Happy Birthday to Mom and Dad!

Hey everyone! Sorry I'm a little short on time again this week! But we had another really good week! Got our inactive member Emily to attend church with her kids and now her kids are going to start working on getting ready for baptism in a couple weeks, as long as we get from permission from the father! The kids were all really excited for church and it seems like they loved primary! We also found a bunch of other new investigators, some of which have a lot of potential and seem really interested in the message! I love you all and I'll try to send more next week! Thank You! Give mom a hug for me on her birthday!

Elder Van Boerum

3/30/14

two pics from last week^^^ 

Nagfifind kami

Hey everyone! Kumusta kayong lahat?

Well it's been another week and it was another pretty good one. This week we did a lot more work finding new investigators to work on building our teaching pool. It's been slowly getting smaller as we've had to drop some of our investigators or they moved away. The week before their baptism. But that's all ok, because we had a lot of fun doing it and had some really great experiences with sharing the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration. While we were working on finding a referral, we ended up talking to someone whose child died two years ago from cancer. We took the opportunity to share the Plan of Salvation and that he will see his kid again someday. He seemed interested and thanked us for sharing, so I'm really excited to go back and visit him soon.

The tough point this week was mostly getting our investigators to come to church. We visited Angelo and found him drinking with a friend, even though we had taught him the Word of Wisdom a couple weeks ago. He said he knew it was wrong to do, but justified it by saying he's not perfect and that it's just the culture of the Philippines. And while that is true (about the culture. I talked to so many drunks this week and every single one said they wanted to be my friend), we had to sit him down and tell him that he needs to try harder. Saying we aren't perfect gives us no excuse for sinning, but instead simply mocks the Atonement. Angelo tried sharing with us the idea that he can't change himself, so he's mostly waiting for God to change him. 

It reminded me of something that Brigham Young once said concerning faith as a means of action. The situation was one in which he was asked to give someone a priesthood blessing.

When a person requested a priesthood blessing, Brigham Young would ask, “Have you used any remedies?” To those who said no because “we wish the Elders to lay hands upon us, and we have faith that we shall be healed,” President Young replied: “That is very inconsistent according to my faith. If we are sick, and ask the Lord to heal us, and to do all for us that is necessary to be done, according to my understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my plowing the ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and [then] to ask my Father in Heaven … to sanctify that application to the healing of my body.” 

We can't ask for blessing from God without putting in the effort on our part. We can't change, unless we really want to. And if we really want to, then we will do something about it. If investigators want the blessings of the Gospel, they need to act. If I want to improve as a missionary, I have to study and practice and teach. If anyone wants to improve in any way, simply sitting back, eatin popcorn, and waiting for something to happen is not enough. Ether 12 is a great example of what can happen when we have the faith to act on what we believe. I'm not discounting prayer and the power of blessings of course, but I might as well go into an office building and ask for a paycheck when I have never put in a single minute of work at that place.

I've seen myself grow as a missionary and as a member of this church more in these few months than I have in a long time, because I decided to act and serve a mission, and everyday I act by going out and sharing the Gospel, even when I'm tired, even when I feel sick, even when I've been rejected and laughed at by complete strangers. That action AND the blessings from God have helped me to fulfill my purpose as a missionary. And I'm thankful everyday for that.

I love you all and hope you have another great week!

Elder Van Boerum

3/24/14

"Read the Book of Mormon"

Hey everyone!

Well it's been another week, and this one sure was a lot better. We made the decision to really make a push in finding new investigators this week and it's really started to pay off! We found a some new investigators that have a ton of potential for them to help us, and from the short time we were able to spend with them, they could see how the Gospel can influence their lives and their families for good! 

The high point of the week for us was yesterday, when we got to visit a recent convert family that went less active a couple months ago for a lot of reasons. But they moved in with a less active member, Brother Berja, who has slowly been drifting away from the church because of problems he had with some leaders and some technical questions he had such as why do we celebrate Christmas in December if we know that's not Christ's birthday. He told us that he doesn't have any faith in the Church anymore, so we told him that's his decision. But the thing he hadn't realized that it's not faith in the church that's important, it's faith in Christ and his Gospel. President Uchtdorf even said that the church is run by imperfect people, and imperfect people make mistakes. And that's what we told him. We let him know that whatever bad experiences he had in the past do not prove that this Gospel isn't the truth. So we challenged this man, Brother Berja, to read the Book of Mormon again. Not to take our word for it, not to take the word of the members for it, but to actually read it again and ask God if it's true and what he should do about it. He agreed to do it, and I think we may have made some huge progress with him, especially since this is the first time he has even talked with us! We both left their home feeling great and like we had made a difference for him.

I'm really glad for the work we were able to do this week, and I hope you are all still doing great! I'll send some more next week! Love you all!

3/16/14

Missionary Work

Well I'll start off by saying this was a really tough week for us. We just had another one of those weeks in which nothing seemed to go our way. But it of course may just be one a challenge that we have to work through. Nothing ever comes easy in life, at least nothing worth working for. 

