Dear Family and Friends,
Well transfers were this last week. My new companion is Sister Paraje she is Philippino. She has only been out in the field for three months, just like me. It is good because we are able to really learn from each other. What we liked that our trainers did and what wasn't effective. It is good because we are really able to become Preach my Gospel missionaries. It is also really nice to have someone not going home and is eager and excited about missionary work. My new companion doesn't know English very well so it has been good for me to have to always use Tagalog. If I ask her something in English she won't respond until I ask in Tagalog. Sometimes it is a little frustrating, but it is good for me.
Also the weather has started to cool down a little bit which is really nice and by cool down I mean it is now 85 degrees instead of 92.
We have been teaching one investigator named Mary Joy. She is so sweet. Her husband is a less active in the ward and we went to find him and ended up teaching her instead. She has a lot of trials in her life and was really discouraged and she met us. It is so cool to see her faith grow. She has so much faith and she knows that our message is true and the Book of Mormon too. She says it touches her heart when she reads. Sadly she gets a lot of persecution from her neighbors and friends because she is listening to the Mormon missionaries when she was born catholic. Hopefully her faith will carry her. Ah she is just so sweet and I hope that her faith in Jesus Christ will carry her.
We also taught a less active/part member family. We were teaching about the plan of salvation and we taught them about the plan of salvation and one little boy who is 10 years old joined our lesson. He was so cute and as we were teaching them from the Book of Mormon he was looking at it and started reading while we were teaching. At the end of the lesson I asked him if he wanted his own copy of the Book of Mormon and he got so excited. These are the moments that make all the hardships and hard days worth it.
Ingat! Mahal Kita!
-Sister Richins
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
July 8
Dear Family and Friends,
Looks like everyone had a great 4th of July! Sister Lang and I celebrated it here with a nice cake and spaghetti so that was fun. We even wore our blue skirts to celebrate. We are having a lot of fun here too after all if you aren't having fun, you are not doing it right!
It was really sad this week our investigator Sheena told us that we can't visit her any more because it is just too much for her to endure with her dad. Her dad hates the church and doesn't want her to get baptized. We told her that we will always love her and care about her. Sometimes it is just so hard, when they are so many negative feelings about the church. But hopefully someday she will have the faith and courage to come back.
We also met our new mission President this week. He is super nice and his wife is so funny. I was worried that he wouldn't know English very well, but turns out he was really good. He is from Quezon City. His family is really sweet. They are two children that are still living with them. One is 18 and just got his mission call to Boise Idaho. The other daughter is 19 and is working of her mission papers. I was excited because the Mission President's wife said that she was planning on proselyting with the sisters 3 days a week if at all possible. That was exciting for me, it would be so great to have her strong testimony. President and Sister Guanzon are both converts to the church and have been members since 1981. They told us their touching conversion story on Friday. It is exciting time.
President gave us some great counsel as well. He said that there is about 700,000 members of the church in the Philippines and only about 150,000 that are activated. We talked about what happened to those people that were baptized, but are not active now- they were not completely converted. He emphasized teaching for understanding and teaching for conversion. He also said that the Philippines need more leaders so to seek after the middle class and in his words "Talk to those with cars, dress a little nicer, use English."
We were able to teach a lot of investigators this week and a lot of them are progressing. I still think it is such a miracle to see the change, we have so many people to teach now. After the missionary broadcast we have a lot of members wanting to work with us which is great! Our bishop is also all of the sudden really interesting in missionary work. Yesterday in Ward council and Ward coordination meeting we came up with a list of 15 names of less active members that the entire ward is going to work to reactive this year.
We have three investigators that are high school students. They are so sweet there names are Princess, Gema, and Michelle. We had a great lesson with them on Tuesday about Joseph Smith. Before we even got started she asked us, how she could know which of all the many churches were true. Wow it was a great lesson! She also lives really close to the church house! This week we have some YW coming with us to teach them! Astig!
This is Sister Oberia's last week and she is committed to work hard until the end! Transfer announcements are this Saturday!
