Week 39

Maayong buntag sa tanan! This week was great, we had pancakes. 

And last pday night we got a power outage so that was fun, and then we played badminton out in the street for a bit. Then Tuesday through Thursday we found people, taught some referalz and Friday we had exchanges. I went with Elder Harman because he's the district leader so he had to do the baptismal interview for Sister Champagne...she passed by the way. 

And also she got baptized and received the gift of the holy ghost! Super awesome day. Then Sunday was General Conference! Super awesome! Learned a lot! I think my favorite thing was the theme of keeping covenants and going to the temple. Breaking news, I can't go to the temple y'all [because of missionary work]. But I can keep my covenants and if we do that, we can have the power and blessings in our lives that come from the temple. 

I've learned that there isn't necessarily power in making covenants with God, like if we make a covenant but then don't change anything about ourselves. But when we keep them and strive to change our lives around the covenants with God, there's a lot. It brings the greatest blessings and if we hold out faithful to the end we will be able to obtain God's greatest gift, eternal life! If you're not sure what I'm talking about watch the Sunday Session of April 2024 General Conference. 

I also learned trials are an opportunity for us to improve. So ya, pretty cool gihapon. I've been trying hard to do what I can, but there's always more to do! DCM was good and we ate burgers after! We also ate at my favorite family's house yesterday night, The Candidatos! We ate baby octopuses and also ate kinilaw, my favorite food in the kalibutan! 

Shout out to Clark Robertson! I know he did something important. 

And to Ryan Liskey. And Kenneth Whyte! And Sister Weiler! Thanks for everything guys! Love y'all.

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I know I already sent an email but thought it'd be cool to share about Champagne a little bit. She is 17 years old. She told us that once upon a time originally she didn't believe in Christ, and that one day missionaries showed up a long time ago once and taught her and her grandma. She said she didn't listen at all, but then when we came she felt like she should at least try and hear what they have to say. 

And so she did. After that she remembered our invitation to pray, but put it off over and over again, until one day she was struggling and she remembered and thought to herself, you need to pray. So she did and also about our message and Christ. She told us she felt the most overwhelming sense of peace and happiness; it was the spirit. 

We continued to teach her, and she told us that she repeatedly had prayers answered in that time. She came to know Jesus is the Christ, that he lives. And one thing that she had been praying for her whole life, which is a reason why she didn't believe in Christ, is for her mom to come home, which she had never met beforehand in her life. 

And so that's when God answered her prayer. In the time she put her trust in Him for her mom to come home. At this point she told us she felt closer to Christ then she ever had before. But still had struggles about if baptism was what she wanted. She had been coming to church about every week also. She knew baptism was necessary but her family opposed it, and was scared if they, along with her friends, would leave her. 

Eventually she came to really know that she loved God more than the things she had right now and knew how much God had in store for her if she gave up the things that held her back. A short time later she got the courage to tell her family she was going to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and invited them all to attend. Some of them opposed and most just said they were busy, and when she called her father, that lives somewhere else right now, he told her she would no longer be her daughter if she did. 

She was baptized two days ago and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and I could really feel the spirit. Sorry for the long random story but it inspires me to consider what can we give up so we can more fully follow Him, on a smaller scale, even if you're not giving up your family, what holds us back from receiving his love. Love you guys and hope you have a good week.