MISSION TOUR :)

Kahanga hanga pamilya :) Kamusta!! I had a wonderful week! Elder Bowen from the 70's came to our mission! We were truly taught on high. He talked to us as we are the warriors of God. He taught us how if we have faith+obedience=miracle. He was calling our mission to live exact obedience. So he taught us about who we are. When we know who we are then our desire will increase to follow our Savior exactly. He wants us to increase our standards. That if we are not face to face with someone (oyming) that we are unemployed. I am an employed missionary which means i will always be talking to someone. He talked to us about being covenant keepers. That we are to keep the covenants of our Father Abraham and talked about all the blessings we can receive if we magnify our calling. He told all of us sisters that we should not expect anything less from a husband than one who knows who he is and is a righteous priesthood holder who knows and understands the oath and covenant he made. I also got to go to the special meeting with Elder Bowen as a STL. It was amazing. We learned more about the gathering and scattering of Israel. And about leaders. that a leader is an obedient missionary. And then about the order of the church and all the keys..anyways it was beautiful...i loved it. We were in San Pablo for 2 days because we had MLC after to talk about the vision of our mission with President. Sister Gaspar de Alba and I woke up early and went on a bike ride around the river behind the chapel. It was beautiful. We solved the problem to my head aches. I GOT GLASSES! Wow, i am turning into an old lady on my mission haha. I am just happy that I can teach more by the spirit and not be bothered by my head the hole time. We basically got punted by most of our investigators this week. They told us that they are not interested in the message at this time. Sister Rosalie din. She goes to Mauban every week for days and is gone on Sundays so she cannot progress and come to church. I know that we planted a seed for her to accept the gospel when she moves to Mauban. Sister Gandia our LA is making progress. We are teaching her friend her referral. She said that she had a dream the other night. That there was a bridge. That she couldn't cross the bridge. She was with her two daughters. Nothing they did could they get across. On the other side was a baptismal service with people wearing white. She said someone came to help her get across the bridge. Then she dived into the water and woke up. She said she didn't know what it means. But it was beautiful.The bridge is like her barrier to come to church. She has lots of concerns about wh she doesn't feel worthy to cross. As missionaries we help her across the bridge to get to the other side. The purity and beauty the side of God. Her enduring to the en is the diving into the pool. Being worthy to make and keep temple covenants. We found a new investigator. Sister Gina. She is reading and praying right! She has a desire to know the truth. She is a little scared to come to church bc her whole family is apart of the Catholic church. Her roots are really deep in their church. I know that when she receives a witness of the church she receive the strength that she needs to come to church and be converted. Onward Christian soldiers, marching on to war.... Sister Reed

Miracle

dearest family, the shift on the computer is not working so i am sorry for not having correct grammer. but we had a great week here in tayabas. yah, maybe no one wants to listen but we are having miracles happen in the ward. We have 15 names! yah. We have been visiting the ward auxiliaries all week to prepare them for our meeting. we used to inspired teaching method to help our ward set a vision a plan and to help sustain them in their callings. we have been noticing that most of the LA are going catholic. the ward needs to become more established to retain the recent convert and help their attendance increase. they told us they have never set plans for the people in their ward like this. miracles are happening. heavenly father loves tayabas. things are starting to happen!!! its a miracle. that has been one of our focuses this week. we went on our last exchanges of the transfer with the other tayabas sisters. i worked with sister bagiou and we had a great time. we worked on resolving the concerns of their investigators concerns. one didnt want to be baptized until December, we found the root of the problem through the spirit. she accepted in October and attended church on sunday! i am so happy for them. i am also happy that i got to play a role in her progression. i felt the spirit talk to me so strong. there is no way that those thoughts come from me. i have really come to better understand the role of the spirit on my mission. i am so incapable of all things. but though the power of the godhead i can connect myself to them and help gods children come unto them. We had a really good lesson with our ward mission leader. he is struggling right now in his life. we wanted to help him and resolve his concerns. he told us he can barely support his family with food. he is working really hard to support them. we taught him the doctrine of putting god first in his life, then the lord will bless him. i sat their in tears. the love of god penetrated by body and eminated from me into that space. i could feel gods love for him. god has not forgotten us. i can testify he knows. he is aware. i can feel it in my bone. the reality of him is beautiful. We did service in the river! they said that i wash clothes like a filipino! thats one skill i have mastered, professional hand clothes washer....i can start my own business in america haha. every day in a philippinos life they wash for 2-3 hours every morning. they live by the basics that someone would need to live to by to just simply live. i love it. mahal kits sobra! nammimiss ko kayo! palagi nanalangin ko para sa iyo! mag ingat lagi hanggang pag-uwi ko ;) love, sister reed

