Give Him Your Heart, Might, Mind and Strength

Today is a wonderful day.  I truly am blessed to have the family and friends that I do.  I'm truly blessed to be a missionary in the Philippines Manila Mission at this time.  I am just blessed.  I have a ton to update you on.  This week has been great.  I took notes during the week so I wouldn't miss anything. 

So I have to start with MLC.  Such a great experience.  We had a special meeting this week where all the district leaders were invited as well.  It was pretty great to have all the leaders from the mission in one chapel.  The spirit was strong and the revelations were flowing.  Isn't it great to be a part of a church that believes in modern day revelation? What would we do without revelation? The bulk of our MLC was about raising our vision and increasing our faith.  A principle that is reinforced everyday on my mission is the importance of faith.  Faith truly is the starting point of everything. I love how Joseph Smith stated that faith is a principle of power. I bear testimony that that is true. With firm faith, we can command the elements, mountains, trees and they will obey us. (Jacob 4:6) We can all use a little more faith. 

Of course, I also have to mention how great it was to see all my buddies at MLC.  Elder Atougie, Elder Pistorious and I spent lunch reminiscing about the great times we had in Palawan.  That feels like another life.  Can't believe that I was there a year ago.  Memories that I will never forget.  Friends that I’ll stay in contact with forever. 

I think I’ve told you a little bit about my boy Jess, but I’m not quite sure.  My journal and emails all melt together in my mind. Anyway, this guy is the man.  He belongs to a less active part member family (my favorite). When we first met him, he wasn't really interested... at all. He had been visited by countless missionaries and nothing ever happened.  For some reason, this time was different.  We began by visiting him maybe once a week if we were lucky.  As the lessons progressed, so did he.  He began to finally see how important the gospel was to him and his family.  He began reading the Book of Mormon (He's already in 2nd Nephi), praying and coming to church with his family.  Since then, his heart has completely changed.  Yesterday, his wife reactivated and we're excitedly awaiting Jess' baptism on the 24.  He told us an amazing experience that he had the other day praying. He's been looking for a job for months with no luck.  He got a call that there was an opening and he was invited to come and apply.  Before he left for the interview, he felt like he needed to pray, even though he had never prayed before an interview before.  So that's what he did.  He prayed.  He then proceeded to explain the calm, confident feeling that came over him and remained with him the whole day. He wasn’t nervous like he used to be in such circumstances.  Actually, the exact opposite, he was extremely confident. He told us about the 3 exams that he had to take and how he said a prayer before each asking our Heavenly Father to open his mind and help him remember the things that he had studied. He passed the exams with flying colors. Before the first exam, his wife even texted him and told him to pray before going into the exam.  He passed all the interviews and is now just waiting to be interview by the big dog. Isn't prayer amazing.  Never underestimate the power of prayer.  Jess told us at the other day that we answered all the answers that his church has never been able to answer. He knows our church to be true.  What more can I say, the church is true. 

Zone meeting was great.  I love zone meeting so much.  I love training and teaching. Like I mentioned earlier, our zone meeting was all about increasing our faith and expanding our vision. I related my whole segment to high jumping.  I talked about the importance of goal setting, making a plan and then giving it your all (sounds super basic, but it was super awesome).  We can accomplish so much more when we allow the Lord to direct us. Give him your heart, might, mind and strength and he'll do a lot more with us than we can.  If only we could all comprehend the Lord's will for us. I wonder what he thinks when we do anything that's contrary to his plan. I had an experience this week with an investigator who just would not accept that his family needed a gospel centered home. I just wanted to make him understand that everything the Lord asks us to do is for our own good. Every commandment, every assignment, every awkward situation, every trial, every time we're forced from our comfort zone. It's all for our good and for our progression.  All we have to do is follow and embrace it.  I'm sure glad that we have this mortal life to grow and progress because if I was a God right now, I probably would have caused a small earthquake to hit that guy’s house. A soft one of course because I still love him. 

Fun Fact: Our house is full of hormonal mosquitoes. The only place I ever get mosquito bites is on my butt.  

Temple day!!! In about 3 hours I’ll be in the temple. Stoked. 

I love the scriptures. 

Elder Manares is the man. 

Tagalog. I love it. Most of the time. 

My area is still tiny. 

I love fish. 

I love you all. 

"If God be with us, who can prevail against us?"

