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| Jordan and his Grandpa Royal, September 2011 |
I'm pretty excited that it's Holy Week again here. It is exciting to have more people willing to
accept our message about Jesus Christ.
However, I admit that it is really strange to see people whip themselves
and even get crucified to crosses. (Yes,
it is really that intense here.) That is
what they believe what they have to do to receive forgiveness of their
sins. That actually baffles me, since it
ignores the Atonement of the Savior, and the fact the He already suffered and
died for the sins of all mankind. We do
not have to physically suffer for our sins, but are to present ourselves to the
Savior of All Mankind with a broken heart and contrite spirit. He suffered for all those who love and choose
to follow Him. Happy Easter by the way! We were talking last night about how General
Conference is only two weeks away now (for us at least)! I am so excited for General Conference again.
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| The Saturday baptism for Kim, Gracia, and Dinera with the branch |
We had a great baptism on Saturday for Kim, Gracia, and
Dinera. Unfortunately, though, we made
the mistake though of having a combined baptism with two other missionaries, so
it started WAY late. Had it been just
our branch, we would have been on time.
Still, we had a great experience despite being late. Kim's entire family (except for her mom, the
only member in their family) attended, which really made her happy. She has absolutely the strongest testimony of
anyone. Kim definitely deserved
this. Gracia and Dinera also gave great
testimonies. It's always cool to hear
the investigator's perspective of what happened when the missionaries first
came to them. Gracia told a story of how
after we left following our first lesson, that they felt something very
different from anything they had ever experienced in any other religion. She said they were hungry before we came and
wanted to eat, but then after they listened to us, she said they felt full as
if she already ate. Then she gave her
food to their chickens and said: "I'm not hungry anymore. I'm full and it feels great." I guess the Spirit literally feeds us with a
testimony that we won't have a desire to eat.
The Savior said: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall
never hunger.” (John 6:35.) That is what came to my mind while Kim was
bearing her testimony. Jesus Christ is
the Bread of Life.
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| Jordan & E. Revillo with Jonathan, together with Dinera and Gracia with their mother |
We were able to find some new investigators this week to revive our teaching pool now that three of our investigators were baptized this week. Four of them are the star players for the branch's basketball team. The stake started a basketball tournament this week and they're now 2-1. They're really awesome and hoping that we'll be able to teach all of them again. They are all priesthood-aged which is good, because even the branch president made a comment yesterday at sacrament that at least 80% of the active members are women. I really do not know what's been up with the men, but we've been really trying to find and re-active Melchizedek Priesthood holders.
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| Jordan & E. Revillo with Jonathan & Kim |
Yesterday after sacrament meeting, the APs came to the
stake center to pick up the missionaries going home this week. There are 24 going home this week with 29
coming in, so we'll be alright. Elder
Talento is among those going home this week.
I was just glad that was able to see him at the stake center before they
left. I can't believe it's been over a
year since we were companions. We have
transfers this week, so there will be A LOT of new missionaries coming in the
zone. We're pretty sure that every
companionship will change except for ours and Talavera. So we'll see.
That's pretty much it for this week. Summer is starting and it's getting really
hot. Yes, my shoes are in good shape
still. I'm started to lose socks though,
so maybe if you could send a couple pair that would be cool. I love you all and hope that you guys have an
awesome week. Mahal ko kayo!
Elder Jordan "Happy Easter" Royal
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| Institute graduation |
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