Feb 6: Never a greater work

It did not hit me until after showing his life story. The hearse carrying the remains of my beloved prophet brought tears to my eyes. Yet I know that he is happier than ever. Haft way through the funeral, I had to interview a mother for baptism. I cried a bit when asking if she believed that he was a prophet of God. The interview was short, but the spirit was strong. She was ready. After the funeral, I rode with haft my branch in the back of a truck of one of the members. They lined up primary chairs so we all could sit down in this huge truck. I got a picture. It was memorable.

I just found out earlier today at the temple that Pres. Monson was already called as prophet. He has my complete faith and prayers. The temple was so nice. It really is like escaping from the world for a few hours as we are taught in a celestial place. We had to wake up at 3:00am to get there and back before traffic hit so naturally I was tired. I always feel horrible though when I doze in the endowment. So I followed Patricia's example and brought some hot candy (you send me for Christmas) to suck on when my eyes got heavy. I lost. Exhaustions won. I doze a bit, but to as bad. I learned quite a bit.

Yesterday was a pretty unusual day. About all of the lessons we planned fell through. We went to go teach our former atheist, that I have not yet told you about, but he was not there. We did however find a young man gagging as his family did not know what to do. They said he was bathing in the river and a jellyfish entered his mouth and nose, so he throat was creating excessive mucous, thus restricting air to his lungs. We quickly asked if we could help and I was not surprised by their answer. They were living in a bamboo hut, so they needed help (money) to get him to the hospital. It is really hard as a missionary sometimes because we are not allowed to assist anyone finically, but I could justify paying for him to get to the hospital. I could not live with that on my conscious. I was not appropriate for us to give a blessing, so we asked to borrow a cell phone to text a member with a tricycle. Although we did not really help, it did get people moving to help. Some ran for a phone, while more people came to help, they carried him to the road as we followed. I was ready to pay for the ride, but the tricycle left before that was a question. We found out later that the guy is ok now. He just has to wait in the hospital until the bill is paid.

Later that day, after not finding anyone to teach for a few hours, we taught a lesson to a very sick old woman and her weird middle-aged son. It was a hard lesson because they we not really listening, but when we invited the man to church, things became interesting. He explained that he couldn't come, because the spirits in him would interfere. I have met a number of people now who blame devils for more than they deserve credit for. And although this man did have epilepsy, this felt different; the spirit entered stronger when he told us of these things. So we closed the door and blessed him, casting out the spirits. Thankfully, nothing strange happened, but we asked him after what he felt and he said that they left. He looked and acted a bit different. More than anything, as I was blessing him, I was able to feel a bit more of how the Lord feels about him. I felt even more love for him because my first impressions were pushed aside and I was acting as a conduit for the Lord. We also taught and saw those families that are progressing the most. They are doing well. I have not see a baptism since I have arrived, expect that one in the other area, but most of our recent converts are less active not and our branch is struggling so I would hate to give them more people to worry about, unless those people are ready, and we have found some like that; the Quezon family.

There is so much more to tell, but I must now close. I love you all so much. I am so happy to be a missionary and strive to honor the Lord everyday as I represent Him in proclaiming the Gospel. I am even happier now that my little brother will follow in the ways of righteousness by serving a mission. It really is the Lord's work.