Charity

August 26, 2019

Time flies when you're out sharing the gospel!

Another quick week in the Lord's vineyard! Sunday morning, we were blessed to have an awesome baptism! She is only 13 years old, but I have learned a lot from her! Let me explain; We invited her to pray about Joseph Smith, like we always do, and when we followed up with her, we were surprised to hear her say that she prayed, but did not receive an answer. We explained how answers come in God's time and that if she would continue to read the scriptures and invite the spirit into her life, the time would come when she would receive an answer. So a couple days passed and we followed up again, and again... no answer. Fnally, on the third follow up visit, before we could even ask her, she eagerly told us that she got an answer! She said that she was praying, and then the room got lighter and she heard a voice from Heaven say that it was true!! However, she followed that with a sad face and said, "but God didn't appear to me.." MY EYES WERE HUGE! Seriously I was amazed at her story! We told her how amazing her experience was, and that God hasn't appeared to us either... along with almost every person on the whole earth. Then a couple weeks later, she told us in a dream that someone told her The Book of Mormon was true. Super cool and a super good example, as to how to find out how, if we really want an answer to our prayers, we can get it. Sometimes it just doesn't come when we expect it!

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, yesterday night, I finished it again! I love the epistles of Mormon to Moroni about charity and also Mornoni's last testimony.

 47 But ^acharity is the pure ^blove of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ^apray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true ^bfollowers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall ^cbe like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be ^dpurified even as he is pure. Amen.

When I read this, I realized how I haven't been praying for charity as frequently and diligently as I should be! Then in Moroni 10, Moroni mentions the gifts of the spirit. The thing about a gift is it can not be demanded, for it would no longer be a gift. We need to humble ourselves and pray with the energy of our soul to be worthy of such a gift.

How important is charity? Moroni answers that question later in chapter 10

21 And except ye have ^acharity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God;

When's the last time we honestly prayed for charity or a gift of the spirit? I invite you all to pray for the gift of charity this week :))

I love you all, but far more importantly Jesus Christ loves you, and has scars on His resurrected body to prove it.

baja bahay

August 19, 2019

And we're back to Monday pday in the Philippines!

It's only been a couple of days since my last pday, but I did have a really cool experience yesterday in Sunday School.

A sister in the ward was giving the lesson from the Come Follow Me manual, and asked me to translate a bunch of scriptures that I hardly knew in English, into Tagalog. Despite the challenge, I was getting by fine, and then at the very end she had me read this really long quote and translate it in Tagalog. I went up to the front to read the quote, and it was actually a super cool quote. It was a quote from a sister--I forgot her name, but it talked about how if we endure our hardships and live the gospel of Jesus Christ, then one day, when we are in celestial glory, we will say to our Savior, Jesus Christ, "Is that all? Is that all that was required for me to receive all of this?" I translated the quote in Tagalog and then testified to all of them that despite their hardships and all the unfairness of life, they can receive all that the Father has, and become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. I then shared my impressions about the feelings we will have of gratitude in Christ's presence, and that we will know of a surety that everything we suffered in mortality is absolutely insignificant compared to the suffering of Jesus Christ for all of us. The gift of tongues was definitely in effect, as I was expressing everything in Tagalog that I would have done in English. The spirit was so strong, and then missionary mode kicked in. I started testifying some more and promising blessings... And then I almost closed the meeting, but realized that I wasn't the teacher, so I sat down haha! Super cool experience!

Now for the baja explanation! Shout out to my mom and dad for sending me some Mountain Dew Baja Blast! After a couple months of boat travel, it still tasted just as good as I remembered! Probably the only baja blast for miles and miles! 

Love you all! Always remember why you're living the gospel and the great reward that awaits you!!

Delicious jumbo shrimp dinner we had!

Kaysville in the Philippines!

August 15, 2019

This week Kaysville did not feel like it was 7,300 miles away...

