Day 488 Can-Avid, Borongan Zone, Philippines God will provide a way to accomplish his works

Hello dearest family. Maupay nga aga ha iyo nga tanan. :) (Good morning to all of you)

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY NANAY!!! I ate cake on your birthday in your honor, haha. I'm glad my card came just in time. :)

This week has been a week of miracles! The members here are on fire with excitement about missionary work. Even though we only have 3 or 4 active Relief Society members and one Melchizedek priesthood holder in this group, they are solid! Two of the sisters work at the local university so they have connections to many professionals. We work almost completely through referrals here. There are so many potential investigators that have been waiting for missionaries to put in the effort to gain the trust of the members. Members really are the key to success in missionary work.

We met with our branch president yesterday to talk about the needs of the branch. They need 20 active Melchizedek priesthood holders in order for the chapel to be built in Dolores, but they only have 15 kind of active priesthood holders. Then, after church we worked with the Relief Society to contact referrals and continue teaching their coworkers so now we have 3 golden potential Melchizedek priesthood holders! Two of them came to church and the other is a new investigator. All three have committed solidly to baptism. It’s amazing how God prepares a way for his church to be established.

One of our golden investigators is Christian Coles. He is 22, a college graduate, and he is the nephew of one of the recent converts here. Have I told you about him already? He sat in one of our lessons with another investigator we were teaching, but we didn’t even know that he was listening. At the end of the lesson, he exclaimed that that this must be the true church because of the authority, the  sacrifices of missionaries, etc and excitedly accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. A week later, he attended a Family Home Evening at a member’s house. Sister Chu gave an awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon being the iron rod leading towards the tree of life. After the closing remarks, Christian asked if he could say a few words. He then shared how after several encounters with the missionaries (he also met the elders once before) he has a strong desire to read the Book of Mormon. He paused, looked at the Book of Mormon, and then he said, “I will start tonight to really read the Book of Mormon every day and I will read it until I finish it.” And then he came to church the next day! Plus he already has a desire to serve a mission. Hopefully we'll be able to soften the hearts of his family; they are devoted Catholics.

Then we contacted a referral with a relief society sister (just saying, the relief society is going to save the world. . .). She told us of her uncle Aquino Irasga, a former lay-minister for the local Roman Catholic church. He used to be very very active in the ministry, but recently he hasn't attended church in a while. Last week, she visited him and asked why he hasn't been attending anymore. He just
shrugged his shoulders and remarked, "Maybe I"ll just become a Mormon instead." We visited him last night and he speaks pure English! In fact, he doesn't read Tagalog as well as he reads English. So we get to teach in ENGLISH!! :) As we talked with him, he opened up about his concerns. He is an avid reader of the Bible and has noticed some contradictions in the Catholic church. He told us how he is thirsty for more knowledge, but he can't seem to find it with just the Bible because there are so many different interpretations. And then Aquino asked us how he can become a missionary or a leader in our church. He flatly told us that there is nothing hindering him from joining the church except for his vices. That's what he wants out of a religion: the power to get rid of all his sins and bad habits. We promised him that as he starts a prayerful study of the Book of Mormon and continues to keep his commitments, step by step he will become free from his sins. He can be born again even though he is already in his 60's. No matter how old we are or how set in our ways, we can all
change. That is the miracle of the Atonement.

Sister Chu is doing so much better this week. This is really a fabulous area and she is beginning to connect the dots between our obedience and our success in the mission field. She’s much happier and willing to trust my counsel. And she had a happy birthday! We surprised her with a birthday cake that I made in our toaster oven and she was so touched by the love of the members and other missionaries even though she is just new to the mission and area. The people joke that she is turning "twenty-chu" (this is her 22nd birthday). She is an incredible teacher and is not afraid to open her mouth outside or during lessons. I feel like she will be ready to train as soon as she learns the language.

I love training. Sister Chu eats up everything I tell her and writes it all down in her notebook. Like the Best 2 Years.. . . haha.

OYM is my favorite, even since the beginning of my mission. For some reason I'm great one-on-one, but speaking in front of groups still makes me nervous. OYM is especially easy for foreign missionaries because it's really rare to see foreigners here, so the people are curious about who we are and what in the world are we doing in the middle of the jungle?? Plus, they are shocked that we can actually speak their dialect, not just Tagalog. The people here are very friendly and easy to connect with. I just start off asking questions to get them interested (ex: Why are there so many different religions if there is only one God?) And then I give them a pamphlet or a pass-along card---who doesn't like free stuff? :)

This past week we went to Tacloban for a specialized training in the mission home. The topic? Cooking!!! We learned how to make orange chicken, fried rice, and a coconut custard cake. Many of the missionaries here get sick so easily because they don't eat well (or they believe that they are bad missionaries if they take an hour to eat). As a result, many missionaries are in and out of the hospital
and several have had to go home. So Sister Maurer gave a training to teach cooking skills. Yummy! I don't know how to cook anything not Filipino anymore.. . what do we eat in America??

Anyhoo, I hope school and work are going great! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Love always,
Sister Amanda Smith