Week 44 (Cauayan)
Maayong aga sa inyo tanan! Kamusta kamo? (Good morning to you all! How are you?)
This week was a lot of experiences on a lot of emotional levels....Here's a few
We had two baptismal candidates interviewed on Friday. One was baptized on Sunday after church and will be confirmed next Sunday and the other will be baptized this Saturday. Sister Rosalinda was baptized yesterday and we were so happy that she was finally able to join the church like her family has. Her husband and 3 of her 6 children are members. She comes to church often and the members assumed she was already baptized. We discovered she hadn't yet been baptized so we continued to visit her and prepare her for baptism. She was really grateful to be baptized the way Christ was baptized. She expressed concern that she was already baptized and maybe she couldn't be baptized again. I shared with her the story in Acts where people had been baptized in John's name but were rebaptized in Christ's name since their first baptism was not correct. She understood and happily accepted the invitation to be baptized. The day of her interview she wasn't at her house so we followed her son into the tubohan (sugar cane fields) where she works to find her. I learned after the adventure that the leaves of sugar cane plants cut you......Also, it was really muddy and I eventually had to just take off my shoes and walk barefoot because my shoes were too slippery. Did any of this cause me to hesitate? No way, because I love Rosalinda :)
The second candidate is Sister Seny May. She is best friends with one of the youth in the ward who attended FSY (it's like EFY in the US). The youth were each given a Book of Mormon to write their testimony in and then give to someone. This member, Kyana, gave her Book of Mormon to her best friend Seny May who then went to church with Kyana. We met her and asked to teach her and she immediately expressed excitement and a desire to join the church. She noticed the difference in how she felt at the Church of Jesus Christ compared to the Catholic church. She read and prayed and felt that this was right. She is super excited to be baptized and we're excited because Kyana will speak at the baptism and their other friend, Romnick, who is preparing to serve a mission, will baptize her. This is the first time he will baptize and we taught him what to say and how to do it and we're just so glad for their willingness to help with Seny May's baptism.
Something kinda funny was we were at Sister Aileen's really and it was about 8pm and we were about to walk home (it's close by) and her uncle who might have been a little drunk? insisted on walking us to the bridge and we tried to tell him that it's okay because it's not that far and we usually walk home but he came anyway. As we were walking he spoke mostly in Tagalog so I didn't understand all he said, but I did understand he pointed to a group of people on the opposite side of the road and told us there are lots of demons there. We walked quickly until we arrived at the bridge then said goodbye.
I taught some kids how to play down by the banks and when I returned a few days later one of the kids saw me then ran and got the rest of the group. Apparently, they had been waiting for Sister Bingham to come back and play down by the banks again. They don't know how to sing the song cause it's English so they were just saying "plop plop plop" I was dying. Then I wrote down the song so they could learn it. These kids are so precious :)
One lesson we were explaining the importance of the sacrament and as we were explaining how after we are baptized, partaking of the sacrament renews our baptismal covenant and we are washed clean again of our sins. Our investigator commented "ka nami no? kada domingo madula ang mga sala mo!" or " that's amazing, right? every Sunday your sins are washed away" and it really made me realize how truly amazing and important the sacrament is. Sometimes I don't realize how amazing things are in the gospel until someone who is hearing it for the first time comments on it. We always use the analogy of a cell phone when we teach about the sacrament. When you use a cell phone the battery gets low, and you have to charge it so it has a full battery. We are like the cell phone, every week we go to school or go to work or fulfill our responsibilities and the stress of everyday life makes us exhausted spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically. Like the cell phone, we have a "low battery" but when we go to church and partake of the sacrament we are recharged and ready to face the tasks and trials of the week. I'm so grateful for the blessings of the sacrament in my life and that even though I make mistakes and I get tired and stressed, that I can access Christ's Atonement through partaking of the sacrament. My sins can be washed away and I can find new strength through Christ. I know that going to church and partaking of the sacrament sometimes seem small to us, we do it every week, but its importance is critical for our spiritual self.
Thank you gid for all your support and prayers! Always turn to Christ and our Father in Heaven for strength!
