week 92...Cagayan Philippines

Good week!

We baptized Irene Urian, Genelyn Flores and Vhia FLores! Irene and Genelyn are Sisters and Vhia is Genelyn's daughter!  These are saints! They were found by the missionaries that we replaced. When we transferred in, they had come to church for the first time the Sunday before. We tracked them on our 2nd day in the area,there house is way up in the hills and mountains When we first taught them, both Irene and Genelyn hadn't yet considered baptism and weren't even sure they would come back to church the next Sunday.  Irene did tell us that she liked the doctrine of the plan of salvation which helped her cope with the death of her husband last October. Regardless of what was taught by the previous elders, we taught all of them about baptism. We taught them the what and the why and the how and we covered every possible thing we could about it so that they could not misunderstand it.  We had to tear down some false beliefs and concepts that they have adapted because of the Filipino and Catholic cultures to do so but we did it none the less. The effect was immediate.  The Spirit testified to their hearts that they needed to be re baptized, this time by immersion for the remission of sins and by priesthood authority only found in this church. You could see it in there eyes. We extended all three of them an invitation to be baptized and they all accepted. We invited them to come to church again as well, but they still seemed unsure they would be able because of travel and distance purposes.  The next day on Sunday, they did come to church, and to our surprise, they brought 5 others with them.  Grandpa, Aunts and nieces and nephews.  Haha we were so pleasantly surprised!

These experiences have increased my testimony in the simple and pure doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  All we did was teach baptism. nothing else. like Elder Packer says, true doctrine understood changes behavior.  It worked for these three ladies, and they were so effected that they invited all their family members to church the next day without us even asking them!  We are currently focusing on teaching many people in that same compound that they live in that they have been inviting and the future seems bright for these people. We are expecting more success in the weeks to follow! 

 

Thanks especially to God and also our "Amulek" which is Irene, who is still invited more and more people in her compound each week to learn about the restored gospel!