Her name is Erika
Friday, August 20, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Hey everyone,
It’s been a really crazy week. We had a transfer this week that was three weeks early. My companion was sent to the Island Palawan, which is the place every missionary wants to go. My companion is Elder Ahat now but I'm thinking I might get transferred next week; so this will be a really short companionship.
We had two people get baptized this week, and I was blessed enough to be able to perform the ordinances. It's great to be able to be the one performing the baptism, but the best part for me is seeing their big smile after their baptism. The Lord really blessed us this week in finding the people whom He has prepared. I was getting a little worried about running out of investigators but the Lord led us to some new ones.
One couple in particular has definitely been prepared by the Lord. It was our third time teaching them and we were teaching about prayer and knowing if Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon were true. The spirit told me, during the lesson, that that was the wrong thing to be talking about. I quickly ended what I was saying and opened 2nd Nephi 31 about baptism. The mom's face lit up as she read the word "baptism." I started to invite them to be baptized but before I could even finish my sentence, the mom cut me off and with a big smile said "yes." I love doing the Lord's work and seeing His guiding hand in our work everyday.
Love, Elder Smith
It’s been a really crazy week. We had a transfer this week that was three weeks early. My companion was sent to the Island Palawan, which is the place every missionary wants to go. My companion is Elder Ahat now but I'm thinking I might get transferred next week; so this will be a really short companionship.
We had two people get baptized this week, and I was blessed enough to be able to perform the ordinances. It's great to be able to be the one performing the baptism, but the best part for me is seeing their big smile after their baptism. The Lord really blessed us this week in finding the people whom He has prepared. I was getting a little worried about running out of investigators but the Lord led us to some new ones.
One couple in particular has definitely been prepared by the Lord. It was our third time teaching them and we were teaching about prayer and knowing if Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon were true. The spirit told me, during the lesson, that that was the wrong thing to be talking about. I quickly ended what I was saying and opened 2nd Nephi 31 about baptism. The mom's face lit up as she read the word "baptism." I started to invite them to be baptized but before I could even finish my sentence, the mom cut me off and with a big smile said "yes." I love doing the Lord's work and seeing His guiding hand in our work everyday.
Love, Elder Smith
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Hey everyone,
We've had another busy week as always. We have a lot of people getting baptized next week so we have been really focusing on finding new people to teach after all our current investigators get baptized. We've been doing that the last couple of weeks with a lot of success, but after the first or second lesson they stop investigating. This week, however, the Lord really blessed us in our efforts. We found a family who is currently looking for the true church; so I'm really excited and have high hopes for them. We also have an elderly couple who we have been teaching for about six weeks now. They really want to get baptized but the husband has a problem with cigarettes. He was able to quit smoking most of the time, but no matter what we did he had to have three a day. I didn't know what we could do to help him other than pray. He had a stroke about a week ago but is doing okay now. That in itself of course is a bad thing, but the doctor told him some things he needs to stop doing to keep his blood pressure down. One of the things he was told to stop doing was to stop smoking. I didn't pray that he would have a stroke, but I think that event helped him because he is no longer smoking.
We have one investigator that we have been teaching for over a month but he won’t come to church; he always has some kind of excuse. He said he would come this week, but to be sure, we should stop by his house an hour before church. The night before, it rained for about 10 hours but I didn't think anything of it, because there was no flooding by our apartment. We were almost to his house when we saw that the whole place was flooded. My companion was ready to just go to church but I'm kind of stubborn at times. I knew our investigator wouldn't show up if we didn't go to his house, so I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants and started walking. After a little bit, my companion realized I was serious and reluctantly followed. The closer we got to his house, the deeper it got because he lives right next to the ocean. We were up to our knees in water but we made it to his house.
It's a pretty cool story but he didn't come to church. He said he would go at 2pm with the other ward but he didn't show up there either :( Our investigators that have a baptismal date, however, did walk through the flood to come to church; so that’s the happy ending. I know this church is true and I love you all and you are in my prayers.
Love, Elder Smith
We've had another busy week as always. We have a lot of people getting baptized next week so we have been really focusing on finding new people to teach after all our current investigators get baptized. We've been doing that the last couple of weeks with a lot of success, but after the first or second lesson they stop investigating. This week, however, the Lord really blessed us in our efforts. We found a family who is currently looking for the true church; so I'm really excited and have high hopes for them. We also have an elderly couple who we have been teaching for about six weeks now. They really want to get baptized but the husband has a problem with cigarettes. He was able to quit smoking most of the time, but no matter what we did he had to have three a day. I didn't know what we could do to help him other than pray. He had a stroke about a week ago but is doing okay now. That in itself of course is a bad thing, but the doctor told him some things he needs to stop doing to keep his blood pressure down. One of the things he was told to stop doing was to stop smoking. I didn't pray that he would have a stroke, but I think that event helped him because he is no longer smoking.
