April 28, 2013 - Guess who I saw this week!

This week was so amazing!  So many things happened!

First, I want to talk about the National Day of Service.  It was at the Pasig stake center and it was an emergency preparation workshop done with the help of the city.  Anyway, we were assigned to hand out fliers to people outside but guess who I saw there?  It’s Alice!  My first baptism!  She’s back in the Philippines and she was helping the stake youth with the choreography.  They flash mobbed the palengke (outdoor market) and then at the church parking lot to “We’re All in This Together” by High School Musical.  I’ve got a video for it that I’ll send sometime.  Last I heard she was in Australia but I guess she’s back now until she can go back to Australia with her husband, Jared.  Anyway, she’s doing great and it was good to see her again after almost a year. 

Me and my companion, Elder Lim

With the zone leaders

Area missionaries

Sister Alice and her son, Mateo

Elder Lim and I decided to do a little bit more tracting and happened to get in to a really nice house of middle class investigators.  Don-Don and his family were willing to listen to us and are really nice and friendly.   We’ll be going back to their house this week and hopefully help them progress more.  Jeffrey Collo is the friend and kabahay (housemate) of Emil, a young man in our ward.  The family has been wanting missionaries to teach Jeffrey the gospel.  So we went over there last week and he accepted the Restoration.  He prefers English too so I was able to speak more powerfully.  We then went back on Friday and finished up the Restoration lesson and I felt impressed to invite him to baptism.  Before I could even finish the invitation, he accepted with a resounding yes.  He’s been waiting for the opportunity to get baptized because he sees Emil’s family and he wants to model his family after the same standards.  It was such a great spiritual lesson that Elder Lim was speechless because he said yes so fast!  So we’re going to try to get him baptized by the end of next month.  We’re going to work hard on this one.  He’s 18 and ripe to be a missionary as well!

Elder Lim and I decided to do a little bit more tracting and happened to get in to a really nice house of middle class investigators.  Don-Don and his family were willing to listen to us and are really nice and friendly.   We’ll be going back to their house this week and hopefully help them progress more.  Jeffrey Collo is the friend and kabahay (housemate) of Emil, a young man in our ward.  The family has been wanting missionaries to teach Jeffrey the gospel.  So we went over there last week and he accepted the Restoration.  He prefers English too so I was able to speak more powerfully.  We then went back on Friday and finished up the Restoration lesson and I felt impressed to invite him to baptism.  Before I could even finish the invitation, he accepted with a resounding yes.  He’s been waiting for the opportunity to get baptized because he sees Emil’s family and he wants to model his family after the same standards.  It was such a great spiritual lesson that Elder Lim was speechless because he said yes so fast!  So we’re going to try to get him baptized by the end of next month.  We’re going to work hard on this one.  He’s 18 and ripe to be a missionary as well!

Elder Ian S. Ardern of the Area presidency spoke to us on Thursday this week.  It was a great devotional about our duty as missionaries and how we are entitled to the Gift of Discernment and Gift of Teaching as missionaries.  It was very spiritually uplifting especially since he was very loving the whole time.  We have to work for it was what he said, there is a price to pay for the gift, and you will not gain it if you want it just for yourself.  You have to have the desire to use it to glorify God and it will be granted unto you.  So, that’s my goal for this week.  To be worthy of these gifts.  

But it was also a sad day because it was the Whiting’s last day in the Philippines.  President Whiting has been having some heart problems lately… so sad.  I told them to email me on my mission and keep in touch with me.  They were so great…they were like the Mormon grandparents I've never had.  Sister Whiting would always know when I had a problem and would always talk to me about it.  And President Whiting had so much wisdom on how to be a man and how to honor my Priesthood.  They’ve been so great especially when Lola passed away.  I’m going to miss them so bad! 

Well, that’s all of my news for the week.  It was so busy and so rewarding.  The fruits are ripening and just ready to pick. We’re going to keep working hard here!!!  I'll talk to you next week, but we'll be having a zone activity so I'm not sure if I'll be online while you're awake at that time.  I love you and all that you do!

Doing you Proud,

 Elder Froude ^_^

Yummy sizzling Sisig with egg!

The volleyball poles were stolen so we had to improvise