Carry On, Carry On, Carry On!‏

Written 3/30/14

Hey family!

It might be a shorter one today, running behind on time. You all are so awesome and email me so frequently that I always have so much to read! :) You are great.

This week was hard but good. We scheduled a ward missionary to work with us every day this week and were SO excited to finally have a schedule worked out... and 5 out of 7 cancelled on us. So that was disappointing. But we still worked very hard and met some awesome people.

This week has also been a crazy one because of emergency transfers going on. Last week the Cebu mission absorbed two of our areas here in Negros, because they are Cebuano speaking areas... Meaning that 45 of our missionaries (mostly elders) assigned in those Cebuano areas had to be transferred back into other areas! Crazy. The "Silay Sisterhood" no longer exists here :) (before, we had 8 sets of sisters here in Silay.) The good news? We have Elders in our ward again! And Elder Henson is back! He was my Zone leader in Bacolod and he served in Bacolod 2nd ward with me. So fun to have familiar faces.

I also finally got all the letters that the office has been hoarding all month! 2 from mom, one from Megan, and a Dear Elder from Heather (very entertaining reading!) so a big fat thank you to all of you :)

We had some really good experiences this week with some investigators, and some surprises too. Brother E. still texts us, but we haven't been to visit him yet. One of our really awesome investigators, C., we found out is actually a long time less active. She's only 14, but she was baptized a few years ago probably when she was 8 or 9. Haha as we extended the baptismal invitation to her, she said, "How do you guys baptize in your church? I think I'm already a Mormon..." Hahaha and indeed she is. But we're excited to start working with her family and get them active again in the ward.

I just want you all to know that I love this work. The gospel is simple and clear. I am so happy, even though things get tough. As I was studying sacrifice this week, and thinking about the sacrifices we make in our lives, I was reminded of the story of Cain and Abel, and the importance of our attitude in sacrificing. Abel was obedient to the Lord's commandments, and willingly gave of the firstlings of his flocks a pure and unblemished lamb. Cain gave a sacrifice too, but it was the fruits and vegetables of his crops. Both sacrificed, but only Abel's sacrifice was acceptable to the Lord. Why? Because Abel gave exactly what was asked of him, and he did it with a willing heart. Sometimes we try to set the conditions of our sacrifices with the Lord, but we don't get to pick and choose when it comes to obedience. Obedience requires sacrifice, but we must be willing to sacrifice according to the Lord's commandments. Take Tithing, for example. The Lord asks 10 percent. Not 9 percent, and not 12 percent, but 10. We don't get to pay 9 percent, and recieve 90% of the blessings... It just doesn't work like that. We either pay the 10% or we don't get those blessings. Does that makes sense?

 I guess the point is: a lamb cannot be reproduced in fruits and vegetables. No matter how much you try, wish, and pray for those vegetables to be a lamb, or to be acceptable to the Lord, they will never be enough. Moral of this rambling paragraph...always give what is required of us by the Lord, and never substitute. I promise we will receive the blessings upon which that law is predicated.

I love you all, keep goin' strong. Kita aye kita!

Sister Luke

 

1. Carabao! I think in english its a water buffalo? Pretty sweet.

 

2. Our cute things from Sister Davis' mom. :)

3. Sister P.U., my second mother here in Silay! She's a returning Less active who feeds us a bunch, and we went to her house last night to eat and say congrats to their graduate :) LOVE her!