Another great week in the beautiful land of the Philippines!! We had zone conference this week. I loveddd it! President Mangum taught from the Old Testament about Saul and David and Goliath. He is the funniest, most insightful man. I love learning from him and Sister Mangum. We talked a lot about how obedience trumps ALL. It is the first law of heaven and all blessings are predicated on our obedience! He also taught about how God cares about our HEARTS not about our outward appearance and actions alone. He said, "When I look in the mirror all I see is a short, fat, bald guy. But I am so happy to know the Lord only cares about what's inside!" Haha so true!! We should always be more focused on the inside than the out.
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| Pres and Sister Mangum are the best! |
The time has come for me to bid farewell to my companion, Sister Labisa. Oh, I will miss her! We have had a great 6 weeks. I have learned so much from her. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many humble, faithful Filipinas. My companion has truly taught me how to lead and follow like the Savior, how to prioritize the important things and how to have fun while still working hard :)
One family that just has my heart here is the G family. They are a family of 10 kids under the age of 18 and they live in a small, wooden treehouse kind of thing smaller than my room at home. Brother is not a member but Sister G and many of her kids are. Filipina women like Sister G are truly my heroes. It's very common for the men here to get caught up in drinking, smoking and laziness (I promise I love them too, haha) but I have seen family after family led by the sweet and strong Filipina mothers! One day this week after visiting with the Gs and some other great investigators, my heart was feeling pretty heavy. It seemed like every single person we taught had heavy, heavy burdens and I was wanting to do more to help them. But as the Lord always does, He sent me a miracle to lift my spirits! We ran into a very faithful recent convert, Sister M, who was selling little rice cakes door to door with her 3 year old daughter. We knew she was struggling so we spent some time talking and she bore the sweetest testimony to us of the blessings of tithing and that even though her faith felt weak, she was going to pay her tithing next Sunday and she knew blessings would follow. I walked away with tears in my eyes because even though M and her small family are barely getting by, she is being blessed spiritually and temporally for her faith and obedience.
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| Playing games at our ward party |
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| American candy from my package from home was a big hit! |
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| Setting up a boodle fight, all the food in the middle of the table on banana leaves that you eat with your hands, yum! |
I love these people. I love their simple and powerful conversion. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the change it makes in people!! This is the true church. I love you all! Thank you for your constant support and prayers. I can feel them and I am so thankful for my cheering squad back home. Have a great week!!
Love,
Sister Giles
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| Zone Conference |
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