Conversion has Begun

I have so many miracles and things that I want to share with you this week, too many to write, but I will do my best! 

So I first want to talk about my new companion, Sister Bairulla, she is awesome and we are just loving our time working hard and having fun!  She just reached her one year mark yesterday :)  She is from Davao and I love her!

We have seen many miracles this week and have had many spiritual experiences.  

Here is the first and it is about the Jorge family.  We had an appointment with them on Thursday and it was very spiritual.  Brother Jorge had not drank alcohol in quite a while and we could really see the light that he and his family had.  We were able to give them a bap date for May 28 and we committed them individually one by one.  I know that Brother Joven can really prepare himself if he just continues to forget about himself and his desires and pushes forward with faith that the Lord will help him.  I really really love this family and I am so excited for them to get baptized.

Another experience this week we had with Daisy, Bernadette and their children.  Daisy and Bernadette are sisters and we can tell that they are those that Heavenly Father has prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel.  Last lesson they told us that they had heard some things about word of wisdom and how they drink coffee so they feel like they are not welcome into the church.  We left them behind with the Word of Wisdom pamphlet and promised them that they are always welcome into the church.  So we entered into the lesson and began with reviewing the restoration and the role of the prophet to understand that as a prophet of God, Joseph was able to receive revelation from God himself to help us in this life.   They really were able to understand why the word of wisdom is important and they believed it as a commandment of God as they realized themselves that Joseph Smith was really called as a prophet of God to lead and guide us.  They committed to stop drinking coffee and they committed to come to church on Sunday.  And good news...they came to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it :)

Here is the last one that I have time to share.

One of the members of the ward, shared to us that he had a friend that he wanted to share the gospel with.  He shared some things with us that his friend had done and asked if he would be able to be baptized.  I won't share the things, but they are very serious sins.  We told him that there was nothing impossible to the Lord and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can work miracles in people's lives to become cleansed from sin.  After a few days, we texted Brother Mendoza again to see if we could come to their house and meet his friend.  As we showed up to the house, Brother Mendoza talked to us real quick and told us that "his friend" he was talking about, was actually his older brother.  He told us that he knows that we can help him and welcomed us to his brother.  When we walked to his house, his brother welcomed us right into their house.  Throughout  the lesson the spirit was so strong.  I saw the gospel creating a light that slowly grew within him.  He shared that he felt far from Heavenly Father and that he was dirty and not worthy to pray to Him.  I just testified to him that the Lord loves him and is waiting for him to come back to him.  We were able to share about what happened to Enos in the Book of Mormon where he prayed mightily unto the Lord for forgiveness and the Lord told him that he was forgiven because of his faith.  Brother Albert  was filled with hope that the Lord could carry him through his repentance and guide him to the right path again.  He was very hesitant when we invited him to church, but in the end he knew that he needed to take that step.  When we invited him to say the closing prayer he refused and said "no sisters, I'm not ready to face Him.  I'm too dirty, I can't do it."  I prayed to Heavenly Father in the moment to know what He wanted me to say and it is as if Heavenly Father took control of my words.  As I lifted my head and looked at him in the eyes I told him that "as a representative of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, I know that you are worthy to talk to Heavenly Father and He wants you to do so.  He is waiting for you."  After years and years of not praying, Brother Albert prayed and gave thanks to Heavenly Father for all the blessings that he has received.  As he ended his short, but heartfelt prayer to the Lord, there were tears in his eyes and in the eyes of his whole family.  Conversion has begun and the power of the Atonement has started to take power and action in their hearts.  And as they came to church on Sunday, Brother Albert said..."next week I am bringing my whole family with me."  The church is true. :)

This past Sunday we had 12 investigators at church, and out of those 12 there are 4 families :)  I love this work and I know that this gospel blesses families in every aspect of our lives.  

Speaking of families, I look forward to skyping you all in just 2 weeks!! The time has come so fast!  I love you all so much, keep up the hard work and I will keep praying for you all! love love love you!