Well this week has been alright.  Nothing too special.  Did a lot of missionary work.  It's actually been a tough week for me to find motivation.  I'm at one of those points where I am dying for a change.  A little more about why.  Our area is probably smaller than our neighborhood back home so we walk the same streets everyday and see pretty much the same people everyday.  We rarely see anything new and it makes it a little tough. Plus we don't have those great things you call seasons.  It's hot.  Everyday.  Without fail.  So I’m contemplating how to spice up my life here. I was thinking about trying a new outfit. Maybe I’ll try and buy a pair of pants that has a 2 mm pinstripe instead of 1 mm. Or maybe I’ll start wearing my watch on my right hand instead of my left. Wow, I should probably stop typing, I’m getting a little too excited. 

We had the wonderful opportunity to do a couple service projects this week.  That was fun.  We went to a woman’s house to help her straighten up her yard that looked like it was hit by a nuclear bomb.  Cool story.  Elder Manares and I were asked to move a refrigerator that was being stored at the back of the house. As we approached the refrigerator, you could tell it had been there for years. We began to analyze the appliance and I felt intrigued to open the door.  As I open it, cockroaches flooded out. And a weird looking substance oozed out.  Cool story huh?  We spent the rest of the time weeding, chopping down trees with a machete and digging up ginger.  It was a good time. 

Our next service project was a ward activity on Saturday.  We swept.  We swept pretty much our whole area. We swept real well. 

I honestly don't even know what to tell you about right now.

I've been obsessed with teaching about the temple this week. We've been visiting a lot of Less Actives this week and have felt inspired to teach about the temple.  We have a really great experience last night with one of the LA families.  In the past, this has always been one of the families that reluctantly let us in, didn't really pay attention and just didn't show much interest.  Yesterday wasn't any different... until we started to teach about the temple and eternal families.  We shared about the blessings that come from the temple, the importance of the temple sealing, how to prepare and it was just wonderful.  The entire family was actively engaged as they were excited to tell us that they really want to start family scripture study and family prayer. They then excitedly told us that they would start later that night and were determined to be at church every Sunday.  Truly a blessing. They are the sweetest family and are going to be sealed in the temple before too long.  

So this upcoming week is going to be crazy.  We have MLC on Thursday, Zone meeting on Monday and then temple day on Tuesday.  Super stoked.  It's going to be the bomb.

I love this verse of scripture:

"If God be with us, who can prevail against us?"

As children of God, we are entitled to his help.  He is always with us and will help us.  However, it is conditional upon us asking for it.  If we will turn ourselves over to prayer and do everything that we can possibly do, no one will prevail against us. That's a pretty amazing promise.  

Know that I love you and you are in my prayers constantly.  Mother's Day is just around the corner. I'm giddy as a little schoolgirl. Mahal ko kayo!!

"We finish each others..." 

"SANDWICHES"

"That's what I was going to say!!" 

It's been on repeat. No big deal. 

"Let It Go"

So this week was full of exchanges and kwan.  There was just a whole lot of going-hard. My mind is kind of all over the place so this email might reflect that kaguluhan.  The first exchange I went on was with a white boy from Utah. His name is Elder Merrill.  He went to Woods Cross and is pretty much the man.  It was nice to work with another American for a day. We had some great experiences.  We taught a great family that had like 9 kids.  Elder Merrill told me before that they weren't really progressing and Tatay wasn't extremely interested. We taught a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation and the attitude of this family just changed completely.  We really focused on using the scriptures and letting the prophets teach.  You can always count on the prophets (coupled with the spirit of course) to change someone’s heart.  At the end of the lesson we had the father offer the closing prayer.  He was hesitant but offered a great prayer.  After he ended the prayer, he grabbed his chest and expressed that he had the most amazing feeling.  He then invited us to come back everyday.  I guess we can probably do that.

We also met a less active man that hasn't been seen in years. It turns out that he lives right by my apartment. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was all his golfing trophies.  Yep, my new best friend is a golfer. We talked about golf for a while, sports and all that fun stuff.  He told me that a large bucket of balls costs 40 pesos here.  That's less than 1 American dollar. The Philippines has the right idea. He then invited me to go golfing with him.  He said that whenever I wanted to go I can just stop by his house and he'd take me to the course that's only 10 minutes away.  You bet I’ll be taking him up on that offer.  Not only was he the man, he was also quite receptive.  He really has a desire to change. Hopefully there will be more news concerning him in the future.

Went on another exchange with Elder Manongas (the same Elder Manongas that was in my last zone. We transferred together). It was a great time.  We talked about the good times back in the Pasay north zone.  We did some missionary work though too.

