Dear Mom, Dad, Ryan, and all those who enjoy reading
this blog!
Well,
even though my one year mark has passed I have been extended 2 weeks in my
mission which means I won’t be home till the end of January next year. Time
moves by so quick doesn’t it. Which means, I’ve only got “Five hundred,
twenty-five thousand moments so dear. Five
hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes! How do you measure the time of a year?” -Rent
Saturday,
I finally bought my watch. Got a haircut. Ano pa? Nothing really important except for the fact
that I love teaching with my companion. We taught Sister Santillian on Tuesday night.
Elder Peralta suggested that we should teach about the tree of life. He had an
animated video, which gave a very great interpretation of the tree of life. The
Spirit was so strong in that lesson, that everything that was said seemed to be
right, we were able to discern her concern and share to her what needed to be
shared, and that was, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ you can repent,
you can be clean, you can come back. Because
simply, He loves us. And that was what really got her and made her feel the Spirit
when she realized that she was a daughter of God and that He is here to guide
her, especially through the scriptures.
Oh my
goodness! Friday was like the busiest
day and I loved it so much because so many different things happened and plans
changed so much. Okay, so here’s what was going on. Elder Peralta and I were going to go to lunch
and then go to the post office to pick up like 32 packages for the mission.
That was a big job to do on its own when suddenly, while on the way to the post
office, we get a call from Elder and Sister Harris. They were asking me a few
questions about which missionaries have the temple in their area and such. Anyway after the questions, Elder Harris told
us that the Macaranas family (the family of a sister missionary who just went
home in November) were getting sealed that day in the temple because the father
became active and worthy to enter. Well, they were planning to until they found
out that the baptismal paperwork for their youngest son, Paulo Macaranas, was
not valid so he couldn’t go inside and get sealed with them. Elder Harris asked
if we could get the Baptismal font ready for them by the time they get back to
the chapel. As soon as we heard that we pulled a U turn on EDSA where the
traffic is usually bad and takes us 45 minutes to get back but I took every
shortcut I knew. I got there
miraculously in 15 minutes. Once we got to the chapel, with President DelaMare’s
permission, we arranged a baptismal service for Paulo within the hour. Elder Peralta started working on the paper
work for Paulo, I did the baptismal interview (my first time doing one by the
way!) and we got all of the papers filled out and prepared for the temple
president. At the request of the family,
Elder Peralta performed the baptism, and we sent Paulo back to the temple where
his father is to be confirmed and ordained and then sealed in the temple.
*sigh* That was one busy afternoon, let me tell you! Haha!. Elder Harris took care of all of the
phone calls to the mission president, their branch president , and the temple
president to make sure we were doing the procedure right. The interview went by
smoothly because he is a child of record and knew most everything about the
gospel and understands its principles. But anyway, we did a baptism… no one
expected it but I’m still counting it because we did so much to make it happen.
Spiritual Experience!
Thursday night, we decided to go visit Vincent DeGuzman.
He’s 22 and a potential missionary but
he’s been less active since last year and needs a little bit of motivation to
come back and hopefully go on a mission. We’ve been teaching him for about 2
months now and we haven’t seen much progression with him. This was Elder
Peralta’s first time teaching him so I filled him in on all of the details. I
felt impressed to pray before we left the car but I quickly shrugged it off. Then I felt impressed again to pray so I
asked Elder Peralta if we could pray for inspiration before we go. After the prayer, we entered the house and
began to just ask him how he was doing and such. We had planned to teach about missionary work and its importance, but I had
thought that maybe we should ask him about his goals for 2013. I quickly disregarded
the thought because it is almost the end of January and we already had a plan,
but after the opening prayer I decided to ask him about the new year and what
he wants to do. I know now that this impression came from the Holy Ghost
because when I had asked him this, the once shy Vincent suddenly opened up and
began to share his plans to change and to become better as a person. He
recognized that he has become less active so he wants to find a new job and
come back. And then he kept opening up concerns and such to us that we were
able to teach and resolve with the Word of God and it ended up being a really
great lesson. The spirit of teaching is burning within me and has been a sweet,
sweet feeling that I’ve missed so much. Thanks to my companion and also his
willingness to follow the Spirit, we’ve been able to have great lessons lately.
I
hope all is well for you and I can’t wait to share more of my adventures with
you. If you can, share some of your adventures with me at julien.froude@myldsmail.net.
I know I’d love to hear them. ^_^ It’s kind of awkward talking about myself the
whole time. Haha! Joke lang!
Doing you Proud,
Elder Froude ^_^
P.S.
Here’s my answer to your question, Mom:
Okay, well standing in holy places to me means not
bringing your worldly/unholy things and habits with you. When Moses went to
talk to the Lord face to face, he asked Moses to take off his shoes, so that it
can be a holier place. Much like Moses, we need to leave behind that which is
dirty or distracting from the Spirit of God if we wish to stand in holier
places. As a missionary, my success is 100% dependent on whether or not I have
the spirit with me. Listening to music, watching movies, or even thoughts, if they are inappropriate, will cause you to
leave the presence of the Spirit. (Note: it is a big misconception that the Spirit
leaves when you sin or do something wrong. On the contrary, the Spirit is a
constant companion and will always reside with the righteous, rather, it is us
who leave the Spirit when we sin. It is our decision to leave it behind or to
take it with us from day to day.) I can testify to you that one song, or one movie,
or a good time with friend, is not worth the consequence of losing the guidance
of the Spirit, the light that it gives us. I know that all of my education, and
experience is next to nothing if I do not stand in a holier place as a servant
of God. Therefore, I have decided to leave behind all that is dirty, all that
will cause me to leave the spirit.
How's that?
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