Week 74: Brother Samuel and 600 Steps

Happy February!

I hope you all had a good time watching the Super Bowl and ate lots of food for me…I still have to wait another year pero no big deal… 😦

I HAD AN AMAZING WEEK here in the Philippines.

Brother Samuel and his son are preparing themselves for baptism this month. He is so different now and I will send a picture next week so you can put a face to a name. But he comes home early now so we can teach him and he changes his work schedule just so we have time to teach him so he can be ready for baptism. At church he stays the whole time and now he is teaching SamSam (his 8 yr old anak) to read from the Book of Mormon and sing the hymns. And just last night he texted us and said “natapod ako ha iyo nga duha sister na iyo ginbubuhat  nga tanan para itutdo it pulong han aton Amay ha Langit. bless kami ni samsam na umabot kamo ha amon makatutdo”. Translator: “I trust you sisters and what you do to teach the words of Heavenly Father. Samsam and I are blessed that you came and started to teach us.” The gospel changes lives and people and we are so excited for their baptism.

This morning we climbed “600 stairs” to an abandoned church with Sister Apple and Brother Jay and other ward missionaries. As we walked it, Sister Osma struggled to make it to the top and we just kept telling her “it doesn’t matter how slow you go as long as you don’t stop” which i think might be from an apostle.

My mom and sister also emailed me about a race that they ran this past week and they also struggled to run the whole thing because of lots of uphill sections. In both cases, even though they weren’t first to the top or to cross the finish line, they made it eventually. These two experiences reminded me of an article I read the other week from the Liahona “Finish with Your Torch Still Lit” by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf and here is an excerpt:

“Sometimes after stumbling, failing, or even giving up, we get discouraged and believe our light has gone out and our race is lost. But I testify that the Light of Christ cannot be extinguished. It shines in the darkest night and will relight our hearts if only we incline our hearts to Him.

 

No matter how often or how far we fall, the Light of Christ ever burns brightly. And even in the deepest night, if we but step toward Him, His light will consume the shadows and reignite our souls.

 

This race of discipleship is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. And it makes little difference how fast we go. In fact, the only way we can lose the race is by finally giving in or giving up.

 

As long as we continue to rise up and move toward our Savior, we win the race with our torches burning brightly.

 

For the torch is not about us or about what we do.

 

It is about the Savior of the world.

 

And that is a Light that can never be dimmed. It is a Light that swallows the darkness, heals our wounds, and blazes even in the midst of the deepest sorrow and unfathomable darkness.

 

It is a Light that surpasses understanding.

 

May each of us finish the path we have begun. And with the help of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, we will finish joyfully and with our torches still lit.”

 

I know that it is hard to get back up when we fall so many times or to finish climbing 600 steps or make it to the end of a 10K. For my sister’s case, my mom never left her side and stayed with her the entire way. Sister Osma had Sister Apple encouraging her the entire time as well.

Just like them and how they didn’t have to do it alone, we don’t have to finish this life alone. We ALWAYS have someone to endure with us. Jesus Christ has experienced every race we will run and have run and currently are running; He has experienced not only walking 600 steps but 1 million. He understands what we go through and he wants to cheer us on as well. So if you are going through a hard time right now, or some time in the near future please don’t give up. Just pray.

These are our APs:

I love this calling. I love the Phillipines. I love all of you. and I love Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Sister Prudencio

Week 67: Five. Fifteen. Eighteen. Infinity

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I am extremely sad this year as well that I will not be there to spend Christmas with you all BUT I am so happy to still be here in the Philippines and celebrate it in a way that I couldn’t back home. But you are all in my prayers EVERY DAY.

FIVE: We went on five exchanges this week. Our busiest and most tiring week but I think it was also our most fun and rewarding week as well. My companions were: Sister Sulunga (big polynesian),

Sister Tampus(ABOVE),

Sister Fajardo and Sister Fabon(my granddaughters in the mission and the two filipinas) and

Sister Mayaru(ABOVE). They are all amazing and I loved learning with them and getting to know them more. Besides Sister Mayaru, I already knew the sisters before pretty well so it was just a lot of fun to be their companion for a day.We also met and taught A LOT of people.

FIFTEEN: I have now been in the mission for over 15 months and I literally can’t believe it. I love this place and it is now my home. The things that were so foreign and weird to me when I first got here are now part of my culture and normal to me. I love these people and I don’t want to leave still.

EIGHTEEN: We had 18 investigators go to church yesterday. That is the most in my whole life. We were SOOOO happy and they all stayed all three hours as well. It was so neat seeing all of them feel the Spirit and so excited to come back next Sunday as well. For most of them, it was their first time stepping inside a Mormon church. What makes it even better is that Sister Fernandez and I were the speakers so we were able to tell the whole congregation as well as these investigators what the Spirit needed us to tell them.

