week 20: australia style

the flat

Gday mum!!

This week was pretty awesome!  So this week consisted of us going to members homes and sharing a spiritual message about Christmas!  This past week really set the tone for the rest of the transfer, hopefully as we continue to build the relationship of trust with the members they will trust us to teach their friends.  This area has such great potential and Elder Richey and I are both thankful to be a part of this area at such an exciting time! 

We visited Benod this week, and he told us that his parents are not going to let him get baptized because, his parents would disown him.  So we are going to take a break from him until things cool off, and then maybe visit him again. We dropped off a Christmas care package for our new investigator Pamala and her family, they loved it!  We are seeing them this Thursday and I am super excited.

This upcoming week is going to be focused on finding and member work. Hopefully we can get some solid referrals this upcoming week!  I am thankful to be a missionary during such an exciting time!  The work is hastening heaps and I am so excited to be a part of it.  I have grown heaps as a person since coming out.  The Lord is really shaping me into the person i want to be and I am so very thankful for that!  I love this work so much!!

Happy Birthday mum!!!!  I am glad you liked your birthday card matey!!  It sounds like the house is getting an extreme makeover!  It will be cool to see what yous have done with it once I get back!  I really enjoyed talking to yous on Christmas as well!  It was heaps of fun to see the fams faces!  I love sister fox too!!  She takes such good care of us missionaries!!  Today we are going to play basketball with her sons!  We also have been working out with her son Ethan.  We have been working out with him in the mornings because we love him.  I am so thankful to be in Rosny ward!  The work is so great here!!  I hope you have the happiest birthday ever mum!!!  I love you so much!!  Enjoy the curry and decorations!!  Cheers!

Love, Elder Richins

aka: CoopDAWG

week 19: merry christmas from australia

american cereal for christmas

week 19: australia style and a tribute to our buddy at christmas

this christmas we are thankful for a buddy whom has always kept christmas classy.
we will miss you heaps this year. xoxoxo

Gday mum!!! 

So this week was pretty bitter sweet.  We dropped our most progressing investigators Toni and Ryan who were supposed to be baptized on Saturday.  Toni doesnt have the will to give up coffee so we had no choice.  We could have baptized Ryan easy because he really wants to be baptized.  But we dont want him to go less active the next week, we wanted both of them on board.   All goods though!! 

Two huge miracles happened in our area this week though.  Elder Richey and I were tracting and not having much luck, and it was hot as!  We kept going though, and all of a sudden this lady pokes her head out her door and asked us if we wanted a drink.  We couldnt refuse because it was like we were walking through the outback.  We went inside and she told us how she had met elders in the past.  She also told us that her partner left her and her 5 kids a week ago.  She started to cry and she asked us to help her.  We taught her about how God is our loving Heavenly Father and she was crying again.  I felt the spirit so strong!  We met her kids as well, one is 18, 14, 12, 10, and 5.  We are seeing her and her family again tomorrow!  I am so stoked!!!!

Another miracle was that Benod came to church!!!  It was a really good experience and he loves how much we sing in sacrament meeting!  In our gospel principles class with him we reviewed everything that we taught him.  We then invited him to pray and ask if the message we share is true.  He ended up praying in front of us and asking that question.  He paused for a second and started to cry, and he said that he knew that the church was trrue!  We set a date with him for the 11th of January!  We also set a date for the 18th of January for one of our investigators named Robert!  Very cool!!!!

This week was so awesome!!!  The members have been giving us heaps of lollies and chocolates for Christmas.  Lets just say that I never want to see chocolate again... 

I am so thankful for the mercy of our Heavenly Father.  Looking back at my 18 years of life haha.  I really wish I would have attended church more, and I also wish I could have seen the Lords hand in my life more.  I hated going to church and I remember begging my parents not to go.  I remember one person that changed my view and that is one of my best friends, Harlan Hammond.  His testimony really touched my heart and wanted me to keep going to church and learning about the gospel that I had very little knowledge about.  It was cool reading a letter he sent me and that I read today.  He said he was called to be a Priest quorum advisor because of me.  I just started to cry when I read that letter, and I am so thankful for my Loving Heavenly Father for placing him in my path so he could help me.  The love of our Father in Heaven is real and is unfailing no matter what we do in our lives his arm is still stretched out for us, waiting for us to grab onto him.  I am also so very thankful for the support of my family, and their unconditional love even when I was being a dingleberry.  I am truly lucky to have such a great family!  I love them so much!  Have a Happy Christmas!!!

Hi mum!!!  How are you??  Guess I will find out on thursday!!  haha It sounds like everyone is doing very well!!  Love y0ou so much and cant wait to talk to you on thurs!!!  (wed for you)  cheers!!!

