Hello everyone, long time no see. hahaha This week has been really good. A lot has gone on and I feel so busy ALL the time. I'm doing really really good though. This past week we...
1. Had a wonderful Zone Conference
2. Had beautiful exchanges with amazing Sisters
3. Got permission from President Ostler to attend a Relief Society activity and do ZUMBA!!
4. Well, I got to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday (for probably the last time) and it was an amazing spiritual experience
5. Got to watch the atonement change someone's heart up close and personally.
So this is kinda a lot I wanted to tell you about this week, so i'm gonna get started. If you get bored by the time i'm finished... it's okay, I won't feel bad, but the end part is the best part... just saying. But first off was our zone conference. Holy it was soooo good. We talked about how to apply the things Elder Bednar talked to us about when he was here and it was absolutely amazing. We also got to practice how to ask questions to really know concerns and have a completely open and trusting relationship with our investigators. As well as the Assistants taught about how to have FHE for the first lesson and really gain that trust that is needed with investigators. It was really good. And then at the end the missionaries who are leaving next week bore their testimony and it was so good. I can't believe that I only have one transfer left. I can't handle it. But I think to really get me to focus on these next couple of weeks, I know it's weird, but I wanna just ask you to maybe not mention that I am coming home in any emails from now until the last time you email me. I know it's gonna be hard, but I really think it'll help me a lot. Thanks a bunch, love you tons.
Next, we had exchanges and it was really fun. I went with Sister Fidow. They live with us, but we still do exchanges with them. In the middle of the exchange we got a call that Sister Zarbock and Sister Gabriel would be staying with us for the day so we ended up doing an exchange within and exchange and Sister Zarbock joined us hahaha it was really fun! :)
Now what i've been waiting for ZUMBA!!! Oh my gosh you guys Zumba was so fun! We asked permission because our investigator wanted to go and I was really really really wanting to go. So we texted President Ostler and he said YES!! It was so wonderful. I felt like I was back like myself again. I had to sit out sometimes and rest (that was the agreement of President Ostler) but it was so much fun. I honestly love love love zumba and it was cool to get to do it even though i'm a missionary. It was a great activity and our investigator really liked it, so it was a good missionary opportunity. haha the best part is at every activity (just like in Utah) there is always food after. So after doing this insane workout and just feeling so great everyone shoved their faces with food hahaha it was so funny. The picture below is of our feet cuz we didn't have shoes and our feet got so dirty hahah it was so good.
Fourth thing, was I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament yesterday about how the Book of Mormon helps us gain faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was really awesome to study and read more and share experience and things. It was really cool because I just remember my first talk I gave and how terrible it was and how I stayed up until like 4am trying to translate my talk from English to Tagalog. Ahhhh what a nightmare that was. As I was writing my talk this time I wrote it all in English and read over it a couple times in Tagalog. As I was sitting on the stand partaking of the sacrament I was reflecting my life and the past week as well as my mission. I was praying for the gift of tounges so that I could speak to the congregation in their own native tounge with them understanding all the words I was saying as well as I was praying that my talk would be really good. As I was ended my prayer, the prayer of blessing the water of the sacrament started. At the end of the prayer it said, "...that they may always have his spirit to be with them." This part of the prayer really hit me. It made me understand that I was totally praying for the wrong things... I didn't need to pray for my talk to be really good or even to have the gift of tounges. I needed to pray for the Spirit to be with me. After this I started pondering that because of the Atonement and the partaking ordinance of the sacrament and retaining a remission of my sins, I knew that I would be promised that the spirit would always be with me. So as I pondered this in my mind I started praying more fervently than ever that the Spirit would be with me as I spoke.
I'm always nervous right before I have to get up and talk, but they same thing always happens. I got up after just had saying this prayer and a tremendous sense of peace overcame my body and my heart. I was then able to speak and translate my words into Tagalog and bear my sacred witness of the things that I know to be true. It was a great feeling to have felt the Spirit really work through me to touch the hearts of the members in the Congregation.
Finally, the last thing I wanted to share was a really great story of a boy named Ronilo. Ronilo is part of the Mesa family. We met him back in November when we first talked to Victoria Mesa, his mother. He was a really great kid. He studied at a born again christian church, practiced the guitar at this born again christian church, and even had a goal to be a pastor for this born again christian church when he was older. He was very devoted to his faith even though he is only 13 years old. Very very devoted. We would teach his family and he would leave the room. We would invite him to activities and he would kindly decline because he already had activities at his own church. We would try our hardest to discern his concerns, yet he wanted nothing to do with us missionaries. Honestly he acted too cool to even talk to us or listen to anything we had to say. After the baptism of his mother and two sisters literally a miracle happened. Something in Ronilo changed. He was willing to talk to us, and even better than that he was willing to actually listen to us and willing to hear the messages we had for him. As we started we taught about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel and wow how the heart of Ronilo started to change. I remember specifically in one of our lessons we asked him what he wanted to know or learn from us. Then, he said, "I want to know the truth, like Joseph Smith. That's it, I just want to know the truth." We then shared to him that in order for him to know he needed to do what Joseph Smith did. Attend church, read the Book of Mormon and the Bible, and pray and ask of God if it is true. So that is just what Ronilo did. Ever since that day he has prayed, he has gone to church every single week, and he has started the Book of Mormon. It was truly a miracle to see this young man change his heart and want to be baptized. And now, he is going to get baptized. This weekend. On Saturday March 18, Ronilo Mesa will get baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It's simply an amazing tender mercy and proof that the hand of the Lord is in this work and is in all things.
I'm so grateful that I have been able to witness Ronilo have a change of heart. It's amazing to be a missionary and know that honestly I am just an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Without Him I am nothing. I am grateful to know that solid truth. It feels so good to be a missionary and to constantly work and find and teach and help and lift and inspire. I would trade being anywhere in the world for where I am right now. I love the Philippines and I love being a missionary. Thank you for all you do for me, and thank you for reading this really long letter family. You are the best. I'll see you soon, but don't get too excited, I still got a while.
Mahal ko kayo,
Sister Barton
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