Elder Parker Reber: A Great Tondo Baptism

Hello hello everyone,

Hope all is well, the work continues over here in Tondo. We had some investigators keep commitments and made lots of progress this week as a result. I'm really starting to love it here the more I understand the Tagalog. I feel like this week I made a little jump with the language which is always a blessing! I understand young people alot better than the older ones, but all together it's getting better every day.

This week was a really good one honestly, things just seemed to be clicking and it was alot of fun. We had lots of OYMs (opening your mouth) and got a few new investigators. The mission goal is to talk to 190 new people every week. Talking to people here is always super interesting, we never know what we're going to get haha! Lots of them quickly deny us and refuse to tell us their name, but we just laugh after and I'm realizing there's no reason to get discouraged. I've been offered beer and cigarretes every single day, the people are just super funny haha. Like in church yesterday, an older lady opened her prayer saying "Good afternoon God." I still haven't seen a white man or anyone taller than me, I'll let you know if that crazy moment ever comes while in this area ha!

We are hoping to have a few baptisms this month. We've worked pretty hard with our investigators and hope this is a change they want in their lives. We also have some less actives that are almost fully activated now. The family history is kinda tricky, but hopefully we'll have a few fully active here in the next few weeks as well. Yesterday I witnessed my first baptism/marriage for the Manuel Family. It was cool because I taught them a few weeks ago on exchanges. It's awesome to see how far they've come since that time and to see how much happier they are with the gospel in their lives. The services started at 10 and there were only four people at the church at that time, the missionaries haha! Luckily everyone came eventually and there was quite a bit of support for them.

I've been reading in Alma lately in my personal studies and I've been learning so much. Personal study time is probably my favorite hour of the day, I feel like I understand a lot more now than I did earlier in my life. I read about the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's the other day, they're super awesome. They're a perfect example of having a change of heart. They truly understood God's plan for them and were willing to do anything to be righteous. Over 1000 of them were killed because they refused to pick up their swords and fight back. They had zero fear of death because they knew what was in store for them in the next life. It obviously made me think how converted I am to this gospel. I think it's important for us to truly trust God in everything we do. I've been working on forgetting myself and submitting to His will. We are definitely not perfect, nor will our efforts always be perfect, but with faith in Christ and trust in God we will be alright. God wants us to be happy and he always knows what's best, even if we don't see or understand it at that moment. He wants to give us 10000 pesos but we sometimes aren't willing to give up 1 peso. The more we will forget ourselves, the more we will find ourselves, and the happier we will be! That's my little rant for the week i guess haha. :)

General Conference isn't until next week here in the Philippines. I'm super pumped for it though. Telling people we have a living prophet today is one of my favorite ways to get them interested in our church. Crazy to think the apostles and prophet have the same power and authority those of ancient times had. I've had to get up in sacrament 4/6 times so far haha, I'm sure the people are getting sick of me:) Anyways, have a good week, and enjoy the cold weather (never thought I'd say that)

Love

Elder Reber