Love, Elder Richins

aka: Coopdawgydawg

week 18: australia style

coop's new companion elder richey

coop's mission christmas party

Gday Mum!!!

This week was pretty awesome!  I got my new companion his name is Elder Richey!!  Elder Richey and I get along really well!  His last companion was named Elder Cox and he is my good buddy from the MTC!  I am so glad to be serving with him! 

The work this week was pretty crazy due to the Christmas party on Friday!  Which was heaps of fun!  We got to travel up to the north of Tasmania which took 3 hours to drive.  I reckon Rosny is 10x more beautiful than up north, it's just farmland up there.  But we got our Christmas packages, and watched a movie that the mission put together which was pretty fairdinkum!  It was awesome to see President Maxwell, and Sister Maxwell again I love them so much!  Such great people!

Toni and Ryan have been alright this week.  Toni is going through a tough time with the Word of Wisdom and life in general.  Coffee is going to be a tough thing for her to give up, but we will get there.  We committed her to live the Word of Wisdom everyday this week, and she accepted.  She also accepted being baptized on Saturday, and Ryan did too.  So I think if this time it doesnt go through we are going to have to drop them both for a while.

We didnt get the chance to see Benod or Robert this week, because they were both in Melbourne for a holiday.  Elder Richey and I have been focusing on the members this week, even though we cant get out to most of them because they live an hour away.  But we are really building that relationship of trust with the members.  Hopefully as we are continuing to be obedient, and BRT with the members, they will lead us to their friends.  

I am so glad to have a companion that has the same enthusiasm for the work that I do.  I know for a fact that we will see miracles as we work.

I am so thankful for the Saviour this Christmas season.  This week I have been reading the Christmas story in Luke, and just reading about the Saviour's life in the four gospels.  I am so very thankful for him, and his love and sacrifice.  I also know that we have a Loving Heavenly Father.  Toni this week said to us that she didnt think anyone loves her because of the bad things she has done.  Elder Richey and I testified that we know without a doubt that she has a Loving Heavenly Father, that knows what she is going through and wants to help.  She started to cry and that is one of the really cool experiences that I have had on my mission so far.  I know that we are all loved so very much by our Heavenly Father no matter what we do.  He is there when we cry, when we cheer, and when we need a friend.  Let us all remember the Saviour's sacrifices, and that we have a loving Father in Heaven this Christmas Season!  In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Mum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I got my packages!!  Thank you so much mum!!  I love you guys so much!  I look forward to calling you guys in an hour or two to set up a time to skype!  It will bbeeee pretty fairdinkum!  This week has been so awesome, I love Elder Richey so much!  He is cool as!  We get along really well, besides him being a Cowboys fan, and also a jazz fan... poor guy...  haha!  We might go golfing today with a member so that should be really fun!  But first we both need to go buy calling cards to call home haha!  It looks really cold in Utah, it is super hot in Tasmania, yesterday was miserably hot haha!  It sounds like everything is going awesome!!  I hope you have an amazing week mum!!!!  Love you so much!!!!  c heers!

Love, Elder Richins

aka:Coopdawgydawgydawgydawgydawg

week 17: australia style

Gday mum!

 

So this week was pretty good.  Elder Blackman and I did heaps of contacting our new people to teach.  It didnt end up being very successful but we ended doing alright this week.  Since it was Elder Blackman's last week we went to say goodbye to heaps of members in our ward.  We had some really cool experiences with this part member family who ended up coming to our ward Christmas party.  The mother in the part member family has been less active for 12 years.  She is really keen on receiving the missionary lessons again, and making it to the temple.  That is the miracle for the week!  Hopefully this upcoming week we can have more success with them. 

For Toni and Ryan they are scheduled to be baptized this Saturday but I am not getting my hopes up because everytime I do it never happens haha!  Ryan is really keen to be baptized so I reckon he at least will be baptized this weeka!

Elder Blackman leaves for Melbourne today at 1, he is excited but scared to move on with his life.  For the time being I am with Elder Atkinson our zone leader until my new comp comes down to tassie!  I am a zone leader for 3 days it feels pretty good I reckon!!  Hahaha! 

But that has been the happenings in this week, it has been a tough week to be honest.  I am excited to get a new companion.  We have seen very good things happen in this area so far, and I am excited to see what more we can do with it. 

I am thankful for prayer today.  The Lord has helped me so much this week and I am so thankful for him, and the comfort he brings to me.  I am excited for this upcoming week!  We have Christmas conference on Friday!!!! 

