WOW! what a report!! I pretty much figured that this week was going to be the big week. haha. I am overwhelmed with joy for my new niece and gratitude that everything turned out alright. :) Congratulations- sa bagong mga ginikanan!! (CONGRATS to the new parents!!!) Life will sure be different for them from here on out. My prayers are with them as they make the adjustment! haha. Well that news kinda blows all MY news outta the water. haha.
This week we ALSO got new additions to our home... 2 little boys! hahaha. Nanay A, our relief society president/land lady/cook/laundry lady, will be watching her two grandchildren for a while, while they go to school here in Bonifacio. There is CJ (6 yrs. old) and MJ (8 yrs. old) and it is way fun to have new energy in the house. haha. of course they don't go in our side of the apartment, but it's basically the same house. Nanay is excited. It feels like when I used to watch the other nieces before I left on my mission. haha.The only hard part is that they are from Manila, so they speak Tagalog and don't know much Cebuano yet. But I will be helping them learn English and they in turn will help me relearn Tagalog. It should be fun!
The work went really well this week too, even though our time to work was limited. We went to Bacolod on Wednesday for a Zone Leaders Council, which went really well. We learned a lot and are excited to pass it all down to our missionaries. Thursday and Friday was the annual fiesta in our barangay (neighborhood?), so needless to say we were inside before it got dark and the drunks all came out. haha. Then Saturday we had a small emergency with one of our missionaries, but it worked out ok because Elder and Sister Bevans (one of our 3 couple missionaries) were coming up to escalante to give a missionary fireside, so they were able to help out. Everything is ok now. Afterwards, me and Elder F helped with the fireside. It was way fun because I got to be the translator for about 50+ young men preparing to serve and Elder Bevans. haha. It turned into an all day thing, but I think it was a way good use of time. It also built my testimony about how strong the youth of the church are. I feel like and old fogie sometimes when I say "when I was a young man"...but, when I was a young man, we were pretty good (we thought). But when I looked at all those young men that had a desire to serve even though their circumstances back at home are really rough, I realized how Heavenly Father really did save the choice spirits for our time. Each generation will be stronger and stronger until the 2nd coming. It's a cool thing to think about!
As far as the work in Bonifacio goes, we have been trying to focus on helping some of our investigators really progress towards baptism. Edgar (male, 30+ yrs.), Jok Jok (male, 18 yrs, sister o.'s kid), Andrea (girl 11 yrs, part member), Yeshen (girl, 9yr old, part member) and Aira is a new one that we met this week (another 9 yr. old part member girl. haha.)
The J family is actually a cool story. Here in the Philippines, news travels about as fast as it does in Lima, Montana. Everyone knows about everything the instant it happens. haha. The J family's parents are both school teachers and are sealed in the temple. A few years ago they were VERY active, and I wont' say what happened, but a problem came up and because of it the family has been inactive for about 5 years. Well, we heard news that they were ready to make things right again, so we went to check it out, and sure enough, they were. It was like finding a gold mine. This family remembered almost everything about the church and has almost every book written by the church in their home. If they come back to activity, they might just be the strongest family in the branch. They are definitely the kind of leaders we are looking for. It was so humbling to see this family who finally realized what they really wanted in their lives and built up the courage to humble themselves and want to make things right again. It just goes to show that repentance is possible for anyone who humbles themselves. Sometimes we think that our sins are too big to be forgiven, but that is WRONG. No matter how big, everything can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. :)
Well, this is getting kind of long, so I think I'll stop there. I hope you all know that I love you and am praying for you always! Halong guid! Palangga ta kamo!!
-Elder Lee
From May 21, 2012:
Well, this week
went pretty well for us. we had a lot of zone leader responsibilities to
take care of, so we didn't get too much time to work in our own area
again, but the time that we did get to work went really well. We are to
the point now where we have steady PEC and ward council meetings (which
could be more effective if they were staffed with more than 3 or 4
people, but hey, at last it's happening, right? hahaha), and our
attendance is consistently around 100.
The biggest
thing now is this new program that the District is putting into effect,
called the B.U.H.E. program (Branch Unified Home Evening). Buhiy also
means "living" in Cebuano, so they say this program is to help our units
live. hahaha. Family Home Evening is a big misunderstood principle
here, and it's pretty rare for a family to actually have consistent
family home evenings (about 1 in each branch). So this program will help
to teach what family home evening is and strengthen the members. Right
now, family home evenings only happen if we (the elders) or the branch
president set it up and go do it. The members also think that if there
is no priesthood presiding (i.e. branch president or a counselor), or
there is no snack, it can't go on .haha. They also think it is mostly
like a party with lots of games. haha. So each neighborhood will meet at
one house every week, sort of like a group family home evening and we will
teach each neighborhood what family home evening really means, give
them a sort of template program (with suggestions) and pick one active
member in each area to be accountable. After we teach them how to have a
spiritually uplifting family home evening that strengthens the members
of the family, we will follow up with the member in each area each week
to see if it happened.
So that's the vision of the
District Presidency. I'm pretty excited because if it gets up and
running, it will solve A LOT of the problems we are facing (Less Active
reactivation, how to get parents to assume their responsibility to teach
children in their home, having regular scripture study, etc.). Of
course family home evening should be each individual family, but I think
this is like step 1 of achieving that goal and when this gets up and
running they will move on to applying it in each individual family. And
if there is a family that wants to have their OWN family home evening,
they will be encouraged to do it on Sunday or Tuesday night. We'll see
how it goes. haha. We also finally got our branch missionaries
organized, because for the longest time we didn't have any or no one
knew what their responsibilities were. So they will also be put to work
on helping this BUHE program work.
Other than
that, not too much else to report. We will be having a few baptisms this
upcoming June 2, one part member child named Yeshen and another middle
aged man named Edgar that we have been working with for a WHILE because
he is kinda.... slow... haha. Even though Yeshen is only 9 yrs. old, she
is the greatest. She is way smart and even though her parents don't go
to church, she comes by herself and brings her 3 little siblings as
well. her dad has a problem with the word of wisdom and after our lesson
about it she asked us why her dad drinks and her parents always fight
about money. We told her that we wanted to help and that's why she
needed to be a good example to her family by always keeping the
commandments, so she can help them too. It just melts my heart. She
always prays so innocently that her parents can come back to church and
stop fighting. If only her parents knew... *sigh* I really do love the
people here. Everyone we are working with. Sometimes I just get worked
up when I think about how different people's lives could be if they only
humble themselves and come back. But we can't force them, all we can do
is love them and help teach them true doctrine.
Well,
this letter turned out a lot longer than i expected, so I'll just stop
there. haha. I hope you know i love you all and am always praying for
your success!! Halong! Amping! Ug Palangga ta kamo!!
-Elder Lee
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