My companion, an investigator, and ME at the beach!
KAMUSTA MO! Well... Here is my week so far!
October 13th, Tuesday, Sister Acosta and I went to our district meeting in Danao. It was a pretty good meeting. We all talked about giving commitments and how we should be committing people to help prepare them for baptism.
Sister Acosta then left and went to work and had to return back to Danao around 4 because we both had interviews with President Tanner. It was awesome being able to speak with President Tanner face to face about what's been going on with your mission so far. You can definitely tell that President Tanner is called by God and has the gift of discernment; because even if you don't tell him everything right away, he always seems to give you the best advice that you need for a specific problem. I love being able to talk with him.
Wednesday, October 14th, Sister Acosta and I tracted (“to tract,” by which we mean to knock on people’s doors in order to proselytize) this older lady named Maria. She let us come inside and share our message with her. Everything was going pretty well and we were explaining to Sister Maria about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and then her daughter, Julie, came walking in, and kind of talked under her breath about our message.
We then turned to her and asked her to join us, she declined and then turned on the TV and started interrupting us by repeating her question to us, "Unsa'y inyong kaluwasan?" (In English, "What is your guys' salvation?") We turned to her again and told her to sit down in front of us and listen to our message and then she'll know what or who our salvation is. She then sat down and we started explaining our message to her and asked if she believed that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are two seperate beings. She told us, "No. They're one being." We then shared John 3:16 and tried explaining that they're two seperate beings. She then started arguing with us and so we shared Matthew 5:48 and then told them both that our purpose was not to "Bible-share." That we're here to help people change their lives by walking into the waters of baptism. We then closed the lesson with a prayer, gave them the pamphlet and walked away. It hurts a lot when people's hearts and minds are so closed that they aren't willing to listen to the possiblity that there's something so much better out there than what they're used to or have known all their life.
After the lessons, we got to travel to Danao and participate in the sisters baptism! We invited one of our investigators, Brother Josel and the Rosales family, to go and witness the baptism so Brother Josel could see for himself if it's something he really wants to do. The baptism was for Sister Rose and the spirit was so strong there. Brother Josel, Brother Riri Rosales/his sister (less-active), Brother Rhyan (cousin of Rosales) and Sister Charicse (girlfriend of Rhyan) came to the baptism and participated. It was awesome to see them with big smiles on their faces and singing the hymns. We asked Brother Josel what his feeling was after the baptism. "I felt a lot of peace," he said.
October 16th, Friday, Sister Acosta and I went to the Rosales family and taught Rhyan Docejo and Charicse Culanag (the ones that went to the baptism) and taught them about the Restoration. We kind of did an overview of the little pamphelts we have by talking about prophets, Jesus Christ, the Great Apostasy, and then focused on Joseph Smith and his life. After we taught them, we all watched the Restoration video about Joseph Smith. After watching the video, the Spirit just filled the room. It was so strong! We introduced the Book of Mormon to them and explained what it is. They had both seen the Book of Mormon before and Rhyan has read from it, because they live with the Rosales family who are less-active members. Sister Acosta and I each bore our testimonies about Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. We invited them both to read and pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. After that, we invited them to be baptized on November 14th. Brother Rhyan said "yes", and Sister Charicse was a little hesitant but then said "yes!" It was a pretty awesome lesson because of how much Spirit there was.
October 17th, Saturday, Sister Acosta and I went and visted a Brother Anaclito Pacalda. We had taught him once before and he had actually wanted to "Bible-share." We told him that we will return but not "Bible-share." The moment I had actually met him, I had the feeling that he was a pastor or something, but wasn't quite sure. We returned and started sharing with him about the Great Apostasy and was about to share with him about Josepth Smith and The Restoration, but then he started saying that he wan't evidenced in the Bible. He kept saying that we can share, and then he'll share. We stopped teaching him and told him that our purpose is not to "Bible-share," that we're there to help him walk into the waters of baptism. We then told him that we will not return because all he wants to do is "Bible-share." After we closed the lesson, he opened up his wallet and handed us a card. I read the card and it had his picture, his name, and then read: "Pastor." Haha! I guess we were right! I think he expected us to be surprised, but we kind of went into the lessons already expecting him to be a pastor. He's a nice man, but we told him we don't have time to debate with people.
After sharing with him, Sister Acosta and I went and got to witness the baptism of the Elders' in Catmon. The little girl being baptized is a daughter of some less-actives that have started coming back to church. Her name is Glycine (really hard to pronounce) and she is so sweet! During the baptism the Spirit was really strong, and her mom started crying.
After the baptism, Sister Acosta and I visited the Rosales family and taught the youngest daughter of Brother Rosales, Aigen, (who is 8 years old turning 9 in November) about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She isn't a member yet because her family has been really less-active and haven't baptized her yet. But she is really interested and really wants to be baptized. We taught her about who God and Jesus Christ are. She really loves listening to the missionaries and loves answering the many questions we ask her. We then committed her to be baptized on November 28th.
October 18th, Sunday, Sister Acosta and I traveled to Luyang to visit some people before church, to invite them to come. We started passing by a less-active's house, Sister Beatrice, (who was washing her clothes) and we walked to the back of her house which is close to this pit full of water which looks like a crocodile pit. We started passing the pit when all of a sudden, my foot slipped and I slid down the pit and almost fell into the water. My right foot was sitting on top of the water, while my left foot was stuck underneath my back. Sister Acosta started freaking out and Sister Beatrice called her son to come and help me. One of her sons then ran over and hurried and picked me up before I started sliding more into the water. They took me over to a little bench and started grabbing water, washcloths, alcohol to clean my left foot because it got cut up. Sister Beatrice washed my cut and then took this little plant, crushed it up and started squeezing the juice into my cut. Oh man. . . it burned so badly! She told us it was worse than putting on alcohol. She then gave me some flip flops to borrow instead of wearing my shoes. It's a good thing there aren't any crocodiles here in Cebu or else I would've been crocodile breakfast. haha.
After church, Sister Acosta and I visited Sister Marisa and Brother Richard and taught them about the Restoration, and then talked about the Book of Mormon. We gave them a Book of Mormon and then invited them to be baptized on November 28th. They said "yes" and then asked about baptism because they're confused on how we should be baptized and who should be baptized. We explained to them that when we return we would explain everything so they aren't so confused. It was awesome giving them a Book of Mormon and seeing them have that desire to read it and learn more about this church.
This week has kind of been a roller coaster full of emotion. We have many baptisms coming up, but some of them aren't progressing anymore. So that's been frustrating, but even though it's frustrating, I can still see the power that Heavenly Father has and how much he's really helping me and my companion out. It all just comes down to faith. No matter what trials we face, if we have faith, Heavenly Father can provide for us.
I love you all! Have a good week!