Monday, May 30, 2016

"Hoy magbago ka na!"

We've had a great week for sure! Our area is rockin and rollin! Yesterday at church, the chapel was packed! There were a ton of people at church! We had 8 investigators at church! One of them, Greg Dela Cruz, is getting baptized this June 11th. His story is super awesome! His wife was baptized by Elder Monilla just this past January, but at that time, they had no hope for Brother Greg to be baptized. Whenever the missionaries would come, he'd just walk away, or hide. Then for some reason (seeing the changes in his wife, a change of missionaries in Elder Antenorcruz, or somethin else) he decided he wanted to change. He started coming to church and taking the missionary lessons and week by week, he slowly began to stop smoking and drinking. Now, he's completely clean and literally insanely excited for baptism! Whenever we visit him, the only way I can accurately describe how it is, is "nakakatuwa" and "gumagaan ang loob ko" whenever we visit him (ask dad what those mean) haha. Just a great situation.

Brother Joel, a recent convert, asks for pamphlets that he can give to his friends. He gave us 2 referrals who came to church yesterday, one of which is one of Greg Dela Cruz's old college mate.  They're good friends and when we taught Bro. Greg and told him about his friends that were also taking the lessons, he was super excited and shocked! He keeps telling them, "hoy! Magbago ka na!" or "Hey! Just change now!"

We're teaching a Sister named Jessa Ruiz, who is pretty much in the exact same situation as Brother Greg's wife! She is a SMART WOMAN! holy cow! And is very very spiritual! She said a prayer last night in our lesson asking Heavenly Father to soften her husbands heart that he may listen to the message and accept it so they can be baptized together... super powerful! Brother John Paul Catbagan also is getting baptized on the 25th. He got in a motorcycle accident a while ago and has had almost depression issues since that time. His face was disformed because of the accident, but the gospel has been giving him a lot of hope lately and he's a solid investigator as well! Brother Nestor Dela Cruz has a bap. date for June 25 as well and has committed to quit smoking! He's been coming to church consistently as well! 

Our area is on fire! This work is true! I'm sorry this letter is a little long. I know its a little hard to read longer ones, but just skim it if you'd like!

Have a great week!

Elder Navarro