such a strong testimony.
Well have a great week everyone. Let us all pray for those people in Tacloban Philippines.
-Sister Richins
Thank you all for your concern after the big storm that came across here. Luckily we were really lucky here and the storm didn't do much damage here. The bulk of the storm missed us here so that is good. Everyone was really worried about flooding, but it was mostly really strong winds, but not very much rain so that was good. The wind knocked down a lot of trees, but I was amazing how well the little houses made of sticks held up. There were a few houses that suffered minor damage, but nothing too bad unlike what happened in Tacloban. That looks just devastating. So the storm came here on Thursday night. We were told to come home early and prepare food and stuff. We got back and we were worried about flooding so we moved all our stuff onto the top shelves to save them in case of flooding. Then we went to the other sister's apartment upstairs and all 6 of us sisters slept up there together for two nights. We stayed in all day Friday as the storm passed. On Saturday every thing was back to normal in the town. We helped a few people pick up there yards and sweep up leaves, but really not nearly as bad as what was on the news.
A lot of the members close to the beach went to the church house to spend the night.
So we had an interesting week. One member said that there is a couple more storms to look out for in the coming weeks. So hopefully we will be okay. We were defiantly really lucky here.
So other than that big storm we had a good week we continue to look forward to the baptism of Brother Tambong this Saturday. I really love the Tamboong family. There are so great. Yesterday we were teaching an investigator who was 13 and Rosylyn Tamboong was so excited to come with us and teach her. They are so great! I am so excited for that family and for there goal next year to be sealed in the temple. They always tell us that our goal is to have our investigators dressed in white twice. Once for baptism and once to go through the temple to be sealed as a family. So true.
I also love Sister Michelle Benches. The sister that was baptized with her two kids two weeks ago. She is go great. She shares the gospel with all of her friends and neighbors. We are now teaching all of her neighbors and they are coming to church. It is so great. So wonderful.
On Saturday I started teaching piano lessons to some of the youth. They are so excited to learn to play the piano. I am teaching them the basics first and hopefully I can get a simplified hymn book so they can start to play hymns.
We had a great day of church on Sunday is is so great to see the benches in the church house slowly fill up more and more every week. I hope that we can continue to find more investigators and less actives to fill up the rest of the benches.
On Thursday we had zone training and we talked about loving our companions and being exactly obedient. These things are defiantly so essential in missionary work. So you can receive the blessings of the spirit in this work.
On Tuesday was MLC, and my companion and I were invited to attend to report of our work in Bulan because they assumed we had secrets or something because we had the highest number of investigators attend sacrament meeting last month. Legazbi is really far and we didn't want to lose a day of work in our area so we asked if Sister Fonua and I could split so we could still work in our area. Sister Fonua is a brand new missionary from California, and we worked together in her area for half of the day and ours the rest of the day. It was a lot of fun, it was defiantly weird because I was acting as trainer for a day and it was weird to have someone look to me for Tagalog help, but I learned a lot and it was really helpful.
Well transfer announcements are this Saturday we will see what happens. Actually we are pretty sure that Sister Eracho and I will split the area. I am so thankful for Sister Eracho she is so wonderful. I have learned so much from her. She is always so diligent and hardworking and has such a strong testimony.
Well have a great week everyone. Let us all pray for those people in Tacloban Philippines.
-Sister Richins
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Typhoon
We have gotten an e-mail from the Heather's mission saying that all the missionaries in her mission are in safe situations and we should be hearing from them soon.
November 4
Dear Family and Friends,
I really don't have much time today, but I wanted to tell you about my last week. First off we had a great baptism on Saturday. The Tamboong kids. I love this family so much! They are great and they already have a great support system because their neighbor is a member and the two families are best friends. So Jomar, Roselyn, Mary-Jane and Margert were baptized on Saturday. They are all the kids in the family. Brother and sister will follow on November 16. Jimmy, the dad, is so great. I remember when we first met him, he said he couldn't read because reading hurts his eyes, but we kept using the Book of Mormon and he decided that he really wanted to read it. He bought some eyeglasses and started reading. Now he always has questions for us and says that when he starts reading, he just wants to read the entire thing. It is so great! Jomar is 15 and will be 16 next week. He was so funny when he bore his testimony after the baptism. He said that at first we would ask him how his reading was and he would say that he read, but he really hadn't. Of course we knew this so we would read it with him, and eventually he understood and started reading on his own. He has a strong testimony about the Book of Mormon and was so excited to receive the priesthood and he will be able to baptize his parents so that will be really special for him. All the kids are really great and I am so excited for the day when they will be sealed as a family together forever.
So we were really busy today because Bulan Zone won the Zone Activity for the month. We went to a lake and played games and ate with President and Sister Guanzon. It was a lot of fun, I really do love President and Sister Guanzon I learn so much from them.
So on Thursday was President Roman's Funeral service. I was kind of wishing that I still didn't understand what they were saying because, I was crying along with them. Anyway though it was really touching. The Mission President of the Philippines Cauyan Mission, President Bolcasco, got special permission to come to the funeral of his best friend. Pres Bolcasco is from Bulan and the formerly the Distrct
President before Pres. Roman. And President Bolcasco was the one who introduced the church to Pres. Roman. Pres. Bolcaco gave Pres. Roman a Book of Mormon and Pres. Roman read it and within 4 days knew it was true and wanted to be baptized. He was the first in his family and eventually his entire family joined the church. All of his kids have served missions and the youngest is currently serving in the Quezon City mission. It is so crazy to think how one small act can make such a huge difference. So the youngest son was able to leave his mission to come to the funeral. It was really touching to hear his testimony about the plan of salvation and how much his dad meant to him.
So it is interesting here after the funeral service everyone that attended the funeral service walks behinds the funeral car until they get to the cemmentary.
They also celebrated All souls day on November 1. It really is a lot like Memorial day, every goes to the cementary and clean and decorate the graves and eat food at the cementary.
So we are doing okay we still have our struggles, but hopefully we can continue to find people to teach. We did have some new investigators this week we just have to work hard to help them progress and continue to find more.
Anyway I love this Branch and I love this work! I have learned so much from this people!
Anyway everyone I hope you all have great weeks.
-Sister Richins
I really don't have much time today, but I wanted to tell you about my last week. First off we had a great baptism on Saturday. The Tamboong kids. I love this family so much! They are great and they already have a great support system because their neighbor is a member and the two families are best friends. So Jomar, Roselyn, Mary-Jane and Margert were baptized on Saturday. They are all the kids in the family. Brother and sister will follow on November 16. Jimmy, the dad, is so great. I remember when we first met him, he said he couldn't read because reading hurts his eyes, but we kept using the Book of Mormon and he decided that he really wanted to read it. He bought some eyeglasses and started reading. Now he always has questions for us and says that when he starts reading, he just wants to read the entire thing. It is so great! Jomar is 15 and will be 16 next week. He was so funny when he bore his testimony after the baptism. He said that at first we would ask him how his reading was and he would say that he read, but he really hadn't. Of course we knew this so we would read it with him, and eventually he understood and started reading on his own. He has a strong testimony about the Book of Mormon and was so excited to receive the priesthood and he will be able to baptize his parents so that will be really special for him. All the kids are really great and I am so excited for the day when they will be sealed as a family together forever.
So we were really busy today because Bulan Zone won the Zone Activity for the month. We went to a lake and played games and ate with President and Sister Guanzon. It was a lot of fun, I really do love President and Sister Guanzon I learn so much from them.
So on Thursday was President Roman's Funeral service. I was kind of wishing that I still didn't understand what they were saying because, I was crying along with them. Anyway though it was really touching. The Mission President of the Philippines Cauyan Mission, President Bolcasco, got special permission to come to the funeral of his best friend. Pres Bolcasco is from Bulan and the formerly the Distrct
President before Pres. Roman. And President Bolcasco was the one who introduced the church to Pres. Roman. Pres. Bolcaco gave Pres. Roman a Book of Mormon and Pres. Roman read it and within 4 days knew it was true and wanted to be baptized. He was the first in his family and eventually his entire family joined the church. All of his kids have served missions and the youngest is currently serving in the Quezon City mission. It is so crazy to think how one small act can make such a huge difference. So the youngest son was able to leave his mission to come to the funeral. It was really touching to hear his testimony about the plan of salvation and how much his dad meant to him.
So it is interesting here after the funeral service everyone that attended the funeral service walks behinds the funeral car until they get to the cemmentary.
They also celebrated All souls day on November 1. It really is a lot like Memorial day, every goes to the cementary and clean and decorate the graves and eat food at the cementary.
So we are doing okay we still have our struggles, but hopefully we can continue to find people to teach. We did have some new investigators this week we just have to work hard to help them progress and continue to find more.
Anyway I love this Branch and I love this work! I have learned so much from this people!
Anyway everyone I hope you all have great weeks.
-Sister Richins
Sunday, November 3, 2013
October 28
Dear Family and Friends,
Well another week it sounds like everyone is enjoying their Halloween Festivities over there. They do actually celebrate Halloween over here, but not in the same way- I mean their is no trick or treating. I am not actually sure how, but I guess I will find out. They do celebrate All souls day where they go to the cemetery. All it means for us though is that we have an early curfew on Oct 31 and Nov 1. We also have an early curfew tonight because it is the local election day. It is really hard to give up those precious evenings because that is when we do most of our teaching. But safety is important too.
We had a really interesting week. Our dear beloved District President, President Edward Roman, passed away from a heart attack this week while jogging. It is quite an emotional week for the branch, district, and family. We were at his house on Tuesday because we are teaching his two nephews that live in his house, when sister Roman was talking on the phone with the hospital is Legazbi and found out the news. President Roman was a engineer for the church and was always going back of forth between Bulan, Legazpi, and Naga for work. I think the hardest thing was their youngest son is on a mission in Manilla, he was able to come home for the funeral this week. I am sure that is just so hard for him. But it reminds you that there is a Plan of Salvation and it just makes so appreciate the knowledge of that plan. So in the Philippines they do funerals a little different. After the death they bring the body to the house in the casket for 9 days so that family and friends in far places have time to come for the funeral. Then they have a funeral and everyone wears white. So President Roman passed away on Tuesday so his funeral on 31 this week.
It really made me think because there were a couple less active members that were offended by Pres. and stopped coming to church because of it. And it made me think how much we need to forgive people because how bad would you feel if you never got the chance to forgive those people in this life. Life is so short, but the plan of salvation is real and so is the Jesus Christ's Atonement is so real. It has the power to heal broken hearts give support to those that anguish.
Anyway on a brighter note, we had a wonderful baptism of Sister Michelle, Emil Bryan, and Jerome on Saturday. She was so excited and her kids too, it was a really special experience. We taught her about the temple on Sunday and how it should be her goal after a year and she was really excited for that next step. We helped them all fill out their pedigree charts. Now we just need to work on her spouse. Her spouse is working in Manilla and only comes home one or two times a year, but Michelle always tells him everything that she learns. Hopefully we can get some type of address so we can forward it to the missionaries in Manilla.
We also are looking forward to another baptism this Saturday of the Tamboong Family. It is just be there 4 kids this week and the parents will follow on Nov 16. Brother Tamboong was still struggling with a few things, but he didn't want to hold his kids back from baptism. His kids are so ready they read the Book of Mormon and are so excited about learning more and more.
Our biggest challenge still though is finding new investigators. They always say find them that will receive and sometimes that is hard to do. (But we don't use the word hard in this mission.) So what I mean to say is we will just have to work harder to find those people that are prepared. I know that there are people waiting and searching and we just need to find those people.
Well take care everyone have a wonderful week. I love you all!
-Sister Richins
Well another week it sounds like everyone is enjoying their Halloween Festivities over there. They do actually celebrate Halloween over here, but not in the same way- I mean their is no trick or treating. I am not actually sure how, but I guess I will find out. They do celebrate All souls day where they go to the cemetery. All it means for us though is that we have an early curfew on Oct 31 and Nov 1. We also have an early curfew tonight because it is the local election day. It is really hard to give up those precious evenings because that is when we do most of our teaching. But safety is important too.
We had a really interesting week. Our dear beloved District President, President Edward Roman, passed away from a heart attack this week while jogging. It is quite an emotional week for the branch, district, and family. We were at his house on Tuesday because we are teaching his two nephews that live in his house, when sister Roman was talking on the phone with the hospital is Legazbi and found out the news. President Roman was a engineer for the church and was always going back of forth between Bulan, Legazpi, and Naga for work. I think the hardest thing was their youngest son is on a mission in Manilla, he was able to come home for the funeral this week. I am sure that is just so hard for him. But it reminds you that there is a Plan of Salvation and it just makes so appreciate the knowledge of that plan. So in the Philippines they do funerals a little different. After the death they bring the body to the house in the casket for 9 days so that family and friends in far places have time to come for the funeral. Then they have a funeral and everyone wears white. So President Roman passed away on Tuesday so his funeral on 31 this week.
It really made me think because there were a couple less active members that were offended by Pres. and stopped coming to church because of it. And it made me think how much we need to forgive people because how bad would you feel if you never got the chance to forgive those people in this life. Life is so short, but the plan of salvation is real and so is the Jesus Christ's Atonement is so real. It has the power to heal broken hearts give support to those that anguish.
Anyway on a brighter note, we had a wonderful baptism of Sister Michelle, Emil Bryan, and Jerome on Saturday. She was so excited and her kids too, it was a really special experience. We taught her about the temple on Sunday and how it should be her goal after a year and she was really excited for that next step. We helped them all fill out their pedigree charts. Now we just need to work on her spouse. Her spouse is working in Manilla and only comes home one or two times a year, but Michelle always tells him everything that she learns. Hopefully we can get some type of address so we can forward it to the missionaries in Manilla.
