Week 61: Ako Anak sang Diyos!

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Maayong aga everyone!

[After a long day as you can tell from our sweat and hair!]

This past week was pretty awesome! We had exchanges again with one of our other sisters, we had a district CSP where we went to the bukid/uma (mountain/farm) area (which reminded me alot about my 1st area, actually!), we had another zone conference (2 zone conferences in 1 cycle!), and then we took some people that we teach a Relief Society Anniversary activity! It was a fun-filled week and now I just found out that Sister Gonzales and I will be together for another cycle. Yay I'm so excited that she and I will be together for my birthday 😁

[She got so sunburned from our CSP, 

she used an ice candy to cool her face down!]

Just one highlight I want to share is how this past week when we had zone conference, President Cruz and Sister Cruz just really emphasized a theme that we should never forget. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in everything that we're doing and I, as a missionary, I'm so focused on what I'm doing as I share about our Savior to everyone that I easily forget about who I am. It's easy to say yes I am a missionary, I am a representative of Jesus Christ, but first and foremost, I am a child of God. I am a literal daughter of my Father who is in Heaven. And you and everyone you meet around you is a child of God! He is the Father of our Spirits. He watches over us and loves us. And I want to share the lyrics of a song that all the kids here love to sing.

1. I am a child of God, And he has sent me here, Has given me an earthly home With parents kind and dear.

Chorus: Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, Help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do To live with him someday.

2. I am a child of God, And so my needs are great; Help me to understand his words Before it grows too late.

3. I am a child of God. Rich blessings are in store; If I but learn to do his will, I’ll live with him once more.

Never forget who you are. Never forget that God, our Father who is in Heaven is your literal Father. He loved you and knows you!

[It's sandia season here in the Philippines!]

[S'mores for dinner!

Joke lang...just late night snack]

'Til next week! Palangga ko kamo!

Halong kamo pirme, 

Sister Ventura

Philippines Iloilo Mission (Jan 2018 - July 2019)

--

Send an e-mail: 

elza.ventura@missionary.org

Written letters and packages: 

Sister Elza Ventura 

Philippines Iloilo Mission 

Osmeña Street, 

Arevalo, Iloilo City, 

5000 Iloilo 

Philippines

*Some names have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of individuals.

Week 60: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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Mayong hapon everyone!

[Exchanges! 😊]

Just a quick verse I want to share with you all from my Personal Study this past week. I was reading in Ether and this verse in chapter 4 verse 11 really stuck out to me:

11 But he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall knowand bear record. For because of my Spirit he shall know that these things are true; for it persuadeth men to do good.

I experienced this this past week with on of the people Sister Gonzales and I have been teaching. We have had struggles trying to get her to go to church but as we were sharing about the Great Apostasy, the Spirit was so strong. I felt so warm inside and I knew for a fact that she understood what we explained. It was a bit scary at first because when we finished explaining, we asked her what she felt and she slowly said "I feel... I know... like what you're teaching is true. It's true because it's proven. This has proven to me why there are so many churches. I know it's true." I know that true doctrine, if it's simply taught will be simply understood. And it's taught and understood through the Spirit because everything good comes from Him!  Thank you everyone for your support, keep on smiling 😊

Keep on pushing everyone, no matter how hard it gets. Palangga ko kamo!

Videos and Pictures:

[Sis. Johnson and Obina really went all out!]

[Sis. Johnson really knows how to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!
They even put green food coloring in the eggs!]

[Yum 😊]



[Thank you Sis. Obina!]

Halong kamo pirme, 

Sister Ventura

Philippines Iloilo Mission (Jan 2018 - July 2019)

--

Send an e-mail: 

elza.ventura@missionary.org

Written letters and packages: 

Sister Elza Ventura 

Philippines Iloilo Mission 

Osmeña Street, 

Arevalo, Iloilo City, 

5000 Iloilo 

Philippines

*Some names have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of individuals.

Week 59: Happy 1 year in the field to me!

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Mayong hapon friends and family!

[Last week forgot to send pics!]

This week I hit my 1 year of being here in Philippines Iloilo Mission! Wow it's been amazing and I have learned so much. This past week was awesome. We had exchanges with one of the sister companionship, Zone conference, and MLC, all in one week! 

