Tender Blessing of the Gospel

This week has been crazy! I want to start by expressing how incredibly happy I am right now! So my anak sent me some pictures from the baptism of the Macarubbo family last week, and when I opened them up, it was just a completely overwhelming feeling of happiness that came over me! Gosh I'll probably forward it so you can see but it was the best thing in the world! That was honestly one of the best feelings I have felt thus far in the mission! :)

But this last week we had splits with two companionships in the zone. On Tuesday, I was with Elder Llanda from Bataan and on Thursday with Elder Swensen from Sandy Utah. We really wanted to show them a good day as a missionary! But I really got to know both of them! Its so amazing the different stories that missionaries have of how they ended up on a mission! And for both of them, it really was a miracle that they were able to serve missions!

But then we got to go to Cauayan on Wednesday because Elder Paea was taking the English test. And in the Cauayan Mission, when you or you're companion comes in to take the test, you get a DELICIOUS BANANA SPLIT! compliments to the Shorter Couple! That was absolutely wonderful!

But we have a baptism this week! Another one of the Dultiao family! Sister Junalyn. She's a 25 year old single mother and the 3rd member in her family to be baptized! The night before her interview, we went over to review about baptism and the things that were going to be asked to her the next day. After that was done, I just asked her why she wanted to be baptized into the Church and then she bore one of the most powerful and tender testimonies I've heard. She mentioned about how she knew that the church was true and she had felt the love and the support of the members and the change in her family because of it. Then she talked about her 3 year old daughter and how she wants her to grow up knowing who Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father are! One night, she said, she was praying and her daughter asked her what she was doing... of course she answered, praying. Her daughter then asked where does God live. And then that started a gospel conversation between her and her daughter and now she really wants to join in her prayers every night! Gosh just tender things and feelings like that really make everything worth it! I think I've said this before but their goal is to get their whole family baptized into the church! This family is awesome and I really want to help them achieve that goal.

We have another busy week with zone conference and Philippines National Family Week going on here! I'm excited for all that the Lord has in store for us and I'm so grateful that I have an opportunity to share this wonderful, unique, and life changing message. Which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know He lives and guides this mission and all His missionaries! He loves us! His plan is real and this life is our time to prepare to meet God!

I love you all and have a great week!

Elder Navarro

p.s. I also randomly thought of some mistakes I've made in Tagalog a long time ago that I thought you'd get a kick out of!

One time we were talking to a family and I saw two kids who looks really similar in age... I thought "i know that word in tagalog" so I asked the nanay, I said, "nay, magkambing ba silang dalawa?" Hahaha what I accidentally said was if they were both goats. haha the real word was "kambal" haha oops.

Macarubbo family baptism