Sister Latham

Pictures:  one day mission with the ward :)

"In the gospel, we get credit for trying"

Hello Family!  I don't really know where to start because I have so much to say, but I know I don't have the time to tell you everything!  But we will start with my favorite part of the whole week and that was general conference!

I feel spiritually uplifted, I felt like every message that was shared was for me.  Everything was perfect and I left with my testimony of Jesus Christ more strengthened.  I feel refreshed and ready to keep pressing forward in this wonderful work!  I will share my favorite talks from every session :)

In the Saturday session I was very touched by the talk given by Gary E Stevenson about the Priesthood keys.  I testify with my whole heart that the Priesthood keys are in this church, that they allow saving ordinances to be performed and that we all benefit greatly because of this power that has been restored to the earth through a prophet called of God.  I have been blessed because of the Priesthood.  And I'm grateful for the knowledge that this Priesthood will never again be taken off of the earth.  He also talked about the temple.  What a blessing that there are now 150 temples.  It is a testimony to us all that the church is growing, that Zion is being gathered, and the Lord is preparing the way for all His children to enter into His kingdom. We are preparing ourselves everyday to be worthy to enter into the House of the Lord :)

In the Saturday afternoon session I loved the talk by M. Russell Ballard about family council.  With Satan's attack on families, family councils will provide a way to overcome the attack on families, to gain a stronger foundation, and to unite families.  I'm grateful for mom and dad who did this with us kids. I know that because of parents who follow the council given by the living prophets and apostles, help their children come closer unto God and help them gain a testimony that will allow them to overcome the everyday temptations.  This is something I will continue in my own future family and I know that blessings will come because of it :)

In the Sunday Morning Session I really enjoyed the talk given by our living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. What a short and powerful message he gave.  The choices that we make today, determine our destiny :)  My favorite thing he said was "choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong."  He was inspired to say that because I know that sometimes it is hard to choose the right and easier to take the easier route which might be wrong.  As I ponder about my decision to serve a mission about a 2 years ago, I am reminded how hard a decision that was.  I knew that it would be hard, that it would be one of the most difficult 1 1/2 years of my life, but it was by far the best and right decision that I have made in my life :) 

I also loved the talk given by D. Todd Christofferson about fathers :)  I know that last conference Jeffrey R. Holland talked about mothers, and now there is another great talk about fathers.  As I pondered what he said about "Fatherhood requires sacrifice, but is full of joy and satisfaction"  I thought to myself " I know that I was a pain for Dad, that I had attitude and didn't show all my respect and love to him.  Dad really sacrifices a lot for our family.  But I know that when he has all of us together and we reflect on everything that we have been through, it has been a time of joy and satisfaction"  Hopefully I got that right dad :)  We love you so much dad, and on the rank from good, better, or best, you are definitely the BEST father :)    

Lastly in the Sunday Afternoon session my  favorite quote was given by Jeffrey R. Holland who said "the 1st greatest truth in all eternity is that God loves us with all His heart.  The 1st greatest commandment in all eternity is to LOVE God"  Let us love Him by showing Him.  Let us show how grateful we are through our actions that we do everyday.  He is cheering us on, the heavens are cheering us on!  Let us push forward with faith everyday and was said in conference "In the gospel, we get credit for trying"  :)

What a great conference and I look forward to next conference where I can either attend in the conference center or watch it with family :)

This past week we also had service as a zone and we swept the road and picked up trash!  We also had Missionary Leadership Council and for our activity we went to a "Home for the Old"  and we sang songs and did a small Family Home Evening with them! It was wonderful :)

This upcoming week we also have our last Sisters Conference so I look forward to that!  Next week is also transfer week, so I will email on Tuesday :)  Its crazy that I am heading into my last 12 weeks...I can't believe it!! 

Thank you for all your love and prayers, I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

xoxo Sister Latham

Zone service!! I took what I learned from back home working in the yard and put it to use here :) I look forward to cleaning the yard when I get home dad :)  I'm sure you never thought you would hear that!

