Elder Trochez and The Map

Dec 22, 2014

Map of our area, you have to tilt your head to the right.

Elder Trochez and I!

P-Day

Nov 24, 2014

Pictures! This is a toy store we play games at on P-Day and a selfie.

More Pictures

Nov 3, 2104

In this picture it looks like I could fall into the ocean, but don't worry. I didn't. And there's rocks all around anyways.

One of two pictures I got with my companion the entire time I was with him.

The other one. With the rest of my district.

I looked out the window and what did I see? It's here.

Love,

Elder J. H. Richins of the Quorum of the 250 of the New Hampshire Manchester Mission.

A Rough Week but Things Are Looking Up

October 20, 2104

This week we brought Marc, a member, to teach Alan with us. He participated in the lesson a lot, asking questions and providing insights in our reading in 1 Nephi. He invited Alan to church and Alan was so close to accepting the invitation. He has a few small concerns about getting to church, but we think he has another concern that he's not telling us. Either way, he did not come to church this week. We are going to hold off on the commitment to come to church for a little while so that we don't pester him. We'll focus more on his reading and helping him gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He told us this week how he first gained his faith in Christ. As a teenager he sprained his ankle one summer and was laid up for weeks. During this time he decided to read the entire Bible. As he read he started to like Jesus a lot, like a really close friend. Alan kind of has a distrust for people, and Jesus just seemed like a more solid person.

We also taught the Dorays. We just talked a little bit about scripture study with them and then read part of 1 Nephi 1 in the Book of Mormon. They had to go somewhere, so we didn't read it all so as to be considerate of their time. We plan on helping them, the kids especially, to get excited for the Book of Mormon by making scripture covers for Family Home Evening. Their family is way cool! We actually found out this week that they play Magic: the Gathering (a trading card game started in the 90's, still very popular) and my last companion, Elder Rees, taught me how to play. One person we teach, Joe, gave Elder Chisholm and I decks of cards and is going to teach Elder Chisholm how to play. I started poring over my deck, thinking up strategies, before I realized I could be using my time much better.

This few weeks has been kinda rough, but things are looking up.

With Love,

Jon

Pretty Cool (and old) Piece of History

Sept 22, 2014

Dear Mom,

That's right, your son got to hold an original copy of the Book of Mormon at the Maine State Library in Augusta! It was pretty cool. And pretty old.

Love,

Jon

Pictures!

Sept 15, 2014

Elder Richins Relaxing all cool-like

Some awesome mushrooms we found on our hike. Ooh they look just like little creamsicles! Try one!

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Our Hike (I'm getting so white)

Unanswered Questions and the Balmy Days II

Sept 8, 2014

This week Elder Rees and I have been working hard to contact and teach people. We started teaching a man named Allen. He has met with the missionaries before and was left with lots of unanswered questions. When we first met him on his porch, he said he "knows enough about Mormonism to know it's not for him." But we asked what his unanswered questions were and he said he wanted to know why God allows us to suffer so much, why He didn't give us better human nature, and why He gave us free will if that would make us potentially self-destructive. When we came back on Friday we gave him answers. At the end, he said that he felt that even though he really wants knowledge, "I don't need to know the 'chemical formula' for temptation. I just need to know how to never give in to it." I think he was really taught by the Holy Ghost. I am so excited to see him follow through on his newly-found knowledge. We get to teach him again tomorrow.

We also got to bring a member teaching this week who we don't normally bring. Brother Zaugg came to teach Ryan with us. We taught Ryan about the Restoration of the Gospel and Brother Zaugg testified of the Book of Mormon and talked about his conversion. His took 14 years, he said, to which Ryan responded, "I hope it doesn't take that long for me." (I hope it doesn't either). Unfortunately he didn't come to church. He didn't have to go clamming because the tide was up at that time, so we're not sure why he didn't come.

Anyways, it was a pretty good week. We found out that one person we teach likes playing Magic: The Gathering, so Elder Rees got to take him on during one of our dinner hours. Fun time!

Us on a boat (a ferry to Monhegan Island, so it's okay.)

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Me an' the Balmy Days II, Aargh!

With Love,

Elder Richins

Exodus and Significantly Smaller Snowpiles

(realtime)

Last week we started teaching a man named Emmanuel. It was a snowy Saturday (the second to last snow day of the year) and I wanted to visit a member of the Church who hadn't been going since I was last in Haverhill. I didn't know if that was still their address. So when we knocked on the door, we were not surprised that they no longer lived there. But, the family that lives there now let us in. They were watching "Exodus," which I guess is a remake of the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston? Maybe? Anyways, they let us right in and we got to teach them about Christ's Church on the earth in the past and now today. They loved it! Emmanuel especially was excited to learn. This week we taught Emmanuel again. This time he seemed a very different person. It had been a very rough few days for him. His faith had been shaken. After sincere prayer, he felt his problems only got worse. He said that he "saw no point in following God if all He is going to do is ignore my prayers." After hearing him out for a little while, we invited him to kneel with us in prayer and to invite the kids to join us. He was somewhat reluctant. Didn't want to make his problems worse. We finally convinced him to kneel with us, and the kids to turn off their video game upstairs to remove all distractions. I got to offer a simple, heartfelt prayer for him and his family in their trials. It was very short. The Spirit came into the room and after the prayer everyone felt it. We all looked at each other. All of Emmanuel's concerns for the moment left. He was himself again.

