Magandang hapon po!
It was a good week this week even though things didn't go
exactly the way we planned them too. We found some of the less actives that our
bishop wanted us to find, and we had a great turnout of less actives at church!
We were so happy, and a lot of these less actives are now part member families,
giving us an opportunity to find solid investigators to teach.
I met Rosemarie Soriano on a bus while I was transferring
here to Lingsat from Baguio two months ago. She was active in the 1990s but
then her son was killed and her husband went deaf and cannot hear or speak. But
they are so kind and so loving and they own a shop. We've been visiting her
ever since and are going to focus on her more now because she came to church
yesterday and loved relief society, already loving getting involved and friends
with recent convert Nida Magleo. She wants her kids to be taught in Naguillion
and we are going to teach her husband hopefully this week. We are really
excited to teach him because we are going to have to do a new way of teaching
because he can't hear. He has great potential.
Brother Eddie Lubiano went to church this week too! He lives
on the beach and we met him tracting. From the start he loves the Book of
Mormon and has a strong understanding of it and really wants the Priesthood
because he never got to get the Melchezidek priesthood. He was a little nervous
at church but we will keep working with him and are hopefully going to teach
his daughter.
The Domingo kids went to church too. They don't have really
much support from their parents in the church, and Mae Ann has to take care of
the little kids and she's only 14. But she always reads the Book of Mormon and
we are really going to try and get the young women involved with her. She is a
key to getting this family to come back. Even Peter Domingo came back which was
fantastic because he's the friend of Radcliffe Abat, who was so excited when he
came to church.
The Abat family went to church too as a family. Radcliffe is
truly ready for baptism anytime. The problem now is Brother June Abat has work
right after sacrament meeting and it leads the whole family to leave. We all
know that they want to be baptized as a whole family and it would be especially
special if Radcliffe or Brother Abat had the priesthood to baptize their
family. We are going to work with their concerns this week and keep them
reading in the Book of Mormon. Truly little by little this family is changing
and it definitely takes time, but they will be baptized and they all want to,
it's just a matter now of making sacrifices for the Lord and having that faith.
We love them with all our hearts. They are a truly wonderful family that has
already changed so much. Even Raven is doing a lot better; she was so shy
before and she still is, but she is participating in family activities now
which is a true miracle.
We met Malexis Timbreza last week and she is 20 years old
and comes from a broken family and lives with her mom. She is such a sweet and
incredible girl, and we already love her with all our hearts. She has had it
rough and it was hard for her to open up to us, but I truly feel like she
recognized that we are servants of the Lord and love her so much that she let
us love her. She is truly interested in our message, and she's busy as a
respiratory therapy student, but we shared the potential she has as a daughter
of God and that she was brave and stood with Christ even before the world was.
She is going to work with us later tonight to see what missionaries do. Who
knows what God has in store for her! She could truly be a future missionary! We
are so excited to see her progress little by little as she learns how important
she is to God.
As far as my personal progress goes, I feel like I learned a
ton this week and something changed me this week as I read about the Saviors
ministry and prophecies about Him in the Book of Mormon. I feel like a
different person, although I still have weaknesses and natural man tendencies
in me, I know I can overcome them through fasting and prayer just as Jesus said
to the disciples that these things go not out but by fasting and prayer. I feel
converted to my Savior. I know that He lives, and he is the Savior that
ministered among the Jews and the Jews and the people did not recognize him or
who he truly was. I feel like the same goes for us, even as believers in
Christ. Faith in Christ is strong in the Philippines -- almost everyone here
has a strong background of trust and prayer in God. I love it here with all my
heart. But I truly want to know my Savior. He abhors sin but has everlasting
compassion on the sinner. His love for us is never ending and incomprehensible.
I've seen that as I studied his life. He is the Son of God and I will be his
witness forever. How blessed I feel to be on the front lines and be His
representative. I feel so inadequate for such a responsibility, and honestly I
am really hard on myself for it. I struggle with being hard on myself because I
feel like I am too weak to do all that is expected of me. But I love the people
more than anything else and I wish I could share the gospel of Jesus Christ
here until the end of my days. Anyone who wants to come to know their Savior
needs to study his life through the scriptures and Jesus the Christ.
Mahal ko kayong lahat!
Sister Porter
I bear you my witness that no matter where you live, no
matter what your circumstances may be, the Lord Jesus Christ stands with you
against all this opposition with His redeeming love and His almighty power.
Through His atoning sacrifice, He has experienced and overcome everything that
could block your progress toward eternal life. In His strength and with His
power, you can overcome whatever stands between you and the learning the Lord
wants you to obtain.
- President Clark
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