Well this week has been going well. I love the opportunity to serve God in such a unique way in serving a mission! The work has been going well. Elder Villalon and I really work well together and its also fun to talk about some of my family that I haven't met yet! (His family is a family friend of my uncle in Quezon City). And I dont know if she'll see this but Sister Navarro or Popo Navarro, CONGRATS FOR STARTING THE BEST JOURNEY SO FAR IN YOUR LIFE! :)
So this last week we had our stake conference here in Santiago North Stake and it went really really well! President and Sister Rahlf came and spoke about the power that our hands have... that WE are Christ's hands in this work. And President Rahlf shared about the importance of inviting... that "success is in the tao po! Success is in the invitation." My testimony has been forever strengthened by the power of an invitation. Such simple questions, such as "would you like to learn more" or "we would love to have you over at a Family Home Evening" can have quite literally an ETERNAL consequence!
In our mission we are also preparing for a mission tour with Elder and Sister Schwitzer of the Seventy! Elder Schwitzer actually spoke in this last General Conference so we are so excited! He gets here tomorrow and will be checking apartments and hospitals and we get to meet with him on Wednesday and Thursday! Its going to be amazing to have a "vessel of the Lord" come and visit with us!
The work has also gone well. We've been working really really hard this weeking trying to help people come to know this message! It is rare that this will ever happen in the Philippines, but I was on splits with a new american Elder named Elder Warren and we went and knocked on a persons door to offer him the gospel, and he straight up yelled at us before we could even speak a word just saying telling us he didnt want to hear anything we had to say. As we walk away I realize that I'm not super disappointed or discouraged because we got turned away, but rather because that brother that said no to us has no idea how happy he could be! I know with my whole heart that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for us! Its God's plan for Happiness... I just wish I could "open my heart and show them" as Brother Mortenson would say.
On the other hand, we found a very very eager new investigator! We were just walking down the street to our appointment, when we saw a guy just sitting at a store with a beer in his hand... my first thought was "oh he's probably drunk and not willing to listen" then got the impression that we should approach him...so we did! Turns out he wasnt drunk and wanted to find out why us Elders and so nice and why we're out walking all day in the hot sun. We were more than happy to tell him why :) Set up a return appointment and when we came back, he was just pouring out his life story to us, telling us how much he loves his mom and how much he wants to come closer to God. Elder Villalon and I are very excited for him! His name is Jamael.
Natividad family is doing well! We found out this last week that she has just been waiting for Brother to come to church so their whole family can be together! Long story short, we committed brother Jojo to come and we're planning on getting him a white shirt so he's not shy about coming back.
I love the Lord. Listening to David A. Bednar's talk in last General Conference about the church being run by old people, I really realized that this is so much more than just fun activities at the church, getting to know new people and new friends, or even improving life skills to succeed... but its really about coming to believe and KNOW where we came from, why we're here, and where we go after this life! I love the Savior!
Elder Navarro
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