-Sister Richins
Looks like everyone had a great 4th of July! Sister Lang and I celebrated it here with a nice cake and spaghetti so that was fun. We even wore our blue skirts to celebrate. We are having a lot of fun here too after all if you aren't having fun, you are not doing it right!
It was really sad this week our investigator Sheena told us that we can't visit her any more because it is just too much for her to endure with her dad. Her dad hates the church and doesn't want her to get baptized. We told her that we will always love her and care about her. Sometimes it is just so hard, when they are so many negative feelings about the church. But hopefully someday she will have the faith and courage to come back.
We also met our new mission President this week. He is super nice and his wife is so funny. I was worried that he wouldn't know English very well, but turns out he was really good. He is from Quezon City. His family is really sweet. They are two children that are still living with them. One is 18 and just got his mission call to Boise Idaho. The other daughter is 19 and is working of her mission papers. I was excited because the Mission President's wife said that she was planning on proselyting with the sisters 3 days a week if at all possible. That was exciting for me, it would be so great to have her strong testimony. President and Sister Guanzon are both converts to the church and have been members since 1981. They told us their touching conversion story on Friday. It is exciting time.
President gave us some great counsel as well. He said that there is about 700,000 members of the church in the Philippines and only about 150,000 that are activated. We talked about what happened to those people that were baptized, but are not active now- they were not completely converted. He emphasized teaching for understanding and teaching for conversion. He also said that the Philippines need more leaders so to seek after the middle class and in his words "Talk to those with cars, dress a little nicer, use English."
We were able to teach a lot of investigators this week and a lot of them are progressing. I still think it is such a miracle to see the change, we have so many people to teach now. After the missionary broadcast we have a lot of members wanting to work with us which is great! Our bishop is also all of the sudden really interesting in missionary work. Yesterday in Ward council and Ward coordination meeting we came up with a list of 15 names of less active members that the entire ward is going to work to reactive this year.
We have three investigators that are high school students. They are so sweet there names are Princess, Gema, and Michelle. We had a great lesson with them on Tuesday about Joseph Smith. Before we even got started she asked us, how she could know which of all the many churches were true. Wow it was a great lesson! She also lives really close to the church house! This week we have some YW coming with us to teach them! Astig!
This is Sister Oberia's last week and she is committed to work hard until the end! Transfer announcements are this Saturday!
-Sister Richins
Monday, June 24, 2013
June 24- Farewells, Tracting, and Exchanges
Dear Family and Friends,
This week marks the last week of the Philippines Naga Mission. On June 30 President Guanzon will come and I will now be a part of the Philippines Legazpi mission. We had our final interviews with President Blisener on Thursday. I am sad to see him and sister Bliesner leave. He really did so much for our mission. He really turned it around. Before he came there was a lot of disobedience, but he changed it and taught the missionaries the value of being exactly obedient.
We started our week with exchanges with the new Sister training Leader. It was really good. Sister Oberia and I were really nervous about it because we would have to split our already really small area into two so that she could work in part of it and I could work in the other. It turned out just fine. We did a lot of tracting and talking to people and we were able to find a lot of new investigators.
I also decided that tracting in the rain is the best because people will always invite you in. Mostly because they feel sorry for you, but it is a perfect chance to share a message. Rain can be a really good blessing! It was raining really hard on Wednesday and we were out looking for an less active. It turns out he actually had died, but we found his sister who quickly accepted us in. Turns out she had been given a Book of Mormon by Elders many years ago. We have a return appointment with her so that is exciting.
We also worked with Sister Manjares, our stellar ward missionary, this week. She is so great, and not afraid to talk to everyone about what she believes. I love working with her because it instantly takes any any apprehension people may have talking to the missionaries. It is so valuable to have members with us.
Well it sounds like the church is really pushing missionary work and the Lord is hastening his work. We need to find those that the Lord has been preparing. President reminded us this week to always have faith that the Lord will put people in your path to talk to that are ready for our message. I really liked something that is always good to remind yourself when it seems no one wants to listen.
Well I love it here and being apart of this great work! Hope all is well at home!