We had dinner last night(me and Sister Fernandez) at the mission home with President and Sister Maurer and they thanked us for our hard work and we were able to just have normal conversations with them and grow closer with them as well.

INFINITY: The number of people that the Book of Mormon can help. I would like to write for you the things that the Spirit brought to my lips yesterday as I spoke about Christmas(some translations from Waray Waray to English might be weird but I will try):

I am so excited for Christmas as we all should be. But sometimes as Sister Fernandez and I talk to people we ask “Are you excited for Christmas??” or “What are your plans for Christmas??” and they respond, quite depressingly and to our surprise, with a “no, sisters because we have no money”. So we continue to tell them “well at least there is one person we can give a gift too and we don’t need any money to do so..Jesus Christ. What is your gift to Jesus Christ this year?” Unfortunately only sometimes are they able to answer that question. So as you read the rest of my talk keep in your minds what your gift can be to Jesus Christ this year.

I would like to write about the Book of Mormon because if we are going to celebrate Christ, we should really know Him and the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Christ. In Preach My Gospel it says

“Those who know little or nothing about the Savior will come to know Him by reading, pondering, and praying about the Book of Mormon.“

That statement is supported as we read the Introduction of the Book of Mormon where it says

“The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after His resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.” 

 

I have seen this promise in the introduction help not only my own life but so many lives here in Tacloban Mission. I can really see the difference that the Book of Mormon makes in lives. We often compare it to medicine and it is the only medicine we have for our heart breaks and sorrows and trials in life. Those who have a testimony, a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon are the ones who stay faithful in the church and understand the plan of salvation and that this is the only way to receive peace in not only this life but for eternity. This is the only book that I know of that can truly change lives forever.

I would like to share a verse from Doctrine and Covenants 14:7 :

“And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.”

Earlier we read that this book tells men how to gain eternal life and  this says that is the greatest gift of God. So when we think about gifts, as it is natural to do around Christmas, let us not forget about the GREATEST GIFT. And earlier I asked you to think about what your present is for Jesus. I want to help you. The best gift you could give to Jesus is the Book of Mormon. You cannot, of course give it to Him, but you can share it with your friends and family. It is free so we need not worry about money and the value is priceless. The value is eternal life.

I hope we can all truly remember the purpose of Christmas and find ways to share the Book of Mormon with others and find the best present for Jesus Christ this year. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I LOVE YOU!!

Sister Prudencio

Week 64: Exchanges, Finding, and LIGHT THE WORLD

HELLO 🙂

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of food, football, and family. Mine was full of…not of that haha. But it was still amazing because I am here in the Philippines.

First week full of exchanges was a success! I had so much fun learning from all of the Sisters and finding new investigators with them. Some of our new investigators have SO MUCH potential(a lot of investigators we just found this week came to church yesterday!) and some are just entertaining. We were teaching a lesson after having just met these people and one of the men was very drunk and kept trying to speak English to me, and singing English songs to me, and then randomly he looks at me and says “You are so beautiful. You are like….(kinda long pause) a Christmas tree.” Best compliment I have gotten ever. hahaha. Boys take note..it is a new line to make the chicks melt for you. 😉 But in all honesty we found 77 new investigators this week. That is 77 new people that have never heard the gospel before and want us to come back and continue to teach them about the truth. Heavenly Father really led us to those people he has been preparing and the Spirit was strong all week long. Now we will focus on helping them to progress and come even closer to Jesus Christ.

My companions for the week were: Sister De Fiesta(cute Filipina with short hair),

Sister Rex(american and my batch),

Sister Matautia(big polynesian)

and Sister Balucos.

They are all incredible missionaries and we had incredible experiences 🙂

With Sister Rex we were able to find long time less actives miraculously and we know that Heavenly Father was guiding where we walked and the people that we asked. We also taught a new investigator and less active that ended up coming to church yesterday. We taught them about Lighting the World. We shared in 3 nephi 18 and asked how they can make their lights shine brighter and they said going to church 🙂 I know that you all have a bright light of Christ also and just continue to make it brighter 🙂

With Sister Matautia we ended up stuck in a signal 1 typhoon and that is why we are walking through super tall water because there was no way around it.

She is hilarious and she offered to carry me but I couldn’t accept. Also, we were walking to one appointment and there was a grandma smiling so big at us and so Sister Matautia stopped to say hi.

She invited us in and she had just  that day gotten home from the hospital after 1 month of being in there because she had an injury from 3 years ago. She was so so so happy even though her husband has been dead for 25 years and she has also lost 4 children and her house is still not fixed from super typhoon yolanda. We called her our grandma and she was so committed to come to church but she unfortunately didn’t end up making it.

