Area: Mandama
Companion: Sister Lim
Sister Training Leader
Monday,
September 15, 2014
Hello Friends and Fam!
Sooo we did LOTS of
traveling this week. Sister Lim and I had the opportunity to travel up to
Liozon, IBA on Wednesday to attend MLC (Mission Leadership Council) and were
addressed by Elder Bowen-Quorum of the Seventy. The traveling was exhausting,
but the message he had for us was incredible. I never realized how much I don't
know about the church! The doctrine is so DEEP, and just secures my testimony
that much more than no man could have built this church, it truly is the church
of God. He talked about the structure of the church, the importance and urgency
of our calling, and leadership principles in His Kingdom. One of the things that
he focused on was our calling as leaders in His church. He used the example
from Matthew 21: 28-30 where we see the example of two different sons and how
they responded to the calling that they were given. The first son had
integrity. Although he denied the responsibility at first, he repented, and
then went and fulfilled it. While the second accepted, but never acted. I loved
when Elder Bowen said, "I have never had a calling in the church that was
easy. I have never had a calling where I felt adequate." That is such a
humble statement. He helped us to understand that we are NOTHING. Just because
we have callings as leaders in this mission does not mean a thing about who we
are as people. He told us that our calling enables us to receive help from the
Lord, in carrying out the responsibility for the emotional, spiritual, and
physical well being of missionaries in our zones. "This mission will grow
whatever you sow" said Elder Bowen, I know that it is true. We have paid
the price to be here on our mission, so we cannot afford to waste it. I love my
Savior, and I want him to know that he can call on me to do anything. May we
each feel that same love for Him, and same desire to fulfill the callings that
he has asked each of us to do. He takes great risks in giving us responsibility
to care for the souls of His children.
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| Going to Liozon and staying over night in Olongapo |
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| Zone Conference in Olongapo |
After MLC we went to
Olongapo and stayed the night at the Santa Rita sisters' apartment. We were
able to prosleyte with them for a few hours which was awesome. Their house is
BEAUTIFUL by the way, I would not mind transferring there. It is up in the
mountains, there is a waterfall outside their window maybe a mile away, and
they have HOT SHOWERS. Yes, I died haha. The next morning we woke up early and
went to zone conference in Olongapo, with both the Dahle's and the Bowen's
addressing us. The meeting was inspired, I unfortunately don't have time to
write everything that I learned. But my favorite part was when Elder Bowen
talked about the fruits that he has continually been reaping from his labors
even until this day 41 years after his mission. He baptized a family of 4 41
years ago when he served in Chile. Their youngest little girl was unable to be
baptized because she wasn't of age. That little girl CRIED at the baptism, she
wanted to baptized so bad. Over time he lost contact with this sweet family and
wasn't sure what happened to them. Not too long ago, Elder Bowen got emails
from this family saying that the little girl that couldn't be baptized when he
was there is a return missionary, now married to another return missionary, and
they are sealed to their two little girls in the temple. One of the
grandchildren of that family that Elder Bowen never even met emailed him saying
that he too served a full time mission and now was serving as a stake
President. The emails continued as he found out all that had come from
baptizing just this little family of four. I realized that it is not just the
people that we are meeting here and now in the field that will be blessed, but
these blessings will continue to go through generations of families as they
stay active and faithful to the gospel. What an incredible moment. I cannot
wait to hear similar things from my recent converts.
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| Sister Dahl and I at Zone Conference |
We had the opportunity to
invite President and Sister Dahle to come talk to our ward here in Mandama
Friday night. They did a very cute job. They talked about the "adventures
of life" and talked about how besides their families, the most joy they
have ever had in their life came from callings they were given in the church.
They encouraged the members of our ward to fulfill those callings that we have
been blessed with in the church. God will pay forward. We think we are busy,
but we seem to find time for the things we want to do like watch tv, go to a
basketball game, etc. If there is a desire, there is a way. Brothers and
sisters, gain the excitement to fulfill your callings. Heavenly Father uses us
to be instruments in helping his children here on the earth. Let us be worthy
of the sacred callings He has given us, and do all that we can to do what he
has asked of us. My favorite quote of the night was "The church is not a
rest home for all the perfect people. We are each other's clinical
material." We can lift and help one another. Heavenly Father depends on us
to help one another.
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| Glasses…trying them out! |
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| Sister Ester Ferrari (member in our ward) |
We were able to go on
splits twice Saturday and Sunday to try to make up for all the days we missed
of working. We were able to see lots of investigators as well as to find some
new ones. The Ocampo family is still on fire, they came to church again this
Sunday. They want to be baptized, we are just working with Sister Leslie and
getting her testimony stronger so that she is firm and good to go. Next week I
will talk more about some of the new investigators and what not, sorry short on
time.
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| Oliver, Sister Pilkington, Owen, Leslie, Arnold, and Sister Lim Ocampo family came to church AGAIN! |
I love this gospel, I love
missionary work, I love the rain storms & typhoons (hit an all time low
last night, sister gemma and I were FREEZING). The Philippines is the best.
Love you all, have a great SAFE week! xxoo
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| We survived Typhoon Luis |
Sister Pilkington
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| Anton and Angie Sanchez blessing me (it's a sign of respect that you do to people older than you, usually to the Elderly) |
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