We have wonderful Zone Leaders here
in Antipolo, and were blessed to be called last night and informed of
the transfer announcements (instead of this morning). My beautiful
companion, Sister Faka'osi, will be training a new STL here in Antipolo,
and our precious ("most adorable Asian") kabahay, Sister Verdeflor,
will be training a new missionary! Sister Tipasa is going to Pateros,
and I will be whitewashing an elders area....in MINDORO!!
Haha
remember how I said how happy I was that I got to visit Mindoro as an
STL instead of being assigned there? That one week was enough for me?
Well, let's just say that I am so glad that the Lord is in charge of
this work, and not us humans. I never expected, and never would have
asked, to be assigned in Mindoro, let alone as my last area, my last
transfer. Honestly, I kind of freaked out last night when Elder Crowther
told me ("WHY???" "I don't want to die in Mindoro!!"), but then I kept
realizing more and more reasons why it is perfect for me, and I felt the
Spirit confirm that this is the right place for me right now. Actually,
every area I have served in my whole mission, and the time I served
there, was perfect for me. I truly feel so blessed. And I know that this
will be no different. Of course, it probably won't be easy (I've never
white washed before, let alone in an elders area), but the Spirit has
confirmed that it is exactly the preparation I need before I finish this
mission. And there are a whole lot of blessings that come along with
it. For example, I get to be companions with Sister Panugaling (Sister
Doucette's anak)! I have been missing having a Filipina companion, and I
am excited to get to work with her. I know we will be able to get a lot
done and have a great and productive 6 weeks in Magsaysay (another of
my Tatay's old areas, I'm pretty sure)! :)
But rather than
previewing all the greatness of Mindoro, I'll save that for next week.
Because there are so many great things that have happened THIS WEEK here
in Antipolo!
1) We had a super fun district
meeting last week about Christlike attributes. We were each assigned one
attribute and given about 10 minutes to prepare a talk/presentation on
why our attribute was the best or most important. Then, of course, we
each got to present ours. It was super fun! And I definitely
learned/realized a lot about my assigned attribute, Faith in Jesus
Christ, and why it is the greatest. ;) But on thing that came to me
after the meeting as I was reflecting on what all my fellow missionaries
had shared about their attributes, I thought about what Mormon claims
in Moroni 7:46, that we must "cleave unto charity, which is the greatest
of all." I had just studied all about why faith is the basis of
everything, the first principle of the Gospel, and necessary for and a
springboard for all the other attributes listed in PMG. It struck me
after, as I was pondering this, that faith is an attribute of
redemption. We CANNOT be saved without it. It is necessary for
repentance and baptism. Faith is what allows us to escape what Alma
calls the "bands of death, and the chains of hell." Charity, however, is
an attribute of perfection. We cannot be EXALTED in our Heavenly
Father's kingdom, if we have not been cleansed through the blood of the
Lamb and received His pure love into our hearts. As President Joseph
Fielding Smith taught, "The man who does only those things in the Church
which concern himself alone will never reach exaltation." We must
develop charity if we are to become like our Savior and live worthy of
the promises of the Celestial Glory we hope to attain.
2)
I got to have exchanges with 2 sisters from my batch this week: Sister
Hivapea'ulu and Sister Sanders. SO FUN!!! :D I can't really say anything
else, just that it was such a blessing to work with them, and
especially to have Sister Sanders (a former STL) be my last exchange as
an STL. Just reminded me all over again how much I love being a
missionary and serving and teaching others. :)
3)
Just a quick overview of the progress of an AWESOME member referral:
Rene and Edna, husband and wife with 4 young daughters. We've only
taught them 4 times so far. The first was really just an intro to Sister
Edna. The second, Sister Faka'osi and Sister Tipasa taught both of them
and introduced the message of the Restoration and the role of prophets
and revelation. Next, we followed up if they had read the pamphlet (Rene
read a little, Edna not at all), and taught about Christ's earthly
ministry, using both the bible and the Book of Mormon. It was a lesson
unlike any I had ever taught, but scriptures just kept being brought to
mind (so I used them) and at the end, Brother Rene was very curious
about the Book of Mormon. When he found out he could learn more about it
in the pamphlet we had left before, he committed to read it. We came
back and discovered he had read the whole thing! And even tried to
answer the questions at the back, but was confused, daw, by the verses
he read in the bible. We shared about the apostasy (loss of truth and
authority) that occurred after the death of Christ and His apostles, the
Restoration through the prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon as
evidence of this incredible occurrence. :) We left with them a Book of
Mormon (which he was shy to accept at first, but excited to read) and
when we stopped by the next day to invited Edna to come to the General
Women's Broadcast with us, we found him already reading it! This week, I
want to testify to the power of the scriptures and using them in
teaching. Especially using the Bible and the Book of Mormon together.
They truly do support and expound upon one another. We have been blessed
with many sources for reading the words of our Lord, we should take
advantage of ALL of them! :)
4) Sister Faka'osi
and I got to give the workshop in our district meeting yesterday. For
our whole zone, actually, because Elder Phelps got Emergency Transferred
on Friday so the elders were a 3-some and couldn't split for district
meeting. It was really fun. It was cool to see how everything came
together, too. I went from having NO idea on Friday night what to talk
about, to having a complete workshop flow together (as if organizing
itself) by my personal study on Saturday morning. It truly is incredible
to see how the Lord sends revelation through the Holy Ghost so simply
and perfectly, according to the needs of His children.
I
am out of time now (at least next transfer I won't have any reports to
send to I'll have more time to email again :P). I just want to close by
testifying once again of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of
Jesus Christ, and most especially, the blessings of peace, joy, purpose,
and security that obedience to its principles brings into our lives. I
KNOW that this is the FULLNESS of the gospel of Jesus Christ and no
other worldly substitute can compare to the joy it brings into our
lives. :) I hope you all have a great week!!! I love you so much!! I
pray for you always! Stay strong, keep the faith, share the Gospel!
<3
Love always,
Sister Emma Franks
No comments:
Post a Comment