Hello family!
So this week went by soo fast! But guess what! We had 3 baptisms! So I sent you some pictures, Ill try to describe them each a little. The boy is June Albert Buenconsejo. He is 17 years old and was introduced to the church by some of his friends. A story just like laurels 3. Anyways we are teaching his family now which is AWESOME!! I hope and pray so hard that they will continue to progress!!
The older girl is Luisa. Her Aunt is the RS priesident and she came to stay with her aunt for the summer. So thats How she was introduced to the church. For a day or so she wasnt going to be able to be baptized because she had to go back home to start school and couldnt be baptized (according to the rules) before. So anyways, long stressful story short, prayers were answered and she made some sacrifices by staying here until she was confirmed. (She left right after sacrament meeting). It was amazing to see her determination to be baptized! Also, something silly was that she came up to me and let me hug her before she left!!! This was SO AWESOME!! kasi, she is very shy to begin with and the fact that I can never say too much to her outside of the topic of the gospel I was never how sure how she wfelt towards me. So i was so thrilled! haha
The youngest girl is 13- Shiela May. They cutest girl ever. We were teaching her and her mom together. They both wanted to be baptized but he dad wont allow her mom to be baptized. So when we asked her if she still wanted to be baptized she said yes! She comes to church every week by herself. She knows the gospel SOO well. I really love her.
God is really preparing the rising generation, I see it every day!
To catch you up on the Aragon family- THEY ALL CAME TO CHURCH THIS WEEK! We started church without any of our investigators there (which is sooo sad beacue we had 7 who were supposed to be baptized on the 22nd but well have to push them now-hopefully they will continue to progress) anyways... we were thrilled when the aragon fmaily came in. Nanay Aragon even went upand bore her testimony! It was amazing!
Later that day we had a couple of memebers of the ward (A YW and SA) pull us aside an ask for advice. Again, it sounds so simple and small but it means so much to me because it means that they trust us. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in this branch- alot. the Branch president pretty much does everything here. Last week, they called RS counselors which is a great start! The first thing we are trying to do is set up home and visiting teaching. That would help the branch sooo sooo sooo much! So you can pray for that :) I remember when i was set apart, it talked about setting a foundation for the church and working with the ward and branches here. I think that will be a lot of what I do here in the philippines. but i just keep thinking how blessed i am to be able to do that. Looking back i know that i had certain experiences that specifically prepared me for this work. EX: Starting IHS. That was such such good preperation. I cannot express to you how grateful i am for that expereince. It taught me how to start something from scratch. How to work with unmotivated leaders and difficult companions (dont worry- my companion is awesome). The point is, i know that God prepared me for this work, and he is continuing to qualify me for this work. I also know that God is preparing people here. If you noticed, 2 of the 3 people who were baptized were referrals. They have been prepariong for the gospel for the pst few years of their lives via their friends. We didnt have to much to do aside from teaching them. Members really are the best missionaires!
I am so grateful to be here, especially in baler. I know this church is true and I love testifying of it! That is one of my favorite things to do- to "OYM" "open your mouth" and introduce ourselves as missionaires, and testify that the true gospel of jesus christ has been restored through a moden day prophet. And yes- there is evidence of this. Its called the book of mormon.
I was reminded of this quote today from our beloved prophet. its seems to fit pretty well with how i am feeling but he is waaaaay wiser and youd benifit hearing it from him more than hearing it from me. haha
“My brothers and sisters, I want you to know how grateful
I am for the gospel of Jesus Christ, restored in these latter
days through the Prophet Joseph Smith. It is the key to our
happiness. May we be humble and prayerful, having the
faith that our Heavenly Father can guide and bless us in
our lives.
I bear my personal witness and testimony to you that God lives, that He hears
the prayers of humble hearts. His Son, our Savior and Redeemer, speaks to
each of us: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice,
and open the door, I will come in to him.”May we believe these words and
take advantage of this promise."
-Thomas S Monson.
Mom, dont worry, I only tried the blood. and it was boiled. they really do eat it often here though. ill have to send pictures next time and explain it a little better.
OH! I got yalls dear elders!!!!!! It was the best DDM (i dont even know what that stands for.. haha district something meeting). I loved loved loved it! thank you so much!
HD and BD, your campiong trip looked so fun! i love that you guys do that! School is out right? hallelujah im sure!
Jman- respond to my email kay?
laurel- i cant bleieve finals are coming up already. thats so fast. i know you are doing really well thoug ;)
mom and dad- you are the best. i cant express to you how grateful i am for you as my parents. I was talking about how god prepared me in many ways to serve a mission and so much preperation was done through you. i cant tahnk you enough.
man fam bam, (do is ound like jeff, haha). we have the best family ever.
I hope you know i love you all so much!
Ill write more next week- tomorrow we are driving down to cabanatuan (we leave at 4am!) for zone conference! I am soo excited! After i am going to buy food! like peanut butter, and jelly, and CHEESE, and real bread!! OH YEAH. I am so excited!
Im sure ill have lots of pictures to send!
Oh tagalog update- i wrote out a language stufy plan for my hour language study each day which has been really helpful. Now I have more purpose to what I am doing. yesterday was a pretty good daytoo. Its easy to speak english to the youth when we go on exchanges but earlier that day i decided to forget how to speak english (not for real shaun dont worry ;)). So they were patient with me and i only spoke tagalog. however- they would not repsond to me in tagalog- only english! (there very broken english) i think they feel bad for me... haha. Anyways, I am going to try to forget how to speak english more often. eventaully always. Ive got to write down some more specific goals.
Okay, i love you!!
love
sister evans (lyssa)
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