Last Monday. I
witnessed a very simple but profound miracle at a family home evening. It
was our first meeting with a member referral that had come to church the day
before. In church, we talked about the restoration and so we decided to
show the restoration video. We put the newly opened DVD into the DVD player and
patiently waited. Quick fact: No one here owns remotes. They have DVD
players, but they never have remotes so usually you have two options: play and
pause. No menu button, no up nor down, nothing. This was no exception. This
DVD player didn't have a remote. So as we were waiting, the DVD automatically
played... in English. Not what we needed. So we were stuck with a play
button, a pause button, and an open button. We tried everything to try
and get to the language options. Needless to say, we couldn't get there. Then a
miracle happened. I tried one more time to eject the DVD and close it
again (even though the previous attempts hadn't yielded any result).
Miraculously, the DVD again automatically played. However, this time, it
played in Tagalog. It was amazing. Just plain amazing. FYI Tagalog
is like the 7th option of about 14 languages and it was a brand new disc and
therefore rules out any sort of language memory or anything of the sort. Not
only did we witness this miracle, it yielded results. Our investigator, Romeo,
was touched. He testified that he knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Yeah,
he's getting baptized.
Tuesday. Zone
Meeting. It just went great. Thanks Dad for the articles. They were
perfect. I shared about breaking our mental barriers and doing the impossible.
Missions often have "barriers" that missionaries believe to be the
boundaries of possibility. Whether it is in number of lessons, progressing
investigators, investigators at church or baptisms, these mental barriers are
present. Often times the only thing keeping us from doing "the
impossible" is our mindset. We our bound by the limitations that we
set for ourselves. It has been quoted that "Whether you think you
can or you can't, you're right." We should never limit ourselves to the
expectations of others, or the expectations of man. If we think like men, our
potential is that of a man. If we think like our father in heaven, our
potential is eternal. Don't mentally bind yourself. "If thou canst believe, all things are
possible to him that
believeth."
We had a great
opportunity on Wednesday to do exchanges with missionaries in the MTC. Since
our zone is fairly close to the MTC, they send missionaries out every once and
a while to go on splits. It was so fun. I had a young missionary
from Tonga. He's the man. His name is Elder VaiTohi. We just killed
it. We just destroyed peoples' faces with the gospel. I love seeing their love
and enthusiasm for the work. It truly is inspiring.
Elder Manares and I
had some amazing success finding this week. The Lord really blessed us with
people that he has prepared to hear the gospel. One investigator,
Corizone, we found yesterday and we had quite the experience teaching her.
About half way through the lessons, she seemed to be deep in thought, so we
inquired about what she was pondering. Corizone then began to relay a
dream that she had 15 years ago. The dream that she described was a portion of
Lehi's dream. She told us of this angel that showed her this big building full
of people. She described how these people were not the best of people and
how she was exhorted to help these people. She then stated the building fell. I
opened up my scriptures and read to her the experience of Lehi. She was
amazed. She sat listening intently to every word that came from my mouth.
Corizone then told me that she has been telling others about her dream
for 15 years and no one could "interpret" the meaning of her dream.
She has been praying for someone to help her determine the meaning. She
said that she knew that God would send her a message. Elder Manares and I
then began to expound upon the Book of Mormon and the message it contains. The
spirit was strong as we testified of the Restoration and told her that this is
what the Lord has planned for her and her family. Upon ending our lesson,
she thanked us multiple times for the answer we had given her, the answer to
her prayers. She has committed to be baptized on May 17th.
So I was walking
through the store the other day and guess what I found. WESTERN FAMILY
FLOSS. Yes, Western family has made it to the Philippines. You bet I’m
rockin that floss. I've contemplated passing a couple out to
investigators as free advertising. Western Family or die. The Philippines' next
big thing.
I wish I had more
time to tell you about everything that happened this week. It was just a
great week. Of course, there is also opposition in all things. This week
was also full of hardship and trials, but in the end, you only remember the
good.
Conference was just
amazing. I can't explain how excited I was for conference. We spent the last
week, inviting anyone and everyone to hear the words of the living prophets. We
reminded one member about conference and she stated, "Oh, it's just
general conference". JUST general conference. JUST. It's not JUST general
conference. General conference should be talked about with cheers and shouts
for joy. "Finally!! We get to hear the words of the Prophets!!" We
should be like the people that gathered to hear the words of King Benjamin and
camp our for days as we wait for these inspired men to teach us the will of
God. Psh, JUST general conference. Don't worry, I set her straight.
I was touched by
numerous talks and am so excited to do further study in the future. I love the
counsel of Jacob, "6 Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the
spiritof prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken,insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus
and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea."
These talks are
full of power and inspiration that we all can learn from. Search these
talks and your faith will become unshaken. Search, pray, and apply.
PS. I expect to
hear your PMG insights next week in your letter (like we were counseled to do
on Saturday). Especially you Bing. Time to prepare!
One of my
favorite quotes, "Blame keeps wounds open, only forgiveness heals."
(I think President Monson drew some of his ideas from my talk I gave in
sacrament the other day)
One of my favorite
talks: Elder Bednar's talk about the importance of having "a load". Happiness
is not the absence of a load.
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