Mister Rogers and Mighty Prayer

November 4, 2013

This week has been tough. We haven't taught many people recently and we haven't set a date for anyone to be baptized in weeks.  The lack of success, as far as numbers go, started to weigh on me. This slumpy feeling continued until last night. I had a really long talk with God. I've been trying to be better with prayer by thinking about various aspects of it before praying. Recently I came across the phrase, "Pray mightily over your goals and plans," in Preach My Gospel, a Guide to Missionary Work, and last night I thought to apply it to my other prayers. It was one of the longest, mightiest prayers I have said without getting distracted or falling asleep. I had thoughts about the work that I had to write down afterwards before I forgot them and went to bed. I felt inspired to become more diligent, and was shown areas to improve in. This week will be better.

We visit a less-active man named Dave and his nonmember wife, Sharon, regularly. In one discussion, he said he probably wouldn't stop smoking until the price of cigarettes increased, just because he's not ready to give them up. Elder Chapman and I prayed that the price of cigarettes would increase. Recently their upstairs neighbor was given a terminal diagnosis for COPD and told that she has 6 months to 2 years to live. Hearing about this scared them enough that Sharon decided to stop smoking (she also has COPD). Dave decided it would be easier to stop smoking if Sharon did, so they'll both be quitting soon. The price of cigarettes went up in a way, which shows me that God answers prayers in ways I would never expect.

Dressed up for Halloween (in our apartment). I'm Mr. Rogers and Elder Chapman is a Texan. We don't go outside Halloween night; instead we stay in and clean the apartment. Our kitchen looks fantastic.

Love, Elder Jon Harrison Richins

Snow and Some Carpentry, Too

October 28, 2013

I looked out the window and what did I see?

Oh no, it's started! This was our car Tuesday morning. As you can see, there's something very wrong with the body and windshield. It's not even Halloween yet.

This week we didn't get to teach many people, but we got to do a lot of service. We split wood for two families and got to help a member of the ward build a log pavilion where he's going to keep a bunch of his stuff while he works on the interior of his house this winter. His house is a two-story 40x40 log cabin with a huge fireplace right in the middle to heat everything. We helped him set up log trusses for the roof of the pavilion (which is much, much smaller than the house) so that he can mark them and cut out the grooves where they will rest on the frame. I didn't think to bring my camera, but I can ask him for one of the pictures he took.

We got to teach Rob and Danielle, two new investigators, and they were going to come to church, but they didn't show up. I think we need to introduce them to a few members so they feel comfortable coming. They seem really cool though. We'll get to see them again this week, so we can teach them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). We also got to teach a family about how they can share the Book of Mormon with their friends. As Elder Chapman would say, skizzies!

Love, Elder Jon Harrison Richins

Elder Chapman Steps Up to the Plate

October 21, 2013

New District Leader! (What what!) It's not me; it's Elder Chapman! (Even better!) So, a district leader leads a district, usually made up of 3-5 missionary companionships. Every week at district meeting, he presents training, leads discussion of various items of district business, and helps the district set new goals for the week. Missionary leadership is really important; there are 12 pages dedicated to it in the Missionary Handbook (also known as the Book of Blessings or the Book of Rules, depending on how you look at it). Elder Chapman will be the District Leader here for at least the next transfer, starting today, which means that: 1) he might be stressing out, 2) I'll support him even when it gets tough, and 3) he's already stepping up to the plate. The day after we got the call he did something he had never done before. He was serious. Not only serious, but he seemed extra prepared for the day. I can't wait to see what this transfer holds; surely it will cause both of us to grow stronger in testimony and skill.

This week we were asked by Bishop Tucker to visit a member who moved in two months ago and hadn't been to church. The bishop in the ward where he moved from called Bishop Tucker to give him the name and address of the member. We tried to stop by him on McGill Street, and instead met a man who had met with the missionaries before and might be interested in meeting again. No answer, though, when we knocked on the member's door. Days later, we realized that we had the street wrong; it was Gilman, not McGill. So we got to visit the member yesterday (he's awesome and wants to play basketball with us and serve a mission and he was living in Texas!), AND we made contact with a former investigator. Super blessings!

Love y'all! (One of the Sister missionaries said y'all this morning!)

Elder Jon Harrison Richins

Elder Swalberg and the Piano Pushers

October 14, 2013

A few weeks ago, we were driving along, when we saw two people trying to push a piano into this lean-to house. They had just backed a pickup truck to the porch and put some boards down to roll the piano on. We decided to stop and help them; we came at just the right time. There's a doorway behind those three trees all growing together. That door is now blocked with a piano. It was previously blocked with just a major diagonal beam, which the owner's boyfriend cut a large chunk out of with a chainsaw. We are allowed by the owner, Barbara, to enter at any time and play the piano. We got talking and SHE HAS MET WITH THE MISSIONARIES BEFORE! She told us her life story about how she bought this land from some thug who hired a man to harass her so that she would leave the house to be foreclosed upon. She wanted to build a house with her husband, but he kept changing his mind about whether he wanted a trailer or a house, so that's why the house is unfinished. CPS tried to take their son (I can't remember why; her story was about an hour long), but she kept resisting the police who tried to take her son, so she went to some horrible prison with a history of inmate abuse. Eventually she got out and went home. Her husband bailed on her at some point. So now she lives in the lean-to house in the summer and in a trailer behind it in the winter. This week we started teaching her again, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to get to help her come closer to Christ. She already has an awesome testimony about the Christ and about the Church.

