Hello World! How are you all doing? Thank you for all the emails and letters! Sorry if I have not responded to you yet, it is medyo difficult to respond to everyone quickly, but I am working on it! I really do appreciate it though and feel your love and support from across the world! Thank you :)
Alrighty folks, news for this week. Let's see, where to begin...I am still in Baao, whoop whoop. It still takes an outrageously long time to get anywhere. It has been cold (like 65) the past couple days with rain (I am actually wearing a sweater right now, can you believe that?) Hmm. I held a goat this week. A couple actually. One of them nibbled on my elbow, yum. I love Buko Salad so much, it is potentially one of my favorite foods now.
Oh this is exciting! We found a meetinghouse for our cute little group to meet in! Yay! It is perfect! I actually haven't been inside yet, BUT it looks really great from the outside! It is a little green house that we are looking at renting. Hopefully everything will go through with that and we will be able to start meeting there within the next couple weeks! I will keep you posted on that one.
Honestly not much has happened this week. We are just working hard, trying to teach as many lessons as we can and to build up this area the best we can. Sobra mahirap. Talaga. Pero we are trying and doing what we can. I really do love it here though. It is a beautiful area and I am really growing to love the people more and more! :) We have a couple amazing investigators who have so many wonderful questions. Can I just say, that is one of the BEST feelings in the world when someone says "May tanong po ako.." (I have a question) with this look on their face like "don't hate me this question is really hard and i know you won't have an answer" then boom. They ask the question. You're heart pounds with joy. A big ol' smile spreads across your face. You and your companion exchange glances of excitement. And you say "May sagot po kami." (we have an answer.) Every single time. There has not been a single question that we have not had some sort of answer to. It is wonderful! Honestly, sometimes the questions are difficult to explain or to answer but every single time a question is asked, we have some answer to provide these people with greater knowledge, greater understanding, and greater hope. That is the power of the truth my friends. It is beautiful. God loves us so much that He gives us the means by which we can receive answers to our many questions and concerns. We have the answers. Every time. Every single time. Take courage and have faith because we do have the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the Earth today. That's why I am here in the Philippines, to share that with others. It gives me so much pleasure to share with others that which gives me strength and hope in this world.
One of my challenges as a missionary is when people hide from us, turn us down, are rude to us, or just simply don't recognize the importance of our message. We are here as servants of God, as literal representatives of Jesus Christ, to declare HIS gospel to you and to help you see the way to return to live with God again and to obtain eternal life. If you truly understood our purpose and our calling, you would never turn us away. It breaks my heart to see and hear others deny us. I just want to reach out, grab their hands, and say "Listen to me, please! I am here for you! God loves you and has given us the way to return to Him. Just listen to me. Open your heart and listen. This is your salvation we are talking about!" We are of course very respectful to all people, as they have their freedom to choose, but I just wish they would listen to us. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that it is the same church, restored to the earth, that He established when He was on the earth. Just as Jesus taught, served, and loved others, we too must teach, serve, and love others in the same manner. He taught us of our Heavenly Father's plan for us and how to return to His presence to live there, together with our families for all time and eternity. Now that is an amazing message, isn't it? Would you have listened to Jesus Christ? Would you have followed Him before?
Jesus Christ is our Savior. He lives. We must follow Him now. We have His gospel on the earth. We have the way back home. He has given us His gospel, the path to return to our Father in Heaven, now it is up to us whether we will take the steps to follow Him or not. Stand strong. Remember that you are a child of God and heed our Savior's invitation to "come follow me."
Thanks for all your love and support. I hope life is treating you well. Keep smiling always :)
No comments:
Post a Comment