We love the sisters from Pakistan, they are great at threading eyebrows!  It hurt quite a bit!

Have a great week! Love you

Be the Lord's HANDS

Hello everyone again!!

We just got back from a wonderful morning of giving service to a family that is investigating the church, the Estrabela family! I really love this family, they are so sweet and so welcoming :)  They are starting up a store, so we went and cleaned their new space.  Before that though we also all went jogging this morning, and it was such a beautiful morning  :) I missed going on morning runs, and it was not hot, so we had such a fun time! I will attach some pictures.

This past week we were busy going on exchanges with two sets of companionships and we had such a fun time!  The sisters here are so amazing and I am learning so much from them :)

We also got to attend the general sisters conference, which was wonderful.  When I saw all of the sisters singing all standing in white, I couldn't help but cry, it sounded and looked like heaven :)  I hope one day I can attend a general sisters conference.  One of my favorite things said by Cheryl Esplin, I don't know it exactly, but she said something like unless we lose ourselves in the service of others, most of our lives are useless.  It was also said that "When we reach out in love and service, hearts are changed and softened."  I have such a strong testimony that as we forget ourselves, stop looking at our needs and our problems, and instead reach out in the service of others, our lives will be changed.  I have felt that happen here in the mission.  I never want to go back to where I was.  In the past I was selfish and usually only thought about myself, but it is a life changing lesson that I have learned here.  We are happier when we are in the service of others :)  

This upcoming weekend we will be able to listen to the general conference and I am so so excited to hear from the living prophet and apostles :)

For our investigators, the Jorge family is still progressing and plans to be baptized this month, I love them so much! Yesterday was Kim's birthday, she turned 12 and we celebrated with them :)  They are so excited to get baptized as well! 

This upcoming week will be really busy and not a lot of time spent in the area because we have exchanges, Missionary Leadership Council, and then general conference!  A sister in this ward also has her farewell as she is about to report to go to SLC mission!  Its going to be a fun week and I look forward to telling you all about it next week! Thank you for all of your love and support! I love you all so much!

Love, Sister Latham

Happy Easter!

First off, Happy Easter to you all!  What a great time of the year for us to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ :)  Because He lived again, we will too :)  What a great message!

This week we have been able to really share this message to the people here by sharing the video "Hallelujah" which is found on FollowHim.mormon.org.  If you have not yet watched it, please go and watch it.  And if you want to just for fun to hear it in Tagalog, you can switch it to the Tagalog language.  It is such a beautiful language :)  You won't understand it, but it might be fun for you to hear!

This past weekend we also had baptisms in our area!  We were supposed to have 4, but one of the baptisms was invalid because they did not say the name right because it was copied wrong.  But she will be baptized in the upcoming weeks!  The baptism was great though, the spirit was so strong and the mothers and daughters who were baptized just glowed with the light of Christ :)  We also had a district baptism so two other people from the other ward were baptized as well!  It is so happy and exciting!

We also continue to have a lot of investigators attending church which is wonderful, but the hardest is finding time to teach them because they have school or work, or they only come home on Sunday and then they leave and go back to work.  Hopefully in these next few weeks we will be able to begin teaching them and preparing them for baptism as well :)  

The Estrabela family is one our focuses, they went to the ward activity this past week at a swimming resort and they had so much fun, but we were not able to go :(  They got to meet a lot of members and become friends with them, but they did not come to church yesterday, so hopefully we will be able to meet with them soon.  We struggle finding time when they are all together as a family, because they are so busy, but they are a wonderful family, I love them so much, and they are searching for truth :)

What an exciting time coming up that we get to hear from our living prophet and apostles soon!  I think general conference is this upcoming week, but we won't watch it for 2 more weeks.  I am so so excited!!  It is a great time to receive guidance from our leaders and to receive personal revelation!  I hope you all enjoy it.  Well, I love you all so much, thank you for all your love, support, and prayers! I am so blessed to have you all in my life. 

