Elder Fiesta is now in Busuanga, Palawan! He left earlier this week on transfer day. There are now 4 missionaries over there trying to start up a branch. If you've ever seen "the other side of heaven" from what i've heard they're basically experiencing the same thing over there haha. Living in a nipa hut sounds pretty sweet to me though. He will do some amazing things over there training his cousin. Elder Cibuco (my trainer) is also over there training a new nice american from Bingham high. It will be cool to see what happens there and in a few weeks we might be over there for a few days to continue helping them get established over there. My new companion came in last week. We were roomates in the MTC and honestly were super close in the MTC. Never thought we'd be companions ha! It's definitely cool as a missionary to see the people you came in with grow as a missionary. I've already learned alot from Elder Mitchell and we've had lots of fun times- even though he's from the lame state of Georgia ;)
Back two weeks ago when it was elder fiesta, elder mitchell, and I together in the area we were able to teach lots of lessons. We kinda got a feel for who we need to focus on. The main people we're working with now is Kathy's (our recent convert) best friend Christie as well as Kathy's brother Patrick. Christie is looking to be baptized the first week of February and Patrick will probably be later in the month. Lately in the mission it's a goal to start every lesson with the Restoration and tying it to the lesson we will teach. I think i've mentioned that in the past weeks? But anyways i've seen such a big difference since we've started doing this. In the past we'd teach the Restoration in a lesson or two and then that was about it. Once we got to the point with the investigator where we were practicing the baptismal interview questions they would hardly remember who Joseph Smith is. Constantly focusing on the first vision, restoration, and Book of Mormon helps them really understand their importance in knowing if this church is the true church of Jesus Christ and if this is what God wants for them in their lives. It reminds me of the scripture in D&C 88:118 "And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith." In real life we should read and focus on the pure things that will bring us closest to God. Staying close to the words of God's prophets will keep us close to the powerful source that will help us endure any trial we are facing much better than opinions of men. As we've relied on the most powerful tool God has given us as missionaries (Book of Mormon) we've seen many amazing things happen as a mission.
On pday we had a meeting where Elder Mitchell and I were able to teach the new ward missionaries how to introduce the Book of Mormon to a friend. All of the priests in the ward are ward missionaries now. It's been really fun working with them and remembering how i felt back when i was a priest. They're all really nervous to work with us but excited at the same time. They all gave us their schedules so we know when they can work with us. I'm super excited for that!
Hope you have a great week! This week we will be in Palawan from Tuesday to Saturday for zone conference and exchanges. It will be my first time to the Narra side of the island so I'm super excited to see what it's like and meet the kind people there.
Love Elder Reber
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