Maligayang pasko

YAY! IT IS CHRISTMAS TIME!! Maligayang pasko sa inyong lahat! I am so blessed to be serving God's elect children here in the Philippines. I am learning more and more about the plan that He has for all of His children. I am currently out of time, but I do have exciting news! Sister Lot Espiritu will be baptized on Saturday! She is wearing the white shirt in the pic below! She is so humble and wants to learn more and more. She is one that you would say is completely converted to the Lord as her will is swallowed up in the Lords. When they announced her name in sacrament to be baptized, she cried. She feels the spirit so strongly in her life. She says that was she feels differently now is the spirit. The spirit is the key to conversion. I am so blessed to be able to teach her and learn from her. It is one warm Christmas here in the Philippines! I know that the Savior Lives. He is our Redeemer and Savior. He was prepared to pay the atonement before the world was and were created. I love Him and owe everything I am to Him. Love you all! Mahal ko kayo!! Eat lots of chocolate for me at Christmas! Sister Reed

Glory to God

Pamilya! This week was sobra bilis! Oh my guli..... One time we were walking in Romanita an I was attacked by children! They all came up to me running all around me and hugging me. They love Americans. There are so many begging children, especially at this time of the year. We are not allowed to give them money, but we can give them food. And I have made it my goal each time I meet one, to bend down to be eye level with them and tell them how much Heavenly father loves them. Every time I do that, these children light up with a huge smile on their face. They become so happy. They can feel the light of Christ an His love for them. It is one of my most favorite and sacred moments of each day. Sister Lot came to church 4 times! It means she can be baptized soon! YEA! She wants to be baptized and has a desire to be, she just wants to understand all the lessons first. We are about in the middle of the lessons with her. She loves learning. She says wow, now i understand sisters. I have been taught for years and years, but has never understood the gospel. It is the right time for her now, she has been prepared by all the other missionaries for her to be ready now. She is so humble and ready to keep the covenants with her God. How blessed is she. We are also teaching Brother Paul. He is an x-pastor and is atheist. He wont pray or read the scriptures until we answer the questions. Is major concern is why are bad things happening to good people. Especially in Exodus 11:5. Why did the first born suffer when they didn't do anything? Why do we need to pray when God already has a plan for us. Yep, I am excited to teach him. I am happy to bring him back to remember his Savior and come unto the fullness of the gospel on the earth. We have many new investigators but lots of times the husband wont allow them to listen or for us to teach them. It breaks my heart. I know their time will come and that God has a plan for them. As I read the purpose of our Savior Jesus Christ, I see that we as missionaries have the same purpose of Christ. To bring all people unto Him and His goodness. 2 Nephi 26:33. We can all have that become our purpose of life. For it is why were are here, it is why we have been chosen to have the gospel in our lives. He knows we will share it. When our wills becomes the will of the Father, we can become one. He can live in us and we will become His. We will be made like Him. Celestial. I am so grateful in this time to come near unto our Savior and help others come and partake of the bread of life. Our Savior. I love this work. Glory be to the God Almighty. Mahal ko kayo! Sister Reed

Maligaya Araw

Helloooooo! This has been a big week for us! Monday night I had a got sick and went to the hospital. Apparently I am allergic to peanut butter. I am so sad because I love peanut butter! Monday was Zone Pday so we all went bowling! Happy day! Thursday we had training check up. We only had about 2 days of proselyting this week. We had many of our investigators come to church this week! Sister Lot Espiritu, she even comes early! She loves coming to church and I love seeing her. On Saturday we had a faith building experience. We got punted all of our appointments. So....tracking po kami. We spent time OYMing and looking for those ready to listen to our message. 2 hours went by and no one would listen to us. They gave us mean snooty faces and shrugged us away. I have never felt rejected in my whole life. I caught a glimpse of what the Savior felt when He was administering here on earth. Finally i stopped in the middle of the road and said sister, we need to pray. On the side of the street we said a prayer of help and strength. That someone would want to listen to our message. We continued. Softer hearts than bedore. But, still no one wanted to listen. We talked to 31 people. on our way out of that barangi, the lord led us to a family. The Orlinas. She has 9 children and is pregnant with another. The spirit was really strong. She felt the spirit of our message and the love of God that our message was true. She accepted to be baptised and some o f the family came to chruch. She was crying during the lesson and suring the prayer. She said she was so thankful for us and wants this in her life. I know that we had to talk to all those people so we would be able to find them. Then, we had a follow up investigator from the elders. Marilyn. She said she was always busy when we would stop by. KInda a hard heart. We saw her one day painting. We stopped and helped her paint her house. We came back yestersay and she let us in! Service had soften her heart to us and the message. After we talked she said, ito sarap, nararamdaman sarap! She felt that our message is delicious. She feels delicious inside. She is wondering why there are so many churches and how she can be clean from sin. Exactly what we have to share. She accepted the invitation to be Baptiste! I know this work is true of true. I joy in the work of the lord! Love, Sister Reed