We also are looking forward to another baptism this Saturday of the Tamboong Family. It is just be there 4 kids this week and the parents will follow on Nov 16. Brother Tamboong was still struggling with a few things, but he didn't want to hold his kids back from baptism. His kids are so ready they read the Book of Mormon and are so excited about learning more and more.
Our biggest challenge still though is finding new investigators. They always say find them that will receive and sometimes that is hard to do. (But we don't use the word hard in this mission.) So what I mean to say is we will just have to work harder to find those people that are prepared. I know that there are people waiting and searching and we just need to find those people.
Well take care everyone have a wonderful week. I love you all!
-Sister Richins
Saturday, October 26, 2013
October 21
Dear Family and Friends,
Another week has gone by in Bulan. I love it! I know everyone heard about the big earthquake in the Philippines. We did not feel anything here though. We are fine here, so that is good. The earthquake was in Cebu which is really far away from here.
Anyway thought, Michelle Benches and her kids are doing great. They are really excited about their baptism on Saturday! I am so excited for them. They are so ready for Saturday. Michelle is really great and she invites all her neighbors to hear the gospel. We are teaching some of her friends too. It is so true the fruit of being converted to the gospel is sharing it with your family and friends!
The Taboong family is doing good too. They all came to church except brother Taboong because he was sick. There baptismal date is November 2, so hopefully they will continue to progress and come to church next week.
Okay so the word in Tagalog for conversion is "Pagbabalik-loob" the root words "balik" means to return and the other root word "loob" means inside. So essentially Pagbabalik-loob means "bring back that which was inside." I just think that is so cool. When we teach we are bring back something that was already inside a person.
This week we really need to work on finding new investigators and really focusing on reaching the standards that the mission president set for us. They one thing that our leaders are worried about is an elevators vs an escalator effect. Too many times you work to bring one family to baptism only to find that after their baptism you don't have any progressing investigators. We need to be constantly finding and helping investigators progress so that we can steadily bring people to Christ.
Anyway I love my companion, I love this branch, I love these people!
-Sister Richins
Another week has gone by in Bulan. I love it! I know everyone heard about the big earthquake in the Philippines. We did not feel anything here though. We are fine here, so that is good. The earthquake was in Cebu which is really far away from here.
Anyway thought, Michelle Benches and her kids are doing great. They are really excited about their baptism on Saturday! I am so excited for them. They are so ready for Saturday. Michelle is really great and she invites all her neighbors to hear the gospel. We are teaching some of her friends too. It is so true the fruit of being converted to the gospel is sharing it with your family and friends!
The Taboong family is doing good too. They all came to church except brother Taboong because he was sick. There baptismal date is November 2, so hopefully they will continue to progress and come to church next week.
Okay so the word in Tagalog for conversion is "Pagbabalik-loob" the root words "balik" means to return and the other root word "loob" means inside. So essentially Pagbabalik-loob means "bring back that which was inside." I just think that is so cool. When we teach we are bring back something that was already inside a person.
This week we really need to work on finding new investigators and really focusing on reaching the standards that the mission president set for us. They one thing that our leaders are worried about is an elevators vs an escalator effect. Too many times you work to bring one family to baptism only to find that after their baptism you don't have any progressing investigators. We need to be constantly finding and helping investigators progress so that we can steadily bring people to Christ.
Anyway I love my companion, I love this branch, I love these people!
-Sister Richins
Sunday, October 20, 2013
October 14
Family and Friends,
As always this has been a busy week and we finished it up with conference. It was really nice to watch conference-it was a little weird to see so many white faces. Anyway being here for conference really made you realize just how world wide the church is. You always hear them say that they welcome all those participating world wide in their own language. It was a little different watching in Tagalog because you couldn't here the voice expressions. Of course my area offered English too, so that was nice. It was really neat though because we had so many investigators come on Sunday Morning! It is neat because then they could listen to the words of the prophet. It was really inspiring to listen to all their words. I really enjoyed all the talks about missionary work and also about women in the church.
Yesterday was really cool for me. So we always have a lot of appointments on Sunday and we usually split with ward members on that day. Yesterday it was really cool because I went with on the single adults in the ward to the Taboong family. It had been a little bit since we were able to teach the whole family together. We taught them about faith and baptism and then committed the whole family to baptism. Brother Taboong who for the most part in every teaching appointment had been really quite, starting to speak. He said that they should have been baptized a while ago, but he knows that there is a difference in our church that he doesn't feel in the catholic church of his church. He says he wants this so bad for his family to be able to go to church every week together. It was such a spiritual lesson and you could tell that everyone could feel the love that God has for each one of us. I am so excited for them.
Brother Rodger is doing good too, he wasn't able to come to church this week, but his 21 year old son came to conference. He was going to go home after the sunday morning session, but we told him there was more to come so he stayed.
Jenny also came to conference, I was really excited for her. She doesn't say too much in the lessons, but enough to know that she gets really excited about reading the Book of Mormon.
Michelle and her kids are continuing to do good, she is always so excited when we come and says there is always a special spirit in her home when we come and visit. Her kids are excited to read the Book of Mormon! They will be baptized on October 26.
Wow, this gospel is amazing! I love it! I love being a missionary. I get to be apart of this great work.
-Sister Richins
As always this has been a busy week and we finished it up with conference. It was really nice to watch conference-it was a little weird to see so many white faces. Anyway being here for conference really made you realize just how world wide the church is. You always hear them say that they welcome all those participating world wide in their own language. It was a little different watching in Tagalog because you couldn't here the voice expressions. Of course my area offered English too, so that was nice. It was really neat though because we had so many investigators come on Sunday Morning! It is neat because then they could listen to the words of the prophet. It was really inspiring to listen to all their words. I really enjoyed all the talks about missionary work and also about women in the church.
Yesterday was really cool for me. So we always have a lot of appointments on Sunday and we usually split with ward members on that day. Yesterday it was really cool because I went with on the single adults in the ward to the Taboong family. It had been a little bit since we were able to teach the whole family together. We taught them about faith and baptism and then committed the whole family to baptism. Brother Taboong who for the most part in every teaching appointment had been really quite, starting to speak. He said that they should have been baptized a while ago, but he knows that there is a difference in our church that he doesn't feel in the catholic church of his church. He says he wants this so bad for his family to be able to go to church every week together. It was such a spiritual lesson and you could tell that everyone could feel the love that God has for each one of us. I am so excited for them.
Brother Rodger is doing good too, he wasn't able to come to church this week, but his 21 year old son came to conference. He was going to go home after the sunday morning session, but we told him there was more to come so he stayed.
Jenny also came to conference, I was really excited for her. She doesn't say too much in the lessons, but enough to know that she gets really excited about reading the Book of Mormon.
Michelle and her kids are continuing to do good, she is always so excited when we come and says there is always a special spirit in her home when we come and visit. Her kids are excited to read the Book of Mormon! They will be baptized on October 26.
Wow, this gospel is amazing! I love it! I love being a missionary. I get to be apart of this great work.
-Sister Richins
Monday, October 7, 2013
October 7
Dear Family and Friends,
Well the transfer announcement came and Sister Eracho and I are staying together for another transfer!!! We were both so excited because we didn't want to leave this area. So we have another transfer to help this area!
It makes me so excited to hear about conference. We will get to watch it this weekend!
We had zone tranining on Friday and President gave us some really good instruction. President Gaunzon is truely and inspired man. He changed the standard of Excellence for the mission. They standard of Excellence for total lessons taught is 30, received and contacted refferals is now 5, the biggest change though was the New Investigators is now 10! Truely things we need to reach for, but with faith we can achieve these new goals. It made us really think about how we can find those new investigators and how we can help the members share the gospel with their friends.
President also gave us a great workshop about how to extend invitations to members to work with us. By really sincerly praying about who should fellowship each investigator. It was really exactly what we needed right now in the mission. Truely inspired. We talked about how we need to make a spiritual missionary experience for the members that work with us. He also told us that the words "Mahirap"- hard, Trunky, or punted are "bawal"-forbidden in this mission.
We once again were pretty busy this week. We were able to split for a couple of days with ward members so that we could cover more teaching appointments in one day.
Michelle and her kids are doing good they always are so eager to come to church and really become involved in everything. They will be baptized of the 26 of this month!
The branch is really progressing, when we first got here there were hardley anyone, but slowly, but surely the seats are filling up. Hopefully one day the branch will become a ward!
Well that is about all for right now!
-Sister Richins
Well the transfer announcement came and Sister Eracho and I are staying together for another transfer!!! We were both so excited because we didn't want to leave this area. So we have another transfer to help this area!
It makes me so excited to hear about conference. We will get to watch it this weekend!
We had zone tranining on Friday and President gave us some really good instruction. President Gaunzon is truely and inspired man. He changed the standard of Excellence for the mission. They standard of Excellence for total lessons taught is 30, received and contacted refferals is now 5, the biggest change though was the New Investigators is now 10! Truely things we need to reach for, but with faith we can achieve these new goals. It made us really think about how we can find those new investigators and how we can help the members share the gospel with their friends.
President also gave us a great workshop about how to extend invitations to members to work with us. By really sincerly praying about who should fellowship each investigator. It was really exactly what we needed right now in the mission. Truely inspired. We talked about how we need to make a spiritual missionary experience for the members that work with us. He also told us that the words "Mahirap"- hard, Trunky, or punted are "bawal"-forbidden in this mission.
We once again were pretty busy this week. We were able to split for a couple of days with ward members so that we could cover more teaching appointments in one day.
Michelle and her kids are doing good they always are so eager to come to church and really become involved in everything. They will be baptized of the 26 of this month!
The branch is really progressing, when we first got here there were hardley anyone, but slowly, but surely the seats are filling up. Hopefully one day the branch will become a ward!
Well that is about all for right now!
-Sister Richins
September 30
Dear Family and Friends,
Well this has been a really busy week. We have been sooo busy. We literally cannot teach all of our investigators and less actives. Our schedule is so packed. Which of course is a real blessing. We did, however, this week finally have sisters to work with us. And we actually did splits with the relief society sisters so we could teach more appointments. I was a little nervous about doing splits because I wouldn't have Sister Eracho, but it worked out well and defiantly helped me. We also had exchanges with our Sister Training Leader on Thursday. It is always good to go on splits with other missionaries.
On Saturday we had a great baptism. He was really excited and it was a neat experience. Sister Michelle brought her 3 kids too and her kids were excited for their baptism in 2 weeks.
Also last night we had a really cool experience. So here in Bulan they don't have tricycles, but rather they have pedjacks. It is a bicycle with a side seat. But anyway it is a really good opportunity to talk to the bicycle driver. So last week we were riding a pedjack and talking to the driver and he said that Elders had taught him and his family 10 years ago, but then they moved. He said that we could come back to his house and teach his family. So yesterday night we were on splits with the relief society and we taught Roger and his family. It was really cool he says he knows the church and Joseph Smith is a true prophet. I hope that they will continue to progress.
Well it will be interesting to see what happens with transfer. We had interviews with Pres. Guanzon last week and I told him that neither Sister Eracho and I want to transfer because we have only been here 6 weeks, hopefully we will get to stay together another transfer! I really don't want to leave this area so have so many progressing investigators and the branch is really progressing.
Of course this being the last p-day of the transfer, we had District activity. We went to Bulusan Lake. It was really pretty there was a nice little hike all the way around the lake.
Well I hope everything goes well for everyone back home!
-Sister Richins
Well this has been a really busy week. We have been sooo busy. We literally cannot teach all of our investigators and less actives. Our schedule is so packed. Which of course is a real blessing. We did, however, this week finally have sisters to work with us. And we actually did splits with the relief society sisters so we could teach more appointments. I was a little nervous about doing splits because I wouldn't have Sister Eracho, but it worked out well and defiantly helped me. We also had exchanges with our Sister Training Leader on Thursday. It is always good to go on splits with other missionaries.
On Saturday we had a great baptism. He was really excited and it was a neat experience. Sister Michelle brought her 3 kids too and her kids were excited for their baptism in 2 weeks.
Also last night we had a really cool experience. So here in Bulan they don't have tricycles, but rather they have pedjacks. It is a bicycle with a side seat. But anyway it is a really good opportunity to talk to the bicycle driver. So last week we were riding a pedjack and talking to the driver and he said that Elders had taught him and his family 10 years ago, but then they moved. He said that we could come back to his house and teach his family. So yesterday night we were on splits with the relief society and we taught Roger and his family. It was really cool he says he knows the church and Joseph Smith is a true prophet. I hope that they will continue to progress.
Well it will be interesting to see what happens with transfer. We had interviews with Pres. Guanzon last week and I told him that neither Sister Eracho and I want to transfer because we have only been here 6 weeks, hopefully we will get to stay together another transfer! I really don't want to leave this area so have so many progressing investigators and the branch is really progressing.
Of course this being the last p-day of the transfer, we had District activity. We went to Bulusan Lake. It was really pretty there was a nice little hike all the way around the lake.
Well I hope everything goes well for everyone back home!
-Sister Richins
Monday, September 23, 2013
Sept. 23, 2013
Well the week has been busy as usual. James is looking forward to his baptism on Saturday! I am so excited for him, he is so ready. He reads the Book of Mormon every night and always has questions for us. He basically taught us the Word of Wisdom and the 10 commandments. I am really excited for him. Actually he the same age as Kevin (13 years old), just a few months older.
Also Michelle and her 4 kids came to church yesterday! The kids loved church. Michelle told us that after they left church, her kids asked if they could come back every week. She is doing really well and I am really excited for her.
We haven't been able to teach Jenny who we taught with James last week because she has been out of town, but hopefully this week we will be able to meet with her.
We also had a really great lesson with Ricky. Ricky is an returned missionary that hasn't been to church in 1-2 years because he was offended. The Branch President said that the elders would always go to his house, but they would never get in. We decided we would just try. We got there right when he was coming home and were able to talk to him. We talked to him about his mission and those that he baptized. He said that one family that he baptized and their son just got home from a mission. By the time we finished he was nearly in tears and he said he would come back to church.