-Sister Richins
This week marks the last week of the Philippines Naga Mission. On June 30 President Guanzon will come and I will now be a part of the Philippines Legazpi mission. We had our final interviews with President Blisener on Thursday. I am sad to see him and sister Bliesner leave. He really did so much for our mission. He really turned it around. Before he came there was a lot of disobedience, but he changed it and taught the missionaries the value of being exactly obedient.
We started our week with exchanges with the new Sister training Leader. It was really good. Sister Oberia and I were really nervous about it because we would have to split our already really small area into two so that she could work in part of it and I could work in the other. It turned out just fine. We did a lot of tracting and talking to people and we were able to find a lot of new investigators.
I also decided that tracting in the rain is the best because people will always invite you in. Mostly because they feel sorry for you, but it is a perfect chance to share a message. Rain can be a really good blessing! It was raining really hard on Wednesday and we were out looking for an less active. It turns out he actually had died, but we found his sister who quickly accepted us in. Turns out she had been given a Book of Mormon by Elders many years ago. We have a return appointment with her so that is exciting.
We also worked with Sister Manjares, our stellar ward missionary, this week. She is so great, and not afraid to talk to everyone about what she believes. I love working with her because it instantly takes any any apprehension people may have talking to the missionaries. It is so valuable to have members with us.
Well it sounds like the church is really pushing missionary work and the Lord is hastening his work. We need to find those that the Lord has been preparing. President reminded us this week to always have faith that the Lord will put people in your path to talk to that are ready for our message. I really liked something that is always good to remind yourself when it seems no one wants to listen.
Well I love it here and being apart of this great work! Hope all is well at home!
-Sister Richins
Monday, June 17, 2013
Gratitude for the Members
Dear Family and Friends,
Wow another week. I hope everyone has been enjoying the summer time in Utah! We have been very busy this week. It has been so helpful to have the members help. We were able to contract a lot of less active and were able to find a lot of part member families, which has been really good for us. We had some wonderful tender mercies happen this week. We went to one of our areas, San Francisco (no it is not in California I know that is what you were thinking), we had been there a lot before, but people would always tell us that they weren't interested in the church and the Mormons. But this time was different because we had Sister Manjares with us, who is a stellar ward missionary and she knows all the people that live there. She started introducing us to all her friends and would say "Oh there is someone I want you to meet." It was so crazy to see the different reaction to us. They were more inviting and we were able to get a lot of follow up appointments. Members are so valuable in the work!!!
Sister Manjares introduced us to one lady named Mary Ann and we started talking to her. We asked if there was a time we could come back and share a message with her she said that she didn't have time. So I asked well can we share a message right now. She said she didn't have time, but I reassured her it would be a short message. We gave a short message about Jesus Christ and his love and concern for her. Then we asked if we could come back and share more. This time she was really excited for us to come back and hopefully she has that same excitement when we visit her this week. She was also really surprised by how well I spoke Tagalog for only being here for 1 1/2 months, Sister Manjares told here it was a gift from God to share our message.
I think a few weeks ago I talked about Sheena she is one of our investigators, she is doing really well. She actually has been a really sick, but she got a priesthood blessing and has been praying and praying for strength. The one thing that has been holding her back is the Law of Chastity, because she has been living with her boyfriend. Yesterday she told us that she was planning on getting married now on June 22! We were pretty excited. We know that she wanted to go on a mission, but marriage is important too. Her boyfriend is a member and tonight we have an FHE with them and are going to talk about Eternal Marriage-which we want to be her ultimate goal! She has so much faith, it is wonderful to see it grow.
Well I am looking forward to another busy week. It should be exciting. We have our final interviews with President Blisner this week. The new President gets here on the 30 of this month.
-Sister Richins
Wow another week. I hope everyone has been enjoying the summer time in Utah! We have been very busy this week. It has been so helpful to have the members help. We were able to contract a lot of less active and were able to find a lot of part member families, which has been really good for us. We had some wonderful tender mercies happen this week. We went to one of our areas, San Francisco (no it is not in California I know that is what you were thinking), we had been there a lot before, but people would always tell us that they weren't interested in the church and the Mormons. But this time was different because we had Sister Manjares with us, who is a stellar ward missionary and she knows all the people that live there. She started introducing us to all her friends and would say "Oh there is someone I want you to meet." It was so crazy to see the different reaction to us. They were more inviting and we were able to get a lot of follow up appointments. Members are so valuable in the work!!!
