Cheesy, Cliche, & Converted‏

Written 9/14/14

Darling ones-

The destroying angel of transfers can only pass by for so long.

Sunday after church we got a call from the AP's that the long and wonderful 5 months of mine and Sister Oquias' companionship are up. SO devastated to be parted. I won't lie. But my new companion is Sister Reid, she is from Montana (Missoula) and goes home in December. We've seen each other from around the mission and I'm excited to be with her :) And thus ended the days of "Loquias".

I feel like everything I was going to write has flown from my mind because we haven't had time to do anything today except wait on the road for 2 hours for a bus and come to Bacolod. So. This email will be lame.

As for my subject line, this is a description of a missionary. We laugh at dumb things, probably sound cliche sometimes, and experience a mighty change of heart. I've really seen on my mission that even though our job is to help others experience conversion, we are the ones that experience it just as or more deeply. (How many times have you heard missionaries say that? I told you.. Cliche. But it's true.) Its a wonderful day when you realize the gospel isn't just something to be taught and repeated- it's different when it is actually applied. You find out all the stuff they told us in primary was true, and you begin to feel the converting power of the Holy Ghost.

This week was great. V. and F. L. stopped smoking completely. Its inspiring to see how much a person can change if they work with the Lord and really have a desire. Our recent convert young men have set goals to be worthy to pass and bless the sacrament again, and it's so great to see them doing better. Our Recent Converts bawled with Sister Oquias last night, and we ate dinner with the Romero's and they cried too. It's always so hard to say goodbye.

I literally can't remember anything from this week. Not even the funny stuff. Ahaha. Sorry :) I'm trying a new tactic of developing Christlike attributes. Especially the attribute of Charity. In Moroni it lists all that charity is;

"And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatestof all, for all things must fail—
 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."

There are 13 total. I decided to take the next 13 weeks and develop that kind of charity. Last week I focused on being long suffering and patient. I prayed for opportunities and boy, there were many given. But I indeed learned some good lessons on patience. This week is kindness. I'll keep y'all updated. Charity is definitely the natural by-product of Faith and Hope.

I know this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know we have the priesthood restored here on the earth and we have living prophets. I know that through that power we are able to be sealed as eternal families to become eternal beings, and stay with each other to never be parted again. We will be resurrected and never feel pain or sickness again because the Savior was resurrected. He lives. He is real. He invites us to have hope and repent and become better. I know these things to be true.

Love you all. Stay tuned after these messages.

Sister Luke

 Happy 1 Year!

"Sometimes, I just want to look in the Lord's planner."‏

Written 9/7/14

Hello darlings.

My subject line is a sample of the daily wisdom I hear from my lovely companion. :)

It feels like I just wrote to you like 2 days ago. I mean, I'm not complaining. But time just goes too fast here. Happy 1 year to me this week on Thursday. Don't ask me how I feel about that one. My life is weird. I do the same things every day, but somehow I feel excited every day. I love jogging, I love studies, I love work, and I love eating. So it's like every part of the day is my favorite.

So. The work this week. We found out this week that V. (who we thought was a Less Active) was never, in fact, baptized! So we set a baptismal date for October 4th and he's successfully quit smoking. Atonement is real, guys. Another highlight this week was seeing B. pass the sacrament. We have V.J., B., and L. who all have the priesthood but have been too shy to wear their white shirts to church and pass the sacrament. It was a wonderful moment to arrive at church and see B., smiling and excited wearing his white shirt and waiting to pass the sacrament. It's so true that the Lord makes up the difference of our imperfections and weaknesses.

Almost all of our young men RC's we've been struggling with this week came to church, and J. is working towards his goal of baptizing our investigator N. on the 20th :) A., our completely awesome and prepared little 11 year old doesn't have permission yet to be baptized. Keep her in your prayers, if you will. I've never seen a child with such a huge desire to be baptized.

We had a really awesome Zone Training on Thursday where I got to talk to a sister that just transferred from Silay. She told me C., a 15 year old that Sister De Castro and I met and taught, got baptized! And a lady named M. we had contacted on the street once recently got baptized too, and is paying her tithing. Man, it's cool to see the effects of the work. You never know what role you might be playing in someone's conversion!

