So it has been a little crazy in my area and I am just trying to keep up. I just realize that the Lord needs us to be prepared and I don’t feel like I am ready to be the senior in the area and I know that Sister Arrieta only has a short time left. This past week I have been feeling all of my shortcomings and have felt very weak as a missionary but I have fasted and prayed and I know that the Lord gave me guidance and direction in what I need to do to become better. I am gaining more strength each and every day and I am so grateful for the spirit He sends me. I can’t do this work with out the guidance of the spirit and I am so grateful for it! I know that this is the work I need to be doing right now. I think about the language thing and I still feel like I struggle so I just try to keep doing better. The great thing about this time period is that I can communicate with people here through the internet and I need to, one to stay in contact with members and converts and two to keep up on the language so I know that is a blessing. But I have also been thinking about what Jenny Richardson did. She went home and got some schooling done and stayed with her family but then came back. I would like to do that if at all possible. But that is a long ways away so I will just keep it as a dream.
Let’s talk about the work. So we are working with this one man Tatay Imiliano! He is amazing!!!!! I love him so much! he is so concerned about his past sins he is 65 and knows that our message is true yet he knows that he has things that he needs to fix so President Anderson came to our area this week so he could confess some of his past sins and he is feeling much better! We also taught him about the atonement and of course I cried ha-ha. But I just feel such a connection with him and I just love him so much! He will be baptized the first Saturday in October and I am so excited for him!!!! Then we have a sister who is going to be baptized this weekend and I think she is awesome! She is only 21 but she has a testimony and is willing to follow the commandments of the Lord. We have a family in our area the Suaybaguio family, there are so so many of them and they are strong in the church, one of the fathers is our branch president. And this sister, Karen, is the girlfriend of one of the sons if that makes sense. He is an RM so even though it is hard to teach her because she is so busy we have to have long lessons every time we get a chance but they are all her fellowshippers and he teaches her when they are together so she is always prepared and she comes to church every Sunday! She is amazing! And I am so happy that is she going to be baptized. We also have another family, Brother Rodel and Sister Lani and they want to be baptized but Brother Rodel doesn’t have a birth certificate and so they can’t get married and so they can’t get baptized! So we are trying to help them get everything worked out with their paper work so that they can get baptized it is just so hard, and expensive, if you don’t have a birth certificate! So it will be a challenge but I know the Lord will help us and this will help prepare them to be better members of the church! This week we met a lot of new people so that the area continues to expand. When I first got here it was just the small island of Barra but now it has expand and it is a lot bigger so we have a lot of work to do! I love the area and the people are so loving and they just want to help! I am so impressed with this branch and I know that they will grow to be even stronger in the future and I hope that I can be here to see their great growth. It is hard because we don’t fit in the meeting house. They have expanded it and they still don’t fit because there are so many members! I love it! The branch president always says I need to be emergency transferred because I am so sad all the time, which is just a joke because I am so happy and always smiling because I love the work and I love the area! Oh I forgot to tell you about another guy that is in our ward, he was sealed in the temple and they have a lot of kids but something happened and now they are separated and so he stopped going to church. He now is living with another woman because that is just what people do here because there is no divorce and I think he didn’t want to come to church because of it. But we went to his house and taught a spiritual thought and the spirit was so strong and I know he felt that he needed to start coming to church again. Then on Sunday he came with one of his daughters and his "wife" so we are glad that he is making the steps to come back and I know that he will continue to grow! The Lord must need him back at church because we just met him and taught him and after that, before Sunday, our branch president saw him and invited him to come back to church! The spirit is so amazing!!!! I know that it is what guides and directs this work!!! I am so grateful for the chance to be here and to learn and grow and help people come closer to the Lord!!!! I know this is the true church more and more each and every day!!!! I love it!
I am so glad that you and dad were able to go to the temple I miss it so much but I did find out that we get to go to the Manila Temple before we go home so I am excited about that. But I know that we will receive blessings as we continuously go to the temple. In the Cebu temple dedication a member of the Seventy said that we should go to the temple and often as we can. When he was a mission president he could only go twice a year but when he was home and not working, living in Utah right next to a temple, he went four times a week! We need to go as often as occasion permits if not it won’t be enough! I love the temple!
I am so glad that you and dad were able to go to the temple I miss it so much but I did find out that we get to go to the Manila Temple before we go home so I am excited about that. But I know that we will receive blessings as we continuously go to the temple. In the Cebu temple dedication a member of the Seventy said that we should go to the temple and often as we can. When he was a mission president he could only go twice a year but when he was home and not working, living in Utah right next to a temple, he went four times a week! We need to go as often as occasion permits if not it won’t be enough! I love the temple!
I feel so blessed to be a missionary! I know that I am called of God and that I need to be here right now and that as I continue to do the work and help others learn more about the Savior the spirit helps me to learn more about the Savior and I am strengthened and made better!
I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well! So many things will be knew when I get home! Just as long as you stop the kids from growing its okay :( ahhh sad I know you can’t do that and I know that they are so big now! I guess they will just have to have more babies. Hehehe just a joke.
I love you all and I am so grateful for your love and support!
I love you all and I hope to send and explain pictures next week. They don’t have a card reader in this computer shop. But you are right the one of the man in blue is Tatay Mario!
He is so sweet and amazing! I told him I was being transferred and he said in a soft voice you’re leaving, it was so said! Then he gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek ha-ha. He is a cute little old man!
Well I love you all! Till next week!
Love, Sister Andreasen
No comments:
Post a Comment