July 21

~From what we know this is Heather's last email that we are going to be getting.~

Dear family and friends,

Well this has been a crazy week. There was a pretty large hurricane here on Tuesday we don't have power and probably won't for a month so my dear friends this will be my last email until I come home . I am in manilla right  now heading to the USA embassy to get cleared for my departure in month(aug 21). So you are lucky that you get this email.

So this week the hurricane hit is on Tuesday. We were perfectly safe in our apartment. But we watched homes destroyed and power lines topple. We traded our skirts in for t-shirts and shorts. We have been helped people clean up all week and just trying to cope with the disaster. Legaspi, sorsogon and bacon were hit the worst. We will continue the clean up into this week and maybe begin our prose letting later this week. Please keep all this people in your prayers.

Well I know this is short but I love you all thank you for everything. But I will see you all when I get home.
Sister Richins

July 14

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow what another great week.  I know that all of you have heard about the typhoon or tropical storm coming our way. As far as we know it is pretty weak storm and we should be okay.

I really can't believe how fast the time goes.  I have five weeks left in my mission and I keep on hoping that time would just slow down for a second so that I can breathe. I just make to make every moment every day count.  I am working hard up until the very last day.

Well as always this week was great.  Our our exchanges got canceled because the sisters got sick, so it was just a normal week in Bacon.  It was a really great week. On Saturday, we had what is called a One Day Mission.  So all the members came and worked with us for a day. We all divided into four groups and then went to different areas. So it was kind of like an exchange because I was companions with one of the members, it was really fun.  It was so great to have members because they could really relate and they know bicol (the native language here), I still struggle with that the 2nd language in Bacon. I am working on it though.  I can understand a lot of it, just not the speaking yet. The language of Bicol is really funny because it is different in every city.  In Bacon it is different than Bulan and if you go 30 minutes to Sorsogon it is different too.  That is why it is so hard to understand the different dialects of Bicol.  It is a good thing that everyone knows Tagalog.  The members here are so great. I love and learn so much from them.

On Friday night we went were going to go to one of our investigators.  We didn't have an appointment, but somehow felt maybe we should go there.  While on the way we met a lady named Linda. She was going to get water for her house.  But should invited us to her house.  We went there and found out that her husband was a member of the church.  Her husband is in Australia ( this is common for a lot of families here.  The husband works abroad because there are more opportunities for work).  We taught her a simple lesson and we have a return appointment tomorrow. The Lord truly does place people in our paths to teach.  Obedience brings miracles of that I am so sure.


I know that this is God's work.  I know that this is not my work or the work of people, but this is God's work and I am merely an instrument in his hands.  I am so grateful so every minute here.

Well have a great week!

-Sister Richins

July 7

Dear Family and Friends,

Well I am glad that everyone had a good 4th of July.  We had an exciting 4th of July here.  Well actually it turns out they don't celebrate it here, who would had thought? Anyway though it has been an interesting week.  

So first off on Friday night we were walking home after our last appointment of the day, it was about 8:55 and we saw this lady walking down the street, it was funny because we almost know everyone that lives next to our apartment and have ended up teaching them one time or another, but I didn't recognize her.  But she was kind of caught off guard because we were two foreigners walking in the night.  But we stopped to talk to her and about the church.  It came to turn out that her and her husband own a lot of the land next to our apartment, they live in Manila, but are here to harvest the coconuts.  She was staying in one of the many resorts next to our apartment.  We set a return appointment the next day.  On Saturday we taught her and it was a really great lesson, it turns out that she was inside her guest room the night before and had been praying to know what to do to help her family.  She then had gotten a little bored so she went for a little walk at 8:50 at night.   And then she met us.  She was like, I don't think it is a coincidence that we met last night.  We were like no of course not it was not a coincidence.   I am so thankful that we stopped to talk to her.  She is leaving for Manila tomorrow, but we gave her a Book of Mormon and we will pass her contact information to the missionaries in Manila.  What a miracle.  

On Tuesday we also had MLC in Legazbi.  It was great.  We talked about how to help our investigators attend sacrament meeting, but working to get the members and missionaries on the same team.  President was talking how in the weekly letters that he gets from missionaries, everyone's happiness is related to if their investigators attended sacrament meeting.  "None of our investigators attended sacrament meeting, we are so sad." or " We had lots of investigators attend sacrament meeting, we are so happy."  President was like what are we doing here, letting someone control our happiness.  He was like, we have been sent to earth to be agents of our own selves, not to be acted upon.  (2 Nephi 2:14, 27).  He was like we have the power to change, we have control over IASM.  We can carefully plan so that our investigators will attend sacrament meeting.  It was a really good workshop and it got everyone fired up to increase our IASM.  

In not so exciting news, this week one of our Less Active/Returning member that we had been teaching passed away.  It is really unexpected, especially because we say him the night that he passed away and then in the morning we learned that he had had a heart attack and passed away.  He had just started to become reactivated in the  church.  Brother Pedro Betichadio, he was 65 years old. So on Saturday, President Desuyo called a meeting for us to plan the funeral service. They decided that Sister Amato and I would be the speakers.  I am not going to lie, I was really nervous to speak at the funeral service.  It is hard to know what to say at a funeral. I just made and plan and prayed that the spirit would take over.  We prepared and got ready and on Sunday night we had the service funeral service in Sorsogon. How blessed we are to know about the Plan of Salvation.  The plan of salvation is such a perfect plan.  I am really going to miss him, he lived really close to our apartment and we always saw him at least 5 times a day, he always had a smile and his face and was always "Hello Sisters! "

We also had exchanges with the other Sister's in Bacon.  I was with Sister Erickson from Holliday, UT.  It was fun, it was back to two white Americans.  I love going on exchanges and getting to see the miracles that happen.  Something really funny that happened on exchanges: We were going to one of their investigators they had been teaching the mom, but they had just started teaching the dad.  The Mom was washing clothes and was busy at the moment so she told her husband to tell us to come back later that day. I guess was he really shy to talk to us, and later that day his wife told us.  That he was so shy to talk to us because we were both Americans and that we didn't know Tagalog, He was like you just tell then, and she was like they know Tagalog, but I guess this dialog went back and forth and then he came out and did an action with his hands "Maglaba" (She is washing clothes) and "Mamaya" (Later).  It was really funny. 

Well another week, can't wait to see what it brings.  

-Sister Richins

June 30

Dear Family and Friends, 

We are moving into the first week of July! I can't believe that you all will be celebrating the fourth of July over there on Friday.  I honestly feel that you all were just talking about the last 4th of July last year.  This week has been quite adventurous for me here.  I tried Octopus this week, ya I know that is crazy, but it wasn't so bad. Also it has started into the rainy season so it rains almost every afternoon with big thunder and lighting storms so that is kind of exciting.  It is great because it is not as hot.  

This week was a great week, we had exchanges with the Sorsogon Sisters.  I was with the trainee of Sister Flake, Sister Natarte, she is really sweet.  She is from Baguio, which is the only place in the Philippines to have Strawberries.  We worked here in Bacon, it was pretty exciting.  I love exchanges so much.  It helps remind me of the excitement of missionary work.  While on exchanges we were in one of our areas, where all of the houses are all the same and they all have tin roofs.  It turns out when it rains really hard, you can't hear anything in houses with tin roofs. We were teaching a lesson and then it started pouring and it was pretty soon it was useless to continue.  

