BIRTHDAY BAPTISM!

December 30, 2019

My birthday wish came true.

Saturday was my second birthday in the field! WHAAAA??? I remember being in the MTC and thinking it was going to be so weird going home as a 20 year old...and now I'm 20! That's so old! #rip the teenager days. Second birthday in the mission was definitely better than the first! A huge reason is because I can actually speak the language, and another was because I was able to make it someone else's special day rather than mine.

We were able to baptize Tatay (older male) Bacli. He is so tiny and so funny! He has been taught for 6 years by the missionaries and his family are all members. They have been waiting so long for him to enter the waters of baptism. I have no idea why, but we were the first missionaries that he actually likes. Every time at church he would save us a spot and then stand up and say, "ELDERS, RIGHT HERE!". One day he told us to not bring any members to his house and that he only wanted it to be him, Elder Smith and me. We were nervous that he was going to confess something, but nope, turns out he just wanted to invite us to come back when we finish our missions and go fishing with him! Then he said that when he gets a lot of good catches and gets some money, he'll make us a nice dinner! He is so nice and funny! When he got baptized he shared his testimony and then ended it by saying, "Thank you, Russell M Nelson!" 

For Christmas here in Rosario, everyone celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ with a little (okay a lot) of alcohol. We must have been offered a shot of alcohol over 50 times. The better offer was when people offered us food, we actually did take them up on the offer a couple times haha. It felt good to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, even though a lot of people's vision was blurred and couldn't see CHRIST in CHRISTmas. Second Christmas on the mission was definitely better than the first, mostly because I got over myself and tried to spread the spirit of Christ as much as I could. 

We were introduced to an awesome referral by a member that we recently activated. We didn't even ask her if she knew someone who needed the gospel, but out of the blue, she asked if she could take us somewhere. We met this girl who had a huge smile, but we later learned that on the inside she was hiding some really challenging hardships in her life. Just to mention a couple, both of her parents have died; a couple of her siblings have also died; she's anemic; she has serious heart problems and has had 2 valves replaced; and she battles with severe depression. We testified to her that God lives and loves her personally, and although we can't even come close to relating to her problems, there is peace and comfort in knowing that Christ has suffered all for her and so much more, and we can always rely on Him. We shared a little lesson with her and scheduled a return appointment. When we came back last night, she told us an amazing experience. She said when she was in bed the night we first taught her, she heard a voice. At first she thought it was her deceased dad's voice, but then she realized it wasn't a voice she had heard on earth. It simply said, "I'm here for you". "At that moment", she said with a smile, "I knew that God is real and loves me". Super powerful.

Last quick thought. Yesterday while the sacrament was being passed by the little deacons in our ward, I imagined that it was Jesus Christ Himself passing the bread and water to me. I imagined Him saying, "And this shall ye do in remembrance of my body." When I was passed the water I imagined The Master saying, "And this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have shed for you." I felt the spirit strongly and it gave the sacrament new personal meaning for me.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK! 

Talk to ya next year!

-Elder Wolferts

It's beginning to look a lot like... Summer??

December 23, 2019

This last week the weather got hotter for CHRISTmas! That was nice of the Philippines!

This past week was a good one!

I'll hit ya'll with the highlight reel:

1. Had our CHRISTmas zone conference. It lasted until 8 at night and we got to be in regular clothes!! It was a fun opportunity to see some of the people I've grown so close to on the mission!

2. When there's like 10 days until CHRISTmas, all the kids go caroling, but they ask for money! They're everywhere! 

3. That guy from Africa is starting to creep some of the members out, but we still don't know a whole lot about him.

4. There's a huge church here in the Philippines called Iglesia ni Cristo (church of Christ). Probably a 97% reject rate when we run into one of them. They never wanna listen. Anyway, we were sitting at a bench, while one of our investigators was being interviewed for baptism, and then a group of 9 of the church of Christ members showed up, including the minister. We talked to them for awhile and I introduced the BOM. The minister asked me where in the Bible it talks about Jesus going to a different place other than Jerusalem. I told him John 10:16, which is when Jesus said, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." Then I supported it with the BOM verse in 3 Nephi 15:21 which is when Christ fulfilled His own prophecy by saying, "And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." Then the minister talked forever about his take on the scripture and used different verses and invited us to attend their church as their "special guest". I saw that our knowledge of the Bible would get us nowhere, so I just testified to him about how I have no doubt that this is the true Church, I told him how I see his dedication to his religion and respect that, but I don't have any more searching to do because I know I'm in the Living Church of the Living Christ. Long story short he accepted a BOM and we walked away laughing and took some pictures together. I thank my Heavenly Father every night that I have the opportunity to testify of Christ.

