Elder Zach Warren: First Talk in Church

Hello family!

So this week was a pretty great week! We had tons of meetings this week though which was not very fun. On Wednesday I had my 4 week reunion! It was nice to see the Elders from the provo MTC again. They all seem to be doing really well for the most part. On the down side, the meeting lasted around 9 hours. On the bus ride back to our apartment both me and my companion totally passed out. Then the next day, we had to go to a Zone Conference!!! Talk about exhausting. We kind of have to get up early for these things due to the fact that my companion is the District Leader. The meeting again lasted around 9 hours. After the meeting we went on splits with the Ramon Elders and we went with them to a baptism the next morning. It is always fun to be in a group of 4 Elders. But somehow everyone keeps finding ways to get baptisms. But I found out that Rizal is not a high baptism rate. Although this won't deter me from finding a way to get a baptism before I leave, I guess our APs, Zone Leaders, and so on have been there and were also unsuccessful in getting any baptisms.

On Saturday we had family week! This is a highly church endorsed week in the Philippines. We started off the day going on a 30 minute walk to the church with our stake. Then we had basketball games. Now at first I didn't expect to play, but sure enough in the second game it was the Elders versus the adults. Of course we won. The crowd was very entertaining as well. Whenever there was a pack, the whole crowd started yeling "OHHH". Afterwards we played volleyball and had lunch. It was really nice to fellowship our recent converts with the other members. In my opinion, that was definitely a successful event.

On Sunday I had to give my first talk.... Being a missionary I really didn't have time to prepare anything until that morning during priesthood. Luckily I found a good article in the memorial for Elder L. Tom Perry. When it came time for me to give my talk, I guess I did really well. At the end of sacrament, President Tumaliaun kept telling me that I was magaling at Tagalog haha. That means like great by the way.

This week we were able to get a woman who has been inactive for a long time to return to church. We went her house expecting to teach someone else, but it happened that she was available. The lesson ended up being an hour and a half long. She had so many questions, but we were able to answer all of them. By the end I was really exhausted, and even said if she doesn't come to church now, I don't know what will. I know that God prepares people for us in his own due time. If we continue to constantly try and don't give up, Heavenly Father will give us his children to bring back into the fold. As it said in Elder L. Tom Perry's article, we must strengthen every area we go to. Sometimes it may seem pointless, but I know that if you continue to give the people love, they will eventually come back.

That is it for this week. I will continue to work hard. And I will send some pictures!!

Lots of love,

Elder Warren