Monday, August 28, 2017

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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