Sister Manjares introduced us to one lady named Mary Ann and we started talking to her. We asked if there was a time we could come back and share a message with her she said that she didn't have time. So I asked well can we share a message right now. She said she didn't have time, but I reassured her it would be a short message. We gave a short message about Jesus Christ and his love and concern for her. Then we asked if we could come back and share more. This time she was really excited for us to come back and hopefully she has that same excitement when we visit her this week. She was also really surprised by how well I spoke Tagalog for only being here for 1 1/2 months, Sister Manjares told here it was a gift from God to share our message.
I think a few weeks ago I talked about Sheena she is one of our investigators, she is doing really well. She actually has been a really sick, but she got a priesthood blessing and has been praying and praying for strength. The one thing that has been holding her back is the Law of Chastity, because she has been living with her boyfriend. Yesterday she told us that she was planning on getting married now on June 22! We were pretty excited. We know that she wanted to go on a mission, but marriage is important too. Her boyfriend is a member and tonight we have an FHE with them and are going to talk about Eternal Marriage-which we want to be her ultimate goal! She has so much faith, it is wonderful to see it grow.
Well I am looking forward to another busy week. It should be exciting. We have our final interviews with President Blisner this week. The new President gets here on the 30 of this month.
-Sister Richins
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
New companion, trials and triumphs
Family and Friends,
Well as I mentioned last week my new companion is Sister Oberia from Kiribati. It is next to Hawaii and is where Christmas Island is located.The church has a strong presence there and she went to a church high school. She is so sweet and is really good to teach me Tagalog. She is really nice, she kills the big spiders in our apartment, so I love her! Well transfer day was really busy, but we made it back and got to work. It was kind of fun on transfer day to talk to all the American missionaries, they told me about all the food they liked here and advice on the language. It was really nice. I also talked to the sweet senior couple that is here.
Not going to lie, it has been a really hard week. I didn't feel ready to lead this area and this week confirmed that. I had a really hard time remembering where places were and how to get to places. On top of that school started last week and so everyone that we had been teaching during the day were all gone. Summer vacation is over so everyone goes back to work. So here I am trying to figure out where to go, with no one home. So that as been hard so we have done a lot of street contacting this week.
This next week we have plans to contract as many members in our areas as possible and try to set goals with them to talk to their friends about the church. We are trying to find all the inactive members. It's kind of funny finding the members because doesn't seem like to would take much time, but in the Philippines there are no addresses. You just have the area that they live in and then you go door to door asking people if they know this family. They will say "Oh doon" which means just over there. So you go to the next house and ask the same question until you find the house. This week though in our ward coordination meeting we talked to the ward missionaries about our concerns and they found people to work with us every day this week to help us find homes and investigators.
That is definitely a struggle right now to find investigators which is why we need the members help. A referral from a member is so much more valuable than any street contacting that we could do.
There is definitely a hastening of the work. This week we have an assignment from the area presidency to meet with the bishop and ward missionaries and discuss our goals for the rest of the year. We are suppose to make a goal with everyone as to how many baptisms the ward could have this year and then make a plan to involve all the auxiliaries on how to achieve that goal. It is exciting I really hope that the ward members get excited.
It is good to know that even though it is hard to lead the area, it will make it that much easier next transfer after Sister Oberia goes home. Even though missionary work is hard, it is also fun and I love doing it! I love the ward members and I love seeing the change that people can have.
-Sister Richins
Well as I mentioned last week my new companion is Sister Oberia from Kiribati. It is next to Hawaii and is where Christmas Island is located.The church has a strong presence there and she went to a church high school. She is so sweet and is really good to teach me Tagalog. She is really nice, she kills the big spiders in our apartment, so I love her! Well transfer day was really busy, but we made it back and got to work. It was kind of fun on transfer day to talk to all the American missionaries, they told me about all the food they liked here and advice on the language. It was really nice. I also talked to the sweet senior couple that is here.