With Sister Balucos we found a brother that I had given a Book of Mormon to the day before, after going to so many houses without people there. We finally found them after asking SO MANY people. And his wife had just gotten home from the hospital as well, she had a day old baby. They were so receptive and stopped what they were doing to listen and they asked questions and at the end we asked how they felt and Sister said she felt warm and light and she knew that it was not an accident that we arrived at their home just an hour after them getting home from the hospital. We taught Plan of Salvation and it was an incredible lesson 🙂

We also had an FHE with the Codilan Family, the one I emailed about last week, (above) and Brother Danilo came to church again yesterday!! He is committed for his baptism 🙂

I love this area, San Juanico and I can’t wait to meet more people and continue to help the area progress with Sister Fernandez.

GO TO THIS LINK, WATCH, and SHARE:)

 https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_FR_25-11-2016_dMIS_fmorg_xLIDyL1-A_

#LIGHTtheWORLD

I love you all so much and hope you continue to Light the World. I pray for you all every day!!

LOVE…Sister Prudencio

Month 14: Brother Danilo, San Juanico and EXCHANGES

HELLO 🙂

I hope you are all healthy and happy. My new companion is Sister Fernandez, she is from the Philippines and she is so sweet and an amazing missionary. We are already super close. We are whitewashing this new area, San Juanico which is close to Tacloban. White washing for those who don’t know (mommy) is when an area gets two new missionaries so we both have no idea who the members, investigators, recent converts are or where our area is. This area is kind of struggling with investigators so we found this week that we are really basically just going to have to start over and find lots of new investigators and bring them closer to Christ. Starting from the bottom…

On top of that, we have been given the responsibility for one cycle only to exchange with every single Sister in the mission including the Sister Training Leaders to help them and train them on finding and progressing investigators…there are 26 companionships of Sisters in Tacloban mission which means that Sister Fernandez and I will do an exchange every single day except for Sunday and Monday this cycle. This means that we will basically have a different companion every day for 6 weeks…we are excited to meet and try to help all of the Sisters but we are also sad that we get so little time together. We are nervous but know that Heavenly Father will help us with this assignment that President Maurer has given us. So don’t be confused if there is a different Sister with me in every picture that I send home haha.

GOOD NEWS 🙂 We were able to visit the only investigator that has a baptismal date in the area on Friday and his name is Brother Danilo. He only has one child that is also not a member yet, but 4 of his children and his wife have all been baptized. He has been an investigator for almost 5 years now and the last time he went to church was over 3 years ago. We taught them on Friday about family and the responsibility of family members. I remembered a talk that I read where a missionary was teaching a similar family and he talked to the dad and told him that he was the only one holding his family back from spending forever together and asked him if he loved his family and wanted them to spend together forever. I tried asking similar questions to Brother Danilo and we expressed the importance of him getting baptized so that they can go to the temple and be sealed for eternity. HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY 🙂 We were so so so so happy and hopefully he will continue to come to church and make his way through the gates of Heavenly Father’s kingdom.

That is all for this week except that I cried so hard with the Bacatano family as we said our good byes on Friday night. I will miss them so so much and I still have the picture up on my desk. I will send those pictures next time.

I miss everyone, especially my family and I hope that you all remember how important your families are and that you get to be with them forever… 🙂

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Sister Prudencio

Week 61: Halloween and Potential

HAPPY HALLOWEEN AGAIN!! haha

My week was a blast and our Branch Halloween Party was the best in all of the Philippines probably. We started off the week with the FHE Halloween party. (pictures where I am in orange skirt) and it was SO MUCH FUN!

We used an object lesson about trick or treat(even though they don’t do that here) and then they prepared so much food for us and we played games where the consequence was putting lipstick on the face. One of the girls here is our investigator. She is 17 and she reads every day and goes to church every Sunday and goes to all of the activities. She wants to be baptized so badly but we need permission from President since she is not yet 18. Hopefully she can be baptized soon.

On Tuesday it was “All Saints Day”, that is there Halloween here where everyone goes to the graveyard all day and it is kinda like Memorial Day but they have picnics and stuff there.

President wanted us to proselyte and talk to people in the graveyard this day since that is where EVERYONE is. We did and it was actually a really neat experience asking people about the person in the grave they were standing by and hearing stories about them and then sharing the Plan of Salvation and telling them they get to have memories like that still with their loved ones. We also taught a lesson to a group of Catholic choir guys in the middle of the graveyard.

THEN…THE HALLOWEEN PARTY! Our Branch President requested that we dress up as “white ladies” it is a ghost here in the Philippines and people call us that all the time because we are white. So we made costumes out of a bed sheet and some of the kids were actually scared.

There were performances and the decorations were incredible and on the spot, Sister Allen and I were in charge of games. So we just played musical chairs with the adults where they had to walk around the chairs like zombies and with the kids we played duck duck goose, but aid “bata bata aswang” instead. It means child, child, monster.