[Exchanges!]

I'll just share a really short highlight. At zone conference there was one constant highlight - TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN TO SACRIFICE. Sometimes we think that sacrificing would be a good thing, right? But Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ would rather we obey. It's easy to sacrifice and give up something, but the true test is when we obey Them and humble ourselves. They want to see that we are willing. They want to see that we love Them through our actions. Keep on pondering on what you can do to show the Lord your obedience to Him, and I know that you will find yourself growing closer to our Father in Heaven more than you ever have before.

[MLC 😊]

[Batch!]

[Sister Quinton and Sister Makabenta!]

[Thank you Sisters for the dinner party!

Even the Crispy Fry is party version!]

Keep on pushing everyone, no matter how hard it gets. Palangga ko kamo!

Halong kamo pirme, 

Sister Ventura

Philippines Iloilo Mission (Jan 2018 - July 2019)

--

Send an e-mail: 

elza.ventura@missionary.org

Written letters and packages: 

Sister Elza Ventura 

Philippines Iloilo Mission 

Osmeña Street, 

Arevalo, Iloilo City, 

5000 Iloilo 

Philippines

*Some names have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of individuals.

Week 58: Ang Balaan nga Espiritu amo ang pinakaimportante (The Holy Ghost is the most important!)

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Maayong hapon sa inyo tanan!

[HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOLA! 

Thank you for the shirt. Palangga ta ka!]

This week was so so so awesome. Sister Gonzales and I worked really hard despite some difficulties but there are always difficulties that we can't avoid.

Just a highlight of this past week:

On Thursday morning the Assistants to the President (AP's) called us right before Sister Gonzales and I did our companionship study and we were wondering what they could be calling us about.

So when we answer our AP's say "Sister Gonzales, Sister Ventura we have a challenge for you... we've been praying for and you two...popped in my head and we're giving this challenge to you because we know you could do it." 

At this point Sister Gonzales and I are wondering what it could possibly be and so we respond yes we'll do it. And our AP says "We promise you if you do this, your companionship, area, and those you teach will be blessed. We AP's challenge you Sister Gonzales and Sister Ventura to find 20 new investigators... today." 

Sister Gonzales and I were both so excited and we replied yeah! So fast forward to about 7:30pm and we only had 9 new investigators and we were begging Heavenly Father for a miracle that we would find a family of 11. 

As we were walking around, Sister Gonzales felt prompted to go to this one tsanggie (variety store where they sell a bunch of snacks, shampoo, soap, etc). We talked to the lady at the tsanggie and we bought snacks just to start a conversation (haha) so anyways after a but we finally started talking about how we're missionaries and representatives of our Savior. 

So we then ask her who's with her in her house and she says "oh we're a lot here!" And we ask "can we come in and meet them all?" And she was really persistent and didn't want us to come in but we were also persistent, but we finally realized she has her agency. 

And we can't do much more so we just testified of Jesus Christ and as I was testifying, I started crying! Haha and then when Sister Gonzales testified to what I said, she also started crying! The sister at the tsanggie said "oh no, you don't have to cry!" And I said "We just really feel the Spirit strongly." 

And as we walked away, I started crying more and Sister Gonzales comforted me, and we both knew that we were crying because we couldn't reach the goal and expectation the AP's gave us. But as Sister Gonzales and I pondered on it, we were so proud of ourselves, we pushed ourselves more then we ever have before. And we both know we couldn't give any more than we could've, we really did give our all. And most importantly we really felt the guidance of the Holy Ghost more than we ever have before guiding us to every place we went to and every person we talked to. 

[Our sisters are so sweet 💗

We came home to mango float!

Thank you Sister Johnson and Sister Obina!]

It was an awesome week! I hope you're all doing well. Looking forward to more amazing things to come.

Halong kamo pirme, 

Sister Ventura

Philippines Iloilo Mission (Jan 2018 - July 2019)

--

Send an e-mail: 

elza.ventura@missionary.org

Written letters and packages: 

Sister Elza Ventura 

Philippines Iloilo Mission 

Osmeña Street, 

Arevalo, Iloilo City, 

5000 Iloilo 

Philippines

*Some names have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of individuals.