January 7, 2015 - Ayungon, Negros Oriental

 Edrich, a youth of Anibong who's birthday is March 25

This week was super wild. On Thursday afternoon, we went to Sheila's house and found that she was having serious doubts about being baptised. She had received a call from her daughter who lives in the US and her daughter told her "you can go to church with the Mormons and stuff, but don't get baptised." Sister Sheila told us the variety of reasons given to her why she shouldn't magpabunyag (Be baptised,) but on Thursday evening, Sis was really distraught about this. But by the next day, she had decided what she was going to do. She was going to wait for her daughter to call again (this week) and tell her that she is being baptised, no matter what her daughter says. She feels she just needs to justify her decision by telling her daughter herself, "I am being baptised." So her date has been moved to January 17, and we've been seeing a lot of support for her from the branch. And what's more, we've seen her testimony and her surety of these things grow tremendously.

Then on Sunday, we had a really neat thing happen. We visited the house of the Mojillo family in Tayasan. Look that up on the map. The Mojillo family have been members since the early 2000's, including the mother and father (being grandparents), and all the siblings and the families of the siblings. The Grandfather was the first to investigate and to go to church, which he went to in Sibulan for a few months, because he thought that was the closest church. Look that up on the map. That is very very far. After a time, he and his family went to church and were baptised in Bindoy. Lolo (Grandpa) Mojillo passed away a few years ago and last month, his wife passed away. The rest of the family has been as active as they can be, considering the distance and difficulty of coming to church. But just this last Sunday, we visited their house and got to know this family. I had met them all before at church, but this was our first chance to get to know them. We came to find that they truly are saints. They read and love their scriptures, they have people they know who ask them about the church and they invite them to come to church with them! One sister of the family lives in Jimalalud, the next municipality after Tayasan,and is closer to Guihulngan (where there's a church) than to Bindoy, but she still comes to church regularly and has neighbors who want to join them! We found on Sunday the foundation of the church in Tayasan, Jimalalud, and the rest of the outlying areas of Negros Oriental, and with that a family, whose faith is praiseably strong, but who simply needs help. I felt so strongly when we visited them the strength of the Lord in us as missionaries to hep them.

The Silvano Family at Church! 

This morning in my personal study, I read about a portion of our Savior's Earthly Ministry that I always knew about, but I feel I appreciate a little better now, thanks to the pagpasabut (explanation) of Elder Talmage in Jesus the Christ. Every once in a while I'll read in Jesus the Christ about, of course, the life of Christ, and I've been reading about the last few months of his Life. Through his ministry, he kept going between Galilee and Judea and Samaria and other lands, but there was always a pressure from others, saying "You should go to Jerusalem, because you'll be accepted there" or "Stay away from Jerusalem, because they want to kill you there." But Christ did not follow the counsel of others whose desires were questionable, and he feared not the will of man, because he his time had not yet come. But in Matthew 20:17, we read that he said to his disciples, "We are now going to Jerusalem and this is going to be the last time I go. The prophecies are going to be fulfilled, and I'm going to be judged, killed, and rise on the third day." And to start this entrance, we read that he rode in to the city, surrounded by great multitudes, crying and rejoicing "Hosanna to the Son of David, to He who comes in the name of the Lord." And all the city of Jerusalem stopped to see who this was, this prophet of Nazareth. In the explanation of Elder Talmage, he says that this was Christ's triumphal entry, meaning that he was by this accepted as the King of Kings, as the Messiah, by his people. This this wasn't just Jesus taking on all this glory of Himself, but that this was necessary that He was accepted by his people as their King.

I ended my study this morning by reading Alma 42:30-31. Alma is teaching his son about the great plan of God, and he says here "ye should deny the justice of God no more." Take no excuse for your sins. Don't try to hide from the plan of God. But accept it. Let it bring you into humility, and from there, go up. Improve through the plan. Become yourself. "And now, my son, go thy way, declare the word with truth and soberness, that thou mayest bring souls unto repentance, that the great plan of mercy may have claim upon them." And help others on their way. I know that Because Christ, the King of Kings, was chosen from the beginning, and he fulfilled the plan of God, because of this, We can be made clean. We can follow a perfect plan. And That's why we're here. It may hurt sometimes it may be humilifying, but it's perfect.

I love you, family. I thank you for your love. And I love Ayungon. I love Elder Pascua. The work of God is so great here.

Love,

Elder Dunford