Hello everybody!
This week was pretty busy, but fantastic as always.
First off, Elder Torion and I had a great time teaching and working together. He's seriously a hilarious guy. He's from Leyte, which is in the Visayas region of the Philippines. The Visayan people are known for their sense of humor, and let me tell you, the reputation is deserving. One night, he had all of us in the apartment crying we were laughing so hard. I love our companionship!
Anyway, the Anchetas weren't able to come to church yesterday, so we visited them and asked why they weren't able to come. They explained they had to go to a different city for some medicine, but they were really sorry they weren't able to make it to church. We were able to teach them all of lesson two and they committed to read the Book of Mormon as a family! They are truly amazing!
Next, we had Jelica come to church. She's twelve years old and lives with her aunt. Her aunt is a member, but has been less-active for a long time. We've been asking her to help her niece come to church and progress towards baptism. Last week, not yesterday, they did not come to church, but yesterday they did! The branch president pulled us aside and asked what we did, Sister Ramirez (Jelica's aunt) hasn't been to church for a LONG time. It was great to see them come to church and feel the spirit. They were happy that they were able to come to church and said they'd come next week as well!!
We now have three progressing investigators in our area, and they really look like they'll continue to progress until baptism!
Now, spiritual thought time:
This week, I've been studying Christlike attributes (I try to take one week out of every month and dedicate my studies to Chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel) and it's always interesting how every time I start studying the chapter again, I learn something new.
The attribute I want to share with you now is Hope. It's hard for us sometimes to understand what Hope really is. Many times, we think it's synonymous with faith, but that is not the case. It is true, that faith and hope are undeniably linked together, but faith precedes hope. When we have faith, we hope for things which are not seen which are true. That hope we have is an expectation and assurance that the things we are promised through the gospel will be given us. Hope can be likened unto a knowledge, a personal testimony, that the blessings we have been promised will come. Whether it be a remission of sins through repentance, being resurrected, or living together with our families forever, we can receive an assurance that these things will come to pass through our hope. I know that our hope, if based on faith in correct principles, can bring us comfort in times of hardship, for we know that everything will be alright in the end.
Mahal ko kayo!
Ingat kayo!
-Elder Anderson
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