What a week! The highlight of the week was definitely zone conference with Elder Bangerter! He is new to the area presidency in the Philippines and he is an absolute spiritual giant. Like unreal. He has studied and mastered in religion for 20 years. He knows everything about every religion -- all about motives and beliefs, and I swear he has all of holy writ memorized. The spirit was so strong, while he talked to us about Jesus Christ and what we can do to become closer to him, and he also shared some very sacred things. If anyone knows me, I don't really get emotional, but I was brought to tears multiple times in that zone conference. One of my favorite lines Elder Bangerter said was "The people all around us didn't just choose Heavenly Father's plan in the pre-mortal existence, they vigorously fought for it." Remember that we fought to follow His plan in our first estate, while we were in His presence and walked in His sight, and now He's seeing how we'll follow his plan while we are in our second state and no longer in His presence, but are walking by faith. 

Before zone conference we slept over at the APs apartment, and guess who else slept there? Elder Grant and Elder Sanders, both from Kaysville and are my friends! It just worked out that we all slept in the same place! It was nice/weird to talk about people that we all knew and share cool experiences and stories! So awesome! Also, I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Sanders! I learned a lot from him and we found great success in the work! He's an awesome missionary! I feel so lucky to have not one, but two friends in the same mission. We'll all go home at the same time so that'll be crazy!

This week I have focused on ways to get closer to the Savior and have received a lot of revelation for how to put myself in a better position to feel His love. I encourage you all to do the same, for He is our Savior and He does love us, of that I am sure.

ALSO PDAY IS CHANGED TO MONDAY, STARTING NEXT WEEK

Have a great week! Remember who you are and what you fought for before you came here.

-Elder Wolferts

Elder Elan and me at the beach...(besides the heaps of trash...it's a beautiful beach)

Rosario Ward!

Mirror selfie with Elder Sanders.

CITY LIFE

August 8, 2019

Things are going good in the city!

Definitely a big change from the island life, but there's a lot of things that I like here: Like the ward is amazing! Seriously so strong. And the building is so nice! It has air con, comfy benches and everyone is so reverent during the meeting, especially through the ordinance of the sacrament. The spirit is very strong! It almost feels like I am going to church in Utah haha.

My new companion, Elder Elan, is awesome! We're both new to the area, but he has worked here a couple of times previously, during his mission, and so he knows the area a little bit. Even though it's super city like and hard to navigate, he is an absolute beast when it comes to remembering and navigating things. Like sometimes, he will just stop and close his eyes and then start to draw on his hand, and before long, he will say, "This way". And then we proceed to weave through little streets... And before I know it, we end up at a members house, who helps us find the previous investigators that live close to their house... Such a blessing!

The second day, we were here, it flooded on us so bad! It was knee deep outside the apartment. The following day, we were advised to stay in, but around 5 o'clock we were so bored that we just went out anyway. It wasn't terribly deep, but we definitely got wet! 

I'm excited to see the area progress! Thank you for all of your prayers, as I make the transition and find my way, here in Cavite. I truly have felt them! I feel super calm and happy to be here!

One Year???

August 1, 2019

What. A. Week.

-2 Marriages

-5 Baptisms

-1 Transfer

-Today is my 1 year mark in the mission

Don't have a whole lot of time! Things are crazy...

First of all, the day before I left Baco, somehow, the Mangyan couple was able to get married, and then later that evening, they were baptized! I seriously love that family so much and I am so grateful to have been able to be a part of their special day before leaving the island! Adding to the excitement of the day, there were 2 other people who got baptized as well. After the baptisms, we had a wedding reception and farewell party for me, so that was really cool!

Then I got transferred to Rosario, Cavite. I haven't really explored it, since I just barely got here, but it is the complete opposite of Baco. It's like the CITY city here, and I'm a little nervous about it. As we arrived in the Cavite city, one of my friends from Mindoro perfectly summed things up by saying, "We're not in Kansas anymore." My new comp is Elder Elan and we're both new and opening up this area again. My zone leader is Elder Sanders, who I went to high school with, so shout out to him!

Today is also my 1 year!! Crazy how the time flies, but I'm grateful that I've got another year to continue this great work in the Lord's Vineyard. 

I'm sorry for the short email, but things are a little crazy right now!! 

I love you all and we could really use your prayers as we're opening up this area!

I love this family so much!

Two other baptisms!

I'm going to miss Elder Rabanal.

Also, I forgot to mention that before I left, I was able to do this traditional thing on the island where they smash a bunch of bananas with this huge stick, and then pour this sweet sauce in it and mix it all up. It was tastier than it looked haha!

Mashing bananas

Adding the sweet sauce to the banana!