Then we bought candy and it was thrown out like a parade to all the tables. AND we had 6 investigators come, one family  was the Napoles family. It was awesome 🙂

We had a lesson with this Napoles family on Saturday night(they are the ones with 4 girls that always feels like home). They have been investigators for 3 years and their Mom had only gone to church once. We hadn’t had an opportunity to plan anything but that morning for my personal study I read 3 Nephi 11 just “randomly”. When we got there Sister Allen and I had to figure out what to share with them and their Dad was there as well! And then I remembered my “random” personal study in 3 Nephi 11 and we figured it would be good to share to them.  The second time for Sister. I am so grateful for the Spirit and I know it was not random that I read that chapter for personal study that morning.

 2 And they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death.

 

 3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.

 

We talked about how in the years they have been investigating the church they must have felt this Holy Ghost testify to them that it is true as well as the Book of Mormon and they confirmed that.

 

 4 And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood it not.

We talked about how they maybe are not fully understanding that the feeling they have is Heavenly Father telling them this is the truth and they need to take action and be baptized.

 

 5 And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.

 

Then we related this to how they didn’t just ignore the voice because they couldn’t understand it, but they took action and opened their ears and turned towards where the sound was coming. so they need to not just ignore the promptings they are receiving, they need to do something and go to church and see if it is true.

 

 6 And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:

 

 7 Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.

 

 8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.

 

9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:

 

10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. 

 

We finally talked about if they had not done something about the feeling they were receiving or the voice they couldn’t understand, they would have missed the opportunity to see Jesus Christ and learn from Him, just like if they ignore their promptings, they will miss all of the blessings that come from joining the true church.

It was exactly what we needed to read with them as a family and they were all engaged and listening and Brother finally opened up at the end about his concerns. AND THEY CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!!

And we also had MLC this week where we discussed the following talk by President Gordon B. Hinckley from 1979. It is AWESOME! Please please please read:) whether it’s for you or someone in your life, I know it will help 🙂

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1979/04/and-peter-went-out-and-wept-bitterly.p16-18,33-35?lang=eng

 

We shared it last night with Noel and his family(the Bacatanos) and it was so powerful and he realized(again) that he needs to change now and so he can live up to his potential. The talk was also a wake up call for me. Some of my favorite lines in it are:

” One of the great tragedies we witness almost daily is the tragedy of men of high aim and low achievement. Their motives are noble. Their proclaimed ambition is praiseworthy. Their capacity is great. But their discipline is weak. They succumb to indolence. Appetite robs them of will.”

 

“And so I might continue telling you of those who begin with noble objectives, but then slow down, or of those who are strong starters and weak finishers. So many in the game of life get to first base, or second, or even third, but then fail to score. They are inclined to live unto themselves, denying their generous instincts, grasping for possessions and in their self-centered, uninspired living, sharing neither talent nor faith with others.”

We all have such great potential and sometimes we forget it or we forefeit the opportunities that we have because of weak discipline or our own appetites. This talk goes on to speak of Peter’s repentance and how, we too, can return and become something amazing in the sight of the Lord.

I love this work and I love love love these people. They have changed my life and I am forever grateful that I was called here by our Heavenly Father.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Prudencio

Week 57: My Biliran Family and General Conference

Hello My America Family:)

How are you all? This weekend(I know I am a week behind) we got to watch General Conference!! It was incredible and answered so many questions that have been on my mind recently. I am grateful for their preparation(the speakers) and the Holy Ghost that helped teach me what I needed to learn from them. I loved that all of their talks were about simple doctrine that I teach every day and that a majority of the talks were on the Savior and His Atonement and repentance. I have been told here in the mission that the most important thing that we can share with people is about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and in the scriptures whenever there is a big speech given by a prophet it is almost always about repentance. I will share some of my favorite quotes:

• “If I loved you more, would you hurt less?” -a child talking to her grandpa in the hospital
• “If we loved the Savior more, would we suffer less?” -Robert D Hales
• “A loving God is as close as a prayer” -Carol F. McConkie
• “We need not pray just with our LIPS but always with our HEARTS. Are you really praying or just saying prayers?” -Juan A. Uceda
• “Stumbling blocks may be made into stepping stones” -Quentin L. Cook
• “As she looked to the Book, she looked to the Lord” -Gary E. Stevenson
• “I have learned to suffer with joy” -Russell M. Nelson
• “It is not possible to sink lower than the infinite light of the Savior’s Atonement shines”
• “Spiritual experiences have less to do with what is happening around us and everything to do with what i happening within our hearts” -Dean M. Davies
• “The Lord did not remove the thorn but He did speak peace…To fully receive these gifts our Savior has so freely offered, we all must learn that suffering in and of itself does not teach or grant to us anything of lasting value unless we deliberately become involved in the process of learning from our afflictions through the exercise of faith.” -Evan A. Schmutz

 My favorite talk I think. READ IT!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/joy-and-spiritual-survival?lang=eng

 

Besides General Conference, my week was also incredible!!! I have grown so close to the people here in Biliran and they truly feel like my family. On Wednesday we found out that Tatay Darantinao passed away(the one that is the first member in Biliran and his house was the only one left standing from the typhoon). I cried to find out we would not be able to hear more of his testimony with our visits but rejoice in the fact that he is now sharing his testimony with people in Heaven. We have gone to a funeral every day for him (Philippines tradition) and yesterday we were the speakers. I shared with everyone what I had learned from Tay about faith.

