I have been doing good, but honestly the days seem to be flying by here in Lal-lo and I have a hard time remembering what I've already told you about and what I haven't. But let me think of a couple of good experiences that happened this week. (or at least I think this week) (:
One day we had splits with some members, and I was working with our Branch Mission Leader, Franklin. We went to visit a less active family, but when we got there we could tell that they weren't really in the mood for us to share with them, so instead we just asked them who they knew that we could visit and hopefully share with. They only mentioned one name, Brother Mendoza, another less active member close by their home. We showed up to his home, and saw Brother Mendoza sitting out on his front porch in a hammock, cooking his lunch on a little fire. It was such a purely Filipino scene. A 78 year old man used to a slower pace of life, and at peace with it. The hammock and cooking fire just completed the scene.
When Brother Mendoza saw us the first thing he said was, "Why is this the first time you've made it out to my home?" We started talking with him and it became clear that Brother Mendoza was very close with the missionaries before, but because of his health hasn't been able to come to church always, and has been needing some help. He can no longer work, which means he has no source of income, and relies on the kindness of his neighbors to get food to eat. But despite all of that, he is still such a nice man, and still has a testimony of the Gospel. Hopefully the branch will be able to give a little bit of help to him in the coming days to help him through his day to day life. I believe that the Lord sent us there to visit him that day, and hopefully we will be able to continue to help him.
Another experience was with an investigator, Shella. She is a 17 year old we have been teaching, and she has such a strong testimony. It definitely comes because she does such a good job of studying the things we leave with her. She really reads and prays until she understands, and then the testimony follows. She has been a joy to work with. One of the only problems was her Father. Because she is still 17 years old, she needs permission from her parents before she could be baptized. She was unsure of how they would react to her asking to be baptized because her parents have had some negative experiences with the church in the past. This last week she was finally able to work up the courage to ask her parents if she could be baptized and they said yes! She will be baptized this coming April 8th. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and our investigators. I believe that it truly brings miracles for us here in Lal-lo.
That's all I can think of today! I love you all!
Elder Childs
No comments:
Post a Comment