We had a great week finding this week. On Tuesday we were working with some of the Branch Missionaries and our appointments fell through so we went tracting.  It was funny because one of the Branch Missionaries really didn't want to tract in that area because he was from that area and all the people knew him.  We would go to each house and he would say, oh they are not interested.  But yet we continued until we got to the last house and they let us in.  We taught Liro a 21 year old mom, with one little boy that has cancer and is blind.  She was great and really wanted learn.  Her question for us was when we were going to come back so that we could teach her more.  

We also taught the Dellosa Family, which is a new investigator this week too.  We taught them on Saturday night.  We had taught there daughter, Sailene, before and we were going back to teach her again, but this time her dad listened too and he was so excited, he felt the spirit as we taught about Joseph Smith and then we asked him how he felt and he said he felt so great inside.

I love finding, I know that the Lord's hand is in this work.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

-Sister Richins

June 23

Dear Family and Friends, 

Well another week is over.  I still can't believe it.  We started off the new transfer. I love this area and I love my companion. 

It was the first week of the transfer so we didn't have any exchanges.  But it was just a week to work really hard in our area.  We could really feel the power of obedience this week.  How true that is.  All that really matters is obedience, that is all that God is worried about in the end.  We strive for exact obedience.  If we strive to be exactly obedient, we can really see the miracles in the work.  

This week was a great week.  We were in daily planning last night and we were like wow this was a great week, we have investigators that are starting to progress and new investigators and investigators attending sacrament meeting.  It is just an exciting time in the mission. 

Of course we do have our challenges too, we have to help all those new investigators progress and resolve their concerns.  We also are trying really hard to help the less actives here, but that is one of the things that make me the saddest to see the less active struggle, but they don't have the faith to make it through.  We continue to help them though we just teach by the spirit and hopefully one day they will understand.  

We were teaching Brother Don yesterday and it was really funny he was talking about his testimony of the church.  He was talking about one of the talks in sacrament meeting about staying strong and the speaker talked about less active members. And brother Don, if someone got baptized and then left the church, then they don't understand the doctrine, they don't understand the church.  We were like ya that is right.  That is something that is really unique about brother don because understands the doctrine so well and I honestly feel that we have hardly done anything, he searches to find, and we are just there to answer questions. 

I love being here.  I really don't want this to end.

Well we are off to the start of a busy week.  Exchanges start up again and it is just a long sprint to the finish. 

-Sister Richins

June 16

Dear Family and Friends, 

Wow, how the time passes.  We just finished another transfer this past week.  And I am staying in Bacon for another transfer, which makes me wonder if this will be my last area of the mission!!!! Hopefully, I love this area so much and am so happy to stay here with my companion. 

So we had an good week.  Besides the fact that we almost got attacked in our apartment by this moth/locust things.  It was quite the experience.  On Friday night we noticed all this flying things swarming around the light post close to our apartment.  We went into our apartment and turned on the light and before you knew it they were all trying to get to the light inside our apartment.  They found any little hole they could find.  We were running to close all the windows, but they still found their way in.  It was quite an experience, you could here them hitting the windows just trying to get in. But don't worry we did survive and we all was fine.  

So this was the last week we had exchanges in Sorsogon.  I was with Sister Lesa from Orem, UT.  She is absolutely hillarious and we had so much fun together. It reminded me just how fun missionary work is.   I love going on exchanges because you learn so many things, so that you can really learn how to become a great missionary! I got to work with Sister Lesa in her area and we taught a lot of less actives. Trying to help them build their faith to come back into the fold.  

We also were able to work hard in our area this week. We were really able to see investigators start to progress. Which is so great.  We had a special district conference saturday and yesterday and brother Don came to the Saturday session.  Sister Gloria the one that I told you we met one day when she came home from work early without knowing why is really progressing.  She is so funny she has a hard time seeing the words in the book of mormon, but she still reads.  I am so happy to finally see some of all our finding efforts start to turn into progressing investigators.

We also had a lot of new investigators too! We did a lot of tracting and tracting.  We also say well President Guanzon says we need 200 street contracts to get one baptism so we just keep going and keep on finding.  That is our biggest chanllenge right now.  We have a lot of new investigators, but we are struggling to help them become progressing investigators.  

So for all you back home remember that missionaries live on refferals because that is the most successful way of missionary work.  Don't forget to pray for a missionary experience today so that you can share you testimony to someone today.  It may not be a non member at all, but maybe a less active that has strayed from the fold.  We need them all back to the fold.  

I mentioned eariler that we had a special district conference.  It was a little different we started with the district president speaking here locally and then they had a live broadcast from Salt Lake City.  Elder Cook spoke and Brother Davies of the presiding bishopbric as well as Sister McKonkie.  I guess it was a special Northern Philippines Conference for all those in the Northern Philippines.  They gave some really great talks about the family.  Sister McKonkie talked about the significance of marriage and families.  Which is actally really significant because here in the phlippines marriage is not a super important part of the culture.  It is acceptable just to live in without getting married.  She talked about incorrect tranditions and really strengthening families in the church in the philippines.

  Elder Cook talked about not living on borrowed light which was really interesting.  He talked about the celestial kingdom is compared to a sun because it produces its own light the terrestial kingdom is compared to a moon becuase it lives on borrowed light from the sun.  He was pretty bold that we can't live on borrowed light we need to constantly strengthen our testimonies of the gospel.

Well it has been a great week.  The time is going way to fast.... I was like this past transfer has been the fastest transfer ever. 

Well have a great day and week! 

-Sister Richins

June 9

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this week has been so busy I hardly had time to breath!

We started off the week on Tuesday at MLC in Legazbi.  It is always so great to help the mission.  We talked a lot about mission rules and really tracking the progress of each companionship. We talked about working with the leaders in our wards and branches too.  It was as always very inspiring.

And in no time we put all those things into effect because on Wednesday we had exchanges with Sister Flake and Sister Nortarte.  I got to be companions with Sister Flake again! It was so exciting.  We had such a great time thinking about all the fun times we had together when we were companions.  We worked in my area while her trainee and Sister Amato worked in her area. It was crazy, Sister Flake is now training so it was like now you are training.  It was really great.  She is so great.  We talking about what it is like being a trainer and things.

On Friday we had zone training and then we went to Gubat to have exchanges there. In case you wanted to know Gubat means forest, so we went to the forest to have exchanges!  I was with Sister Hafoka from Tonga.  It was good too.  You learn so much in exchanges.

We got back on Saturday with enough time to do weekly planning and teach a few appointments and then it was Sunday again!  In total we only worked in our area 3 days, but we worked hard. That is the sacrifice of being a leader, but it is so great to be able to help others reach their potential and to learn from them. It is really great to see the blessings that are coming to our area because we are striving to be obedient.

When Sister Flake and I were on exchanges we went to Sister Gloria's house, she was the one that we taught two weeks ago, who had come home from work because she felt that someone would come and visit.  That first visit we had given her a Book of Mormon.  When we taught her this week, she had read the chapter we gave her in the Book of Mormon and said even though she has a hard time seeing the pages because she really needs reading glasses she wants to read the Book of Mormon. I showed her how she can use a small glass drinking cup and a little water as a magnifying glass so that she can read the Book of Mormon.  She was so excited- that is true faith there, and the power of the Book of Mormon. She promised that she would come to church, but something came up unexpectedly, but hopefully next week!

Well I can't think that everything is going way to fast. Before you know it I will just be telling stories about the times I have here in the Philippines.

Well take care!
Sister Richins

June 2

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to the month of June!

