Thank you for the pictures. I am once again amazed at how great and successful my family is. I have great soccer playing Spanish student of the year genius brother and two great sisters, one who is running yet another marathon... I ran 6 miles once... and the other who has a cute little baby and a sweet new house. Seeing pictures of houses in America is weird. They are so small here. Last night we had a lesson at a recent converts house, the one I got to baptize Saturday (I forgot to write about it last week. Sorry... I’ll give details later) and we had 4 ward missionaries come with us. It was hard pressed to find a place for the 7 of us to sit in her house because it is so small. She doesn’t own a chair, but she has an old footrest to a recliner that she piles things on and a little wood stool that two can squeeze onto that sits about 6 inches off the floor. Other than that you just sit on the floor. That is just half of the house, but the other has a dirt floor and is where she cooks. The room where they eat, watch TV, read and sleep is about 6x10 feet. It has bamboo woven walls and a metal roof. The roofs here get rusty and have little holes in them. Or they lash some palm leaves together and stack them like shingles. Those don’t last that long. So your house is sweet Katie! Nice work. You also make more than $7 in a ten hour work day. That makes a difference.
Last Saturday Susan was baptized. I got to baptize her. It was such a good experience. Before that we were able to go with her to a 50th anniversary of the church in the Philippines. All the youth in the entire Philippines put on a dance festival to celebrate. That was neat. The baptism was so good. We had a program and speakers who were ready to give talks and not a ton, but quite a few members there. Afterwards we had chicken and rice that the ward provided. That was the most organized baptism I have ever been to. This ward is amazing. The only baptism here that I have seen food at was when Elder Nicoleta and I cooked spaghetti and brought it ourselves. It was great to have the wards help. Right after the baptism - while I was changing - I felt such a joy, just like it describes it in the scriptures when we are able to help someone with their salvation. I love this work! I definitely underestimated the worth of a mission before I came. I can't blame the RM's though because it’s not something you can really put into words, you just have to experience it. And when you do, you will never be the same. When you give the Lord the crust, He really does give you a loaf in return. I love this work so much. It is so rewarding!
Now for the "What to Pray For" section you asked for Mom. Prayer is so important (3 Nephi 18:18-21).
1. Pray for the spirit of the Lord to be spread throughout the world and that the people will open their hearts and be prepared to receive the the gospel.
2. Pray that we will be able to find all the people that the Lord has prepared to receive this glorious gospel and be able to share the gospel with them and that they will have the faith to be baptized (2 Nephi 33:12).
3. My investigators who need extra help:
* Zenida Algabre. She wants to be baptized so bad, but her husband is mad at us because his wife is not always home to fulfill his every wish... while he is drunk... because she is at church or visiting the temple or having lessons with us. We can’t even meet with her anymore because her husband won’t allow it. Pray that her husband, Pedro, will have his heart softened and eventually join the church so that they can be sealed as a family. Also pray that Sister Zenida will have the strength to continue through the persecutions.
* The Castillio family. They need to gain a testimony that the church is true. They came to church the first week after they were taught, that never happens here, but they do not yet have a testimony. They will never become strong members of the church without it.
* Maribel and Haymi. Pray that they will gain a testimony as well. Sister Maribel is so smart. She thinks things through so thoroughly before she will commit to anything. When we asked her if she would pray about Joseph Smith starred at the floor for about thirty seconds. I asked her what her feelings were, and after expressing herself she said that she needed to pray, and then very thoughtfully she said that she needed to really read the Book of Mormon, not just the introduction. In her prayer at the end of the lesson she said that maybe this was the reason why they were transferred here (they just moved) so that she could learn about the church. If she receives an answer she is going to be so strong. She is so sincere. Unlike that, her husband just accepts everything we say and readily commits to everything we give him.
If we will help with missionary work, we will see, like the people in the time of Helaman, a "great prosperity in the church, insomuch that there were thousands who did join themselves unto the church and were baptized unto repentance." The blessings were so great "that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure" (Helaman 3:25-26) What a great blessing. We all have the opportunity and responsibility to do missionary work. Every member a missionary. The blessings are so rich! All we have to do is talk to the people we love the most. They will listen because we really do love them.
Love,
Elder Schenk
Now for the "What to Pray For" section you asked for Mom. Prayer is so important (3 Nephi 18:18-21).
1. Pray for the spirit of the Lord to be spread throughout the world and that the people will open their hearts and be prepared to receive the the gospel.
2. Pray that we will be able to find all the people that the Lord has prepared to receive this glorious gospel and be able to share the gospel with them and that they will have the faith to be baptized (2 Nephi 33:12).
3. My investigators who need extra help:
* Zenida Algabre. She wants to be baptized so bad, but her husband is mad at us because his wife is not always home to fulfill his every wish... while he is drunk... because she is at church or visiting the temple or having lessons with us. We can’t even meet with her anymore because her husband won’t allow it. Pray that her husband, Pedro, will have his heart softened and eventually join the church so that they can be sealed as a family. Also pray that Sister Zenida will have the strength to continue through the persecutions.
* The Castillio family. They need to gain a testimony that the church is true. They came to church the first week after they were taught, that never happens here, but they do not yet have a testimony. They will never become strong members of the church without it.
* Maribel and Haymi. Pray that they will gain a testimony as well. Sister Maribel is so smart. She thinks things through so thoroughly before she will commit to anything. When we asked her if she would pray about Joseph Smith starred at the floor for about thirty seconds. I asked her what her feelings were, and after expressing herself she said that she needed to pray, and then very thoughtfully she said that she needed to really read the Book of Mormon, not just the introduction. In her prayer at the end of the lesson she said that maybe this was the reason why they were transferred here (they just moved) so that she could learn about the church. If she receives an answer she is going to be so strong. She is so sincere. Unlike that, her husband just accepts everything we say and readily commits to everything we give him.
If we will help with missionary work, we will see, like the people in the time of Helaman, a "great prosperity in the church, insomuch that there were thousands who did join themselves unto the church and were baptized unto repentance." The blessings were so great "that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure" (Helaman 3:25-26) What a great blessing. We all have the opportunity and responsibility to do missionary work. Every member a missionary. The blessings are so rich! All we have to do is talk to the people we love the most. They will listen because we really do love them.
Love,
Elder Schenk
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