Work, work, work its the secret :)

Kamusta po sa inyong lahat! It was a good week. We had our exchanges with the sisters on the island and then came back to our area. We really seeked for inspiration to help the sisters in their area, we were guided and the spirit will always tell us how to magnify our calling. I am humbled to be their servant and give of myself in every way that i can to hasten the work. We did get to go to the beach on monday for pday. It is beautiful! We also helped some people pull in fish from the sea! It was actually really hard. I am not sure how those little people do it. The life of the Filipinos is very simple and unscattered. They live uncluttered lives. Only the basics that they need to survive. I am humbled to live amoung them. We have been working hard in our area, but all of our investigtors are falling through the cracks! NOOOO! Heavenly father is really testing our faith right now in our area. We have recieved inspiration to focus on the ward. There isnt a vision, Ward mission plan, 15 names list, or Home and Visiting teaching. We want to help establish the church here in Tayabas. So that when we have investigators and recent converts, they will stay hanggang wakas. Our WML is also inactive kind of...we have lots to focus on with them. We are working on using the inspired teaching method to help them find how they can realize what they need to do to become established. This is our focus right now and also to FIND FIND FIND. We have faith that they are people ready to receive us. So far, most of them are very comfortable in their ways and dont want to listen to us. It is the most rejection that i think i have experienced on my whole mission. But, i know that if i seek heavens help, i can magnify my purpose here. Sad news! Our LA family that we were working with has been going back to the Catholic church! we found her praying to the rosary! NO! She is going through therapy right now. We are trying to help them, we found out that they never prayed to know if the church was true before they were baptized. Oh my. We have found this situation with almost all of the LA here. That is really sad to me because i know what the doctrine says about the people that do this. They are cast into the darkness and cannot stand before the presence of Heavenly Father. They will be judged for this. We are trying to help them understand the doctrine. Dont worry, with love :) I am working on a personal project right now. I am reading the BOM about faith lang. It has really been strengthening my faith to see all the examples in the BOM focused on the first principle of heaven. I am continuing to learn and grow and stretch myself. I love the doctrine of the father. yen lang po :) Sister Reed

stand and lift

Kamusta :) Well, this week was fun. My companion caught a virus from the air so we were stricken to the house all week. We went out of the house to get medicine and then that's it. We had one appointment where we saw Roxanne. She is doing good and committing all she is to the gospel. She has great faith. Her brother has also been coming to church with her. He is 14 and interested to listen. He is interested in his salvation and why this church is true. In church, The counselor came up to me and asked to me give a talk and bear my testimony. I talked about our Savior Jese Christ, and His atonement. That how through His atonemtent we can obtain the faith we need to follow the example of the Savior and keep His commandment unto the end. I was grateful for the opportunity to testify of my Savior. On Sunday after church, we left to Marinduque to have exchanges with the sisters again. It took about 7 hours. Kaso, It was beautiful sa boat. There was no rain so that was nice. We went to the beach earlier with the elderly couple. We will be here until wed when we go home. A really good talk that i love reading is by Elder Holland, "The First nt need just again, He needs disciples. She asks us to abandon what we love from the world and serve HIm. Do we love Him enough to do that? WHOOps sorry it sent when i wasnt done. The talk is called the First and Great commandment. By elder Holland. But i love you so much! Let us always remember the first and great commandment of our discipleship. Mahal kits! Sister Red