"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

Magtratrain na ako

Well it's been another transfer! And I got some news just the other night, that I'm going to be training a new missionary starting this transfer. I go on Wednesday to the Mission Home to pick him up, so he will be from the Manila MTC. That means he will be Filipino or Polynesian most likely, but I just have to wait a couple more days to find out! I'm way excited but also a little nervous, but I know it will all work out because that's what I've been called to do for the next two transfers. So that means I'll be stayin in Paracale for at least another three months, which is ok with me because we did some work this week.

The highlight of the week may be Anghelo, who has only been an investigator for about a week and a half now. When we went to visit him on Tuesday, our second visit,he said "Sorry Elders, I only made it to 2 Nephi so far. It had been four days. Another day, he said he was having a hard time praying because he scared of Satan or something. We offered to give him a blessing of strength so he could resist temptations and such. We came back the next day and he told us that the blessing worked and he felt strength. He hadn't left his home for about a month, but he felt strong enough to go outside and walk around. We told him all he needs to say when he feels temptation is "I am a child of God, and Satan doesn't have power over me." He said he's been doing that and it works. So he's still progressing way fast, we just need to get him to come to church now!

We were also able to finally teach our investigator Maria. She is set to be baptized at the end of the month. She's been out of town for a while now, but we finally got the chance. She has still been reading, which was her big problem initially, and now she's doing better than ever. Her mother, Victoria, we will probably have to stop teaching soon. We've spent about 3 weeks with her trying to help her give up her little statues of saints, but she won't do it, even though she knows the Book of Mormon is true. She's kind of stuck where she is right now, and can't progress anymore. We are going to give her another chance, but my trainee and I will have a lot more work to do.

We were also able to invite a couple to be baptized in March, and they accepted! They are both so nice and are very excited about the possibility of an eternal family. They have three little kids, all under 4 I think. As soon as they start coming to church and get married, they will be prepared for baptism!

This week was an awesome week for some of our investigators, and I'm even more excited to see how next week goes with my new companion! We are gonna do some work and baptize all of Paracale! Thanks everyone for everything and I hope you have a good Valentine's Day!

Elder Van Boerum

2/9/14

 One of the member's kids

His name is Abinidi, Abi for short

 Innah, our part member family investigator.  She has been taught for a couple years now and wants to be baptized, but can't yet because her father won't give permission.  Her mother is a member.  We sometimes get to teach her right there on the beach!

 Noriel, Elder Llanera, and Tatay Umerez.  Noriel and Tatay Umerez work with us all the time!

 Us and some of the members

 Climbing the buko tree

 Nametag pictures!

Fiesta!

Well for the past two weeks we have had a Fiesta here and Paracale, which means a big party and a bunch of parades and stalls on all the streets selling really cheap stuff! It was fun seeing all the people coming to Paracale to be at the Fiesta, but it ended up getting in the way a lot of the time for us to teach. A lot of people said they were preparing for the fiesta and were busy, and stuff like that. But we still had some amazing experiences. 

One of them was contacting a referral named Anghelo. About two weeks ago, we got a referral from a member about her friend Marcy. So we went to go contact Marcy. Her neighbor came out first and said she's home. Then Marcy answered, but she basically blew us off and said "Oh yeah you can come back. I'll just let Tess (the member) know when I'm available." But we never heard from her again. So that pretty much means she's not interested. We ended up leaving, thinking that we didn't get anywhere. Then last week Sister Tess tells us that Marcy's neighbor, Anghelo, wanted us to come and visit him. So we went back, wondering why he wanted to talk with us. I ended up feeling prompted in the lesson to ask him why he wanted to listen to us. He ended up telling us the story of how he and his wife got together when they were 18 (he's 24 now), had a few kids, but it ended up going bad and now they are separated. He said his friends were having a really bad influence on him, so he was avoiding them and felt alone. He prayed to God for a sign to find the way to change his life, when he saw us and thought we could be the sign. We ended up having a really good lesson on the Restoration with him, and he said it all made sense and he was very willing to pray about it! I think he will progress so well and I'm so happy we got the chance to help him!

That was probably our miracle of the week. We had a couple other really good experiences, but now I'm out of time! Sorry but I'll try to get more time next week! Love you all and hope you're doing great!

2/2/14

Watching the Parade

 One of the members, Noriel. He leaves for his mission next month!

 Me and one of the members

Part of the street dancing parade