We have one investigator that we have been teaching for over a month but he won’t come to church; he always has some kind of excuse. He said he would come this week, but to be sure, we should stop by his house an hour before church. The night before, it rained for about 10 hours but I didn't think anything of it, because there was no flooding by our apartment. We were almost to his house when we saw that the whole place was flooded. My companion was ready to just go to church but I'm kind of stubborn at times. I knew our investigator wouldn't show up if we didn't go to his house, so I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants and started walking. After a little bit, my companion realized I was serious and reluctantly followed. The closer we got to his house, the deeper it got because he lives right next to the ocean. We were up to our knees in water but we made it to his house.
It's a pretty cool story but he didn't come to church. He said he would go at 2pm with the other ward but he didn't show up there either :( Our investigators that have a baptismal date, however, did walk through the flood to come to church; so that’s the happy ending. I know this church is true and I love you all and you are in my prayers.
Love, Elder Smith
Monday, August 2, 2010
Hello everyone,
Another week is already over; I feel like the days are going so fast I can't keep up with them. We had an amazing baptism this Saturday for our "golden investigator". We didn't have a single concern the whole time we taught her; she probably could have been baptized the first week we taught her. She gave a great testimony of how she knows the church is true and how grateful she is that we brought her this gospel. It is an amazing feeling to have someone that grateful towards you and to see the changes take place in their life as they accept the true gospel. Our investigators really become like family as we teach them. I'm really blessed to be able to do the Lord's work every day.
We have a member that asked us to give them some counsel with some problems in their family that is really trying their faith. I really had no idea what I should say to help them. I tried sharing a few scriptures but they weren't helping too much but as I listened to the spirit, I was guided to know exactly what to say and the perfect scripture to go with it. The Lord has really been blessing us in helping us know what to do to help our investigators and help them come unto Christ.
So a lot of you obviously thought it was funny that I forgot how to speak English. When I speak to other Elders in English, I don’t have any problems; maybe it's because I can throw in Tagalog too and they understand. We were out finding this week when we knocked on the door of a guy from England. My companion doesn't speak English so it was all up to me. I was really excited until I started stumbling over all my words saying stuff like “We are missionaries...with a minssahe...message... and want to talk to you about Jesus." I tried talking to him but it was probably the most ineloquent English ever. I plan to go back there when he isn't busy, but I might have to work on my English :)
Love, Elder Smith
Another week is already over; I feel like the days are going so fast I can't keep up with them. We had an amazing baptism this Saturday for our "golden investigator". We didn't have a single concern the whole time we taught her; she probably could have been baptized the first week we taught her. She gave a great testimony of how she knows the church is true and how grateful she is that we brought her this gospel. It is an amazing feeling to have someone that grateful towards you and to see the changes take place in their life as they accept the true gospel. Our investigators really become like family as we teach them. I'm really blessed to be able to do the Lord's work every day.
We have a member that asked us to give them some counsel with some problems in their family that is really trying their faith. I really had no idea what I should say to help them. I tried sharing a few scriptures but they weren't helping too much but as I listened to the spirit, I was guided to know exactly what to say and the perfect scripture to go with it. The Lord has really been blessing us in helping us know what to do to help our investigators and help them come unto Christ.
So a lot of you obviously thought it was funny that I forgot how to speak English. When I speak to other Elders in English, I don’t have any problems; maybe it's because I can throw in Tagalog too and they understand. We were out finding this week when we knocked on the door of a guy from England. My companion doesn't speak English so it was all up to me. I was really excited until I started stumbling over all my words saying stuff like “We are missionaries...with a minssahe...message... and want to talk to you about Jesus." I tried talking to him but it was probably the most ineloquent English ever. I plan to go back there when he isn't busy, but I might have to work on my English :)
Love, Elder Smith
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Kamusta po kayo ang akin pamilya,
We had a pretty effective week. We were able to get 12 people to sacrament meeting which is the best I've ever had. Of course it really wasn't anything we did, it was entirely the Lord. We had one older couple that we had been teaching but they weren't really progressing, wouldn't come to church for three weeks, and were never home. We decided it was probably time to stop teaching them and start focusing on other people that would progress. As always, we ended our last lesson with an invitation for them to attend church. I don't know what changed, but we were waiting at church when we saw them walk in. The Lord had obviously touched them in some way to create a desire for them to come to church.
