I’m Singing in the Rain, Just Singing in the Rain (7/27/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

It rained this week. It rained hard almost every day. I don't mind the rain personally. I have a nice big umbrella so it is easy to not get wet. The only issue is that the rain means most people are out planting rice. Pinili is a very dry area, so when it rains it is the only chance that most people get to plant their rice. So when it is pouring rain almost all day everyday, there are many empty houses and not many people in town. We didn't let that stop us though and had an even better week this week than last week! We aren't afraid of water!

We had exchanges with the APs this week and I got to work with Elder Bu in Pinili. I have mentioned him in past emails, since we were in the office at the same time. He just became AP two weeks ago. Yes he went straight from being an office Elder to being an AP. IT isn't the first time it has happened in this mission. He is a great missionary and I learned much from him, especially on teaching for understanding. It was great to get to talk with him about the good old times int he office and all the crazy stuff that happened. 

Sher has now gone 3 days without smoking! Elder Ab and I have really been focusing on that with him for the past week. If he keeps it up he will be ready for baptism on August 30. The whole family is doing really well and they are super strong. We taught them how to have their own FHE on Saturday and they area excited to have their own each week. We watched the Restoration video and they could all feel the Spirit very strongly. Sister Aqu told us about how she felt as she watched the scene where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith. I love testifying of the Restoration and I know with all that I am that the gospel and church of Jesus Christ were restored by Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith. That knowledge is such a great blessing.

Pinili is continuing to grow. There were 50 people at sacrament meeting yesterday. The stake is working on all the paperwork and all else that is required for Pinili to become a branch. It wont be too long and all the hard work of the members and missionaries will come to fruit. There are lots of less active and recent converts at church on Sunday and in the coming weeks we expect to see even more. The work of the Lord continues unhindered all around the world. There may be opposition, but that has always been the case with the truth. But no matter what happens, the truth will always be the same and the work keeps moving forward. We have been having great success among all of those we teach and I know that it is because of the grace and power of God that that success has come and not due to anything that we have done besides working hard.

We found some great new investigators Sunday. Two we found back when It was Elder Seum and I. but we were never able to teach them. Elder Ab and I dropped by on Saturday and set a return appointment for Sunday afternoon. A and Emel were both there and listened very intently as we shared the Message of the Restoration. A had some great questions and we know that she is interested and we are going to plan to extend a baptismal date this week. The other two are the father and brother of a less active we were looking for also on Saturday, Ferd and Luc. Bro Ferdinand was very quick to invite us in and is very receptive and open with us. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for leading us to these people. I have been praying and fasting to find new investigators and the Lord answered much sooner than I expected. I know that the Lord hears all of our prayers and is only waiting for us to ask to give us blessings. I have received answers to my prayers and while they may not always be the ones that I expect, I know that they are from our loving Heavenly Father and are for our benefit. 

That is about it for the week. I know that this is the work of God and nothing can stop it. The Lord's hand is at work across the world and all we have to do is look around us to see the evidence of that. I know that as we all fulfill our own calling and duties in the work of the Lord, we will all have the blessing of God poured out upon us. I have seen it and I know that you all have too. Thank you for all of the support and prayers!

Love,

Elder R Wood

Power is out again (7/20/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a great week. The typhoon that I mentioned last week did not make it up to us, it was down in the Manila area. Hopefully the departing missionaries weren't delayed too long in Manila. We had some heavy rain for a few days in Pinili and the power kept going out. Luckily we have a good supply of candles and not much in our apartment needs electricity. It just gets very hot during studies without electric fans though. We survived though and are looking forward to a good week this coming week. It was a great first week with Elder Ab. He is from Manila and many of the members here know his dad since he works for the church and was a bishop in Manila. Elder Ab's dad actually performed the wedding of our ward mission leaders son back when he was a bishop. It is a very small world. 

So some updates on recent converts. The Aqu family us doing great. Sher and Eme have actually started working with us to fellowship and are still coming to church. Sher is slowly getting rid of his smoking and is very close now. He is down to 1 or 1/2 sticks a day. A funny incident happened yesterday when we taught them when Iv stuck Sher's cigarette in a hole is a statue and lost it. We were all laughing, especially since I am sure Iv did it on purpose. He is like his dad's personal reminder to always be keeping the commandments. 

Sacrament meeting wasn't quite as packed as last week, but there was still a good 20-30 people there. Bro. Ne came again and is now our unofficial Gospel Principles teacher. We haven't even taught him yet and he is coming back to church. It is all because of the efforts of the members. They are doing their own missionary work and home and visiting teaching and everything. That is one of the things that I really love about Pinili is that the members take such a big part of the work upon themselves without us having to constantly remind them.  That is the way the work is supposed to be. Members and missionaries working together in unity to bring souls unto Christ.

We have been working to get new baptismal dates for the coming months. Unfortunately, only one of our investigators is coming to church, which is Sherwin. We have committed many of our investigators to come to church, but they have not come yet. We are really going to focus on that in the next few weeks and get some more people ready for baptism in September. One of our new investigators is Mr. Wh, the man from Singapore that i mentioned last week. We were finally able to teach him (he really likes to talk) and he enjoyed the message about the Restoration. He even opened up to us about some of the problems in his family that he wants to fix. He really wants his family to listen to us too. We are excited to teach him and his family again this coming Thursday.

It was a pretty normal week this week. Considering it was a transfer week it went very well. Just in closing I want to share with you a little miracle that happened this week that testifies to me of the love of our Heavenly Father for all of us. On Saturday we had a baptismal interview in one of the district leaders areas and on the way back, I left our phone in the jeepney right before we switched vehicles and we realized it way to late. So our phone was gone. Luckily we had an extra in the apartment and after getting some minutes on it I texted President to let him know. He then forwarded us a text from Elder Ew, whose investigators we interviewed, that our phone is now with the Elders in San Lorenzo, who got it from the jeepney driver. It was such a miracle considering the number of phones that get lost and not returned. We had prayed that we would be able to recover the phone since it has all of our contact numbers on their and our prayer was answered. I know that Heavenly Father knows what happens in our lives every day and that He does little things for us all because He loves us. He is always there for us and as we seek to do His will he will bless us. He lives and so does our Savior. I love this work and am excited to keep on working through these last months! Thanks for all that ya'll do!

Love,

Elder R Wood

Pictures (7/13/14)

From MLC- Captain AMERICA

Two Rhinos (Thanks to Jon Moore)

View From Hannah's Resort View Deck

Baptism! Elder Seum, Sister Vi, Iv, Carm,  Sher and Bro Gab