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
Friday, January 17, 2014
Januray 6
Dear Family and Friends!
Happy New Year! I hope you guys all had a great New Year! It was interesting here. It was kind of weird it turns out New Years is a really big deal here. It is bigger than Christmas here. For Christmas all the stores and stuff were open, but on New Year everything was closed. We still had early curfews for two days, but it was a great week. I always tell sister Flake to remember back to our first weekly planning session together when we had just a handful of investigators and now look at our weekly planning last week and there has been so many miracles. You can really see the Lord's hand in this work.
Thank you all so much for all the birthday wishes. My birthday was really interesting. It turns out birthdays are a really really big deal here. So this is what happened: Sister Phillips and Sister Eracho were at a member's house on Saturday night and they were talking about how old all the missionaries were in the branch and they just mentioned that Sister Richins would be 22 on Sunday. Of course the member got so excited and decided to tell everyone and then she got the brilliant idea to tell the branch president so he could announce it over the pulpit. So there we were on Sunday and Brother Bontigao who is the 1st counselor in the branch presidency was conducting and he went and announced that it was my birthday. Then after he bore his testimony he asked if I would bear my testimony because it was my birthday. Then afterwards before they closed the meeting he wished me a Happy Birthday again. I think that he could tell he was really annoyed because I was glaring at him really bad and he just kept on laughing to himself.
Church was really great yesterday though despite the fact that I was a little annoyed that everyone knew it was my birthday. But anyway it was a really exciting yesterday. Brother Rodel came to Church! and brother Ceriel and Brother Rodrigo! It was really exciting! I don't know if I have talked about brother Rodrigo, but we found him last transfer. We were tracting and he said oh my son, Ryan is a member. We started teaching Rodrigo and it was always an interesting experience because I would speak in Tagalog and then he would answer in Tagalog mixed with Bicol and Visanan. I have to listen so intently to understand him. I can usually understand most of it, but we always have to have a member with us to teach him because I can't understand everything. So we started teaching him and then he came to church last week. He said he had a good experience, but said it was just like going to church in another church, but he said it felt good so he said he would come back every week. So yesterday he came back to church. And then he got up during fast and testimony meeting to bear his testimony. It was kind of intense. President Bontigao was making eye contact with me and was like "what is going on" I we were exchanging glances for a few intense seconds. What was he going to say? Well he got up and said that he had only been to this church twice, but he really felt that he had really found the Lord finally. He had been to a lot of churches, but this one was different and he said he hoped this was the true church. It was really a neat experience. After church we went to his house and he said that he had been reading the book of mormon and just felt good. He said he wanted to be baptized, but he figured he better give up smoking and drinking first (we hadn't even brought up the word of wisdom yet). Then he started to get a little nervous, he said he had been smoking since he was 8 years old and didn't know if he could stop. He said he would just go to church, but he couldn't get baptized because he couldn't stop smoking. We had a great member with us that told him that everyone at the church was there to help him and if he was a strong desire with the help of the Lord he could do it because the Lord can work miracles! It was a really strong lesson even if I couldn't understand every thing he said in his half bicol, half tagalog. The Spirit is what matters most!
Brother Rodel also came to church, and it turns out that Rodel and Christian are really good friends so they had a great time at the church together. Speaking of Christian, he is doing great! We did have to extend his baptismal date to next month so that he can overcome smoking, but he has a lot of desire and he is continuing to increase his testimony.
We also were able to find some new investigators this week hopefully we will help them understand how our church is different than other churches. I am always reminded of what it says in Preach my Gospel that a lot of the times the people won't recognize at first that they can find greater happiness here in our church. So we just have to keep on teaching them and eventually they will understand.
This week I have also reflected on what one of our AP said. He said that of course we can't reach the standard of excellence on our own, but if we do it the Lord's way then we can achieve that.
I am really so so thankful for this area! I love these people here so much. I don't ever want to leave Bulan. Our branch is so supportive and we have a great branch mission leader, brother Bunso-who just got back from his mission. He literally is the life the of branch and such an asset to us. I have seen so many miracles, and I just can't wait to see what else is in store.
-Sister Richins
Happy New Year! I hope you guys all had a great New Year! It was interesting here. It was kind of weird it turns out New Years is a really big deal here. It is bigger than Christmas here. For Christmas all the stores and stuff were open, but on New Year everything was closed. We still had early curfews for two days, but it was a great week. I always tell sister Flake to remember back to our first weekly planning session together when we had just a handful of investigators and now look at our weekly planning last week and there has been so many miracles. You can really see the Lord's hand in this work.