It's amazing how hard it can be sometimes to overcome natural man tendencies. Even as a missionary, there are always plenty of temptations (contrary to what I thought before my mission haha). For example, we were sitting in a lesson this week with F. and the idea came into my head to go follow up with the family next door to him that we'd given a pamphlet to last time we were in that area. I immediately thought of excuses not to go- I was tired, we had appointments, etc, but as I opened my scriptures it fell to Alma 60. I read verses 20-24, and if you liken it to missionary work...

20 Have ye forgotten the commandments of the Lord your God? ... Have ye forgotten the many times we have been delivered out of the hands of our enemies [or out of temptation]?
 21 Or do ye suppose that the Lord will still deliver us [or help us with the work], while we sit upon our thrones and do not make use of the means which the Lord has provided for us?
 22 Yea, will ye sit in idleness while ye are surrounded with thousands of those, yea, and tens of thousands,who do also sit in idleness, while there are thousands round about in the borders of the land who are falling by the sword[of sin], yea, wounded and bleeding?
 23 Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.
 24 And now, except ye do repent of that which ye have done [or procrastinated], and begin to be up and doing......behold it will be expedient that we contend no more with [Satan] until we have first cleansed our inward vessel....
 So, that. It was a good Spirit slap. Needless to say, we went back to the family. I'm grateful for a Father in Heaven who deals with my human weaknesses and reminds me often that He is in charge.

Sorry for this novel of an email. Well, sorry to everyone but Mom. I know she likes me even if my emails are nonsense :) Just a few funny things from this week:

1. On our way to an appointment it was pouring and as I stepped on the cement I didn't realize it was slick with mold. I pulled a classic pre-mission-Amy move and was grateful that somehow I didn't end up on my bum. A new understanding of the scriptures "Angels round about you to bear you up" :)

2. Filipinos don't seem to know the meaning of the colors on the stop light. While teaching two primary aged recent converts and an 8 year old member "Obey and honor the law" we reviewed what the lights on the stoplight meant.
"Red?" we asked.
"STOP!" they shouted back.
"Yellow?"
"The SUN!" the little 8 year old screamed.
"Green?"
"LEAVES!" she yelled.
Ahaha. I love kids.

3. You will all be glad to know that I have truly conquered some fears here on the mission. If you know me you know that I struggle with feet and with sponges. I have found from being on the mission almost a year now that there are far worse things. I am pleased to report that I've successfully overcome those fears. (And probably developed new ones.)

I miss the temple a lot. But at the same time, this work is the same redemptive work we find in the temple, and beneath all the stress and exhaustion of missionary work there is a thick layer of delight and lasting happiness. There's definitely a glow about this work.

Love you all so much and I know you had as great of a week as I did because you all got to hold little baby Macie (no, I'm NOT jealous...). Give her a little kiss for me and tell her I'll be home to spoil her in 6 months.

Love,
Sister Luke

 

1. Because I love my mother. 

 

2. B. in his white polo on Sunday :) Stop getting mad that I always wear the same clothes, because I know you all notice. 

3. I just can't stop myself from including these. Sister and I discovered a new part of our area with amazing hills and as we walked up one I had a nice Julie Andrews moment with "The hills are alive!" ringing through my head and the urge to fling my arms out and twirl aroud. Flashback to Sound of Music (over a year ago!) :) We attempted to take some jump shots which resulted in the following pictures and eventually gave up due to the lack of success. But as I glanced through the pictures later I couldn't stop giggling. I ended up with a lot of awkwardly awesome poses, like I'm dancing, needing to go to the bathroom, or rejoicing in the trees. Just sing the Sound of Music in your head as you look at these and I hope you can laugh as much as I did.

Nanay, Tatay, Gusto ko tinapay! Ate, koya, gusto ko... Milo!‏

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

1. Red friends.

2&3 A. and F.

4. Yellow friends!

No Empty Chairs

Written 8/24/14

I've been thinking over and over about a quote I once heard, "The world tries to change people from the outside in. The gospel changes people from the inside out."

I was also pondering on the scripture in D&C 18:38 "And by their desires and their works, ye shall know them." The challenge of this life is overcoming the natural man, or in other words, changing not just our behavior to match the commandments, but changing our innermost desires. I thought upon examples in the scriptures of the gospel changing our desires and changing us from the inside out. Take Enos, for example. Enos experienced an "inside out" change. He said that as he was out doing everyday things- in his case, hunting wild beasts- he remembered the words of his father and they sunk deep into his soul. His "soul hungered" (to be forgiven of his sins) and he knelt and prayed. His simple desire, planted by the Spirit, led him to righteous actions, which led to significant spiritual results. His faith became unshaken. He became a great missionary... here we see how life shaping our desires turn out to be.