Not going to lie, it has been a really hard week. I didn't feel ready to lead this area and this week confirmed that. I had a really hard time remembering where places were and how to get to places. On top of that school started last week and so everyone that we had been teaching during the day were all gone. Summer vacation is over so everyone goes back to work. So here I am trying to figure out where to go, with no one home. So that as been hard so we have done a lot of street contacting this week.
This next week we have plans to contract as many members in our areas as possible and try to set goals with them to talk to their friends about the church. We are trying to find all the inactive members. It's kind of funny finding the members because doesn't seem like to would take much time, but in the Philippines there are no addresses. You just have the area that they live in and then you go door to door asking people if they know this family. They will say "Oh doon" which means just over there. So you go to the next house and ask the same question until you find the house. This week though in our ward coordination meeting we talked to the ward missionaries about our concerns and they found people to work with us every day this week to help us find homes and investigators.
That is definitely a struggle right now to find investigators which is why we need the members help. A referral from a member is so much more valuable than any street contacting that we could do.
There is definitely a hastening of the work. This week we have an assignment from the area presidency to meet with the bishop and ward missionaries and discuss our goals for the rest of the year. We are suppose to make a goal with everyone as to how many baptisms the ward could have this year and then make a plan to involve all the auxiliaries on how to achieve that goal. It is exciting I really hope that the ward members get excited.
It is good to know that even though it is hard to lead the area, it will make it that much easier next transfer after Sister Oberia goes home. Even though missionary work is hard, it is also fun and I love doing it! I love the ward members and I love seeing the change that people can have.
-Sister Richins
companion Announcements
Dear Family and Friends,
We dropped sister Maghanoy off at the bus stop this morning. And I am actually in Liago for the night. Tomorrow I will pick up my new companion and head back to guinobaton. So Saturday we got our new companionships announced. I will be with Sister Oberia she is from Kirabis which is close to Samoa. It is also her last transfer. They must think it is really funny to give me all the companions that are about to go home. Oh well though that means I will most likely stay in Guinobaton after this transfer. I am a little nervous to lead the area, but Sister Maghanoy says I am ready.
Oh a side note, there are 4 missionaries in the mission from Pakistan and 1 sister arriving next month from mainland china. That is so crazy that the church is sending out missionaries from there.
This week we were pretty busy. We had a lot of lessons with less actives, which is good. There are so many less actives here. Actually last year the Naga mission turned into a rescuing mission and the focus of the entire mission was on less actives. They only taught less active and part member families and referrals from members. This year though they are focusing on continuing to reactivate and also baptizing others. This week we were able to find a couple part member families to teach.
Our one investigator Sheena has been to church twice now. I am so excited for her. She is great. We have been teaching her all transfer and hopefully she will continue to progress. She is 18 and wants to serve a mission a year after she is baptized. She has a lot of support from ward members, but her dad does not like the church. She is so strong though and says that even if her dad doesn't want her too she knows she wants to be baptized.
Well I am doing really well. I am excited for this new transfer ahead of me, it should be exciting. This is the transfer that the mission splits so that will be interesting. Well thanks for all the prayers! I love you all!
-Sister Heather Richins
We dropped sister Maghanoy off at the bus stop this morning. And I am actually in Liago for the night. Tomorrow I will pick up my new companion and head back to guinobaton. So Saturday we got our new companionships announced. I will be with Sister Oberia she is from Kirabis which is close to Samoa. It is also her last transfer. They must think it is really funny to give me all the companions that are about to go home. Oh well though that means I will most likely stay in Guinobaton after this transfer. I am a little nervous to lead the area, but Sister Maghanoy says I am ready.
Oh a side note, there are 4 missionaries in the mission from Pakistan and 1 sister arriving next month from mainland china. That is so crazy that the church is sending out missionaries from there.
This week we were pretty busy. We had a lot of lessons with less actives, which is good. There are so many less actives here. Actually last year the Naga mission turned into a rescuing mission and the focus of the entire mission was on less actives. They only taught less active and part member families and referrals from members. This year though they are focusing on continuing to reactivate and also baptizing others. This week we were able to find a couple part member families to teach.