Thank you all so much for all the birthday wishes. My birthday was really interesting. It turns out birthdays are a really really big deal here. So this is what happened: Sister Phillips and Sister Eracho were at a member's house on Saturday night and they were talking about how old all the missionaries were in the branch and they just mentioned that Sister Richins would be 22 on Sunday. Of course the member got so excited and decided to tell everyone and then she got the brilliant idea to tell the branch president so he could announce it over the pulpit. So there we were on Sunday and Brother Bontigao who is the 1st counselor in the branch presidency was conducting and he went and announced that it was my birthday. Then after he bore his testimony he asked if I would bear my testimony because it was my birthday. Then afterwards before they closed the meeting he wished me a Happy Birthday again. I think that he could tell he was really annoyed because I was glaring at him really bad and he just kept on laughing to himself.
Church was really great yesterday though despite the fact that I was a little annoyed that everyone knew it was my birthday. But anyway it was a really exciting yesterday. Brother Rodel came to Church! and brother Ceriel and Brother Rodrigo! It was really exciting! I don't know if I have talked about brother Rodrigo, but we found him last transfer. We were tracting and he said oh my son, Ryan is a member. We started teaching Rodrigo and it was always an interesting experience because I would speak in Tagalog and then he would answer in Tagalog mixed with Bicol and Visanan. I have to listen so intently to understand him. I can usually understand most of it, but we always have to have a member with us to teach him because I can't understand everything. So we started teaching him and then he came to church last week. He said he had a good experience, but said it was just like going to church in another church, but he said it felt good so he said he would come back every week. So yesterday he came back to church. And then he got up during fast and testimony meeting to bear his testimony. It was kind of intense. President Bontigao was making eye contact with me and was like "what is going on" I we were exchanging glances for a few intense seconds. What was he going to say? Well he got up and said that he had only been to this church twice, but he really felt that he had really found the Lord finally. He had been to a lot of churches, but this one was different and he said he hoped this was the true church. It was really a neat experience. After church we went to his house and he said that he had been reading the book of mormon and just felt good. He said he wanted to be baptized, but he figured he better give up smoking and drinking first (we hadn't even brought up the word of wisdom yet). Then he started to get a little nervous, he said he had been smoking since he was 8 years old and didn't know if he could stop. He said he would just go to church, but he couldn't get baptized because he couldn't stop smoking. We had a great member with us that told him that everyone at the church was there to help him and if he was a strong desire with the help of the Lord he could do it because the Lord can work miracles! It was a really strong lesson even if I couldn't understand every thing he said in his half bicol, half tagalog. The Spirit is what matters most!
Brother Rodel also came to church, and it turns out that Rodel and Christian are really good friends so they had a great time at the church together. Speaking of Christian, he is doing great! We did have to extend his baptismal date to next month so that he can overcome smoking, but he has a lot of desire and he is continuing to increase his testimony.
We also were able to find some new investigators this week hopefully we will help them understand how our church is different than other churches. I am always reminded of what it says in Preach my Gospel that a lot of the times the people won't recognize at first that they can find greater happiness here in our church. So we just have to keep on teaching them and eventually they will understand.
This week I have also reflected on what one of our AP said. He said that of course we can't reach the standard of excellence on our own, but if we do it the Lord's way then we can achieve that.
I am really so so thankful for this area! I love these people here so much. I don't ever want to leave Bulan. Our branch is so supportive and we have a great branch mission leader, brother Bunso-who just got back from his mission. He literally is the life the of branch and such an asset to us. I have seen so many miracles, and I just can't wait to see what else is in store.
-Sister Richins
Sunday, January 5, 2014
December 31
Dear Family and Friends,
It was so good to talk to you all on Christmas! Christmas is defiantly
different here. It is exciting though. Every one is out in the
street and wishing you a Merry Christmas. It was a lot of fun.
Actually it was a really good time to contact people. On Christmas
Eve, almost all of our appointments fell through so we were just
street contacting. It was really cool actually-people are so much
more receptive around Christmas time.
One kind of Christmas miracle is what I would call it happened too.
There was a whole bunch of little kids calling my name (because all
the kids know my name). We started talking to them and then we gave
then all a little pass a long card. I didn't even think much of it
until later that night when we got home and we got a text message. It
said in English Hello, my name is Cereal I want to join your church.
At first I was like it is probably one of the boys here that just love
the American Sisters, and I almost didn't text back, but the spirit
told me that maybe I should treat this seriously. So I texted back
and asked when we could visit him. It turns out he actually lives
really close to the church and was taught by the missionaries before,
but then went to manilla. He has a lot of desire and has always seen
the church and wanted to be part of it. We invited him to the
Christmas party and he came and had a great time. I am really excited
for him and hope that he will continue to progress.
