Elder Colton Wayne Richins

Mom,

Well things are really coming down to the wire! This last week I realized that if the amazing investigators that the Lord has given us don't get baptized this transfer...I DON'T have another transfer to keep working with them! That was the weirdest thought that came over me this last week!  As far as the investigators go, we are now down to 4 people marked for baptism. The 5th one fell through. I feel she will still get baptized here in the future...but for now she needs to think about what she really wants. But the other 4 that we have marked are progressing wonderfully! 3 of them are marked for this weekend. The 4th one unfortunately still needs a couple more times in church before she can be baptized. So we are remarking her for the 13th of April.  My last Sunday on the mission. :)

So we'll start with the first 2. Sandra and Sandriny. A mother and daughter who are marked for this upcoming weekend. They have been making amazing progress. And they are really into the gospel. They have told lots of family members and friends about what they have been learning from us. And they are always so excited to meet with us! Our only stumbling block right now with them is that Sandra has received an answer, but didn't recognize it as an answer. To us it was obvious that it was an answer! What had happened is that she was praying and as soon as she was done praying she felt inspired to write. She wrote down a bunch of thoughts in her head after saying the prayer. That night that we were there she showed us the notebook filled with thoughts she had written down. Some of the ones that I can remember off of the top of my head were:

"Jesus Christ organized the only true church on the earth. He ordained apostles and gave them His authority."

"Joseph Smith was chosen by God to bring His message to the world."

"John the Baptist was sent from God to restore His authority to Joseph Smith."

It was incredible. And we clearly took this as God's answer for her. But for some odd reason she was saying, "I don't know I don't know. I still have some doubts!" She is an interesting woman, she always looks so excited when we teach her to the point that she struggles to breath! haha. But we are pretty sure that she will decide to be baptized! She came to church for the 2nd time yesterday and loved it! She really enjoys church. The night that we taught her the Word of Wisdom she told us that she had a problem with coffee. We committed her to quit and that we would bring her some cevada. Which has the coffee taste, but it doesn't actually have any coffee in it. She said that she wouldn't drink any coffee until our next return appointment. Then she ran into the kitchen and called us in. She had her tub of coffee and she poured it down the sink and washed it out! This woman has great faith! And her little daughter retains a lot more than we expected!

Next we have Sofia and Lili. The two 19 year old friends. Sofia is the one we are hoping to baptize this weekend, and Lili is the one that we will have to wait on. Both of them are incredible! We only have a couple more commandments to teach them. Tithing, and Chastity. Other than that, they readily accepted the others. They love Iced tea. But when we taught the Word of Wisdom they said that they would no longer drink iced tea. Lili's mom was actually present on that lesson and she said that she would keep this commandment as well and said that she would stop buying iced tea! haha. As soon as Lili is baptized, she is next. ;)

This last week was an amazing teaching week. We had some great lessons with these people. And we have found some other people that look like they have potential! The Lord is blessing us immensely and I am so grateful for that because I have a certainty that if it weren't for His divine help, NONE of this would be happening!

Our zone up until now has 11 baptisms for this month. Our goal was 12 initially. We had raised it to 18 a couple weeks ago. And we have 11 people marked for baptism in the zone for this weekend. We are holding a zone fast tomorrow to be able to help all of these people enter into the waters of baptism!

Things are going great and I couldn't ask for a better end to the mission! I hope and pray that the miracles keep happening up until the very end!

So I am very excited about the flight plans changing again! I was not looking forward to leaving on monday! I have been waiting for my end of mission party with my district since we got to Portugal! So I was ticked that I wasn't going to get it! But now that the plans are changed again it looks like there will still be a party! :D

As far as the room goes..what room am I going to be in? Honestly whatever color you decide to paint it is fine with me. :)

I can't believe how much health problems are going on in the family! How is McKay doing right now? He has really had it rough since being home from the mission. Maybe we should consider holding another family fast for him. Let me know if you decide to do that. I will definitely contribute.

I have had my last zone conference. It was on my birthday. :) haha. It was the most I have ever participated in a zone conference. I was asked to do a musical number, me and Elder Denney were asked to give a training, we had to give an accounting for the zone up until that day in the month, I bore my final testimony, and I was sung to. haha. It was a very eventful zone conference. But that won't be my final testimony. My final one will be in mission council next Tuesday. After that one...I'm done! haha.

Well you will only be hearing from me 2 more times! Thanks for all of the love and support that you have shown! I am grateful for this mission! It is definitely the best mission that God could have chosen for me! I love you! Have a great week! :)

Elder Colton Wayne Richins