I Love Being a Missionary!

This has been a pretty good week.

I had a really cool experience this week with one of our new investigators. We were teaching him about faith, and it was only our third lesson with him, and we hadn't said anything to him yet about the Restoration or Joseph Smith, but at the end of the lesson, he said, "may itatanong ako. Paano naging propeta si Joseph Smith?" ("How did Joseph Smith become a prophet?") So we gave him a Restoration pamphlet and pointed him to page about Joseph Smith, and he started reading it right away, and he was very eager to know about it, and he had lots of questions. It was very exciting to see an investigator become very excited about having a living prophet.

I just love being a missionary so much. I can't even tell you. It just gets better and better. I can't imagine that I'm going home in 4 months. Time is sure flying. I really like being with Sister Quiles. She is a really dedicated missionary. And she is also a very fun companion. 

Last week, Nanay A's granddaughter was diagnosed with Asthma. It was a really hard week for her and her family especially because they don't have money to pay for health care. We got the Bishop to come give the granddaughter a blessing, and now she is starting to do better. The granddaughter’s mom sat in on Nanay's lesson on Saturday, and then she came to church with Nanay yesterday. I really hope she will continue. I hope their whole family will accept the gospel.

I love being here as a missionary. I am so thankful for the gospel. I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve as a missionary. I love you all!

Sister Boekweg

August 12 -- Typhoon Warning

There was a typhoon warning this morning, and we weren't allowed to go out of our apartment until noon, so we did our laundry, and cleaning, and studies, and then President texted us that the typhoon was about to come so we still couldn't go out, and we were about to just have our p-day tomorrow instead. But all we got was some wind. It didn't even seem dangerous outside. So I was about to go crazy from staying inside...but then President texted again and told us the typhoon had turned and was heading toward the Baguio mission now, so we still got our p-day. Yay! So for those of you who thought I died in the typhoon, don't worry anymore.

This has been a really good week. I had a cool experience when I was on an exchange last Wednesday. We went to teach an investigator who had not seemed very receptive. We went to teach her, and she kept saying how she didn't understand what the missionaries had taught her, and that's why she didn't really want to listen. So we taught her about the Book of Mormon, and I felt like I should use the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormon to show and explain the history of the Book of Mormon and how we got it. After that, she said she understood it. And she was excited to read the Book of Mormon, and she was willing to let the missionaries come back. And she was receptive. I am so thankful for the Spirit because sometimes we don't know how to teach someone so they will understand, but the spirit always knows.

Also on that exchange, it was in an area that has a beach! I miss the beach so much. I was sooooo happy! And we got to teach a lesson on the beach. And we saw hermit crabs crawling around. And I must admit, I'm kind of jealous of missionaries who are assigned by the ocean. It hasn't happened yet for me. It was kind of funny because the Sister R. (the sister I had exchanges with) said she saw a shell moving, but I looked and didn't see anything. But then after a couple minutes, I saw it...and then there were lots of them. They were hermit crabs. We were teaching about faith at the time, and so I connected it to faith because Sister R. told me there were moving shells, but I didn't see it yet, but I trusted her that the shells really were moving, and so I saw it, and then there were many...just like we don't always see blessings at first, but if we trust God we will see them, and then there will be many blessings.

I just have to tell you, being a missionary is great! The gospel is true! Just live it!

Sister Boekweg

Object Lesson About Baptism

This has been a great week. And a very busy one. We woke up early every day except this morning. We had 2 exchanges and 1 or 2 apartment checks for the elders, and also MLC. It was busy, but good.

We had the baptism of Sister C. and Tatay F on July 27. It was a great baptism. Tatay F.'s daughters also came to the baptism. Two of them are less active, and his youngest daughter is not yet a member. It was really great for them to be there. We are now teaching the youngest daughter. She is 10 years old, and she now has a baptismal date for August 31. We taught her about baptism by using a hard-boiled egg, and having her color the shell with a black marker to represent sin, and then she cracked it and peeled off the shell to represent what happens when we are baptized. It was really effective. We are planning to use a lot of object lessons for her. I'm excited.

My spiritual highlight for this week was probably yesterday when she taught one of our investigators with a baptismal date, and she was able to open up to us and share her concerns about being baptized, and we were able to help her resolve them a little bit. She knows what we're teaching is true, but she is just worried that after she is baptized she will stop going to church and then lots of problems will come because that's what happened before when she was baptized into another church. But we encouraged her to really pray to know if she should be baptized on August 31, and she said that she really felt happy during that lesson.

I am so happy to be a missionary. I know I say that in pretty much every email, but it is still true. I have learned so much more about the gospel than I ever thought I could. I love being a leader! It's taken me way out of my comfort zone, but I am so thankful for that. I have really grown a lot. I feel like a different person than I was when I started my mission. I can't believe I only have a few months left. Time sure flies. I am so excited to have a calling when I go home, and to do family history, and also volunteer at the referral center at the MTC (if that's still allowed).

Sister Boekweg

 

July 22 -- Great Week

This week has been great. One of our investigators who has really been struggling with the word of wisdom is finally starting to have success. She didn't drink Friday or Saturday, and she said she thinks it will continue. I'm so happy for her. She has changed a lot since the first time I saw her. She is starting to have an angelic aura about her when she is not drinking. I love seeing the gospel change people. Because she didn't drink on Saturday, we had a really wonderful lesson with her about prayer, and the spirit was very strong, and we were able to teach her about how prayer will help her to give up drinking and smoking if she will pray always and also do her part to avoid temptation.

We also had a really great lesson the other day with Tatay F. (one of the investigators who will be baptized on July 27). It was about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It seemed like Tatay didn't really understand a lot about Jesus Christ before, but I feel like after we taught that lesson, he understood a lot more. His faith is really growing a lot.

We met a really cute lady the other day. She just asked us what religion we belong to, and we told her, and we invited her to come to church. She told us she belongs to a church in Laoag, and her pastor will be angry if she changes her religion. My companion kept persisting and giving her all these reasons why she should attend our church, and the lady kept saying, "Oh, that's a good point...that's really nice...oh yeah, that actually makes sense..." but then she kept going back to how she is scared of her pastor. We gave her a Lesson 1 pamphlet and told her to read and pray about it, and we will try to go visit her sometime. It made me smile to talk to her.

Sister Boekweg