The Lost Sheep

WOW!!

It was a week I’ll never forget getting the work started in Green Island. There were multiple times throughout the week I was so shocked with what was happening I thought I was in some sort of dream.

Monday morning we got things ready to go on our little boat and made the 2 hr boat ride journey to the island with Elder and Sister Shields and two members who have family they wanted to visit on Green Island. The boat ride was SO pretty!! The water is so clear over here and it was nice have wind in your face and getting splashed a bit by water. Made it to the island and got things situated a little at the member’s house we’ll be staying at. The place is SO COOL! Haha we sleep in the upstairs part of the house and lots of the wooden boards up there are either missing or about to snap haha! A few mornings I’ve accidently stepped on some of them and thought I was about to fall through the floor. But it’s a super fun adventure!! We both have two small fans that we hook up to solar panels throughout the day so they can charge. They are supposed to run for 8 hours on high mode but we’ve noticed they only last about 3 hours on low mode haha. SO every night is burning to be honest haha! It’s all good though it’s lots of fun. Camera died this week and I left my charger in Manila but I have a new one now and will be better with pics next week.

For showering we have a well outside that has water coming from the ocean!! I’m pretty sure this is the first real well I’ve ever seen/used in my whole life! I remember growing up as a kid in Utah seeing wells at parks and houses but being disappointed when I looked down them seeing they were just for decoration haha. But we pull up the bucket and put the salty water into a tube near the well which transports the water to a bigger garbage bucket inside their bathroom in their house which is where we shower.

The whole island is sand with palm trees so we learned quickly shoes and socks won’t work here haha. We roll up our pants a little and I wear my sweet crocs and no socks haha!

The Canonigo family is the fam we live with. We call the father “kuya tata” , the mom “nanay Banching” , then they have five kids but only their two youngest still live with them on the island. Kent is 13 and Aubrey is 8. They’re like my two little siblings haha! Since there are no places to eat, part of the agreement to the rent contract is for them to cook for us three times a day. I’m pretty sure I’ll gain weight here because the mom said that’s her goal haha! We eat tons of fish which I hated before my mission but love it now. The fish is super super fresh here I’ll miss it lots! The fam went less active since the nearest church is in Roxas- it would cost too much to take the family there each week. They probably could’ve gotten permission from the bishop to do sacrament each week as a family but often the people here don’t know they can do stuff like that. Brother Tata is President of zone 4 (there are four zones on the island) so EVERYONE knows their family! Honestly the whole island is just one big family in my eyes since they know each other- even if they live on opposite ends of the island. I know there’s a reason they moved here and have lived on Green Island- the work probably wouldn’t have moved without them and all the people they’ve befriended over the years.

Brother’s testimony is super strong. He told people we taught he feels like their family was the “one lost sheep” and that God hasn’t forgotten them. He kept telling the story how Christ left the 99 to find the 1 and in his view that’s what is happening here in the island!

K now an update on the missionary work itself. We had no idea what to expect but we set goals before leaving to reach 70 new investigators in the week- 10 a day which would be more than anything I’ve heard since being here in the mission. We goaled for 15 nonmembers to be at church- what would be the most I’ve ever seen for myself in my mission. Other new areas that have been opened up lately have been around 8 the first meeting so we thought we were going into it faithful with high expectations. Well wow, we were shocked. I still can’t even believe all that happened last week haha. We spent tons of hours working and taught lessons nonstop. The people here are AWESOME!!! Many have asked us to teach them twice a day haha- once in the morning and once at night when the father is home (every single guy here is a fisherman- I’ve learned lots about fishin lately haha!) A common question for missionaries to ask a man is what his job is but we’ve found no use of even asking now because we already know the answer! By the end of the week we ended up with 117 new investigators who asked us to return to teach again.

Tuesday we gathered at the end of the island where it’s more quiet and dedicated the island for the purpose of missionary work from this point on. That was a really spiritual experience for me. President said to tell Heavenly Father our plan, what we’re willing to do, and then leave a blessing on the people as well as for a spot for a church to be available when the time comes for a church to be built. We had the Canonigo family join us for the blessing and they were super excited.

We’re teaching lots of families- many who know the Canonigo family. Some of them have anywhere from  6, 8, to even 11 kids haha! Basically everyone here has an “asawa” and kids- marriage is the main obstacle we see moving forward but they all have the desire to be married as well. The paperwork is just a mess here haha. By Friday we hadn’t even left zone 4 yet because we were so busy teaching and meeting new people in just that zone. Elder Davie and Elder Lucero (our zone leaders) came Friday to help us out and worked with us til Monday morning. We were able to make our way to a basketball court Saturday morning and before we knew it we had a 5 on 5 game going with a ref w/ a whistle, and a huge crowd watching us play. Elder Davie is 6 ft 3 and a pretty good player so it was lots of fun. We went back later that day and taught lots of families around the court who had watched us play.

We had moments where we’d find a group of about 8 and start teaching them outside under the trees. By the time we finished the opening prayer we’d have about 15 listening haha. There were a few lessons Elder Davie and I had where we had to stand because there were so many listening (over 30.) Just unreal haha.

Sunday we had two sacrament meetings. The first was at 11am and had an attendance of 33. The people who didn’t go that morning we dropped by in the afternoon and invited them to our sacrament service at 7pm. That one we had 45 show up. It’s funny because outside of the house there’s just a huge pile of flip flops because that’s what they wear to church here in the island haha! We were surprised by how many showed up- it was very humbling. The sacrament mtgs lasted about 45 minutes consisting of an opening hymn, prayer, message on the sacrament, sacrament hymn, sacrament ordinance, testimonies, closing message on forever families, closing hymn, and closing prayer. A total of 59 nonmembers were there between the two meetings combined.

I am thankful to be a missionary! We are in roxas since there’s no internet on the island haha. We have district meeting later then tomorrow morning we will be boating back to the island. Can’t wait to get back!! I’m thankful for the Canonigo family as well as other members who set the foundation for the island. Also thankful for missionaries in the past who would boat there and proselyte for a few hours every few months. The success we saw last week was definitely not because of anything we did. On the boat ride back to roxas earlier this morning I was just overcome with gratitude thinking of all that has happened over the time of my mission. I know that God lives and that he knows each of us. He knows our trials, our hopes, our goals, and even our weaknesses and strengths. He will mold us into what He needs of us if we will let Him do so. My confidence has grown lots throughout my mission but not in myself. I feel I now better trust Him and He has given me strength to do things I couldn’t do in the past. Excited to keep learning from these people next week!

Love elder reber