Compare this to Alma 30- Korihor, the anti-Christ. He had desires to become popular and powerful (desires placed on worldly things) which led him to preach false doctrines pleasing to the carnal man- bombarding the people with wickedness and temptations until they believed Korihor that every man "conquered according to his own strength" and "whatever they did was no crime", and believing there was no life after death- which bombardment eventually led them to "lift up their heads in wickedness" and giving in to devilish desires. Here we can see the stark contrast that the way of the Lord is to invite and prompt- inside out. Whereas the way of the devil is to tempt and persuade- outside in.

The hard part about these changes is that giving heed to the promptings and being changed from the inside out is a process that requires patience and humility. We must choose to yield to the Spirit. The way of the devil is much easier. All we have to do is be passive and comfortable and give into the "natural man" desires we already posses. I know that replacing those desires with Christlike desires is not easy, and I'm not perfect myself, but I know it's the only road to lasting and true happiness and peace.

Thanks for indulging my rambling. The work is going on. I was so sad to hear about Mamo passing away, but I do know that what I teach my investigators every day about the plan of salvation is true: We will see her one day with a perfect and complete body, never again to feel pain or sickness or exhaustion. Death is one part of the plan we must all experience, so that we can see each other again in celestial glory. The Lord comforts those left behind. On Saturday we had the chance to attend a funeral service of one of the members here in Manapla. Death always brings home the need for repentance and preparation to meet our God. I echo Aunt Laura's words, and I take peace in knowing that all of us are living worthy right now so that at the last day, there will be "No empty chairs in Eternity."

Love to you all,
Sister Luke

 

1. A recent convert. This is what they wear when they wash clothes here.

 

2. Happiness is... Krispy Kreme donuts.

3. I hereby dedicate this picture to Sister Andrus. Found this little guy while hanging up my laundry outside and went through quite the ordeal to catch him.

Manang Pula, Manang Puti‏

Written 8/17/14

The destroying Angel of transfers passed by our door this past week- surprisingly- seeing as Sister Oquias has been here for 4 months and I'm only 2 weeks behind her. But as President likes to point out, you can never guess him. It could happen any time.. But for now, we're grateful to have more time together here in Manapla. :)

Happy Fiesta here in Manapla! It's the craziest and coolest thing I've ever seen. Parades, pageants, street dancers... Picture the Utah Arts festival, Filipino style, times 3. I'll send you a picture of one of our members dressed up. Some of the boys here are more gwapa than I am. If you know what I mean...

We ran into some Jehovah's Witnesses this week who flat out told us they just wanted to debate with us.We only talked with them for about 10 minutes, but it made me so glad we know the truths that we do. We shared with them our purpose- that we aren't here to debate etc... and I shared my testimony that we are called of God to invite others to come unto Christ here in Bacolod, and he told me, "Oh yes, God used to call His servants in Bible times, but He doesn't talk to man anymore. You're just called to his work if you have love for him."

For some reason, that really got my blood boiling. Not with anger, but with a surety that I AM called of God. We have living, breathing and speaking Apostles and Prophets in our day, and God is not silent. I knew that with more surety than I ever have... It's really true that faith tested is faith strengthened.

He said a lot of other false doctrine and sort of yelled with us without yelling at us (if you know what I mean). We just bore testimony, thanked him for his time, and left it at that. As we walked away from such a nasty experience, I said a prayer of gratitude that we have the restored truth.

I've really learned that the influence of the members is way more powerful than the missionaries. We had an investigator tell us this week she isn't interested in us anymore, because of a bad experience she had in the past with some members. She told us that she didn't know why she should keep learning about a church with members who don't live what they learn. She said that if this was the true doctrine of Christ that we teach, it would change our member's behaviors. Ouch. That was a tough lesson.

On the flip side, we have a member who is struggling right now with some word of wisdom issues. He's had earrings in the last few times we've seen him, but this last lesson he was doing a lot better and had removed his earrings. He said it was because he's been spending a lot of time with a member who has been encouraging and helping him along the road of repentance. I'm so everlastingly grateful for the good example of the members. You all have so much more power than you can imagine.

