3 more Baptisms!!!

Dear Family of Love and Kindness to Me,

So this week was completely exhausting!!! Haha! I mean I am to totally fine, but super tired! Hense why I sent those pictures, because that is what I feel like all the time!! Pretty good week all and all though! Not much happened so sorry this might not be the longest letter in the world, but I will try to add some thoughts to make this good! 

Alright so I want to start with the best thing because I am so excited to share about it! The Baptism! So we had 3 baptisms for ourselves! Sister Jerry Ann Rebotala, Sister Bea Pajarillano and Sister Jeanelene. So yeah we had this stake activity right before this baptism (will talk about that later) and it stressed me out hard core, because it was so disorganized... I was running around trying to get things working and well I was just being a Minson about it and wanted it perfect.......... anyway! So after the activity we had the baptism which also stressed me out, we had no clothes, the font was not clean, ugh... So we fixed that! Once we hit the actual baptism I was on the verge of cracking... I felt like I was going to break down from pure exhaustion!! Well the baptism started, it had lots of attendance due to being after a baptism! The speaker did a good job, and the spirit was creeping in! Well got to the baptism and it went great, then afterwards had Testimonies, and man oh man! Sister Jeanelene got up first, she has been taught for over 7 months now... she has been on and off for a long time with this and been juggling her decision! We finally just made this goal and she went through! She got up to bear her testimony and just broke down, she told how she was not going to cry but when that spirit came she couldn't help it! Now this is my favorite family, my favorite of all! Dad you asked earlier if I ever met someone who felt like we were friends in the preexistence, I know it was her! I came in this area and we were friends immediately! Now after she spoke she sat next to me took my hand and asked, "Do you have appointments after this?" I of course said yes. She said, "Well I am coming with you." I almost broke down! I know that she has a testimony, it just took her getting baptized to have her see that! 

Now from this experiance, my body was completely revived! I had the desire shoot back in me and strength come into my body out of no where! She joined us and taught some good lessons with her! 

 

So I said I would talk a little bit about the activity. It was national family week here in the Philippines! So we did this last year in La Carlota and it was way good last year! This year... yeah not so great! They were not nearly as prepared! But it was funny to be involved with something that I was involved with a year ago... IN THE PHILIPPINES!! It did shoot me back a bit and made me realize, HOLY COW I AM OLD IN THE MISSION!! I am now the 2nd oldest in my district of 6 elders... I am also like the 4th oldest in my zone out of the elders! It is just crazy to see time fly, Elders and Sisters leave, then lots of new ones come in! Just crazy! 

Well other then that I don't got much else! Been a good week thats all I can say!! :) I know this gospel is true! I know that every thing has a purpose and it is Gods will not ours! I love you all I miss you and can't wait to see you in 8 months! Love you all miss you!! :)

Love,

Elder Minson

 Brock showing the sleep cycle of a missionary.

Drifting off

Waking up

 

She came to church and felt this great joy...

Dear OLD Family of Mine in which I Love,

So this week has been a very interesting week! I will admit, I am feeling a lot older! My body hurts, I am tired, and sometimes it just hard to get up! HAHA!! But I do anyway and keep pressing onward! This week was good! Lots of good new investigators! Lots of progress! And lots work! I read a story by I believe Ezra Taft Benson, that the best remedy for being tired and homesick is WORK! So that is what we do here in this mission! We WORK!! 

So this week didn't consist of many super amazing experiences, but it was good none the less! 

So let me start with last Wednesday. So as I said last week we have this investigator, her name is Sheila, she is a college student who is really elect from the beginning! So I went on exchanges with Elder Ramones in an a area called Ma-ao. It is a really nice area filled with bukid adventures! I got the contact info from Sis Sheila about where her parents live in Ma-ao. We were lucky enough to meet her Grandpa and he guided us 2 and a half kilometers in this really bukid area and we ended up in the middle of Sugar Cane Fields at this small little house. We met her family and talked with them about Sister Sheila. Now not to much came from this but I feel like we showed a lot of respect to her family! We really hope to see improvement from this! It was a great adventure none the less!! 

