April 11, 2011

Hello Everyone!

This past week was the first of the new transfer!! It feels good to start out with a lot of new members in the zone I am over and to just try and renew a sense of faith and urgency in my own area. We have had a ton of meetings and administrative stuff this week, but the little time we did go tracting and street contacting and teaching, was SUPER effective! I know that was a huge blessing from the Lord!!!! This past week we were walking down the side walk and I saw a girl across the street and I decided to say hi to her and try to contact her from the other side of the street. She happily waved and said hi back, we stood there for about 7 minutes yelling over cars that were driving by and talking about the Book of Mormon and her friends that were on missions. I invited her to let us come and share the message her friends are sharing with other people in the Philippines. She said yes and the next day we went and taught her. She is now a new solid investigator! I find that at the beginning of my mission I would be really timid talking to people around me and I hated awkward conversations where the people just look at you and don't say much, but now I thrive on it :). The more I understand how much the message of the restored gospel means to me, the less timid I get, because I know for a fact it will help others and I am going to be the one to let them know how they can accept it. I have also learned that no one is too good or too less for the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter who they are, what they have done, or how they treat us. We had the opportunity of teaching one of our investigators named Jay. We hadn't seen him since the first day of last transfer and we knew this lesson had to be really good and toward his needs, but we weren't exactly sure what his true needs were. So my companion and I prayed and studied a lot for him. During our lesson I had a scripture come instantly to my mind as Jay was talking and I told him the question he was asking was answered in a scripture that I felt like I should share with him. After he read the scripture he looked up and said, how did you know to share this with me? And I told him, because the spirit wanted me to. From there he opened up and shared with us his true feelings and concerns and we were able to help him. I know the Lord is in this work! Missionaries have the privilege to be a part of it, but in no way does the success come from what we do. It is the spirit of the Lord. I hope everyone is doing well! I have to cut this one short because I am running out of time. I love you all!! Until next week! Zaijian!