Disciples of Christ

Pamilya! Magandang hapon mula sa Philipinas! Masaya po ako para sa lahat biyaya sa buhay ko. Mahal ko gawain mga misyonero. This week I have really seen how the Book of Mormon has changed the lives of the people we teach. Sister Lot wouldn't commit to a baptismal date because she was scared. She has came to church twice and is reading all her assignments. When we show her verses from the Book of Mormon, her face lights up. She is filled with the light of Christ. She told her best friend at church that she has the desire to be baptized. Revelation through church attendance and reading the Book of Mormon. It has the converting power to change lives. The Book of Mormon chased away her fear. Because it is a book of light. It brings light into a dark world. We had 3 of our Less Active families come to church this week! Yeah! It is good to see them use their faith and come to church. The members really help them to feel welcomed and loved. This thanksgiving was interesting...we felt an earthquake shake our whole apartment! It was so strong, the glass were shattering and it felt like the ground was about to move from under us, but we are safe. Then, our rice cooker broke and we ran out of gas. So we had no way to cook. Means no food for thanksgiving hahaha, opposite from the US. We were grateful to get rice soup for thanksgiving :). There would have been no atonement, except for the character of Christ. Elder Neal A Maxwell. I know that this time on earth is not only "doing", but it is "becoming". Becoming like what? Becoming like Jesus Christ. It is vital to what we do and who we are. We need to "be" as well as "do". I want to not only do the things Christ would do. But I want to Become what Christ would be. I know this is the work of God. Fulfilling prophesies of old. I love this work with my whole heart. Mahal Kita! Sister Reed

Dearest pamily, HELLOOOO! Mahal mahal kita! Darasa ward is so wonderful. It is so organized and we have all our meetings. Our bishop has been helping us taking us to the LA houses. I want all of the LA to go the temple to take out their endowments and have eternal life! So, we will start to give them templo dates. I have my bago kasama! Sister Miranda. She is a cute and short Philippina, I always have short companions haha. I look so tall all the time. Training is going good so far, she is teaching me Tagalog and I am teaching her English. My first responsibility is to her, then to my investigators. She has been home sick from the MTC, so it had been a hard transition for her with tears, but I will help her to be happy and love this work! Mom, you would be so proud of me, I ate fish....gin gin i think it is called. The head was still on it....It was fried in salt then you dig in the middle and eat the meat...yep so proud of myself! Ako ay Philapina na! The Lords investigators: Brother Paul. He is an atheist. Has many questions. She said he onced believed in God. But then he thought, "If God loves all His Children, why is there a hell?" He has searched and never found an answer and fell away from God. Little does he know we have the answer! We will teach him the plan of salvation. I am excited to bring Christ into his life again. His wife is also an investigaotor. Ask she gave the closing pray, tears fell down from her face. She felt the love of God through the spirit testifying to her that our message is true. Lot Espiritu has been taught from the missionaries for several years. SHE CAME TO CHURCH!!! And she knows like everyone there...yep popular nanay siya. She believes it is all true now and has a testimony of the BOok of Mormon. Except 1 problem. She wont accept a baptisimal date yet, she is very shy to promise something like that. So we will continue to immerse her in the BOok of Mormon, it has the converting power to change her life. We have taught many lessons and almost everyone has started to cry. I love teaching them about how they have a Savior that loves and cares for them. Sometimes they feel so lost in their poverty. I see them sleeping on the cement ground. They barely have enough to eat. I see so much holiness in the life that they live. It is still beautiful. On Monday we had a Mission tour with our area 70'd. Elder and Sister Nelson. It was so wonderful. I love to be taught from on high. Sister Nelson talked about how us as sisters are helping to fulfill a prophecy of the hastening of the work. That we are saving ourselves that will save our families. When we marry a worthy priesthood holder, we build a strong family. Strong families are the backbone of the church. My favorite scripture is DandC 123:16-17. Sobra magandang. NOw there are 892 chapels in the phili. it is growing! Happiness is the design and destiny of our lives! My testimony of the Bom is grow ing every day. Ever think about where the Bom came from? OUr Heavenly Father prepared it for us in the premotal existence. he knew us that well. It is our job as missionaries to take our investigators to heaven. The heavens are open to everyone. We can all have the spirit with us all the time to lift us and strengthen us. God appearing to a 14 yr old boy is evidence that the heavens are open to everyone. I love my mission. I know that I could not be the same person without it. It will help me to prepare my family for the 2nd coming. The work of the Lord is hastening. Mahal Kita, Sister Reed!