We also started teaching some other new investigators this week that
we met on Christmas Eve. Truly some great miracles this week. That
is something that I am working on recognizing those miracles every
day. There are tender mercies in this work every day.
Another HUGE blessing this week is brother Bunso as they call him.
Bunso means youngest in Tagalog. And brother Bunso is the youngest
son of President Roman. He just returned back from his mission from
Quezon City mission and he has now been called as our Branch Mission
Leader. It is such a great to have someone fresh from the mission and
is so excited to help us and encourage the members to help us. We
actually had a real Branch coordination meeting yesterday.
On Friday we had a great Branch Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun
and all the investigators really enjoyed it. We had our roasted pig.
You can see my pictures on Sky drive!
So after Christmas is New Year and we have early curfews for the two
days again. But Happy New Year everyone! I love you all!
-Sister Richins
It was so good to talk to you all on Christmas! Christmas is defiantly
different here. It is exciting though. Every one is out in the
street and wishing you a Merry Christmas. It was a lot of fun.
Actually it was a really good time to contact people. On Christmas
Eve, almost all of our appointments fell through so we were just
street contacting. It was really cool actually-people are so much
more receptive around Christmas time.
One kind of Christmas miracle is what I would call it happened too.
There was a whole bunch of little kids calling my name (because all
the kids know my name). We started talking to them and then we gave
then all a little pass a long card. I didn't even think much of it
until later that night when we got home and we got a text message. It
said in English Hello, my name is Cereal I want to join your church.
At first I was like it is probably one of the boys here that just love
the American Sisters, and I almost didn't text back, but the spirit
told me that maybe I should treat this seriously. So I texted back
and asked when we could visit him. It turns out he actually lives
really close to the church and was taught by the missionaries before,
but then went to manilla. He has a lot of desire and has always seen
the church and wanted to be part of it. We invited him to the
Christmas party and he came and had a great time. I am really excited
for him and hope that he will continue to progress.
We also started teaching some other new investigators this week that
we met on Christmas Eve. Truly some great miracles this week. That
is something that I am working on recognizing those miracles every
day. There are tender mercies in this work every day.
Another HUGE blessing this week is brother Bunso as they call him.
Bunso means youngest in Tagalog. And brother Bunso is the youngest
son of President Roman. He just returned back from his mission from
Quezon City mission and he has now been called as our Branch Mission
Leader. It is such a great to have someone fresh from the mission and
is so excited to help us and encourage the members to help us. We
actually had a real Branch coordination meeting yesterday.
On Friday we had a great Branch Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun
and all the investigators really enjoyed it. We had our roasted pig.
You can see my pictures on Sky drive!
So after Christmas is New Year and we have early curfews for the two
days again. But Happy New Year everyone! I love you all!
-Sister Richins
December 23-Maligayang Pasko!
Dear Family and Friends,
Well Christmas is here. it is interesting all the kids here are out of school so Christmas and they all so caroling every night. Turns out caroling is a little different here. If someone goes caroling to your house you have to pay them. They have so many christmas lights and lots of nativities set up. The best is all the Christmas trees, and it is just so great also the people are not super busy here rushing and rushing, it is just really peaceful and enjoyable for everyone. And we set up appointments on Chirstmas because that is when everyone is home.
Well this has been an exciting week. We started off with our trainers/new missionary training, and then we had a great Christmas Zone Conference. Our Christmas Zone conference was with all the missionaries in the entire mission. It was a lot of fun. I didn't realize how many missionaries are in the Legazbi Mission. Anyway though we had a great conference, and of course Pres. Guanzon gave us all some great counsel. It was a little depressing because they showed us the charts of where we are at as a whole as a mission and where the standard of Excellence was and we all realized that there is work to do. But that is okay we just need to stretch and reach higher.
We all made it back to Bulan late Wednesday night, and then on Thursday morning was the wedding of Oliver and Jeann. Oliver was an investigator in my area before. His wife is a member, but they were not married before. So it was exciting to see them get married. It is really exciting. It was a really simple wedding, and the person that was suppose to sing so they assigned sister Flake to sing, then before you knew it we were both singing. There is a phlippino tradition that after the wedding the bride and groom dance and then people go and pin money on their clothes. So that was interesting. Once again though the music player didn't work so Sister Flake sang for the dance. It was really short and sweet ceromony, of course though, only for time only. I hope that soon it will be for time and all eternity.
