Written 8/31/14
I can't figure out how to creatively greet you all anymore, so I'll just start right in, shall I?
Happy "ber" months everyone! When it gets to the September, October months etc.. It's basically Christmas here. So Merry Christmas. Also, happy birthday to Tanner, Adam, Charlotte, and hopefully new little Macie Susan this week :)
I learned a Tagolog sort of patty cake hand game this week that I'm so teaching to all your kids when I get home. That explains my subject line :) I think mom would have been pretty proud of me this week as Sister and I desperately made up on-the-spot actions for the 10 commandments to the kids we were teaching. What can I say? I am my mother's daughter.
Also, I was offered coffee and cigarettes for the first time in my life this week. I'm not sure why this happened. Ahaha. I will forever be confused by the people here in the Pines.
Sister and I calculated this week that here in Manapla we walk about 6-8 miles a day. It's a good thing I didn't know I would be doing that much walking before my mission or maybe I wouldn't have come. Ahaha. Just kidding. But really.
L. made my day last Tuesday. She's already started on her Personal Progress and she shared with us on Tuesday that she had had a goal to memorize the Young Women theme (in English) so she could say it with the other Young Women this Sunday. On Monday night she prayed before she tried to memorize it, and worked on it till she knew it by heart.Then she recited it for us on the spot :) We were so proud of her.
Brother A. was baptized on Saturday, and it never gets old to see investigators baptized. Even when they are baptized 5 times on account of floating limbs. :) As I led the music during the baptism and as I looked at those in attendance I realized I was looking at 7 of our Recent Converts and 2 investigators all in the same room. It was a sweet spirit. F. was supposed to be the one to baptize A. but as you can see in the picture A. was a little tall to be baptized by someone as small as F. In the end we had to have Elder Ackerman step in to save the day :)
I pondered this week on the many miracle experiences I've had on the mission, and lately I've been asking myself why these miracle experiences don't always yield visible fruit. Example: teaching an investigator a really wonderful lesson where we felt like the Spirit gave us exactly the words we needed to say. But then come Sunday, the investigator still doesn't come to church. Or maybe we met someone that seemed really prepared in a miraculous way, but then they end up not progressing. I asked myself why these amazing experiences get our hopes up, only to dash them again when the investigator or less active still doesn't change.
My conclusions? I'm sure the Lord has many reasons. But a couple in particular... 1) People will always have their agency. Which can be a frustrating thing. But we cannot take that away. And 2) often times these experiences are more for us than they are for those we meet. As Sister Andrus taught me, God doesn't always expect us to move the big rock that he's set before us. Sometimes He just expects us to push. And as we push, we find that instead of the rock moving, we get stronger. Looking back on past experiences I see that as we went back, and back, and back again to less actives or investigators who, to this day, are probably still less active or not yet baptized, it may not have been them that changed, but it for sure changed me.
I just want to share my testimony that Christ lives. Every capability, every blessing, every hope and every ounce of faith we have is only because of one truth: Christ lives. In just two words, we have so many restored truths. Christ lives: He died for our sins and sorrows. Christ lives: He was resurrected. So will I be. Christ lives: He directs His church. Christ lives: He still loves us and communicates to us through living prophets. Christ lives: He is unchanging. Christ lives: He is not some foreign, uncaring being who sits and watches us from above. Christ lives: He has a body like you and me with emotions and desires for us to return to Him. So many truths stemming from the fact of his resurrection. I know He lives.
Love you all. Keep workin' on that dutch. (Movie movie.)
Paalam,
Sister Luke
Happy "ber" months everyone! When it gets to the September, October months etc.. It's basically Christmas here. So Merry Christmas. Also, happy birthday to Tanner, Adam, Charlotte, and hopefully new little Macie Susan this week :)
I learned a Tagolog sort of patty cake hand game this week that I'm so teaching to all your kids when I get home. That explains my subject line :) I think mom would have been pretty proud of me this week as Sister and I desperately made up on-the-spot actions for the 10 commandments to the kids we were teaching. What can I say? I am my mother's daughter.
Also, I was offered coffee and cigarettes for the first time in my life this week. I'm not sure why this happened. Ahaha. I will forever be confused by the people here in the Pines.
Sister and I calculated this week that here in Manapla we walk about 6-8 miles a day. It's a good thing I didn't know I would be doing that much walking before my mission or maybe I wouldn't have come. Ahaha. Just kidding. But really.
L. made my day last Tuesday. She's already started on her Personal Progress and she shared with us on Tuesday that she had had a goal to memorize the Young Women theme (in English) so she could say it with the other Young Women this Sunday. On Monday night she prayed before she tried to memorize it, and worked on it till she knew it by heart.Then she recited it for us on the spot :) We were so proud of her.
Brother A. was baptized on Saturday, and it never gets old to see investigators baptized. Even when they are baptized 5 times on account of floating limbs. :) As I led the music during the baptism and as I looked at those in attendance I realized I was looking at 7 of our Recent Converts and 2 investigators all in the same room. It was a sweet spirit. F. was supposed to be the one to baptize A. but as you can see in the picture A. was a little tall to be baptized by someone as small as F. In the end we had to have Elder Ackerman step in to save the day :)
I pondered this week on the many miracle experiences I've had on the mission, and lately I've been asking myself why these miracle experiences don't always yield visible fruit. Example: teaching an investigator a really wonderful lesson where we felt like the Spirit gave us exactly the words we needed to say. But then come Sunday, the investigator still doesn't come to church. Or maybe we met someone that seemed really prepared in a miraculous way, but then they end up not progressing. I asked myself why these amazing experiences get our hopes up, only to dash them again when the investigator or less active still doesn't change.
My conclusions? I'm sure the Lord has many reasons. But a couple in particular... 1) People will always have their agency. Which can be a frustrating thing. But we cannot take that away. And 2) often times these experiences are more for us than they are for those we meet. As Sister Andrus taught me, God doesn't always expect us to move the big rock that he's set before us. Sometimes He just expects us to push. And as we push, we find that instead of the rock moving, we get stronger. Looking back on past experiences I see that as we went back, and back, and back again to less actives or investigators who, to this day, are probably still less active or not yet baptized, it may not have been them that changed, but it for sure changed me.
I just want to share my testimony that Christ lives. Every capability, every blessing, every hope and every ounce of faith we have is only because of one truth: Christ lives. In just two words, we have so many restored truths. Christ lives: He died for our sins and sorrows. Christ lives: He was resurrected. So will I be. Christ lives: He directs His church. Christ lives: He still loves us and communicates to us through living prophets. Christ lives: He is unchanging. Christ lives: He is not some foreign, uncaring being who sits and watches us from above. Christ lives: He has a body like you and me with emotions and desires for us to return to Him. So many truths stemming from the fact of his resurrection. I know He lives.
Love you all. Keep workin' on that dutch. (Movie movie.)
Paalam,
Sister Luke
1. Red friends.
2&3 A. and F.
4. Yellow friends!
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