week 40: australia style

putting up curtains for a member....so frustrating!

Gday mum!!!

This week was chopped full of miracles!!  So Steve sent us a text this week and asked us if he could move his baptism up a week because he doesn't want to wait that long!!  So we were able to teach him the commandments this week, and he accepted and committed to living all of them!!  Steve is a miracle man!!  I have never seen someone so prepared to receive the Gospel, the Lord truly has been working on him a while!  So he will be baptized this Saturday, and he asked me to baptize him, so I am really excited to share this experience with him!  

We also experienced another miracle this week!  So because the mission has changed its focus from getting new contacts to new investigators, I have really been focusing on praying to find prepared people that are ready to recieve the Gospel.  So I had an experience this week where I was praying for that, and a name came to my head.  The name Tiffany came to my mind, and I was like "what the heck, who is Tiffany?"  So I searched through my planner from the new contacts that we had found and there was the name Tiffany with a number next to it.  So I gave the mystery woman a call, and she was really excited to hear from us again.  So we went to see her at the library on Saturday with an awesome fellowship!  We taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel and it really just gelled with her, and she accepted a baptismal date!  Her date is for the 14th of June!  Like I said though, Tiffany has the best fellowship ever, her name is Sally.  They hit it off and became great friends, they set up a time to hang out on their own time.  It was really cool for me to see that, because I just couldn't help thinking that "this is the Gospel in action!"

I am so thankful to be here in Eltham, I am growing so much as a person it feels like.  I got the opportunity to share my testimony yesterday at Sacrament, and I couldn't help but talking about my family and how much I love them, and how central the family is to God's plan for us.  I am thankful for the opportunity that I have to live with my family forever!  This Gospel is real and I love it, and I love sharing it.

Hey mum how are you going?!  It was so good to talk to yous a week ago, it looks like all of you are healthy and going well!!  It was good to see Shell's boy too, he seems like a nice chap!  I cant believe that Zach comes home this Wed. That is crazy I reckon!  That will be sweet as to see the fam though to put together some posters!  This week for me was really good, it started off a bit slow, but we saw some sweet as miracles by the end of it!  I am really excited for Steve's baptism this week, he is so awesome!  Elder Richey told me that Rob is doing awesome down in tazzy, so that makes me pretty happy!!  Good things are happening at the moment in this area!  Today we are going bowling with the zone so that should be pretty fun!!  Elder Sharp (my MTC comp.) is in my zone so it will be nice to see him!  I love life at the moment, and I am really happy!  I cant believe that I am almost out for a year, like you said it has flown by, but it still feels like it took forever haha!  This upcoming week we have zone conference so we get to see President Maxwell, so that will be really nice to see him again!  I love you so much mum!!  Thank you for all that you do for me, and the sacrifices you have made for me!  I hope you enjoy your trek fam!  That will be fun as!  Have an awesome week!!  Cheers!

Love, Elder Richins

aka: Coop dawgy dawg