On Friday we had exchanges with Sister Fonua and Sister Papica. Sister Papica is the Sister Training leader and she is Training Sister Fonua from California. It was a lot of fun. I was with Sister Fonua and we worked in her area. We taught one of their Recent converts, who was absolutely amazing. His name is Seven, and he is 13 years old. He knows the scriptures so well. He wakes up at 5 in the morning to study his scriptures and then he conducts a scripture study for all friends. He was baptized a few weeks ago, but he already has all the scripture mastery memorized and lots of other scriptures memorized too. He lives in a farily far area too. He teaches all his friends and we taught one of his friends Nicole about the plan of salvation and we started and she taught us the plan of salvation with scriptures and everything. I didn't even know what to say because she said everything. It was so crazy. Brother Seven is so great. He want to serve a mission so bad, I think he is an example to us all of member missionary work. Wow.
We also taught brother Jose. He is the sister of Sister Jonalyn who is preparing to go on a mission. Brother Jose is interesting. He is sometimes really hard to read. He is a joker and loves to joke about everything. Sometimes I don't know if he is serious or not, but he did come to church. I think that sometimes he doesn't want us to think he actually cares when we teach him, but I think deep inside he does. Even his sister said he always takes time for God. So that was exciting. It is funny because Sister Flake and I go jogging every morning. It is part of being exactly obedient and exercising everyday, there is a track close to our house that we walk to every morning and then jog. Of course Brother Jose also goes running every morning too. It was really funny when we saw him on Saturday. It was actually really funny because we were talking to him as we were running and giving commitments to come to church on sunday. I told my companion and that is why we run, so that we can contact all our investigators every day. Actually though it has been a really good tool. Everyone sees us jogging and they all think we are crazy because we go everyday. And everyone knows about it. We talk to people and they say ya you guys run everyday, don't you ever get tired? I don't know I just feel like it builds the trust of members and non members in our area.
Anyway so we had a good week. Slowly, but surely you can see the miracles that are happening in our area. I was noticed, wow we are starting to fill up our area book. I remember back at the first week of this transfer saying to my new companion, well we don't have any appointments so we need to so tracting and now our planners are becoming filled with appointments and things to do.
So I am excited to talk to you guys on Wednesday. I hope that we will be able to use skype or google chat, mostly I hope that the internet connection will be fast enough because it is pretty slow here. But hopefully.
Well have a great Christmas Everyone!
-Sister Richins
Well Christmas is here. it is interesting all the kids here are out of school so Christmas and they all so caroling every night. Turns out caroling is a little different here. If someone goes caroling to your house you have to pay them. They have so many christmas lights and lots of nativities set up. The best is all the Christmas trees, and it is just so great also the people are not super busy here rushing and rushing, it is just really peaceful and enjoyable for everyone. And we set up appointments on Chirstmas because that is when everyone is home.
Well this has been an exciting week. We started off with our trainers/new missionary training, and then we had a great Christmas Zone Conference. Our Christmas Zone conference was with all the missionaries in the entire mission. It was a lot of fun. I didn't realize how many missionaries are in the Legazbi Mission. Anyway though we had a great conference, and of course Pres. Guanzon gave us all some great counsel. It was a little depressing because they showed us the charts of where we are at as a whole as a mission and where the standard of Excellence was and we all realized that there is work to do. But that is okay we just need to stretch and reach higher.
We all made it back to Bulan late Wednesday night, and then on Thursday morning was the wedding of Oliver and Jeann. Oliver was an investigator in my area before. His wife is a member, but they were not married before. So it was exciting to see them get married. It is really exciting. It was a really simple wedding, and the person that was suppose to sing so they assigned sister Flake to sing, then before you knew it we were both singing. There is a phlippino tradition that after the wedding the bride and groom dance and then people go and pin money on their clothes. So that was interesting. Once again though the music player didn't work so Sister Flake sang for the dance. It was really short and sweet ceromony, of course though, only for time only. I hope that soon it will be for time and all eternity.
On Friday we had exchanges with Sister Fonua and Sister Papica. Sister Papica is the Sister Training leader and she is Training Sister Fonua from California. It was a lot of fun. I was with Sister Fonua and we worked in her area. We taught one of their Recent converts, who was absolutely amazing. His name is Seven, and he is 13 years old. He knows the scriptures so well. He wakes up at 5 in the morning to study his scriptures and then he conducts a scripture study for all friends. He was baptized a few weeks ago, but he already has all the scripture mastery memorized and lots of other scriptures memorized too. He lives in a farily far area too. He teaches all his friends and we taught one of his friends Nicole about the plan of salvation and we started and she taught us the plan of salvation with scriptures and everything. I didn't even know what to say because she said everything. It was so crazy. Brother Seven is so great. He want to serve a mission so bad, I think he is an example to us all of member missionary work. Wow.
