Before I get into my email I feel so terrible for not having responded to so many of the emails you guys have been sending me! So I will try to quickly respond to some things now. Yes mommy I missed the Bambas baptism :/ but I was lucky enough to see some Elders who attended the baptism and they said it was such a beautiful service. The Bamba family even gave the special musical number which was Families Can Be Together Forever. I really wish I could have been there to see them sing that song. But before I left Baguio Sister Jen Bamba gave me a picture of their family and on the back she just expressed her gratitude for being introduced to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. There may be some people that I left in Baguio that I am worried might stop progressing now that I am not there and can't watch over them the way I could before. But I can be confident that the Bamba family will continue to grow and will one day soon enter the Temple to become and family that will be together forever :)
I acutally didn't realize that the typhoons in Baguio were so minor compared to what was going on down here in the Narvacan area. There are light posts, fences, and trees in the streets everywhere. Even the 100+ year old tree of this town was taken down by the winds of the last typhoon mario. But luckily everyone has finally gotten kollente (electricity) and almost everything is back to normal.
That is so cool that Ran is meeting with the missionaries! You guys sound like you are being great fellowshippers as well! I can't wait til I can also help with the missionary effort in our home town. But thank you so much for actively helping the Lord's work move along!
How was the Wheel episode?? I can't believe how cool and good looking my family is! Also, I am so flattered that Constance's party had that theme! It looks like it was such a fun time. Haha and thank you so much for the pictures and keep them coming. Please :) I will send some pictures this email! And I guess I will get started now...
Things continue to be sunny and sweaty here in Narvacan haha but I couldn't be happier! Since I am still getting used to the area here I still don't have much to share with specific lessons or people that we visit. Also, the area is so so different from what I am used to. The areas I have been given have been like 4-7 barangay only and can be walked from one end to the other in an hour or so. That is not the case in Narvacan B. We need to take a tryke to get to most of our appointments and would probably take 4 hours to walk the whole thing. This means so many more people! Which is great! But also rough when you are new still because it means lots of new faces and people to get to know. I really do love it, but I am sorry that I may take a little while before I start sharing about specific, (the more stand out) people.
But since this was the first week of the transfer, we had MLC or missionary leadership council. Maybe all missions work this way, but President won't introduce anything new to the mission unless he has presented it to his council of mission leaders. How humble is that? I really love President Balledos and it's amazing how much you can feel his love for the missionaries when he speaks to us. I want to focus my email on the spiritual thought that President Balledos gave on our first day of MLC. Oh yeah so MLC takes place in San Fernando which means a 4 hour bus ride from Narvacan. All of the district leaders, zone leaders and STLs met the first day and then we stayed over in San Fernando and the second day was just zone leaders and STLs. Anyway so on the first day President showed us a clip from Jefferey R. Holland's talk, I am not sure the name. But he was sharing the story of Jesus and the Apostles. How after the death of Jesus Christ, Peter recommended that they go back to their old lives. So he went back to being a fisherman. The part of his talk that really struck me was when he shared what he realistically assumed to be what Jesus said to Peter when Christ saw him back fishing. He said "Don't you think I could get fish if I wanted fish? What I need are disciples." Christ questioned if Peter loved Him. When Peter responded 3 times saying yes each time, Christ asked Peter Then what are you doing here, at these same boats, with these same nets, doing the same thing?
Since watching that clip, I have been doing my best to make sure that in every minute that I am doing something, I am never back to the same old boats, throwing the same old nets into the same sea. I am trying to realize that Christ does not need more missionaries who will complain about the heat and waking up at 6:30 every morning. He does not need any more people who will read the scriptures when it's convenient and pray only when they have problems. What he needs is more disciples. More people who truly love him. Elder Holland said that the crowning characteristic of love is loyalty. My challenge for everyone this week is to try to be more loyal to our Savior. Considering he has done everything to make it possible for us to return to our Father in Heaven and receive eternal life, the least we could do is TRY to be more loving to him. Try to be a loyal disciple. I will be doing the same, and we all know we will be happier for doing so. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I love this opportunity I have been given to learn more about Him and serve Him. I love all of you and hope you really will take my challenge! Have a great week! Until next time :)
Sister Sawada
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