🙏🏽High Faith🙏🏽

Hey Fam!

Quote of the Week: This one I actually came up with on the tricycle today:) Little twist on the Plan of Salvation... 

"You chose to have life, so why not choose to live happy?" -Elder Reber😎😂

Some weeks are a lot harder to choose to live happy than others. However, this week gave me all the right reasons to be happy! Here are 27 reasons why... Judilyn, Jewel, Anjanette, Geraldine, Imelda, Jay Ar, Maricar, Cristina, June, Michael, Trisha, Angel, Jhared, Rosalyn, Ricel, Ivy, Ian, Ray en, Ivan, Jian, Bryan, Mae, Miyaka, RJ, Eloysa, Jex, and Francis❤️

I have mentioned our area has been blessed lately, but it's important to put the numbers to the souls:) Our Sacrament meeting this week was jam packed haha we had some recent converts come in late and they all had to go sit up on the stand! It was just so fun to see so many people there to take the sacrament!

We also had a ward youth pizza party this week! It was super fun! We had 54 youth attend... And 23 of them were our investigators😂😂 It has just been amusing to see how much trust God is putting in us right now! Elder Castro and I have been showing our Faith and Humility to God each day. Our goals have been higher and higher each week... and so have the results😅

I am so grateful for my mission. I am not perfect by any means. I'm not a perfect teacher. I'm not perfect at Tagalog. I have so many weaknesses that I am trying to strengthen. I also have discovered some of my strengths in my mission. Why be sad when you could be happy? Why frown when you could smile? Why be stressed if you don't have to be? Why get angry when you get blessed with an opportunity to find a solution? Positivity and hope is often a sign of how much faith we have at the given moment. So I ask myself "Would someone who has strong faith in Jesus Christ feel like this, act like this, or say those words?" There's so much you learn on a mission that you can't learn anywhere else. I love it.

Another quote I read this week was "Ships don't sink because of all the water around them, Ships sink because of the water that gets in them." Often times we can choose not to let water in our boats, but there are also times that water will get in no matter what. That's when we have to get on our knees in faith and ask for help. Remove the sins. Remove the doubts. Remove the stress. Remove the sicknesses. Jesus Christs atonement remove a lot of problems from our life... But it doesn't get rid of pride very well. It's like getting blood out of a white shirt with Philippines laundry equipment... It doesn't work😂 Let's all show a little more faith to humble ourselves a little bit so we can kick back and enjoy life❤️

Elder Reber

Time to send more ties:)

Such a fun wedding to attend

FHE Success! Funny Nanay Imelda

Kamusta fam:)

Quote of the week: "Don't compare yourself to others. No one can play your role better than you."

Elder Castro and I are continuing to see miracles in our area! We had 24 investigators at church yesterday which was super fun!!! We ended up having to open up the room separators so that we could fint them all into the investigator class. Not only did we have lots of Investigators, but our WML said that was the most overall people we have had in a sacrament meeting:) 209😄 That's a lot for not even being a ward for a full year yet. It has been exciting!

I wish I could explain the stories behind all of the people we are teaching, but there just isn't enough time😂 We have multiple families progressing right now, and are trying to get referrals from investigators all the time. They all love it because they feel the spirit at church and are inviting other friends! We always say that members need to be missionaries... But Elder Castro and I took it one step farther and think EVERYONE should be a missionary!

Anyway, we have an investigator named Nanay Imelda. This is the short version, but basically we were refreshing the Restoration with her and she kept calling Joseph Smith, Jesus Smith😂 She said it probably 5 times even though we kept laughing with her and correcting her. We wrote up a little glossary in her scriptures so she would always remember. 

Our 1st counselor in the Bishopric got married this week. It was fun to spend some time with the members and hear them roast Marlon! It makes me wonder what Dwain's friends said to him at his reception🤔😂

Earlier today Elder Morris (One of the Elders in our house) found out that his mom has kidney cancer. He was a little bothered by it, so we just worked out together jump roping. Then we talked about life like we usually do on PDay haha, he is doing fine though👌🏼

Anyway it was a dope week! Miss ya guys!

Elder Reber

Pretty successful FHE if you ask me!

Graden assured me this was 100 percent plastic

Hopefully she will be able to keep things straight with this little glossary. The last entry that says Jesus Smith was just a reminder of how funny that was. 