We found an amazing family this week (the Mendoza family). We only shared a little with them the first visit and gave them a Book of Mormon. We returned just a few days later and they had already read from it and prayed to know if it was true. We shared the complete message of the Restoration and we could just feel that they understood it and they want to know if it is true. I love finding families like them 🙂 Sister Gullod is determined to get baptized and she has gone to church every week since we committed her last month, hopefully her baptism will be in a few weeks. I am so happy for her. I have started to notice a difference in people’s eyes when they are ready to receive the gospel. It started with Sister Gullod and then her neighbor Sister Elma. I have seen it a few more times in strangers even and I don’t know if it is just me thinking that but I love the light and the difference in their eyes. 🙂

This picture of me and the Grandma laughing was taken candidly by Sister Allen. We were teaching her and I was for some reason sitting right next to her and she kept leaning really close to me and whispering strange things in my ears and would get super close to my face to tell me things and then start busting up laughing. She is over 80 years old and she is a member and I love her. Nanay Rodriguez.

This bridge is a bridge we have to walk across to get to one of our areas. By the way there is not a lot of transportation in this area and I have never done so much walking in my entire life.

It was also Sister Allen’s birthday this week. I made us banana pancakes and cocoa pebbles for breakfast and it was DELICIOUS 🙂

At night a creepy man stared at us through the window and we all ended up sleeping in the same bedroom and barricading the door because we were scared out of our minds. But we are alive and no one is hurt and so don’t worry 🙂

Other pictures:

Lipstick on our face is the one from our family home evening with Noel and the Bacatano’s(for real my new family here) we are at their house so often.

Some views from our areas:

I can’t think of what else. But I love this mission and I love Biliran and I love the Savior and His Atonement. I am grateful for our prophet, Thomas S. Monson and His Apostles. I am grateful for the knowledge that we have of the Plan of Salvation and that our Loving Heavenly Father truly is only a prayer away at all times.

I love all of you and I pray for you constantly.

Love,

Sister Prudencio

Week 56: MLC and FHE

Kamusta kamo 🙂

To start off with another update with the ice cream talk to everyone challenge: all the Zones reported their numbers at MLC and even though we have the least amount of missionaries in our zone, we got the highest numbers for almost ALL the categories 🙂 We were so proud of our zone and the work and progress that they made with the people in their area. We rewarded them with an ice cream party on Friday after all 🙂

We got very little work this week because we were not in our area for two days and then we had a Zone Training Meeting. BUT we did have three really good FHEs.(Family Home Evening).

1. We had another one at the Bacatano house (no picture attached, I will send next week because there is lipstick all over my face in it) and Noel is still going strong and has not drank in a long time 🙂 He even joined us for another FHE later that week. I am so proud of him and all their kids were there and their sister in law and some neighbor kids who are not yet members. We shared the story of the Prodigal Son with pictures and everyone said that they learned a lot from it and especially Noel could relate to going astray and then coming back to our Heavenly Father.

2. FHE at Napoles Family. First of all, their family and home makes me feel like I am at home with my family, They have 4 girls and usually jsut there mom is home and they are always playing games and basta…i love going to their house. This family pictured with all the girls have been investigators for a long long time, and Sister keeps reading and she says she knows it is true but she is Catholic and isn’t super interested in joining the church. This FHE was for her birthday and she opened up more about the church.

She said she has noticed that mormons dont have vices or temptations and they are just all really good people. Of course we corrected her and told her we still do have temptations and sometimes we also sin but we believe in living the things we learn from the scriptures and the bible. She said “more people should become mormon so there are more good people out there and no more drinking or smoking or vices”. We told her she should start that movement haha and she said she wants to wait for her husband to get baptized first. We were grateful she finally opened up and that she can notice the difference in members and nonmembers. It reminded me that people are always watching no matter if we know it or not. We need to set a good example and represent Jesus Christ and His Church always.

3. FHE at Gabuya. It was Brother’s birthday so we went and turned off all the lights and then used one little flash light to show that darkness or evil can never overcome the light, even a little light. then we played fun sign games where if you lost the punishment was putting coal on your face…as you can see i did not do very well. But it was a blast. Nanay made my favorite dish as well 🙂

I had a prayer answered this week in a way I didn’t expect or even want but in a way that perfectly fixed the problem and answered my prayer. Heavenly Father knows us perfectly and He knows how to answer our prayers and when to do so. We just need to be patient and recognize and appreciate when the answer comes.

