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Hello everyone!
[We had a mini photoshoot hehe]
This past week has been amazing gid! We got a lot of free rides this week and were able to save money which is always good! Sister Loftus and I had such a good time this week and I can't wait to share it with you all 😊
[Oops]
Last Tuesday:
So my highlight of Tuesday was even before we left the apartment! While having personal study, it was all peaceful and chill and I was having a really good study. All of a sudden, our next door neighbor answers the phone and she was talking really loud. As in it sounded like she was in our apartment with us when she was just next door. After 15 minutes on the phone, and after I had read the same verse for like the 20th time (because I couldn't concentrate), I decided to pray and really ask Heavenly Father to help me focus on my studies, and I'm not joking, but as I was praying, she stopped talking and she didn't get another call again! Haha this is something really small but evidence to me that Heavenly Father really does listen to our prayers!
Last Wednesday:
We had probably one of the funnest Family Home Evenings ever! We invited a bunch of members and we had it in our recent converts house and we also invited a couple people who are close to being baptized. It was a nice turnout, everyone we told came and it was just so much fun. Sister Loftus and I taught an object lesson (Shoutout to Sister Obina for teaching me the object lesson) that they really enjoyed. And after we had games which was so much fun, we all had some really good laughs and even though we weren't all family, and we were having a family home evening, we all grew closer together 😊
Last Thursday:
Happy Fourth! Sister Loftus and I sang a bunch of patriotic hymns haha. We had a good district council! All our areas in our district seem to be progressing well. Our District Leader is busy interviewing all the baptismal candidates all the time, haha.
[My district!]
Last Friday:
We were able to video call back home for Fourth of July so I called my brother and it was fun to say hi and talk to some fam.
[Ma-lutak!]
Last Saturday:
The brother that I wrote about last week got baptized on Saturday! Wow it was such an amazing day. The service was just beautiful. We arrived to church Saturday around lunch time and he showed up too (so early) because he was so excited. For the baptismal ordinance, I was kind of nervous for his leg but it was perfect because he just went in the water and came out so flawlessly 😊 After the ordinance when he bore his testimony, I felt the Spirit so strongly. I am just so happy to be an instrument to help this ready soul know about how to return back to Heavenly Father. As he bore his testimony, he shared how he was changed and became a member of the church because of the Book of Mormon.
So more to the story of last week, when he got into an accident a while back and when God basically gave him a 2nd chance to live, he was so grateful that he just wanted to serve and so he prayed and asked where he can find the true church. After praying, one night he had a dream and in that dream he saw a clean church where people were wearing white. Ever since then he was looking for that church. Fast forward to when we met him that first day. He talked about how if we didn't give him the Book of Mormon, he wouldn't look into the church more. But that day when we gave him the Book of Mormon, the Spirit hit him as soon as he read the first page and and as he kept reading, he decided to ask God if the Book of Mormon is true. Even though he didn't receive a straight answer, he saw changes in his life for the better. not only financially pero physically too. He's so grateful his health got better! And so after he continued reading, he felt the need to repent, and so he repented of all his sins that he's done ever since he was a little kid he said. So it was a great day and Sunday was even better!
[The Zone Leaders happened to drop by too haha]
[After the baptism, he took us out to eat!]
Sunday:
The brother who was baptized yesterday receive the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday and we saw immediate effects of how the Holy Ghost was with him because he was so confident as he shared his testimony of the Gospel in Sunday School. He's going to receive the Priesthood next week and we're so excited. Since we fasted on Sunday we were able to work straight after church for like 8 hours and it was so fun. I just love being a missionary. I love being an instrument to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone I meet!
[Cheesecake 💖]
Thank you everyone for all your support. Love you all!
Halong kamo pirme,
Sister Ventura
Philippines Iloilo Mission (Jan 2018 - July 2019)
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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.