Our one investigator Sheena has been to church twice now. I am so excited for her. She is great. We have been teaching her all transfer and hopefully she will continue to progress. She is 18 and wants to serve a mission a year after she is baptized. She has a lot of support from ward members, but her dad does not like the church. She is so strong though and says that even if her dad doesn't want her too she knows she wants to be baptized.
Well I am doing really well. I am excited for this new transfer ahead of me, it should be exciting. This is the transfer that the mission splits so that will be interesting. Well thanks for all the prayers! I love you all!
-Sister Heather Richins
Sunday, June 2, 2013
May 27
Well another week! I can't believe how fast the weeks are going by now. We have had a challenging week. A lot of cancelled appointments, but we had a great ward party on Saturday that members brought a lot of non member friends and a great ward coordination meeting on Sunday.
So last week I told you about Patrick who was so excited for us to come back to teach him. Well when we came back he told us that we couldn't come back because his parents wouldn't allow it and gave us back our book of Mormon. But I always remind myself that we are just planting seeds and hopefully someday.
On Tuesday we went to Legazbi and had a trainer trainee meeting. It was really helpful and it was nice to see everyone from my MTC district. We talked more about understanding and getting along with other cultures and how we should take the best from each culture. It was really helpful.
So on Saturday we had a missionary activity combined with ward one and ward two. All the members were suppose to bring food and a non member or less active friend. We had a great turn out and we got a lot of refferals. But if anything we gained the trust from the members and they are starting to get really excited about missionary work. Before now, we have not had much member support from the ward. The had not really worked with the elders in the past, and didn't see why they should start working with us now. We have been working hard all transfer to gain their trust and confidence.
One particular lady that was very forward about not liking the missionaries and was sure that the ward had no need of us. She came to the party on Saturday and had a complete change of heart. It is so excited to see her accept us. In our missionary coordination meeting on Sunday I asked for suggestions of people we could visit and she gave us so many and then agreed to work with us to visit those people Wednesday afternoon. I was so excited because she really disliked the missionaries before, and I have been praying so hard to let her soften her heart towards us. Prayers are answered! I am so thankful! It should be a great week.
We are trying to make this a great week because it is Sister Maghanoy's last week before going home next Monday! She said that she will work hard until the end and that is what we are going to do! I am a little nervous about getting a new companion next week, but also excited!
Hope everything continues to go well for everyone else back home!
I love you all!
Sister Heather Richins
So last week I told you about Patrick who was so excited for us to come back to teach him. Well when we came back he told us that we couldn't come back because his parents wouldn't allow it and gave us back our book of Mormon. But I always remind myself that we are just planting seeds and hopefully someday.
On Tuesday we went to Legazbi and had a trainer trainee meeting. It was really helpful and it was nice to see everyone from my MTC district. We talked more about understanding and getting along with other cultures and how we should take the best from each culture. It was really helpful.
So on Saturday we had a missionary activity combined with ward one and ward two. All the members were suppose to bring food and a non member or less active friend. We had a great turn out and we got a lot of refferals. But if anything we gained the trust from the members and they are starting to get really excited about missionary work. Before now, we have not had much member support from the ward. The had not really worked with the elders in the past, and didn't see why they should start working with us now. We have been working hard all transfer to gain their trust and confidence.
One particular lady that was very forward about not liking the missionaries and was sure that the ward had no need of us. She came to the party on Saturday and had a complete change of heart. It is so excited to see her accept us. In our missionary coordination meeting on Sunday I asked for suggestions of people we could visit and she gave us so many and then agreed to work with us to visit those people Wednesday afternoon. I was so excited because she really disliked the missionaries before, and I have been praying so hard to let her soften her heart towards us. Prayers are answered! I am so thankful! It should be a great week.
We are trying to make this a great week because it is Sister Maghanoy's last week before going home next Monday! She said that she will work hard until the end and that is what we are going to do! I am a little nervous about getting a new companion next week, but also excited!
Hope everything continues to go well for everyone else back home!
I love you all!
Sister Heather Richins
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