Monday, February 17, 2014

Welcome to the club. The Club of Many Responsibilities. (2/17/14)

Dear Family and Friends,
The title is how President Barrientos welcomed all of the new Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders to their first MLC. HE welcomed them all one by one and then got to me and said, "Welcome to Elder Wood, but hindi naman siya bago. Luma na (he isn't new though. He is old now). He has been in the office for almost a year, but now he is out." My first MLC was amazing and I enjoyed it. It was different from the usual MLC. Usually after the Council we have a sports activity and then a FHE, but ths time it was just a straight 6 hour meeting. I loved it!
The focus for the mission for this month is chapter one of Preach My Gospel. It is all about fulfilling our purpose and helping others progress towards baptism, which is central to our purpose as missionaries. We had ZTM on Thursday, so we only had one afternoon to prepare. It went great. The APs came for it. (That was a surprise for a brand new zone leader). The Sister Training Leaders for our zone gave the best part of the entire meeting. Sister Training Leaders are the best! They give life to the zone! Everything went great and we are excited to shoot for our new baptism goal for the month of March.
Today is marriage day! J and F are going to get married today at the town hall of Buguey. They had their baptismal interview on Sunday and all that they need now it the official document from the Mayor saying they are married. Yeah!!! We are going to the city hall at 2. The baptism is this weekend. Elder D and I will both be performing one of the ordinances. We have many other investigators getting closer to baptism and are looking at a big month for baptisms in March. 5 is our goal for our area.
This has been a busy week with MLC, ZTM, Baptismal interviews, exchanges, and almost anything else you could think of. Through out it all, I have been blessed to receive a greater eternal perspective on this work. Everything that we do as missionaries and members of the Church is of eternal importance. As S. Cagahastian (STL) said during ZTM, we are here to celestialize families. Celestialization! It is through the work of proclaiming the gospel that we help others to reach exaltation and eternal life. That takes great effort on our part, including repentance and obedience. One thing that President taught us in interviews yesterday is that there is a step above exact obedience, Strict Obedience. This obedience brings exaltation. This is the goal and always has been. As followers of Christ, it is our desire, not only for ourselves, but for all people. I know that the Savior has shown us the way to return to our Heavenly Father. It is his Gospel-the one and only Way. I know that there is nothing more important than this work. I know Christ is our Savior and he loves us. Thank you all for your help in this work. Keep the faith!
Love,
Elder Ryne Warren Wood

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