Pinakamatamis na bunga

The "sweetest fruit" is the direct translation. My reference is to Lehi's dream, and the joy of the gospel and sharing it with others. This week has been really happy. We had the privilege of doing MTC exchanges again. This time my two companions were from Taiwan. When we rode to the area from the chapel on a tricycle, one of them was cheering as if we were on a roller coaster. It was delightful. But the missionaries fresh from the MTC have such strong spirits, and they showed a sincere love for people they are only going to meet once. It was amazing. 

Sister Sarmiento and I had some great lessons together, too.We have one investigator who was found by the OYM (open your mouth) efforts of Sister Sarmiento and her previous companion. Helen's heart is in the the right place, and she is intent on learning more. She always has lots of sincere questions to help her understanding, and so when we taught her about the Book of Mormon every question she had led to the next paragraph of the Introduction. It was amazing. We had great discussion and a quality fellowshipper present that bore powerful testimony. She came to church for the first time and brought her teenage daughter!

We had a significant number of less actives come to church, too, and that number is not because of Sister Sarmiento and I. It was the efforts of this ward I am in. They are really amazing. It was ward conference, and they wanted everyone to be there. They passed out visiting teaching assignments in Relief Society the Sunday before and asked them to contact them within the week. Then the Elders Quorum met together on Saturday night and they went out in pairs to pass out new and returning member progress sheets, and invite the less actives to conference. And then they came! I know the home teaching and visiting teaching program are inspired of Heavenly Father, and that really is the key to bringing back and holding on to our kapatid in the gospel. Now it's just getting that kind of effort and excitement every Sunday. Sister Sarmiento and I talked about every Sunday being a special Sunday and trying to be enthusiastic in our invitations every week. Because every Sunday is special. We get to participate in the ordinance of sacrament, and become clean. It's refreshing.

I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and the only way back to our Heavenly Father. I know there is an exquisite joy that comes from it and from sharing it that cannot be found anywhere else or in doing anything else. Sinabi ng mission president ko, "We have nothing to apologize for or to be ashamed of [in representing Jesus Christ]."

Mahal ko kayo,

Sister Cope

A Baptism and a Funeral

On the same night last week, actually. The baptism was a child of record in the ward, but we went to support the building up of Zion, of course. Then we packed into a jeepney from the church to a cemetary. As we were listening to the speakers at the funeral I had some revelation for some of my less actives. They don't go to church because they literally can't afford to make it there. But I know that if they show God their faith and their willingness to sacrifice, God will show them miracles. (Ether 12:6)  They just need to know it's worth it. At the funeral there was a lot of talking about the Plan of Salvation, and I realized it's all about perspective. One of those poorer less actives said "Huwag na lang" to the temple because it's too hard. I know Satan is trying to keep them from getting there to be sealed as an eternal family. But I remembered at the funeral an object lesson of sorts that one of my Sunday School teachers (Brother LeMaster, I think) used to tell us. Picture a rope that doesn't end; it just keeps going. It passes through our classroom, in one door and out the window, and it raps around the world a couple times, visits Paris, the Philippines, Hollywood, and then it goes past Jupiter and Saturn, and even Pluto and beyond! The portion in the room is our earth life. The infinity on either side is our pre-mortal existence and our eternal life afterward. Is it not worth it to do our best in this little bit of time we have to live in the presence of our Heavenly Father and with our families forever? This time is hard. But God didn't say it was going to be easy. It's our testing ground. Are we worthy to dwell with him? No. Not yet. But through experience, we are refined. And through the power of the Atonement, we are sanctified.

And it's short. Sinabi ng Diyos sa 3 Nephi 2:7&10, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. For the Mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

I know that promise of peace is real. I felt a portion of it as I attended a temple session this morning. So kaya natin yan! (We can do it!) Haha... But seriously. And it's sulit (worth it). And I know that the Plan of Happiness is only possible because of our loving elder brother Jesus Christ, and His willingness to submit Himself to the will of Heavenly Father.

Mahal ko kayo,
Sister Cope
Pictures of the Week (Courtesy of S. Sarmiento's camera)
1. Sister Sarmiento and I at the temple this morning :)
2. Trying to lick my elbow during a game at the Bolo Family's Home Evening... Ha.

Welcome to Pateros 1.

My new area is in Pasig City. It used to be part of the Manila mission, but when they created the Quezon City North Mission, they realigned Manila and Quezon City. The air is dirty, but the work continues to move forth. And I continue to feel blessed and happy that I am serving here. We just ate lunch with our bishop and his family, and I had to sing one verse of "Come, Come Ye Saints" solo. Ha! Tapos... I love my new companion, Sister Sarmiento. She's Filipina and she's funny, and we we work well together. I'm excited for this transfer. I've already felt and witnessed the unity in our companionship with the Spirit as we were teaching to one returning member about having a calling in the church. She's teaching Sunday School and really nervous about it. We shared from D&C 4 (classic) about if you have a desire, you are called to the work. And then my companion shared exactly what I had been thinking about sharing--how Joseph Smith had only received the education of a 3rd grade, but God gave him power to translate the Book of Mormon from reformed Egyptian to English! God can mold us into anything if we give up our will for His. And so the Sister we taught did not end up asking to be released, but she's building up her faith and getting rid of her fear. (Because they cannot coexist!) My zone is great, too. I'm housemates with Sister Biggs (my MTC companion)! And my district leader from the MTC is in my zone. And some of my old zone mates from Antipolo. Not to mention, my zone leaders have really strong spirits. As we discussed our zone goals, you could sense their sincerity and love for helping the zone and the work of the Lord. I was reading the other day in the June Liahona, "You are Enough" by Elder Cristofferson, I think, of the Twelve Apostles, and he mentioned how faith is not only a feeling; it's a decision. I know this is true. I know if we choose to have have faith, God will bless us with the strength and power to do the things He requires of us. Actually... here's a magandang quote I'll end on from the testimony of one of the Elders going home next transfer who testified at our transfer meeting. (He read it from a letter home; I'm not actually sure on the original source.) "Obedience is the price. Faith is the power. Love is the motive. The Spirit is the key. And Christ is the reason." Mahal ko po kayo, Sister Cope