This week was challenging but rewarding. I think it is really funny.  Because everything in missionary work leads up to Sunday.  We teach and you teach and find, and then comes Sunday.  Sometimes you go and pick up investigators and then you wait to see who will come to church.  Sometimes those tense seconds on Sunday are the worst.  This week during weekly planning session.  I was like how can we help these precious souls progress.  We were just struggling to help investigators attend church. We started our fast on Saturday and I was just fasting that we could help people attend church and progress.  On Sunday, we waited and waited and then finally 15 minutes into sacrament meeting Brother Don shows up. I was so shocked.  He had just expressed his concern to us about how he had studied to became a pastor in the catholic church and had started a small church where they live. But there was brother Don.  It was really exciting, you could really see a difference in him, to experience church.  After we asked how church was he said it was good and next week he was going to bring his whole family.  Blessing.

Well that was the end of the week, but the other part of the week was great too.  We had exchanges with the other sisters in Bacon.  I was with Sister Estrada, she is from the part of the Philippines where the new temple is being built.  She was really fun to work with and we had a great time. I worked in her area. We were walking maybe 8:30 at night and he started talking to this boy that was like 18 that was just sitting and smoking a cigarette on the street.  But Sister Estrada was great and started talking to him.  He wasn't really interesting, but he said his sister might.  So we went to his house and taught his older sister.  Sometimes when they don't look at all interested you never know, so that is why we talk to everyone!

We also had zone conference on Friday.  It was really great, any time to learn from President Guanzon is really great.  The workshop for zone conference was about companionship study, It was a little different kind of workshop, but it was really helpful, how we can make companionship study more effective and making our planning more effective. A good day really starts off with a good companionship study.  It was a great conference and I learned so much.  I am trying to sprint to the finish, strive to be exactly obedient and work hard.

This week should be exciting.  We just realigned the areas in Bacon so that it was more equal in the areas closest to the chapel, so this week we are in a sense opening an area.  We are also going to try to use the book of Mormon to really help our investigators progress.

I have talked so much about how great the branch leaders are in this branch because they really are.  They strive to magnify their calling.  We had a meeting with the branch presidency and we talked about something the Branch is working on to save the rising generation.  They are tracking the Young adults and the Youth and making sure that no one gets left behind. The missionaries and the branch members are one in this.  President Desuyo said we are a team to really help them become truly converted.  Part of the plan is to have them work with the missionaries more, so they can share their testimony and thus be strengthened.

Well I hope everything is going well for all of you.  I love being a missionary, I love it.

-Sister Richins

May 26

Dear Family and Friends,

Well we are approaching the last week of May.  The time goes so fast.  It is hard to think of buy as school comes to a close over there, Everyone is getting ready to go back to school this week.

Not going to lie it was a little difficult week, we had to drop a lot of investigators.  Sometimes the outside influences of family members and friends is really hard for people.  Sometimes it is just a hard part of missionary work, even when people have really great experiences and they just can't withstand some social temptations.  It just reminds me of the quote from Elder Jeffery R Holland that said that of course missionary work is not easy, it was never easy for the author of Salvation, even our savior Jesus Christ.  He also said that Missionaries and investigators will have to feel a little of what the Savior felt.  That is how we come to know our savior.

But other than a few disappointments we did have a good week in Bacon. We had one investigator sister Rose Ann.  We have been teaching her for a while.  She was a referral from Sister Alma Carrido when she was an investigator.  She knows that Book of Mormon is true and loves reading it, but has just been so shy to come to church.  She lives really close to our apartment so we have tried 3 times to pick her up for church, but is is says next time, next time.  So on Saturday they branch has a picnic dinner really close to her house.  We decided to see if she would come to the picnic with us.  We went to get her, but she said she was too shy because she wasn't a member yet. We we went to the picnic and enlisted the help of the members.  Sister Alma volunteered so Sister Alma and three of the Relief society sisters went to Rose Ann's house to get her.  She was still shy so she she sent her kids instead, when they got to the picnic her little daughter decided that she didn't want to come, so sister Alma walked her back to her house and then when she came back we saw Rose Ann with her kids and Sister Alma.  It was so great.  The Branch was so quick to fellowship and was like okay I can come to church.  This is why we need members!

We also found this investigator this week that was really prepared by the Lord, she has a lot of trials in her life and has been having a really hard time, she was suppose to be at work, but for some reason she felt that she should stay home and they we came and she said it was like and answer to prayers.  She was so happy, we gave her a book of Mormon and taught her to pray.  She was like I didn't know how to pray sister. She was so happy.  It is these moments that make me so glad that I get to be an instrument in God's hands.

-Sister Richins

May 19

Dear Family and Friends,

 Well this was just a fantastic week.  We started off with MLC on Tuesday and ended with the Brother and Sister Carrido's baptism on Saturday.  We are still on the big summer heat wave, even with the sun, we keep on moving forward.  The fan is a forever friend these days.  But maybe in June everything will cool down when school starts again.  That is crazy school will start here when everyone is getting out over there.  

So MLC of course was just so great, we always learn so much.  The assistants had a workshop about lesson planning and making our lesson planning more effective, but focusing on the baptismal interview questions and teaching to commitments.  It was really helpful. Lesson planning is so important because the spirit works with us when we have a carefully planned lesson.

On Saturday we had a great baptism.  It was a lot different than other baptisms that I have been to here in the Philippines. Other baptisms were great too, but none have been as spiritual as this one.     It was truly a spiritual experience for them. We were all in a tricycle coming home and sister Alma was next to me and was so happy, she was like wow it feels so good to be baptized. Everyone in the room could feel the spirit bear witness of this scared ordinance.  The best part for me was when Alma and Ronnie bore their testimonies.  That family means so much to me, they are so special.  They have such strong testimonies. We are working to teach their two kids that were not baptized with them to that they can be complete and next year can enter the temple as a family to be sealed.

On Sunday President Guanzon came to church in Bacon.  It was really exciting for all the members.  It has been something that President Guanzon has been trying to do in all the branches in the mission.  He comes to church and then does a missionary fireside afterwards.  It was really great.  He spoke in Sacrament meeting and was impressed, he even though the meeting house was humble by the world's standard, it was full of the spirit.  He talked about the simple commandment of obedience and particularly tithing. After the block, he gave a great fireside.  He focused on hastening the work of salvation by members and missionaries working together.  He had put together some numbers and showed to the members that if they had the same goals as the missionaries than they could be a ward in one year and in 7 years a stake! It got them really exciting and hopefully it will really help our area here.

During the fireside President Guanzon talked about 1. Retention, 2. Activation, 3. Conversion. When he was talking about activation President Guanzon gave the statistics of Bacon Branch,  there are 200 members and the sacrament attendance is usually around 50.  That means there are 150 that are lost and need to be rescued.  It was then that the newly baptized and confirmed brother Ronnie Carrido asked, but why do they leave? I have really pondered that question yesterday and today.  Why do they leave?

The answer to that question is something that I have pondered my whole mission.  Some say they are offended, some say that the church is too far, the reasons could go on and on.  But the ultimate is that they didn't have enough faith.  They testimonies were not strong enough when trials came.  Brother Ronnie could not understand how anyone could leave the joy that they had found and hopefully that made him make up his mind that he is never going to leave.

The rest of the week was great too.  We were able to find a lot of new investigators.  One new investigator Sister Janice, we gave a book of moron to her the first visit and when we came back she was already in 1 Nephi 15 and wanted to know more. We also have another new investigator Brother Nilo, who when we taught him was talking about all these things that he felt were wrong in his church.  He was like they don't do things like Jesus Christ.  It was like the perfect questions, and powerful when we shared the restoration of the fullness of the gospel.  We also have many more new investigators with a unique story.  The Lord is hastening his work and I am so thankful to be a part of this.

Of course don't think that everything is just perfect here, missionary work has a lot of challenges too, but days like Saturday make it all worth it!

Well it should be another great week! Here are some pictures from the baptism.