We also met with the branch presidency and set up a branch mission plan. We are really striving to help strengthen families-making sure they have family scripture study, family prayer and FHE. We really need strong families that will be able to help converts.
So it is really hard to find apartments here. you can't just go on the internet and find an apartment and the newspaper doesn't have any. So we just walk along the street and say " alam mo ba kung may bahay pwede upahan" Do you know if there is an house for rent? Actually they postponed the opening of the 2nd sisters in bulan because we were not able to find an apartment in time. They will open it up in November. We did find a couple apartments, but we have to wait for President Guanzon to approve them and then they have to install the water filter and everything. It takes a while to get everything fixed. So anyway that makes us wonder what will happen next transfer. Who will stay, and who will go?
Ingat!
-Sister Heather Richins
Also Michelle and her 4 kids came to church yesterday! The kids loved church. Michelle told us that after they left church, her kids asked if they could come back every week. She is doing really well and I am really excited for her.
We haven't been able to teach Jenny who we taught with James last week because she has been out of town, but hopefully this week we will be able to meet with her.
We also had a really great lesson with Ricky. Ricky is an returned missionary that hasn't been to church in 1-2 years because he was offended. The Branch President said that the elders would always go to his house, but they would never get in. We decided we would just try. We got there right when he was coming home and were able to talk to him. We talked to him about his mission and those that he baptized. He said that one family that he baptized and their son just got home from a mission. By the time we finished he was nearly in tears and he said he would come back to church.
We also met with the branch presidency and set up a branch mission plan. We are really striving to help strengthen families-making sure they have family scripture study, family prayer and FHE. We really need strong families that will be able to help converts.
So it is really hard to find apartments here. you can't just go on the internet and find an apartment and the newspaper doesn't have any. So we just walk along the street and say " alam mo ba kung may bahay pwede upahan" Do you know if there is an house for rent? Actually they postponed the opening of the 2nd sisters in bulan because we were not able to find an apartment in time. They will open it up in November. We did find a couple apartments, but we have to wait for President Guanzon to approve them and then they have to install the water filter and everything. It takes a while to get everything fixed. So anyway that makes us wonder what will happen next transfer. Who will stay, and who will go?
Ingat!
-Sister Heather Richins
Monday, September 16, 2013
The Field is White!
Dear Family and Friends,
Wow what a week! It has been really busy but really rewarding! The Lord is truly hastening his work here!
So on Wednesday we had a special zone conference with the area President of the philippines, Elder Nielson. It was really good he talked about the atonement and how we can all change because of the atonement. He talked about the Enabling power of the atonement and how it can help us during our missions and missionaries and our investigators. He also talked about mission calls and when they are assigned he said that sometimes it is more about the mission president that you are assigned to. He said that we should be looking to what we can learn from our mission president and why the Lord assigned you to work in the mission with Pres. Guanzon.
On Sunday we had district conference here with our mission president. It was really great because 6 investigators attended! It was really cool they talked about missionary work and reactivation and the vision that this district will one day become at Bulan Stake. They urged the members to work with us. President Guanzon has a really amazing conversion story and it was inspiring to hear it again. It was really inspiring and yesterday we had relief society sisters work with us!!! It was great because we could visit the brothers that we have been trying to teach! The branch members are beginning to catch the wave!
So we have been teaching this 14 year old boy named James. He lives with his aunt who is a member. He came to church last week and we started teaching him this week. He is great! He always wants to learn more and has started to attend seminary too. We invited him to pray to Heavenly father for an answer to his prayers about Joseph Smith. On of my favorite things being a missionary is when people describe how they felt when God answers there prayers. Because they always have such a hard time describing it, but you can just tell that they know. It is so cool to be part of that.
We also had an cool experience when we were teaching James because we went to his house, but his aunt wasn't there so we couldn't teach him because there was no sister, but we asked their neighbor to come and join us in the lesson. It was really cool because the neighbor was so eager to learn more and asked us when we were coming back. Blessings come by being obedient!
We also have been teaching this one sister named Michelle. She was taught 6 months ago by Elders, but was never able to come to church because her husband didn't let her. But she told us yesterday that her prayers had been answered and that she would be able to come to church next week!
This morning when we were at the LCC (the grocery store) the security guard came up to us and started asking us all these questions. He had been given a restoration pamphlet a while ago and wanted to learn more about Joseph Smith and what time our church was. It was great we got his number and will visit him tomorrow.
So we have a busy week ahead of us. A lot to do trying to visit all these investigators and also find a new apartment for the sisters that will be coming next transfer.
Well have a great week!
-Sister Richins
Wow what a week! It has been really busy but really rewarding! The Lord is truly hastening his work here!
So on Wednesday we had a special zone conference with the area President of the philippines, Elder Nielson. It was really good he talked about the atonement and how we can all change because of the atonement. He talked about the Enabling power of the atonement and how it can help us during our missions and missionaries and our investigators. He also talked about mission calls and when they are assigned he said that sometimes it is more about the mission president that you are assigned to. He said that we should be looking to what we can learn from our mission president and why the Lord assigned you to work in the mission with Pres. Guanzon.
On Sunday we had district conference here with our mission president. It was really great because 6 investigators attended! It was really cool they talked about missionary work and reactivation and the vision that this district will one day become at Bulan Stake. They urged the members to work with us. President Guanzon has a really amazing conversion story and it was inspiring to hear it again. It was really inspiring and yesterday we had relief society sisters work with us!!! It was great because we could visit the brothers that we have been trying to teach! The branch members are beginning to catch the wave!
So we have been teaching this 14 year old boy named James. He lives with his aunt who is a member. He came to church last week and we started teaching him this week. He is great! He always wants to learn more and has started to attend seminary too. We invited him to pray to Heavenly father for an answer to his prayers about Joseph Smith. On of my favorite things being a missionary is when people describe how they felt when God answers there prayers. Because they always have such a hard time describing it, but you can just tell that they know. It is so cool to be part of that.
We also had an cool experience when we were teaching James because we went to his house, but his aunt wasn't there so we couldn't teach him because there was no sister, but we asked their neighbor to come and join us in the lesson. It was really cool because the neighbor was so eager to learn more and asked us when we were coming back. Blessings come by being obedient!
We also have been teaching this one sister named Michelle. She was taught 6 months ago by Elders, but was never able to come to church because her husband didn't let her. But she told us yesterday that her prayers had been answered and that she would be able to come to church next week!
This morning when we were at the LCC (the grocery store) the security guard came up to us and started asking us all these questions. He had been given a restoration pamphlet a while ago and wanted to learn more about Joseph Smith and what time our church was. It was great we got his number and will visit him tomorrow.
So we have a busy week ahead of us. A lot to do trying to visit all these investigators and also find a new apartment for the sisters that will be coming next transfer.
Well have a great week!
-Sister Richins
September 9
Dear Family and Friends,
Well it's the second week in Bulan. It has been a busy, but good week. We continued to work with the branch leaders and get them excited about missionary work. One of the biggest challenges in this area is that there are not ward sisters to work with us. We have a lot of brothers that they elders taught before, but we can't teach them without a sister present. It is frustrated sometimes because there are a lot of RM brothers that want to work with us, but if we don't have sisters they can't help us. Of course there is power in following the rules and being exactly obedient. It used to be that we could teach males if we taught them outside, but President Blisner told us that we need to make sure there is always another sister present. It's okay there is power in obedience.
This week we were able to teach the Taboong Family. They were taught last year by the Elders, but then the first Elders that taught them got transferred and they next elders stopped teaching them for some reason. But they are a golden family. All the kids still read the Book of Mormon and they have family prayer each night. We had a family home evening with them. We also taught them last night and it was so great. It was so cool to see how happy the mom has and thanked us last night and I thought she was ready to cry! I am excited to continue to teach them.
We also find a lot of part member families that were really receptive to us and one even came to church on Sunday!
Sister Eracho is a great missionary. She is from Angles Philippines. She was a convert when she was 14 and she and her sister are the only members in her family- such an example of faith. I have learned so much from her. She is really good at relating the gospel to people and helping them see how it connects to their life. It has been a blessing that she is my companion now so that I can really develop those teaching skills now that I have a grasp on the language. Sister Eracho really likes to talk during the lesson because her last companion from pakistan didn't say very much in lessons. We have been working on it though and practicing teaching in unity and it is coming a long. We trade off leading each lesson and it has really helped.
Oh funny experience this week--- I saw all these little boys at a members house playing with empty match boxes. My companion said they were playing gagamba. I said oh how do you play thinking is was some kind of native game or something. Turns out the word for Spider in Tagalog is Gagamba. They little boys had spiders in their matchboxes. Lets just say I was really surprised when they pulled the spiders out of the boxes. haha! I guess I won't forget that word.
Well have a great week everyone!
-Sister Richins
Well it's the second week in Bulan. It has been a busy, but good week. We continued to work with the branch leaders and get them excited about missionary work. One of the biggest challenges in this area is that there are not ward sisters to work with us. We have a lot of brothers that they elders taught before, but we can't teach them without a sister present. It is frustrated sometimes because there are a lot of RM brothers that want to work with us, but if we don't have sisters they can't help us. Of course there is power in following the rules and being exactly obedient. It used to be that we could teach males if we taught them outside, but President Blisner told us that we need to make sure there is always another sister present. It's okay there is power in obedience.
This week we were able to teach the Taboong Family. They were taught last year by the Elders, but then the first Elders that taught them got transferred and they next elders stopped teaching them for some reason. But they are a golden family. All the kids still read the Book of Mormon and they have family prayer each night. We had a family home evening with them. We also taught them last night and it was so great. It was so cool to see how happy the mom has and thanked us last night and I thought she was ready to cry! I am excited to continue to teach them.
We also find a lot of part member families that were really receptive to us and one even came to church on Sunday!
Sister Eracho is a great missionary. She is from Angles Philippines. She was a convert when she was 14 and she and her sister are the only members in her family- such an example of faith. I have learned so much from her. She is really good at relating the gospel to people and helping them see how it connects to their life. It has been a blessing that she is my companion now so that I can really develop those teaching skills now that I have a grasp on the language. Sister Eracho really likes to talk during the lesson because her last companion from pakistan didn't say very much in lessons. We have been working on it though and practicing teaching in unity and it is coming a long. We trade off leading each lesson and it has really helped.
Oh funny experience this week--- I saw all these little boys at a members house playing with empty match boxes. My companion said they were playing gagamba. I said oh how do you play thinking is was some kind of native game or something. Turns out the word for Spider in Tagalog is Gagamba. They little boys had spiders in their matchboxes. Lets just say I was really surprised when they pulled the spiders out of the boxes. haha! I guess I won't forget that word.
Well have a great week everyone!
-Sister Richins
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Sept 2- New Area....Open Area in BULAN
Dear Family and Friends,
Well we made to through transfer day which basically means a lot of traveling. We left Guinobaton at 7 in the morning and then we went to Sorsogon where they read transfer announcements. And Sister Eracho and I are opening an area in Bulan! Bulan is about 3 hours away from Sorsogon by the time we got to our Area is was 5 pm. Our apartment is a new missionary apartment so we had to buy food and put together our table and everything. It was a pretty tiring day.
So Sister Eracho, if you remember, trainer of Sister Lang in our Guionobaton Apartment. So she was assigneed to Guinobaton ward 2 and I was in Guinobaton ward 1. So it was really funny when we found out we were companions because we had been joking that we would be companions after the transfer announcement was made.
So the area... We are opening an area here in Bulan Branch which is right next to the ocean. Literally some of the members houses are on the beach. It is a lot different than Guinobaton- the people are a lot poorer here, but super nice. The Branch is really small...the branch president said there are about 300 members in the records, but maybe 60 attend.
It has been somewhat challenging this week because of course both Sister Eracho and I are new to the area. The history of missionaries in this area isn't the best either. The Elders that were here got pulled out because of disobedience and now we have to fix the relationships between the Missionaries and Branch Leaders. But the branch is really excited about having sisters here. We were given the Elder's old area book only to find that it wasn't updated and it all the information was incomplete. But we are optimistic about the future and we were able to find a few of the Elder's old investigators. The members have been a huge blessing in giving us referrals and helping us out.
We also found out that next transfer 2 more sisters will be coming to Bulan Branch and we are in the process of looking for an apartment for them. So after this transfer we will probably split the area Sister Eracho and I will split and lead both areas.
Of course they are challenges, but it is nice that Sister Eracho and I already knew each other really well which has been really nice.
Well we are looking forward to this next week we are starting to get more familiar with the area. Of course I get a lot of attention here being white, but it is sometimes a benefit because the people get really excited when I start to speak Tagalog.
Well thanks for all your love and support!
-Sister Richins
Well we made to through transfer day which basically means a lot of traveling. We left Guinobaton at 7 in the morning and then we went to Sorsogon where they read transfer announcements. And Sister Eracho and I are opening an area in Bulan! Bulan is about 3 hours away from Sorsogon by the time we got to our Area is was 5 pm. Our apartment is a new missionary apartment so we had to buy food and put together our table and everything. It was a pretty tiring day.
So Sister Eracho, if you remember, trainer of Sister Lang in our Guionobaton Apartment. So she was assigneed to Guinobaton ward 2 and I was in Guinobaton ward 1. So it was really funny when we found out we were companions because we had been joking that we would be companions after the transfer announcement was made.
So the area... We are opening an area here in Bulan Branch which is right next to the ocean. Literally some of the members houses are on the beach. It is a lot different than Guinobaton- the people are a lot poorer here, but super nice. The Branch is really small...the branch president said there are about 300 members in the records, but maybe 60 attend.
It has been somewhat challenging this week because of course both Sister Eracho and I are new to the area. The history of missionaries in this area isn't the best either. The Elders that were here got pulled out because of disobedience and now we have to fix the relationships between the Missionaries and Branch Leaders. But the branch is really excited about having sisters here. We were given the Elder's old area book only to find that it wasn't updated and it all the information was incomplete. But we are optimistic about the future and we were able to find a few of the Elder's old investigators. The members have been a huge blessing in giving us referrals and helping us out.