We got to go see the Mission President (he makes sure that we missionaries are cared for, and he receives revelation specific for the mission). And you'll never guess who else I saw! Elder Swalberg from Texas! I was so surprised to see him. Also yesterday, I got to see my friend Bill from Brigham Young University! He lives here in Vermont and we were both at the Montpelier Stake Conference. I didn't get a picture with him because we were in a bit of a hurry to leave, but I got a sweet hug!

Also, we made a Hill Cumorah Cake for the Bishop here, in appreciation for all his hard work.

There's a really cool song in the LDS Hymn book called "An Angel from On High." It basically talks about how we got the Book of Mormon. The tune is something crazy, though.

Gotta go, ran out of time again. Sorry!

Love, Elder Jon Harrison Richins

40-Day Fast and Keith's Call

October 7, 2013

This week was awesome! Our ward started a 40-Day Fast for missionary work and we've already seen some awesome "coincidences." The fast works like a relay, so you always have someone fasting for 40 days.

On Wednesday, we hold a scripture study at the chapel. This week NO ONE CAME! We were about to leave when one of the members of the church who was there waiting for her granddaughter (the youth activities, Mutual, are also on Wednesdays) decided that she would study with us if no one else would. We read a little, but mostly we talked and eventually it came to the subject of her husband, who is not a member of the Church. He had met with the missionaries previously, but according to her, the missionaries "just stopped coming." I have no idea how that happens, but we are going to pick him up as an investigator. No doubt, it is his time!

Two AM, Saturday morning, Keith calls us, distraught and anxious about his eternal well-being and with questions about whether he's going to hell. (He had been drinking a little). We calmed him with some sweet words of the Gospel. And then he told us he would come to church, because something inside him needed to change. Unfortunately, regular church hours were cancelled that weekend. Fortunately, it was because of General Conference, which is a worldwide meeting for members of the church led by the Prophet Thomas S. Monson (the President of the Church) and the Twelve Apostles (modern ones). It's a televised meeting, cut into five two-hour sessions. Keith wanted to come to the church to watch it, so the next morning we found him a last-minute ride to the chapel (another great story in and of itself) and he watched four hours of Conference! He liked it so much! Today we are going to invite him to be baptized, which is a really big step. He would have to stop smoking and drinking, two big obstacles, but I know Who Can Help him.

Having trouble getting these to upload, and I'm almost out of time, so Adios!

Elder Jon Harrison Richins

Climbed up a tower at the top of a mountain.

Crazy Street Contacting Day

9-30-13

I wanted to take pictures of all the trees here, because it's just so different from Texas. There are trees EVERYWHERE here. And then I looked up, haha!

This is how much food the members here give us.

Anyways, this week was a magical week for street contacting, which is basically walking up a street and talking with everyone you see. I asked Elder Chapman what getting out of his shell this week was like and he said it was more like getting out of a submarine underwater. He wouldn't talk with most people unless I nudged him or something, but this week in Saint Johnsbury we had a crazy street contacting day! It was a street contacting fiesta! We drive there, get out of the car, and the first thing we do is give away a copy of the Book of Mormon to a guy named David. Later we talked with a guy who was making a rug (out of yarn) on the front steps of the library. Talking with everyone we see is awesome! We see so many blessings from it, even though it's kinda scary!

Elder Chapman thought it would be a good idea to give Don, one of our investigators, a tour of the church. We went to his house and got talking, which is sometimes a bad idea because it's really hard to get back on track. Then Don asked what plans we had for the rest of the night and Elder Chapman said "Oh, we're giving a tour of the church" and Don asked who was going to be there. He walked right into that one. The church tour went smoothly, and Don appreciated getting to see the chapel. Hopefully he'll be more comfortable coming to church now that he knows a little bit  what it's like.

And speaking of people coming to church, Sarah came to church! I love it when people come to church. We've been meeting with Sarah for a few weeks and she sometimes comes to Wednesday Night Scripture Study, but she didn't come on Sunday morning until now. Next stop, baptism! (Maybe, we still have to talk with her and see what she thinks. But it could be in the cards!)

Love, Elder Jon Harrison Richins

The "Intentional Community" and Sweet Potato Pie

I realized this week that I left my battery charger in the apartment at Haverhill, one downside of moving and not going back. When you're a missionary, you can't take time out to buy batteries whenever you want (that's my cover-up for forgetting to buy batteries every time I was at the store).

We got to teach Jay and Chris, two guys who live in an "intentional community," where they grow some of their own produce and reduce waste with four other people living in the same house. We were planning on helping Chris move some furniture, but when we showed up he wasn't home. Jay was sitting on the couch on the porch and we got talking. Jay is a Buddhist and he attended a local college for a year. He is very concerned about sustaining the earth, and he's interested in volunteer organic farming. We helped him move furniture instead, until Chris got home from a local farm. (There are tons of local farms out here. We got to help gather potatoes this week.) We talked for a while about church and we invited them, and Chris won't be able to come for a while because he works most Sundays, but we'll keep seeing them. They seem really humble, and very open to learning.

On Saturday, I got to make a pie for the Ward Cultural Night! I figured since I'm pretty American, I'd make a sweet potato pie. I did it mostly by eyeballin' and I even figured out how to do a crust!

Pretty sweet week, but "WE CAN DO BETTER!" (As Elder Chapman says every ten minutes).

Sincerely, Elder Jon Harrison Richins