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
Monday, May 20, 2013
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
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