We also found out that next transfer 2 more sisters will be coming to Bulan Branch and we are in the process of looking for an apartment for them. So after this transfer we will probably split the area Sister Eracho and I will split and lead both areas.
Of course they are challenges, but it is nice that Sister Eracho and I already knew each other really well which has been really nice.
Well we are looking forward to this next week we are starting to get more familiar with the area. Of course I get a lot of attention here being white, but it is sometimes a benefit because the people get really excited when I start to speak Tagalog.
Well thanks for all your love and support!
-Sister Richins
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
August 26-TRANSFERS
Dear family and friends,
Well is is the end of the transfers and it is time for transfers. On Saturday we got the message that I will be transferring. It is sad because I have really grown to love the people here. But it is also exciting to start in a new area. I don't know where yet, I will find out tomorrow morning.
It is kind of sad because I will miss Jared's Baptism next week. Jared is a Part Member Family. He is 9 years old. It is sometimes a challenge to teach him, because his mom always likes to ask a lot of deep doctrine questions about the Plan of Salvation or other kinds, but it is good. For me it is so rewarding to teach people to pray here. Because in school they are taught to pray as a recitation. It is so exciting for people to know that they can speak the feelings of their hear to God. Every one is a little shy at first, but once they do it the first time it is easy.
The other family that will be hard to leave is the Lobrin Family. They are someone that we found while brother was washing clothes. Brother Lobrin is someone that has to study out everything, but he says he has enjoyed reading The Book of Mormon and hopefully he will be able to come to church. I know that Sister Pareja and her new companion will be able to help them.
In the phlippines investigators have to come to church 4 weeks in a row before they can be baptized because the philippines needs converts that understand the importance of church attendance are are willing to make sacrifices.
I know that this area is in good hands and that the people that I have come to love and serve will continue to progress. I may not be able to see the fruits of my work here, but I hope that I have made a difference and the ward has been strengthened and all the people that we have taught.
Well wish me luck tomorrow. Change always brings growth!
-Sister Richins
PS Happy Beginning of Christmas Season on September 1!
Well is is the end of the transfers and it is time for transfers. On Saturday we got the message that I will be transferring. It is sad because I have really grown to love the people here. But it is also exciting to start in a new area. I don't know where yet, I will find out tomorrow morning.
It is kind of sad because I will miss Jared's Baptism next week. Jared is a Part Member Family. He is 9 years old. It is sometimes a challenge to teach him, because his mom always likes to ask a lot of deep doctrine questions about the Plan of Salvation or other kinds, but it is good. For me it is so rewarding to teach people to pray here. Because in school they are taught to pray as a recitation. It is so exciting for people to know that they can speak the feelings of their hear to God. Every one is a little shy at first, but once they do it the first time it is easy.
The other family that will be hard to leave is the Lobrin Family. They are someone that we found while brother was washing clothes. Brother Lobrin is someone that has to study out everything, but he says he has enjoyed reading The Book of Mormon and hopefully he will be able to come to church. I know that Sister Pareja and her new companion will be able to help them.
In the phlippines investigators have to come to church 4 weeks in a row before they can be baptized because the philippines needs converts that understand the importance of church attendance are are willing to make sacrifices.
I know that this area is in good hands and that the people that I have come to love and serve will continue to progress. I may not be able to see the fruits of my work here, but I hope that I have made a difference and the ward has been strengthened and all the people that we have taught.
Well wish me luck tomorrow. Change always brings growth!
-Sister Richins
PS Happy Beginning of Christmas Season on September 1!
August 19
Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been interesting, but exciting. This week was the Catholic's festival week. Which has to do with the catholic idols that they have here. So that was interesting. It basically meant everything was closed and no one was home. It was okay though we still were able to teach a few lessons and did a lot of tracking.
On thing that we have starting to really focusing on this week is to bear testimony when we first meet people on the street. In Preach my gospel it says to bear testimony of the Restoration, in the first contact. It is so effective because you can see how all of this people's lives can relate to our doctrine and you can share it with them with the spirit. As much as I hate the attention, people get really excited when I start talking to them in Tagalog and a lot of the time they will stop and talk to me. It is funny because Sister Pareje always has me initiate conversation with people. People are always amazed how well I know Tagalog and are eager to talk to me in Tagalog. I always tell them that it a gift and blessing from God to be able so that I can share our message with them.
We were able to teach this one lady that it was a miracle that we were even able to teach her, because she told us she was catholic and was going to die catholic. Her first question for us was why we don't believe in idols. We explained that it was because the scriptures tell us that we shouldn't, we ended up talking to her about prayer and how we believe that we can talk directly with God. It was really cool to see how the spirit guided the lesson and she was at a lost of words. I don't know if she will allow us to come back, but at least we boldly through the spirit shared our message with her.
Yesterday we taught Danny who we talked to one the street on Tuesday we wanted to teach him on Tuesday when we first met him because he had so many questions about why there were so many churches and about the bible. We, however, couldn't teach him on Tuesday because we didn't have another sister with us. But we came back yesterday and we were able to teach him. He said he was really busy, but we asked for just 10 minutes. We bore testimony about the Restoration and the next question he asked was what his purpose was in life. He is great because he really wants to read and think about everything. We told him also to pray.
Today for P-day we went to Lauyin Hills for our district activity. Which is basically a big hike and you can look out and see the Mayon Valcano and at the bottom there is a zoo. It was fun to see all the different animals native to the Philippines. It makes me look really adventurous to see all the animals that I saw. Tigers, Giant snakes, native birds, I even found Rudolph's brother Dasher-looks like he got lost last Christmas!
This week is the last week in the transfer so we will see what happens next transfer. I really have loved this transfer with Sister Paraje, I have learned a lot from her-especially Tagalog.
-Sister Richins
Also cool experience this week, we went to this lady's house and she asked me to give the prayer in English. It was a weirdest thing because it was so hard for me to do and I caught myself speaking Tagalog in the middle of it. I guess Tagalog is coming! President Blisner said that after 3 transfers you would be comfortable in Conversation, and after 4 you would be able to talk easily! Well I will keep on working on it.
This week has been interesting, but exciting. This week was the Catholic's festival week. Which has to do with the catholic idols that they have here. So that was interesting. It basically meant everything was closed and no one was home. It was okay though we still were able to teach a few lessons and did a lot of tracking.
On thing that we have starting to really focusing on this week is to bear testimony when we first meet people on the street. In Preach my gospel it says to bear testimony of the Restoration, in the first contact. It is so effective because you can see how all of this people's lives can relate to our doctrine and you can share it with them with the spirit. As much as I hate the attention, people get really excited when I start talking to them in Tagalog and a lot of the time they will stop and talk to me. It is funny because Sister Pareje always has me initiate conversation with people. People are always amazed how well I know Tagalog and are eager to talk to me in Tagalog. I always tell them that it a gift and blessing from God to be able so that I can share our message with them.
We were able to teach this one lady that it was a miracle that we were even able to teach her, because she told us she was catholic and was going to die catholic. Her first question for us was why we don't believe in idols. We explained that it was because the scriptures tell us that we shouldn't, we ended up talking to her about prayer and how we believe that we can talk directly with God. It was really cool to see how the spirit guided the lesson and she was at a lost of words. I don't know if she will allow us to come back, but at least we boldly through the spirit shared our message with her.
Yesterday we taught Danny who we talked to one the street on Tuesday we wanted to teach him on Tuesday when we first met him because he had so many questions about why there were so many churches and about the bible. We, however, couldn't teach him on Tuesday because we didn't have another sister with us. But we came back yesterday and we were able to teach him. He said he was really busy, but we asked for just 10 minutes. We bore testimony about the Restoration and the next question he asked was what his purpose was in life. He is great because he really wants to read and think about everything. We told him also to pray.
Today for P-day we went to Lauyin Hills for our district activity. Which is basically a big hike and you can look out and see the Mayon Valcano and at the bottom there is a zoo. It was fun to see all the different animals native to the Philippines. It makes me look really adventurous to see all the animals that I saw. Tigers, Giant snakes, native birds, I even found Rudolph's brother Dasher-looks like he got lost last Christmas!
This week is the last week in the transfer so we will see what happens next transfer. I really have loved this transfer with Sister Paraje, I have learned a lot from her-especially Tagalog.
-Sister Richins
Also cool experience this week, we went to this lady's house and she asked me to give the prayer in English. It was a weirdest thing because it was so hard for me to do and I caught myself speaking Tagalog in the middle of it. I guess Tagalog is coming! President Blisner said that after 3 transfers you would be comfortable in Conversation, and after 4 you would be able to talk easily! Well I will keep on working on it.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
August 12
Dearest Family and Friends,
I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to email today because there was a typhoon that was suppose to be here today, but it looks like it changed directions. So I am happy about that.
This week was really great. We had a great zone conference about effective planning and we were able to apply everything to make our planning sessions more effective. The Legazpi Stake is working with the area presidency to become a model stake for the Philippines in regard to missionary work. So the leaders are continuing to get excited about missionary work. We had a member of the bishopbric work with us yesterday and it was wonderful to have his support because he was able to identify people that could up us for each investigator.
Yesterday we visited this one part member/less active family. Brother Owel's records are not here because he moved here about a year ago. We found him because he approached the other sisters in Guinobaton and told them that he was a member. We set up an appointment with him to visit his family. It was great because yesterday we had the bishopbric working with us and they were able to fellowship him. Also his 10 year old daughter is not a member. So we are now able to teach her.
Yesterday we were also finally able to teach Raquel, who we have been trying and trying to set up an appointment with, but she keeps on canceling. She was a former investigator. After we taught about the restoration she said she wanted to learn more. She says that she always feels so good when we teach her. Hopefully we will continue to find time to meet with us. We also found out the Book of Mormon she had she let her neighbor borrow last week because she was interested. So we went to that house and set up a return appointment too!
We are also able to teach Patrick again (the former investigator that we met last week). He is doing great, but is just shy to us because we are sisters. He said that we went to the church house last week to come to church, but was scared to enter because he didn't know anyone there. That was so sad to hear. So hopefully we can get some brothers to work with us week to help fellowship him and come with him to church next week.
Yesterday I was talking to my companion about the school system here and it really made me appreciate what we have in America. They school system here is based off the catholic religion and school starts and ends with a memorized prayer. They also are required to attend Mass once a week or they have to pay a penalty fine. My companion said how hard it was to be a Mormon in school. It just made me really appreciate the freedom of religion that we have in America.
Everyone here is getting excited for the Christmas Season! I know, dad, that is hard to believe, but Christmas season starts here in September, so it is pretty close. I am excited to see how they celebrate Christmas here!
Well hope everything continues to go well- enjoy the last bit of summer..
-Sister Richins
I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to email today because there was a typhoon that was suppose to be here today, but it looks like it changed directions. So I am happy about that.
This week was really great. We had a great zone conference about effective planning and we were able to apply everything to make our planning sessions more effective. The Legazpi Stake is working with the area presidency to become a model stake for the Philippines in regard to missionary work. So the leaders are continuing to get excited about missionary work. We had a member of the bishopbric work with us yesterday and it was wonderful to have his support because he was able to identify people that could up us for each investigator.
Yesterday we visited this one part member/less active family. Brother Owel's records are not here because he moved here about a year ago. We found him because he approached the other sisters in Guinobaton and told them that he was a member. We set up an appointment with him to visit his family. It was great because yesterday we had the bishopbric working with us and they were able to fellowship him. Also his 10 year old daughter is not a member. So we are now able to teach her.
Yesterday we were also finally able to teach Raquel, who we have been trying and trying to set up an appointment with, but she keeps on canceling. She was a former investigator. After we taught about the restoration she said she wanted to learn more. She says that she always feels so good when we teach her. Hopefully we will continue to find time to meet with us. We also found out the Book of Mormon she had she let her neighbor borrow last week because she was interested. So we went to that house and set up a return appointment too!
We are also able to teach Patrick again (the former investigator that we met last week). He is doing great, but is just shy to us because we are sisters. He said that we went to the church house last week to come to church, but was scared to enter because he didn't know anyone there. That was so sad to hear. So hopefully we can get some brothers to work with us week to help fellowship him and come with him to church next week.
Yesterday I was talking to my companion about the school system here and it really made me appreciate what we have in America. They school system here is based off the catholic religion and school starts and ends with a memorized prayer. They also are required to attend Mass once a week or they have to pay a penalty fine. My companion said how hard it was to be a Mormon in school. It just made me really appreciate the freedom of religion that we have in America.
Everyone here is getting excited for the Christmas Season! I know, dad, that is hard to believe, but Christmas season starts here in September, so it is pretty close. I am excited to see how they celebrate Christmas here!
Well hope everything continues to go well- enjoy the last bit of summer..
-Sister Richins
Monday, August 5, 2013
August 5, 2013 " Miracles happen in the Morning"
Dearest Family and Friends,
Wow another week has gone by. We had exchanges this week with the Sister Training Leader. The Sister Training Leader is a new position that they implemented in all the missions and they go on exchanges every transfer. I went on splits with Sister Feinga from Tonga. It was really great and I learned a lot from her. It was nice to have an experienced missionary give me some help on what I can do to improve. On thing that is always a struggle here is morning work. Everyone is always really busy in the Morning and we never have appointments in the morning. And it is usually really discouraging, but of course we are preach my gospel missionaries and go out in the morning. Sister Fienga reminded me that "Miracles happen in the morning." As we strive to be exactly obedient the Lord blesses us.