We also taught brother Jose. He is the sister of Sister Jonalyn who is preparing to go on a mission. Brother Jose is interesting. He is sometimes really hard to read. He is a joker and loves to joke about everything. Sometimes I don't know if he is serious or not, but he did come to church. I think that sometimes he doesn't want us to think he actually cares when we teach him, but I think deep inside he does. Even his sister said he always takes time for God. So that was exciting. It is funny because Sister Flake and I go jogging every morning. It is part of being exactly obedient and exercising everyday, there is a track close to our house that we walk to every morning and then jog. Of course Brother Jose also goes running every morning too. It was really funny when we saw him on Saturday. It was actually really funny because we were talking to him as we were running and giving commitments to come to church on sunday. I told my companion and that is why we run, so that we can contact all our investigators every day. Actually though it has been a really good tool. Everyone sees us jogging and they all think we are crazy because we go everyday. And everyone knows about it. We talk to people and they say ya you guys run everyday, don't you ever get tired? I don't know I just feel like it builds the trust of members and non members in our area.
Anyway so we had a good week. Slowly, but surely you can see the miracles that are happening in our area. I was noticed, wow we are starting to fill up our area book. I remember back at the first week of this transfer saying to my new companion, well we don't have any appointments so we need to so tracting and now our planners are becoming filled with appointments and things to do.
So I am excited to talk to you guys on Wednesday. I hope that we will be able to use skype or google chat, mostly I hope that the internet connection will be fast enough because it is pretty slow here. But hopefully.
Well have a great Christmas Everyone!
-Sister Richins
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Dec 17
Dear Family and Friends,
So I am sorry that you guys were all anticipating an email yesterday. We kind of had a crazy schedule yesterday because we you had to travel to Legazbi for our trainer trainee meeting today. We were just going to email when we get to Legazbi, but it took a long time and we didn't have time. So they told us to email today after our meeting. We are in Legazbi for another night and we have our big Christmas Zone Conference tomorrow. All of the Missionaries in the entire mission will be here tomorrow, so that is really exciting.
Christian is doing alright. He is working to overcome an addiction of smoking. He wrote down a plan and has a lot of support from the member family that he lives with. We had a great lesson about how he is not alone doing this work that he can do it with the Lord's help.
We also had a great lesson with Rodel this week. He is really so prepared. It was funny we were reporting in our coordination meeting and they asked what his concerns were and I was like there are none. He really has just been waiting and prepared for the truth.
We also found some new investigators this week. It was actually a really interesting experience for me. We taught one new investigator who was a former member of Inglesia ni Cristo. Which is one of the most common religions here in the the philiippines and actually the founder was a member of the church. But anyway their belief in Christ is a little different because they believe that Christ was just a man not God. It was just interesting for me because as we were teaching it I just wanted to testify and testify that Christ is more than just a man, but it is by him that makes salvation possible. It is just so sad to think that people don't know the good news that we have a savior-the savior of the world to save us from sin. I also had an experience this week with another new investigator, Jese. She is the wife of an less active in the branch. Her Husband wasn't been to church for a long time, but has a strong testimony. Jese is from southern philippines in Mindona?, but anyway she is Muslim so they also believe that Christ was just a Prophet. We got to watch the Christmas Devotional and I couldn't help but think of these two individuals and think how sad that they didn't know about Christ and his role. That they don't know that Christ is born. It just brought me back to my purpose to invite others to come unto Christ. That is our purpose to help them come unto Christ by living the gospel of Christ. Our mission is to testify that Jesus Christ lives. This is the good news that we bring, just as the angels in Bethlehem shared to the shepherds so long ago.
It still doesn't feel like Christmas here, something about there being no snow and stuff. But they play all the Christmas music from america in all the stores about Frosty and White Christmas.
Anyway I don't have too much time today, but I promise I will include more next week. I love you all and am thinking about you all at this time.
-Sister Heather Richins
So I am sorry that you guys were all anticipating an email yesterday. We kind of had a crazy schedule yesterday because we you had to travel to Legazbi for our trainer trainee meeting today. We were just going to email when we get to Legazbi, but it took a long time and we didn't have time. So they told us to email today after our meeting. We are in Legazbi for another night and we have our big Christmas Zone Conference tomorrow. All of the Missionaries in the entire mission will be here tomorrow, so that is really exciting.
