Week 19

Hello everyone,

This week has gone by fast and been a good week but there have been a lot of ups and downs too. To start off last Monday we played basketball again and this time there were a bunch of kids there. I am trying to learn all their names and teach them to come to church Sunday.  We are teaching one of the kids that plays. It is so funny the way they play basketball here.  They play cherry pick and fast breaks - it is fun though, to get in some good basketball. Last Monday we had a family home evening with the Nuevo family who is preparing for the temple - they are a way good family. The father is our Branch Mission Leader and he works with us like every single day. Also a bunch of people came from the community around and joined in. Around here everyone knows each other and families live close by to each other. So we taught about preparing for the temple and then played simple games again and it turned into another charcoal fight where everyone tries to put charcoal on your face. It was fun - the people here are such nice and open people. It is funny how they have such a simple lifestyle and yet they are so happy. Just simple games like that where we go around in a circle and ask a number between one and fifty and if you say the same one the person in the middle wrote then they dump water on you and put charcoal on your face. They get so excited and it is so funny. So this week we have just continued the work from last week. The less active Yusores family came again and her son was called as a branch missionary. We have been re-teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ and are working with some other families preparing their children for baptism. We want the fathers to do it. It is the Bacani and the Tigulo family but neither came to church this week. I think they have problems that we need to help them with - maybe money and also maybe just busy and don't fully understand yet. So as I said last week it is kind of hard when people you teach all week don't come to church but you just can't give up on them.  So we will continue to help them this week and hope for the best. We found a lot of new investigators this week too though. So remember the family we are teaching by the river we hike through out in the jungle, we have continued to teach them and there is another little community near them with a less active member and we are teaching her family which is like ten more investigators. They are such good people up there the problem is it is far and they haven't come to church yet. There is a jeepney on Sundays and it is 20 pesos so I know it is possible but it is really hard for them I think that is a big sacrifice on money, so we hope we can help them this week get to church. They really are so nice and open. It makes me really appreciate how many churches there are back home and how close we were. Here it is hard sometimes for the people just because it is far and they don't have money. We have continued teaching the same people as last week but unfortunately most of our investigators weren't at church so we will just try harder on them this week. We found more new investigators due to referrals and this one family that lives by our investigators just asked us if they could listen and were so open and accepted baptismal dates. Also some of our investigators decided to stop listening to us which is hard but you just have to keep going. I have learned that change isn't easy or wanted usually.  In order for people to want to change they have to have real conversion so I am trying my best to help people get there. I have to be on top of it and be bold and do my best. There is another talk that my zone leader Elder Tukolovatu gave me – he’s the football player from the University of Utah. It is a great talk and it tells about how to be successful in life and have true conversion. President Lee said, "The Lord expects you first and foremost to be spiritually in tune with Him, to read your scriptures, to pray, to magnify your calling in the kingdom and to live close to the Lord. This is your first and foremost responsibility because it is the foundation for all else you do in your life." The other areas are our families, our work, and our community. The story is about this man was who felt overwhelmed because he felt like he couldn't do everything his best in all four areas. President Lee said, "I gave him this promise that if he would try with all his heart to excel in these four great responsibilities of life, that the Lord would increase his capacity to do and he would be wonderfully successfully in all four areas." I tell this because I know this applies to everyone and it can help us all. Also Richard G. Scott said, "The membership in the church can be broken down into three groups. The first had a testimony and was converted, the second group had a testimony but was not converted, the third group had no testimony and no conversion, this group was totally inactive and we never see them at church.  Converted means to have been born again as the scriptures describe it to have tasted of the forgiveness the atonement provides, to have been changed in the inner man, to have lost the disposition to commit sin." The conversion process, this process of being born again has much to do with the spirit gaining control over the body, with the spiritual man winning the battle with the natural man. When we live the gospel of Jesus Christ your spirit begins to win the battle with your body and you gradually become converted or born again, you move from being a group two person to a group one(in testimonies from earlier) You will have become finely disciplined. Your spirit will be able to say to your body, you will do what I say. When that conversion has taken place from that point on you will be driven from within to do your very best you can possibly do, no one will have to tell you to do it, you will have no choice. He talks about how we must have this conversion take place in our lives - it is crucial. I know that our goal is to all be in group one and that is the goal for the people we teach. Conversion is a process and takes time though since we are all imperfect. Me too - I still need to improve each day. I know that through faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel we can all have this true conversion and have happiness and blessings now and many in the future as we can return to God's presence and kingdom with our families. Today I also had the opportunity to hike a mountain in our area. It was so nice to relax and enjoy some nature. At the top you could see the ocean and Cebu and a great view. I love you all have a great week. 

Love Elder Mifflin