5. I finished the BOM again! (10/10 would recommend) Seriously love it so much and have come to know who my Savior is through it. I set the goal to finish it two more times before I come home! 

I hope everyone has an amazing CHRISTmas! Last week my mom (love you mom) was telling me about her lesson she gave in gospel doctrine class about the condescension of Christ. How he went from his heavenly throne, the creator of the whole universe, to a baby of the most humblest of births. On top of that, He had to rely on the flesh that He created and was literally helpless like any other new born child, He relied on His parents for the necessities of life. Just thought it was a cool thought. I invite you to ponder that this CHRISTmas season :)

Remember this verse!

"And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."

Merry CHRISTmas!

SOBRANG MARAMING BATA!

December 16, 2019

Solid week, thanks for asking!

Quick update on the sketchy guy from Ghana: He was texting us throughout the week and he told us that, "By God's grace, I found an apartment, but now I need you to put your heads together and come up with 5k pesos." Smells like a scam...

The Muyot kids got baptized on Saturday, and the mom attended and had a good time! She's our next target! Elder Smith and I celebrated with some pancakes at McDo. We ordered and sat down because the place was packed. Then these missionaries from a different religion, or I guess they were just "missionaries" because they didn't have any religious affiliation, came and sat next to us. They actually spoke super good English. We started talking for a bit while we ate pancakes, as they were saying a lot of stuff that was in agreement with the Church's beliefs. But then they started going a little crazy, talking about how we have to allow God to literally enter our bodies, by preparing our systems to breathe him in?? Then they told us we have to say "LORD JESUS, I BELIEVE!" to let him in. Then they started shouting it over and over again so loud, while trying to get us to join in. *Takes a big bite of pancake*, "Sorry mouth is full..." They pulled out their phone and tried to record us saying it personally, and that was where I drew the line. I politely chimed in and gave them props for what they're doing and their beliefs, and then I asked if I could share a little about our church in return. 

At that moment the Muyot family, that just got baptized, happened to walk into McDo's, so I talked to our new missionary friends about how the spirit confirmed the truthfulness of what I'm doing, while I baptized the members of the Muyot family, and told them about how close I've been able to draw to the Savior, especially through the Book of Mormon. I continued my testimony by sharing that I have no doubt that this is Jesus Christ's church. After I said that they stopped teaching us, asked to take a selfie with us, and then left haha.

Okay, so something funny happened the other day. We went to a return appointment with this lady that a member told us about and when we got there, she was having a one lady party. She was booming some videoke, which is simply, karaoke in the streets. After she finished, she invited us in and told us to wait a second, because she was gonna get the kids. She then proceeds to invite everyone in the whole area! Lines of people and kids just filed in and packed into her house. One member counted 33, but more kept coming. We then turned to King Benjamin and 
preached some sermons haha! We stood up, and just hit these kids with the truth about the gospel. The lady we were trying to teach wasn't even there!! We got a pretty funny laugh out of it.

Other than that, pretty normal stuff. Area is progressing well! We were able to extend baptismal invitations to 2 different families last night :))

CRAZY WEEK!

December 9, 2019

This was a crazy week.

First of all, we're all safe here after the typhoon! It didn't hit our area that hard, just some strong winds, rains and mild flooding, but besides that everything was fine. We spent the whole time in the apartment, which meant extra studies, exercise and relaxation. It's never as good as you would think though, it always just ends up with you wanting to go outside of the apartment.

We were also approached by this man who is from Ghana Africa. He told us that he felt like he should talk to us, and that he had been baptized a member in Japan. At the time we met him, he said he was busy, but we got his contact information and a couple days later we met up with him at the church, with the 1st counselor. He doesn't speak any Tagalog, and his English is sometimes hard to understand, but Elder Smith was sure loving speaking in English haha. For a while, it was just the three of us talking, and I was only half engaged in the conversation, also talking to the 1st counselor, but then I heard him say, "Us foreigners need to stick together and hustle these Filipinos…" When I heard him say this, it caused me to rejoin the conversation, as I thought to myself, "What is this guy doing here??" We found out that he had done some business in Japan and then moved to the Philippines, where he somehow got hurt by the laws and ended up losing pretty much everything. After he went on and on for a while, I jumped in and asked for his information so we can look him up and have his records transferred. He was pretty hesitant, but gave us an ID and said, "Be careful with that information." The ID showed him to be 55 years old, but he only looked to be around 40, so we were kind of skeptical. He then let us know that he had an obligation to attend to, but he would see us at church on Sunday. Fast forward to Sunday, and sure enough he shows up. The person conducting welcomed him to the ward, and then he promptly stood up and walked to the front of the congregation, gave a three-minute speech, bowed and then walked back to his seat. We were all like, "uhh... alright, welcome". Elder Smith and I are wondering at this point, if he's actually a member. After church, the clerk called us in and said he had no records. We then went to talk with this guy about it and then he pulled us aside and said that we have to keep this a secret, but that's not his real birthday, it's fake. We think the name is fake also. He said that he's willing to be rebaptized if they don't have his records. Later that night, I called the mission president about him. President said to investigate a little more, but to be careful, and if he really does need to be rebaptized, that the mission president will be the one to meet and interview with him. So, we'll see how that goes.

