This week was actually a really good week. We had an investigator family come to church. When we got to church, they weren't there, and so we got really worried about if they were going to come. I was really disappointed because they promised that they would come. As it turns it out, they actually overslept and just ended up coming late. They even brought their aunt who is a member and hasn't been to church in 23 years. It was really wonderful to see them at all at church. It also makes it really hard to leave this area. I think it is about to really take off soon. I also saw one of my investigators from Libmanan at the SM today. He was the first person to whom I extended a baptismal invitation. I can't believe it's been over 4 months since I was transferred from my first area. It is really crazy to just pack up all of your stuff and move it in such a short period of time. I think I might end up staying in my next area for a long time. We will see.
In other news, the sister we are teaching is still doing well, though she did not come to church this past week. She did accept a baptismal invitation for May 31. Hopefully, she will be able to come to church over the next few weeks. As to news about all of our other investigators, most of them are still pretty new, but we have a lot of them, with varying levels of interest.
Sorry, my mind is really a lot on the transfer right now. I get really nervous for transfers. It is really going to be hard to leave behind all of the really neat members in the ward. They kind of become a family of sorts. Bishop has been at his mission reunion in Bacolod, so I won't even get to say goodbye to him. It's crazy how fast these sorts of things happen, but I know that Heavenly Father has a plan in all of this.
I am super excited to skype home soon. I will see you in a week!
I've started reading Jesus the Christ so I will start emailing insights from that, I think. It is a really good book. It offers a lot of interesting historical insights. It reminds me of my last years of seminary. I really did enjoy seminary. I feel like it was a place where I could learn a lot of new things about the scriptures everyday.
I do know, however, that the Gospel is true and it is what will help us to be happier than anything else can. (Mosiah 2:17-22, 41) I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to serve my fellow man here in the Philippines and to serve my God.
"17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?
19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?
19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
Love you tons!
Elder Benjamin Merrill
Ward mission leaders
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