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
Sunday, July 13, 2014
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
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
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
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
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
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
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