On Tuesday morning we went to try to find a former investigator named Patrick. We were walking and then a guy asked us who we were looking for. I replied "Patrick Romunlo" and he said "that's me." We were able to teach him a lesson and he said the reason he stopped investigating the church 3 years ago was because he went to Manila to work. It was so great. Next we went to a member's to confirm plans for them to work with us and Sheena was there. We taught a lesson to the family, but were really hesitant with Sheena, but after we were about to leave Sheena asked us when we could come back and teach her! I was so excited... and she came to church this week.
We had zone training week and they talked about the mission wide problem of investigators attending sacrament meeting. We talked about using the members to bring investigators to church and making sure they have someone to sit next to. It was really good and gave us some ideas to more effectively invite people to come to church.
-Sister Richins
Wow another week has gone by. We had exchanges this week with the Sister Training Leader. The Sister Training Leader is a new position that they implemented in all the missions and they go on exchanges every transfer. I went on splits with Sister Feinga from Tonga. It was really great and I learned a lot from her. It was nice to have an experienced missionary give me some help on what I can do to improve. On thing that is always a struggle here is morning work. Everyone is always really busy in the Morning and we never have appointments in the morning. And it is usually really discouraging, but of course we are preach my gospel missionaries and go out in the morning. Sister Fienga reminded me that "Miracles happen in the morning." As we strive to be exactly obedient the Lord blesses us.
On Tuesday morning we went to try to find a former investigator named Patrick. We were walking and then a guy asked us who we were looking for. I replied "Patrick Romunlo" and he said "that's me." We were able to teach him a lesson and he said the reason he stopped investigating the church 3 years ago was because he went to Manila to work. It was so great. Next we went to a member's to confirm plans for them to work with us and Sheena was there. We taught a lesson to the family, but were really hesitant with Sheena, but after we were about to leave Sheena asked us when we could come back and teach her! I was so excited... and she came to church this week.
We had zone training week and they talked about the mission wide problem of investigators attending sacrament meeting. We talked about using the members to bring investigators to church and making sure they have someone to sit next to. It was really good and gave us some ideas to more effectively invite people to come to church.
-Sister Richins
July 29
Dear Family and Friends,
I can't believe how fast the time is going. It is already the last week in July! This week has been really good. In district we had a workshop about teaching lesson 1 and how the brethren made preach my gospel so you would teach it in one lesson. Both my companion and I had trainers that taught us to split it up into 2 or 3 lessons. So we tried it, teaching the entire lesson and we saw a lot of great results. It is so great for our investigators to see our unique message quickly.
We had a baptism on Saturday of a sweet little 8 year old girl, named Arlyn. We have been working a lot over the past few months with her mom who is less active. Arlyn started to listen to our messages and we started to teach her with her mom. Thanks to their supportive neighbors she was been coming to church for 2 months now! I am excited for her and this excited step in her life and it is my hope that they stay active in the church.
Tomorrow we have splits with the Sister Training Leader, Sister Feinga. Sister Feinga is really great. Splits are good because we are able to do double the work in one day, but sometimes it is hard because then the next day schedule is empty. That's okay though, it just means that we have to have faith that the Lord will fill our schedule.
Unfortunately Mary Joy was not able to come to church yesterday because she was sick, but she told us next week for sure. Sometimes it can be really frustrating when investigators don't come to church, but its okay everyone has agency. We just have to keep on extending commitments.
-Sister Richins
I can't believe how fast the time is going. It is already the last week in July! This week has been really good. In district we had a workshop about teaching lesson 1 and how the brethren made preach my gospel so you would teach it in one lesson. Both my companion and I had trainers that taught us to split it up into 2 or 3 lessons. So we tried it, teaching the entire lesson and we saw a lot of great results. It is so great for our investigators to see our unique message quickly.
We had a baptism on Saturday of a sweet little 8 year old girl, named Arlyn. We have been working a lot over the past few months with her mom who is less active. Arlyn started to listen to our messages and we started to teach her with her mom. Thanks to their supportive neighbors she was been coming to church for 2 months now! I am excited for her and this excited step in her life and it is my hope that they stay active in the church.
Tomorrow we have splits with the Sister Training Leader, Sister Feinga. Sister Feinga is really great. Splits are good because we are able to do double the work in one day, but sometimes it is hard because then the next day schedule is empty. That's okay though, it just means that we have to have faith that the Lord will fill our schedule.
Unfortunately Mary Joy was not able to come to church yesterday because she was sick, but she told us next week for sure. Sometimes it can be really frustrating when investigators don't come to church, but its okay everyone has agency. We just have to keep on extending commitments.
-Sister Richins
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
July 22
Dear Family and Friends,
Well transfers were this last week. My new companion is Sister Paraje she is Philippino. She has only been out in the field for three months, just like me. It is good because we are able to really learn from each other. What we liked that our trainers did and what wasn't effective. It is good because we are really able to become Preach my Gospel missionaries. It is also really nice to have someone not going home and is eager and excited about missionary work. My new companion doesn't know English very well so it has been good for me to have to always use Tagalog. If I ask her something in English she won't respond until I ask in Tagalog. Sometimes it is a little frustrating, but it is good for me.
Also the weather has started to cool down a little bit which is really nice and by cool down I mean it is now 85 degrees instead of 92.
We have been teaching one investigator named Mary Joy. She is so sweet. Her husband is a less active in the ward and we went to find him and ended up teaching her instead. She has a lot of trials in her life and was really discouraged and she met us. It is so cool to see her faith grow. She has so much faith and she knows that our message is true and the Book of Mormon too. She says it touches her heart when she reads. Sadly she gets a lot of persecution from her neighbors and friends because she is listening to the Mormon missionaries when she was born catholic. Hopefully her faith will carry her. Ah she is just so sweet and I hope that her faith in Jesus Christ will carry her.
We also taught a less active/part member family. We were teaching about the plan of salvation and we taught them about the plan of salvation and one little boy who is 10 years old joined our lesson. He was so cute and as we were teaching them from the Book of Mormon he was looking at it and started reading while we were teaching. At the end of the lesson I asked him if he wanted his own copy of the Book of Mormon and he got so excited. These are the moments that make all the hardships and hard days worth it.
Ingat! Mahal Kita!
-Sister Richins
Well transfers were this last week. My new companion is Sister Paraje she is Philippino. She has only been out in the field for three months, just like me. It is good because we are able to really learn from each other. What we liked that our trainers did and what wasn't effective. It is good because we are really able to become Preach my Gospel missionaries. It is also really nice to have someone not going home and is eager and excited about missionary work. My new companion doesn't know English very well so it has been good for me to have to always use Tagalog. If I ask her something in English she won't respond until I ask in Tagalog. Sometimes it is a little frustrating, but it is good for me.
Also the weather has started to cool down a little bit which is really nice and by cool down I mean it is now 85 degrees instead of 92.
We have been teaching one investigator named Mary Joy. She is so sweet. Her husband is a less active in the ward and we went to find him and ended up teaching her instead. She has a lot of trials in her life and was really discouraged and she met us. It is so cool to see her faith grow. She has so much faith and she knows that our message is true and the Book of Mormon too. She says it touches her heart when she reads. Sadly she gets a lot of persecution from her neighbors and friends because she is listening to the Mormon missionaries when she was born catholic. Hopefully her faith will carry her. Ah she is just so sweet and I hope that her faith in Jesus Christ will carry her.
We also taught a less active/part member family. We were teaching about the plan of salvation and we taught them about the plan of salvation and one little boy who is 10 years old joined our lesson. He was so cute and as we were teaching them from the Book of Mormon he was looking at it and started reading while we were teaching. At the end of the lesson I asked him if he wanted his own copy of the Book of Mormon and he got so excited. These are the moments that make all the hardships and hard days worth it.
Ingat! Mahal Kita!
-Sister Richins
Sunday, July 14, 2013
July 8
Dear Family and Friends,
Looks like everyone had a great 4th of July! Sister Lang and I celebrated it here with a nice cake and spaghetti so that was fun. We even wore our blue skirts to celebrate. We are having a lot of fun here too after all if you aren't having fun, you are not doing it right!
It was really sad this week our investigator Sheena told us that we can't visit her any more because it is just too much for her to endure with her dad. Her dad hates the church and doesn't want her to get baptized. We told her that we will always love her and care about her. Sometimes it is just so hard, when they are so many negative feelings about the church. But hopefully someday she will have the faith and courage to come back.
We also met our new mission President this week. He is super nice and his wife is so funny. I was worried that he wouldn't know English very well, but turns out he was really good. He is from Quezon City. His family is really sweet. They are two children that are still living with them. One is 18 and just got his mission call to Boise Idaho. The other daughter is 19 and is working of her mission papers. I was excited because the Mission President's wife said that she was planning on proselyting with the sisters 3 days a week if at all possible. That was exciting for me, it would be so great to have her strong testimony. President and Sister Guanzon are both converts to the church and have been members since 1981. They told us their touching conversion story on Friday. It is exciting time.
President gave us some great counsel as well. He said that there is about 700,000 members of the church in the Philippines and only about 150,000 that are activated. We talked about what happened to those people that were baptized, but are not active now- they were not completely converted. He emphasized teaching for understanding and teaching for conversion. He also said that the Philippines need more leaders so to seek after the middle class and in his words "Talk to those with cars, dress a little nicer, use English."
We were able to teach a lot of investigators this week and a lot of them are progressing. I still think it is such a miracle to see the change, we have so many people to teach now. After the missionary broadcast we have a lot of members wanting to work with us which is great! Our bishop is also all of the sudden really interesting in missionary work. Yesterday in Ward council and Ward coordination meeting we came up with a list of 15 names of less active members that the entire ward is going to work to reactive this year.
We have three investigators that are high school students. They are so sweet there names are Princess, Gema, and Michelle. We had a great lesson with them on Tuesday about Joseph Smith. Before we even got started she asked us, how she could know which of all the many churches were true. Wow it was a great lesson! She also lives really close to the church house! This week we have some YW coming with us to teach them! Astig!
This is Sister Oberia's last week and she is committed to work hard until the end! Transfer announcements are this Saturday!
-Sister Richins
Looks like everyone had a great 4th of July! Sister Lang and I celebrated it here with a nice cake and spaghetti so that was fun. We even wore our blue skirts to celebrate. We are having a lot of fun here too after all if you aren't having fun, you are not doing it right!
It was really sad this week our investigator Sheena told us that we can't visit her any more because it is just too much for her to endure with her dad. Her dad hates the church and doesn't want her to get baptized. We told her that we will always love her and care about her. Sometimes it is just so hard, when they are so many negative feelings about the church. But hopefully someday she will have the faith and courage to come back.
We also met our new mission President this week. He is super nice and his wife is so funny. I was worried that he wouldn't know English very well, but turns out he was really good. He is from Quezon City. His family is really sweet. They are two children that are still living with them. One is 18 and just got his mission call to Boise Idaho. The other daughter is 19 and is working of her mission papers. I was excited because the Mission President's wife said that she was planning on proselyting with the sisters 3 days a week if at all possible. That was exciting for me, it would be so great to have her strong testimony. President and Sister Guanzon are both converts to the church and have been members since 1981. They told us their touching conversion story on Friday. It is exciting time.
President gave us some great counsel as well. He said that there is about 700,000 members of the church in the Philippines and only about 150,000 that are activated. We talked about what happened to those people that were baptized, but are not active now- they were not completely converted. He emphasized teaching for understanding and teaching for conversion. He also said that the Philippines need more leaders so to seek after the middle class and in his words "Talk to those with cars, dress a little nicer, use English."
We were able to teach a lot of investigators this week and a lot of them are progressing. I still think it is such a miracle to see the change, we have so many people to teach now. After the missionary broadcast we have a lot of members wanting to work with us which is great! Our bishop is also all of the sudden really interesting in missionary work. Yesterday in Ward council and Ward coordination meeting we came up with a list of 15 names of less active members that the entire ward is going to work to reactive this year.
We have three investigators that are high school students. They are so sweet there names are Princess, Gema, and Michelle. We had a great lesson with them on Tuesday about Joseph Smith. Before we even got started she asked us, how she could know which of all the many churches were true. Wow it was a great lesson! She also lives really close to the church house! This week we have some YW coming with us to teach them! Astig!
This is Sister Oberia's last week and she is committed to work hard until the end! Transfer announcements are this Saturday!
-Sister Richins
Monday, June 24, 2013
June 24- Farewells, Tracting, and Exchanges
Dear Family and Friends,
This week marks the last week of the Philippines Naga Mission. On June 30 President Guanzon will come and I will now be a part of the Philippines Legazpi mission. We had our final interviews with President Blisener on Thursday. I am sad to see him and sister Bliesner leave. He really did so much for our mission. He really turned it around. Before he came there was a lot of disobedience, but he changed it and taught the missionaries the value of being exactly obedient.
We started our week with exchanges with the new Sister training Leader. It was really good. Sister Oberia and I were really nervous about it because we would have to split our already really small area into two so that she could work in part of it and I could work in the other. It turned out just fine. We did a lot of tracting and talking to people and we were able to find a lot of new investigators.
I also decided that tracting in the rain is the best because people will always invite you in. Mostly because they feel sorry for you, but it is a perfect chance to share a message. Rain can be a really good blessing! It was raining really hard on Wednesday and we were out looking for an less active. It turns out he actually had died, but we found his sister who quickly accepted us in. Turns out she had been given a Book of Mormon by Elders many years ago. We have a return appointment with her so that is exciting.
We also worked with Sister Manjares, our stellar ward missionary, this week. She is so great, and not afraid to talk to everyone about what she believes. I love working with her because it instantly takes any any apprehension people may have talking to the missionaries. It is so valuable to have members with us.
Well it sounds like the church is really pushing missionary work and the Lord is hastening his work. We need to find those that the Lord has been preparing. President reminded us this week to always have faith that the Lord will put people in your path to talk to that are ready for our message. I really liked something that is always good to remind yourself when it seems no one wants to listen.
Well I love it here and being apart of this great work! Hope all is well at home!
