Maayong buntag! Almost 5 weeks and I'm home! But . . . back to the letter.
July 18th, Monday, Sister Huxtable and I were able to visit the Booc family and share with them about the 2,000 Stripling Warriors in The Book of Mormon. I love sharing with their family. The kids are so cute and love to learn. They already knew about our message and so they were well prepared. After sharing with them, we visited Brother Gino Liston, our recent convert, and taught him about repentance. He keeps telling us that he isn't praying/reading the scriptures/coming to church because he feels unworthy and he keeps sinning. It was a good lesson because it reminded him that it's okay to sin, as long as we repent and try to become better from the mistakes that we make. He's such a good guy, but struggling a bit.
July 19th, Tuesday, Sister Huxtable and I attended our district meeting and it was the best one so far! Because I'm in the Philippines, there's lots of Filipino Elders/Sisters, and there's a mission rule that we should either speak Cebuano, or English, no other languages. And so my district made a deal with each other, that during the district meeting, we would only speak English, and then during the practice teaching afterwards, we would only speak Cebuano. And if anybody speaks Cebuano (including the foreign missionaries), then they have to put 1 peso in a jar. It was the funniest meeting ever. Sister Huxtable and I even struggled with speaking only English because we kept throwing in Cebuano. It was so hard, but good practice for the Filipino Elders to practice their English. After the meeting, we visited the Pocong family and taught Brother ArAr and Brother Arnie (members). We shared with them about missionary work and encouraged them to work with the Elders because Brother ArAr is 17 years old and really wants to serve a mission. The problem, he's really shy!
We then taught Sister Renalyn (girlfriend of Brother Juwarsi Pocong, part member) about The Plan of Salvation. We focused on the afterlife/where we're going after we die. Sister Renalyn kept bringing up reincarnation and was really confused that we aren't going to be reincarnated. It was so cute! We then taught Sister Rosalie the same lesson as Sister Renalyn. Sister Rosalie has been an investigator for a while, so she kind of already knew about what we taught. But it was a good reminder to her about the 3 kingdoms of glory so she can continue to follow Jesus Christ in order to inherit the highest kingdom. Afterwards, we visited Brother Elmo and shared with him about hope. He's struggling with his health and so we wanted to share a happy message with him and help him feel that hope once again. He's such a nice guy and loves Jesus Christ. We also were able to visit with Brother Robert, part member investigator, and teach him about the Restoration. He's a little slow when it comes to learning, but we think that he understood it pretty well. His older sister, member, was there and shared her testimony. She has such a good story of how she came to know the truth. I love sharing with them.
July 20th, Wednesday, we visited the Liston family and helped them make lumpya (filipino snack) so they can sell it to people and make some money. It was a lot of fun making them and helping out the Liston family. Afterwards, we visited Brother Juwarsi Pocong, and taught him again about the Word of Wisdom because he's been struggling with drinking. He had gotten drunk at his mom's birthday party and his little boy told us when we had visited them one night. Brother Juwarsi was surprised that we knew about him being drunk. He was really shocked to find out that his kids have been watching him when he drinks and that they know what he's doing. It was a really good reminder to him that he needs to set a good example for his kids or else they'll follow in his bad footsteps.
July 21st, Thursday, Sister Huxtable and I visited Sister Brina and taught her about the Law of Chastity. She has a boyfriend and so we just wanted to remind her about how this law can help us in the future. She's a good girl. She's already been following it even before she became a member. We then visited Sister Sacnanas and her less active daughter, Sister Analyn, and shared with them about God's love for us. Sister Analyn has stopped coming to church and she's really shy. We just want her to feel God's love again and to come back but she's pretty dead set on not returning. It's really sad. Afterwards, we shared with Sister Rosalie about eternal marriage. She isn't married to her boyfriend, Brother Juanies Pocong, and so we shared with her the importance of being married, especially in the temple so our families can be sealed to each other. We visited Brother Elmo and shared with him about trusting in God when times are hard. He and his wife are struggling with money/finding food and going to church so we shared with them Alma 36:3 and promised that if they trust in God, they can do anything. We then shared with Brother Rodel and his wife, Sister Lucille about the Godhead. They understood it really well. We mainly focused on Sister Lucille because it was her first time being taught by us. She's so good. She understands pretty well.