-Sister Richins

May 12

Dear Family and Friends,

Things are going great in Bacon. It is a new transfer, my new companion is Sister Amato, from Wellington, New Zealand.  We are now both the Sister Training Leaders for Sorsogon Zone.   She is great.  It is exciting to get new eyes on an area.

We are doing great.  We are continuing to find and find.  So that was exciting.  We do have one Brother Freddie that we have been teaching on and off because a lot of times we don't have a sister present, but he came to church on Sunday so that is exciting.  We also have this really great investigator, Ann Rose, who was a referral from sister Carrido.  She told us this week about her experience with the book of Mormon and how she felt when she prayed. She was like it is probably feels great to go to church too, but didn't know if she was going to be able to make it.  But than we asked if we could pick her up for church and she completely changed.  She was happy to go to church with us.  It is just goes to show that it is really important to pick up investigators to come to church so that they don't feel shy.

So we are starting to harvest some of those seeds we planted the past two transfers.   As always it is an exciting to be a missionary at this time. I am learning so much.  Tomorrow we go to Legazbi for MLC so as always that is an exciting time to learn from President Guanzon.

-Sister Richins

May 5

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to the month of MAY! Time continues to fly by.  

 Well this week finished up the transfer, and Sister Iqbal will be transferring. I am really sad to have her go.  She means so much to me.  I love you her so so much and I feel really close to her.  It is always hard to get a new companion after you understand them so well.  Well that is the way that missions go.  It is now a time to learn and grow even more.  I am so thankful for the past three months we had together.  

This week was exciting.  We were finally able to teach this less active that is always hiding from us when we go and visit her.  She has a strong testimony, she was just offended and doesn't want to come back to the church.  Hopefully we will be able to continue to visit her and help her come back to church.  

We also have been teaching this Part Member family, the wife is a member, but the father, Don, is not.  It is interesting to teach him because he is really versed in the bible.  He studied to be a priest in the catholic church.  He is really interested in the Book of Mormon and loves to read it-in English! Slowly slowly with a lot of prayer he will understand.  I see so much potential in him, he could become such a power leader in the church.  

On Sunday, it was fast Sunday, and Brother Romy and Alma both bore their testimony about how much their life has been changed, and how they want their teenage daughters to join the church too.  It is like they are already are member.  They are doing so well and after a lot they are finally able to abstain from word and wisdom and will be baptized in May! 

Well anyway this week will be a week of change and growth! I look forward to talking to you all next week.  

-Sister Richins

April 28

Dear Family and Friends,

Well we had a great District activity at this beautiful beach.  I will try to send you pictures next week.  But things are going great.  I am loving it here in Bacon.  The branch is really starting to support the missionary work here.  

This week was we had exchanges with the Gubat Sisters on Wednesday.  I went to Gubat with Sister Atienza.  She was so sweet to me.  It was a lot of fun.  We had a great day.  We did a lot of tracting and tracting, but still managed to teach 7 lessons.  So there your a lot of miracles. We taught one of their great Recent Converts.  He was so cute.  He is 61 years old.  The sisters were talking to his wife one day while she was walking.  When she came home.  Brother Carilito asked who she had talked to that day.  And she said she had talked to the Mormon sister Missionaries.   He said that he knew that she had talked to someone special that day because he had a dream about it.  He was so excited and is a golden recent convert.  He wants to go to the temple and be sealed to his wife and family. He has such a strong testimony of the gospel.  It is so much fun to go on exchanges and meet all these great people and work with all these great sisters. 

We continue to teach the Carrido family and brother is trying so hard to give up word of wisdom problems.  It was a really powerful lesson this week.  He said it had been years since the bible was shut in their house, but they are so grateful that it has been opened again in such a glorious way. 

I realized though on exchanges how much I love my Bacon, as much as you can love another's area for one day, I really love me beloved Bacon and the people here and my wonderful, sweet, companion.

Well we are finishing up the transfer this week, we will see what happens here.   

-Sister Richins

April 21

Dear Family and Friends,

What a great week. So first off it was holy week so everyone was really really busy. On Thursday they had a Parade depicting Christ's death.  Easter here is pretty non existent.  All the Catholics here will get up at 3:00 in the morning and walk down the street as symbolism of the Resurrection of Christ on Sunday morning.  

Our work this week has been great.  We went on exchanges on Wednesday.  I was with Sister Abasanta from Cebu City, Philippines.  She lives 30 minutes away from the Cebu temple.  She has 17 kids in her family! They are all members and 9 have served missions and 3 are currently serving! Isn't that just crazy.  Anyway though she is just super sweet and so happy.  We worked in my area.  We had come back from one of our far areas and had about an hour before 9:00 so we went tracting close to our apartment.  Of course we had already tracted this many times before, but we both had a prayer in our heart that we would be able to teach one more lesson before the night was over. Finally, after being turned down a lot of times, we started talking to a lady on the street.   She was saying that she had finished her dinner early because she felt that she would have a visitor that night.  She let us in and we taught her about our message. She told us about her life and when she lost her youngest daughter.  There was almost tears in her eyes as she talked about how she was mad at God, but she was so happy to talk to us. We testified of God's love and his perfect plan for us. Miracles happen all the time.  

On Thursday we had interviews with Preisdent.  It is always so great to learn from him.  He is so great.  He talked about how he wants us to knock on every door within 1 km of the church house. Of course the gospel he said is for everyone, but we don't want to baptism into inactivity, we went people to be able to walk to church.  He gave the example of my beloved Bulan how we walked everyday and everyone was so close that they could walk to church.  He was really impressed at the work that we did there.  In my interview we talked a lot about Bulan and how we could help all areas become like Bulan.  Where the people have so much respect for the missionaries and the people know the missionaries schedule.  

Other big thing president talked about was giving a baptismal date in the first lesson.  He even challenged us to give a baptismal date while we are talking to people in the street.  He told us to get the conversation to talking about following Jesus and then invite them.  If we truly love these people we will not be scared of rejection. 

Inviting in the first lessons is so wonderful, because it shows people why we are there, we are not there to just study the bible we are there to bring them closer to Christ.  The spirit works and they accept.  I can see the difference in the investigators we invite in the first lesson usually are more serious and progress faster. 

We are still working to help Brother Romy gain enough faith to overcome problems with the Word of Wisdom.  It is so funny, he has so much desire to change, but doesn't want to lose his friends.  He has two mindsets.  That is sometimes the cost of discipleship, to stand up for beliefs.  I know that he will do it, it just will take a little time. 

Well have a great week!

-Sister Richins

April 7

Dear Family and Friends,

It sounds like conference was great, everyone's email is talking about it.  I am excited to watch it this week.  The branch president isn't sure if we will be able to watch it in our little meetinghouse or not.  Hopefully we will be able to, if not we will go to the Sorsogon District Center and watch it. So I am looking forward to that later this week.

So we had a great week.  On Tuesday was MLC so Sister Natividad the other STL in Sorsogon went to Legazbi.  It was a great meeting.  I just love learning from President Guanzon.  It is always so inspiring.  President and the Assistants did a workshop about finding and particularly the faith to find.  It was really great.  They talked about acting in faith to find-staying out until the very last minute of the day finding.  It was really inspiring.

The rest of the week went great.  We were able to find a lot of investigators.  On Wednesday we were walking to an appointment and we stopped to talk to this lady outside her house.  We got to talking and she said how she was the cousin of President Roman.  (Remember president roman was the district President in Bulan that died and we went to his funeral).  She said that she had been taught by the missionaries before, but she would lose contact because sometimes she would go to manila to work.  We came back on Saturday and were able to teach her whole family and give them a baptismal date.