We also got to watch the Women’s Session this week which was AMAZING and I love President Uchtdorf. His talk was perfect and exactly the added motivation that Sister Allen and I needed to have another successful cycle. And it was on such a simple concept that we teach every day: FAITH. 

• I love that he reminded us that there are more ways to see than with our eyes, more ways to feel than with our hands, and more ways to hear than with our hearts. He goes on to council the people(all of us) who have people in their lives who say they haven’t received answers to their prayers, for example that the Church is true, and counsels us to not tell them to listen harder but to LISTEN DIFFERENTLY. I hope we can all take this advice for those that we love.

The gray shoes on the left are mine. And the other ones are Sister Allen’s. We haven’t had time to buy knew shoes so we walk around with these holey shoes. We just laugh about it but I thought I should document it. haha.

I am in love with this calling because of these people and I never want to come home. (sorry 🙂 )

LOVE

Sister Prudencio

Week 55: Talking Like Everyone and Teaching Like the Savior

MAUPAY MAN NA KULOP 🙂

This week was awesome!! To start the week, Sister Allen and I were feeling like nothing we were doing was helping the zone be motivated to talk to everyone(a challenge recently given by President Bowen of the Area Presidency. So we were brainstorming a way of how we could motivate them. And we came up with something that motivates everyone…ICE CREAM 🙂 So first we asked permission from President if that could be an incentive and he thought it was an excellent idea and even upped the ante to ice cream party at his house!! So we told the whole zone about the Ice Cream OYM Challenge and they were all so excited. Sad to say we did not reach our girl of 30 every day BUT the number of people talked to in each area more than tripled and everyone got a lot more new investigators too! We are so proud of our zone 🙂

We went back to Sister Elma, the one who told us that she is looking for the true church and she read the Book of Mormon and prayed and says she knows it is true!! My smile was gigantic. Promise.

Lately, I have been focusing on three things that President Maurer has asked us to focus on in the work and here are some experiences from those focuses:

1. Teaching like the Savior:

For the Zone Conference I went through 3 Nephi and The Bible to study how the Savior taught and I wrote down all His questions and analogies. I then wrote some I could apply here or changed them up a bit to apply them to the Filipino people instead of the Jews. I noticed mostly before He asked questions, he told a parable. So during companionship study we now plan for an analogy to use to help them better understand the concept and it has been so fun. Also while teaching I try to think of a question the Savior would have used. The other day we were teaching Plan of Salvation to this lady and Sister Allen got to what our purpose is here and handed it off to me but I felt that we needed to back up and was prompted to ask her “Do you believe in God?” and she said yes. Then I said “Do you know that He loves you?” She paused and said she wasn’t sure because of all the trials in her life. We were able to back up and focus on the first principle in lesson one and testify that even with all of the trials, He still loves her. It was an amazing spiritual experience and I am grateful for the Holy Ghost to bring that question to mind and for the assignment to study the Savior’s teachings and apply it in our work. I noticed a lot of the Savior’s questions are simple and it worked just like it worked for the Savior.

2. Finding Prospective Elders

We have been looking for this one family full of prospective elders but no body knew them. So Sister Odlime and I saw a big group and took it as a way to start an OYM, not really thinking we were going to find this family. One of the Prospective elders was sitting in the crowd and so before going to his house, we were able to teach this group of people about the Gospel and then we went to his house and there are just like 4 or 5 less active prospective elders that live there and they said a missionary hasn’t visited them in years and years and they asked how we even know they are members or who told them. We got to bear testimony that because the Savior remembers each and every one of His sheep, so does the church and we were sent there to help find them. One of them said, “okay we will probably go to church next week”. And I feel like he meant it, just because he felt remembered and was reminded that he belongs to the best group there is. I love finding Prospective Elders.

3. Serving Investigators as a Way of Finding

On Saturday we were called early to go to the church but we were confused why. We got there to find out that the Branch President wanted us to give a tour to a group of students he was helping at the church. He was helping them for free and he took his own time to do it and he saw it as an opportunity for us to teach them a little bit about the gospel. In Catbalogan Sister Healey and I were thinking about doing an English class as a way to serve investigators and also for members to bring friends and referrals. Even if at first it starts out as just really teaching English, we can hopefully eventually start teaching the gospel to their families. We talked to President Barili about it and he loves it, so we are going to start on October 22. I am excited to help them here in a different way and find a way to teach them the gospel and get more referrals.

I know I say it every week but I can’t get over how much I love this work and these people and this calling. I have never been more passionate about anything in my life and I am so blessed, we are so blessed, we get to set time out of our lives to devote all of our attention to giving people good news and listening to strangers open up about their problems even on the first visit and then get to tell them about Jesus Christ and His Atonement or the Book of Mormon or prayer or that their Heavenly Father loves them so much and then to see the look in their eyes is…indescribable.