We had the most amazing Sunday in the history of Sundays yesterday. Honestly, I couldn't have imagined up a better Sunday.  We have been working extremely hard in this area, but the results just haven't been coming.  It's been pretty frustrating.  The blessings finally came when we had 11 investigators at sacrament yesterday.  What made it even better was that they were nearly all families. We had a family of 5 that have been going through some really tough relationship problems bring their whole family to church.  We have been trying for weeks to get them to close their store and come as a family.  Heavenly Father finally made it possible. We also had 3-part member less active families come to church. Part Member families are my favorite. Their is a special place in my heart for those types of families especially when they come from less active families.  There is nothing sweeter than seeing a part member family reactivate and become completed through the waters of baptisms. The Sunday service seemed to be tuned to the needs of our investigators.  Everything that was taught, shared or testified pertained perfectly to our investigators. The ward just took over as they showed these families to their respective classes and clung to them like a long lost friend or sibling. It was perfect.  These families will never miss another Sunday because they felt the love of the ward and the love of the lord. It's great to actually witness the plan of our Heavenly Father rolled out before you. He truly is aware of every single one of us and will do everything in his power to help them.  Not only that, but he blesses us with the opportunity to act for him.  He gives us his children to love and to care for. We truly are answers to prayers when we follow the guidance of the spirit. President Monson stated that there is nothing sweeter than following a prompting of the spirit and later coming to find out that it was an answer to someone’s prayer. We are so blessed.

Just had the best morning in the world. We pulled together a last minute zone activity before transfer day.  We got approval to watch the movie that I have been dying to see, the movie that I have heard all about and the movie that has the catchiest song in the word: Frozen.  Oh my gosh.  It was pretty much the best 2 hours of my life. From a missionary’s standpoint that hasn't seen a movie in about 14 months, it was the best movie ever created. "Let it go, let it go."

Well that's about it for this week. Nothing else too exciting happened. I'll be staying with Elder Manares for one more transfer.  I think we might be the modern day Alma and amulek.  Who knows though.  I hope you have a wonderful week.  Keep doing what you do and keep being who you are.  "Let it go."

Search, Pray, Apply

I have a ton to tell you about this week.  It has been a week jam-packed with pretty much everything you can think of.  You should be excited. I don't even know where to start.  

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.

We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet

So let's see. Where to start. Thursday was one of the greatest days of my life.  We had MLC and it was not only a great spiritual experience, but also a wonderful social gathering. I was able to catch up with Elder Hawkins about the area and zone.  He gave me two cute notes from one of my favorite families that they had written to me after their baptism expressing how happy they were to be baptized and how much they wished I could have been there.  So stinkin cute.  Aya, the youngest one, drew a picture of all of us holding hands with huge smiles on our faces. He then proceeded to show me pictures.  Holy crap, it was just amazing. What made it even cooler is that the one who baptized them was a member that we reactivated a couple weeks earlier, Tony. Those families are both attending temple prep classes and are setting their sights on the temple and have goal dates to be sealed in the temple.  That's what missionary work is all about.  

After they told me about their area, they began to tell me about the zone.  Elder Hawkins and I put some hard work into that zone and it finally paid off.  We exceeded every one of our goals and had the highest numbers that the zone has experienced since its creation.  Plus, Bonifacio zone (my zone now) killed it as well.  We have some great missionaries in these zones and they are working hard and bringing about miracles.  It's all about faith. 

I had someone trying to convince me for 10 minutes to give them one of my babies when the time comes that I have babies.  They were serious.  Not joking. They wanted American blood in the family tree. That was weird. 

Taught our "marriage counseling" family a couple times this week.  We didn't notice any change in their relationship until Friday.  We had the most amazing lesson ever.  We began the lesson by explaining the importance of a prophet in our latter day and then connected it to The Family: A proclamation to the world.  It was so powerful.  By the end of the lesson, the spirit in their house had completely changed.  It went from anger to peace.  For brother, it was like a light went off in his head.  He began to ask a question about prophets in the Old Testament and continued talking until he had answered his own question and also described why it was important for us to have a prophet today. It was great.  All we said was "You just described perfectly why we need a prophet."  Not only that, but his wife (who has never showed much interest) opened up and confirmed everything brother said.  Their hearts have been changed.  What an experience.  Gotta love the guidance and converting power of the spirit.  

Had interviews this week with President Stucki.  It went well.  Nothin too crazy. These are the last quarterly interviews that he will be conducting as Mission President.  They head home in July.  I sure will miss them.  They are amazing people.  I'll never forget the impact they have made on my life. 