Well more great weeks to come.

-Sister Richins

March 31

Dear family and Friends,

Well it is the last day of March, Where has the time gone? April
starts tomorrow! It is the summer season here, we are feeling the heat
and everyone is out of school! We are working to contact more people,
now that everyone is less busy.  Last week all the schools had
graduation so we had a lot of dinner appointments which was a change
because we never have dinner appointments.  Whenever there is an
occasion here, they always have a big dinner and invite all their
friends and family.  It is actually a good finding activity, so that
was fun, and lots of yummy philippino food.

We had one investigator an women named Chona that we met tracting on
my first day in this area finally come to church! It was so great.
She said that she had somewhere to go after sacrament meeting, but she
just didn't want to leave, so she stayed for the whole three hours.
 Hopefully now she will really start to progress.  And her husband
will come next week. Of course we continue to teach the Corrido
family, and they are excited for their baptism next month.

We also have some other investigators that we are working with.  We
have had to contact all the investigators that we found last week and
teach them again. We also have a lot of less actives that we teach in
this area.  Less actives are a huge challenge.  I have heard so many
stories of why they can't come to church.  It's too hot, It was
raining, but there is always a deeper reason.  It is different to
teach less actives, but it is all the same purpose we are inviting
them to come back unto Christ.  They know these things they just need
to increase their faith and testimony.

You have to take a look at this (the article I attached here from the
May 2012 issue of the Liahona entitled Funds help members to the
temple), I have told you that Sister Iqbal is from Pakistan right? She
showed me this article from the liahona earlier to day.  It is her
cousin that introduced her family to the church.  It is about his
experience of going to the temple.  The closest temple for them is the
Manilia temple, which is really far away.  I just can't even imagine
that.  It makes me think a lot of how blessed we are that we have
temples so close.  We have 2 temples in our city.  That is so crazy.
There are some members that wait a lifetime to enter the temple.

Also this week we went to Legazbi to the Patriarch's house so that
Sister Iqbal could receive her Patriachtical blessing.  It was a
really special experience for her.  She is actually really cool.  She
has been through so much.  She has only been a member for 2 years. It
is really interesting to learn about what life is like there in the
church.

Well this week should be exciting we are working to keep the energy
and enthusiasm high and find, find, find, teach, teach, teach.

Have a great week!

-Sister Richins

March 24

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it is another great week in Bacon. Transfer announcements came and Sister Iqbal and I will stay together for another transfer.  I know that we were going stay together last week because President told me that he had never seen Sister Iqbal progress as much as she did this transfer.

Well weather here is starting to get really hot.  In fact the this is last week of school for everyone.  All the kids are getting ready for summer break.  The school year is different here.  Summer Break is from now until June.  So all the kids are getting excited and all the college students have finals with week.  I am excited because then it means that next week everyone will be home during the day.  Also everyone is getting ready for holy week, apparently that is a really big deal here.


We had a really great week.  We were super busy, but it was great.  The best thing was that Brother Corrido finally came to church-with his whole family.  He had been promising and promising, but finally he came to church! He said it was great.  We taught the Corrido family on Wednesday night and it was a really great lesson it was really interesting.  In Preach my gospel it says that no one can not the true gospel or truth without prayer.  It was funny because I was studying that earlier that day and then we went to teach them that night.  We were going to teach him the Word of Wisdom, but the first question he had was "If I am going to change religions, I want to make sure that I have no doubts in my heart."  We testified about the power of prayer-that is how you know about the truth and there is no other way to know the truth of the gospel.  I think that sometimes we just take prayer for granted, but it is really the only way to know.  It was a really powerful lesson, with the Branch President there.  We went back on Saturday night and he said he is still waiting for an answer, but says he felt that he needed to come to church too in order to know.  So that is great! I love that family so much.

On Wednesday we had exchanges with the other sisters in Bacon Branch.  I was with Sister Roroa from Kirabati.  It brought make a lot of memories of training when Sister Oberia was my companion.  It was great and I learned lots.  It was a really great experience, because we had finished in our far area that we were at by 6:15 pm and we had a appointment with the Corrido family at 7:00.  We had to quickly run to our apartment to pick up something and I was kind of tired and hungry and thought to myself lets just take a little snack break before our appointment.  But I said no, we will go tracting.  So we did and the second house we went to let us right in and we were able to teach a husband and wife and we have a return appointment with this week. The times when I don't feel like tracting is always the best time.

It is so great to see the miracles that the Lord puts in our path. So I am exciting to see how everything plays out this week. I can see our area book filling up with names and it is just wonderful to see all these little miracles everyday.

-Sister Richins

March 17

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this week was interesting, it was a little rough in the middle, but last night was wonderful.  So on Tuesday we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council).  It was really great.  I just love learning from President Guanzon.  He is so amazing.  He talked about how to improve our teaching skills so that people will say about us what they said about Jesus Christ.  "No man has ever taught like he did, he taught as one having authority." He just talked about jumping straight to the doctrine, bear powerful testimony and then MOVE ON.  Move on means leave the house, and let them ponder the message that we taught them.  We also had a great council meeting where we talked about the needs of the mission.  It was different being on the creating side of the mission vision.  We added two new Standard of Excellence one for investigators attend sacrament meeting and Investigators with a Baptismal Date.  It will make us stretch, but it really help us.  Afterwards we had interviews with President and we talked about specific challenges and strengths in our zone.  It was really inspiring too.

The rest of the week was great too.  We had a great time teaching, and finding.  One of the things that we talked about in MLC was finding families.  How we should focus our street contracting to Men with families and then when you teach the family, teach everyone but focus on the head of the household.  It is so true, the church is for families, so that is what we tried to do this week.  I think about when we first started teaching the Corrido Family.  At first we were just teaching sister Alma, she was progressing, but once we started teaching her husband, that is when that family really started to progress.  When we invited them to be baptized, it was Alma that looked to her husband and asked if that is what they were going to do. The family is really under attack, I hear news about it from home and I see it here too.  Families are not super close here, and it is really sad. But the gospel blesses families so much. It was so special when we committed the Corrido Family to be baptized, brother said YES! YES! with my whole family!

I love the Corrido family so much! I love teaching them so much.  Something that has been on the back of our minds as we have taught is the Word of Wisdom, we hopefully we will be able help him increase his faith and be able to abstain from those things.  I am so certain that brother will be the next branch president, we just absorbs everything we teach him.

The other thing we talked about in MLC was how president had this vision that we teach lots of people around our apartment so that we can stay out until 9:00 at night teaching.  So he challenged us to talk to all our neighbors, which is what we did.  We actually had a lot of success and we have return appointments with almost all of them.


We also had an inspiring District Conference on Sunday with President and Sister Guanzon.They are so great.  Sister Guanzon was talking about hastening the work, and we have to be bold as members and say "oh yes I am a mormon and you should be too."  President Guanzon was really bold too about Member Missionary Work.  He said you need to fill the missionary planners.  Really plainly he said everyone around you all your neighbors and friends that are 8 years old or older that are not members can not return to our heavenly father-They need the gospel we need to introduce them to the missionaries and invite them.

I have to share this experience that I learned this week.  So on Wednesday I could tell that I was catching a little cold so on Thursday I didn't feel the best, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to teach, so I went out and taught the whole day we came back home at night and my voice was pretty horse, but at least I got to teach.  Then the next day I woke up and I was feeling a lot better, but I couldn't talk at all.  No voice at all.  So I just had to sit silent in Zone Training, and turns out it is really central to teaching to be able to talk. So we couldn't teach for two days because I didn't have a voice.  It was the WORST! What is the the lesson that I learned.  Don't run faster than you have strength.  . Now we are back to normal I have my voice back and we can TEACH!

