Week 20

This week has been really good!

To start off we went to Ormoc on Monday afternoon. We got talking to this one guy on the van ride down. He knows English but we decided to speak Cebuano. He was really nice and we ended up giving him a Book of Mormon. Turns out we had already met his dad who is a Brgy Capt in Suba. We followed up and taught them the Message of the Restoration on Wednesday. The son  said he would be baptized if the Book of Mormon was true. I really hope he will be.

In Ormoc we met up with Elder Cottle's grandparents who are serving in the Cebu temple but came to visit for his birthday on monday. It was awesome. They took us to Moon Cafe. You would not believe it but there is actually some decent Mexican food here in the Philippines. Granted it wasn't really spicy at all but man it was the best meal I've had in a long time. I had a chimichanga a fajita salad a beef taco and  a pineapple shake. His grandparents also got me some garments and a copy of Preach My Gospel. My plan is to give one away and get the other bookbound. 

On Tuesday We had a really good district meeting in the morning. In the afternoon, we taught another new investigator whose son is a member in Manila. We taught another investigator and more less active families.

On Thursday we went on exchanges with our Zone Leaders to get certified. Elder Cypers is an awesome missionary. He really knows Cebuano and is a phenomenal teacher. It was awesome that I got to work with him. We got punted in the morning from some of the less actives so we went finding. We gave away some copies of the Book of Mormon but I don't think it's going to go anywhere fast with them. We had my stew for lunch. They said it was awesome. In the afternoon, we actually got to teach some families. We taught the Porquiado family and shared about Alma the Elder praying for his son and the Angel experience. We committed them to pray for and invite their less active son to return. After that we went to Suba to teach a less active priesthood holder but he said he was busy. So we went to the hospital and left copies of the BoM with the chief nurse, who is actually the wife of one of the Brgy Capts. Hopefully something comes of that. After that we took a ride to Bangkal and taught one of the Brgy Capts and his wife the Message of the Restoration. It frustrates me so much when we teach it as clearly as we can and then they say that all religions are the same and we believe the same thing. After that we taught another less active family. We went back home and  did evaluation and certification. I am now certified for the first level. Which means I could be a senior companion if called upon by the Lord and President Andaya. 

On Saturday we taught the Balombao family. We read the reading assignment with them and then proceeded with a lesson about baptism. We shared from Mosiah 18:8-14. There was such a good Spirit there. When we asked the question What have you against being baptized so the Lord can pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you. Bro. Balombao answered with verse 12 saying this is the desire of his heart. Sister Balombao still doesn't see the difference between the religions no matter how many times we try to explain it. She can't read very well because her eyes are old. We asked her to read one verse from 3 Nephi 11:26. She read it. We asked her to pray about it and she did. She asked for an answer. I think that is the first time she may have ever read from the Book of Mormon and prayed about it in public. We invited them to a baptismal service on the 16th. I really wish Nanay would have an Alma the Younger experience.

Sunday was really cool. We woke up and had studies then went to Priesthood meeting. Halfway through an investigator walked in. He was from Tabango which is about 15 km north of here. He asked to know a little bit more about the church. Apparently he had read a lot from his neighbors copy of the Book of Mormon. We talked to him in the sunday school room and explained a little more about Joseph Smith. He basically quoted the Testimony of Joseph Smith and knew about several Book of Mormon prophets. We gave Oliver his own copy of the BoM as well as all of our proselyting pamphlets. We asked President Andaya if we can go teach him or if Tabango can be opened and have some missionaries there, He has yet to respond. I really hope we can go there. The members here are totally willing to help open the area.

After Sacrament meeting we attended branch council meeting and urged everyone to get started on temple recommend and patriarchal interviews now so everyone is prepared. Thankfully they listened. I heard they were at the church til 5 doing interviews. The attendance was pretty good but there were still a lot of people absent. We need some consistent growth here. 

Overall I'm doing great. Thank you all for your letters and prayers. You really make it a lot easier on me knowing that you're all following the Gospel.

Love you all

Elder McGuire