Hello Family and Friends!
Well this week was a long, but well worth while week! In
fact, Elder Panton and I have 3 baptisms coming up this Saturday!!!
WOOHOO!!! That will make it 6 baptisms for me so far! 2 of them are
younger kids and the other is a Single Adult with such amazing faith. She
is in our farthest area, it is about an hour away and you also have to take a
boat, but she still continued to come to church every week for the past few
months and is now ready to get baptized this Saturday.
It's amazing what
some of these people can do and how much faith they have to stay true to the
commandments of God! The kids on the other hand took a little bit of
work... So I just have to be honest and come out and say that this is the
first area where I actually had kid investigators. I never got them in my
other areas because they are usually pretty crazy, they have a hard time paying
attention, and there are many things that can cause them to leave the
church.
When I came into this area, I found that over half of our
investigators are kids, so I am working with my companion on some things, but I
am still happy to teach them, if they will actually listen! These 2 kids
took a lot of visits and reminding, but on the day of their interviews they were
ready and definitely had a testimony and a strong desire to become members of
our Church, take upon themselves the name of Christ, and come closer unto
Him.
It was a little funny though, because one of the kids after their
interview said, "Yes, I was able to memorize it all!!!" And
then our Zone Leaders asked if they memorized their testimony and they said
no. Hahaha man am I glad they said no otherwise my companion and I would
have been in some trouble! (Let it be known as fact that Elder Panton and I ONLY
helped them memorize the rules in our church, like Word of Wisdom, Law of
Chastity, and Tithing!)
Summer has also arrived here in the Philippines
and man is it hot! Literally, after we walk out of the apartment, I sweat
for the rest of the day, without any hope of it ever stopping. That's also
kind of a bummer because now I have to pay Nanay more to wash my clothes
because there are soo many! I also need to make sure I drink more water,
so I don't get sick anymore. I am trying my best to stay away from the
hospitals for the last 3 months of my mission. My biggest fear at this
point is to get really sick again right before I go home. But as long as
I keep doing what I am doing, I think I will be just fine!
So this week,
while reading the Bible, I got to the story of Esther and I really enjoyed the
story. As I read, I was able to picture it all in my head as the
Veggietales version! Hahaha there were multiple times where I laughed and
my companion looked at me funny because it was during personal study after
all. I really like her story though. To do what she did took a lot
of faith. Knowing that you could die just be entering into the room of
your husband, has got to be a little scary. I love how she said that if
she died, so be it. It takes someone with real courage to forget about
themselves and their life for the sake of their people. I also really had
a good laugh when Hamen tells the king how to properly thank a man and says
that the person should ride on the Kings horse and where the Kings apparel,
only to find it wasn't for him, it was for Esthers uncle. Haha, anyways I
had a good laugh with that.
Well besides the work we did in our area, I
also got two do 2 baptismal interviews for the Elders in my district and both
of them seemed ready to enter the waters of baptism! I am very happy for
them and the decision that they have made, and I am also proud of the Elders in
my district! Its neat how I now get to see how other missionaries are
doing. No matter what happens during their week, I am always proud of the
effort they give! :)
Anyways, this week I got to try this weird fruit that I
guess is like watermelon. I don't really know how to describe it but
honestly it tasted like candy! It was also weird looking but I don't have
a picture of it before it was cut... SORRY!!!
Anyways, that is pretty much all
I have for this week, I love you all and will talk to you all again soon!
Love,
Elder Zach Warren
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