Well I hope everything goes well at home!

-Sister Richins

March 10

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this week on Thursday marks the my one year mark on the mission.  It is crazy to think that a year ago I entered the MTC, I didn't know any Tagalog, and I didn't know what to expect.  Now a year later I can't believe how much I have grown.  I have learned so much, I have been changed by some amazing people.  My testimony has been strengthened so much, and I love every second here.  I am going to work hard up until the last day I leave here.  I am so thankful for the choice I made to serve a mission.

This week has been good.  Slowly slowly my companion's language is improving.  She knows how to make basic sentences so we are making progress.  We are working the the doctrines of the lessons so that she can teach more and more.

We had a good week. We were able to find quite a few new investigators which was really great.  I can see so many miracles in this area!

Last week I told you about the Corrido Family. The mom, Alma, and her 2 boys have come to church twice now, and her husband was almost so certain he was going to come to church and then he cancelled right at the last minute.  He still has a concern that we just haven't solved yet.  Brother Remy though is my absolute favorite to teach.  He just absorbs everything.  We know we can only focus on one principle at the time, because he wants to understand it perfectly.  The taught about the plan of Salvation and he was just so amazed.  He was so happy to understand the purpose of life.  Then he was concerned about repentance and baptism. It is just so rewarding when you see the light of understanding when he understands these principles that he has been searching for so long.

We had exchanges this week with the Gubat sisters.  It was really exciting.  Sister Alabanza came to here to Bacon and worked with me.  It was really great.  I learned a lot. She is a great missionary.

So last week in our coordination meeting with the Branch Presidency, was so funny.  One of the members of the Branch President started talking about how the missionaries ought to use public sermons as a way to attract more people to the church.  He went on and on about how we wanted to have a big public event and the missionaries could preach.  It was so funny.  The Branch president tried to explain that maybe that wouldn't be the best idea, because that is not how the Lord has revealed now, but he just wouldn't stop.  He said that all the other churches do it here so it is really effective. on and on finally the branch president was able to reign back in the meeting.  So who knows we might start a whole public sermon thing.


Well I love this area.  It is really great. Defiantly the prettiest area- right next to the beach, we get a nice sea breeze in the morning, which is definitely a plus.

Have a great week,

-Sister Richins

February 24

Dear Family Friends,

We had a really small group at church yesterday.  Only 35 in the little meetinghouse.  That was because it was raining all day yesterday.  Literally all day.  Turns out rain is a great excuse for not coming to church here.  At church, I was playing the opening hymn on the little electric piano and then the power went out, or as they call it here "Brown out." The power stayed out for all the meetings.  The little old meeting house, has a lot of holes in the roof. It was quite the sight watching all the buckets fill up with water. We would have to empty them throughout the meeting.  But you know it was just one of those things that you say the church is still true-even in the old building house that we meet in.

It was kind of a rough week. We are still are working to get our area to the standard of excellence.  I don't know  this week has just been a hard one for   me.  I am not sure why, but sometimes I just feel really alone because it is hard to communicate with my companion. I am just trying to figure out how best to do help this area and our companionship.

We were going to go on exchanges on Wednesday with the Sorsogon Sisters, but then the Finance Elder called and said that we needed to go to Legazpi so that Sister Iqbal could sign some forms she needed for her exit clearance.  So we spent the day traveling to and from Legazbi.

We did finally find a apartment.  It is a  nice bright pick house right next to the beach.  So now we will be able to enjoy a nice sea breeze as we study each morning.  I hate figuring out all this apartment stuff.  We spent a lot of time on the phone with the finance elder to figure out the contract and things.  Our new apartment is even equipped with a catholic idol.  So just in case you wanted that.  There is one inside and as a bonus they also have one outside.

We have such a busy week.  The Philippines area president is coming for a mission tour and so we have leadership training tomorrow, zone conference/mission tour Wednesday and moving day on Thursday.  So maybe we will have a little time to do some missionary work.


We also had a great week teaching and things.  I was a great week.

-Sister Richins

March 3

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow I can't believe that it is already March. That is so crazy.  This week was a lot better, thank you so much for the prayers!

We had a great Mission Tour with the 2nd counselor of the Philippines Area President, Elder Aldem, from New Zealand.  It was really inspiring.  He talked about using time effectively as a missionary.  He talked about how we should come home everyday super exhausted because we worked so hard, and then we you get off the plane when we come home, our parents shouldn't be able to recognize us and they should tell us how awful we look. But he said you will feel great and your parents should be able to recognize that.  It was really inspiring, just making sure that we don't waste a single second of our time here on the mission.

There is actually a song in the hymnbook that I have come to love here on the mission it is on pg 266 I don't know if have ever heard it, but it is a really cool song about missionary work. It is called The Time is Far Spent:

The time is far spent; there is little remaining
To Publish glad tidings by sea and by land
Then hasten ye heralds;go forward proclaiming;
Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven's at Hand

Be fixed in your purpose, for Satan will try you;
The weight of you calling he perfectly knows.
Your path may be thorny, but Jesus is nigh you
His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose.
His arm is sufficient tho demons oppose

It is just one of my new favorite hymns!

Anyway though, Elder Aldem also talked about becoming Master Teachers and how to really develop teaching skills.  He explained that becoming Master Gospel Teachers is a Life-long pursuit. He talked a lot about teaching skills in the leadership training too.  He talked about powerful doctrine statements, use scriptures -help investigators dig into the scriptures, bear powerful testimony, and then when the spirit is the strongest close the lesson, so that they have time to ponder when we leave.  It was really helpful.

So we are teaching this one family the Corrido Family, they are so cute.  For the past two weeks we had only taught the mom and the kids, but this week on Thursday the father joined us.   Brother Corrido has always read the bible and knows the bible really really well.  But he says that he always felt though that something was missing.  He went to a lot of churches, but there was something missing in all of them.  He first asked some questions to us Who was Joseph Smith, What is the Book of Mormon, and What is the nature of God.  Of course we were happy to answer those questions. We gave him a Book of Mormon and said I am going to study this. And when we left he was reading it. We taught them again last night about the plan of salvation.  It was so cool to see his excitement, he asked if we could come back every night to teach them.  Sister and her kids came to church, but brother had work, but next week he said he will be there.


This week really has been a lot better. I am teaching my companion Tagalog how they taught us in the MTC repetition.  I don't think she will understand all the rules and stuff, but if she says sentences over and over she will be able to teach more and more. She absolutely loves me because she is finally understand and learning Tagalog.  I won't feel that I have done anything.  I just want her so much to be able to teach and enjoy her time here in the mission, rather than just enduring.


Oh I have to mention this funny story that happened on Wednesday when the APs were helping us move apartments.  We were moving one of the desks and then there was this giant Spider or Gagamba.  It was so funny  to see these two american elders totally freaking out.  They immediately decided that they needed to kill it.  So they took a stick and chased the spider around the room for 10 minutes until they killed it.  I just thought it was so funny.  I was always told just to leave the big spiders alone because they get angry.  Haha anyway it was super funny.

Well I am learning to love this area.  It really is a great area.  I know that they Lord sent me here for a purpose with my companion right now.  Even though sometimes it may be challenging. I know that the Lord is here with me.

-Sister Richins

Feb 17

Dear Family and Friends,

Well transfers happened this week, I am now in Bacon.  Now I know what you are thinking.  You are thinking of the food, but that is not how you say it.  It is like Ba as in what a sheep says and then con like an ice cream cone.  And no they are not famous for their bacon here, but actually well known for their fish.