Well this next week we have 3 baptisms in total! Sister Jerry Ann Rebotala, Bea Pajarillano, and Jeanlean De Leon!! Heck yeah! So we are happy about that! We are praying this week works out real well! They are all great investigators and I am so excited to see them be united into Gods Kingdom! 

So yeah you said transfers are coming up, so our mission president doesn't have us expect transfers nor does he let us know in advance, we only get a days warning. I don't think I will and don't care to leave just yet but you will know next week! 

So we also had this one investigator yesterday! Sister Mae Celis! We barely met her yesterday when she came to church with her sister! She is a very quiet timid person, because she had some bad things happen in her life before. She came to church and felt this great joy which she has not felt in a long time! She says she felt the sadness and anger leave her as she read the Book of Mormon and she felt it even stronger in church! We visited after church for the first time and she asked if she could be baptized! HAHA!! So yeah we still have to teach her everything and she still has to go to church a couple more times, but yeah we got another elect investigator! So yeah you can say life is good right now here in Bago! 

So I don't have much else to share, but I love you and miss you all a ton! I can't wait till we see each other again! I am so excited!! Please pray for Me, I know you already do, but pray for strength and desire to keep pushing forward please! I need it! I know this church is true! I know with my whole heart and soul it is true! Please keep safe and focus on our eternal goal! Thank you for all you do and all the pictures!! :) 

Love,

Elder Minson

 

 

... oh and a baptism!

Dear Family... in which I love... and miss,

Alright, so HOLY COW! Why is everyone getting hurt and breaking and man.... Stop it! I miss you all! You people are crazy... Love ya though! I miss you to bits! Well so this week was pretty good! Lots of progressing investigators, lots of good things, oh and a baptism! 

So, lets start with the baptism. Brother Reynald Noble was baptized! I love this kid to death! He is the age of Brody! And he is very happy, and annoying! Haha! He just loves joking around and sometimes it was hard to teach! I have seen a change in him though! He is very sincere about the church, he loves the cleanliness of the church and how there is no vises. He is really awesome and he will be a good example for his family! 

So for great stories of the week. So we have been teaching all those borders for college and they are awesome! We have probably 7 great investigators from it and we can see lots of potential! Especially one, Sister Sheila. She is elect from the Lord. Our 3rd lesson with her, she flat out told me that she feels closer to God from our message! She says she wants to be baptized. Well she talked to her parents yesterday, and we got a text this morning... they won't let her be baptized... We need all the prayers you can send! She has a sincere desire and I feel she will be baptized. I have faith she will. I am planning on doing an exchange this week (being district leader and all) and going to where her parents live and talking with them personally. I am not letting her fall away... she is so great and elect! Please Pray for us!! 

Well Sister Marisol is doing good! We still need to talk to her parents, but she is still ready to be baptized and is super excited for this! We just need her to keep her focused! She should be baptized on the 27th of September! We are needing prayers there also! 

Sister Jeanlean went to church, as usual! But not usually at all, her Husband Brother Briant De Leon! He is getting it! I think this is really the reason I am in this area! I feel that when they are baptized, I will transfer... Haha! They were very elect people, especially for me! I love this family to death! I feel like that is why I am here in Bago is to finish this family and get them all baptized! Sister Jeanlean will be the 27th of September, and Brother Briant will be next month some time! :) 

So other then that nothing much else happened! We are just having lots of success and I am hoping it

will keep up! We are staying obedient to make sure the blessing are coming in! We have been doing good!  I love my companion! He is doing so well and is getting so much better at teaching and speaking the language it is just awesome! He will be a great leader here in the field! 

