It's been a tough week, crazy week for the work! I'm sorry I wasn't able to send an email last
week. I wrote my brother a birthday
email and it ended up taking a lot of time.
Anyway, so back to crazy. So,
this week we had a Family Home Evening at our golden investigator's house,
Sister Noemi and her family. I was in charge of doing a lesson about the Atonement
so I did the food dye and bleach object lesson. It was so fun! Near the end of my lesson, Noemi's mother
started crying and I bore my testimony and ended the lesson. ^_^ It
was the best lesson I’ve had in a while and it definitely boosted my confidence
in my Tagalog and the Gift of Tongues! Sister
Noemi and her mother are the closest investigators to baptism but Sister Noemi
can't be baptized until she gets married and she can't get married until the
branch presidents start and finish the marriage license process. Sayang talaga!!! (That’s too bad!)
Another crazy thing that happened…my zone leader got emergency
transferred to Quezon City. Apparently to cover for a zone leader there that is
leaving in a few days, so basically, I've been in a tripanionship again with
Elder Herr and Elder Olvido. Poor Elder Herr! He has to carry the district, branch, and the
zone on his shoulders. I've been doing
my best to help him out but it's all of the meetings and leaders not doing
their jobs that are making things difficult. The branch is doing really well,
though. Brother Carreon, the Sunday school
president has returned (yes, he was less active) and is doing his calling
nicely, like he's never left which is great for all of the teachers ^_^. Although,
there was a little situation in Elder’s Quorum where a wolf in sheep’s clothing
was causing contention. >.< Oh man, if we had an investigator there, they would lose
interest in the church because of how they were arguing with each other. Sigh… Not
going to lie, things are tough here. Because
of the storm we only had 7 less actives attend church this week and a
significant loss in membership’s attendance. But amidst all of the problems in the branch,
we have split up the work and concentrated our focus to help the branch grow. Elder Olvido and I have been assigned to bring
back the branch mission leader and help him learn his calling. We found out he
hasn’t been able to do the responsibilities in his calling only because he was
called 2 weeks after he was baptized! But
it's okay now because we're training him and now he'll be taking over our
missionary coordination meetings. So, I’m
excited about that! There is much progress happening and we'll make sure that
they continue to grow enough to take care of themselves.
I'm also super excited about the teaching workshop we
have set up for Friday! We're trying to
do a lot of workshops so that people can do their callings the way they are supposed
to! We'll be able to teach the leaders
and the members how to teach and what is expected of them when they give a
lesson, like…
Preparation…which means not calling people 5 minutes
before class to give a lesson and have them read from the handbook the whole
time. Or, during testimony meeting…don't
go up and start chastising people about not coming in white shirts (although it
is needed, it should be done in private, not public). The branch and the district are really frustrating
sometimes. That's why there are 10
missionaries here. Although, it’s not as bad as Magsaysay. They only have 2 active priesthood holders
who didn't come to open the church till 9:15 (church starts at 9 and it was
raining) and their entire sacrament attendance was Relief Society sisters and
Primary! Not that that's a bad thing but they need priesthood to come, too. The 1st and 2nd counselors of the branch
president and the EQP are less active. Man,
that would be much more difficult so looking at things in perspective, things
are just fine here in San Jose! ^_^
Saturday night, we taught the Montesa family (about 7
people) about tithing. They had promised to come to church for 3 weeks straight
and haven't done so yet. We taught a
really good lesson. I shared my portion
of the lesson, my testimony, a promised blessing that they would have clothes
on their backs, rice in the bowls, and a roof over their heads if they paid
their tithing and I felt the Spirit so strong in there. The tatay (dad) was getting
emotional and I asked him how he was feeling. He really liked what we said and said, “We're
going to come to church now… we need to.” I felt the Spirit so very strong at that point
and I knew they felt it too. The mom was
emotional as well and I was so happy that they had made that decision. ^_^ There are few things that really make me
frustrated in this world…and one of them is, when I KNOW that the family felt
the Spirit, made a commitment to come to church, and then not show up. That really makes me so sad for them. I know that they'll receive blessings from
coming to church. They know it. I made a promised blessing to them and I know
they felt the Spirit, but they used their agency and did not go to church. Sigh. I
really do feel bad that they couldn't make it. But who knows, it might have
been because of the storm. It’s been
raining so much lately and the winds have been so strong. But you know, I'm never going to give up on
them. I know the Lord wants them to come
to church and receive the divine help he's promised them. I know this is true because I have seen His Hand
in the lives of those who have returned and I know He will help them too, if
they keep His commandments.
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:
This week's spiritual thought is going to be based around
Noah's Ark, as taught by Elder Perez of the Philippines Area Seventy. As I am sure you all remember, Noah's ark was
built through revelation given to him by God that a flood was coming. We read in the scriptures that he pleaded and
taught the people for 120 years before God sent the flood on the Earth. And those who were faithful were able to make
it to the boat before the flood came and were safe. Now, there is much to be learned from this
story in our day.
First off, what does the Ark symbolize in our day?
The Ark is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While Noah
was building the Ark, the wicked people were laughing and persecuting Noah and
the righteous people. Since the
Restoration of the Church, we have been persecuted and laughed at for our
religion and our beliefs. But why?
Well, if we think about it…since the Church is the ark and
if the flood is like the Second Coming, then people see us, members of the
church, like being in an ark on dry land in the middle of Kansas saying there
is a flood coming. So, of course they
are going to laugh. We're safe! It looks and sounds weird to them and they
don't understand why the ark is necessary.
The next part I really liked…
Elder Perez said, "Now, about the Church like the
Ark. You cannot be safe from the Flood if you are hanging off the sides of the
Ark! You need to either jump in or you're
going to fall off. This is about the
less actives or even those who come to church but are not active in the gospel.
You need to decide for yourself whether
or not you will be in the Ark and safe.”
Anyway, I really like this thought. And I wanted to share it with you. ^_^ So this is my letter for this week. Sorry, there are no pictures because I left my camera at the apartment. Kasalanan ko ito! (My bad!) Thank you all for
your prayers and support! I love you
all!
Doing you Proud,
Elder Froude ^_^