This week has been full of ups, downs,
frustration and miracles. Gotta love missionary work. The Lord never runs
out of ways to surprise us and teach us a little bit more.
Elder Villoso and I are doing great. Our
companionship has really grown in the past week. We actually have a great
time. We're still trying to settle into our area. We've been trying
to do a lot of finding and we've actually seen a lot of results. After
the area was split, we dropped to 3 investigators with baptismal dates, but have
since worked our way back up to 8 with some really great new people and
families. It's truly amazing how the lord places in your path those that are
ready to hear his gospel. It has really been an answer to my prayers. I
was really stressed right after the transfer. I followed the example of
the sons of Mosiah and turned my self over to much prayer and fasting. Answers
began to follow immediately. This truly is the Lord’s work and he is with
us every step of the way. He's on our right hand and on our left. I
can honestly feel his angels round about me, bearing me up. One thing
that I've really come to appreciate is the small and simple things. As a
missionary, I often seek after the "ensign worthy" miracles and
become blinded to the small miracles that I experience every single day. I've
learned the importance of stepping back and observing the small works of our
Heavenly Father. His hand is in our every day life.
We had a really great opportunity this week to
go to the temple. We had what is called a Temple Tour. It's such a
cool day because we get to take investigators and recent converts to the temple
and teach them about the temple while on temple grounds. Unfortunately, none of
our investigators were able to attend. We honestly asked everybody that
we were teaching. We almost resorted to asking random people passing by
on the street. It was pretty depressing going to a temple tour without
investigators, but it was an awesome experience regardless. It was
especially cool because all the missionaries were there from the mission so I
was able to talk with everyone from my MTC district that came here to the
Manila mission. I also was able to talk with Elder Tofi and some other
good friends I've made while I’ve been here. It was great.
So I’ve made a couple trips to the hospital
this week. They officially tested me for Dengue, and yes, I have it.
Way awesome. The great thing is that it's pretty much completely
gone away. I'm still pretty tired all the time, but I can deal with
that.
So I came into this email session determined to
tell you about one of our really progressing investigators. About 15
minutes ago, he walked in and sat down right next to me. Gotta be divine
intervention. Anyway, he's an awesome bro. We've been teaching him for about
two weeks and he is just the man. He came to church the first time we
invited him (which is unheard of) and also came to church this last week.
That's phenomenal. The great thing is he tells us how much he loves
church after he goes. He's participates and has already made a ton of
friends in the ward. I'm gonna give y'all some advice. If you want to be
best friends with the missionaries, really reach out to those that they bring
to church (or you can just have them over for dinner). Introduce yourself and
make them feel welcome. The members are so vital when it comes to
investigators at church. Never walk by a new face without introducing
yourself!! Anyway, he's a boss.
Way stoked for conference this week.
The Philippines is a little behind. We don't get
conference till the week after you guys. So, I'm way stoked. They're
going to show a midnight premiere at one of the chapels on Friday night.
Elder Villoso and I are taking our tents over later tonight to save our
spot in line. So much better than Iron Man 3 or those other movies that I can't
wait to watch.
PS. There's Christmas lights and Christmas
trees everywhere. These guys are crazy. It's October.
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| Reunited with best friends from the MTC |
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