Madison on a Mission

Helloooo!

I have been really contemplating charity lately. How much that has changed my life in just the past couple months. I'm so grateful to God that he is letting that happen in my life. I've never seen just how much the pure love of Christ can change lives.

One of those lives is Christal. She has had a really hard life. She is only 18 and she has had to stop school because of a tangle of abuse, turning to wrong sources for true friends, and being abandoned by her dad. She's often at the house of a recent convert that we teach and that's where we teach her often. We are some of the first people that have shown love to her in her life. We started teaching her this week at the church right before seminary so that she can attend seminary. She loves seminary -- the young women were soooo mature and so loving and accepted her right away! We are so impressed with the young women in this ward and see future incredible missionaries in them. Anyway Christal has been much happier there. Before seminary when we were teaching we were trying to start the lesson we had planned but as I tried to talk, the Spirit bound my tongue. I couldn't speak-- I tried to force it but I knew the Spirit was literally telling me that we needed to teach something else. I changed our approach and my tongue was loosed again because we asked her what she wanted to get out of the lessons and she told us of her desire to be happy and to change. I was overwhelmed with God's love for her and we testified of what the gospel would do for her life and the Plan of Salvation. I knew God had taken over that lesson. She's attending church and she feels peace there.

That same day as we were just leaving our apartment to go to work, we were walking down the street and there was a girl heading our way walking quickly in the opposite direction. We greeted and stopped her for just a few seconds to talk to her, and introduced ourselves. She was in a real hurry and was surprised that we stopped her, but she said that she was busy going to work but that she was extremely interested in us and what we had to say and wanted to meet with us as soon as she wasn't busy. We were shocked but took down her information. That Saturday we called her and met up with her at the church. She came! Her name was Geraldine, and she is the sweetest 22 year old ever! She just graduated and works here in Lingsat, and she is an elect of God. When we asked her, it turns out that she is a seeker of truth. She had been visiting all the churches around her and she told us that she just could not feel the Spirit of God, and feel peace. She is looking for a way to pray to her Father in Heaven like a conversation and not memorized prayers. She is looking for a relationship with God. We were overwhelmed and excited to testify to her how much God loved her, knew her desires, and had a grand plan for her. She really knew when we stopped her on the street that there was a reason that we stopped her. She knew this was the answer to her prayers. She had to go home to Ilocos Sur to visit her family this weekend, but we told her where the church is there and she went to church there even though she was all alone! We were so proud of her.

I thought of this quote:

"The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millennia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe has given at least equal attention to the placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our light may not only lead others but warm them as well."

-- Neal A. Maxwell

God uses us as His instruments and has a divine design for us if we just let him and trust Him. I'm so grateful for this area -- It is blooming!!!!

Leni is a former investigator that I taught a year ago, and we went back to her. She is doing great! She is really receiving the message of the gospel. She is always ready with her reading assignments in the Book of Mormon and I know that she feels the Spirit when we come-- we especially felt it as we testified to her of how much Heavenly Father loves her family and wants them to be forever again. She lost her child and that's how we found her a year ago. We know that her daughter is with Heavenly Father and praying that her mom will accept the gospel.

KC and Jarwin are still doing their best but have had some trials come into their lives; they both got really sick! When we came and taught Jarwin, he was so weak but he came and sat in the lesson even though he looked so sick and looked like a zombie. They are doing a lot better though, and they having been really asking God what they should do with the whole marriage situation. We had a great discussion about how Heavenly Father answers prayers. We felt impressed to say to them how important that the gospel was to their family being forever and that if they followed the commandments and kept moving forward like Nephi, that they would receive and answer and be guided. But they needed to act. They decided to go to Luna to ask KC's parents if they can be married. We were so excited but we are waiting to get news on how it went.

We have been working with Maricel alot. She was baptized last month and the gospel has transformed her. She still has a ton of trials in her life -- at school and with her family. But she's happy. She has a light. She sacrifices her weekends to work with the missionaries and fellowship others her age and bring them into the light of the gospel. She had a dream a few weeks ago that after her schooling she would go on a mission. She are so proud of her. She is learning how to read the Book of Mormon and receive her own answers to her own questions. When we came to teach her and ask her what her concern was, she told us that she was fine and that she had received her answer from God. We were so proud.

Dinner at the V's house was a crazy experience-- truly Divine Design. It was amazing that Brother V was with Sister B; that they were coworkers. Brother V was soooo happy to see her and was so surprised that she had just been baptized. I actually had been praying that I would have the chance to see Sister B because I remember teaching her the first lesson with Sister Umpad in the middle of district meeting in Bauang a few months ago and then giving her a Book of Mormon. When we heard the news that she and her whole family had been baptized we were so excited. But even crazier was when Sister B brought another one of her coworkers that wasn't a member and then at the end of the lesson told us that he knew about Joseph Smith because in Manila his close friends were Mormon and now his friends here are Mormon. He knew that was a sign from God and at the end of the lesson was very excited to give us his information and we referred him to the missionaries there.

Sunday was a miracle. Rosette came, and Brother V, and Christal, and Lynn S! We were so excited and so happy that they all came and had a good experience. The A family stayed for classes too this week!!!

We have been sharing the Book of Mormon challenge with the members in our area, and we saw a difference this week! Our schedule is full of members willing to work with us- every night this week to fellowship our investigators. I know that there is power in the Book of Mormon and having the missionaries over at the member’s houses. It reminded one family of the miracle of having their missionary in their family.

It was so powerful to give my last testimony this week in fast and testimony meeting. I know that God helped me say what I needed to say and then another member got up and testified that the missionaries really have the gift of tongues to speak and learn the language. It made me so happy. Then all the classes and testimonies were about missionary work.

It has been fantastic to study about the Book of Mormon and relate it to my life this week. I especially loved Chapters 11 and 12 of 1st Nephi because I tried to imagine what it must be like to see the Savior. That turned into a study of the Gospel accounts of the Atonement. That turned out pretty emotional.

I'm so grateful with the patience of my Savior with me. I'm so grateful for His love and I love to feel that love for others. I'm so grateful for what he suffered for us -- beyond comprehension to help us overcome the trials, pain, guilt, shame, and sorrows of life. He walked the longest, loneliest road so that we never have to alone. I am so grateful that he is lifting me to be a better person and to move outside myself. I still have imperfections, but I love my Savior and desire to be like Him.

Sister Porter

Fun Stuff:

Brother V made us the most interesting dinner --- lots of delicacies -- porks blood (dinuguan), boiled full squids, fried fish, crabs and shrimp. Seafood is delicious -- but in all honestly I haven't gotten quite into the taste of blood.

We went to one of our investigators house with the Elder's Quorum to fix her house but the government needed to check it first so we couldn't do it. But.. one of the members had a great idea to make stairs so that they could get out of their house to the road because it gets sooo muddy during the rainy season. I've gotten really muddy trying to get to their house in the rain:) Sister E loved it and said it made her heart light (nakakagaan sa loob)!

I made chocolate French toast with mangoes on top for Sister Jensen. It was pretty delicious!