Elder Parker Reber: Final Week

Hellooo friends and fam!

Looks like this will be the final email. Still haven't really wrapped my head around the fact that i'll be headin back next week. It's been pretty busy here but i'm sure the airplane ride will be enough time to get mentally prepared haha. I'm super excited to see you all that's for sure. It will be so tough leaving the Philippines though. I'm excited for the new experiences that lie ahead of me and for the new things i'll be able to learn moving forward. I trust God that He will continue to lead my paths.

Well this week here was another classic week on the island. Teaching all day and enjoying the company of the Filipino people. This area has been a big blur but i'm pretty sure we could count how many people have rejected us from entering their house on two hands.

This week we did a few more things to get the marriages ready- that included some more crazy boat rides and getting drenched haha. We got to check out a new Barangay called Tumarbong which was cool. The main focus however was getting people ready to be baptized on Sunday! We got permission from President to have two of us going around interviewing rather than just me doing them all. Even with Elder Somosa also interviewing it took two full days of visiting people and interviewing/preparing them for baptism. Elder Somosa and I were together for most of the week and ate each day at 9am and again at 9:30pm haha. Although it was lots of work it was surely worth it!

Sunday we had the baptisms at 3pm. It was tricky planning everything as well as controling the service since so much was going on haha. Lots of members, including the Bishopric from Roxas ward came to support the investigators which was super cool. Many of them knew some of the investigators being baptized. They were a huge help in bringing baptism clothes from 4 different chapels haha! Through the funny moments of trying to take decent pictures there were kids dressed in white jumping off fishing boats into the ocean as well as full grown men taking a quick swim i guess to warm up for their baptism. Many of them put on big orange life jackets as a joke haha. Can't forget the multiple karate fights that went down. With all this happening a 10 year old kid ran home since he's scared of water so his baptism will probably be next week haha! Another kid my age had an emergency come up in Roxas and had to leave about 30 minutes before we started the baptisms. It was just such a fun day that i'll never forget.

The baptisms were done in the ocean but the problem here on the island is the ocean is super shallow for about an hour walk. Yes, you can walk for an hour and the water will only be up to your waist haha! As the time went on the low tide started coming in and we gradually walked further and further out looking for dips in the sand where we could get them under the water easier.

I'll leave the names of the baptisms at the bottom of the email and wish i had time to explain each of their stories. They all come from different situations and had their own trials preceding their baptisms. With all the great that has been happening on the island I can surely say Satan has definitely been trying to shake things up. I'll have to tell you about each of them one by one when i return!

Very hard to put my feelings of my mission into an email. My weak words will never do it justice haha! I'm thankful for the things i've been able to learn over the past months. My mission continued to surprise me with new experiences that continued to stretch me. Whenever I thought I had seen it all or began to feel comfortable changes came right away. Never thought that my mission would consist of areas as humble as Tondo, cities like Makati and Bonifacio Global City, tourist areas like Puerto Princesa, subdivisions like Las Pinas, and an island lacking running water and electricity like here on Green Island. There were days where I'd be in squatters with dim lights, cement box homes, and dirty streets then within a few steps cross a street into a modern city with LED lights, skyscrapers, palm tree lined sidewalks, and giant billboards. I never thought my mission would consist of over 20 flights and working hard but often losing the battle of learning a language i hadn't heard of growing up. It was defintely a sweet surprise working with such fun and humble filipino people.

Some areas didn't have results like here in my last 4 weeks but I can say that I worked just as hard in those areas. I have learned that none of our efforts are wasted as we try to come unto Christ. God sees it all. We will always reap what we sow- sometimes we see results quickly but some won't be seen until the other side. I've strived to find joy in quitely working hard rather than looking for praises of men and quick results. To love living the Celestial law and not just doing so because I have to or because I want others to see me doing so. I still have such a long ways to go that's for sure haha. I'm glad to see a small change in myself but more importantly in my companions and people i've met out here.

I know that God is loving. He knows each of us by name. He has power to do all things. He reaches out to us often and gives us opportunities to come closer to Him. I know that by exercising our agency correctly and keeping His commandments we can better know and understand His higher ways. I know Jesus Christ died for each of us. He descended below all things and because He did so He can strengthen us and help us become clean. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. He became a prophet of God and restored Christ's perfect church on earth again. I know that God's authority and power is now here with us and that it is real. The Book of Mormon is true. We can receive revelations daily through reading that great book and will become unshaken. It will lead and guide us and help us reach our potential. Our disposition to do evil will diminish line upon line. I've seen obedience allows missionaries to serve, exact obedience brings blessings, and courageous extra sacrifices brings miracles of change in oneself and in others.

Excited for this next week! We're working to get a few more in the waters of baptism before I leave Green Island.

Thx guys for being examples to me throughout my life. Excited to see you soon!

Love Elder Reber :)

Zaldy Alacri Salazar

Analyn Salazar

Adrian Anoingo Salazar

Jomar Alegri Savellino

Alexander Mata Pacelona

Joana Cabatingan Pacelona

Kent Thomas Pacelona

John Steven Cabatingan Pacelona

Harshel Gutaya Setenta