Pictures May 3, 2014

 Less-active family(:

 My awesome dance moves! I got it from my momma(: 

Investigators(:

These cute little kids playin on a half built house(:

This is in town!(: HAHAH I couldn't resist!

Bula Vinaka My Amazing Family!!

BULA VINAKA my AMAZING family!

This week has been such a good week! We were super busy.. it almost felt like we had no time to rest! Which is a good sign in missionary work(:

We have a baptism this week and we are so excited for it! It is one of our less-actives kids. Well 2 of them. But they come to church every Sunday and they don't miss an activity. Even though the mom isn't active, it is amazing the testimony the kids have of this gospel. They are definitely the light in her life, and hopefully through her example they can bring her back! Haha(: But we are going over tonight for the baptism interview, and the mom was super excited so that is exciting!!(: While we were teaching them this week, her other 2 daughters moved back in, and they have sat in on our lessons and have been really interested, so hopefully that is a good sign too!!(:

We got another new investigator from a less active this week again!(: I can't believe how many less-actives have children not baptized here! But thats ok!(: I LOVE teaching the children! Because we get to teach so simply and so easy for her to understand! I love it! Her name is Shivneshni and she is 9 years old.. She is this little Indian girl who is ADORABLE! This week she taught me how to do an Indian Dance...(: Pictures will come! Haha(:

We did have one depressing day this week though. One of our investigators dropped us... haha! Well his mom did. She is mad at someone in the church so she said her family isn't coming to church anymore and no one in her family is getting baptized../: Some times I wonder..Why do people have their agency?! haha(: As a missionary it sucks! But I guess thats why God gave it to us! 

Anyways, right after that we had such a good lesson with another investigator... who later that night called us and dropped us too... but we aren't letting him go that easy because he has been progressing SO GOOD! Like he had been keeping commitments and doing all we ask him! STUPID SATAN!!! But we are hoping that we are going to be able to win him back with the spirit and help him recognize how true this gospel is and how much he needs it in his life!!(:

I did get to see Sister Ihaka this week and it was SO SO SO good! I can't even tell you how much I missed her! Seeing her and Gina just made me feel so much better and it was exactly what I needed!(: I can't wait for you guys to come and meet them both! They are both just AMAZING people!

I seriously CANNOT wait for you guys to come and visit all these people and meet these amazing people! This place is so amazing and the gospel is SO TRUE! I love sharing the gospel. And hitting my 9 MONTH MARK made me realize that one day I am going to have to take this name tag off.... I am going to be normal again.. I AM TERRIFIED! haha! Can you believe 9 months?! I can't believe it! before we know it, I will be at a year.. and then 15 months... and then I'll be calling you at Christmas saying "see you guys in 3 weeks!" AHHH!!! Time goes by so fast! I just can't believe it! I kinda freak out all the time about it! haha!

Well I am SO SO SO glad you guys have had a good week! I am so happy to hear you guys are busy and LOVIN LIFE!(: I love hearing all about the little things you guys are doing and the little adventures you go on! I am so happy I have a family who gets to stay together FOREVERRRRR... (imagine the Sandlot line(: )! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! I LOVE YOU ALL! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST! Make sure you keep doing your family home evening and family prayer. The LITTLE things matter most(:

LOVE YOUUUUU!!!
-Sister Courtney Rich

April 20, 2014

Cute little kids!(:

Proselyting

 Easter lunch

Another week of Missionary Work, Tanning, and Walking!! :)

Hello my wonderful family!

How is everything?! It sounds like you guys had such a FUN Easter. I am a little jealous and miss actually celebrating holidays. haha! But I have the rest of my life to celebrate holidays right?!(:

This week was actually a really good week! Me and my companion are having fun together. We both wanted to work really hard this week and have set our goals for next week high. So it is going to be so much fun! haha!(:

We had a lot of members come with us this week which was so good! Having members come with us is SO HELPFUL! So any chance you get go with the missionariesDO IT!!!!(: Anyways, we had a really funny lesson with a less-active. We took our ward mission leader, and some of the YSA. We were sharing our spiritual thought and the ward mission leader was sitting on the floor and he totally fell asleep! Not only was his eyes closed but his mouth was wide open.... luckily he didn't start snoring! haha but it was so funny the other YSA members was laughing and trying to kick him so he would wake up but he wouldn't wake up. We were all kinda distracted because we couln't believe he was actually sleeping, but the lesson was good. When we were closing he woke up and the 1st thing he said was "Sister Lata we want to invite you to baptize" but she is a less active.. not an investigator. Everyone was just laughing even the less active was laughing. It was so so so funny! It might have been one of those had to be there moments, but he will never live this one down!(:

Another thing that happened this week was we got this girl as a new investigator. Her name is Filo and she is 19. She is awesome. We OYM'd on Thursday and then we went back on Friday and she said she didn't think we were actually going to come back! Haha! We came and the lesson we had was AWESOME! The spirit was so strong and it was one of those lessons that you just KNOW she felt the spirit too! It was so good. She even came to the activity that night with us. It was so good. Then we went to just follow up on her the next day and we went to go up to her house and she was sleeping but she had the Restoration pamphlet opened and it was laying across her chest. It was one of those proud missionary moments!(: Haha!

