Elder Colton Richins

Well..to be honest...I don't have a lot of new information this week! It seems like this week passed without me really knowing it. And now we are already in the last week of the transfer. With how busy we have been, this transfer has just flown! But it's been a really good transfer. As far as the work is concerned it has been my best transfer. We are currently finding a decent amount of people to teach and they are all really cool! So this email will probably just be a bunch of random stuff...Anyways. This week we had to do more divisions. First we had a division with the AP's. Ah. Which makes me remember, I did have something really cool happen to me as well where the Priesthood is concerned. So the morning of the division with the AP's my allergies were super bad! They have been pretty bad in this new area. But this day was awful. And I really needed to be at my best for the division with the AP's. But we were out working in the morning and I my eyes were just streaming with tears (because of allergies...wasn't crying...) And my nose was running like a faucet and I was sneezing like none other. So I was literally unable to work in that condition...so I asked Elder Dunford if we could return home and he could give me a priesthood blessing. So we went home, and I took some allergy medication. Then he gave me a blessing. It was almost an immediate effect...as soon as the blessing was over I jumped out of the chair...me and Elder Dunford looked out of our window and saw a less active walking down the street, we looked at each other, and raced out the door to go meet her! The rest of the day I didn't have any problems with allergies! It was a big testimony booster for me with the priesthood. I remember many occasions where I have been on the receiving end of the priesthood. I remember many little miracles after giving a blessing to someone...but I don't frequently ask for priesthood blessings. Before the blessing I remember getting on my knees and telling Heavenly Father that I really needed to be well that day, and that I confided in His priesthood power. Then right after the blessing it all cleared away. It was incredible! It just goes to show that when we really put our faith towards something, Heavenly Father always answers. So that was cool. And the division went really well. I'm not a big fan of the AP's in this mission. But a new AP was recently called that I have known since earlier in my mission. His name is Elder Harvey. He played college baseball and basketball before the mission. And he is super funny. I met him like 9 months ago, he was in my zone. He also almost got sent home because he entered into a group "bull chasing" thing, and he ended up getting stabbed through his butt by the bull. He was out of the work for a few weeks and he was almost sent home...and now the Lord has called him to be an AP. I did the division with him. It was super fun. He is an awesome missionary! Although he's a HUGE jokester, he knows what he is doing. Okay...so later during the week we had a lesson with Bryan...the professional soccer player. We marked him again for baptism. He said that if he gets an answer about the Book of Mormon before that date (this Saturday) then he will be baptized. So we made plans for him to start reading the Book of Mormon in the chapel instead of his house. That way there are no distractions...and throughout the week we will go and read with him. He has SO many little doubts that really have nothing to do with the Lord's pre-requisites to be baptized...but they are important to him. I have already told you about all that. But we will do everything in our power to help him get baptized this week. The members here are super supportive...this ward is incredible. Me and Elder Dunford have around 7-8 member present lessons a week (which is really good for this mission). I absolutely love the members in this ward. 

Okay, more. So this weekend we found this amazing couple! They aren't married...but we had the first lesson with the boyfriend this weekend. He was super receptive, and he even asked if he could give a Book of Mormon to his mom! He said that he was Catholic but he stopped going because he never saw anything about "saints" or "baptizing children" in the bible. But he kept firm in his faith in God. First impressions of this dude would lead you to believe the exact opposite. He's got ear rings and tattoos, but he is super super cool! Him and his girlfriend even went to church this weekend! And we found out that she has a cousin in our ward! So we're super excited about them...and we feel like they could get baptized within the next few weeks! We just gotta get them married... 

Yesterday we had a visit with Domingos...he slipped up. He wasn't at church yesterday and we were worried...so we marked a visit with him that night. We took over the Elders Quorum president with us (who is from Brazil and he is super cool). So we talked with Domingos, and apparently he was super depressed because it was his weekend to have his kids over and his ex-wife had taken them away without saying anything. Domingos' sister had gone to go get them and bring them to his house...but when she got there everyone was gone. She found out that the ex-wife had taken the kids to go stay at her new boyfriend's house. Domingos was frustrated and really hurt, because it was his weekend, and he always respects "mom's weekend."   But she did this without even saying anything. So Domingos left his house to go spend some time with friends...he said that out of depression and frustration he drank a lot. After a long, encouraging chat, everything had turned out okay. And we gave him a blessing of comfort. The poor guy. After that...in all of this chat, Domingos had invited a friend to stay with him for a bit...and he was like...well elders, this dude is a friend of mine. I told him about the Book of Mormon and everything and I brought him here to talk to you guys. We were like....umm...okay! haha. It was super cool...and Domingos was bearing testimony to his friend of how the gospel changed his life and how he has found a happiness outside of drinking and smoking that lasts. He was like, "God is your best friend, and if you have faith in him...everything will be okay." Domingos is such a freakin stud!

Last. Which has nothing to do with anything...but it's just a random thing to throw in here. We have a house spider in the back corner of our house. And we've decided to keep it and feed it moths. We named him after our ward mission leader. haha. Anyways...just thought I'd throw that out there too. The things that go on in a 4 elder apartment. :)

Well I am super happy to hear that McKay went through the temple and that everything went well. I am excited to hear from him about it. 1 1/2 months and he will be out with me! I'm very excited! 

I hope everything is going well at home! Thanks for all the love and support that you give each week! I love you!

Elder Colton Wayne Richins