New Transfer and 8 months remaining
'So it turns out I am staying here!! The only thing that changed is that Elder Harris is going Zone Leader up in Mass. Oh and the baptism worked out. I got to baptize little Adan he is the coolest kid I know. He is just like me but Dominican. He is a like a little monkey. Loves to run and jump on all the furniture. The water wasn't super warm or super cold but he was a trooper and did it for God. He has a strong testimony. Newest member of our branch! It is finally starting to warm up a bit and there is a Ritas in our area so we go there sometimes to treat ourselves. This week will be in the 50's... It was a long week but full of blessings. We are getting prepared for General Conference and really working to get our members back!!! What a lot of good people don't realize is not going to church on sundays may not make you a terrible person but it is breaking a commandment and definitely isn't doing God any favors or yourself... so if you are one of those... please put God first and go to church... He needs you and you need him. I love you all and know with all my heart that this church is true. Keep praying and reading and pressing forward with faith. And remember to forget yourself but don't forget who you are. Con mucho amor, Elder Richins'
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'I got really distracted and forgot to write my email.. I feel bad. But one announcement, Huge snowstorm tomorrow... so we are pulling out our shovels!
we had zone conference and ummm we extended two baptismal dates soo 26th of march we will be greeting two new amazing people into the church! Wooh!! yeah so... sorry about that lame email. Love you all! oh and an awesome quote. "Let's just keep on keeping on, but do it more effectively." -Elder Oaks Love, Elder Richins' March Madness and the waters of baptism!
'Well this week has gone by really fast because we went on exchanges twice... So I got to teach for 4 days with someone who doesn't speak spanish... It was a great experience but after teaching for 45 minutes alone your mouth gets super dry and it isn't as great as having someone to help bring that spirit in... but it was still good! We got fed... a lot! if you don't eat with the members they get offended so yesterday was fast sunday and we still had 3 meal appointments! haha we were stuffed! We went to the farm to do service. We started moving big logs and then the sky turned black within seconds. After a few strikes of lightning it started pouring!!! It reminded me so much of Forest Gump! It just came out of nowhere and it poured hard!!! We were soaked. So that day of service was cancelled sadly. Ummm... we had a settlers of Catan party every week we go to a members and eat dinner and play a little catan... and now the member got the expansion pack haha so we played today and it was way fun. it gets crazy! The members name is Bill Weseman Him and his wife are the mother and father of all the missionaries that serve here. So they have taken care of us since I got here. We call them Pops and Sweetie. I owe them a lot for their service and love to the missionaries. Highlight of the week is definitely meeting with our investigators, We are teaching a few families. And we have been teaching an 8 year old boy. the situation is complicated but His name is Adan, we set a date for his baptism for the 25th this month! And he wants me to baptize him! but we will see about that. I want his uncle to do it. Some other families we are teaching is a fam of puerto ricans names are Glorivee, Glorimar, Wilmaliz, and Jose! haha they are so awesome and they are a miracle family that is so willing to learn! The best investigator we have right now is Ana... she is so prepared and is coming to church every week. We are positive she will be baptized really really soon!! We have a bunch others and this area is exploding with success! Obedience brings miracles!!!!!!!!!!! I love serving and I know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for every single one of us! He did it so we could all return to our Father in Heaven. If we realized how big of a deal or sacrifice that was we would have absolutely no desire to sin. If we understood even a fraction of the reality of how special and important we are and who we were before this life Satan would have no power on earth. I know without a doubt through study and prayer that this gospel is true. That this is the only church and organization with the power and authority to preform the sacred ordinances necessary to live as families forever with God and to find peace and happiness in this life and the next. This is the way. and there is no other way. I love you all and appreciate your examples. And I ask you with the sincerity of my heart to search the scriptures and pray!!!! Find out for yourselves. Take the time to feel the love God has for you. there is no other way to feel this amazing power of the gospel and how much happiness it can bring. PLEASE do your duty as a human, as a child of God to find that testimony and not rely on the words others tell you but the words of the spirit you feel directly from God. <3 Elder Richins' We cut a couch in half!! and picked up 7 investigators!! 'We have been really really busy trying to help the branch grow! In the past two weeks we have picked up 11 investigators already! That is more than the last two transfers combined we have been so blessed for our efforts! And all the investigators are SOOO prepared! We are teaching two 10 year olds and I have never in my life seen a 10 year old so excited about the gospel! He has had some crazy life changing experiences already from the gospel and he said one day he wants to be like us:) How cute:) And on sunday we had a record breaking 50 people at church in our branch which was awesome! We ran out of seats in that little primary room!! Also the Waterford elders have been coming over every morning to workout... and when you are in groups you tend to get random bursts of motivation... so you could say I have been pretty sore for a while... It is a good feeling but at the same time it stinks. So today we went and helped some members trash a couch and it wouldn't fit in the truck so we took a saw and chopped it in half! with our little missionary motivated bodies we got it ripped in half in about 10 minutes!! haha it was super fun! Not too much to really talk about this week, it has been so busy... we have just been working and working some more!... It has been a little overwhelming with blessings and good stuff but that isn't bad right? Cool thing about serving in the states is you get to learn multiple languages to help you spread the gospel to all people! So we recently picked up bit of Portuguese and Chinese haha just kidding all I know how to say in Chinese is "I am water" or "I am a turtle"... basic stuff you know? But it is the coolest thing to be able to think fluently in another language to really understand someone on a personal level who is speaking words I never knew existed 14 months ago! Also Elder Miskin my wonderful trainer has faithfully and honorably completed his mission and is boarding his flight on wednesday:) Prayers for him and his new life please. I love you all and am so grateful for all who read these and who pray for the missionaries and help build up the kingdom of heaven! I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, through diligent study in the Book of Mormon and constant prayer and learning of him and his ways have I come to know my greatest friend.:) May the spirit always abide in your hearts. Keep on keeping on. Love, Elder Richins' kinda how my package arrived to the apartment... seems like the United States Postal Service is using submarines or something to deliver their mail... oh well" |