Palawan is still bomb. We just dropped off Elder Fawson this morning at the airport. He'll stay in Manila until he dies on Wednesday. *tear drop* I'll miss the tall guy.
New companion is Elder Isla Hahahahhaa he's also just my kabahay, or apartment mate... so he's literally just moving over to the other room XD It'll be a fun transfer. He's a filipino (technically) but he was born and raised in Australia. I'll probably go home sounding more Australian than Filipino, so brace yourselves for that.
Here's what happened last week! This is just a chunk of my weekly email to President Fermanis.
This week we went on exchanges in Roxas. They're doing super well... All four of those Elders there are awesome. The Roxas ward has grown so much within the last 1-2 years. Out of all the wards/branches here on Palawan, Roxas always has one of the highest sacrament attendances and they are very involved in missionary work and fellowshipping.
I went on exchanges with Elder Valencia and Elder Hernaez. I started the exchange with the mindset that I would be teaching them something, but I feel like I was in turn the one that was taught. One cool experience came from the events leading to one of the lessons we had that day. We went to the house of a woman that the Elders had talked to before. She opened the door and was about to say that she was busy, but Elder Valencia saw her dirty dishes and said, "Sister, I see you have dirty dishes. We're going to clean up a bit and do some service for you." And with that said, he walked right in without hesitation and began doing her dishes. As that was going on, Elder Hernaez and I began to tidy up their house a little and asked if we could also do some of their laundry. The woman, Nessa, was very surprised and told us we didn't need to, but we insisted and continued helping out. After that, we went to her neighbors house and began helping them with their laundry too. I was both impressed and humbled by the boldness of these Elders. They didn't hesitate when they saw someone who needed help.
Another cool experience... so we were listening to some of the General Conference talks from 2 weeks ago, and Bonnie L. Oscarson invited us to ask God what we yet lack. So I decided to do that and opened my Personal Study that day with asking God the question, "What do I lack? I lack a lot... but help me know where I can start to improve." I read in Ether 12, and as you probably know, it's all about faith. So I figured that was where I needed to start: faith. One of our recent converts, Jommer, had been weakening in his faith lately and hasn't been to church in a few weeks. He told us that he would go to church yesterday, but he never showed up and sent us a text saying that he was busy with something and he wanted to meet with us later in the day and talk about something. So..... I was kind of scared. I was nervous to hear what Jommer had to say. The last thing I wanted was to lose this guy. But being nervous or scared meant that I would allow fear to dominate my faith, so I told myself, "Things will be fine. It'll all turn out alright." Later that day when we visited him, he was super excited to see us and shared with us that he had begun to read the Book of Mormon more frequently again. He shared Alma 29:9 and thanked us for being instruments of God and introducing the Gospel to him. He told us that through us, he was able to meet and get to know our Heavenly Father and understand His plan. Elder Fawson and I were shocked, but we were so grateful, and needless to say relieved that Jommer was alright. So yeah. I had been praying for the last few weeks that Jommer would figure things out, and my prayer was answered and my faith was also increased.
I went on exchanges with Elder Valencia and Elder Hernaez. I started the exchange with the mindset that I would be teaching them something, but I feel like I was in turn the one that was taught. One cool experience came from the events leading to one of the lessons we had that day. We went to the house of a woman that the Elders had talked to before. She opened the door and was about to say that she was busy, but Elder Valencia saw her dirty dishes and said, "Sister, I see you have dirty dishes. We're going to clean up a bit and do some service for you." And with that said, he walked right in without hesitation and began doing her dishes. As that was going on, Elder Hernaez and I began to tidy up their house a little and asked if we could also do some of their laundry. The woman, Nessa, was very surprised and told us we didn't need to, but we insisted and continued helping out. After that, we went to her neighbors house and began helping them with their laundry too. I was both impressed and humbled by the boldness of these Elders. They didn't hesitate when they saw someone who needed help.
Another cool experience... so we were listening to some of the General Conference talks from 2 weeks ago, and Bonnie L. Oscarson invited us to ask God what we yet lack. So I decided to do that and opened my Personal Study that day with asking God the question, "What do I lack? I lack a lot... but help me know where I can start to improve." I read in Ether 12, and as you probably know, it's all about faith. So I figured that was where I needed to start: faith. One of our recent converts, Jommer, had been weakening in his faith lately and hasn't been to church in a few weeks. He told us that he would go to church yesterday, but he never showed up and sent us a text saying that he was busy with something and he wanted to meet with us later in the day and talk about something. So..... I was kind of scared. I was nervous to hear what Jommer had to say. The last thing I wanted was to lose this guy. But being nervous or scared meant that I would allow fear to dominate my faith, so I told myself, "Things will be fine. It'll all turn out alright." Later that day when we visited him, he was super excited to see us and shared with us that he had begun to read the Book of Mormon more frequently again. He shared Alma 29:9 and thanked us for being instruments of God and introducing the Gospel to him. He told us that through us, he was able to meet and get to know our Heavenly Father and understand His plan. Elder Fawson and I were shocked, but we were so grateful, and needless to say relieved that Jommer was alright. So yeah. I had been praying for the last few weeks that Jommer would figure things out, and my prayer was answered and my faith was also increased.
-Elder Ahn
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