Father's Day was great. I really enjoy the fact that almost all of the recent converts are priesthood holders. Earl Nabong passed the sacrament and he came and worked with us last night. He has such a strong desire to do missionary work and to serve a full time mission despite his humble circumstances. Bro. Nikki is really taking him under his wing and is going to buy some slacks for him. I gave him a tie and he has a nice white shirt as well.
Just for the record, there has been a baptism in Calbayog Branch every Saturday since May 24. The branch is 2 baptisms shy of the yearly goal for convert baptisms and the year isn't even half over. The branch is really helping us out with retention too. We had branch council meeting on Saturday and things are finally getting super organized. We're going to start having PEC and other meetings regularly. Mostly I'm just so ecstatic about all the Recent Converts. They are all so converted. They aren't missionary converts. They have real, strong testimonies of this work.
We have some new investigators as well this week just to shake things up. We are teaching the Tanio family. Marvin and Jenny are in their early 20s. He drives a motorcycle sidecar for his job. He's given us a few rides recently and is really excited to have us over. Yesterday we taught all of the Restoration and they committed to baptism.
We also taught Tanny, Bro. Nikki's friend. He has been working in Saudi Arabia for the past 5 years. He was really open to having us over and teach more about the restoration. His wife is kinda diehard Catholic but Tanny is really humble and said we could come back on Friday or next Sunday.
Krystel is doing better. We're super close with her. She is feeling the Spirit and starting to recognize it. She continues to read and pray and come to church but she's not quite making the connection. We need to explain that if she feels the Holy Ghost when she prays about the book of mormon, that means that it is true, which means the church is true and she needs to get baptized. I'm glad that she is so smart though and really wants divine confirmation before she makes such a big decision. Let's keep in mind that she's only 12.
I'm not sure what to do about Herald. He thinks his mom won't let him be baptized because she wants him to be Catholic. We talked to her and she said she doesn't want him to be baptized yet because he hasn't made sufficient changes in his character and relationship with her. It's becoming a sticky situation where they don't really communicate and when they do it's a fight. I'm thinking that he might just wait until he turns 18 in September. We continue to teach him. We taught him about the Stripling Warriors and committed him to study more about them and be exactly obedient.
Zone Interviews was really great. President gave a training on the Doctrine of the Family. He sincerely desires that each one of his missionaries has their own righteous family when they go home. So now we're trying to take what we've learned and apply it to the branch and strengthen the families. We're continuing to help the 4 families to prepare for the temple this December. The temple trip would be the same day that I go home. Kinda just a long shot but if Mom and Dad decided to pick me up, I would love to go to Cebu and participate in that temple trip :) I'll leave that up to you two to decide :)
I am continually grateful for your prayers and support. Thank you for the letters and especially for your righteous example. Have a wonderful week!
Love you!
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