My new companion is Sister Iqbal she is from Pakistan.  She actually came out here the same time as me.  I think she is still just really frustrated because she still doesn't know how to speak Tagalog very well.  She is so diligent though.  It actually is kind of hard because she doesn't understand me when I speak Tagalog so I speak it in English and she still doesn't understand me.  So it is just some of the challenges that we have.

 Also I am sure you may know that they have the position of Sister Training Leader in the missions now, it is like a zone leader, but for sisters.  Sister Natividad and I were made new STL for Sorsogon zone.  Usually in most missions the Sister Training Leaders are suppose to be companions, just like zone leaders, but because the mission is still growing and things, and  Language barrier in  a few zones like sorsogon it is not that way.  So Sister Natividad is companions with sister Flake and then I am with Sister Iqbal.   We get to go on exchanges with all the sisters in the zone.

It was different coming into an area that was already opened.  I am however, the first American Sister this branch has.  Everyone still thinks I am so beautiful. They call me an actor here.  So I am in Bacon Branch, there are not very many members and actually they don't even have a chapel.  They only have a rented meeting house.  I remember when the Stake President told me when I was set apart not to worry about the circumstances that investigators come to church, but just remember that the spirit is the teacher.  How true that is.  Even though the circumstances are super humble the spirit is so strong in this branch.  On Sunday there were 53 people in attendance.  They say when they reach 60 consistently they can petition for a chapel.

I feel that I have already learned so much from this branch.  They are so humble, and so so loving.  This are probably the friendliest people I have met.  And they have great leadership.  We went to the Ward council meeting on Saturday night and it was so cool to see the humble branch president that really understands the use of council.  They started talking about some of the less actives and why they stopped coming to church and how it all starts when they stopped reading the scriptures, and he asked everyone if they had any experiences with scripture reading and how it helps them in their life.   It was a really spiritually edifying meeting.

So I forget how hard it is to transfer. It was hard this week.  I just loved all the people in Bulan so much and it was hard not to always think about them.  But I am starting to love this area.  I keep on praying that I will love this area as much as I loved the dear people in Bulan.  I know that I will, it is just hard when you don't see it yet.  But I have a lot of faith that he Lord's hand will be able to help this area continue to progress.  The teaching pool is really small here, but we are making sure we were obedient and using our time well and we have found quite a few new investigators.  We are still working to get our area up to the standard of Excellence, but I know that the Lord will help us reach our goals.

Bacon is kind of a mountain town it is right up in the mountains, next to the beach.  It is a lot different than Bulan.  Our area is a lot of rice fields and we hike a lot- lots of hills.  It is really super pretty, and the people are super sweet.  So I get a lot of exercise. It was a little rough to adapt to the accent of the people here. Also I don't understand the Bicol here because it is a different dialect of bicol.  So now I have to work on learning Bacon Bicol.  Of course all the people know Tagalog, but it is a 2nd language for them, so it is good if at least I understand it.  It's good though because the kids love to help me.

I hope everything is going well at home. Have a great week everyone.

-Sister Richins

Feb 10 TRANSFERS

Dear Family and Friends,

Well the Transfer Announcements are here and due to a few complications, it has been decided that both Sister Flake and I will be transferred.  It kind of made it a bittersweet moment for the both of us. Also this is going to be a really short Email this week because we have a lot to do today.

We had a great baptismal service on Saturday of Brother Rodel and Brother Ceirel.  They are both so prepared and I am so excited for them.  Rodel is so great last week he worked with us and we are now teaching all his friends.  He knows so many people.  He was so prepared by the Lord and I am so happy that he is so strong.  Brother Ceriel is great too.  He was also so prepared by the Lord.

I am really going to miss this area so much.  I have been here for 6 months and I have learned so much from the members.  I love all of the investigators here and I am going to miss them so much.  Please pray for this area because we are both getting transferred so there will be two new missionaries here.  We are relying a lot on the Branch Mission Leader and the members to help this area progress.  I just hope that the new missionaries will love this area as much as we do.

It will be exciting to know what happens tomorrow, where I am going and who will be my new companion. Change always brings about much growth.  As much as it is hard to say goodbye I know that the Lord is preparing other souls in my next area for the gospel.

Love you all,

-Sister Richins

February 3

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow looks it is February! I think the Groundhog must not have seen its shadow here yesterday because it is super hot now.  It is okay though, I think I have just been a little spoiled lately in the colder weather.  This morning we had a zone activity with President and Sister Guanzon. It was crazy that is the second time in a row that Bulan zone has won.  I just love being around President and Sister Guanzon.  They are so great!

So of course we had a crazy week this past week.  I love sister Flake so much, she has such a strong testimony and passion for the gospel.  She is great.  It will be interesting to see what happens next week with transfers.

So this whole transfer we have been teaching the Casals Family, they probably let us into their house at first because we were two white Americans, but they kept on letting us back.  It is always so crazy when we go there.  When we first started teaching them.  They were okay, not super receptive, just amazed that we could speak Tagalog. They never really progressed very much until finally this week, when they started to read and pray as a family.  Sister Dolores finally said that she read on her own and prayed.  She is still waiting for an answer, but she says she will continue to pray.   The kids on Sunday came to church. Slowly, but surely they will come to understand that this gospel can bring greater blessings than anything else in the world.  Winston and Dolores still haven't come to church, but they are starting to understand, so hopefully the branch can fellowship them and help them come to church.

So I don't know if I won't about it but we have been teaching brother Renatto who was a street contact that we had.  He is seriously so prepared by the Lord.  We taught him about the Book of Mormon and he starting reading it.  Even though he is super super busy with school, he still makes time to read the Book of Mormon every morning after he wakes up before school.  He is a college student, studying criminology.  It was so crazy on Wednesday we taught him about the Word of Widsom and it was so crazy because he had no problems.  Almost every single college ages lalaki here has a problem with something in the Word of Wisdom.  Brother Bunso, our Branch Mission Leader, was working with us and was shaking his head the whole time-like he couldn't even believe it.  Rennatto was truly prepared by the Lord and it is so great that we were able to find him.

Well this week should be exciting Brother Rodel and Brother Ceriel have their baptism on Saturday.  Brother Christian was suppose to be baptized too, pero he is still struggling with a few thing so we postponed it, but it should be good because now Brother Rodel, his best friend, will be able to baptize him in two weeks.  He was a little disappointed, but he is still excited.

Also crazy thing, we taught a lesson in complete English on Saturday.  It was a weirdest thing.  Because here the upper class doesn't use Tagalog, they use English.  We had a refferal from a member of a rich teacher.  We we got to the house she was speaking to all her kids in English and she said she preferred English so we taught it English.  It was so hard to speak so much English. I don't know if we will get to go back, but at least we got to talk to her.

Well it is the start of a new week.  Have a great week.

-Sister Richins

January 27

Hello Family and Friends,

Wow another week has gone by. It has been great.  The weather has
finally decided to warm up,so it is back  to its warm self.  Everyone
is getting ready for the hot season coming up.  So I am super excited
for that. I love this area, it is so great.  I love this branch and I
love all the branch missionaries here.  I keep on praying that I won't
have to leave this area when transfers announcements come next week.


On Friday, President Guanzon came down for zone interviews. It was so
inspiring.  President Guanzon is so great.  He is so humble and I
learn so much from him.  After the interviews he talked to us about
faith in setting goals. He said of course we need to set goals with
names in mind, but always remember the standard of excellence and even
if you don't have a name it back it up with set your goals with the
standard of excellence in mind and have the faith that the Lord will
lead you to those extras.