It's more fun in the Philippines

I will be transferring to my third area tomorrow, and finding out where it is... tomorrow. The Lord blessed me with 7 months in Antipolo, but I guess I was only meant to be here in Quirino for 6 weeks. We have at least two baptisms coming up in this area, and there's lots more potential, but I'm excited for Sister Goud's new companion. She'll be training so a new missionary straight out of the MTC will have some really good experiences to start with here. So we had Sister Josefina's baptism this week!!! Those who spoke at the baptism shared some really powerful personal experiences. And several people attended, including one of the upcoming baptisms so he had the chance to see what he'll be doing in a couple weeks. The day of the baptism we went to the church earlier to fill up the font and set up chairs. We were in and out of the room, and had set our bags there. A random lady came and talked to us, said she was a member of our ward (she had probably read it on the bulletin board), and asked us if we were married (ibig sabihin, she wasn't a member). In short, my camera was stolen and Sister Goud's 2,000 pesos and temple recommend. I had two memory cards and a total of 6 GBs of mission memories. But that's life. Thankfully, I have e-mailed many of my pictures to my family, but not all. And that's not all, on the roller coast of mission life. We experienced some flooding this week. Most of our area is pretty high, but we were teaching down the way of this one skinita (kind of like alley), and it started raining hard, and then it didn't stop. It started coming into the house of our investigator and rising to calf level. We asked if she wanted any help, and then told her we should get going because it was getting higher and we needed to get to some appointments. The current was reallly strong and by that point we were up to our thighs in very dirty water. We realized we couldn't get to the street because there was this one part where it was too strong. We watched a couple kids playing in it, and then a refrigerator passed by us. And a wooden cart :) We said a little prayer and a lady invited us in. We waited until the rain stopped and the water had gone down. We helped scoop water out of her house, and then it was just a normal day. But I will never forget the ipis (cockroach) that I had to get out of my hair... Eek. Haha... So in spite of all these happenings, we've had 4 dinner appointments in the past three days, and I've had some good last lessons here. We got punted the other night, and Sister Goud felt prompted to go to one of our less actives. We were teaching according to one of his concerns, and it was amazing because he opened up about some completely different concerns. And so we can better meet his needs. I testify that the Lord is helping us in His work. I've seen it time and time again. We also received another great referral, and we were able to teach both an investigator and less active there. The investigator is receptive and the less active is ready to come back to church. Another day we got punted a ton and I've really been wanting to learn how to better tract. It's all about paying attention to who is around you, and having the courage to follow the spirit. We spotted this family (young grandparents taking care of their grandchildren). They mentioned how they had seen us pass by the other day. Their hearts were ready and they let us in. I've been studying in talks and scriptures and seeing it in my work, the Lord has really prepared specific people to receive the gospel at the right time. Pray to know if your friends are ready. The missionaries need your referrals!! It's a lot of work balancing less actives and investigators, but this week and last week have been some of the happiest this transfer because we've been busy. It's in stark contrast to when I was sick and I had to sit at home. And part of the reason we've been busy is the amazing referrals we've received. I also had the privilege of teaching Erina one last time. She's a Korean that I have had really special experiences while teaching her. It's in slow and simple English and the Spirit is abundant. We took a step back and instead of continuing with the lessons we tried to focus on who God was and helping her understand the relationship we can have with him. She had been praying to know He exists and the things we're teaching are true, but she didn't realize she could pray for other things like for help in school. We are so blessed to have such a loving Heavenly Father who cares about what we care about, and who will help us with everything--temporal and spiritual. Who knows where I'll be writing from next week, but it's comforting to know that God has prepared people there for me to meet. And I was so happy because I got a chance to bear my testimony in sacrament last week. It's hard with a ward so big and it really is time for the members, but I felt prompted to. There had been a lot of people testifying about the temple and getting your recommend. But I know some people have committed sins that make it hard to get there. But I testified, and testify, that the Atonement is real. Regardless of what we've done in our past, we can overcome it and become new and clean. It says at the end of "The Living Christ:" God be Thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son. I'm so grateful for the love that each member of the Godhead has for us. Mahal ko kayo, Sister Cope Pictures of the week (from Sister Goud's camera): 1. Brother Mike (a Recent Convert. He was baptized the week before I got here, and already had the privilege of using his priesthood!! So cool), Sister Josefina (baptizee; sobrang humble and full of faith), Sister Goud and I. 2. A supportive turn out for the baptism and building up of Zion in Quirino 1 :) 3. Quezon City South Zone... but not all of us because we had about 20 different camera that were on timers and yeah.... 4. My district :) 5. Yes, those chairs are upside down. 6. This is Pan de Amerikana, where Sister Goud and I ate our last companionship lunch together.. :( She's been a really masipag companion and I've learned a lot from her. She'll be going home in six weeks so I might not see her again, until I visit her in India :)