Had a killer day on Saturday.  We didn't have a ton of work during the beginning of the week because of MLC and Interviews so we were determined to go all out on Saturday.  We prayed hard, worked hard and it paid off.  At the end of the day, we had taught 11 lessons (opening prayer and closing prayer) and found 5 new investigators. Not too bad.  The Lord truly blessed us. 

Elder Manares and I got hit on hard last Monday by a referral we received from a member.  That was uncomfortable. 

We also had to teach district meeting.  Our district leader called us about an hour before and told us that his companion was sick and they were going to the hospital. So we took his spot and kinda winged district meeting.  It was good.  I love teaching.

Speaking of teaching, we have zone meeting this week. It's going to be epic.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

JunJun is still the man.  He works with us all the time.  He has such a great missionary spirit.  I love it. 

6 And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.

So true. Greatest Worth.

Small and Simple Things

What a crazy week full of baptisms, weird food, marriage counseling, and miracles. I'll start with Saturday. JunJun was baptized! It was a super great service and the spirit was strong.  You would have thought that he had been a member for years if you heard his testimony at any other venue. He's such a special guy. He'll be a great instrument in the hands of Lord as he continues to flourish in the Lord's church.  Who knows, a full time mission might be in his future. A few missionaries, including Elder Manares and I, sang a musical number that was alright. We prepared for like thirty minutes before so I wouldn't say that it was beautiful, but it invited the spirit none-the-less. Not only was JunJun baptized this last week, but also my favorite family from my last area.  I'm so happy for that family.  The parents were reactivated and now three of their 6 children are members of the church (the other 3 are under the age of 8). What a wonderful blessing to be a part of that wonderful change in their life.  I wish I could have been there to see it.

One great thing about this ward is that they love to feed the missionaries.  We had a dinner appointment every night this last week.  I'm getting so fat. It's great.  Anyways, included in those meals are some pretty epic eating experiences.  I ate horse. That was weird. Quite spicy, had quite the kick (hahaha). We also ate octopus.  It sufficeth me to say that some sea creatures should be left in the sea and be left un-eaten. Luckily, you can put anything on rice and it tastes good.

We had a really cool experience yesterday.  We concluded our church service and were in coordination meeting. One of our elderly ward missionaries told us of a family that was quite sick and was in need of priesthood blessings. We grabbed one of our high priests and headed to their house.  When we arrived, this family just lit up. They graciously let us in.  We proceeded to give both Tatay and Nanay blessings.  At the conclusion of the blessing given to Tatay, he looked at us, with a tear in his eye, and stated, "This might just be a little thing, but I will never forget it." We never know how much our simple acts of service can bless the lives of those around us.  An act that seems quite small can truly mean the world to friend, neighbor, family member, or stranger. It reminded me of the scripture found in Alma 37:6-7:

"By small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

"And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

We can be those little miracles in other people’s lives if we heed to the small, simple promptings of the spirit.  Who knows, it could bring about the salvation of a soul.

I had the opportunity to participate in marriage counseling the other day.  Before the meeting, all I could think about was the movie, "What Happens in Vegas" when they are yelling and screaming at each other. That's pretty much what it was like. Luckily we kept it a little more organized than that though. As soon as we began to talk about our Savior and the divinity and sanctity of the family, the whole mood changed. The Spirit was felt by all.  Tears were shed.  Hearts were changed.  The wonderful couple left the room holding hands. If we want to have a successful relationship and family, center it in the gospel and build it upon the Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ.

So I may or may not have told an innocent, old lady that we have a lot of prostitutes in the Philippines.  The word for harlet and learning is quite similar so in an attempt to state something along the lines of "we do most of our learning in the Philippines," I may have messed up a little and flopped a specific word. I don't know for sure though.  She didn't look too freaked out so I think it's all good. It made me chuckle though.

I relearned a valuable lesson this week about attitude.  Attitude is a choice and will greatly affect every situation. Don't worry about things you can't control, worry about the things you can. 

Favorite hymn line for the week that has been stuck in my head and playing on repeat. "Time flies on wings of lightning." Literary genius.

Peter Parker? "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility"

What a week here in the Bonifacio 4th Ward. It's been a crazy week. 

