FAMILY OH FAMILY (and friends) name that movie!
Transfer calls were this week I am glad I am going to be able to stay here with Sister Villasis because we still have a lot to do in this area and a lot of people to find. I was thinking I would stay here with her since we just got here, but you never know huh? So still we have been visiting a lot of less actives, and recent converts which is so good, but I want to find some more investigators. I should really focus on them though because I have heard there are so many members of the church here in the Philippines and just in the Minglanilla/Lawaan Area, but seriously not even a fourth come to church. I think one of the problems is finding these less active members too, so we have been blessed to be led to these people by the Spirit it is wonderful!! Sister Villasis said, wait, I think there is a member who lives around here, so we looked around and sure enough, it was her. A sister named Con Chita who had gone back to her Catholic church. We told her how sad that is and tried to figure out what happened. Since so many less actives here have been offended by one person or the other, which is different from some people in Lawaan who just don't have money. I have realized though that most of the time it is because of their feelings right now and things they can help. They can change their attitude about coming to church or choosing to be offended by someone, but things like money, they can't do anything about. With this Sister, we extended our love towards her and talked about endurance. We also told her how sad this really was, her falling away. I couldn't believe it. You really need to let them know the consequences or things that will happen or else things won't change. This happened yesterday too. We went to go teach a less active member in Naga with Sister Kaafi, our Sister Training Leader. Man, she is great!! We had so much fun, anyway. We knocked on her door, first time I've ever knocked, kind of funny. Usually we just say AYO! She took a while to come to the door and then I see her peeking through the window and I wave. Finally we hear her open about 7 locks and then opens the door. We were so scared, why did she have so many locks, weird. Right as we opened the door we introduced ourselves and shook her hand, were just trying to be friendly and create a good atmosphere since her expression was not super excited to see missionaries. She said, okay, good to have met you, goodbye. And started closing the door. In my mind I thought, "we can't let her get away that easy/fast, say something." So I said, "We would love, we're happy to be able to share a short message with you. . . .and she cut me off and said, no thank you. But at least it stopped her from closing the door. So she kept trying to close it, but we just kept taking, it was Sister Villasis, Kaafi, and me. As we talked she shared that she was a member, but had now joined the Iglesia ni Kristo, another church and that she really wasn't interested in coming back or anything. We were very sad. I really don't like seeing people like that. So many people here have fallen away and we need to bring them back. She was offended by some members and just lost it. We kept trying to share how awful that was. She just wasn't listening, so finally we just bore our testimonies and some last minute things since we could tell she wasn't going to change her mind, and she said, thank you for the visit, but I am good how I am, and closed the door. Wow, our expressions were all the same, shocked and confused. We just sat their for a minute and looked at each other. We heard her lock all the locks again and we were laughing so hard. Hearing all of those, made the mood a lot better. We were laughing so hard. We were just wondering why she had so many locks. Usually people would have gone away from that really disappointed from that experience, but we walked away laughing so hard, seriously it was hilarious. I have never come across a person like that before. Usually people are really willing to listen and want to hear about this gospel. I'm sure I have a lot of these thought huh? Man, you have to have been there, but man, we almost started crying we were laughing so hard, that is seriously a moment we will never forget. Hopefully Sister Sanko will somehow come to realize what she is missing and that this is the only true church on the earth. We will pray for her heart to be softened for future missionaries.
Also we had another neat experience with an investigator. We had FTE'd her and had gotten a return appointment. We had planned to get to know her, and develop a trust with her and just a few first parts of the Restoration, the spirit was so strong and we just felt like we should keep going so we taught from the Savior's ministry to Joseph Smith, and then of course an intro to the Book of Mormon and taught her how to pray and recognize the Spirit. Her name is Sister Dulce. Man, she was so good. She knew a lot and after her prayer, she started crying. We decided just to stay put for a little bit, and sit quietly. We asked how she was feeling and she said, she felt something. Like someone was trying to speak to her. She really felt the Spirit and that the Lord was answering her prayer. She said, I don't know for sure yet, that this is true, but I do feel good and different about this. I am so glad that the Lord's promise came true. We promised her she would be answered if she prayed about our message and Joseph Smith, and sure enough she did. I have never seen it happen that fast before. Usually people say that they did get an answer, but sometimes we don't know if they really do because we didn't see them do it. But that was a witness to me that he is aware of all the people we are teaching and wants them to know. It was cool to be there when he answered her!! Wow, I was almost brought to tears, and boy did she thank us a ton. What an incredible moment.
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