From Sea Side to Moutian Valley (6/8/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

It has only been a week since transfers but so much has happened in this past week that I don't have time to think about Gonzaga any more except in my prayers. I have settled into Pinili now and Elder Se and I are very excited to be working hard. The missionary I replaced wasn't the most obedient missionary in the world, so things were a bit hard in Pinili last transfer. But we are moving forward and have made some great progression.

I want to just tell you about Pinili for a minute. It is set off the main road a good 15 minutes and is very mountainous. Lots of hills. I love the terrain so far. I really have missed the mountains and I am currently right in the middle of the mountains. I do miss the ocean though, since Gonzaga and Buguey were right there by the sea. It has also rained almost constantly since Saturday night, so the weather is very cool. It is just bad news for our clothes drying today. Pinili is the place where the Independente Filipino Iglesia was founded, which is just a schism in the Catholic church, so that is the dominant religion. As for the members of the Church in Pinili, they are all really good and the faithful are really faithful. Pinili is not a branch. It is also not a group. It just kind of is, if you understand what I mean. I asked the Stake President about it and he said that they just need 1 or 2 more full tithe paying Melchezidek Priesthood holders to make it a branch. A member of the closest ward's Bishopric, comes every Sunday and presides at the service. We are small in numbers but large in faith. It reminds me much of our little branch in Owyhee. My goal is to do all that I can to bring Pinili closer to becoming a branch before I leave.

We have been doing a lot of finding in the past week and we have found a few great potential and new investigators. We have also found some long time less actives. My favorite so far, is the Aq family. They are not new, but they are our investigators who are preparing for baptism in July. Sister V and her two kids are set on the date of July 12 (Sister V had a dream that she was being confirmed which to her was the answer to her prayers). Sher, the father of the family is coming much slower because he has a serious alcohol addiction, but he is coming along. He says that the day is going to come when he will join his family, but he wants to kick his addiction first. He told us last night thought that he wants to be with his family in the Church. I know that the Lord will work a miracle in his life and that he will be healed from the scars of his addiction through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I just want to share a short thought from my personal study this morning. I was studying about the gospel of Jesus Christ and had a realization. So often we talk of the Gospel as just faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. But as I was reading in the scriptures and preach my gospel I realized that the very first doctrine of the Gospel is that Christ is our Savior, that he"came into the world to do the will of the Father and the Father sent him to be lifted up". The whole gospel is centered on Jesus Christ and what he did. I suppose that is why the Prophet Joseph said that all else in our church is appendages to our belief in the Atonement. The Gospel is given us by Christ because he satisfied the law through his atonement. Thus he is the mediator of the covenant that will allow us to return to our Heavenly Father. It all comes down to him in the end. He is our Savior and Redeemer, the Son of God. I know he lives and loves us, and because he lives, so will we.

Time to wrap up. We have MLC and mission tour with Elder Ard on Tuesday and Wednesday and then Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday. Apparently the Stake conference is going to be presided by Elder Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve. Not sure if it is live or just a broadcast, but everyone has said it is live. Guess we will find out! Thanks for all your suport and love!

Love,
Elder Ryne Warren Wood