So it pretty much all started on Friday when we had a specialized teaching training. It lasted from 9 to 3 and was all about using the scriptures and teaching short and powerful lessons.  We were called the night before and told that we would be leading a practice teaching for lesson three.  Sweet, no big deal.  Then we where told that we would be doing the demonstration and we had to teach all of lesson three (English) in 15 minutes using a scripture for every principle.  That was an experience, especially when my companion doesn't like using English.  It worked out well though.  We learned a ton.  Something that is not easy is teaching the entire plan of salvation in 15 minutes using a scripture for every principle. That one will take some practice.

Right after the specialized training we went of exchanges with the APs.  I was with Elder Stevens.  A little background about Elder Stevens: He was one of the very first missionaries I met in the field.  We flew over to Palawan together and he later became my zone leader.  We have a ton in common. It's actually quite weird how much we have in common. He's from San Diego, loves sports, music, and all that fun stuff.  When I first got into the field, he was kind of the missionary that I looked up to and always thought, "I want to be a missionary like that." He's a convert to the church and was only a member for a year before he left on his mission.  Needless to say, we had a great time.  We worked in his area and pretty much tore it apart.  We taught some great people including this referral who is a little bit older and just loves life. She was so excited to see us and was just bouncing off walls the whole time.  She'll be getting baptized at the end of April. Fun fact about the Philippines.  People love talking about things that have no relevance to anything.  During our lesson with this woman (Margarita), she somehow took prophets and morphed it into how she's traveled all over the Philippines and did service projects or something hahaha it makes me laugh just thinking about it.  The next morning we did P90x.  Destroyed me.  I sure miss that feeling.

Sunday was a great day.  Spent the whole week preparing for my talk.  It went well. I'll talk about it a little bit later though.  I'll use that as my spiritual thought for the week.

Fun Fact: For some reason, everyone hear calls me Peter Parker or Clark Kent. And I mean everyone.  Members, investigators, people I’ve never even seen before, it's quite ridiculous.  I don't even look anything like them besides the fact that I’m white and wear glasses.

Anyway, back to Sunday. We were at coordination meeting and we brought JunJun, our baptismal candidate, because we were going to set up the program and all that stuff. As we were sitting there listening to some other missionaries in the ward give their report and JunJun leans over to us and asks if he can work with us and help us teach! "Of course!!" hahah I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. So later that day, he worked with us for 4 hours! We taught a lesson (which is a spiritual experience in itself that I’ll talk about next) and JunJun bore the strongest testimony ever about how the Book of Mormon has changed his life and how he knows without a doubt that it's true.  It's amazing to me how converted JunJun is.  He has experienced "a mighty change of heart" and is truly acting upon it.  He worked with us again yesterday and introduced us to one of his friends who we will be teaching on Wednesday. Amazing.  This kid is a better missionary than I am.

So more about the lesson that we taught.  Our tinuruan was named Brian. He's a personal fitness trainer and a family man. He has a wife and a little baby and they mean everything to him.  Luckily for him, we have exactly what he needs to make his family happier in this life and eternal in the life to come.  Turns out that this man was prepared by the hand of the Lord to hear our message.  He excitedly welcomed us in and began to tell us about the background that he's already had with the "Mormons."  He has family members that are members and has been introduced to the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.  He ran upstairs and brought down his Book of Mormon and the book "Our Heritage" and began to expound upon the things that he's learned from his reading.  HE taught US about Mormon being the father of Moroni and how Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and assisted in the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon.  I was amazed.  We didn't really even have to do anything.  He asked a couple questions which he pretty much answered himself.  We kind of just bore testimony of the things that he was saying. One of the members working with us, who was just baptized in December, bore strong testimony, and then we let JunJun loose on him and that just took it home. Game over.  Brian is getting baptized.  Such a spiritual experience.  If anyone ever doubts that the lord is preparing his children to hear the message of the restoration, send them my way and I'll prove them otherwise.

As I was praying the other day about the topic I wanted to speak on, I was hit with a definite answer.  A word popped into my head and the spirit testified to me that I needed to talk on forgiveness. President Hinckley proclaimed that forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue on earth and I’d have to agree.  If we could master this virtue, the world would be a far better place and our lives would be far happier. If we ever feel that we can't forgive someone I would encourage us to remember our savior Jesus Christ who suffered incomprehensible pain for each one of us.  He bled from ever pore, he was beaten, bruised, whipped, and mocked by those that he was in the act of saving. As he hung on the cross, facing his accuser, he offered this humble plea, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Never has such an act of love and forgiveness ever been preformed.  We can forgive even when we feel that we have been wronged beyond forgiveness.  The Lord is always ready and waiting to forgive us.  Let us remember our savior and be willing and ready to forgive those around us.