Companion: Sister Lim
Sister Training Leader
Monday, September 22, 2014
With crazy weather comes crazy stories. This week was another adventure here in Mandama. There were lots of rainy days that lead to wet clothes, and yummy hot chocolate at the end of the day, thanks to mama gems.
We had five investigators and TEN less actives come to church yesterday. INCREDIBLE. We were soo excited. One of those less actives was a bishop back in the day, so that was exciting to see him come back to church! It was a beautiful Sunday, took lots of pictures with our investigators and less actives. Blessings blessings blessings.
The Ocampo's had a little tragedy this week. I was on exchanges in Abucay, and Sister Lim went over to their home to find out that brother Arnold (the father) could not walk. He woke up that morning and couldn't move. It was a surprise to everyone, they had no idea what the cause was. They immediately called Bishop who came over and gave him a blessing. Three days passed and there was a little progress, he was able to sit in a chair now and could pump his hands but could not lift them up or move his legs still. He had been getting massages to try to help his muscles come back alive. Then Friday evening we went over to visit him and he was up and walking! It was amazing! Turns out this is exactly the miracle/tragedy that needed to happen to their family. Lesly (his wife) still wasn't 100% strong on her testimony, but this trial switched everything around. She is solid now. So that being said, Lesly, Owen, and Oliver Ocampo along with their two cousins Le-Ann and Nicole all had their baptismal interviews on Sunday and will be baptized this Tuesday afternoon before I transfer :) Yay! Such a blessing for their family, it's incredible to see the hand of God in this work. He knew just what they needed.
We are also working with a new family that sister Gemma and I found last week when we were on splits. Caviente family, they have 3 girls and one boy. The little boy is the only one not of age to be baptized, he is soo stinking cute though. He always comes and sits right next to me and just puts his hand on my knee while we teach. The family is very responsive to the gospel, they have lots of questions, their prayers are INCREDIBLE, and last night when sister Gemma and I were on splits we extended a baptismal goal date for them for this November. (crazy we are already preparing people for november, time is flying!) Anyways, we are super excited about their family, please pray for them! They have lots of fellowshippers as well, they are related to a former Bishop here in Mandama as well as a former counselor in the bishopric.
I went on exchanges in Abucay with Sister Raynor. They recently divided their area again because the area Sister Raynor has been working in for the past 7 months is extremely small. It was night time and we got on a jeepney to go to our last appointment, but we were talking and somehow missed our stop and ended up in their new area. Well, I have actually tracted in this area before with Sister Panal when we were on exchanges a few months ago. As we walked down the street this green two story house just appeared in my mind and I told Sister Raynor we had to find it. Well maybe 20 steps later, that house was right in front of our faces. I immediately yelled "tao po" which is how you let people know you're at their house since there are no door bells here. Then a man walks out and without questions smiles and calls us in. He sits us down at their kitchen table and feeds us macaroni salad. Turns out both he and his wife are members and were baptized way back in the 80's in Manila. They are only in their early 40's I would guess and have 3 kids all of which are not baptized yet. We talked with them for a little while and wow they are incredible! They have been inactive for about 10 years now, but brother is more than willing to come back. It seems sister has been offended, but she is related to the pioneers of the church here in Abucay (the first members baptized here), so she has some good fellowshippers and potential to come back. Brother teared up as he told us that he had prayed just the night before about which church he should go to, catholic or our church, and then we showed up the next night. He told us he doesn't see it as a coincidence, this is the answer from Heavenly Father. Awesome! Hoping the sisters will be able to continue to work with this family and get the kids baptized and the parents back and active. I kid you not that dad would be an incredible Bishop, it's crazy how you can just look at them and know they were destined to be leaders.
Well that's it for my week! Transfers are this Wednesday, I'm assuming I will be transferring but nothing is sure! Love you all, have a good week!
Sister Pilkington
xoxo
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