Thomson - Week 24

Dear Family,

I am getting transferred!  I am actually a little sad to leave Thomson.  I have grown to love the people here.  Plus, yesterday I had one of the most successful Sundays on my mission.  We had Becky come to church and she brought her friend Margret, we got our investigator Jeremy to church which was a big surprise, and we got a less active guy we have been working with to come back to church.  It was the Primary program and it was so funny and all of them loved it.  Jeremy expressed to us how our church just felt good and there was just good people here unlike the other churches he has been to, and he really wants to come back.

In the evening we stopped by Jeremy's house to see if he had any questions. He said unlike other churches he felt like he was learning, and he was coming closer to God.  He thanked me personally for helping him.  I am really going to miss this place because there is about to be a lot of success to be reaped.  I am glad that Elder Godwin will be able to see it for me!  After six months of hard work put into this area, which many people said was dead, it is now up and running and producing the results we desired.  I can also say that Elder Godwin will be a really great missionary on his mission.  I am so thankful that I was able to be his trainer.

I just want to express a little portion of the gratitude I feel.  I am so thankful to be on a mission!  I am so thankful for who I am becoming because of this Gospel!  I am so thankful for this wonderful Gospel and the richest blessings that it brings and how much it can change lives!  And I am so thankful for the wonderful family and friends Heavenly Father has blessed me with!  I love y'all so much!

Love,

Elder Hinrichs

Thomson - Week 23

Dear Family,

Well sounds like y'all had tons of fun right next door to me.  I guess that means you will just have to go back there with me!  This week was pretty good.  We didn't get anyone to church.  But Becky took us out to eat on Friday and she brought her friend that came to church with her last week.  We were able to place a Book of Mormon with her friend and we all felt the spirit at the dinner table when we discussed the gospel.  So hopefully we can get them to church next week.  Nothing really out of the ordinary happened, but every day is a new adventure as a missionary.

I find out this Saturday evening if I am getting transferred or not.  There is a very good chance that I will be transferred since I have been here for 6 months in Thomson.  The time flew by fast and I wouldn't mind one more transfer here.  We have been growing in our success rate with people letting us in for lessons, or at least listening to us.  So we have been creating success instead of just waiting for it.  I will have to send you all a letter of some on the funny things that have happened this week!  Love y'all so much!

Love,

Elder Hinrichs

 Bridger, Elder Godwin, Sis. Walker, Sis. Anderson

 Oliver Hardy Festival Parade

Thomson - Week 22

Dear Family,

This week was pretty awesome!  We got Becky to come to church yesterday! And she brought a friend!  And she is going to feed us this Friday!  It was pretty awesome!  Only problem is that if she gets baptized I probably won't be here to see it.  Regardless, she is on her way and it has been cool to be a part of it.

Also we got to watch "Meet the Mormons" this Tuesday at Zone Conference.  It was hilarious, super powerful (would highly recommend on bringing tissues, especially for the ending), and very inspirational!  I would be more excited to see Meet the Mormons again, than to see the Hobbit.  Yes it is that good, and goodness the world needs it more than ever right now.  Make it a priority to go, it will bring more happiness into your life, and you will be able to talk about it with others.

On Saturday we played softball with the Elder's quorum in the morning, which I have not done in a long time.  After we were about to go out with Brother Phillips and do missionary work when his friend called and asked if we could help him move.  So we went and helped his friend moved for three hours, and did almost all the heavy lifting.  But it really impressed all the people there that we would be so willing to help, even though we were in missionary clothes.  We might possibly get an investigator out of it because one man named Scott, who was Brother Phillips friend, said he wanted to feed us dinner sometime.

This P-day we got a solid plate of nothing fun planned.  The usual.  But we usually have plenty of fun throughout the week with all the funny things we experience as missionaries.  

Thank you!

Love,

Elder Hinrichs

                                                  Helping Brother Hockenberry

                                      The floating pass-along-card (spider webs!)

The best parking ticket I have ever seen!

Thomson - Week 21

Dear Family,

General Conference was amazing!!  The appreciation, knowledge, and spiritual boost I gain from watching as a missionary is so much greater than when I was at home.  Our ward showed it at the church building in Harlem, so I brought the snacks you sent me in and shared them with the other missionaries.  I really enjoyed Jorg Klebingat’s talk on how to gain spiritual confidence, because really I wish people could learn this concept and apply it more to their lives.  Even as members of the church we significantly forget and often doubt our divine potential children of an almighty God.  If we could gain the confidence mentioned, then we could be some of the greatest tools in the Lord's hands, and become some of His choicest sons or daughters.  A lot of people forget that your nature controls your circumstances, not the other way around.  A lot of people forget that we were always meant for greatness, not mediocrity.  A lot of people also forget this most essential perspective in trying times; you are free to choose, you have agency (2 Nephi 2:27).

Also this week we were able to meet with Becky again, and we had another miracle happen!  We pulled up on our bikes, and she eagerly came out her door to greet us.  With excitement in her eyes, I could tell something good happened because of our prayer with her.  With tears in her eyes she expressed the gratitude she had for us and for having God sent us there at that time that she needed Him most.  Yesterday she stopped by and said how our Gospel is really starting to just make so much sense to her and she agreed that she will come to church next Sunday.  I know that she has been prepared to receive this Gospel, and whether I am here to see her baptized or not, I know that she will be baptized one day.

Love, you all so much!

Love,

Elder Hinrichs

Thompson - Week 20

Dear Family,

Things have been going good here in Thomson and the work has been picking up!  I think I have hit my all time high for the number of investigators we are teaching.  And, we actually got one of our investigators to church!  Her name is Tyesha.  We had a ton of miracles this week, so many that I couldn't even express them all to you.  But I will tell of one: Recently we have been teaching an elderly lady named Becky.  It was a miracle that we even began teaching her, but that is a different story.  So Friday we were out with a member and we were going to see some of our potential investigators.  But Elder Godwin and I felt as though we needed to go see Becky.  Boy, did we ever!  We were an answer to her prayers.  We went to her house and taught a lesson and as we were about to leave she asked us to come inside and pray with her husband.  Well we said a prayer with him, and he felt the spirit so strong. They thanked us so much, and said we were an answer to their prayers.  It was amazing to be a tool in Heavenly Father's hands.

Love y'all so much!

Love,

Elder Hinrichs