So I don't got much else to tell! I love you all! You are all the best! Keep strong! Be happy! Keep your shoes on! I love you and I want you to all know that I know this church is true! It is the ONLY true church in the whole world! I love you and miss you!

Love,

Elder Minson

Brock has had a terrible time with his feet since arriving
in Bacolod this week he went to see a doctor and discovered
his Socks were causing the problem. The moister wicking CTR socks he
purchased at Holmes Clothing has been irritating his feet for over a year.

.

After a week of not wearing the socks his feet are almost perfectly healed.

Great blessings from the service of members!

Dear Family that I am Running Out of Good Adjectives to Describe With,

(good title, no?) 

Alright so this week has been AWESOME!! Like I can't believe the miracles I have seen this week! I mean like WOW! I am so happy with the results that we have been having! I mean yeah... so excited to share these stories! 

So to start out with! We will go with exchanges that we had on Wednesday! So I was with Elder Ramones, again!! He was my former Zone Leader, now I am his District Leader! Haha! He is so awesome so we had a great exchanges.

Thursday was even better! You know the Alajar family right? Well we asked if we could setup a FHE at their home, because they have a boarding house for college students next door and sister Alajar is the rule keeper for them, and they invited all the boarders to come in and have an FHE! It was so much fun! That big group of people is all that attended! We have so far gotten 7 new investigators from this and they are all really great! We also have 3 others that have said they wanted to listen, they are just short on time, and we set appointments with them! Great blessings from the service of members! 

Well then yesterday (Sunday) we had a ton of success! 6 investigators at church and some I wasn't even expecting to come, came! We will be having probably 8 or 9 this next week!

So yesterday I had fasted the whole day, the almost full 24 hours! As I was fasting I just kept thinking on how we need the blessings this week. We have been struggling finding new elect investigators. So I fasted hard for this. Well one of our investigators, who is also boarding next to the Alajar family, who we have been teaching for a long time came to the conclusion this gospel is true! It has been a roller coaster with her, she has accepted a baptismal date but has been really worried about her parents. She is 17 years old, she is going to college and her parents are super catholic. She was scared to confront her parents about her joining the church. Well Friday I was studying and was trying to think of a way to help her, nothing was coming to me... it was kind of frustrating. Well, then I switched my focus on to my lesson for district meeting tomorrow, and as I was figuring things out I randomly turned to Alma 20, which is the story of Kind Lamoni and his father! I immediately felt that that was her answer! So I text her the assignment to read Alma 17-20, so she knew the background. Well I was on splits with a member yesterday when we taught her. She says she hasn't started chapter 20 yet and she has no clue how this is relevant to her. Well I decided that that was the lesson, so we read chapter 20 and I explained my impressions on it! She was shocked! Then I asked, "Sister what do you feel is different in this church?" Well she explained to me how she loved the people and how they were so willing to come and shake her hand and just be nice to her, she also said that ever sense she started listening to us and praying she has been so happy! Supposedly at the start she was a pessimist, and all her roommates have testified that there has been a change sense we have started! I then told her how we had to push back her baptismal date because she didn't go to church. And she was a bit crushed, but the look in her eye was determination to make it happen on the 4th of October! She is so happy and is going to talk to her parents soon, the story I had her read really stuck out to her and showed her what she needs to do! It was an amazing experience seeing someone convert themselves to the gospel like that, and because of her change hopefully this will be an example to all those around her! 

Honostly this week has been such a roller coaster, but now I feel more then revived! I have seen so many miracles from this mission! I am just in complete shock to see how many people have changed everything to be members in this church! I know this church is true! I know that this gospel was restored by Joseph Smith a called prophet of God! I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and is there through the thick and the thin! I love this church, I love all of you! I miss you and can't wait to see you all again! Keep fighting on! Keep those shoes on! 

Love,

Elder Minson

The one in blue (Jerry Ann) is an investigator of ours that will be baptized the 27th

  (Beya) will be baptized the 27th as well!

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