This New area is such a great change!  I love it.   The ward is SO GOOD! They are so helpful and I love them so much! We had the funnest ward activity on Friday night. It was an Easter one and we watched a video and then we played games and had performances. It was the funnest thing ever! You would've loved it! We didn't do anything big for Easter. Just told everyone Happy Easter. Haha! But it was good. Every Holiday as a missionary you miss home because you see all these families together and celebrating! Haha its kinda depressing. But I can't wait to come home and celebrate holidays with you guys(: haha Especially since I have come from a family who makes every holiday seem like it is the best holiday ever!(: Haha!

Anyways,  I am so excited for next week! It is going to be another great week of missionary work, tanning, and walking! haha(; LOVE YOU GUYS SO SO SO MUCH! You are all SO awesome! Keep being you and keep being the best!

LOVE YOU!
Sister Rich

Pictures April 13, 2014

Dinner Appointment 

the CUTEST little Fijian girl EVER! 

Im in SUVA!!!

HELLO MY WONDERFUL FAMILY!

Man this week was just a great week!(: I can't even tell you guys how fun this week was. conference was just the BEST! And what was even better was we were able to get less actives AND investigators there! Man, it was so good. I know they felt the spirit. Especially when President Monson talked about LOVE! Ahhh... It was just so good.

I got to know a lot of the members this week as we walked around and visited them. They are awesome. The ward is a lot smaller, but they are awesome. The bishop is new and he is totally helping the missionaries. So it is awesome..

Our investigators are really progressing and me and my companion are getting a long SO GOOD! Even though she doesn't talk that much, we just sing. Haha.. 

So funny story.. we were walking to an investogators house the other day,  and when I have nothing to talk about we... well I... just sing! haha(:   But I pulled out my little hymn book and started singing to her.. And I wasn't just quietly singing either it was kinda like, we were walking on the main road so no one could hear,  so i was singing like I do when I am in the shower. She just laughed and I laughed and then we see people sitting out front of their house and they are sitting there laughing at me.... it was so funny! Its ok though... I just like singing..! haha

 I have started to learn the Fijian songs too.. I LOVE THEM! I sing them all the time and so we were OYMing and there was this lady I wanted to talk to her but I didn't know how to start a conversation with her, so we I asked her if she knew the name of a song and I sang it for her and she was laughing and the people around us were laughing because there is this white girl who is singing a Fijian song. Haha(: So I told my companion, if you ever get bore just sing. haha

So heres some BIG news.... I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED!!!! haha(: Again.. I am going to Suva! SUVA NENE!(: Man I am so excited! I am going to be companions with my companion from the MTC. Sister Alofoe! I am SO excited! I am actually in Suva now! I am just so excited to be here so close to the temple and I just feel at peace here. Not like before... SO I am happy(: The call came in Saturday night and when they said it i didn't believe them.. but it is true! Haha(:

Well for this week we had an amazing Sisters training at the mission home! Man! It is amazing when you learn from the spirit. It was so strong. There is this picture in the mission home of Jesus and this might be a little weird, but President Klingler was teaching and he was talking about the atonement and I looked up and saw that picture, and I just automatically felt how much our Savior loves us. How amazing the atonement is. Because the atonement is SO true. Its amazing how he NEVER gave up. He was the ultimate example of LOVE. And I learned even more about the Atonement from conference. It is amazing how OBEDIENT the savior was and I really learned how true it is when he says... "not my will but thine be done.." I feel that as a missionary all the time. I see that all the time. I put this trust in Heavenly father and I say to him all the time. Ok Heavenly Father, not my will but thine be done. This is YOUR work this is YOUR gospel. this is ALL YOURS. I am just here to help. I just really recognized how the atonement is more than just suffering for our sins. It is for everything. and for everyone! What an amazing older brother we have. We are just so lucky that we had someone do that for us. So that we can live forever in Heaven, in COMPLETE happiness with him and our Heavenly Father one day. Its just amazing.

This week was just an amazing week. I am just so grateful to be a missionary! I LOVE IT! I love being in Fiji. I love Sharing the gospel. I love it all.(: This work is amazing.

I hope you had another amazing week also! I LOVE YOU ALL!(:
Hope you are all doing your family home evening, family prayers and family scripture study!(: Be together as a family(:

LOMANI KEMUDOU!
-Sister Rich

Pictures April 06, 2014

 A place in our area called Sasawira(: 

 Some cute kids wanting to take a picture with me! haha(: 

I Burnt the roti! Its the 1st time making it by myself... haha But the rest turned out good. We not roti, but good tortillas(: haha!