MALIGAYANG BAGONG TAON!! New Years here in the Philippines is always so fun! The fireworks here are like 99% sound and 1% lights😂 It basically just sounds like a billion bombs going off outside and then we could see quite a few big ones going up in the sky as well.
As a mission we started to focus completely on the Book of Mormon. We have a goal to teach from it in every single lesson and are keeping track of how many Book of Mormons we give out. After each lesson we take a selfie with the new investigators and send it into our district group chats! It has been super fun to see pictures of us all flooding the Philippines with the book that will help them each gain a personal testimony! We have noticed a difference in our teaching when we use the BOM all the time.
We found a super awesome investigator named Dona through our recent convert Angieleen. She is 16 years old and came to church the last 2 weeks now😄 We taught Dona and her siblings about the Book of Mormon last week and our follow up lesson was pretty surprising. We asked her if she had read yet and she basically recited 1 Nephi chapters 1-7!!😂 She was going into deep detail about Nephi's family, Lehi's vision, the purpose of prophets, and was dying laughing when she said Nephi cut Labans head off to follow the Lord's commands. We were just sitting back with the biggest smiles every watching her energetically speak about the Book of Mormon. Now we just have to help their parents stop drinking and gain a desire to listen to us:) They are kinda scrubs, but we keep telling their kids to be the example first and their parents will notice a difference in them. If they want happiness in their families it is going to come from Christ and His gospel, so it is cool to see them acting on their faith:)
Today we went to the TEMPLE!! 😇 The guy leading the session was the cutest smiling filipino I've ever seen in my life. He seemed a little uncertain in himself like it was maybe he first time up front, but I could just see his countenance beaming as he was trying something new for the first time. I want to try and push my comfort zone in all aspects of my life this upcoming 2020:) As I finish my mission... and start life again back home😉
I wanted to make some promises with God as I was in his Holy House:) Well people started leaving one by one, until I was all alone. As in all alone. That doesn't happen very much as a missionary because we are always with our companion haha. I just sat there looking up at the chandelier thinking about how many cool experiences I have been blessed with here in the Philippines. I felt my thoughts guided through all my areas, seeing faces of those I care about so much. I had a feeling the Lord still has a lot more people prepared for me to find and meet. I wanted to know how I could improve myself to help those people. So I opened up to a random verse.. D&C 112:10-11.
10) Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers
11) I know thy heart, and have heard thy prayers concerning thy brethren. Be not partial towards them in love above many others, but let thy love be for them as for thyself; and let thy love abound unto all men, and unto all who love my name.
It was cool to see the revelatory powers of the temple guide my thoughts and my reading to a verse that was so obvious. Humble yourself. Pray always. He knows our hearts. Love those around you.
I am grateful for the scriptures and encourage you each to read the Book of Mormon more diligently😄 Sometimes opening to random pages like I did is enough to answer an honest heart:) God doesn't expect us to study for hours every day, but he will help us in our lives if we give him a few minutes:)
-Elder Reber
No comments:
Post a Comment