Good morning!! (or evening)
So
just a head's up: I am sad to admit that I forgot my daily planner at
the house this morning, so I am a bit like a chicken with it's head cut
off right now. It's amazing how connected I am to that thing; not having
it literally feels like a part of me is missing. And I am sorry to say
that my list of things I wanted to share with you is contained on its
pages, so this might be a little scattered. I will try to do my best
though. :)
First things first to report: We had Zone Conference
last week with the Quezon City and Antipolo zones. I don't really know
any of the missionaries in those zones, except Sister Pope. It was good
to see and catch up with her. The conference itself was SO GOOD though!!
There were kind of two themes for the conference:
1) How we can work better with the wards--"harness the power of the
members"--because that is really the key to accelerating the work to
the level it needs to be at right now. We know there is no way we can
accomplish all that the Lord needs us to if it is just us missionaries.
There are literally thousands of souls under our stewardship right now
(as in, for each companionship), and no way we could possibly see or
help even 1% of them with the limited time that we have each day. Yet it
is amazing how, if we can work together, just 30 or 50 or so eager
souls can create miracles with the Lord's help.
2) We also talked about how the Atonement is related to missionary
work. Of course this is one of our favorite topics, since we are
learning more and more every day how much we really need our Savior
Jesus Christ and how REAL He is and how powerful and necessary the
Atonement is in our lives.
Sister Revillo talked about the difference between KNOWING Christ
and just knowing ABOUT Him. She shared a story she taught a lot on her
mission called "the 3 spirits." It is basically just about 3 people who
die and pass on to the next life. They are told that before they can get
to heaven, they have to be interviewed.
The first spirit is shown into the interview room, and comes and
sits across from the interviewer. The interviewer asks just one simple
question: "How well do you know Jesus Christ?" The spirit responds with a
brief summary of His knowledge of Christ's life. The interviewer nods,
and repeats the question. The spirit continues, specifically outlining
Christ's birth, His ministry here on Earth, and His death on the cross.
The interviewer nods again. After a moment, he repeats the question a
third time: "How well do you know Jesus Christ?" The spirit, somewhat
nervous, repeats his account, with as many details as He can think of.
The interviewer thanks the spirit, and kindly shows him into the
connecting room.
The second spirit comes in and goes through a similar ordeal. He is
asked: "how well do you know Jesus Christ?' Confident in his knowledge
of the scriptures, he tells of Christ's life and His teachings here in
mortality. Upon being asked again, he shares about the prophecies of
Christ's birth, the necessity of His Atonement, and how salvation comes
only through His grace. The third time comes: "how well do you know
Jesus Christ?" The spirit pauses to think a moment, then simply bears
testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the
world. The interviewer thanks the second spirit and shows him into the
next room.
It is time for the third spirit to be interviewed, and the
interviewer beckons for him to be shown in. The third spirit opens the
door, and immediately, catching sight of the interviewer, runs to Him,
saying "My Lord! My Master!"
..
Sister Revillo used this simple story to demonstrate
the importance of each and every one of us having a personal
relationship with our Savior. I was reminded again that there is a
significant difference between know ABOUT our Savior Jesus Christ, and
truly knowing HIM. That story really struck a chord with me, because I
was forced to reevaluate myself and my own personal standing. I am here
as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I
have been called by a living prophet of God and set apart by real
Priesthood authority to be a living representative of my Savior to every
person that I meet or talk to or that sees me walking down the street. I
am commissioned to teach His Gospel and help others to come unto Him. I
bear testimony of His divinity each and every day and testify of the
power of the Atonement to change lives, heal scars, and bring peace to
those who follow the prescribed method of accessing those blessings (the
Gospel of Jesus Christ). Yet I still have to ask myself, "how well do I
really know Jesus Christ?" Can I really say that I have a relationship
with Him? If He were to stand before me, would I recognize Him? I still
don't know that I can confidently say "yes!" but I am glad that I can at
least say I am closer now than I was a year ago. Pretty sure this will
be a lifelong pursuit, but probably the most important thing is just
making sure we are heading in the right direction. :)
One of the things that has been really emphasized
this transfer is Faith, and the power of positive expectations. How
lifting our sights helps us be more successful. It reminds me of one of
my favorite motivational scriptures that I found during our 2nd round of
15-minutes-to-conversion in the Book of Mormon: It comes from 1 Nephi
17:18, when Nephi is commanded to build a ship to go to the Promised
Land, and Laman and Lemuel start to doubt and question him. It says "And
thus my brethren did COMPLAIN against me, and were DESIROUS THAT THEY
MIGHT NOT LABOR, for they DID NOT BELIEVE that I could build a ship;
neither would they believe that I was instructed of the Lord."
