The Philippines!

January 25, 2014

Transfers is this Thursday now. So I have three more days to work here! This week was very interesting for missionary work. A couple of things happened this last week to make things a lot of fun. For one, the Pope came to the Philippines, and two we had the Degagyan Festival both of which are of Catholic origin. So we pretty well lost all of our investigators this last week and they won't get back until tomorrow. Made for a lot of getting punted and trying to find investigators who are interested. Not very many were with us. But I have no worries. This week will be tons better. I am super curious where I will be going next week. I have heard almost everyday for a week now I will be leaving the area and so I am now very curious.

Two big things happened this week though. Ill start with the change of Bishopric. We got a new Bishop! It was incredibly unexpected and even the old Bishop didn't know until earlier that Sunday morning. Even better was I had just met with him last Friday and we made a bunch of new plans for the year of 2015-2016. Now we have a new one and I know he will be a very good Bishop for La Paz Ward.

Two. I hate spiders...I don't mind little ones here, they are super fun to play with and hold. And they like to fight eachother which I find super awesome! They don't have any real pokemon here so how kids play is they will go out and find spiders in the trees,bushes, etc. and then place two of them on opposite sides of a stick and let them at it. Its way cool and way fun! The loser then has to find a new spider because his is now dead. But those aren't the ones I am talking about.....I hate the big ones the size of my hands. But good things for all of us, they die very easiliy with fire. Got an awesome flame thrower here. Lighter and an arsenal can full of bug spray. Works so well.

Other then that it has been a lot of teaching and preparing the area for a new missionary to take over. My companion has decided to stay though he really doesn't want to 100% but I am very glad that he has decided to stick to it. He has so much to learn and I know he will learn a lot of things from his mission that will keep him active. I can sorta understand Cebuano so we can talk pretty well but he is just so shy its hard to get him to say anything. I really hope his next companion can help him with that.

For my spiritual experiance I have been learning a lot about sacrafices. From Adam till now we have been commanded to sacrifice. No, I did not sacrifice anyone other then that big spider.

When one hears sacrifice what are the first things we think of? For me it is like the kind Moses gave to the Isrealites, or giving up something important for something even more important to us. In 3 Nephi Chapter 9 verses 19 and 20 we learn we are to no longer give blood sacrifices. But instead we are to sacrifice ourselves through a broken heart and contrite spirit. If we truly want the blessings of repentance and forgiveness, we need to mean it. It must be sincere. And above all it must be for the Lord. These steps here from lds.org I think are the best way to accomplish this.

1. All of us in our natural, carnal, and fallen state on earth have sinned and transgressed the laws of God, for which a punishment is designated by the law of justice.

2. Jesus Christ is holy and pure. He lived a perfect life and was therefore the person least deserving of punishment for sin.

3. Because of his great love for us, Jesus Christ paid the price for all our sins. He suffered the punishment for the sins of all people.

Jesus Christ did not need to pay for our sins. He was perfect and thus forth was entitled to eternal glory. We on the other hand are, from the words of King Benjamin, lower then the dust of the Earth. Why? Because even the dust will obey the voice of the Lord with exactness. Thus the need for a Broken Heart and Contrite Spirit.

So that is about it for this week. I am so thankful for this time that I have had here in my area and I am very excited to see what happens next. Next week I will have a brand new companion with a brand new area.

Elder Rubow