The Lord is Truly Blessing Us

Another week down. Well this week has pretty much been an amazing week.  I've got a ton to tell you so "be ye therefore ready."

I'll start with the highlight of the week which was the baptism of Jess and Jojo on Saturday.  It was amazing. I cannot even express to you my love for those great men and their families. I'm so glad that you saw the picture of Jess and his family.  They are just the cutest family ever. They are so strong and are going to look great in white in one year from now when they get sealed in the temple. Jess bore such a great testimony after his baptism (did I mention that he asked me to be the baptizer? Yeah, that makes a great day even better). He expressed his love for his family and his excitement and gratitude that he has finally found the true church.  Jojo also bore a great testimony.  He expressed that he was feeling really nervous as he was about to walk through the door into the font, but he expressed that that fear left him when he saw me dressed in white waiting for him at the stairs. His fear was replaced with a "kaya ko" attitude. It was a great experience.  Elder Manares and I had the opportunity to sing a special musical number. After hours of contemplating which song would be best for this situation, we decided to sing, "I love to see the temple" instead of "Wrecking ball." The spirit was so strong. Nothing makes me happier than directing families to the temple. Don't you just love baptisms, missionary work and life?  The Lord is truly blessing us.

I have to tell you a wonderful experience that Jess shared with us before his baptism. As you know he has been looking for a job for quite some time. Despite his heartfelt prayers and faithfulness, he wasn't having any luck. He didn't get the job that I told you about a few weeks ago. so he was very discouraged.  He even expressed to us that he had almost lost hope.  A week before his baptism, we visited him with President Stucki and taught a very powerful lesson.  President Stucki then suggested that we give Jess a priesthood blessing to assist in his job search. Following the lesson, we gave him a great priesthood blessing and then left. The very next day, Jess got a call informing him of a job opening and was asked to come be interviewed.  He was interviewed 5 times.  After those 5 interviews, he was informed that he got the job! After years of searching, the job hunt was over. Not only did he find a job, but it was also a better job than any of the other jobs he had been interview for.  Isn't the power of prayer and priesthood blessings coupled with faith amazing? We can learn an amazing lesson from this story. It would have been really easy for Jess to give up on prayer and come to the conclusion that God doesn't answer prayers after the first failed attempt. However, because of his faithfulness, he was blessed with a greater job than any other he had come across. We sometimes expect God to answer every prayer in the way that we want him to answer.  We expect him to give us what we think is the best.  If we don't receive it, we often begin to doubt and get discouraged.  We rarely take into consideration that the Lord is preparing far greater things down the road. Never get discouraged if a prayer isn't answered right away.  The answer will come, and it will be far better than we initially expected.

I saw a decal the other day that describes the Philippines perfectly. It read, "Trust in God." Immediately following the statement there was a picture of the playboy bunny. Isn't that great? I think that would look good on Stevo. That's kind of how a lot of people think here.  Everyone believes in Christ, but that belief does not lead to a christlike life. They just need the Gospel!!

So earlier today we had an awesome experience.  We went Golfing!! Yes, Elder Obray has come out of retirement.  It was so great. I miss the game of golf.  It definitely wasn't nearly as fun though because I didn't have my dad and brother next to me. The sport itself is only half the fun. Who you're with is the other half. I'm happy to report that I still have a slice.  Some things just never change.  Don't worry though, I’ve still got it.  Pitching wedge=150. That's how we do. The golf course manager actually told me right there that they were ready to sign me if I was wiling. The contract looked pretty nice, but unfortunately, it's against mission rules to take part in sponsored sports activities. Maybe next year.

Went on exchanges this week. That was fun. 

Interviewed a cute little girl for baptism.

Looked at about 300 apartments.  Finally found a couple that actually meet missionary standards! One of which has a basketball court on the roof.  I know where I’ll be placing myself.

Teaching a great new less active part member family (my favorite)! They don't even know the happiness that is about to slap them in the face over the next few months.