Christian is doing alright. He is working to overcome an addiction of smoking. He wrote down a plan and has a lot of support from the member family that he lives with. We had a great lesson about how he is not alone doing this work that he can do it with the Lord's help.
We also had a great lesson with Rodel this week. He is really so prepared. It was funny we were reporting in our coordination meeting and they asked what his concerns were and I was like there are none. He really has just been waiting and prepared for the truth.
We also found some new investigators this week. It was actually a really interesting experience for me. We taught one new investigator who was a former member of Inglesia ni Cristo. Which is one of the most common religions here in the the philiippines and actually the founder was a member of the church. But anyway their belief in Christ is a little different because they believe that Christ was just a man not God. It was just interesting for me because as we were teaching it I just wanted to testify and testify that Christ is more than just a man, but it is by him that makes salvation possible. It is just so sad to think that people don't know the good news that we have a savior-the savior of the world to save us from sin. I also had an experience this week with another new investigator, Jese. She is the wife of an less active in the branch. Her Husband wasn't been to church for a long time, but has a strong testimony. Jese is from southern philippines in Mindona?, but anyway she is Muslim so they also believe that Christ was just a Prophet. We got to watch the Christmas Devotional and I couldn't help but think of these two individuals and think how sad that they didn't know about Christ and his role. That they don't know that Christ is born. It just brought me back to my purpose to invite others to come unto Christ. That is our purpose to help them come unto Christ by living the gospel of Christ. Our mission is to testify that Jesus Christ lives. This is the good news that we bring, just as the angels in Bethlehem shared to the shepherds so long ago.
It still doesn't feel like Christmas here, something about there being no snow and stuff. But they play all the Christmas music from america in all the stores about Frosty and White Christmas.
Anyway I don't have too much time today, but I promise I will include more next week. I love you all and am thinking about you all at this time.
-Sister Heather Richins
Monday, December 16, 2013
December 9
Dear Family and Friends,
Well this week has been good. We had a good week and I continue to learn more and more. We had some really great days and then some hard ones too. But that is okay, that is how missionary work is. We were able to find a couple new investigators, which was good. It was interesting because for the past two weeks I felt that I had talked so many people and no one wanted to hear our message, but we had a couple of great miracles this week.
The first one was Rodel. So we were tracting in one of our areas and we saw one of the less actives that we teach. This less active we see him all the time, but he never wants us to teach him, but we was with his friend and he told us we could go and visit his friend Rodel. We set up an appointment with him for the next night. I am not going to lie. I was a bit apprehensive about the appointment I felt that he really wasn't interesting in our message, but instead interesting in the two white americans speaking Tagalog. But it is not that way he listened intently as we talked about Joseph Smith and invited him to pray. Also his two sisters listened too. When we came back, he said that he had prayed and felt so good about Joseph Smith, he said that he couldn't come to church yesterday, but next sunday he would be able too. So hopefully he will continue to progress.
The second miracle was Maricar. So there is this one street that we walk down everyday and all the kids on that street know us and always run up to us to give us hugs and high fives. We were walking down they street and starting talking to one of the pedjack drivers. He is like 19 years old and we started talking and we asked if we could visit him. He said that he lived on that one street. We went to the house and we taught his sister, who is married and has three kids. She said she had always watched missionaries walk up and down that street, but they never stopped to teach her. It was such a powerful lesson and by the end we were both in tears.
So Christian is doing good. He is working on giving up things in the Word of Wisdom. Yesterday he just kept on sayin that he couldn't do it, that he couldn't make it, but we testifyin about the atonement and that if he relied on the Lord, he could give those things up. He has so much desire he wants this so bad and through Jesus Christ he can do this.
So these were the highlights of the week. Of course there are stuggles too. We are still do hours and hours of tracting and street contacting. It is just so different becuase for the past two transfers we had so many appointments that we almost never went tracting and now I feel that is all we do. But it is good. I really do enjoy it. You get to meet so many people and share what we teach. There is a lot of joy in finding. We are still working to bring up our teaching pool and finding those that will recieve us, like Rodel and Maricar.
We had a great zone training this week, it was good to hear from our zone leaders. We talked about increasing the number of total lessons in our zone and extending baptismal dates early within the first or 2nd lesson, and continue to find people to teach. President encouraged us to teach 7 lessons a day-it is a lot, but It is good, we just have to reach higher and plan and teach effectively.
Well we have to work hard this week because next week we will be in Legazbi for two days for training and our Christmas Zone conference.