July 22nd, Friday, After our weekly planning, Sister Huxtable and I visited Sister Marlette, less active, and shared with her about motherhood and being an example to her children. She struggles because she's a single mom with two little kids. We had gotten punted by a lot of the people we had planned on teaching, so we decided to go over and teach Brother ArAr and Brother Arnie Pocong. We shared with them about God's love. We felt like Brother ArAr is struggling right now to feel God's love and so we really wanted to remind him that our Heavenly Father loves him and wants what's best for him. He's so cute and innocent! After visiting them, we taught Brother Robert. We kind of overviewed a bit about the Restoration to make sure that he really understood what we were teaching.
July 23rd,Saturday, we visited the Liston family, and shared with Sister Brina, recent convert, about the Word of Wisdom. She's a good girl. She follows it and is doing pretty well with staying active. We also shared with her older brother, Brother Gino, about the Word of Wisdom. He had finally opened up to us about why he's shy to go to church/pray. Before he got baptized he struggled with drinking/smoking and he's gone back to drinking/smoking a bit. We reminded him about the Word of Wisdom. He understands really well, and wants to stay active/worthy, but he's struggling because of his friends. After teaching him, we went and taught Sister Lucille (investigator) about prophets and Christ's ministry here on earth. She understood a lot of it really well! She just barely got baptized into the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ), and their rule is that once you're a member, you can't talk or listen to the missionaries' lessons. But she's pretty knew and literally doesn't understand anything when she goes to church there, so we really want to take this chance and teach her so she can finally understand the truth. She's so awesome. We then taught her husband, Brother Rodel (investigator also) about The Plan of Salvation. We taught him about the kingdoms of glory and oh man! It was SUCH a good lesson. The Spirit was so strong. As in! Brother Rodel understood everything we taught him! He had read his assignments and was really into the lesson. We had mentioned baptism a while ago and he had told us "not yet" because he's "just too busy." But then we invited him to be baptized this time, and without hesitation he accepted the invitation! It was the best ever! Sister Huxtable and I were so happy during the lesson that we just kept repeating how happy we were to Brother Rodel. And then after the lesson, we couldn't control how happy we were so we gave each other a big high five and hug. It was seriously the happiest moment ever.
After visiting them, we went and taught Brother Juwarsi about the Law of Chastity. He had been taught it before, but struggled a bit, so we just reminded him. Before we taught him, we asked about his assignment that we left with him. He was supposed to read the Word of Wisdom pamphlet and write in the back his goals to stop drinking and goals for his future. When we followed up on his assignment, he showed it to us and we read it. It was seriously the best thing ever to read. He really wants to quit drinking. He just needs courage and strength. And I know that with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, he can do it. We all can.
July 24th, Sunday, Sister Huxtable attended a meeting after church and after the meeting the members fed the missionaries. I love Filipino food. So lami! Afterwards, we visited Sister Deladia and shared with her about callings. She accepted a calling to teach Sunday school and was a little hesitant about accepting it. We shared with her the importance of accepting and fulfilling our callings for the Lord. She's such a great member. I know she can do it! We then visited the Pocong family and shared with them about supporting family members. The Pocong family struggles with supporting members and not judging each other when they make mistakes. It was a really good message, but it kind of came off wrong because Brother Juwarsi got a little upset about us mentioning his younger brother Juanies. Juanies is always drinking and making bad decisions and so the family is always getting into fights with him and telling him that he can't ever change. We shared from Alma 43 about the Nephites fighting the Lamanites for their families. My favorite scripture is 47. It says that we are to defend our families unto bloodshed. It really helps me to realize how important family really is and how we need to always be there for our families and not judge them. They're all you got. So love and accept them for who they are!
I love you all! Amping kanunay!
Love,
Sister Johnson