Mum!!!  How are you??  So for the skype thing, I will be calling at an unknown time to set up a time to skype you.  So you will prolly get a call from me in the next week or so.  And yes you will need to set up an account for me as well haha.  It sounds like you guys are still busy with the new dog and it poops everywhere.  Hahah this week was pretty rough Elder Blackman didnt want to do any work this week because it was his last week that kinda drove me nuts.  Today I am hanging with my boi Elder Atkinson he is cool as.  I am sad though because one of our zone leaders Elder Wood got transferred to another area, I am gonna miss that guy heaps!  But nothing out of the ordinary happened this week.  Just trying to stay busy I am excited to get back to work this week!!  President comes down on Friday yay!!!!  Well I hope you have an awesome week!!  Love you!!!  cheers!

Lovve, Elder Richins

aka:Coopdawgydawg

week 16: australia style

Gday Mum!!!

This week was really stressful!  Toni and Ryan did not get baptized, we sent over our district leader to give them their baptismal interview and Toni was really overwhelmed by the whole thing, and said she didnt want to get baptized this week.  While our district leader was at her home, she told them that she was stressed, so she got up and made a cup of coffee.  Her son Ryan got really angry with her and said "We are not allowed to be drinking that!"  So he took the cup away from her and poured it down the drain.  I love Ryan, he is very keen on entering the waters of baptism his mother is not too keen at the moment.  So this is the problem Elder Blackman and I get to tackle this week!!

We had a very productive week minus all of the drama, we managed to find 12 more new contacts.  A few of them were pretty keen on learning more!  Hopefully this week we will be able to turn our new contacts into new investigators, because most of our return appointments fall on this upcoming week, so I am extremely excited for that!

Benod our other progressing investigator is doing quite well.  He is reading and praying and feeling the spirit as well.  We need to try and get him to church this week!  He is very keen, and I love that dude!  His family is a crack up, they dont speak any English, Benod is the only one that does.  We tried to teach the entire family the Restoration this week, and the whole family started yelling at each other in Nepaleze!!  It was pretty awkward because I wasnt sure if they were angry at each other or they were just communicating!  Benod is awesome though, I cant wait to teach him again this week!!

We had zone conference this week, and it was great!!  I learned heaps of things that I could do to become a more effective missionary!  I think one thing I could take from zone conference is to work with the members of the ward much better.  Elder Blackman and I tend to try and find all of our investigators through tracting and such which is effective, but not nearly as effective as teaching an investigator that is friends with a member, or a relative! 

This week was stressful but hey, I am still alive!!  I am loving the work right now things are getting exciting in Rosny!!!  I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father this week, without him this week I would have crumbled.  I am so thankful for his hand in this work.  I am thankful for Jesus Christ he is my king, and my redeemer and I know that he loves me.  I know that missionary work is of God, and I know that the work is hastening and people are being prepared!  I love it!!

Hey mum!!!!!!!!!  Sounds like you guys had a fairdinkum Thanksgiving eh?!!  For Thanksgiving I went to a less actives home who is American.  He cooked up a fairdikum meal if I do say so myself.  Turkey, bread, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, cookies, pumpkin pie, sprite, peas!  It was no where near as good as being back home.  I was definatley thinking of yous this Thanksgiving and it was sad to not be there with yous!  I love you guys!!  As for the accent it is coming along my companion trains me everyday in companionship study!  I think you need to get a skype account cause the lady that offered me to skype doesnt have an apple computer haha!  I am good for money and everything!  We went to a little market on Saturday with a member and there was heaps of little trinkets and I got some stuff to send home hopefully it doesnt cost too much, or else you guys will have to wait a couple years to get your gifts haha!!  I am having heaps of fun out here!  I hope you have an awesome day and week!!  I love you so much mum!!!!!  cheers!

Love, Elder Richins

aka:Coopdawgydawg

week 15: australia style

Gday Mum!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow this week was sweet as!!  I saw so many great miracles this week.  On Tuesday Elder Blackman and I were walking down the street and we saw an older lady taking out her garbage, and we offered to help.  She said "are you the Mormons??"  We said "Yes!"  She said "Please come back tomorrow at 3!"  So we went to her house the next day and she told us how she was praying to see missionaries.  She said she wanted to be baptized, and she was willing to give up coffee and tea.  She told Elder Blackman and I that we were an answer to her prayers!!  Her baptismal date is for the 29th of December!!!

This week my companion and I were blessed to find 20 new people to teach!  We also set another baptismal date with a 17 year old boy named Benod for the 22nd of December!  He is from Nepal and he is so cool!!  We had a funny experience at his house, we were teaching him about Joseph Smith's first vision, and there was a knock on the door...  Guess who????  Jehovah's Witnessess!!!  They came into the house and were totally rude.  They were trying to talk over our lesson to Benod's parents and they scowled when we talked about the Book of Mormon.  Then they asked us "Wow, I wonder what the difference is between our religions???"  We ignored her the entire lesson and just carried on hahahahahaha!!!  Benod did the same!!