-Sister Richins
This week marks the last week of the Philippines Naga Mission. On June 30 President Guanzon will come and I will now be a part of the Philippines Legazpi mission. We had our final interviews with President Blisener on Thursday. I am sad to see him and sister Bliesner leave. He really did so much for our mission. He really turned it around. Before he came there was a lot of disobedience, but he changed it and taught the missionaries the value of being exactly obedient.
We started our week with exchanges with the new Sister training Leader. It was really good. Sister Oberia and I were really nervous about it because we would have to split our already really small area into two so that she could work in part of it and I could work in the other. It turned out just fine. We did a lot of tracting and talking to people and we were able to find a lot of new investigators.
I also decided that tracting in the rain is the best because people will always invite you in. Mostly because they feel sorry for you, but it is a perfect chance to share a message. Rain can be a really good blessing! It was raining really hard on Wednesday and we were out looking for an less active. It turns out he actually had died, but we found his sister who quickly accepted us in. Turns out she had been given a Book of Mormon by Elders many years ago. We have a return appointment with her so that is exciting.
We also worked with Sister Manjares, our stellar ward missionary, this week. She is so great, and not afraid to talk to everyone about what she believes. I love working with her because it instantly takes any any apprehension people may have talking to the missionaries. It is so valuable to have members with us.
Well it sounds like the church is really pushing missionary work and the Lord is hastening his work. We need to find those that the Lord has been preparing. President reminded us this week to always have faith that the Lord will put people in your path to talk to that are ready for our message. I really liked something that is always good to remind yourself when it seems no one wants to listen.
Well I love it here and being apart of this great work! Hope all is well at home!
-Sister Richins
Monday, June 17, 2013
Gratitude for the Members
Dear Family and Friends,
Wow another week. I hope everyone has been enjoying the summer time in Utah! We have been very busy this week. It has been so helpful to have the members help. We were able to contract a lot of less active and were able to find a lot of part member families, which has been really good for us. We had some wonderful tender mercies happen this week. We went to one of our areas, San Francisco (no it is not in California I know that is what you were thinking), we had been there a lot before, but people would always tell us that they weren't interested in the church and the Mormons. But this time was different because we had Sister Manjares with us, who is a stellar ward missionary and she knows all the people that live there. She started introducing us to all her friends and would say "Oh there is someone I want you to meet." It was so crazy to see the different reaction to us. They were more inviting and we were able to get a lot of follow up appointments. Members are so valuable in the work!!!
Sister Manjares introduced us to one lady named Mary Ann and we started talking to her. We asked if there was a time we could come back and share a message with her she said that she didn't have time. So I asked well can we share a message right now. She said she didn't have time, but I reassured her it would be a short message. We gave a short message about Jesus Christ and his love and concern for her. Then we asked if we could come back and share more. This time she was really excited for us to come back and hopefully she has that same excitement when we visit her this week. She was also really surprised by how well I spoke Tagalog for only being here for 1 1/2 months, Sister Manjares told here it was a gift from God to share our message.
I think a few weeks ago I talked about Sheena she is one of our investigators, she is doing really well. She actually has been a really sick, but she got a priesthood blessing and has been praying and praying for strength. The one thing that has been holding her back is the Law of Chastity, because she has been living with her boyfriend. Yesterday she told us that she was planning on getting married now on June 22! We were pretty excited. We know that she wanted to go on a mission, but marriage is important too. Her boyfriend is a member and tonight we have an FHE with them and are going to talk about Eternal Marriage-which we want to be her ultimate goal! She has so much faith, it is wonderful to see it grow.
Well I am looking forward to another busy week. It should be exciting. We have our final interviews with President Blisner this week. The new President gets here on the 30 of this month.
-Sister Richins
Wow another week. I hope everyone has been enjoying the summer time in Utah! We have been very busy this week. It has been so helpful to have the members help. We were able to contract a lot of less active and were able to find a lot of part member families, which has been really good for us. We had some wonderful tender mercies happen this week. We went to one of our areas, San Francisco (no it is not in California I know that is what you were thinking), we had been there a lot before, but people would always tell us that they weren't interested in the church and the Mormons. But this time was different because we had Sister Manjares with us, who is a stellar ward missionary and she knows all the people that live there. She started introducing us to all her friends and would say "Oh there is someone I want you to meet." It was so crazy to see the different reaction to us. They were more inviting and we were able to get a lot of follow up appointments. Members are so valuable in the work!!!
Sister Manjares introduced us to one lady named Mary Ann and we started talking to her. We asked if there was a time we could come back and share a message with her she said that she didn't have time. So I asked well can we share a message right now. She said she didn't have time, but I reassured her it would be a short message. We gave a short message about Jesus Christ and his love and concern for her. Then we asked if we could come back and share more. This time she was really excited for us to come back and hopefully she has that same excitement when we visit her this week. She was also really surprised by how well I spoke Tagalog for only being here for 1 1/2 months, Sister Manjares told here it was a gift from God to share our message.
I think a few weeks ago I talked about Sheena she is one of our investigators, she is doing really well. She actually has been a really sick, but she got a priesthood blessing and has been praying and praying for strength. The one thing that has been holding her back is the Law of Chastity, because she has been living with her boyfriend. Yesterday she told us that she was planning on getting married now on June 22! We were pretty excited. We know that she wanted to go on a mission, but marriage is important too. Her boyfriend is a member and tonight we have an FHE with them and are going to talk about Eternal Marriage-which we want to be her ultimate goal! She has so much faith, it is wonderful to see it grow.
Well I am looking forward to another busy week. It should be exciting. We have our final interviews with President Blisner this week. The new President gets here on the 30 of this month.
-Sister Richins
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
New companion, trials and triumphs
Family and Friends,
Well as I mentioned last week my new companion is Sister Oberia from Kiribati. It is next to Hawaii and is where Christmas Island is located.The church has a strong presence there and she went to a church high school. She is so sweet and is really good to teach me Tagalog. She is really nice, she kills the big spiders in our apartment, so I love her! Well transfer day was really busy, but we made it back and got to work. It was kind of fun on transfer day to talk to all the American missionaries, they told me about all the food they liked here and advice on the language. It was really nice. I also talked to the sweet senior couple that is here.
Not going to lie, it has been a really hard week. I didn't feel ready to lead this area and this week confirmed that. I had a really hard time remembering where places were and how to get to places. On top of that school started last week and so everyone that we had been teaching during the day were all gone. Summer vacation is over so everyone goes back to work. So here I am trying to figure out where to go, with no one home. So that as been hard so we have done a lot of street contacting this week.
This next week we have plans to contract as many members in our areas as possible and try to set goals with them to talk to their friends about the church. We are trying to find all the inactive members. It's kind of funny finding the members because doesn't seem like to would take much time, but in the Philippines there are no addresses. You just have the area that they live in and then you go door to door asking people if they know this family. They will say "Oh doon" which means just over there. So you go to the next house and ask the same question until you find the house. This week though in our ward coordination meeting we talked to the ward missionaries about our concerns and they found people to work with us every day this week to help us find homes and investigators.
That is definitely a struggle right now to find investigators which is why we need the members help. A referral from a member is so much more valuable than any street contacting that we could do.
There is definitely a hastening of the work. This week we have an assignment from the area presidency to meet with the bishop and ward missionaries and discuss our goals for the rest of the year. We are suppose to make a goal with everyone as to how many baptisms the ward could have this year and then make a plan to involve all the auxiliaries on how to achieve that goal. It is exciting I really hope that the ward members get excited.
It is good to know that even though it is hard to lead the area, it will make it that much easier next transfer after Sister Oberia goes home. Even though missionary work is hard, it is also fun and I love doing it! I love the ward members and I love seeing the change that people can have.
-Sister Richins
Well as I mentioned last week my new companion is Sister Oberia from Kiribati. It is next to Hawaii and is where Christmas Island is located.The church has a strong presence there and she went to a church high school. She is so sweet and is really good to teach me Tagalog. She is really nice, she kills the big spiders in our apartment, so I love her! Well transfer day was really busy, but we made it back and got to work. It was kind of fun on transfer day to talk to all the American missionaries, they told me about all the food they liked here and advice on the language. It was really nice. I also talked to the sweet senior couple that is here.
Not going to lie, it has been a really hard week. I didn't feel ready to lead this area and this week confirmed that. I had a really hard time remembering where places were and how to get to places. On top of that school started last week and so everyone that we had been teaching during the day were all gone. Summer vacation is over so everyone goes back to work. So here I am trying to figure out where to go, with no one home. So that as been hard so we have done a lot of street contacting this week.
This next week we have plans to contract as many members in our areas as possible and try to set goals with them to talk to their friends about the church. We are trying to find all the inactive members. It's kind of funny finding the members because doesn't seem like to would take much time, but in the Philippines there are no addresses. You just have the area that they live in and then you go door to door asking people if they know this family. They will say "Oh doon" which means just over there. So you go to the next house and ask the same question until you find the house. This week though in our ward coordination meeting we talked to the ward missionaries about our concerns and they found people to work with us every day this week to help us find homes and investigators.
That is definitely a struggle right now to find investigators which is why we need the members help. A referral from a member is so much more valuable than any street contacting that we could do.
There is definitely a hastening of the work. This week we have an assignment from the area presidency to meet with the bishop and ward missionaries and discuss our goals for the rest of the year. We are suppose to make a goal with everyone as to how many baptisms the ward could have this year and then make a plan to involve all the auxiliaries on how to achieve that goal. It is exciting I really hope that the ward members get excited.
It is good to know that even though it is hard to lead the area, it will make it that much easier next transfer after Sister Oberia goes home. Even though missionary work is hard, it is also fun and I love doing it! I love the ward members and I love seeing the change that people can have.
-Sister Richins
companion Announcements
Dear Family and Friends,
We dropped sister Maghanoy off at the bus stop this morning. And I am actually in Liago for the night. Tomorrow I will pick up my new companion and head back to guinobaton. So Saturday we got our new companionships announced. I will be with Sister Oberia she is from Kirabis which is close to Samoa. It is also her last transfer. They must think it is really funny to give me all the companions that are about to go home. Oh well though that means I will most likely stay in Guinobaton after this transfer. I am a little nervous to lead the area, but Sister Maghanoy says I am ready.
Oh a side note, there are 4 missionaries in the mission from Pakistan and 1 sister arriving next month from mainland china. That is so crazy that the church is sending out missionaries from there.
This week we were pretty busy. We had a lot of lessons with less actives, which is good. There are so many less actives here. Actually last year the Naga mission turned into a rescuing mission and the focus of the entire mission was on less actives. They only taught less active and part member families and referrals from members. This year though they are focusing on continuing to reactivate and also baptizing others. This week we were able to find a couple part member families to teach.
Our one investigator Sheena has been to church twice now. I am so excited for her. She is great. We have been teaching her all transfer and hopefully she will continue to progress. She is 18 and wants to serve a mission a year after she is baptized. She has a lot of support from ward members, but her dad does not like the church. She is so strong though and says that even if her dad doesn't want her too she knows she wants to be baptized.
Well I am doing really well. I am excited for this new transfer ahead of me, it should be exciting. This is the transfer that the mission splits so that will be interesting. Well thanks for all the prayers! I love you all!
-Sister Heather Richins
We dropped sister Maghanoy off at the bus stop this morning. And I am actually in Liago for the night. Tomorrow I will pick up my new companion and head back to guinobaton. So Saturday we got our new companionships announced. I will be with Sister Oberia she is from Kirabis which is close to Samoa. It is also her last transfer. They must think it is really funny to give me all the companions that are about to go home. Oh well though that means I will most likely stay in Guinobaton after this transfer. I am a little nervous to lead the area, but Sister Maghanoy says I am ready.
Oh a side note, there are 4 missionaries in the mission from Pakistan and 1 sister arriving next month from mainland china. That is so crazy that the church is sending out missionaries from there.
This week we were pretty busy. We had a lot of lessons with less actives, which is good. There are so many less actives here. Actually last year the Naga mission turned into a rescuing mission and the focus of the entire mission was on less actives. They only taught less active and part member families and referrals from members. This year though they are focusing on continuing to reactivate and also baptizing others. This week we were able to find a couple part member families to teach.
Our one investigator Sheena has been to church twice now. I am so excited for her. She is great. We have been teaching her all transfer and hopefully she will continue to progress. She is 18 and wants to serve a mission a year after she is baptized. She has a lot of support from ward members, but her dad does not like the church. She is so strong though and says that even if her dad doesn't want her too she knows she wants to be baptized.
Well I am doing really well. I am excited for this new transfer ahead of me, it should be exciting. This is the transfer that the mission splits so that will be interesting. Well thanks for all the prayers! I love you all!
-Sister Heather Richins
Sunday, June 2, 2013
May 27
Well another week! I can't believe how fast the weeks are going by now. We have had a challenging week. A lot of cancelled appointments, but we had a great ward party on Saturday that members brought a lot of non member friends and a great ward coordination meeting on Sunday.
So last week I told you about Patrick who was so excited for us to come back to teach him. Well when we came back he told us that we couldn't come back because his parents wouldn't allow it and gave us back our book of Mormon. But I always remind myself that we are just planting seeds and hopefully someday.
On Tuesday we went to Legazbi and had a trainer trainee meeting. It was really helpful and it was nice to see everyone from my MTC district. We talked more about understanding and getting along with other cultures and how we should take the best from each culture. It was really helpful.
So on Saturday we had a missionary activity combined with ward one and ward two. All the members were suppose to bring food and a non member or less active friend. We had a great turn out and we got a lot of refferals. But if anything we gained the trust from the members and they are starting to get really excited about missionary work. Before now, we have not had much member support from the ward. The had not really worked with the elders in the past, and didn't see why they should start working with us now. We have been working hard all transfer to gain their trust and confidence.
