Tuesday, March 3, 2015

March 2nd, 2015: Following the Promptings of the Spirit Helps Testimonies Grow

I have had a GREAT week.  We did have conference yesterday. Culasi will not becoming a branch yet though.  I think it might still be a while though.  I think the area presidency wants us to meet a higher number of full-tithe paying Melchezidek Priesthood holders even though we have met the minimum of becoming a branch. We did have 4 men receive the Melchezidek Priesthood at conference though. It was really cool.  We also had some great talks in conference.  We had a member of the quorum of the 70 there that presided.  He gave a really good talk about the conversion of his family.  His family was pure iglesia ni cristo (church known by missionaries as the church that likes to butt heads).  His mother met with the missionaries and within 15 minutes she believed everything and changed everything.  The father wouldn't go for it though.  For 6 months he tried to get his family to come back to ang iglesia ni cristo but he couldn't convince them.  Finally, he agreed to be being baptized.  He said he asked his father why he decided to change.  His father said, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. haha.  It was kind of cool though.  He was a good speaker though.  He had the attention of the entire hall. You could feel the Spirit too.  
Me and Elder Coronel have had some fun too.  We were walking to an appointment this week, and we decided to take a short cut through the rice fields.  We got to a point where the little walk way (maybe look up a picture to know what I'm talking about) was recently made, so it wasn't very stable and pretty muddy, but of course that doesn't hinder us... Anyways I just look back and Elder Coronel just goes in knee deep.  It took him 15 minutes to go maybe 30 yards to the road.  It was so funny.  I took a short video so I can send it too you.  I laughed so hard though.  I made it through with only going one time going in knee deep.  
We had one pretty cool experience this week.  In one of our daily planning sessions, we felt like we should visit this village that is way out in the mountains.  We have been there once, and it didn't go super great.  There is only one church out there, and literally everyone in that village is a member of that church But, the Spirit was telling us that we should go there, so we went there.  When we got there, we just walked around for a bit and then tagbalayed this house.  We start talking to this Nanay and we find out that their family had investigated the church for 5 months in Bacolod, but didn't get baptized because they moved here 15 years ago and there was no church or members here. They still had their Book of Mormon, read from it and have a testimony of it.  We asked them to baptized and they said yes.  They just couldn't believe we had found them way out there.  They then proceeded to introduce us to all of their neighborhood friends.  We now have 6 or 7 families to teach out there that are very interested.  They are all coming to church this week too. They were all saying stuff like, 'there is only one church here.  I wish there were more around here so people could choose for themselves which is true.  I just feel like there is missing in our church."  They were just saying stuff that is golden for missionaries to hear.  Anyways, the whole experience has helped my testimony grow of the Spirit.  Experiences where you listen to the promptings of the Spirit and a miracle happens is such a testimony builder.  It also shows that in missionary work, what the Lord says is way more useful than the reasoning of men.  If it was me, I would not have taken a whole day to go out there and teach people that don't really like us.
So, to answer your questions
Questions:
Lacy: not a question but just letting you know I danced with Hawkins,
John: any weird alien dog sightings?
Chloe: do people eat pizza and if so what are the toppings?
Dad: what is the quality of razor blades?
Connor: has the chubby kid that moons elder Coronel been around?
Natalie: I'm writing you right now.
Oliver: do you get to sleep a lot?
Mom: what will you miss the most about Culasi?
Lacy, way to go
John, to be honest, all the time, but it just hardly even phases me anymore.  I can't think of any time specifically though haha.  The one with the pink mushroom growing out of it's butt I don't think will ever be topped. 
Chloe, actually eat pizza here everything is normal except that the sauce is banana based instead of tomato base.  It tastes a little weird
Dad, quality of razor blades.  We sometimes get just little razors at little chunggis.  Their pretty sharp, they work well.
Connor, to be honest, I've only seen that kid twice since then and he was pretty tame. One of the times we saw him, he was showering outside naked.  When he saw that we saw him, his reaction was so funny. 
Oliver, we only get 8 hours to sleep a day and a lot of days we have to wake up early for stuff, so no, we don't sleep a lot.  
Mom, I was thinking about it.  I think I'll just miss how beautiful it is and how nice the people are.  It's an area that a lot of missionaries want to go to.  Mostly, I'll just miss the people though. I'm excited to know where I'm going to get transferred though!
Sorry about the last couple of weeks! The internet has been a little frustrating lately.  We are in San Jose today so everything is well. 
Have a great week!



This spider was on Stuart's head when he woke up one morning.
He tells us it's the size of a CD and scared him half to death!


Mom said, "Please tell me you didn't cross that rickety bridge." and he replied,
"I think you know what happened." Yikes! 




Hanging on for dear life on the bus going to District Conference.






A favorite dessert- Halo-Halo. Cream, sugar, jello, sweet potato, corn, beans & fruit.
It sure is pretty and Stuart seems to really like it.


Sometimes it doesn't pay to take a short cut through the walkways in the rice patties.
Poor Elder Coronel.



Piling them on the jeepney and bus where ever they can including the roof.
Wowsers!

This cute little boy came up to Elder Coronel and just stared at him.
He then took his Mt Dew, while still staring at him, and then chugged it
all gone. Stuart and Elder Coronel laughed and laughed.



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