The
Lord has really shown me this week that He is preparing the hearts of
His children to hear the gospel. This past little bit the missionary
counsel has been pushing us to OYM (Open Your Mouth) and have added a
new key indicator in our reporting. They have set the goal for 50 OYM's
every week per companionship which is pretty gosh darn high for most
people. No we weren't able to reach the goal but we have had some great
experiences. On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Christensen in
their area (who is from Utah) and at the beginning of our day we got
punted from most of our appointments which of course
means...tracting/OYM'ing. But me being me got this great idea to just
ask people if they knew a specific person because Filipinos are always
willing to help/talk to you if you have a question. So we decided to
start ask people if they knew where Chris Tucker lived. I would just
like to say that we got a lot of funny reactions of people trying to
find out where "Chris Tucker" lived. But this one time we met a guy
named Elmer who invited us in after his frantic search of trying to find
our good friend Mr. Tucker. We talked to him and shared our purpose as
missionaries. Later on we met his mom who was about 87 but was still
walking without a cane or any help. We were able to teach Elmers mom
who was super nice and open but she almost spoke pure Bicol which isn't
my strongest point. I got some of what she was saying so the lesson was
still super great. She has 12 kids but 3 of them have passed away
along with her husband so she is really interested in learning about
Eternal Families.
Well
might I say that there are a bunch of Less-Actives in our area so most
of our appointments are for Less Actives and new members. But our
investigator pool is still steadily increasing. We met two kids by the
name of Rian(11) and Mark Dave (9), and they are probably some of the
politest and smartest kids that I have ever met in my whole life.
Seriously. When we taught them they just listened and answered every
question. Their mom was an investigator when she was young but she
doesn't have an interest at the moment in taking the lessons but she is
all for having her kids take the missionary lessons if that's what they
want to do. Reynan (Hay-Hey) is still golden. He's always excited to
see us and always is willing to help us out. I don't think that I've
met a more prepared person my whole mission. I really hope that his
baptism will continue on February 7th!!!
This
past week we also had the opportunity to have interviews with President
Reeder which was great. I have been so blessed to have him as a
Mission President. During our district meeting while we were waiting to
be interviewed the zone leaders had us read and discuss a talk about
being a consecrated missionary (I'm sorry I don't remember who gave the
talk). But he said that being a consecrated missionary means that we
need be willing to give everything to the Lord. Our thoughts, our
desires, our energy, and most of all our time. He even mentions that he
keeps his heart locked and forgets about his girlfriend (not that I
have to worry about that one). Being a consecrated missionary also
means that we need to change our nature. We need to follow the
commandments not because we know that it's expected of us; but because
we really want to. We need to work hard not because we want a lot of
lessons to look good; but because we truly love our brethren. I don't
think that I can call myself a consecrated missionary but I know that if
we all try to consecrate ourselves to the Lord that we will recieve
blessings beyond what we can imagine.
Mahal na mahal ko po kayo!!! May God be with you till we meet again.
-Elder Cole
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