One particular lady that was very forward about not liking the missionaries and was sure that the ward had no need of us. She came to the party on Saturday and had a complete change of heart. It is so excited to see her accept us. In our missionary coordination meeting on Sunday I asked for suggestions of people we could visit and she gave us so many and then agreed to work with us to visit those people Wednesday afternoon. I was so excited because she really disliked the missionaries before, and I have been praying so hard to let her soften her heart towards us. Prayers are answered! I am so thankful! It should be a great week.
We are trying to make this a great week because it is Sister Maghanoy's last week before going home next Monday! She said that she will work hard until the end and that is what we are going to do! I am a little nervous about getting a new companion next week, but also excited!
Hope everything continues to go well for everyone else back home!
I love you all!
Sister Heather Richins
So last week I told you about Patrick who was so excited for us to come back to teach him. Well when we came back he told us that we couldn't come back because his parents wouldn't allow it and gave us back our book of Mormon. But I always remind myself that we are just planting seeds and hopefully someday.
On Tuesday we went to Legazbi and had a trainer trainee meeting. It was really helpful and it was nice to see everyone from my MTC district. We talked more about understanding and getting along with other cultures and how we should take the best from each culture. It was really helpful.
So on Saturday we had a missionary activity combined with ward one and ward two. All the members were suppose to bring food and a non member or less active friend. We had a great turn out and we got a lot of refferals. But if anything we gained the trust from the members and they are starting to get really excited about missionary work. Before now, we have not had much member support from the ward. The had not really worked with the elders in the past, and didn't see why they should start working with us now. We have been working hard all transfer to gain their trust and confidence.
One particular lady that was very forward about not liking the missionaries and was sure that the ward had no need of us. She came to the party on Saturday and had a complete change of heart. It is so excited to see her accept us. In our missionary coordination meeting on Sunday I asked for suggestions of people we could visit and she gave us so many and then agreed to work with us to visit those people Wednesday afternoon. I was so excited because she really disliked the missionaries before, and I have been praying so hard to let her soften her heart towards us. Prayers are answered! I am so thankful! It should be a great week.
We are trying to make this a great week because it is Sister Maghanoy's last week before going home next Monday! She said that she will work hard until the end and that is what we are going to do! I am a little nervous about getting a new companion next week, but also excited!
Hope everything continues to go well for everyone else back home!
I love you all!
Sister Heather Richins
Monday, May 20, 2013
May 20
Dear Family and Friends,
I am excited to hear from you all. Things are going well here. It sounds like everything is going all right at home and the weather is getting warmer. It is super hot here. On Saturday it was the hottest that it has been since I have been here and we also did a lot of walking that day. I was dripping in sweat, so that was fun! It's okay though because everyone still tells me I am beautiful with sweat dripping down my face. Everyone calls me doll and the little girls call me a real live barbie doll. I really don't like all the attention, but sometimes it is nice to hear.
Anyway this week was an exciting week. We finally were able to contact one of our refferals we got a few weeks ago His name is Patrick he is 26 and he is married with a little baby boy. We were not able to contact him before because he was never home or his father who does not like the Mormons was there and wouldn't let us come in. On Tuesday, though, we were able to find Patrick at his house. It was a really good lesson until his father came home and starting to say to say things against our church in Tagalog. It was getting really heated, so Sister Maghanoy just stopped and bore her testimony and I did too. It was really crazy because he couldn't argue with that and he left. We asked Patrick for a return appointment and he accepted. We taught him again on Friday and had a great lesson with him and when we left asked when we were going to be coming back! We extended an invitation to him to be baptized and he accepted. It was great I hope that we can continue to teach him and his family.
The other great thing this week is that we had almost all the the less-actives that we have been working with come to church! It was so great to see them all their and I was really happy. It is really sad because when we ask these people why they stopped coming to church their reason is because they were offended, but we were pretty bold this week in inviting them to come to church and they came. It was nice to see our chapel a little fuller on Sunday.
As far as the language goes, Sister Maghanoy says it is improving and I just need to have more confidence in myself. I usually can communicate the lessons, but it's hard to have other conversations with them. It's frustrating at times, but makes me rely on the Savior and have faith that it will come. Some days are better than others, but it will come with faith and diligence.
I am looking forward to this up coming week we have a lot of appointments and I really hope that our new investigators continue to progress.
Mahal ko kayo!
Sister Heather Richins
I am excited to hear from you all. Things are going well here. It sounds like everything is going all right at home and the weather is getting warmer. It is super hot here. On Saturday it was the hottest that it has been since I have been here and we also did a lot of walking that day. I was dripping in sweat, so that was fun! It's okay though because everyone still tells me I am beautiful with sweat dripping down my face. Everyone calls me doll and the little girls call me a real live barbie doll. I really don't like all the attention, but sometimes it is nice to hear.
Anyway this week was an exciting week. We finally were able to contact one of our refferals we got a few weeks ago His name is Patrick he is 26 and he is married with a little baby boy. We were not able to contact him before because he was never home or his father who does not like the Mormons was there and wouldn't let us come in. On Tuesday, though, we were able to find Patrick at his house. It was a really good lesson until his father came home and starting to say to say things against our church in Tagalog. It was getting really heated, so Sister Maghanoy just stopped and bore her testimony and I did too. It was really crazy because he couldn't argue with that and he left. We asked Patrick for a return appointment and he accepted. We taught him again on Friday and had a great lesson with him and when we left asked when we were going to be coming back! We extended an invitation to him to be baptized and he accepted. It was great I hope that we can continue to teach him and his family.
The other great thing this week is that we had almost all the the less-actives that we have been working with come to church! It was so great to see them all their and I was really happy. It is really sad because when we ask these people why they stopped coming to church their reason is because they were offended, but we were pretty bold this week in inviting them to come to church and they came. It was nice to see our chapel a little fuller on Sunday.
As far as the language goes, Sister Maghanoy says it is improving and I just need to have more confidence in myself. I usually can communicate the lessons, but it's hard to have other conversations with them. It's frustrating at times, but makes me rely on the Savior and have faith that it will come. Some days are better than others, but it will come with faith and diligence.
I am looking forward to this up coming week we have a lot of appointments and I really hope that our new investigators continue to progress.
Mahal ko kayo!
Sister Heather Richins
Friday, May 17, 2013
May 13
Dear Family and Friends-
This week has been alright, but a little frustrating because of the lack of support from the ward. As I mentioned to you there are a lot of people in the ward roughly 500, but there was hardly anyone at church yesterday and none of our investigators. It is just really frustrating, when the ward doesn't have very much unity, we are trying to work with the ward to make them more accepting of people and on the 25 may we have a big party that all the members are suppose to bring an inactive friend or non member. Hopefully that will help add to our teaching pool.
We have been meeting with a lot of these members and they all have really solid testimonies, but they just don't understand why going to church really matters. Some of them live really far away from the church and can't afford they fare to get to church. That has been the problem with the Raro children. The mom wants so much to go back to church, but they just can't afford it. I hope though that they can have the faith to come to church. Those kids are my favorite I love teaching them and always look forward when we go there, even though we have to walk through a lot of rice fields to get there. I have a picture, but I forgot my converter so I will have to send them next week. I will send a lot of pictures next week.
As mom found out the Mayan Volcano erupted last Tuesday, we didn't see it, but we heard about it from the members. It really didn't effect Guinobaton, but it did effect one the the elder's area in our zone. All the elders were okay though. The 4 people that died were climbing the mountain. Also it has started to rain a lot, which I love, but all the natives don't like the rain because rain means flooding, which can wipe out neighborhoods. Oh well we will just have to see what happens.
On Friday we had a zone training in Legazbi (which means Air conditioner), and we listened to a talk that President Holland gave at a Mission Presidents Conference, He said that if missionaries complain that missionary work is hard and wonder why if we have the restored gospel are not people lining up to be baptized to tell those missionaries that of course missions are not easy... because salvation was not easy... every time people reject you remember that Jesus Christ was rejected by many... In this way, in a real sense missionaries come to know the savior better because they are experiencing in a small sense what the savior experienced... remember though that in those times of rejection the savior stands beside you to bear you up. That was just a paraphrase of what he said, but it was really powerful and of course it was Elder Holland it was pretty intense.
I am so glad that I have a savior to help me and I know that when I rely on the savior, I know what to say and when I teach with the spirit the words that I have studied so come to my mind and my Tagalog somehow makes sense. This is why the spirit is so very important to teach. On the plus side though not knowing most of what people say makes it a lot easier to accept rejection.
Well hopefully the new investigators we found this week will continue to be receptive of our message. I love doing the Lord's work.
-Sister Richins
This week has been alright, but a little frustrating because of the lack of support from the ward. As I mentioned to you there are a lot of people in the ward roughly 500, but there was hardly anyone at church yesterday and none of our investigators. It is just really frustrating, when the ward doesn't have very much unity, we are trying to work with the ward to make them more accepting of people and on the 25 may we have a big party that all the members are suppose to bring an inactive friend or non member. Hopefully that will help add to our teaching pool.
We have been meeting with a lot of these members and they all have really solid testimonies, but they just don't understand why going to church really matters. Some of them live really far away from the church and can't afford they fare to get to church. That has been the problem with the Raro children. The mom wants so much to go back to church, but they just can't afford it. I hope though that they can have the faith to come to church. Those kids are my favorite I love teaching them and always look forward when we go there, even though we have to walk through a lot of rice fields to get there. I have a picture, but I forgot my converter so I will have to send them next week. I will send a lot of pictures next week.
As mom found out the Mayan Volcano erupted last Tuesday, we didn't see it, but we heard about it from the members. It really didn't effect Guinobaton, but it did effect one the the elder's area in our zone. All the elders were okay though. The 4 people that died were climbing the mountain. Also it has started to rain a lot, which I love, but all the natives don't like the rain because rain means flooding, which can wipe out neighborhoods. Oh well we will just have to see what happens.
On Friday we had a zone training in Legazbi (which means Air conditioner), and we listened to a talk that President Holland gave at a Mission Presidents Conference, He said that if missionaries complain that missionary work is hard and wonder why if we have the restored gospel are not people lining up to be baptized to tell those missionaries that of course missions are not easy... because salvation was not easy... every time people reject you remember that Jesus Christ was rejected by many... In this way, in a real sense missionaries come to know the savior better because they are experiencing in a small sense what the savior experienced... remember though that in those times of rejection the savior stands beside you to bear you up. That was just a paraphrase of what he said, but it was really powerful and of course it was Elder Holland it was pretty intense.
I am so glad that I have a savior to help me and I know that when I rely on the savior, I know what to say and when I teach with the spirit the words that I have studied so come to my mind and my Tagalog somehow makes sense. This is why the spirit is so very important to teach. On the plus side though not knowing most of what people say makes it a lot easier to accept rejection.
Well hopefully the new investigators we found this week will continue to be receptive of our message. I love doing the Lord's work.
-Sister Richins
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
This week in the Philippines....
Kumusta Family!
It sounds like everyone is having a great time in DC! Sometimes I really miss the comforts of the United States, but when ever those thoughts come to mind, I have to remind myself that “I can do it for the Lord.” And as soon as I start talking to the people all my concerns go away. Things are a lot better this week and am getting used to the culture and everything. I still have a hard time with the food, I mean rice for every meal? Haha I insist on eating oatmeal and my companion thinks I am weird. They don’t consider a meal complete without rice. It’s growing on me, all the fruits are really good though, there are really good mangos, watermelons, and pineapple. YUM! I think the weirdest thing is that I am the minority no one here is white and everyone stares at me and tells me I am beautiful. It’s so funny because all the members are so concerned if I am out in the sun, because it will tan my skin. What a different culture, completely opposite than in America. We went to a less active member’s house last night and the kids climbed all over me, they love white people. The kid’s call me Lola or Grandma because I have blond hair. It’s funny, my companion just says to embrace it. It is so hot here, but it is the middle of the summer so hopefully it will cool down a little starting next month.
I still don’t understand what these people are saying, but I am picking up on more, I was surprised how much I was able to understand in Testimony meeting yesterday…well until they started speaking Bicol ( the local dialect), then my companion and I both don’t understand. Tuesday was my favorite day this week because we had some great appointments and one of them I actually taught the Joseph Smith Story in Tagalog. I was pretty happy about that, little by little it will come.
It has been hard to find investigators in our area, our focus this week was two neighborhoods in our area and talking to members, less active members, and part member families. We have been working to get referrals from the members. The ward is actually pretty big, but they don’t have very many people attending church meetings. We have been working with the bishopric though, and we helped them create a ward mission plan and they set up home teaching-which had not been set up in years. Hopefully that will help keep members coming and give them friends in the ward. And hopefully we will continue to be able to find more investigators.
We have been working with one family the Raro family they were baptized a while ago, but three of their kids were not baptized. The kids are really shy at first, but they are getting more comfortable with us. They get so excited when we come and teach them. They have so little and it is humbling to teach them, I sometimes just want to give them something, but then I remember I am giving them the greatest gift in the world- The Gospel.
-Sister Richins
It sounds like everyone is having a great time in DC! Sometimes I really miss the comforts of the United States, but when ever those thoughts come to mind, I have to remind myself that “I can do it for the Lord.” And as soon as I start talking to the people all my concerns go away. Things are a lot better this week and am getting used to the culture and everything. I still have a hard time with the food, I mean rice for every meal? Haha I insist on eating oatmeal and my companion thinks I am weird. They don’t consider a meal complete without rice. It’s growing on me, all the fruits are really good though, there are really good mangos, watermelons, and pineapple. YUM! I think the weirdest thing is that I am the minority no one here is white and everyone stares at me and tells me I am beautiful. It’s so funny because all the members are so concerned if I am out in the sun, because it will tan my skin. What a different culture, completely opposite than in America. We went to a less active member’s house last night and the kids climbed all over me, they love white people. The kid’s call me Lola or Grandma because I have blond hair. It’s funny, my companion just says to embrace it. It is so hot here, but it is the middle of the summer so hopefully it will cool down a little starting next month.