I have had similar experiences with prayer, where I've felt like I'm not getting what I want. After prayer, what changes the most is me. I'm grateful the Lord doesn't just give me whatever I want.

Really good week here in Georgetown. Most of the snowpiles are significantly smaller. Our front lawn is almost completely bare!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed General Conference!

With Love, 

Elder Richins

Being Chased (and Benevolent and...)

Aug 4, 2014

I learned something about myself this week. I'm not allergic to bees. They still hurt though. We were helping someone paint their barn and they were spraying a bees nest with a hose. And when they were pulling the hose back to the house, they rustled a bush with a different bees nest in it and those ones chased me.

Love,

Elder Richins

Seven-Days-a-Week and the Stop Smoking Workshop

 July 28, 2014

We have some of the best investigators here in Damariscotta!

One couple, Joe and Livia, run a "lobstah" stand in town and they give us little bits of lobstah sometimes when we go there to see them. They treat it like some people treat candy. I've had more lobstah from them in the last two weeks than I've had the rest of my mission. This is the Joe that we street-contacted two weeks ago. We picked them up as investigators this week, shared a message about the Plan of Salvation, and then had a church tour on Saturday night and shared the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. The church tour went smoothly, and they brought a friend with them who, in Livia's words, "needs God in his life." At the end of the Restoration lesson we invited each of them to be baptized and Livia said, "Well, I have to read the Book first!" This was a huge jump for her because when we asked them about the role of religion in their life, Livia kept saying, "Joe needs to be baptized," and we were inviting her to be baptized too. She was Catholic in Brazil, and didn't know she needed to be re-baptized. Now the only problem is getting them to church. They work seven days a week! Joe goes lobstering every day except Sunday and the stand is open every day, so they would have to get someone to work the stand for them. It just seems like a lot to ask for, one of their busiest days out of the week. But this is also a great opportunity for them to follow Jesus Christ by keeping the commandments to the fullest. I am so excited to teach them!

I don't know how common this knowledge is, but the missionaries (worldwide, I think) have access to a program designed to help people stop smoking. I've read the program and it helps eliminate the urge to smoke. I have not gotten to help anyone do the program yet, BUT FINALLY I'm going to get to help someone stop smoking this Sunday! A lady named Chrissy committed to stop smoking starting this Sunday, August 3rd with her husband, when we teach them the Stop Smoking workshop. She has been taught by the missionaries for a while and her husband has been coming back to church (he's a member) and two of her kids have been baptized.

We don't have any investigators with a baptismal date yet. Ellen is coming close. She's been to church many times over the last few years, but she still does not have a testimony of Joseph Smith as a prophet. She has a testimony of prayer and of Jesus Christ and of some commandments, but I think the main problem is that she hasn't prayed about it. It's important to know all the truth, not just a part.

This week has been busy, tiring, fun, spiritual. I hope you're all doing well!

 Love, 

Elder Richins

CPR and a Lobsterman

July 14, 2014

This week we taught Misty, an investigator, CPR (Church, Pray, Read the scriptures) in less than ten minutes. The Spirit helped so much in that lesson as we used the scriptures and taught from the heart. We also picked up a new investigator named Rhonda. She is the wife of a member who had his records removed. In our lesson she brought up concerns about what she heard we believe and then she resolved her own concerns and said, "Well, I guess the next thing I need to do is read the Book of Mormon to find out if it's true." When people say stuff like that, I get surprised. I love it when that happens because it shows that they understand what to do and also that they really want to know. I have high hopes for Rhonda, and I also hope we can get her husband and other family involved. We taught an investigator named Ellen the Word of Wisdom, but she's been coming to church long enough that she knows almost everything about it. I have only met her once, so I don't know what her concerns are about joining the Church, but I think she knows just about everything she needs to. I think she lives most of it, too.

Yesterday we met Joe, a lobsterman, while he was walking from the gas station with ingredients for his lobster rolls. This is a big "Talk with Everyone" moment for me, because he was a little far away and it was raining a little, so it would have been easy to not talk with him. But we did, and he was pretty interested. He accepted a Restoration pamphlet and a copy of the Book of Mormon. I'm just really glad we talked with him.

Love,

Elder Richins