Dearest Family and Friends,
Hello from the
Philippines! I am loving it here in my new area of Camalaniugan. It is a
beautiful place with such special and humble people. As you might have
guessed from the title, we have seen a lot of beautiful miracles this
week. Each one just testifies to me of the love of our Heavenly Father
for each of his children and the concern that He has for their
salvation. It is such a privilege to serve a mission.
First of all, I want to introduce you to some of our great
investigators. We have Z and Tr, they are 8 and 9 years old with
lots of questions about the gospel. . We taught them a special lesson about missionary work this
week, and at the end, as we usually do, we ask if they have any
questions. T said that he had one. We said.. "what?" and he said,
"Should I give one of these pamphlets to my dad?" It was so sweet, the
Spirit and the faith that children have.
Also, We are
teaching the C Family.
The T family... they are the greatest. their dad came to church for the First time this sunday!
Miracles happen. The dad's name is C and he has three kids,
M, C and C. They have a hunger to learn the gospel
and have been coming to church.
I am
starting to see what it looks like when a person is really converted to
the gospel of Jesus Christ, what they are willing to do. We had a
typhoon pass through last week, maybe you heard about it. Don't worry it
was just a small one;) But I really see the strength of some of the
recent converts in our ward. When the typhoon happened, they still came
to church, and the next time we taught them, we asked them why. Their
answer was this "That typhoon was just another test, or trial." They
have a firm testimony of the gospel of Christ and act accordingly.
Anything in the way of keeping God's commandments is just a trial or
test.
We also had an interesting opportunity to teach
the father of a boy who had just drowned. It had been only 4 days, and
the grief was still thick in the air. We felt prompted to testify to
them about the Resurrection. This father told us that he wasn't sure
about if Resurrection was real or when it would happen, he had lots of
doubt. We testified of the hope in Christ and that he would see his son
again. We talked about eternal families, and how we can be sealed
together forever. I know that he felt the Spirit and has a desire to
know where his son is.
On Wednesday
we resolved to go with more bold commitments. We decided to do finding
and invite every person to church and to baptized. We found some ready,
ready people! N, she is so ready. she is always saying
"Maniwalang-maniwala ako!" Which means, I really really believe! We met a
sweet mother named G. She has 4 kids and the oldest is 5. They live
in a tiny house with one bed and room.Yet she is smiling always, she
has the sweetest spirit and faith in God.
One
thing I love about teaching people is that I learn so much from every
person I teach. These people are so humble talaga. They have such a love
for God and their families. They are so happy even though they live in
hard circumstances.
R,
the sweetest member, 18 years old, worked with us this week. She
shared her testimony about missionary work and an experience she had. As
she was sharing, I saw her glowing. I saw the excitement and joy she
had in missionary work. I saw her love for the Lord and those she shared
the gospel to. The Spirit witnessed to me that this work is a work of
great joy.
I
am so happy. Sister M is an amazing companion, and we work hard
and it feels great! She is an inspiration for me, and has really taught
me about loving the people, being genuine and being filled with
gratitude. She is a very Christlike person. She is from Tacloban, and
she was actually the first sister missionary to leave Tacloban after
that crazy natural disaster there. She has had some seriously hard
experiences she went through, but she is filled with gratitude, and
always the first one to point out the miracles.
Ahh! I love this work. I want to testify that I know God lives and
loves us. Jesus Christ lives and his power is there to strengthen us. It
is only through living the gospel that we find the satisfaction and joy
in our lives, it has absolutely nothing to do with material things or
those around us. I pray that we all be more diligent in sharing to those
around us the gospel of Christ. Every person needs it.
The Lord works by our faith! You can do it :)
I love you all! Mahal ko kayong lahat!
Ayayaten da kayo amin!
Sister Andelin
Us and the Zone leaders
Apartment mates!
Creepy bug that likes the color purple?
Lizards. They are everywhere, always crawling on the walls. But don't worry,they are very kind :)
The wheelbarrow spaceship! Our transportation!
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