We were also super blessed to have 15 of those that we're teaching right now, come to church! That's a personal best! The Lord is definitely guiding Elder Smith and me in His work! All credit to Him!

Also, 15 minutes before sacrament meeting, we were asked to be the speakers. I was completely fine with it and not stressing about it, but I felt bad for Elder Smith. This was his first talk in Tagalog, and on top of that, it was on the spot. He was freaking out. I went first and shared the story of the birth of Christ, his appearance to the Nephite multitude, and his eventual Second Coming. Elder Smith followed and actually did pretty well for the circumstances! 

Today is also Elder Smith's birthday, so shout out to him!! 

Elder Smith going tourist mode, feat. Ward Mission Leader, BRYAN.

Sunday Squad

KIDS

McDo Miracle

December 2, 2019

McDo=McDonald's. For some reason if you see McDonald's here no one understands, they all refer to it as McDo.

Anyways, about a week and a half ago, Elder Smith and I were hitting our typical McDo Friday lunch, when all of the sudden this family sits right next to us. After a little bit, they start asking questions about our church, which they had noticed had a lot of activities for kids. They had also noticed the kids at our church were for the most part, well-behaved. They then talked about how crazy their kids were, and asked if we could teach them and have them come to our church. We got a return appointment, and when the appointment came, we of course focused on the whole family and how the church is family centered. We had a really good lesson, and the father of the home was super knowledgeable in the bible and had some super good questions. These are my favorite kind of people to teach, because it gives purpose to why I read the whole bible and it's just more fun! We were able to answer all of his questions and got him started on the Book of Mormon, which he's now read quite a bit. This family is doing really well financially, which is much needed in the Philippines in the Church. Elder Smith and I have talked about how we see brother becoming a future leader in the church! We're excited to see them progress! We also had 11 people we're teaching come to church, so the area is progressing super well!

On Thursday, we had exchanges, with 2 Filipino Elders. The one I was with had no money (so I thought). I was paying for everything, because he told me he was out of his monthly support, and then at the very end of the day he pulls out his money to buy a snack... I was like "whaaaat you have money?" Then he just laughed. Clever guy. Elder Smith was happy to be back with an American, he says he doesn't know what he's gonna do once he has a Filipino comp haha.

Time to bring this full circle, and end where we started. McDo! I hope everyone had a good turkey day, Elder Smith and I treated ourselves to some big macs from McDonald's! I never thought I would be excited to eat McDonald's on Thanksgiving!

Also tomorrow typhoon Kammuri is hitting our mission. Please keep the Filipino people in your prayers! :))

Here's a pic of my breakfast! Mango, pears, peanut butter banana sandwich and a protein shake. Enjoy!

don't take things for GRANTed

November 25, 2018

Wellll this week flew by fast and I'm having a hard time remembering what even happened! 

For starters we had Elder Clayton of the seventy come and speak to our mission, so that meant spiritual enlightenment. AND... I got to see Elder Grant and Sanders!! We still take it for GRANTed that we get to see each other all the time! We also have a plan to try and become companions, but oddly enough time is starting to run out, so we'll see if it will work out!

Also, something that has never happened to me on my mission happened this past week. We were walking fast to one of our appointments that we were late to and I had a feeling to go talk to and shake this lady's hand that I had talked to once before. After talking to her for a little bit she said that she was getting married in December. I told her congrats and that I was excited for her and then she said, "I'm getting married because I want you to baptize me into your church!" WOAH! Alright lady, sure we'll do that haha... Thanks for making our job easy! She left for a business appointment thing and won't get back until Christmas Eve, but we have a return appointment for December 27th! Super cool!

RANDOM: So I finally broke my electric toothbrush that I've been rockin' for the whole mission and for a year or two before the mish. I decided to try out the new charcoal colgate toothbrush, if you're familiar. Such a great decision. Would definitely recommend. 

Brush your teeth, and read your scriptures.

-Elder Wolferts <3