2016.10.02 Mosiah 4:16-20; 24-26

Dear Family and Friends,
Wow, what a week!
First I want to start off that we had a wonderful baptism this week! Her name is Cutie and she really is the cutest! She is 21 and currently the only member of the church in her family. On her baptismal day (this past Saturday) we had General Woman's Conference, so it was a tight schedule. We had to pick Cutie up and take her to conference where it was unfortunately in English so she didn't understand it. When I wrote a sentence down in my notes; Cutie would copy it down on the piece of paper I gave her. Once I noticed she was doing this, Sister Abad and I ended up translating the sentence she had copied from my notes into Hiligaynon for her to understand what they were talking about and what I was writing down. It was pretty fun :) After conference we had a little extra time before Cutie's baptism because conference had ended earlier then planned. So we decided to take Cutie out to lunch! It was Cutie's first time in a restaurant! And she loved it! Afterwards we went to her baptism where everything was a little hectic and you could just tell Satan was really trying his best to ruin something great, but he didn't win. Cutie got baptized! Her mom even showed up! Her mom, Alma, is the sweetest person I have ever met! She has such a great family! Although she is a strong Catholic, she still supported Cutie's decision to get baptized and is so great to us missionaries! It was a really great baptism.

Cutie and Alma <3

Well, another thing that happened that was pretty cool... was Sister Abad and I rented a Jeepney to pick up some of our investigators to go to church. It was awesome and such a great experience seeing people we just talked to 3 days ago bring their whole family to church or kids that come with us even though their parents are going to church else where. It's very uplifting and was just amazing!!!!

Sorry I am not doing this in order, just what ever comes to my mind I am writing! :)

This week we had zone conference which was super sweet because I got to see Sister Gonzales and others from my batch. We learned about being Christ-like and President and Sister Barredo took us out to lunch afterwards :) The food here is seriously so good... But I have probably mentioned that before... :)

Zone Conference ;)

This week I have seen quite a bit... Like a dog getting slammed with a stick for absolutely no reason by a group of people that were smoking and drinking.... it was hard to see that... normally I would have flipped, but I had no reaction, not even a flinch, it was so strange. My companion said after we left that area..... that she turned to me to look at my reaction but she said my face was blank, like nothing ppened. Coming to think about it I really think something calmed me... I think if I would have flipped or said something or even had a reaction... something bad would have happened. I think the group of people that did that to the dog, just to get something out of me... I don't know. It was strange.
Other than that, this week has been the week I have gotten pretty close with the investigators and a lot of the less actives. A lot of the less active are less active because they say they are discouraged because they were offended at church or by a church member. What some people need to understand is the Church is perfect, the Gospel is perfect, Christ is perfect. The people that got to church are not perfect, are far from perfect. Sister Abad explains this as the Church being like a hospital and the people as the patients, just going to the hospital to get better. If someone offends you don't take it personal. They are flawed and maybe that's one of their flaws is that they are judgmental or what not. Pray for them that God will help them. Continue to work on yourself and your flaws. You go to church for yourself, not for others.
There's a couple of scriptures I was studying in the Book of Mormon the other day in Mosiah, where King Benjamin (what a guy) was addressing his people and one topic I found intriguing was about serving one another. and how no one is better then another. We are all the same. Mosiah 4:16-20; 24-26. I hope you read theses verses and reflect on what you can do to improve. I have a lot to improve and a great start in serving one another. Give all you can.
I love you all!
I hope your week is going amazing!!!!!

Sis. Garrish

PS.   If you email me, I print them out and read them during the week :)