Who we are is not who we can become

Soooo. I'll try and take a little more time this week for my email. Too many complaints. The sad part is...nothing much really happened last week.

One fun part of our week was heading into a different area here in Paracale to do a Service Project. We had to take a boat to get to part of their area and took a tricey out into the middle of nowhere, then walked forever, asking directions on the way trying to find the house. We finally found it, and it really was out in the mountains way far away from anything. We had planned to help her build a new house (her old one fell down). But the best part was....she wasn't there haha. So after waiting for about 3 hours and eating her some of her coconuts, we had to start our walk back, which took nearly 3 hours, this time no tricey. But it turned out to be ok, because we met a member in their area who used to be the Patriarch for Daet Stake here. He had a stroke, so he is mostly confined to his house. He can walk around some, but is really slow, so he can't make it to church. The other elders go and visit him on Sundays to give him the sacrament and also teach other investigators out there. He is probably the nicest guy I have ever met here, and we stayed and talked to him for a while. He joined the church back in '73 and left to work in Saudi Arabia, but s soon as the temple was built here, he moved back to the Philippines to work there and be close to a temple. It's sad that he has to stay home, because he really is so great.

For church on Sunday, we also had one of the biggest attendances we had in a while. It was branch conference so everyone wanted to show up for the Stake Presidency. It was a pretty good day and we had some investigators come which is really great because now...they are qualified for baptism! So this Saturday we should be holding a baptism for these three kids that we have been teaching for the past couple weeks, Eman, Armand, and Leonard. On Saturday they were all feeling pretty sick, so we gave blessings to those three and three other kids in the home that were sick, and they were all better the next day and ready for church. As long as they pass the interview, they will be all set for this Saturday. And then the week after will be transfers so I may be heading out of here. Just make sure you pray for all of them this week! 

Anyway, like I said last week, I wanted to send a little something about that quote "Who we are is not who we can become". I've realized this a lot in my mission, especially as I've seen some people really change their lives as they accept the Gospel. I myself have for sure changed a ton from when I entered the MTC last July 17. I've grown so much more in my testimony and Gospel knowledge, and I believe it is because I had to be given some "traction" like Elder Bednar talked about. In life, if we want to progress and become "who we can become", we need trials and hardship to help us to move forward. Nothing in life comes easy, and that is especially true for good things in the next life. We always need that traction to push us forward just a bit, push our faith a little more, make us just a little better than we were before. A surgery, though painful, ultimately can save or improve a life. Yes there is always risk to it, but there is risk to this life as well. We took the risk by choosing to come to earth. We don't know if we will for sure make it back to God, but we can do all that we can and trust in Christ for the rest. And even death is simply a little traction that we need to move onto something bigger and better than we could ever dream of. Like Lehi said, there must be opposition in all things, but that opposition is exactly what we need to move ahead. Who we are is not who we can become, and we need that traction to help us achieve our potential and follow Christ and eventually become like him.

Love you all and hope you all have a great week. Hopefully next week I'll have a baptismal picture to send to you, but here's all I have for now.

Elder Van Boerum
4/27/14