Hello Dearest Family and Friends!
What a week! I was able to attend my FIRST Mission Leadership Council (MLC as we call it) with President Ferrin, the Assistants to the President and the other Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders in the mission. I learned SO MUCH! And it was a very humbling experience. We changed the name to Mission Leadership Chastisement because it was to kind of wake up the mission. Numbers have been declining LIKE CRAZY here in the mission. The number of baptisms and every single other number that we count here is lower than it has been in years here in this mission and for some numbers lower than Bacolod Philippines Mission HISTORY! It was great to receive trainings about Our Vision here in the Bacolod Philippines Mission to help the many many new missionaries and the many old missionaries here in this mission remember what our goals and expectations here in this mission. I felt so pumped and refreshed from the trainings and felt like running from appointment to appointment the rest of the day and the days following. Then Sister Davenport and I (she is my Sister Training Leader companion but we are in different areas with different companions..) were able to get together and plan our training that we gave on Friday. It was such a cool experience as we experienced an over flowing of revelation and help from on high on what and how we could deliver our training on. It was such a cool experience. The training we gave felt awesome because of the help we received in preparing! We trained about CHANGE as missionaries and in reference to our investigators, and about what kind of "soils" we can choose to be as missionaries in reference to the parable of the sowers. We testified about the vision, about our potential as missionaries and about how important it is for us to always be repenting and changing. It was a great experience and I more than anything learned A TON!
We also had a baptism this week!! Sister Glaycel Pabora is 11 years old (almost 12) and was referred to the missionaries by her mother who is a returning less active member. Sister Glaycel is a giant compared to the other 11 year olds here and she's so mature for her age too! She loves to read the scriptures and wants to set a good example for her two younger siblings and her father. We are teaching her father.. slowly yet surely. They come to church as a family every week! Sister Glaycel's testimony at her baptism was just the cutest things ever! She added at the end of her testimony about her father and she cried as she said "I want my dad to change and be baptized like I did. I want him to stop smoking. No matter how many times you tell him not to buy cigarettes and drink he still buys them!" haha it was so cute she was like all out of breath from being nervous and getting worked up about her dad that we all couldn't help but laugh. She's such a doll and I just love their family! You can see in the picture that her dad is handicapped from a fishing accident. He got caught in the engine of the fishing boat. He can't move his right arm but he drives a sikad (bicycle pulling others in a little side car) and also carries water from the well (with one arm of course) for people and then they pay him. They are a sweet little family and with all their trials and challenges in their life I know 100% that what they need is the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It heals us and gives us true peace and happiness in our lives and in our lives to come no matter what our challenges and trials are in our lives.
The quote that helped me this week is found in this last month's Liahona from Elder Ulisses Soares: "Recognizing our dedication and perseverance the Lord will give what we are unable to obtain by ourselves. He will shape us because He sees our efforts to overcome our imperfections and human weaknesses."
I know that if we just try our best and have the right desires of our hearts, then Lord can work miracles in our lives and our weaknesses can even become our strengths. Dedication and perserverance are two things that I am try my hardest to apply to my mission right now. It's not easy. This is the hardest thing ever but the promise is that we will be shaped to SOMEDAY be the people that He sees/wants us to be.
I love this work so much and know that I will miss this SO much someday. It's summer time here right now. School is out and the heat is ON! Maybe I'll get a tan before coming home:)
PS. There is an Elvis impersonator here in the ward. I can't wait to show you all his moves that I captured on my camera :))))
PPS. Gwen! Study PMG pg5 (the activity) it blew my mind this week I love it so much how it applies to missionary work!!! Love you SO MUCH!!!!!!!
Sister Judd
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