I love that verse every time I read it, because I know it is so
true. All our success starts with our attitude. If we don't feel like we
are capable of accomplishing whatever task we have been given (whether
it's helping investigators progress toward the sacred covenant of
baptism, doing our home or visiting teaching, fulfilling a difficult
calling, reaching out to someone in need, or just going through the day
to day requirements of enduring to the end), we have already set
ourselves up to fail. If we don't believe, we don't want to work,
because we only see it as a futile effort. The DOING becomes a burden,
and we are tempted to complain or murmur or even just give up. Preach My
Gospel teaches: "If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness
will decrease" (pg. 10). I wholeheartedly believe that, because I have
experienced it. However, I have found that the converse is also true: as
we raise our expectations, as we increase our faith, we become more
motivated, more eager to participate and work hard, and we are able to
accomplish what we need to--as we rely on the Lord's power. It really is
true that Christ MUST be the center of our faith. If we place our trust
in Him, we can be like Nephi, as he responded to the situation with his
brothers, saying, "If God had commanded me to do all things I could do
them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou
earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.
And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many
miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct
me, that I should build a ship [or baptize, or endure]?" (1 Nephi
17:50-51). President Revillo's brother is a counselor in the stake
presidency for Quezon City and he also came and talked to us at zone
conference. He shared a lot of inspiring quotes ("If it is to be, it's
up to me." "Whether you think you can or you can't, you are right."
"It's not where you serve, but how you serve."), but two of them really
stood out to me the most.
First: "Success seems to be connected with action. Successful
people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." Never give
up. We've got this! :)
Second, from Elder Richard G. Scott:
"To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you
have never before done." (Which I also love because it correlates to one
of my favorite lyrics from Steve Salazar--"if you always do what you've
always done, you will end up getting what you have always gotten")
He talked about how, if we want things to change, if we want to
improve, to see miracles we haven't seen before, we need to think
outside the box and try new things we haven't yet tried.
Basically the whole conference was so inspiring, and went along
well with my focus this transfer of trying to use time more wisely. I've
just been feeling such a wave of faith--this area here in Taytay is
amazing and the work is progressing SO well and SO fast!! I am 100%
confident in the possibilities and potential here, my goal is just not
to get in the way of the Lord trying to do His work. I just want to be
the best instrument I possibly can, because I have been so blessed to be
assigned here. And seeing all the miracles I have been seeing here, I
feel like every second is so precious. There are so many souls that have
been prepared, who are just waiting to hear the news that the same
church that Jesus Christ established here on the earth has been
restored, and that the true priesthood authority necessary for
ordinances of salvation is available to us!
I am running out of time, but just want to say our investigators are all doing well! I still love the work!!
The
last highlight of my week this week was getting to go back to Morong to
witness the baptism of Brother Erwin (the bakla we taught), and his
aunt and cousin, Sister Madel and Sister Joy. It was a great baptismal
service, and SO GOOD to see them finally at the point that they have
been working towards for SO LONG (they were taught for over 8 months).
And to add to it, several of us missionaries who taught them were able
to come back and witness it (Sister Maagad, Sister Kahui, Sister Tingey,
and I). Madel, Joy, and Erwin all bore testimony at the baptism, and it
was beautiful, but of course, Erwin's was my favorite. He has made so
much progress in changing his appearance to look more like a man, but it
has been really hard for him. It was so sweet though, in his testimony
he talked about his interview with the mission president before his
baptism, and how President Revillo talked to him about how the physical
changes are secondary to the spiritual progress he is making, and how
the most important thing is understanding who he is as a child of God.
He said that when he heard that, that was when he felt "I really am
accepted here." It was such a tender, sincere testimony, and I really
just wanted to hug him (no worries, I know he's male and it's bawal and I
ignored the thought). It was just so exciting to be there though, and
celebrate with them!
This Church is so true!!! God is so good!!!
That's all for now. More next week on Tuesday (can you believe it is already almost transfer day again?! I can't!!!).
I love you all!! I hope you have a great week!!!!
Love always,
Sister Emma Franks
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