Thank you all for your prayers to find those that will recieve us here in Bulan,
-Sister Richins
Well this week has been good. We had a good week and I continue to learn more and more. We had some really great days and then some hard ones too. But that is okay, that is how missionary work is. We were able to find a couple new investigators, which was good. It was interesting because for the past two weeks I felt that I had talked so many people and no one wanted to hear our message, but we had a couple of great miracles this week.
The first one was Rodel. So we were tracting in one of our areas and we saw one of the less actives that we teach. This less active we see him all the time, but he never wants us to teach him, but we was with his friend and he told us we could go and visit his friend Rodel. We set up an appointment with him for the next night. I am not going to lie. I was a bit apprehensive about the appointment I felt that he really wasn't interesting in our message, but instead interesting in the two white americans speaking Tagalog. But it is not that way he listened intently as we talked about Joseph Smith and invited him to pray. Also his two sisters listened too. When we came back, he said that he had prayed and felt so good about Joseph Smith, he said that he couldn't come to church yesterday, but next sunday he would be able too. So hopefully he will continue to progress.
The second miracle was Maricar. So there is this one street that we walk down everyday and all the kids on that street know us and always run up to us to give us hugs and high fives. We were walking down they street and starting talking to one of the pedjack drivers. He is like 19 years old and we started talking and we asked if we could visit him. He said that he lived on that one street. We went to the house and we taught his sister, who is married and has three kids. She said she had always watched missionaries walk up and down that street, but they never stopped to teach her. It was such a powerful lesson and by the end we were both in tears.
So Christian is doing good. He is working on giving up things in the Word of Wisdom. Yesterday he just kept on sayin that he couldn't do it, that he couldn't make it, but we testifyin about the atonement and that if he relied on the Lord, he could give those things up. He has so much desire he wants this so bad and through Jesus Christ he can do this.
So these were the highlights of the week. Of course there are stuggles too. We are still do hours and hours of tracting and street contacting. It is just so different becuase for the past two transfers we had so many appointments that we almost never went tracting and now I feel that is all we do. But it is good. I really do enjoy it. You get to meet so many people and share what we teach. There is a lot of joy in finding. We are still working to bring up our teaching pool and finding those that will recieve us, like Rodel and Maricar.
We had a great zone training this week, it was good to hear from our zone leaders. We talked about increasing the number of total lessons in our zone and extending baptismal dates early within the first or 2nd lesson, and continue to find people to teach. President encouraged us to teach 7 lessons a day-it is a lot, but It is good, we just have to reach higher and plan and teach effectively.
Well we have to work hard this week because next week we will be in Legazbi for two days for training and our Christmas Zone conference.
Thank you all for your prayers to find those that will recieve us here in Bulan,
-Sister Richins
December 2
Dear Family and Friends,
Wow I can't believe that it is already December! Time just flies by
really truly. I am glad that everyone had a good thanksgiving over
there. Of course they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but after
district meeting on Thursday we went to Jollibee, where they have a
new special Mashed Potatoes. So we had our fried chicken and mashed
potatoes and we went around the table and said everything that we are
grateful for.
This week has been okay. We are really trying and trying to find
those that will receive us. Sometimes it can be a little frustrating
because we feel that we are trying to be everything in our power, but
we just haven't seen the results of our labors and efforts. But we
can't let that weaken our faith. We just keep on talking to everyone
and visiting members and encourage them prayerfully seek refferals. I
remember one day this week we had been talking and talking to people,
but we just were not seeing very much success and I started to think
about all of our recent converts and said all of them came from
refferals from members-member refferals are SOOO important. Pres
Guanzon said of every 200 street contact you will get 1 baptism, of
every 5 refferals you will get 1 baptism and if you have an
investigator with the right fellowshipper you have a 1 to 1 ratio.
Members are sooo important!
Training has been good. It is really humbling for me and I have
learned so much from Sister Flake. It helps remind me what is the
most important in missionary work. And it is just so heartwarming to
hear her sincere testimony in broken Tagalog. It is so cool to see
how that sincere testimony can really speak to the hearts of the
people. It is weird because I remember when I was at her stage, I
kept on thinking, I am not making any difference here. But now I can
see that those simple heartfelt testimonies make a huge difference.
It is so cool and I love it.
So we have been teaching one investigator, Christian, who is 22. He
is one of the most humble people I have met. He drives a pedjack and
lives with the Llantino family who just recently started coming back
to church. We have been teaching him for a while, but he was
struggling to recognize his answer. This week on Thursday we went to
visit him and much to our amazement he said he felt something.
Because the last time we talked about the fruits of the spirit from
Ephesians and he was like, I feel love, peace, and I just want to guys
to come back every day and teach me more. I was so excited for him.
