First I just want to wish my brother Dallin and sister Tayla a happy birthday, and I'm especially grateful that I received a picture of the food. I'll send it out for everyone to see, it really made me..... so.... happy... that they had such amazing food to eat... SO happy...
Anyways, the week has been fantastic, the highlight was a special mission visit from Elder Schmutz of the Seventy and President of the Philippines area. We had a discussion about the Gospel of Jesus Christ where we got to ask questions and share insights. One thing I really liked from him was actually something that he heard once. So Him and President Russell M. Nelson were doing a Leadership Training Seminar and someone asked a really good question there. They asked how to help people who are apathetic about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Right off the bat, President Nelson gave the simple 2 part answer: Teach and help them understand who they are in relation to God, and teach them their purpose here in mortality. That was it. It's two things we should all try to gain better understanding of, and it includes understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Another thing that happened this week, or at least almost.... Buckle down, here's the story
So it starts a few months ago with the baptism of Brother Jerry and Sister Lisa. They were an older couple taught by the sisters and were all ready to be baptized, and they wanted me to do it! Of course I was willing. We got Jerry done alright, but when it came to Lisa, she couldn't do it. She made it to the last step, but she couldn't overcome her fear of dunking her head, so we didn't even try it. Fast forward to Saturday. She was ready to try again! And she still wanted me to do it! So we got her down into the water, and all ready to go. I say the prayer, and we start the immersion. Everything was good until her head.... that's when she starts to resist and freaks out. I bring her up and we all calm her down. About ten minutes later we go for round 2, but still a no go. So she goes out and changes and so do I. Then we have a couple speakers that talk about the importance of baptism and how it is a saving ordinance, meaning it's required to enter the Kingdom of God. Then it turned into a motivational speech and you won't believe it, but she was ready to try again!!! So I go change back into my wet clothes and we bring her back down into the water. This time I had back up though, Jerry was in there with me. So I get through the prayer again, and then to the immersion. She starts resisting before she's under again, but now Jerry is there trying to push her under and I'm over here wondering who I should help at this point. You have to remember, Lisa is about 80 years old and 100 pounds, so really fragile. In the end, it just wasn't the right time for her to be baptized I guess. Definitely one for the books though, talk about Dramaaaaa
That was the week though. Always a blast over here in the Philippines. I don't have any new pictures, I haven't gotten them from everyone else's cameras. Next week. Maybe. As they say here, mahirap mangako. Here's some pics of the food though. Thank you all for your love and support! I really do appreciate it. Hopefully all of you, wherever you are, know that you truly are a child of God, and He has a plan for you. Never forget that, and strive to more fully understand it. Until Next week!!!
