WE Thought They Said Signal 3 (9/14/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

We just had a bagyo hit the mission. It was a signal # 3 for all of northern Luzon. They rate typhoons by wind speed on a scale of 1 to 4. Signal # 3 is winds of 101 -185 kph. Yeah it is big. But we were all rather surprised that not much happened. We were on lock down for two days, but here in our zone, there wasn't any flooding, down power lines, fallen trees or such. It seemed to have lost some of its momentum crossing the island. But we did have some strong winds last night and we lost power for a while. The real question is how did the rest of the mission handle and we have no answer for that. Hopefully they held up better than last time we got hit.

So this week was a crazy busy week. But the best part of it happened on Saturday. Sher passed his baptismal interview! His baptism is this Saturday at 4. This is going to be my last baptism as a full time missionary, but I couldn't have asked for a better one. IT is going to b e awesome to see him go into the waters of baptism and join his family on their journey to the temple. We have spent the past 2 weeks reviewing in depth all of the baptismal interview questions. Elder Bont, our district leader, said that Sher is super prepared and had no trouble with any of the questions and shared very powerful testimony. I have seen great changes in this man's life and I know that it is all because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. How else could men be turned from the natural man to saints of God? There is no other way. I know the power of the Atonement because I have seen it, but most especially because I have seen it. 

I went on exchanges this week with one of the Elders in our zone. President Barrientos wants all of the zone leaders to go on as many exchanges as possible each transfer, so we have exchanges with every companionship. I was with Elder G in Batac on Thursday after district meeting. We taught to one of their investigators that they have been trying to get to come to church and prepare for baptism for a while. At first our lesson on baptism didn't go so well. We weren't being simple enough and he took one of our examples literally (so be careful how you use comparisons to fields with farmers). But at the end of the lesson we decided that we could still extend the commitment to be baptized. And he thought we were wanting to baptize him right then and there! We explained that we just wanted to set a goal with him for the 18th of October, and he said that he liked that idea! And the Elders reported that he just came to church for the first time. 

Elder Jun and I are still working hard to keep Pinili rolling. We have had some trouble with investigators at church these past few weeks,but we have some goals and plans that will help us get more of them to come and feel the power of the Restored Gospel. We had 2 come yesterday, one of whom we hadn't even taught. There is always more to do and more ways to improve in this work. WE will be extending more baptismal dates this week and being persistent in following up to bring people to church. 

Well that is about it for the week. There was a lot of unexpected things that happened that made it a crazy week, but I enjoyed it and I know that the Lord is pleased with all that we accomplished. And this week is going to be better! Thanks you for all of your love and prayers on behalf of all the missionaries around the world. Keep doing whatever part of this work the Lord has assigned to you and know that He is on our side!

love,

Elder R Wood