He is so great, he said that he doesn't just want to get baptized to
get baptized, but he wants to get baptized and stay active his entire
life. I am so excited for him.
On Sunday we had a special district conference to sustain the new
district President. So that was exciting to see Pres. Guanzon and all
the missionaries from the zone. President Guanzon is so great. He is
also so humble. He talked about the importance of callings in the
church and how every one should have a calling and magnify that
calling. He said that he hoped after his calling as mission president
he is called to clean the bathroom in the Church house, and he will be
so happy to clean that bathroom every week. He also talked about
tithing and about a humble pedjack driver that said he couldn't pay
tithing, but his branch president told him to "prove the Lord" and he
did. Now he has a pedjack business and can support all of his
children through school. I learn so much from President Guanzon.
I remember when President Nielson the area president in the
philippines was here and he said that a lot of times we are sent to
missions because the Lord knows what mission president will be the
best for us. He said that when the apostles call missions they talk
more about the mission presidents that we actual mission. They say I
think that this missionary needs to learn from this mission president.
That was an interesting insight, and I am trying to learn everything
I can from President and Sister Guanzon.
Well I hope everyone enjoys the Christmas season over there. It is
weird all the stores play Christmas music, but it is American music
singing about snow and then I walk out side and there is no snow. Oh
well.
-Sister Richins
Wow I can't believe that it is already December! Time just flies by
really truly. I am glad that everyone had a good thanksgiving over
there. Of course they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but after
district meeting on Thursday we went to Jollibee, where they have a
new special Mashed Potatoes. So we had our fried chicken and mashed
potatoes and we went around the table and said everything that we are
grateful for.
This week has been okay. We are really trying and trying to find
those that will receive us. Sometimes it can be a little frustrating
because we feel that we are trying to be everything in our power, but
we just haven't seen the results of our labors and efforts. But we
can't let that weaken our faith. We just keep on talking to everyone
and visiting members and encourage them prayerfully seek refferals. I
remember one day this week we had been talking and talking to people,
but we just were not seeing very much success and I started to think
about all of our recent converts and said all of them came from
refferals from members-member refferals are SOOO important. Pres
Guanzon said of every 200 street contact you will get 1 baptism, of
every 5 refferals you will get 1 baptism and if you have an
investigator with the right fellowshipper you have a 1 to 1 ratio.
Members are sooo important!
Training has been good. It is really humbling for me and I have
learned so much from Sister Flake. It helps remind me what is the
most important in missionary work. And it is just so heartwarming to
hear her sincere testimony in broken Tagalog. It is so cool to see
how that sincere testimony can really speak to the hearts of the
people. It is weird because I remember when I was at her stage, I
kept on thinking, I am not making any difference here. But now I can
see that those simple heartfelt testimonies make a huge difference.
It is so cool and I love it.
So we have been teaching one investigator, Christian, who is 22. He
is one of the most humble people I have met. He drives a pedjack and
lives with the Llantino family who just recently started coming back
to church. We have been teaching him for a while, but he was
struggling to recognize his answer. This week on Thursday we went to
visit him and much to our amazement he said he felt something.
Because the last time we talked about the fruits of the spirit from
Ephesians and he was like, I feel love, peace, and I just want to guys
to come back every day and teach me more. I was so excited for him.
He is so great, he said that he doesn't just want to get baptized to
get baptized, but he wants to get baptized and stay active his entire
life. I am so excited for him.
On Sunday we had a special district conference to sustain the new
district President. So that was exciting to see Pres. Guanzon and all
the missionaries from the zone. President Guanzon is so great. He is
also so humble. He talked about the importance of callings in the
church and how every one should have a calling and magnify that
calling. He said that he hoped after his calling as mission president
he is called to clean the bathroom in the Church house, and he will be
so happy to clean that bathroom every week. He also talked about
tithing and about a humble pedjack driver that said he couldn't pay
tithing, but his branch president told him to "prove the Lord" and he
did. Now he has a pedjack business and can support all of his
children through school. I learn so much from President Guanzon.
I remember when President Nielson the area president in the
philippines was here and he said that a lot of times we are sent to
missions because the Lord knows what mission president will be the
best for us. He said that when the apostles call missions they talk
more about the mission presidents that we actual mission. They say I
think that this missionary needs to learn from this mission president.
That was an interesting insight, and I am trying to learn everything
I can from President and Sister Guanzon.
Well I hope everyone enjoys the Christmas season over there. It is
weird all the stores play Christmas music, but it is American music
singing about snow and then I walk out side and there is no snow. Oh
well.
-Sister Richins
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)