Love, Sister Latham



This is our one day mission that we had with the ward yesterday! We all went out and shared the gospel and visited those members who have fallen away just a little.  It was a wonderful experience and as you can see, this ward is awesome!! 

Temple Day and a Wonderful Week in the Field

Hello Family! 

It has been a wonderful past week! The work is hastening like crazy here!  We have 4 BAPTISMS this upcoming Saturday!  The first two is Susan and her daughter Venice, and the other two is Arlyn and Akira.  Arlyn is the mother of Akira.  They are part members, the dad is a less active but coming back to church!  So wonderful!

We had a very spiritual experience this week with Arlyn and her husband.  Her husband has word of wisdom problems and before we wanted to baptize the wife and daughter, we knew that it was important for the husband to be in a good position and strong in the church.  Sister Liguayan and I prayed about what we should do and we decided that we would extend their baptism until brother has control over his word of wisdom problem.  But something amazing happened.  We were teaching them and we told Gary, her husband, that we were going to extend the baptism date for his wife and daughter because we want the whole family ready and strong in the church.  Gary got really quiet and seemed a little scared.  He looked as us and said "Sisters, please don't do that.  I will stop drinking and smoking...today. I don't want my family to not receive the blessings of being baptized because of me.  I will stop sisters."  

I felt the spirit so strongly that for his family he was willing to forget himself, and make the decision on his own to quit the word of wisdom.  Until now he is doing really good.  He is really addicted so its been a little difficult, but he is improving and his wife and daughter will be baptized on Saturday :)  

We also just got back from the temple this morning and it was so wonderful!  I only have one more temple day which will be in June!  There are a lot of lasts that are happening, like we just had our last zone conference with President and Sister Revillo.  They are starting to get emotional a lot of the time when they get up to speak, they love the missionaries so much and I love them too!

I want to share a quick thing in my personal study this week.  I've been reading the New Testament lately and I have learned so much.  Because it is Easter I thought I would share this with you.  

Acts 5:31-32:

31) " Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins"

32) "And we are his witnesses of these things; as so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him."

This upcoming Easter Sunday we celebrate the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  That because of Him, we can be made clean.  Because of Him, we can we be forgiven, and because of Him, we can gain a new life :)  My life has been changed because of Him. I always say to my investigators "nabago ang buhay ko dahil sa kanya" I love Him, and He loves us. 

I love you all so much!  Have a wonderful week and a great Easter Sunday :)

Love, Sister Latham

"The Lord is Merciful"

What more is there for me to say than I am loving this work! :)  This is truly the work of the Lord because He is helping me through every step and is guiding me in all that I do.  I see His hand leading us, pushing us, and guiding us.  This is His work and how great is this calling.

I first want to share from my personal study this morning.  It really inspired me.  I read in Helaman 3.  This is the time where there has been so much war and the Nephites have experienced many difficult situations.  Despite that, Helaman "kept the commandments of God;  he did do that which was right in the sight of God continually."  I'm sure that this also included a lot of prayer and faith that Helaman showed to the Lord.  I'm sure he prayed for the Lord to protect his people and to guide them.  In Helaman 3: 27-28 it says "Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name. Yea thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God."  

The Lord hears our prayers, he knows the desires of our hearts, and if our desires are sincere and are aligned with the will of the Lord, He will be there the whole path and will give us the things that we need.  We just need to show our faith, ask in sincerity, and continue to give Him thanks. 

I've seen this happen throughout my entire mission experience.  I have called upon His name so many times.  I have plead with Him to help me and to guide me.  I have cried and prayed for Him to give me comfort in my hardest times. He has been there.  He has lifted me up.  I know He loves me and I know that HE LIVES.  He will be our best friend if we let Him in.  His ears are open to hear and His hands are there to help us.  Because He lives, He can help us.  Let us walk everyday with the Savior on our side.