I still don’t understand what these people are saying, but I am picking up on more, I was surprised how much I was able to understand in Testimony meeting yesterday…well until they started speaking Bicol ( the local dialect), then my companion and I both don’t understand. Tuesday was my favorite day this week because we had some great appointments and one of them I actually taught the Joseph Smith Story in Tagalog. I was pretty happy about that, little by little it will come.
It has been hard to find investigators in our area, our focus this week was two neighborhoods in our area and talking to members, less active members, and part member families. We have been working to get referrals from the members. The ward is actually pretty big, but they don’t have very many people attending church meetings. We have been working with the bishopric though, and we helped them create a ward mission plan and they set up home teaching-which had not been set up in years. Hopefully that will help keep members coming and give them friends in the ward. And hopefully we will continue to be able to find more investigators.
We have been working with one family the Raro family they were baptized a while ago, but three of their kids were not baptized. The kids are really shy at first, but they are getting more comfortable with us. They get so excited when we come and teach them. They have so little and it is humbling to teach them, I sometimes just want to give them something, but then I remember I am giving them the greatest gift in the world- The Gospel.
-Sister Richins
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Week One in the Philippines
Dear Family and Friends
Well I made it! It has been a long week, but I made it. So we got to Manila Tuesday night and stayed at a really nice hotel. the next morning we got up and caught our plane to Naga which is a little tiny airport. The mission president and a lot of missionaries where there to greet us and take us back to the mission home. We stayed there and he talked to us. Then we met our trainers. My companion is Sister Maghanoy she is from the Philippines. She is so sweet. This is her last area and she leaves for home in 6 weeks. I am trying to send pictures, but I don't think it is working on this computer.
We spent the night at the mission home because our assigned area is about 3 hours from the Mission home and we didn't have time to go there that night. Also we found out what mission we will be in because the area we are in now we will be there for at least 12 weeks. It looks like I will be in the Legasbi Mission starting in July. The area I am in is called Ginonbaton, it is an hour from Legasbi, and we are actually opening a new area that has not had sisters in it before. That is exciting, but also means that we are starting from scratch. Although there has been Elders here before so we are working with them and helping them out. We met with the ward council on Sunday and proposed a plan to get more people attending church and to find more people to teach, they were a little hesitant at first, but i think we got them excited. I really don't understand anything that anyone is saying to me I just smile and laugh because filipinos love to laugh. A lot of them know english and they think it is so funny that my last name is Richins or 'Rich' 'ins". And they always ask what are you rich in? These people come from such humble places, it is crazy. On Saturday we went to Legaszbi for community service project of planting mangroves All the members were so excited and they had a huge program before about how the environment needs our help and they are so glad that we were all there to help. The service project itself lasted about 30 minutes. It was good, but soooooo hot!!!!!!
On Sunday we wend to our ward and it was very nice they had 4 new missionaries speak(2 elders, 2 sisters). I said 2 minutes in Tagalog and sat down, and they probably had no idea what I was talking about then another guy got up and gave a talk in Bicol which is another Dialect here so I couldn't understand even a little. The language is frustrated and it is hard not being able to understand, but I am grateful for my patience companion who is helping me. She says she will help me learn Tagalog if I help her improve her English. The language will come with patience. It is just hard not to be able to say anything in lessons, but it will come.
-Sister Richins
Well I made it! It has been a long week, but I made it. So we got to Manila Tuesday night and stayed at a really nice hotel. the next morning we got up and caught our plane to Naga which is a little tiny airport. The mission president and a lot of missionaries where there to greet us and take us back to the mission home. We stayed there and he talked to us. Then we met our trainers. My companion is Sister Maghanoy she is from the Philippines. She is so sweet. This is her last area and she leaves for home in 6 weeks. I am trying to send pictures, but I don't think it is working on this computer.
We spent the night at the mission home because our assigned area is about 3 hours from the Mission home and we didn't have time to go there that night. Also we found out what mission we will be in because the area we are in now we will be there for at least 12 weeks. It looks like I will be in the Legasbi Mission starting in July. The area I am in is called Ginonbaton, it is an hour from Legasbi, and we are actually opening a new area that has not had sisters in it before. That is exciting, but also means that we are starting from scratch. Although there has been Elders here before so we are working with them and helping them out. We met with the ward council on Sunday and proposed a plan to get more people attending church and to find more people to teach, they were a little hesitant at first, but i think we got them excited. I really don't understand anything that anyone is saying to me I just smile and laugh because filipinos love to laugh. A lot of them know english and they think it is so funny that my last name is Richins or 'Rich' 'ins". And they always ask what are you rich in? These people come from such humble places, it is crazy. On Saturday we went to Legaszbi for community service project of planting mangroves All the members were so excited and they had a huge program before about how the environment needs our help and they are so glad that we were all there to help. The service project itself lasted about 30 minutes. It was good, but soooooo hot!!!!!!
On Sunday we wend to our ward and it was very nice they had 4 new missionaries speak(2 elders, 2 sisters). I said 2 minutes in Tagalog and sat down, and they probably had no idea what I was talking about then another guy got up and gave a talk in Bicol which is another Dialect here so I couldn't understand even a little. The language is frustrated and it is hard not being able to understand, but I am grateful for my patience companion who is helping me. She says she will help me learn Tagalog if I help her improve her English. The language will come with patience. It is just hard not to be able to say anything in lessons, but it will come.
-Sister Richins
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Last Week at the MTC!!!
Family and Friends-
Its so weird I can't believe that that it is my last week in the MTC, the time just flys by. Well to start off this week has been a little rough, but still good. We now have 60min of email so that is good!!
Our Sunday Devotional the Director of Media from the Missionary Department came and talked to us a little about the Church's I am a mormon campaign. He talked about the big I am a Mormon campaign in New York at Christmas time and the success stories that it had. He talked about the increase of visits to the Mormon.org site during the campaign. The church recently as in April 8 launced another campaign in London where the Book of Mormon Musical is playing. According to studies done in Europe the church doesn't have the most postive views so to fix it they have put up all these I am a mormon campaign ads on Busses and train stations. In one train station the tunnel is completely covered. It is crazy, he showed us pictures. He also talked about he they first launched it he was there and would just walk around and observe people reading the messages. It was amazing the response and the fact that we was able to refer so many people to the Missionaries that day! This just affirms how true our church is and that it has the ability to touch everyone's heart. I don't know if there is pictures on the internet, but you should look for them. The ones in London and New York. The one in New York was a really simple message that Christmas is Christ.
Well lets see the highlight of the week was defiently getting our travel plans, but also it makes us a little nervous because there is still so much to learn. It is exciting though, until our teacher last night told us about all the cockroaches that are there. I was a little freaked out, but I know that I don't need to have fear only faith. The lord trusts me and knows that I can handle it or he wouldn't have called me there. We really only have three more days of classes because Thursday is our In field orientation all day. It should be exciting though. I saw Russel (my cousin) here last week during lunch one day, I was doing to get a picture, but didn't have me camera. He seemed to be doing great and eager to leave for Arizona.
On Sunday I the branch president called on me to give a talk, so that was fun, but I know it was going to someone in our district because we are the oldest ones right now.
-Sister Richins
Its so weird I can't believe that that it is my last week in the MTC, the time just flys by. Well to start off this week has been a little rough, but still good. We now have 60min of email so that is good!!
Our Sunday Devotional the Director of Media from the Missionary Department came and talked to us a little about the Church's I am a mormon campaign. He talked about the big I am a Mormon campaign in New York at Christmas time and the success stories that it had. He talked about the increase of visits to the Mormon.org site during the campaign. The church recently as in April 8 launced another campaign in London where the Book of Mormon Musical is playing. According to studies done in Europe the church doesn't have the most postive views so to fix it they have put up all these I am a mormon campaign ads on Busses and train stations. In one train station the tunnel is completely covered. It is crazy, he showed us pictures. He also talked about he they first launched it he was there and would just walk around and observe people reading the messages. It was amazing the response and the fact that we was able to refer so many people to the Missionaries that day! This just affirms how true our church is and that it has the ability to touch everyone's heart. I don't know if there is pictures on the internet, but you should look for them. The ones in London and New York. The one in New York was a really simple message that Christmas is Christ.
Well lets see the highlight of the week was defiently getting our travel plans, but also it makes us a little nervous because there is still so much to learn. It is exciting though, until our teacher last night told us about all the cockroaches that are there. I was a little freaked out, but I know that I don't need to have fear only faith. The lord trusts me and knows that I can handle it or he wouldn't have called me there. We really only have three more days of classes because Thursday is our In field orientation all day. It should be exciting though. I saw Russel (my cousin) here last week during lunch one day, I was doing to get a picture, but didn't have me camera. He seemed to be doing great and eager to leave for Arizona.
On Sunday I the branch president called on me to give a talk, so that was fun, but I know it was going to someone in our district because we are the oldest ones right now.
-Sister Richins
Monday, April 15, 2013
Conference
Dear Family and Friends
It's so great to hear from you all! I hope you guys all enjoyed conference, it was so good, right! I can't believe another week has gone by, and we get travel plans on Thursday, it's exciting but also really scary. As I was in the temple this morning, I realized that that was the 2nd to last time that I will get to go for 18 months. I am going to miss it. One of the sisters that left two weeks ago to the Philippines emailed us and said she has no idea what anyone is saying. (She can now email us because they made an announcement a few weeks ago that you can now email friends!) She says she loves it there, and that it is super pretty there.
Anyways though we did get to watch all of conference. It was really great we didn't have class on those days and we just watched conference ate food, and watched conference so more. It was different not having soft couches to sit on. We spent 13 hours all weekend siting in hard chairs! Not the best, but conference was still good. In answer to your question mom, during priesthood all the sisters watched the YW general broadcast from last week. It sounds like though you had a great girls night, those I always so much fun. That's cool that Kevin and Dad got to go to priesthood. I heard that it was all addressed to the YM on Missionary work. Before you know it Kevin will be here!! On Sunday they even let a watch the special in between conferences, they didn't show the choir until the very end so I understand why you didn't see me, I didn't even see myself. Also on Sunday we usually have a Sunday Night devotional, but I think they knew we were all tired of sitting all day listening to speakers, so they had BYUs vocal point (the Acapella group) come and sing to use. That was really cool.
Class has been going pretty well, after Easter all about the atonement and Christ I feel like I kind of see the big picture of the church and how everything we teach is about the savior and his atonement. I mean after all this is the church of Jesus Christ. Anyway though, this has helped me a lot in lessons to make sure I always bring it back to Jesus Christ because that is when the spirit testifies.
Yesterday, the MTC president from the Philippines MTC came to the MTC to observe teaching. Of all the classes, ours was picked for him to sit in and observe. That is a pretty cool experience. his name is Raul Ven...? and was made an area seventy in conference. The attached picture is my district with him! Looks like I will be taller than all the Philippino people... And you thought I didn't eat my veggies!! In two months they are going to start to send the english speaking missionaries going to the Manilla, Angeles, Quezon City and Quezon City North missions to the Philippines MTC!
This weekend was kind of re-commitment for me to make sure that I am not wasting a second of my time at the MTC! I need to work super hard for the next 2 weeks, because in 2 weeks I will be in the Philippines! Crazy.
This week we are getting two new districts in our zone this week. One has 6 sisters and 2 elders and the other 7 sisters and 2 elders! My how the times have changed.. so many sisters!
Sister Richins
It's so great to hear from you all! I hope you guys all enjoyed conference, it was so good, right! I can't believe another week has gone by, and we get travel plans on Thursday, it's exciting but also really scary. As I was in the temple this morning, I realized that that was the 2nd to last time that I will get to go for 18 months. I am going to miss it. One of the sisters that left two weeks ago to the Philippines emailed us and said she has no idea what anyone is saying. (She can now email us because they made an announcement a few weeks ago that you can now email friends!) She says she loves it there, and that it is super pretty there.
Anyways though we did get to watch all of conference. It was really great we didn't have class on those days and we just watched conference ate food, and watched conference so more. It was different not having soft couches to sit on. We spent 13 hours all weekend siting in hard chairs! Not the best, but conference was still good. In answer to your question mom, during priesthood all the sisters watched the YW general broadcast from last week. It sounds like though you had a great girls night, those I always so much fun. That's cool that Kevin and Dad got to go to priesthood. I heard that it was all addressed to the YM on Missionary work. Before you know it Kevin will be here!! On Sunday they even let a watch the special in between conferences, they didn't show the choir until the very end so I understand why you didn't see me, I didn't even see myself. Also on Sunday we usually have a Sunday Night devotional, but I think they knew we were all tired of sitting all day listening to speakers, so they had BYUs vocal point (the Acapella group) come and sing to use. That was really cool.
Class has been going pretty well, after Easter all about the atonement and Christ I feel like I kind of see the big picture of the church and how everything we teach is about the savior and his atonement. I mean after all this is the church of Jesus Christ. Anyway though, this has helped me a lot in lessons to make sure I always bring it back to Jesus Christ because that is when the spirit testifies.
Yesterday, the MTC president from the Philippines MTC came to the MTC to observe teaching. Of all the classes, ours was picked for him to sit in and observe. That is a pretty cool experience. his name is Raul Ven...? and was made an area seventy in conference. The attached picture is my district with him! Looks like I will be taller than all the Philippino people... And you thought I didn't eat my veggies!! In two months they are going to start to send the english speaking missionaries going to the Manilla, Angeles, Quezon City and Quezon City North missions to the Philippines MTC!
This weekend was kind of re-commitment for me to make sure that I am not wasting a second of my time at the MTC! I need to work super hard for the next 2 weeks, because in 2 weeks I will be in the Philippines! Crazy.
This week we are getting two new districts in our zone this week. One has 6 sisters and 2 elders and the other 7 sisters and 2 elders! My how the times have changed.. so many sisters!
Sister Richins
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