Hello Family! This week was a great week! The big thing this week was that we had another baptism!
His name is Cornelio Clemente! Sister Faasavalu and I OYM'd him on the street a little over 2 months ago. When we first met with him, he was very sweet and interested in hearing the message. He came to church and had a lot of questions like "why are there no crosses in here? 3 hours of church? We are singing again?" His desire to learn more was just incredible. We continued to teach him, and we later found out that there were some problems with the Law of Chastity. He had a problem with the Word of Wisdom, but he agreed to start following it. We had to have Cornelio meet with our District Leader who then said he needed to meet with the Mission President. After he met with the Mission President, President said that there was no longer a problem with the Law of Chastity, but that he had accidentally slipped on the Word of Wisdom again, so we needed to wait about 3 weeks before he could be baptized. Because of Brother Clemente's strong strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, the gospel of Jesus Christ he was willing to do all that he needed to "be saved". Those were his exact words to us. After 9 weeks of attending church, turning his life around, and using the atonement of Jesus Christ, he entered the waters of baptism of Sunday and is now completely clean. When we talked to him after, he said "Sisters, I am brand new. I am a new me and I am so happy."
We also met with one of our investigators this week, who we met by knocking on their door. He is the sweetest, humblest man. The hard part his and his wife's faith are not balanced. He does not want contention to arise within his family, which is completely understandable, but we are still continuing to visit him and help him build his faith. We shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon this week and he looked at us, pointed at the Book of Mormon, and said "this is true." I testify that what he said is completely true. It is the truest book on this earth and provides the direction and the map for us to return back to our Heavenly Father. I know that through reading the Book of Mormon, hearts can be changed, life's can be turned around, and we can grow closer to our Heavenly Father. One more thing that I learned from teaching this man, is that the Holy Ghost is the true converter. This man is actually deaf, he uses a speaker and headphones that help him hear a little bit, but a lot of the message he does not get, however; even with that language barrier, the Holy Ghost has testified to him of the truthfulness of our message in his heart and in his mind. I've learned to truly rely on the Holy Ghost and he will touch the hearts of our investigators.
Also, I pretty much went on an Indiana Jones ride yesterday! We were on a small tricycle going down this rocky, bumpy road and the tricycle was just jerking up and down, side to side! It was so much fun! But I also had a prayer in my heart that the tricycle wouldn't tip over haha
His name is Cornelio Clemente! Sister Faasavalu and I OYM'd him on the street a little over 2 months ago. When we first met with him, he was very sweet and interested in hearing the message. He came to church and had a lot of questions like "why are there no crosses in here? 3 hours of church? We are singing again?" His desire to learn more was just incredible. We continued to teach him, and we later found out that there were some problems with the Law of Chastity. He had a problem with the Word of Wisdom, but he agreed to start following it. We had to have Cornelio meet with our District Leader who then said he needed to meet with the Mission President. After he met with the Mission President, President said that there was no longer a problem with the Law of Chastity, but that he had accidentally slipped on the Word of Wisdom again, so we needed to wait about 3 weeks before he could be baptized. Because of Brother Clemente's strong strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, the gospel of Jesus Christ he was willing to do all that he needed to "be saved". Those were his exact words to us. After 9 weeks of attending church, turning his life around, and using the atonement of Jesus Christ, he entered the waters of baptism of Sunday and is now completely clean. When we talked to him after, he said "Sisters, I am brand new. I am a new me and I am so happy."
Family and friends, from a simple smile and "hello" to someone, a life can be changed. A soul can be saved. Every single person that we come into contact with is a son or daughter of God, and a lot of them are looking for something better in life, the gospel of Jesus Christ. It might not be their time that Heavenly Father has prepared for them, but planting a seed is just as important.
We also met with one of our investigators this week, who we met by knocking on their door. He is the sweetest, humblest man. The hard part his and his wife's faith are not balanced. He does not want contention to arise within his family, which is completely understandable, but we are still continuing to visit him and help him build his faith. We shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon this week and he looked at us, pointed at the Book of Mormon, and said "this is true." I testify that what he said is completely true. It is the truest book on this earth and provides the direction and the map for us to return back to our Heavenly Father. I know that through reading the Book of Mormon, hearts can be changed, life's can be turned around, and we can grow closer to our Heavenly Father. One more thing that I learned from teaching this man, is that the Holy Ghost is the true converter. This man is actually deaf, he uses a speaker and headphones that help him hear a little bit, but a lot of the message he does not get, however; even with that language barrier, the Holy Ghost has testified to him of the truthfulness of our message in his heart and in his mind. I've learned to truly rely on the Holy Ghost and he will touch the hearts of our investigators.
I've also had a few funny experiences in these past few weeks that I forgot to tell you all about. In the Jeepney's they play a lot of Babylonian music, and that is the only thing we travel on. So one day there were about 8 of us missionaries in the Jeepney and we decided to give the driver one of our USB's that has hymns and EFY music and asked him to play it. He played it and it started playing the Christmas music hahahaha We just went with the flow of it though. It was so funny, but at least we didn't have to listen to the Babylonian music. Haha
Another funny story is I think it was about 2 weeks ago, we just came home from working and we were about to say prayer and I opened my eyes because Sister Makaneole hadn't started saying the prayer and when I opened my eyes I saw a HUGE RAT run across the floor right behind her and into the washing area of our house! I ran out of the house so fast! I guess rats will come in through our drains if we don't cover it with something heavy....never heard of that one!
Also, I pretty much went on an Indiana Jones ride yesterday! We were on a small tricycle going down this rocky, bumpy road and the tricycle was just jerking up and down, side to side! It was so much fun! But I also had a prayer in my heart that the tricycle wouldn't tip over haha
Family, I am experiencing such great things here and I cannot wait to bring you all back here so you can experience the Philippines and see how great it is here
, how amazing the people are, and also experience a little of the heat that I've been experiencing for the past 3 months!! Love you all, I'm so grateful for all of you, and I pray for you all every day! God Bless.
, how amazing the people are, and also experience a little of the heat that I've been experiencing for the past 3 months!! Love you all, I'm so grateful for all of you, and I pray for you all every day! God Bless.
-Sister Latham
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