pilipinas landscape

pilipinas landscape

Monday, April 4, 2016

Week 92

Hello Everybody,

Well this week was good. We had transfer announcement and I am staying here in Bulaon :) I am grateful that I have the chance to continue to serve this ward and the people here in Angeles Pampanga area. It is great to be here, and I am growing to love the city folk just as much as I  love the people in the rice fields. The city is much different then the peaceful countryside, so when I first got her in January I had a hard time adjusting because this is the first time that I have been assigned in the city. But now I love it! The members here are so great! So willing to help and are just easy to love. Although here in this area I have seen a lot more rejection I have also seen many miracles. Every set back we have had has taught us something that has given us the strength to become more Christ like.
Here is a quick story I would like to share with you!
At the beginning of the week we taught a less active man who had decided that because of the hard things that he is experiencing in his life he didn't believe in God.
It was a little difficult to understand him because he doesn't speak Tagalog very well but speaks Cebuano, but because my companion also was a native Cebuano speaker we were able to communicate well with him. As we taught him the spirit was strong and by the end of the lesson his countenance started to change and I could tell he was feeling the spirit. I felt love for this man even though I did not know him that well. When we came back to teach him a few days later I was a little disappointed when he said he was busy and didn't want to be taught that afternoon. But I felt like I should try reading out of the Cebuano book of Mormon we brought to give to him. As I struggled with the words as I read, He smiled and asked if he could read. I handed the book over to him and we sat and watched as he read for 15 minutes out of the book of Mormon. As we left he looked at us and said. "I shouldn't have said there wasn't a God, that was evil of me to do, I know that there is a God" That simple statement made me smile. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and he agreed, I knew that the Book of Mormon and the Holy spirit are what were instrument in helping him soften his heart.
 I have witnessed time and time again the power of the Book of Mormon is softening the hearts of God's children.
We have an investigator named Michael he is such a great man. Even though his eyes hurt when he reads, He says he reads because when he does he feels something; "it is like my problems are lighter"  he says.
 I too know that if we read the Book of Mormon "we will know all things which we should do".  I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I have read it, I have prayed about it and I have received that witness from the Holy Spirit. That is one of the biggest reasons why I am here on my mission.
Although I am young and honestly incapable to do this work alone, I know that through the holy spirit and the Book of Mormon lives can be touched and changed.
 
mahal ko kayo! :)
--
ELDER MURDOCK

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