Random Pictures: 

Nanay Gabuya doing my laundry.

Playing volleyball at the church every Monday with the Youth.

The four boys pictured come to every FHE and activity and they are such fun boys.

The rice fields and that is me walking behind a Caribou next to the beautiful rice fields that we walk by every single day. I wish the pictures did justice. 

Oh and that old couple eating: They are nicknamed Romeo and Juliet and they are Nanay Gabuya’s parents. They walk around Biliran matching and holding hands and they are so old and adorable 🙂 

Love,

Sister Prudencio

Adina Family, Riza, Dan Jones, and Biliran

Hello from Biliran!

It’s transfer Week and I am going to be an STL in Biliran, the prettiest area in the mission and my new companion is Sister Allen from Bountiful! She was Sister Healey’s companion in the MTC. I am so so so excited 🙂

As for my last week in Catbalogan, it was also amazing and I am going to miss it here so incredibly much. All of the families and people that have changed my life and built/strengthened my testimony.

Last night we visited the Adina family (the amazing family that goes to church every week and just can’t be baptized yet because they are not married yet). We showed up and one of the first thing Bother Adina asks us if they can get baptized tomorrow and we had to remind them about their marriage but now brother seems really motivated to figure it out so they can get married. We taught 10 commandments and it was the most difficult 10 Commandment lesson I have ever taught; usually people are really accepting and just already know about them. Brother Adina starts going into the “square prayer” and quoting things from the Bible. He then started taking the Lord’s name in vain before we got to that commandment, and then we explained it and he did not know it wasn’t allowed, and then said yeah that is like if whenever i got hurt I started saying “sister prudencio.” Hahah, I told him, he can start saying that as long as he stops saying the Lord’s name. Then he started asking if we believe in vampires and ghosts and told me when I go home, I will be flying in the air at night and people are going to ask what happened to me. hahahah. Very very entertaining lesson. I am going to miss them and I am so excited for their baptism.

We went and visited Riza a few times this week, and the first time (the first time after her baptism) she talked about how people at work have been telling her she is different because she is always happy and just signing to herself at work. She told us she sings hymns to herself all day 🙂 Also she told us about telling people she is Mormon and how she is so proud of it 🙂 She is honestly amazing and so converted to the gospel. I will miss her probably the most.

One of our areas is a hill full of people that belong to the Assemblies of God church. It is extremely difficult to teach. BUT one of our investigators told us about how sometimes some seventh day adventist and other religion missionaries come to the “plaza” right outside of her house and gather the people around and start teaching like that. I told Sister Healey about the idea because I thought it might be a good idea to bring a box of Aklat ni Mormon and pamphlets and a paper where they can write their name and contact info after if they want us to come back and visit them. So we went to this plaza after telling everyone that we were going to share with them at 5 PM and then we got on a bench and started shouting at the top of our lungs about the gospel. That morning for personal study, I researched how to even preach like that, since I have never done it before but I knew that there are people in the Book of Mormon like Jesus, Alma, and King Benjamin who did. So I studied their techniques and the things they chose to share with large crowds of people and similarities in their “sermons”. We were just going to share the message of the Restoration but I noticed that they mostly shared about repentance and the Atonement, so we decided to fit that into our thing. We shared to about 50-60 people about the restoration and Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and it was so loud and sometimes chaotic. But afterwards we had about 30 people come and sign their names and also we got to teach right away some of the near by houses. We passed out 3 packs of pamphlets and a whole box of Book of Mormon after writing information in all of them and highlighting key scriptures. It was an amazing experience 🙂 Although my voice is still returning.

I got to go back to Borongan on Friday for exchanges and see everyone that I love and miss so much from there 🙂 The District President had a dinner at his house for me and some members that I am close to came. It was so so so good to see them again 🙂

I had to say bye to all the ward members and investigators yesterday and it was really hard, again but I know that I will enjoy it as well in Biliran 🙂

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will continue to pray for you!

Sister Prudencio

Month 11: Riza’s Baptism, Samar Day, and Amazing Investigators

HELLO 🙂 It has been an INCREDIBLE WEEK 🙂 We are back to work in Catbalogan and people are still amazing and progressing and loving the gospel. I love being a missionary. I don’t think I have mentioned that before 😉 After not visiting anyone in our area for an entire week, we show up at the Adina Family Tuesday night and they bought yummy chicken for us and as we ate, they watched the Joseph Smith video that they searched and downloaded when we were away. They also were the peacemakers (the branch said) one Sunday when the members were fighting. Then! The next morning we went to Sister Riza’s and we showed up a little earlier than she expected. She was blasting “I Need Thee Every Hour” in her house full of non members 🙂 She told us it is her favorite song and it is mine too so that made me so happy. She also told us she downloaded that Joseph Smith video and watched it while we were away.