I am also super pumped for Toni and Ryan!!!  They are really excited to be baptized and their baptism is this upcoming Sunday, and their interview is on Friday!!!  They really want to live the Word of Wisdom but they need to live it for a week to be baptized, so we will see how they go!!!  They are such cool people, and I am really excited for them!  It will be sweet as!! 

I am so very grateful for the mighty miracles I was able to see this week.  I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for watching out for me.  I know that he sends blessings to all of his children as we are obedient.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Saviour, and Redeemer of the world.  I am thankful for the opportunity I have had to serve him with all of my heart.  I look forward to the miracles the Lord will bless my companion and I with this week!!

Mummm!!!!!  How are you going???  This week has been really cold and rainy!!!  How is the weather in Utah??  Is it snowing yet??  It is supposed to officially be summer this week, but it doesnt sound like the weather in Tasmania is going to change much haha!  This week was way cool!  It sounds like you guys have had a busy week with managing the new dog hahah!  Everyone keeps telling me that it is a biter!  Hahaha!  It is a really cute dog though!  Transfers are coming up in 2 weeks.  Hahaha I am praying for a car, my bike barely works, and there are heaps of hills in Tasmania!!!  Hahah my legs are constantly hurting.  Today for P day we are going on a hike, so that should be fun!  Then on Saturday becasue Blackman is leaving he got a member to take us sightseeing around Tazzy, he got permission from President and everything so that should be pretty fun!  But ya that has been my week in a nutshell!!  I love you heaps mom!!!!!!!!!!  I hope you have a fantastic week!  cheers.

Love, Elder Richins

aka:Cmoneylove

I am thankful for my awesome mom, who has done so much for me!  I am thankful for her unconditional love and sacrifice even when I was a turd burglar!!!  I love you so much mom happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder handsome "Richins"
I am also very thankful for pizza, pizza is very good.  Hahah 

week 14: australia style

Gday Mum!!!!!!

This week was pretty awesome!!  So last P Day a member in our ward took us and the Hobart Elders caving!!!  It was so much fun!  We did heaps of rock jumping, and crawling into tight places it was sweet as!! 

This week me and Elder Blackman had a huge focus on finding, we found 12 new people to teach this week, and most of them came from tracting!  We went on exchange with the zone leaders this week, and I went with Elder Wood!  We tried to contact some former investigators but none of them were home.  So we prayed about some houses that we could tract, and we found 3 new contacts in like 20 minutes!  I have gotten so much better at finding since I have started my mission.  In Wantirna South I was terrified of tracting and finding in general now I think it's heaps of fun! 

We had 2 less active families come to church, along with Toni and Ryan and Elder Blackman and I got to teach them about how to gain a testimony.  It was such an awesome lesson I felt the spirit heaps!  One of the less active families (American) invited Elder Blackman and I to a Thanksgiving dinner!  I could not refuse!!!  So I am super stoked about that!

Toni and Ryan are progressing really well, their only concern right now is coffee.  Any ideas??  We bought them some fake coffee with no caffeine, but unfortunatley they were not too keen about it.  Toni has come down from 5 cups a day to 1, so she is super close!  Ryan is keen as to stop drinking it!  But they came to church for the second time and they loved it!

This week was super awesome!  I am really excited to contact our new contacts this week, and get some new investigators in our teaching pool!! 

The Lord has blessed me so much this week, and I have really started to include the Lord in every stage of my mission.  I pray to thank him every time we find someone new.  Because I know the Lord is preparing his children for us we just need to do some hard yakka and find them!!  I know that the Lord loves and blesses all of his children!  Having the "faith to find" new contacts is essential I have found, because if you go out tracting and are expecting nothing you will indeed find nothing.  "Acting on the smallest twig of faith, allows God to grow it" -Henry B. Eyring.

Mommmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  How have you been today matey??  That is super exciting that you guys got the new dog!  I am glad you guys are enjoying your time with it!  It sounds like you all couldnt be happier!  This week was really good! Today for P day we are going to the zone leaders flat for a barby.  We might go do a little hiking before that though!  Tasmania is starting to heat up big time!  Biking in the heat is not too fun haha!  But it keeps you in really good shape.  It sounds like your week has been pretty exhausting!  Poor new doesnt like new friends.  Tell him to stay strong hahahaha!  I miss that little guy!  I hope all is well in the 801!!  I love you mum!!!  cheers.

Love, Elder Richins

aka:Coopdawgydawg