Last experience here, something that happened last night. The best ever :) Last night our investigator A. and our recent convert L. told us that THEY were going to teach US (Sister Oquias and I and Liezel's referral, C.C.) the message of the Restoration! We readily agreed and couldn't stop smiling as they told us all about families, prophets, priesthood, Christ's ministry, the Apostasy and Joseph Smith. They even bore their testimony and offered a commitment to C.C. to pray about Joseph Smith. L. is only 12, and A. is only 10, but they said to each other after, "Pwede na kita mag-Sister!" or basically, "We could be Sisters now!" :)

The Elders baptized in the most gorgeous river this past week in their far area. We got to attend and it was the coolest thing ever. "Here are the waters of Mormon. And now..." :)

Lots of good stuff happening! I never get sick of missionary work.


Palangga ko kamo tanan!

Sister Luke

1. The waters of Mormon

2.& 3. Always enough rabies to go around! Just kidding mom.

 

4. L. and A. playing Sister.

5. Happy Fiesta!

6. Street dancing

7. Parade

8. Recent Converts

Just Call Me Wendy

Written 8/10/14

Sister and I sang "The Time is Far Spent" in our companionship study this morning. Happy 11 months to me, and happy 10 months to her! Time is a devil.

This week I got chased by a straight up crazy man in the market, while he's laughing maniacally and yelling "Manika! Gwapa ang Manika!" or, translated is "Doll! The doll is beautiful!" ...Which sounds stupid in English. I want to say it sounds better in Ilonggo, but it doesn't. But don't worry, Mom, Manapla is safe :)

L.O. was baptized on Saturday, and he bore such a sweet testimony. He told us he remembered what promises he was making to God, and he was so grateful we taught him. I LOVE SEEING PEOPLE BAPTIZED!! It's the best feeling ever.

Also, shoutout for the Clark family. I found out my zone leader, Elder Brady Meek, lived in St. Cloud for 4 years and knows you all! Small world. He says hi to Tanner :)

In case I didn't realize how prepared the Lord can make people, I was reminded again this week. In teaching A. the word of wisdom he told us that he'd quit smoking out of the blue 5 months ago, and he doesn't have any other vices. Then we came back and he showed us the notes he'd taken on his Book of Mormon reading and everything he'd learned from the pamphlets.Then he told us his friend called him (from Silay!) and told him he should move back to Silay. His response? "I can't, I've become a Mormon here in Manapla!"
He's not even baptized yet. But F. will be baptizing him on August 30 :)

On Sunday I saw F. paying his tithing. Turns out that's one of the greatest feelings ever.

Tidbit from our Zone training this week:
"Consecration is the only surrender that is a victory."

Sister and I now call Punta Salong "Neverland" because of the amount of young men and YSA aged boys we're teaching right now. And they all seem to have no mom and no home. They are the Lost Boys from Peter Pan and Sister and I feel like their "Wendy". But these guys are the coolest. 11 of them came to church yesterday. We're really working on helping them with Word of Wisdom- it's so heart breaking to see 9 and 8 year olds smoking and drinking. I already love all these ragamuffins.

I've been reading in Ether lately, and this morning I read Ether 12:36, which says, "And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity."

I thought, What does grace have to do charity? But as I thought about it more, I realized how crucial grace and the Atonement is to developing charity. I dunno about if you all feel this way, but not all people are easy to love, especially for me. It makes so much sense that we must gain access to and be worthy of the Savior's grace in order to be able to love all people, no matter what type of person they are. I've really felt that in my mission, that even as frustrating as these people can be sometimes, they are the most wonderful people in the world, and I would never, ever choose to be anywhere else than Bacolod.

I love the Filipinos, with all their crazies and scary food and naked babies running around everywhere. I love them even when they don't come to church and don't read their assignments and even when they hide from us and yell to us that there's nobody home. My love for them is not perfect, but it is augmented and magnified because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I know that the more faith is tested, the more faith is realized. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the antidote for all things and all trials.

Thank you for your prayers for the missionaries. We need it. We pray for you always.

Love,
Sister Luke

1. L.O.'s baptism

2. Neverland

3. Cake. Always cake.

4. Our "Lost Boys" :)

5. Happy 11 Months!

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.