FIRST AND FOREMOST. This Sister Riza (the sister I found a couple of months ago) got baptized on Saturday!!! 🙂 She is incredible and so converted to the gospel, it is a testimony builder for me how strong she is and how much she loves the gospel 🙂 She bore her testimony after she was baptized(still my favorite part about the mission) and the Spirit was SO strong. She talked about how right before Sister Russon and I came and taught her the message of the Restoration, she was going through a really hard time and praying to Heavenly Father to help her find the true church because she knew the Catholic church was not right…I still remember that first lesson that we taught to her, that she received from the missionaries, and I remember thinking that was the strongest I had felt the Spirit in a lesson in a long time. I remember as we shared how our message could bless her life and the first vision, tears welled in her eyes. I love Sister Riza and her testimony and her conversion to this gospel.

On August 11, it was SAMAR DAY. Samar is one of the three islands in my mission, it also happens to be where all of my three areas on the mission have been for the last 11 months. Hence I bought a shirt(pictured).

Some of the Elders in the mission call me the ‘good SAMARitan’ because of how long I have been on this island. Anyway, I was stoked for this day of my island. We took pictures and bought Buko shake(our favorite) and then at night there were even fireworks we watched from the roof top 🙂 I love this island and August 11, Samar Day, will forever be another holiday I celebrate in my life.

This week we had two exchanges and amazing things happened on both those exchanges. 1. I taught more lessons in one day than I have ever taught in my whole mission. 2. We committed some more of our investigators to baptism because out of nowhere, I was super super bold this week and it actually worked pretty well 🙂 I was very nervous to be so at first because sometimes people here get offended really easily, but it was a good way to be bold and upfront about our purpose and the gospel. Here are a few experiences:

Comique Family:

This couple has been investigators for a long long time. All of their 5 children are baptized but they are not yet married so they can’t be baptized yet. We thought we made a break through with them a few weeks ago because they came to church. But they haven’t been since and they aren’t reading or praying either. I didn’t know what to do with them because they told us they want to get baptized but to find out for sure, I asked them. “Do you still want to be baptized” Brother started explaining that they aren’t yet married and I interrupted him and said “that wasn’t my question, do you want to be baptized.” They first said yes so we started explaining what they need to do and we are there to help them but they need to show Heavenly Father they still have that desire. Then Tatay opened up and admitted that he thinks that the Catholic church is the true church. We were able to work from there and now we know their real concern. If I wasn’t prompted to be as bold, we still wouldn’t know the problem. I am grateful for the prompting and that now we can focus on their concern.

Pincas Family:

Sister Healey and I found this family a couple of weeks ago. They are the ones where Sister cried during her prayer about the Book of Mormon and said she could feel something. They are professionals, very smart, and Catholic. We knew it was time to commit them to a baptismal date but we were nervous to do so because of their devotion to their faith and they are shy to say no to us and they already kind of feel like we are trying to force them to go to church.

We taught the Plan of Salvation, we got to the part about kingdoms of heaven. We had brother read who can go to the Celestial kingdom and who goes to Terrestrial kingdom. We explained what it means to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that you need to be baptized the proper way and by proper authority. Then I said that there were two people in the room who at the moment could go to the Celestial Kingdom and live with Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father, and our families forever, and two that could not. We explained we were there because at the moment they were the ones who could not but we want them to be able to. We told them we were not there to force or rush them but that baptism by proper authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the only way to go to this highest kingdom, then asked if they would follow Jesus’ example and be baptized…They said yes 🙂

Palanas Family:

We started out this family(first time I have taught) by asking about their experiences with prayer and the holy ghost. then talked about the Book of Mormon. We told them we know that they can find out for themselves if it is true by prayer and that same feeling they had before that gave them a solution to their problems and lifted their heavy hearts. We asked if they would follow the example of Jesus Christ…etc and one of them said it depends because they are used to the Catholic church and being Catholic. We explained that we understand it is hard to change anything in life let alone religion as a way of life. Also we said that if the Holy Ghost testifies to them of the truth of this church and they find out for themselves that it is true, and then still decided not to get baptized, that is like denying the Holy Ghost which is very serious. Then said, when you find out for yourselves that this is true, will you be baptized by proper authority…etc. And all three of them said yes 🙂

Also we had zone training meeting and Sister Healey and I trained on extending baptismal commitments and we learned a lot 🙂 I attached a picture of the board and our zone.

Also we taught the deaf Tatay about the plan of salvation and used little cut outs of the parts to teach him. We got to the kingdoms of glory (the pictures are of the sun, moon, and a star) We explained them and asked where he wanted to go. He said “there on the sun it is hot”…

I LOVE THIS WORK! If you are still considering whether you should serve a mission or not..GO. I promise it is the best thing you will do and the most rewarding thing as well.

Love,

Sister Prudencio