Working in the Area

Hey everyone!

So this week was mainly all in our area! We’ve seen progress in some of our investigators and have continued finding lots of new people. We often go through the day now just teaching lessons and really only go tract doors next to people we are teaching. It was a great week but our main challenge continues to be getting people to church. I feel like the past few weeks we’ve been sacrificing more and I feel like we’re working smarter than I ever have before in my mission. We’re trying to put all the things we’ve learned over the course of time here in our missions into play. I feel we’re giving people very great opportunities to accept the gospel and at times it’s kinda sad seeing excuses people make. It reminds me of all the excuses I make and how my Father in Heaven must feel working with weak people at times haha. I know that He loves us and is only saddened by our poor decisions because he sees what blessings and growth we reject ourselves of. I’ve really loved this week though mainly because of all of these great people we interact with every day. The members continue to help us out and I know God will do what He needs to do with this area in His timing.

I had a great exchange with Elder Desabille back on Tuesday. We went to the Lobo family and had a cool talk with CJ’s mom. CJ told us he wants to serve a mission but he still plays tons of computer games. We’ve continued playing basketball with him early in the morning and we’re gaining a cool relationship with him. Elder Desabille is an awesome Elder here in the mission and I’ve noticed when he teaches he shares his personal experiences more than the average missionary. In the past he also played tons of games- on his day off he would play from 6am until 3am the next day haha. He gave Sister Lobo tons of advice on how she can continue to help CJ stop gaming so much. It was a cool lesson to be a part of.

We met a 17 year old named Jadelle and she has been super great so far. She reads assignments and let us teach her 4 times just last week. When I think of the baptisms I’ve had throughout my mission they all were excited to see us missionaries when we showed up at their house. How people react when we show up at their house usually gives me a pretty good idea of how interested they really are. They also are totally fine having you come visit at least 3 times a week instead of only catching them once every week or two. We’re excited to keep teaching her- she mentioned if she could have anything in the world she would just want to see her dad again. Talking about the temple with her was super powerful and we realized we need to be introducing the temple earlier with our investigators!

This week I was thinking about when people say “I know God has a plan for me.” We know that He does know each of us and knows what we need. He knows our desires, strengths, weaknesses, and like a father here on earth with his child, he can see what the kid’s future may be like based on what he knows. He has a plan to help us return to Him. We sometimes forget however that it really is up to us if we will accept His plan. His plan is for us to follow His commandments so we can return to Him. We follow his plan for us when we follow Christ and apply His atoning sacrifice in our lives. It is not His plan when we make wrong decisions and sin. We can’t say, “ah He knows my weaknesses and knew that I’d make this mistake.” His plan is set before us, but whether we follow that or not is up to us. He has given us our agency- a gift that He won’t take from us. By divine design, He reaches out to us at times to help us get back on the path (we see this many times with Laman and Lemuel) but all in all, it’s up to us to accept His plan and do what’s necessary to make it back to Him.

Well that’s all for me! Have a good week everyone!

Elder reber

*** No pics from Parker this week so I borrowed some from Sister Fermanis. She is so great at sharing wonderful thoughts with the perfect pics to go with them. Life in the Philippines is good. 

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