We have a Hulk... (1/20/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow it sure has been a busy week. Being the companion of the district leader, I get to travel around to baptismal interviews. We've had a baptismal interview every week for the past two weeks and we have another one this Saturday. On top of that we had an interview for M on Saturday morning before going to do an interview for some of the Elders in our district. President Barrientos has set the standard of excellence in the mission for two convert baptisms a month, so we'll probably start to see even more interviews!

On Thursday we went out to Libtong, a barangay that is a ways away from anything. We have some investigators out there, but the two that we had scheduled to teach were unavailable. So we went finding. We had ZTM on Wednesday and had talked about finding, so we were excited to start using what we learned. We found a man sitting outside his house and we just started talking to him. He was wearing a black pin on his shirt, which is the symbol that someone in his family died recently. Elder O asked who and he said it was his wife, last October. He let us teach him about the plan of Salvation and the Spirit World. We gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and he wants us to come back and teach him more. He even referred his kids to us. We were lead to him by the Spirit and it was a great experience showing how the Lord is preparing people for us to teach everywhere.

P accepted a baptismal date on Thursday! He has come to Church on his own every week for the past 3 weeks now and he loves church so much. Luckily for us the Gospel Essentials teacher speaks Ilokano, which is what P speaks. He is working hard to live the Word of Wisdom and be ready for baptism. He has a smoking problem but since we taught Word of Wisdom he has gone from a pack a day to three cigarettes a day.It's not easy for him, but he wants it so much and he is willing to work had to do it. His date is for February 23, the Saturday before transfers.

We taught a man in Duripes on Friday and had a rather interesting experience. After teaching him the Restoration, he thought that Joseph Smith was an Old Testament prophet. We explained that we wasn't so he figured he was the 13th apostle of Jesus Christ. That took some clarification, but he understands now and in his prayer at the end of the lesson he asked God to help him understand us better when we came back again to teach him. It's amazing how many people are very willing to listen and seek God's help in knowing the truth of our message. Heavenly Father is preparing people everywhere to hear the Gospel. Help him by finding those that you know who have been prepared and introduce them to the Gospel. God will bless you and them. This is God's work and glory and he asks us all to participate in it. Thank you all for your prayers and faith for me and all of the missionaries around the world. Mahal Kita. Kita Kits sa October!

Elder R. Wood