November 17, 2010

Hello everyone!
Thank you all for your birthday cards and packages and letters. I really appreciate it. We just had transfers and the 2 weeks the zone leaders have been in almost all of the mail was for me. I thought it was awesome, they just wish they could get more. So thank you all for that.

This last Sunday about 5 min before the meeting the Branch President asked us missionaries if one of us wanted to speak. My loving companion turned to me and asked if I wanted to. Sure! I replied. I had never given a talk in Visaya (Cebuano) and with 5 min to go before sacrament meeting, eh why not! "How long do you want me to speak for?" I asked. Just a short talk. 20 min, 15 min, Whatever you can do. 20 min! That is not a short talk. That is a full length High Councilman time period. So I decided to go with the "Whatever you can do" option. I liked that better. I asked him what the topic was. He replied that I should talk about whatever I think the members need. Oh thanks for your outstanding advice. But it was effective. I should learn to sustain my leaders. About the time the meeting started (it started about 5 min late so it gave me an extra 5 min to prepare) I had picked my topic. The members here get baptized, but then many go inactive and do nothing to support the branch or the church. So enduring to the end was my topic. I though the tree of life and the iron rod would work well for that. I quickly found the scripture. But I wanted one more scripture. The words "Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ" popped into my mind. Great! I'll take it. But where was that scripture? I didn't have a clue. Then I thought of the hymn "Press Forward Saints." That I could find. I grabbed the hymn book next to me and found the scripture linked to it in 2 Nephi. Great! So I had my topic, and a story from the scriptures and an additional scripture to go along with it. Now I just had to make it all work together, invite the spirit, keep the congregation from sleeping, help the people change their lives, and do it all in Visaya. Walay problema! So that is when you rely on the Lord.

When it was my turn to speak, for the first time ever teaching in visaya, I could worry about what to say and not how to say it. My companion said later that my Visaya was good, only a few errors. It was very understandable. When I went to share my scripture about pressing forward with a steadfastness in Christ, I accidently read the scripture before it, which happens to talk about the strait and narrow path, the topic I had been speaking on. It was an accident for me, but not for the Lord. He picked that scripture, helped me remember it, gave me a way to find it, had me read the one the congregation really needed, and then helped me to teach it clearly in Visaya. I know there is no way that I did all that. I am not that capable.

I know that when we rely on the Lord, ask Him for His help, and then do something, that He will gladly help us. I have seen that with my Visaya. I prayed for help with the language for a long time, but didn’t work that hard on it. I spent my time studying doctrine and the lessons and the Book of Mormon. But the day that I decided I needed to learn the language and that I was going to do what it takes, and then did something about it, I had 2 conversations with people on tricycles, which usually doesn't happen. Usually peopled don’t talk back. Both of them commented on how good my Visaya was. That doesn't happen very often, and I know it was because I put my faith in the Lord, and then did something. President Uchtdorf quoted President Monson who said, It is not enough to say we are going to make the effort, it is in the doing that the Lord can bless us. I know that is true.

Nasayud ko nga tinuod kining simbahan. Nasayud ko nga tinuod propeta si Joseph Smith ug tinuod ang Basahon ni Mormon. Nasayud ko nga tinuod propeta si Thomas S. Monson karon panahon. Kon buhaton nato mga butang diri sa kalibutan, makabalik ta sa atong Amahan sa Langit ug makapuyo ta sa atong mga pamilia sa wala kataputsan.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary. I really enjoy my companion that I have now. We have a lot of fun together. This last week we taught 25 new investigators. Hopefully some of them will progress. We have a baptism scheduled for next Saturday the 27, Sister Erlinda Alcala. We are also teaching 4 brothers, Oswe, Renante, Leonardo, and Hector. We need their priesthood in our branch. We just split the branch and now have 3 active Melchizedek Priesthood holders, and one only comes about half the time. The people of the Philippines need all the prayers they can get. Their lives are such a struggle. Many men make enough money a day to pay for between 4 and 8 meals. Many of them have that many kids. We are teaching a family who have 13 people living in their house about the size of our dining room. There are 2 rooms and one is divided by a sheet. They sleep on the bamboo floor. They cook over a fire, many people do, out back. I worry every step I take that I am going to fall through the floor. I am the biggest person that goes there. I have to aim for the floor joists so I don’t fall through. I have never seen the husband. He is always working. Their 12 year old son drives a secad all day long, a bike with a little sidecar attached. You pay 5 pesos for a ride. That is about 10 cents. They need all the help they can get.

Thank you all for all you do. I know the Lord loves us and watches over us all. In the hard times, it is Him who can make the difference. Christ is the difference between sorrow and happiness. He is on our side, we just have to accept His help. He really does love you.

Love,
Elder Schenk