Hello Family,
Cate
- great job with YW Basketball and maintaining the heritage of winning the region
championship!
Last
week I attended my first Filipino wedding and it did not disappoint. One
of our Investigators married a member in our ward. Because he is an
investigator we needed to give them support and were able to attend their
wedding. The wedding was at the chapel and the Stake President married
them. The bride is 7 months pregnant with twins so her tummy was quite
large but she still looked beautiful in her dress. The Filipino tradition
for the attire of the men in the wedding party is to wear the color of the
wedding underneath and then a long sleeved shear white shirt on top. The
Girls in the wedding party all wear bright gold. The ceremony was simple and
nice. After the wedding, we were able to attend a reception at the brides’
parents’ home. There were 5 long tables filled with all kinds of Filipino
foods and never ending platters of rice! I have never seen so much rice.
There is a tradition here that the couple dances in the middle and people come
to them and pin money onto their clothing. The combination of the brides
large tummy and the money draped awkwardly on the two of them resulted in
a funny waddle dance. But now they are married and are one step closer to
being a family based on covenants. Yay!
We
have been teaching a woman by the name of Karin for several weeks
now. She is a young 23 year old mother of three and her husband’s job is driving a
large truck filled with sand that they gathered from the river by their
home. The only chair in the house is a bench. This is where we sit to
teach while Karin rocks her baby in a hammock type cradle. They live by a
river that reminds me of our camping trips with Dan and Jana. Sometimes we teach on the
rocks by the side of the river. From the very first time we taught Karin
she has absorbed the gospel like a sponge. We left a pamphlet after the
first lesson and she read and reread the pamphlet until we gave her a book of Mormon. She
has come to church for the past few weeks and I know that it takes a great deal
of effort to save up for the tricy ride to the chapel because they don’t live
close.
President
Ezra Taft Benson said, “The Lord works from the inside out. The world
works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the
slums. Christ takes the slums out of people and then they take themselves
out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their
environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment.
The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human
nature.”
This
quote describes what the gospel does for us all. It heals us. The
man from Galilee makes us better. Regardless of our situation, there is
always a balm of Gilead available to us because of Jesus Christ and his eternal
gospel.
This
sweet woman has very little in terms of the world; she comes to church in pants
and washes her children in the river, but she has faith. She
believes. She is willing to see the light and that is something
more valuable than items in designer stores or high end homes. I marvel
at her faith and I marvel at her goodness. I know that the gospel will
not change their living condition. But the changes in this woman and her family
are there. Through prayer their family has changed because they have
invited the spirit into their decisions. Through reading the Book of Mormon
in their home, their home is now filled with the word of God. The gospel
changes us, Christ changes us. He heals us.
I
am ever grateful for the everlasting gospel. I don’t know why I was born
where I was or into the situation I was but it makes me want to work that much
harder because I have been given much. I feel like I must give. I know that
Jesus Christ is our Savior and I am grateful to spread his message of peace and
joy.
Jesrell
received the priesthood yesterday. I am so proud of their family. I know
that their mom could not be happier as she watches her family come together in the gospel! After
church we taught them the family proclamation and Crisanto said he is
determined to start having FHE. Hopefully one day their dad will join
the rest of the family... alll in good time.
Today for P-day we went to one of the 3 fast food restaurants in
town and I had adobo pork and rice and halo halo - my favorite! We like to
go eat at this little mom and pop cantina but they were all out of food when we
got there so we had to resort to fast food at another place - but it was still yummy.
We
have apartment checks this week so we scrubbed all morning because, as
predicted, there was no water by afternoon. So much for taking a shower.
Well
fam, I love you, I love this work, I love the gospel and I love the
Philippines.
Mahal
na mahal kop o kayo- I love you in tagalong. Padaba ko kamo – I love you in
Bikol.
Sister
Meish
No comments:
Post a Comment