Hello again!
I don't know
why starting this is always the hardest part. Maybe because I still feel
like I just emailed not that long ago (true). Time goes so fast, of
course, but don't worry, lots has happened since I last wrote.
Firstly,
we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) on Friday. It was a little
different than usual, but because of STL tsismis ("gossip"), we knew
why. Our mission goal for the year of 2014 was to have 100 baptisms a
month (compared to the average of 50/month last year). Of course, we
care about a lot more than just baptisms (we aren't here to convince
people to join the Church or to just add to our numbers) but we know
that baptism by proper priesthood authority is a sacred covenant and
ordinance necessary for exaltation in the Celestian Kingdom of God, and
is one indication of how successful we are in fulfilling our purpose to
invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive His restored
gospel. The mission has been working on a lot of things this year to
reach that goal: improving our individual obedience to be worthy of the
Spirit, improving our teaching skills, developing and learning to
exercise our Faith in Christ, and better understanding the power and
authority of our calling as His representatives. During the first half
of the year, we had an average of about 75-80 baptisms a month. The
month of August was the first that we actually reached (exceeded) our
goal--reaching 124 baptisms! 124 precious souls, our brothers and
sisters, who have gained a personal testimony of the Savior and the
restoration of His gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith, and made the
covenant to honor and follow the Savior throughout their mortal and
eternal life. :) To celebrate this groundbreaking occurrence, President
and Sister Revillo decided to do something different for MLC. In the
morning we did all the regular discussion things, the trainings and
workshops, then we took a picture (on the mission Facebook probably, if
any of you have found that), loaded up in some vans and went out to
lunch at a fancy buffet, then to a park/zoo in Pasig to play games and
explore. Though I was sad that it didn't feel like MLC (not quite as
spiritually filling as I am used to), it was a lot of fun. Especially
getting to bond with the other missionaries that I've never had the
chance to serve in the same zone with. The best part, though, was
bonding with President Revillo (he played all the games with us). It was
so fun because he is usually very formal and professional (of course,
as our leader), but he has a great personality and with the missionary
leaders he readily opened up and showed his fun-loving, fatherly self.
:) It struck me how much he really loves and trusts us; like we are his
own kids and he just wanted to do something special for us to celebrate
the happy occasion. 14 months after our initial meeting, I am finally
learning to see President Revillo as a real person, a friend, and not an
intimidating power figure. #progress
One thing
I kept thinking about during MLC is something that came up in our Stake
Conference a few weeks ago regarding Hastening the Work of Salvation
(not sure if I shared this already. Sorry if it's a repeat). It occurred
to me that "Hastening" doesn't just mean improving our own teaching
skills as missionaries or working harder, or longer, or more
efficiently, or with more energy. There have been thousands of
incredible missionaries before us who have done all of that. We are here
to CHANGE THE CULTURE of missionary work. We are here to renovate the
whole process. We aren't here just to involve members in missionary
work; we are here to make members INTO missionaries (so they can do the
work on their own, alongside us). The Assistants kept saying during
their workshop in MLC that "there are only two of us in an area...there
are only two of us in an area..." Having the help of the members is the
only way to change that. I'm still not 100% sure I know HOW to
accomplish that, but I hope as I continue to study and apply the
guidance from PMG and other mission resources, the Spirit will be able
to tutor me in that area. :) I really need to master it to the best of
my ability during the short time I have left though, because I will only
have one "transfer" (6 weeks) in the branch in the Soo when I get back
to apply everything before I leave for college. More and more, I really
feel like a major reason I was supposed to come on this mission was so
that I personally could learn how to be a missionary, and realize all
that I need to do to help the Church grow at home.
Another
thing I was thinking about during my personal study on Saturday morning
is the principle of our personal conversion. They say that the best way
to know if you understand a concept is to try to teach it clearly to
someone else. We used to talk about that a lot when I was a tutor at
BYU--we need to understand the topic inside and out to be able to teach
it in different ways according to the needs of the students we are
helping. I realized that probably, that is a major reason (if not one of
the main reasons) why the Lord sends us young people to serve missions.
Honestly, we don't really know that much, and salvation is a big
deal--it is a big thing to entrust to a group of "kids"--but the Lord
sees more than we do and He knows that the way we learn the Gospel here
on the mission, especially how we learn to live it (teach others the
doctrine, inviting them to live it, promising blessings from obedience,
and testifying of the truth of what we teach), helps us understand and
internalize it in a way that casually living the Gospel as a member of
the Church never would. Of course there are many members who never serve
full-time missions who are able to become fully converted to the
Gospel, but I believe that even those members are involved in missionary
work in some form or another, whether within or outside the Church.
There is just something transformative about giving of yourself in the
service of others. I don't know what it is, but basically, I am just so
grateful that the Lord arranged things in my life to get me to come on a
mission. Only here have I come to realize the importance of all that we
do. And as Elder Crowther (one of my zone leaders) mentioned in our
conversation after MLC, the Lord expects a lot more from us members of
the Church than we often realize. He expects us not just to live the
commandments. He expects consecration of EVERYTHING, including our time,
talents, and TESTIMONIES (i.e. sharing them!).
The
work in our area is still going great. Brother R.J. is still one of my
favorite investigators and is rapidly progressing in his testimony and
preparation for baptism. It is so fun to teach him every week and see
how much he loves what he is learning, and how his understanding is
enlightened through the power of the Holy Ghost. :) He truly is one of
the Elect of God. I am so excited for his baptism and their eventual
sealing next year! He has taught me so much about treasuring the many
simple but profound Gospel truths that I have so often taken for
granted. Yesterday, he taught us the Plan of Salvation (that is how our
lessons usually go with him--we just ask a few questions and he shares
what he learned in his study....he is so great!), and said that it blew
his mind when he first learned that we didn't just come "from our
mothers." We actually lived as spirits before we came to this world. We
lived with our Heavenly Father, as His spirit children, alongside our
brother and future Savior, Jesus Christ. We were all given agency, or
freedom to choose, and were taught how to be righteous. A plan was
presented in which we could come to earth, gain a body (to become like
our Father), gain experience and be tested. We knew all that we would go
through, that we would make mistakes and eventually die, but we also
knew that our Father would provide a way--a Savior--for us to be able to
overcome both Sin and Death. Every one of us used our agency to choose
whether to follow this plan. Those who had Faith in Jesus Christ and
chose to follow Him (ALL OF US HERE ON EARTH) were blessed to receive a
chance here in mortality. For R.J., this was all new knowledge. He had
never been told anything about a life before this life. Seeing things
from an eternal perspective, getting a taste of this new and additional
knowledge, was like a new favorite dessert. He just couldn't get over
how wonderful it was. Hearing his explanation of the Plan of Salvation
felt like listening to a kid describe his favorite movie or TV show---so
excited about every plot twist, and the genius of it all! It was
definitely a very humbling experience for me and a great reminder of how
blessed I am to have the knowledge I have.
I
am almost out of time so I will just close by saying that I have the
greatest companion ever! Sister Faka'osi is so sweet and kind and humble
and patient and loving---I woke up on Friday morning (at 4:30am, mind
you) to get ready to go to MLC and found breakfast waiting for me on the
table. She is just like that though. Always looking for opportunities
to serve. She's such a great example, and I am determined to be a great
companion in return. :)
That is all for now! I love you all and miss you and pray for you always! Hope you have a great week!!
Love always,
Sister Emma Franks
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