This week has been an amazing week so far, filled with
hard work and miracles as the result of Faith and Works. Now that I think about it, it doesn't seem
that long since I last wrote. Maybe it's
because my last P-day was on a Tuesday and it's Monday again haha! So then, let me start the string of events
from Thursday on, because this is where it all started.
Thursday, 5/24/12
Today was truly a gift given to Elder Barrow and I from
our Heavenly Father who is the Lord of this vineyard. I can testify that He has a hand and a plan in
all the work we do here as missionaries because from this day we had seen many
miracles as if the events that had come to pass were guided personally by the
hand of the Lord. It only furthers my
testimony of the work I do here.
My new mattress came in last night and I had the best night’s
sleep I've had in weeks! I just felt
good all day! I knew from the moment I
woke up that this was going to be a good day :) The first appointment we had was a lunch with
the Estandarte Family. As we talked
about this week's work with them we mentioned a referred part-member family
nearby. Sister Estandarte immediately
volunteered to come with us to fellowship the family and help bring them back
to church. Oh, I forgot to mention that Sister
Estandarte is less-active. Yes…a fellowshipper
that is less-active!!! Haha! For some of our investigators their church fellowshippers
are less-actives because we ask them for the referrals. Anyway, we’ve met the Pineda
family last week and the wife is receptive but the husband works so we can't
get a hold of him yet. I think I’m going
to take the advice of Brother Harlee, "When I used to teach people, I
would always talk to the father first, or always try to build a friendship with
him. Because if the husband is
converted, the whole family comes to church." I think there is a lot of truth to that
statement. Sadly, the time we go to
proselyte and the time when fathers get home make it difficult for us to teach
them.
Anyway, so Sister Estandarte and her husband are coming
with us next week to visit Sister Pineda. We also mentioned a referral we received from
the mission office that lives in an area close by. Brother Estandarte looks at the address and
says, "Oh, I know that street! Here,
we have time… we’ll take you there.” Elder Barrow and I were like umm... OKAY! Apparently, what they meant was that we'll be
driving there. O.o I haven't been in a car that’s not a taxi
since I left the mission office. I was actually
in an air conditioned car! I felt so blessed.
He took us to the address and wanted to
help us fellowship the family. So, we
were like okay! They came in with us but
the man that was referred wasn’t there. Sister
Maricar was, though, and she was the one who referred him. She started talking about her husband and in the middle of it Bro. Estandarte says, “Wait... are you talking about Jack?!?” And she said, “Yes that's his first name, why?”
He smiled and said, “I know him! He and
I used to work on a project together and both of our kids go to the same
school! Haha! Yes, I do know Jack quite well." (roughly
translated from Tagalog to English) So apparently they both know each other
really well, so Brother Estandarte and his wife said that whenever we teach him
that they must come along. Elder Barrow and I looked at each other smiling and said
"Of course!" Truly a blessing
to have this referral already know a very wonderful member of the ward. It will be a lot easier to teach him with that
familiarity with a man such as Brother Estandarte.
Things like this don't normally happen. To have this couple suddenly change their
plans to take us out to teach and find a referral and then happen to know them
is no accident, let me tell you. This event could not have been ordered more
perfectly. ^_^ I Love this Gospel and I Love the Lord! Okay, now to the baptisms on Saturday…
Saturday, 5/26/12
First off, from the pictures I just posted you can see
that Elder Barrow and I had to bucket out the water from the baptismal font
because the drain was broken so we spent a good amount of time bucketing out
about 10 inches of water. Oh no! I’m running out of emailing time!
Okay, so Sister Gomez and Brother Pallisigue (both part-member
families) have now become completed families by their decision to be baptized
and their desires to repent. It was a
great and touching event. Brother Pallisigue texted us at 7 pm (the start of
the baptism service) and said that he was stuck in so much traffic and he would
be late. We said we would proceed with
the service and baptism of Sister Gomez and then wait for him. So after much anxiety, talks were given and at
the beginning of Sister Gomez entering into the water, Brother Pallisigue walks
in. He was 45 minutes late. We got him dressed and ready for his baptism
right after they finished baptizing Sister Gomez. 15 minutes later, Brother Pallisigue was
baptized. At the end, the new converts
gave their testimonies. When he went to
bear his testimony he cried because he thought he was going to miss his chance
to get baptized and cleansed of his sins, but he said he prayed and the Lord
prepared a way for him to make it just on time. I
couldn't understand all of what he said but I did understand that through his
faith, he was able to arrive precisely at a silver screen moment. Haha!
Oh gosh, that was dramatic!
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| Bro. Starr Gomez baptized his wife, Sis. Mae Rose Gomez |
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| Bro. Israel Pallisigue |
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| Bro. Pallisigue, family, and friends who came to support him. |
Oh and Mom, I love this area so much. The ward here is
great! I feel like I'm part of their
family now haha! I feel like I'm now
getting to know everyone and they have all been willing to help us find the less
actives and investigators and such. We
feel as if now that this transfer is over, we now know each person and we're
now in the position to start bringing people back and getting a lot of
investigators baptized as well. Like all
of our planning and work has been leading up to the next transfer, which is June
7th (so next week’s P-day is Wednesday). I really hope that I don't transfer yet. I feel like I might, though. Elder Barrow says whenever he feels like he
might, he doesn't. Haha! But anything can happen. I just feel like I understand things now. And I know the people. We can do so much good here in the coming
weeks. I hope I'll still be here to
witness it, though.
Anyway, that is all the time I have. I need to go shopping now cause I have no food
and I need a new camera! I Love you and
miss you all! Thank you for all of your support. I wish to declare to everyone that I miss my
mom's cooking and that tuna sandwiches do not give a man the energy or the love
he needs to do all that he needs to. Haha! Only with the Lord's help I have been able to
manage. Thanks for all of the emails and
letters and prayers. I’ll do my best for
you all!
Doing you Proud,
Elder Froude ^_^
P.S.
Btw Mom, I've been blessed so much here, I want to thank
the Lord by being obedient. I think I
should follow what the Mission President says and deactivate my Facebook. I want to show the Lord I'm willing to Obey. It's fine…I have a blog. Everyone knows about it
:)
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| The baptismal font's drain was broken so we had to scoop about 10 inches of remaining water out. |
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| All in a day's work around here... |
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