Nakakapagpabagabag

Written 8/3/14 

The night I was set apart as a missionary, we were all about to leave for the stake center. Dad and I were alone in the laundry room, about to walk out to the car. I was wondering if I had to bring my mission call or any extra papers, and I asked dad, "Is there anything I should take with me?" Dad just looks at me and smiles and responds, "Courage?"

In Alma 17 we read about the sons of Mosiah going out for their first time into the mission field.
"And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

"And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God."

So, Dad is super smart, right? This week Sister Oquias and I have seen miracles. I've really felt this week that the Lord has made me an instrument, and it feels so good to do the Lord's work. I know patience really does pay off, and being courageous enough to follow promptings brings blessings.

First off, there's a lot of things on the mission you just have to man up about. Like your fears. Stuff like sponges and feet and cockroaches and speaking Ilonggo. But manning up is good! I can officially say I'm over my fear of feet. Yeah. "How beautiful... are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings". Right? Conquering fears here.

We did exchanges with the STL's on Tuesday and I was reunited with Sister Char for a second because she lives in the same apartment as the STL's in Victorias :) I learned a ton from Sister Legaspi and the rain soaked us pretty good.

Alright, down to the deets here. On Tuesday Sister and I were headed on our way to F. We always pass this guy outside his house, and he's one of those people I always think we'll talk to but always end up being in a hurry. President gave a training last week and mentioned that "someday" is a dangerous word. We were warned not to wait to act on promptings. Sister and I both slowed down as we walked by him, but neither one of us stopped till we got past his house. We finally turned to each other- couldn't put off the prompting anymore, and turned our little selves around to go talk to him. His name is A., he's 62, and we gave him a restoration pamphlet and had a 5 minute lesson with him... and the next time we came back he'd read the whole pamphlet and told us he believed Joseph Smith was a true prophet. Yeah, these things really do happen.

On Sunday, guess who showed up to church with F.? Yep. A. was there. We followed up Sunday after church and he'd already started reading in the Book of Mormon. We brought F. to the lesson with us, and F. shared with A. what he'd been learning in 2 Nephi 31. He told us all about the chapter, about Christ's invitation to follow Him, that even Jesus was baptized, and that we need to have faith, repent, and endure to the end. I sat open mouthed as F. bore his testimony to A. Miracles are so real. Earlier that day in church, F. had even gone to the pulpit and borne his testimony.I can't describe the happiness as I sat and listened to him share his conversion story.

We also met the L. family, a promising new 3 investigators on Saturday night. A very drunk less active insisted that he show to us his friends he wanted us to teach. We weren't quite sure we could trust him, but we took a couple recent converts with us to make sure no funny business happened and went to meet them. We even have drunk less actives giving referrals, so hey, can't complain.
The last awesome thing this week was L.'s baptism. She bore the strongest testimony and the Spirit was super strong.

The adventure this week was at Bishop's house trying fried squid. Which I was not positive I could actually eat but of course I did. And it wasn't even bad. Do you still recognize me?
I also learned the longest Tagolog word this week: "Nakakapagpabagabag". But don't try and say it too fast or you might end up swearing in Ilonggo, which is what I did on Wednesday in front of a bunch of recent converts. Ahaha. So I'm a great example.

Love you all, keep on truckin'.
Love,
Sister Luke

1. Reunions with Sister Char. Ignore the disheveled faces.

2. L. LOVE this girl.

3. Letters from our recent converts to us. They are talented artists. :)

4. The flood in the street on the way to Bishop's. This is a baby flood.

5. My favorite girl ever.

6. This is A. and F. in our lesson yesterday. 2 old men trying to help each other read the book of mormon. It doesn't get better than this :) My companion took the stolen picture... just for the record.