Missionary work can be hard. In fact it is almost always very hard. We have this great message that we want to share with everyone: A way for them to have eternal families; A way for them to return to the presence of God; A way for them to take full advantage of the Atonement offered by Jesus Christ and wash away all the past mistakes and sins from our life. As missionaries, we dedicate two years to go out and share this wonderful message with people, two years of being away from our families to go try and help other families. And what do we get? A lot of times, rejection. I remember a talk I heard from Jeffrey R Holland about missionary work. Why it's not easy, why we don't have people asking us to be baptized. I think he says it best so I will just copy it on here instead of paraphrasing. It's a little long, but it's so good.

"Almost everything I have said here has been an aid directed toward the missionary process, ultimately toward the investigator. May I close with an extended testimony about how focusing on the Atonement helps full-time and member missionaries and mission leaders.

Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

I know that this is true. There are so many times where missionary work can be so frustrating. Those we teach can come up with every excuse in the world not to keep their commitments. And at the same time we know the one most important reason why they should: Because it's for them, their family, and for their eternal benefit. And so we teach them. And despite the rejection, we keep going. Because as Elder Holland said, One that is greater than us was rejected more than any of us ever will be, He got hit harder than anybody ever has or ever will be. But He got back up, and He rose again, and kept pushing forward, and in fact, still is pushing forward. This Church and this Work is evidence of that.

I know that despite all the difficulties we experience in life, there is a purpose to it all. "Salvation is not easy." But that's because it's worth it to those who endure.

I hope you all are still doing great and I always love hearing from you! Have another good week this week. Love you all.

Elder Van Boerum

3/9/14

Preparing for Holy Week

Hey everyone I ran out of time! Again! Sorry about that. Not a whole lot to report on this week anyway, work was kind of slow. But I'm still doing great and love being out here! Had a few really frustrating days, but it really helped me change my view and increase my faith so it may have turned out for the better! We all have our hardships for a reason and we can always come out stronger (D&C 122).

As for things here, they've already started preparing for Holy Week, Easter. They've started setting up little bamboo crosses all around the streets in my area and I know if the preparation is already starting now, it's going to be a crazy celebration. Some places the celebration is pretty mild, but in others (I'm thinking my area) they go so far as to crucify a couple volunteers to help them repent and if you don't do that, you can just whip yourself. Basically things are going to start to get crazy soon, but don't worry I'll stay safe!

Love you all and hope you are all doing great as well!

Elder Van Boerum

3/2/14

English Class!

Well another week has gone by super fast! It was another pretty good week. We had a lot of luck working with some referrals this week, so that was really cool. We even gave a baptismal date to two new investigators in our second lesson and they seemed pretty excited. They both listen very well, so hopefully it will all work out!

We also had some really cool experiences with Angelo. We've only been teaching him for about 3 weeks now, but he has decided that the church is true and is wanting to be baptized. he just says that he isn't yet ready, because he is still feeling bad about past sins. So we taught him the Atonement and repentance and hopefully he will keep working his way towards getting prepared for baptism. We also found out he has a problem with the word of wisdom, so we have to work with him on getting that settled before he can be baptized! But it all looks like it will turn out very well.

Sadly we had to move a couple baptismal dates this week. Here in the Philippines when it rains on Sundays sacrament meeting attendance takes a huge dive. So because a couple of investigators didn't show up, we ended up having to change their dates to another time. We hope we will get to visit them this week and work everything out though.

We also had a really fun service project this week. A couple of our members work in gold mining outside of Paracale so we went to where they are living to help them clean up their house and everything. We had to take a boat to get there and then walk through some rice fields, but it was way beautiful. And I got to climb some more coconut trees and have some fresh buko. Then they killed a chicken and used the coconut to make lunch for us. So that was all pretty fun. It ended up taking up most of our day though so our work was kind of shot for the day. 

Nothing else too exciting happened this week, but we are finally getting things rolling on starting our English Class. Hopefully next week! Well I love you all and can't wait to hear again from you next week!
2/23/14

Baptism?

Sorry Everyone I ran out of time this week! Not a whole lot happened, but I will try to share as quick as I can.

On Wednesday I finally got to meet my new companion and trainee for the next 3 months, Elder Mabalot. He is from Tarlac, Philippines and just turned 18 last December. He is super excited to work, and so far we've had some pretty good experiences teaching!

Anghelo is still progressing, and even came to church yesterday! He did great and a lot of the members loved him. He answered a ton of questions during the classes and seemed like he enjoyed hearing more about the Gospel.

We also got a new investigator and in the first lesson gave her a baptismal date! We met her when we went to teach her mother, but her mother wasn't home. It turns out she was an investigator months ago, but never got baptized. At the end of the lesson, we asked her what she felt she needed to do, and she said get baptized! She also gave us the information for her husband who is working in another mission so he can be taught as well!

This week was kind of slow for work, but I'm excited to see where we can go with it this next week! Love you all and I'll send some more next week.

Elder Van Boerum