Mission Maps

Hi everyone,

Things continue to go well here in Makati!

We’ve been super super busy in the office and haven’t gotten out to work as much. We’re making area maps with two zone leaders for every area in the mission. They will be printed onto big tarps and will be hung in apartments! They’re really nice and will be pretty helpful especially for those fresh-starting an area. It’s taken lots of time though. I’m not really too involved with that project but my companion has done a lot with it. I’ve got other things that keep coming up haha. I guess I haven’t really done the best job explaining what I do! So here are some random things  so you’ll maybe have a better idea- phones for the mission, insurance and anything to do with the cars in the mission, temple scheduling, interview day schedules, English Language tests for Filipinos when they’re about to finish their missions, referrals, ordering pizza or food for different meetings, helping Filipino families send money to their missionaries, plan how to get missionaries their things they left at their old house, moving furniture or supplies to different apartments, conversion indicator reports, keeping track of what time different churches have sacrament and other meetings, missionary calendar, birthday emails, updating contacts and information for missionaries, sending out teaching material for missionary training classes, apartment and address info, transfer board (shows where all missionaries are and how long they’ve been there), transfer day planning, etc. Those are just kinda some of the main things I guess!

But anyways it’s hard for me if we get stuck in the office too much haha. We got out last night and were just going house to house trying to find new investigators. Lots of nice people who wanted to talk but not really interested in the message and wouldn’t let us in. As we were out we got a call from the assistants and we had to drive back to the office when I felt like we had just finally gotten out haha. I was just like COME ON haha that happened basically every time we were in our area this week! It’s alright though, we’ve seen some great miracles in the time that we have had in the area! I’m learning that Heavenly Father knows our situation and will bless us with success in our area if we remain diligent as missionaries. I’ve found myself wondering how our area will ever catch fire, but I’m sure things will all work out if we keep pressing forward.

Eric is still the only person we have set appointments as of now haha. He’s still doing great and it’s so fun teaching him. He’s still bein funny about coming to church. It’s hard because he reads a ton and he knows he needs to change but he’s worried about going to church. We’ve been trying to find his concern but it hasn’t come up yet. He keeps saying that he joined his last church without knowing much and it came back to bite him. He wants to really really make sure he knows this is true and wants to have a super good knowledge of what he might be committing to. We shared again about faith and how we won’t have a perfect knowledge before doing something that might be hard. No faith would be required if we aren’t stepping a little bit into the dark!

I’ve really learned that blessings truly do come AFTER our trial of faith. The children of Israel needed to cross the Red Sea. They stood outside near the banks waiting for the sea to part, but it actually didn’t do so until they started getting into the water! Joseph’s prayer in the sacred grove wasn’t answered right away by being visited by God and Jesus Christ. Joseph said he had scarcely begun his prayer when he felt a power of astonishing influence come over him. Thick darkness gathered around him. But he exerted all his powers to call upon God to deliver him out of the power of this enemy, and as he did so a pillar of light descended gradually until it rested upon him. At the moment of the light’s appearance, he found himself delivered from the power that had held him back. The first step is always a little hard, but blessings will always come.

Something cool though this week was reading Elder Holland’s BYU talk “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence.” Instead of talking about the trial of faith before success, he talked about a trial of your faith AFTER a spiritual experience. He uses the example of Moses on a mountain where “he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon him.” He eventually beheld all every particle of the earth and also the inhabitants thereof. After maybe one of the greatest revelations that we know of, Satan appeared and shouted equal portions of anger. Even to the point to where Moses feared exceedingly. But by calling upon God (the same phrase Joseph Smith used) he was strengthened and overcame the trial that was given to him. He talks a lot about us having great spiritual moments but how opposition will always eventually come. He said we need to find the embers of our past and remember those, but to forget the ashes. Rather than always longing to be in the past again, we need to just take what we learned and remember it then have faith that God has an even future in store!

I know that we will have lots of good experiences as well as lots of trying ones. They will help us grow and it’s why we’re here on earth in the first place. I always remember that God is on our side and all things are possible through Him. The Holy Ghost will help us face our fears and overcome doubts. As we focus on the blessings and don’t compare our lives will be super awesome.

Everyone have a super great week. Choose the right. That’s all from me!

Love Elder Reber

I spy with my little eye....Parker!!! He talks about this map project- they look great! This picture came from the mission blog. I had to go on a search as Park didn't send any pics this week. Another highlight of this pic is a favorite area he served in, Tondo!