Speaking of cute part member families that are going to be sealed in the temple, the Caras family emailed me! They found my blog online and somehow got my email.  They sent me the greatest email in the world.  Quick update for you all.  Carmelino was called to be the sports coordinator and coach of the church ball team (church ball is huge here).  They took the championship under his coaching! He was also called as the second counselor in the young mens.  He's the perfect man for the job.  Jhoanna was called to be a relief society teacher and a teacher in the primary.  I love that family so stinkin much.  Carmelino is going to be bishop before to long.  Their family is doing great! They expressed to me their gratitude for the amazing change that we brought to their family.  I love my mission.

Well that's about it for the week. It was a great week.  This week is also going to be great with MLC and Elder Christensen. The Lord is really blessing us here in the Bonifacio 4th Ward. 

It's All About Prioritizing

Well this week is probably going to shatter your brains.  It was super epic.  We all just had super epic weeks.  Where do I even begin?

Thursday is a good place to start.  Zone conference.  It was awesome.  I sure love zone conference.  It was President Stucki's last zone conference as mission president. I love that guy.  We talked about working with the members (one of those most important aspects of the work!) He took some time at the very end to talk about families.  It was kind of his last-time-i'll-speak-to-you talk. He was telling us to imagine our future families and stuff.  Yeah, hard to focus after that. He gave us some great counsel about families and keeping temple covenants. Great stuff.  At the end he announced that Elder Christensen of the Presidency of the 70 is coming on the 30th to speak to the missionaries and he'll be accompanied with Elder Echo Hawk of the first quorum of the 70 (and a member of our area presidency). I'm so stoked.  This type of opportunity doesn't come around too often. I'm getting all excited just thinking about it.

After the conference, President Stucki came and worked with us in our area!! Was that an experience or what. It was kinda funny because he can't understand anything so he is completely reliant on us to translate and help him through the lesson.  Everything he said though was always heart felt and according to our tinuturuan's needs. It was a good time.

Great news! Jojo and Jess both passed their interviews and will be baptized this Saturday! Aren't you just so excited? I hope you guys can make it to the service. I'll save you a seat. It starts at 2. We had an amazing experience after Jess' interview. We were talking to him about the service and we asked him if he had a specific hymn that he wanted to be a part of the program.  He thought for a while and then responded, "I always hear the children around here singing a song and I’ve really grown to like it.  I think it's called "I love to see the temple." Holy crap.  That's my boy.  That answer could not have been any better.  His family is going to be sealed in one year. That's a man that knows what's important in life.

Saturday was great.  Romeo was baptized!! It was such a great day.  It was quite comical though because everything that possibly could have gone wrong went wrong. The printer ran out of ink so no programs, our piano was taken before the program so no piano, our chorister was tone deaf so that amplified the problem, one of our speakers didn't show up, there was a party going on near by so we were jamming to Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus. It was great.  It was still a beautiful service.  The spirit was strong and everyone felt it. I love baptisms.

We participated in a service project earlier today! We helped clean up an elementary school.  It was disgusting. This is one of the nicer schools around and I thought I was going to get some sort of bacterial disease. I don't think they've cleaned it since this time of year last year. It was fun though. Gotta love doing service.

Well I gotta bring this letter to a close. I would like to end with a quick thought that I mentioned earlier.  We learn from Alma that this life is a time to prepare to meet god. One very important aspect of that preparation is prioritizing what truly matters. Every day I see and talk with people that don't quite understand what truly matters in their lives.  The counsel of the Savior is clear, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." We should learn to internalize this statement and make it who we are.  Daily scripture study, prayer, church attendance and other commandments should never be optional. Never allow the question "Should I read the book of Mormon today?" cross your mind.  It shouldn't be an option.  We should just do it because we love the Lord and understand that the Lord’s commandments lead us to happiness. It's all about prioritizing. Never allow something of the world to interfere with those things that truly matter.

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.