Graden loves these little boys so much he is now giving out all of his ties for them to wear. Can't wait to see all of them wearing a little bit of Graden. 

Baliwag😍🔥

Hey Fam,

Quote of the Week: "Attitudes are contagious, make yours worth catching."

Well another eventful week has come and gone! Here are the highlights...

1) Mio Choi Galvez got baptized! His older brother Charlie baptized him which was cool because he is also a recent convert.

2) We got 18 investigators to church this week!! 😍 Last week we had 17, but 7 of our investigators this week were there for their first time this week! Elder Castro and I have been trying a different teaching approach that focuses 90% on helping them understand what the church is and why they should come and visit. Then as we do that we teach doctrines according to their answers to our questions.

3) We were at the church yesterday from 8:30am until 8pm😂 We had our baptism, then church, then taught an investigator at the church, then had a Missionary Coordination Meeting with the ward, then we had a Stake missionary meeting, then we practiced singing for a fireside that night, then we had the fireside... #LongFreakingDay

4) I played the piano at the Fireside! Many of you are probably thinking I acquired a new skill, but I really just pushed play and it played it automatically haha. I just had to push play for the intro and then each verse push it again.

5) We talked a lot about humility at MLC. If we don't have humility in our lives it will be very hard to learn and progress.

6) "Put the weakest wolf in the front of the pack." President told us to make sure we pick our weaknesses and focus on them daily until we see progression.

7) There is no 7.

Love you guys!

Elder Reber 

Graden fake playing the piano. 

Just a beautiful scenic picture...but wait

Their version of a scarecrow :)

Staying in Balawog = More top bunk time

Kamusta Fam,

Quote of the Week: "Always believe something wonderful is about to happen."

This week was full of great memories! I'm just going to list them to save time:)

1.We had 3 baptisms on Saturday. Mico Cleo Galvez, Levi Galvez, & Dona Gungob are the newest members to Baliwag 2nd!

2. Mio Choi Galvez is going to get baptized this upcoming week:)

3. We had an amazing Sunday!! I got to bless the Sacrament with our recent convert Charlie for his first time. He was so nervous but got it on his first try! That was actually the first time I have blessed the Sacrament in Tagalog:) Usually the members just bless it, but Charlie wanted to do it with me❤️

4. We had 17 investigators come to church this Sunday😆😆 That was the most I have ever seen show up on one Sunday. I was glad it was on a testimony Sunday so they could here all of the amazing testimonies of our members... And my testimony as well;)

5. President Hughes has told me for the last 2 transfers that I will be transferring this week. However, because of how well Elder Castro and I have been working he wants me to stay one more. We have a bunch of new people coming in our zone that might have "potential threats." Haha he wants me to be here to help Elder Castro with the transition.

6. Because I thought I would be transferring we worked a lot with members and FHEs this week. It was sooooo much fun having 3 FHEs, and seeing all our investigators and Recent Converts there. I am gaining a stronger testimony of missionary work here right now... Lovin it!

7. I got to do another practice baptismal interview on the top bunk of the Galvez house. That's the "third floor" btw. I took a picture this time to remember that special spot. It's one of my favorite pictures of my mission now bc looks like an old fashioned Pic. I'll send it to you:)

8. We had a lot of Investigators come to our Ward FHE yesterday. They seemed to be enjoying it very much, especially 2 of them (Aiza 16 and Imelda 50s). They are extremely poor and we have been visiting them for the last 3ish weeks. Aiza confirmed to us last night after the FHE that she enjoyed it when when she messaged us...

"Wow, tonight I realized that it really is happy and fun at church. I started realizing it on our walk home when I felt so light! I felt different tonight while being with all of those members. We have seen our problems slowly go away as you continue to come here and share with us. I am looking forward to church this upcoming Sunday, what day is my baptism on again?"

Ahhhhhhhh!! We never get texts like that! 😂 It's usually starts with the word Sorry and then an excuse😂 Basically the work is enjoyable right now, and we are working super hard.

I took tons of pictures this week. So I will probably just toss them up on Google drive:) Love you guys!

-Elder Reber

A favorite friend- and a favorite picture of her with an awesome pose at the Golden Gate Bridge 

Graden's favorite place