Rodel is doing so great.  He is such a golden investigator.  He was
truly searching for the truth, but just didn't know where to find it.
He is so excited for his baptism next week and he also really wants to
serve a mission in a year from now.  So that is just great. Rodel is
really funny when we teach him, because he hates commitment
invitations. We will teach him about a commandment and then commit him
to live it and he gives us this look and is like of course I will live
it, that is why you are teaching me right.  It is really funny.

Rodel is the best thing to happen for Christian.  He just needed a
little extra push from a friend.  He is so great.  Yesterday he gave
us a referral and we taught her at his house and he bore his testimony
about the book of mormon and the restoration.  He was so funny, he was
like here is the book of mormon, let me tell you what I learned from
it his week and then he told the story about the tree of life.  It was
so great for him to testify.  I remember when I first got to this area
and Christian was still struggling to get a testimony and it seemed
that he was one of those eternal investigators, but now look at him,
he is doing so great and is testifying how he knows it is true.

We also had a couple new investigators, Bro Nazer.  Bro Nazer was just
a crazy store we met him and invited him to come to church and HE
CAME.  That was like the first.  He was kind of confused, but he had a
good experience and came and played basketball with us this morning.
One of the greatest things that I love in the phlippines is that when
we teach everyone just surrounds us so a lot of people join lessons
and it is a great way to find new investigators.  We see so many
miracles and the Lord's hand his in this work.

We also taught a couple of workers that have been doing some work on
our chapel.  They are from manilia, but are working here because they
are part of a contracted thing and they will go back in a couple
weeks.  Renaldo actually had a baptismal date with the missionaries in
Manila, but left to come here for work.  We taught him a couple times
and invited him to come to church.  It was exciting and he was so
great.  It is so cool to feel the love for these people, even when we
were not the missionaries who taught him, but just to see his faith
and testimony.  He kind of has a crazy story because he is always
moving around to different areas for work, but he always seems to
manage to find the missionaries.  He was talking about all the
missionaries that have taught him.  He will hopefully get baptized
when he gets back home.


-Sister Richins

January 20

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow yet another week gone by, it is so crazy how fast this week went.  It was an exciting week.  We taught a lot and a lot of investigators came to church which was great.

The other sisters in the branch had a baptism on Saturday, and then afterwards there was an area broadcast where they announced the Philippines goals for the year. There goals are to strengthen families, rescue the one, share the gospel, develop the church and save the rising generation.

I am always just in awe of how the Lord's hand is in this work.  I see it everyday.  Rodel and his two cousins came to church on Sunday it was so cool.  He was just so happy.  He also came to the baptism on Saturday and the Area Broadcast that followed.  He is so great and has such a strong testimony.  We taught him about the prophet on Thursday night.  It was a really weird night.  For some reason both Sister Flake and I were really struggling teaching in Tagalog, and he started speaking to us in English.  Turns out he is super good at English, but has just been to shy to speak it with us.  He was really excited when we showed him all the 12 apostles and gave him an Liahona to read about what the prophets have said.  He is actually a huge huge strength to Christian who testimony isn't quite as strong.  Speaking of Christian he is doing great.  Sister Flake and I put a picture of Jesus Christ on his Pedjack so that he could always see it when he was driving to remind him of his commitment.

We had exchanges this week with Sister Papica and Sister Eracho.  I went with Sister Eracho again.  So it was so much fun to be companions again for a day.


We also have a new investigator Brother Renatto.  He came to church on Sunday. We see a lot of potential in him. We are honestly so busy now, especially at nights we don't have time to visit all of them.  Right now we are working to keep on finding new investigators so that we will avoid the elevator effect from happening.  I really really really don't want to leave this area.  I just want to see all our investigators get more involved and be given assignments in the branch.  I know that Rodel and Christian and Ceriel are going to be so great for this branch.

I love our branch so much we played basketball with some members from the branch earlier.  It was a lot of fun. I have so many wonderful memories here.

So I don't know if I talked about Hartzell, but he is an investigator that we have only taught a couple times.  He is 16 and his mom is a less active member.  Sometimes okay all the time he usually tries to hide from us. But I have a lot of faith in him because I had a dream in which he was getting baptized and had a really strong testimony of the book of Mormon and was preparing to go on a mission.  So even though my companion thought that we should give up.  I am determined to help my dream come true.  On Saturday my dream was starting to come true.  He finally read.  We gave him an the story about Alma the Younger to read, and he finally did.  He told us what happened and loved it! And then he actually told us what time we could come back.  He didn't come to church because he is shy to go because he has no friends there, but hopefully this week we can get the young men to invite him to come to church with him.  After that lesson my companion finally said, I can see what you saw in him.  So this week he will hopefully come to church.

We still need to be diligent in finding new investigators this week especially ones that we can teach in the Mornings and in the early afternoon.  It is crazy our nights are super packed, but our mornings afternoons are really bare.

Well love you guys all so much!
-Sister Richins

January 13

Dear family and friends,

Wow I can't believe that 10 months ago today I entered the MTC! That is so crazy how the time flies! This week like always has been really great. There is currently a low pressure system over the Bulan right now, which actually has made it slightly cold.  I know that is crazy, but yes I am cold here.  I think that I am just too used to the warm weather for 10 months. My companion says I am crazy because she is still roasting in the heat and here is Sister Richins shivering in the cold just like the philippinos.  Actually, I pulled out my cardigans from the MTC yesterday and was like wow this is weird.  I really want to know what the temperature is because I am sure that it is not very cold. Also I had to buy a blanket because I was getting cold at night.  I am pretty sure I am going to die in the states, so I might as well stay here forever.  

Anyway though, this week has been really great.  Of course Christian is still progressing.  He is so great. When we visited him this week he was waiting for us and we had all the chairs set up he had a sister their so that we could teach him and told us about all the new things he had learned from the BOM.  He is great, I think I mentioned last week that Rodel and Christian both came to church last week and they both knew each other outside of church.   We asked Christian how he knew Rodel and he started laughing and said that they met each other one night when they were drinking.  We started laughing so hard.  We asked Rodel and he said that they are now changing together.  It is great.  And actually there baptism date is set for the same day, so hopefully everything will work out and they will be baptized together.

Ceriel is also doing great.  He came to church again and when we taught him about the word of wisdom said that he would stop right then.  He is so sweet when he prays it is something that he has really been working on.  He is always so nervous, but you can tell it is coming from the heart.  Pray is so important and it is so cool when people realize that they can literally just say anything they want to our Heavenly Father.

Brother Rodrigo has also really been working on his prayers he was so nervous to pray in front of us, but finally did and it was so great.  He is so funny when we come to visit.  He loves it when we come, and I am started to understand his bicol more, so it is good. He is such a different person than when we started teaching him.  He is slowly working his way off tobacco and he believes that he can do it.

We also found a few new investigators this week, so it will be exciting to see how they all enfold.  The work is going forth.  And the Lord is in this week.    We started teaching the aunt and uncle of brother Rodel this week, they have a really sweet family and the kids are really exciting to read the book of Mormon.  We taught his one new investigator, Jinkie,  whose uncle is a member, she is 16 and really wasn't interested as we were teaching, until we got to Joseph Smith and then something changed in her and her eyes were like glued on us.  I am excited to continue to teach her.

My companion and I were noticing that almost all of our investigators are boys and we were like that is weird,but we need good solid priesthood holders to help build up this branch and become a ward one day.

Well this is the life.  I love this so so much, I would never ever trade this experience for anything in the world.  The things I have learned, the people that I love, and the lives that I have seen change are the most precious things in my life.  I know that God answers prayers and that he hears every one of his children.

-Sister Richins