Sister Hambing (as said by a child)
This week was a lot of experiences on a lot of emotional levels....Here's a few
We had two baptismal candidates interviewed on Friday. One was baptized on Sunday after church and will be confirmed next Sunday and the other will be baptized this Saturday. Sister Rosalinda was baptized yesterday and we were so happy that she was finally able to join the church like her family has. Her husband and 3 of her 6 children are members. She comes to church often and the members assumed she was already baptized. We discovered she hadn't yet been baptized so we continued to visit her and prepare her for baptism. She was really grateful to be baptized the way Christ was baptized. She expressed concern that she was already baptized and maybe she couldn't be baptized again. I shared with her the story in Acts where people had been baptized in John's name but were rebaptized in Christ's name since their first baptism was not correct. She understood and happily accepted the invitation to be baptized. The day of her interview she wasn't at her house so we followed her son into the tubohan (sugar cane fields) where she works to find her. I learned after the adventure that the leaves of sugar cane plants cut you......Also, it was really muddy and I eventually had to just take off my shoes and walk barefoot because my shoes were too slippery. Did any of this cause me to hesitate? No way, because I love Rosalinda :)
The second candidate is Sister Seny May. She is best friends with one of the youth in the ward who attended FSY (it's like EFY in the US). The youth were each given a Book of Mormon to write their testimony in and then give to someone. This member, Kyana, gave her Book of Mormon to her best friend Seny May who then went to church with Kyana. We met her and asked to teach her and she immediately expressed excitement and a desire to join the church. She noticed the difference in how she felt at the Church of Jesus Christ compared to the Catholic church. She read and prayed and felt that this was right. She is super excited to be baptized and we're excited because Kyana will speak at the baptism and their other friend, Romnick, who is preparing to serve a mission, will baptize her. This is the first time he will baptize and we taught him what to say and how to do it and we're just so glad for their willingness to help with Seny May's baptism.
Something kinda funny was we were at Sister Aileen's really and it was about 8pm and we were about to walk home (it's close by) and her uncle who might have been a little drunk? insisted on walking us to the bridge and we tried to tell him that it's okay because it's not that far and we usually walk home but he came anyway. As we were walking he spoke mostly in Tagalog so I didn't understand all he said, but I did understand he pointed to a group of people on the opposite side of the road and told us there are lots of demons there. We walked quickly until we arrived at the bridge then said goodbye.
I taught some kids how to play down by the banks and when I returned a few days later one of the kids saw me then ran and got the rest of the group. Apparently, they had been waiting for Sister Bingham to come back and play down by the banks again. They don't know how to sing the song cause it's English so they were just saying "plop plop plop" I was dying. Then I wrote down the song so they could learn it. These kids are so precious :)
One lesson we were explaining the importance of the sacrament and as we were explaining how after we are baptized, partaking of the sacrament renews our baptismal covenant and we are washed clean again of our sins. Our investigator commented "ka nami no? kada domingo madula ang mga sala mo!" or " that's amazing, right? every Sunday your sins are washed away" and it really made me realize how truly amazing and important the sacrament is. Sometimes I don't realize how amazing things are in the gospel until someone who is hearing it for the first time comments on it. We always use the analogy of a cell phone when we teach about the sacrament. When you use a cell phone the battery gets low, and you have to charge it so it has a full battery. We are like the cell phone, every week we go to school or go to work or fulfill our responsibilities and the stress of everyday life makes us exhausted spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically. Like the cell phone, we have a "low battery" but when we go to church and partake of the sacrament we are recharged and ready to face the tasks and trials of the week. I'm so grateful for the blessings of the sacrament in my life and that even though I make mistakes and I get tired and stressed, that I can access Christ's Atonement through partaking of the sacrament. My sins can be washed away and I can find new strength through Christ. I know that going to church and partaking of the sacrament sometimes seem small to us, we do it every week, but its importance is critical for our spiritual self.
Thank you gid for all your support and prayers! Always turn to Christ and our Father in Heaven for strength!
Sister Hambing (as said by a child)
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