The First Presidency is changing a little bit of the way we missionaries work. It’s nothing big, but they are focusing more on the missionaries teaching by the spirit and the needs of the investigators. They are really trying to get us away from the routine lessons. So that is something we will be working on a lot these next few months. We got a brief overview of it during Zone Conference and I'm really excited about it. It will help us follow the spirit, teach by the spirit, and really do this work the way the Lord wants it done.
Something is happening that I never thought would ever happen to me; I'm forgetting English! Our zone went to a family home evening at some couple missionary’s home this week but they are from England so they don't speak Tagalog. I was the one that got to translate for them but it's so much harder than I thought. I would sit there listening to the speaker then realize the couple missionaries had no idea what was going on. When I tried to translate, I would accidentally repeat stuff in Tagalog or completely forget the English translation of a word.
Well that is what's going on over here; plus a lot of rain. It's crazy how hard it rains here and how quickly places start to flood. Thank you all for your prayers and letters.
Love, Elder Smith
We had a pretty effective week. We were able to get 12 people to sacrament meeting which is the best I've ever had. Of course it really wasn't anything we did, it was entirely the Lord. We had one older couple that we had been teaching but they weren't really progressing, wouldn't come to church for three weeks, and were never home. We decided it was probably time to stop teaching them and start focusing on other people that would progress. As always, we ended our last lesson with an invitation for them to attend church. I don't know what changed, but we were waiting at church when we saw them walk in. The Lord had obviously touched them in some way to create a desire for them to come to church.
The First Presidency is changing a little bit of the way we missionaries work. It’s nothing big, but they are focusing more on the missionaries teaching by the spirit and the needs of the investigators. They are really trying to get us away from the routine lessons. So that is something we will be working on a lot these next few months. We got a brief overview of it during Zone Conference and I'm really excited about it. It will help us follow the spirit, teach by the spirit, and really do this work the way the Lord wants it done.
Something is happening that I never thought would ever happen to me; I'm forgetting English! Our zone went to a family home evening at some couple missionary’s home this week but they are from England so they don't speak Tagalog. I was the one that got to translate for them but it's so much harder than I thought. I would sit there listening to the speaker then realize the couple missionaries had no idea what was going on. When I tried to translate, I would accidentally repeat stuff in Tagalog or completely forget the English translation of a word.
Well that is what's going on over here; plus a lot of rain. It's crazy how hard it rains here and how quickly places start to flood. Thank you all for your prayers and letters.
Love, Elder Smith
Monday, July 19, 2010
Hello everyone,
We had a great baptism on Saturday! It was one of the people that comes to church every week but there hasn't been a third male to go with us to her house. Our Mission President gave us permission to teach her outside if no one else was home. She accepted a baptismal date on the first visit and was so excited to get baptized. She lived in Cebu, but she felt like she needed to move to Manila for some unknown reason, even though her family didn't want her to. After being baptized, she said that she now knows why she moved here. She has a very strong testimony and loves this church and everything in it. She used to be Catholic and she told us it's so great that we have rules and commandments, because that's how we really do become closer to the Lord. The Lord led her right to us; she moved in with members so we didn't even have to find her.
Well, this letter is pretty short, because I just wrote like four days ago so not a lot has happened since then; just a lot of rain. Thank you for all your prayers and letters. I know the Lord hears them and He has blessed me. The Lord is really blessing us in our work and helping us to find His elect children. You are all in my prayers and I hope all is well on the other side of the world.
Love, Elder Smith
We had a great baptism on Saturday! It was one of the people that comes to church every week but there hasn't been a third male to go with us to her house. Our Mission President gave us permission to teach her outside if no one else was home. She accepted a baptismal date on the first visit and was so excited to get baptized. She lived in Cebu, but she felt like she needed to move to Manila for some unknown reason, even though her family didn't want her to. After being baptized, she said that she now knows why she moved here. She has a very strong testimony and loves this church and everything in it. She used to be Catholic and she told us it's so great that we have rules and commandments, because that's how we really do become closer to the Lord. The Lord led her right to us; she moved in with members so we didn't even have to find her.
Well, this letter is pretty short, because I just wrote like four days ago so not a lot has happened since then; just a lot of rain. Thank you for all your prayers and letters. I know the Lord hears them and He has blessed me. The Lord is really blessing us in our work and helping us to find His elect children. You are all in my prayers and I hope all is well on the other side of the world.
Love, Elder Smith
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