March 11, 2013

This week has been the usual we have been teaching our 5 investigators we have been focusing on! The ones I have been calling the Loyola group has been very disappointing for My companion and I. They were doing great! Making there way and preparing to be baptized this coming March 30! I was so happy for them but this Sunday, temptations and trials got the best of them. First off, The Loyola Couple they decided that they didn't have enough money, after we asked them on Saturday if they had some. They told us they did so we didn't ask any of the members to help them get to Church. They either lied or were to lazy to go to Church, so they just didn't show up. Also Bro. Teddy who is their friend decided he couldn't go because he didn't want to go by himself. It was just a disaster. The worst part of it was we went to visit them after Church, and we caught Bro. Teddy smoking!! It really just wrenches your heart. So we sat them down and we basically just had a long talk with them, basically they told us, we really messed up but, we know what we should have done. We left them with a spiritual thought to motivate them to keep trying. They know why it is important and they really want it. Really though, it is now up to them!! Anyways Bro. Teddy felt way guilty for smoking again. He said that was his first cigarette for 3 weeks. It kind of showed me that this is why we need to go to church, read our scriptures, and pray. It is harder to resist temptations when you don't do those things! Anyways we are progressing with our other 2 investigators. One of our investigators, Bro. Balosa, loves church so much and he has been going every sunday! He is hard to teach, because he doesn't understand a lot of things especially right after we teach it. So that is hard. But he is really progressing, he keeps all of his commitments which makes me way Happy. Also we have another Investigator, who is a son of a member. He just agrees with everything we say and keeps all his reading commitments. We ask him if he believes and he says yes!! Now all we have to do is get him to church. Besides that the search for new investigators is on! We tracted for the first time this week, because usually we have enough appointments, but for 2 hours we talked to 6 people, they all let us have a conversation with them. The hard part is everyone here is Catholic and not many people want to hear us,they just like it that we are foreigners and they like trying English on us haha! Anyways though it wasn't very successful but I am hoping we will find more people as we keep tracting those areas for new people. Anyways though I had an interesting experience this week with a Less Active families. The Philippines Quezon City Mission has a rescue effort for the lost sheeps, or meaning Less Actives. It is weird because we have one who got baptized and never came back. Not even confirmed! So we are trying to get this part member family together and strong!! We have left very strong messages and I feel like they have been super recpetive! I am hoping we will really progress with this family! But It is hard to see people, who have found the truth, and they can't endure to the end. I wish I knew a good way to help these people, but it seems like a problem in this mission that nobody really knows how to help them get back! I hope I will find my stride with the Less actives. Anyways this transfer has ended and I am half way done with training. One more transfer!! Well anyways this week has had it's ups and downs. I kind of don't know if something is spiritual or not. I just come out of lessons though feeling different some days and other days I am not. So maybe one day I will see the significance of things but right now I am just doing what I need to do. Working hard! I lovet this work, and I love this Church!! I know it is true, there is no way it is not! I have seen the people who don't even understand God and his love for us. They don't understand Jesus,and his role.  The Savior and Redeemer of this world, the man with no sins, who paid and suffered for ours so that we could be clean from them, through his example and direction created a perfect church, under the direction of God. I wish I could just show them that it makes sense! It really does. Anyways I hope I will be able to share that message and give people who are searching for these things what they want, the thing that everyone needs!