We have two families that we are teaching, the Estrebella family and the Jorge family and they are so potential.  Although we do not have a lot of time to work in our area, the members are so supporting and we know that the Lord is helping in their conversion.  They all came to church this past Sunday where we had stake conference.  The talks were amazing and helped our investigators as well to feel the spirit and to recognize the truthfulness.  Please continue to pray for them that their hearts will be softened and they will accept the gospel fully into their lives :)

We also had exchanges this week, and I was able to return back to my old area in Sumulong where I trained Sister Tio and we opened up the area! It was great to see the progression that has been made and I was also able to visit my recent convert Maica.  They knew that I was coming because they texted them, but as I turned the corner, they saw  me and started running! I could barely keep my balance when all 4 or them were hugging me and crying because I had come back! hahaha I love that family and hope one day you can all meet them :) 

We also had MLC this week so our week was so so busy, but I've learned a lot and I am ready to apply all the things that I have learned!  This upcoming week we have zone conference as well!  Next Tuesday is also our temple day and P-day so I will not be emailing till next Tuesday.  It means you will have to wait an extra day, you can do it! hahaha

I love you all so much and hope you also enjoy all the pictures!  The picture of the food is sinigang and it is delicious.  It might be my favorite filipino dish and Sister Bergonia and I cooked it :)

I will make some when I get back to the states for you to try :)  Love you all so much!

Love, Sister Latham

I LOVE THE PROVINCE :)

Well, I hope you all are looking forward to this email and some good news! I know that last week was a little surprise and might have freaked you out a little bit, but I am so so safe here and I am loving it!

The first thing that I want to talk about is our exchanges with the sisters in Morong!  It is PROVINCE and it is gorgeous!  There is no ocean, but there is a big lake, fishing, water buffalo, and huge rice fields! I was loving it, it was gorgeous!  And the sisters we worked with were just so much fun and are doing great in their area!  I love the people there as well, they are so down to earth and their lives are wonderful and peaceful :)  I was also able to work with one of my past kabahays..I don't really know what that is in english.  Its close to a roomate, but they are just other missionaries that lived in our house.  I will just stick with kabahays.  We had a blast, and she is struggling a little bit with her companion and a bit of disobedience with the other sisters she is with, but we were able to just enjoy the work and she was able to talk to me about things that she is experiencing and I hope that I lifted her up and gave her a little boost to stay strong and keep being obedient.

All of the the sisters in that apartment are all about to go home and there is still some disobedience.  It is really sad because I love them all so much and I want them to go home with no regrets and although sometimes they think they are happy being disobedient, we know and the Lord knows that that is not true happiness.  I'm grateful and I see blessings happening everyday in my area and I know that obedience has a great part to do with it.  I know that my Tagalog is not the best, I'm not the best teacher, but I know that the Lord makes up for our weaknesses when we show to Him that we will obey Him and will do our part :)

This week we also had an STL meeting at Aurora where we talked about the upcoming zone conferences, and the sisters conference that we will have :)  We are so excited!  We then went out to lunch with President and Sister Revillo, the food was the best and I had the BEST halo halo that I've had here in the Philippines!  One day we will all come back and eat there, it was so masarap!

MIRACLE:  I want to share this with you all because it is a miracle and a blessing that Heavenly Father is giving us!  We don't have much time to work in our area with all the meetings, working in other area's with the sisters, and fulfilling our responsibilities, but the Lord is blessing our area so much!  We had 11 INVESTIGATORS at CHURCH!  And they are all really progressing!  Sister Liguayan and I are having so much faith and are really setting our standards and goals high for this transfer, and what a great way to start!  They are families as well which is our goal in our mission for this year.  We need to establish the church and that means focusing on families :)  We owe such thanks to this ward as well who is helping so much, visiting our investigators when we are not here, and having family home evenings multiple times a week to invite our investigators to attend! It is wonderful!  Sister Liguayan and I are so blessed with this ward and area and we are just loving the work!! 

I love you so much!! Thank you again for all your prayers.  I love you all more than I can express!!  I look forward to hearing from you all again next week :)

Love, Sister Latham