Come Follow Me

This week was another good week for us in Bata.  We were able to get a bunch of work done.  We were also able to have another baptism and another candidate be interviewed for baptism for next week.  This means that we have had the wonderful opportunity to baptize every single week this month.  We are still lining them up for September.  We are very excited about the direction of the work here in Bata.

I had a great experience this week in my personal study.  I decided that I wanted to more fully study our Savior's invitation to "Come Follow Me."  What I expected to be wrapped up on Tuesday, ended up going clear until Friday.  It was an extremely spiritual experience for me.  I would like to share a little of what I wrote as a conclusion in my study journal.

So I have come to notice in life, and especially on my mission, that when things are going good I better get ready . . . meaning usually some type of trial is coming my way! My study this week started with a question as to why trials always seem to happen to followers of Christ.  Sometimes more so than those who aren't attempting to keep His commandments.  Anyways, that question turned into this.  I know it is kinda like a talk, but I copied it straight from my study journal.  I hope this can help you guys in some way.  It will be better if you read the scriptures with it.

One well known story in the Bible is in Matthew 4:19.  The Savior calls two fishermen, Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew, to "follow me and I will make you fishers of men."  I have thought a lot about this invitation and about how we can apply it to ourselves as followers of Christ.  What also is interesting to me is the reaction of the two men, which in the next verse states that "they went straightway and left their nets and followed Him."  It is simply amazing to me that these two men had such incredible faith from the very start, in a man that they had never before seen or heard.  They followed him, even though they had absolutely no idea how hard that path they chose to follow would be.  They also had no idea how great the reward would be for walking such a hard path.

The Savior's invitation to "follow me" is extended to all of us.  As members of His Church, we have accepted the call to follow him no matter where that path leads.  One part of the covenant we make at baptism is to endure to the end.  I feel like a small subcategory of that commandment is given in the hymn, Come Follow Me (#116).  It says, "Come follow me, the Savior says.  Then let us in, His footsteps tread . . ."

Let us in His footsteps tread.  Now I understand I am taking some liberty in saying this is a commandment, but I believe that is what the Savior implied when He made the invitation to Peter and Andrew, and to us (2 Nephi 31:10).  I truly believe that we must follow the Savior through all the aspects of His life.  So I want to examine just exactly where this path that we must follow the Savior will lead.

Very little is told about the early life of Jesus.  However, in Luke 2:40, it says our Savior "grew and waxed strong in the spirit and in wisdom."  We must do this also.  We must grow in spiritual knowledge and in wisdom.  We will be successful in following the Savior in this part of His life by doing as the Sons of Mosiah did in Alma 17:2-3.  Diligent scripture study, fasting, and prayer is the only way to do this.  We must also " . . .Feast upon the words of Christ . . . " (2 Nephi 32:3), if we desire to be successful in the attempt to gain much needed spiritual knowledge.

Next, our Savior was baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority.  John the Baptist was the only one on Earth at that time who, by virtue of lineage, held the right of the Aaronic Priesthood.  Jesus went to him to be baptized, showing us that we too must be baptized by someone holding the proper authority if we wish to receive the blessings that come to all those who have been baptized--namely receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.  And so, those who want to fully follow our Savior must be baptized into this church, which is the only church that holds that restored priesthood authority.

Now I want to look at a point in the Savior's life that, unfortunately, I knew very little about before my mission.  After being baptized, Jesus went into the wilderness where He fasted for 40 days.  At the close of this fast, the Devil himself--that angel that was cast out of Heaven--came to tempt our Lord.  I want to pause and make something clear--it is not a sin to be tempted!  Our Savior was tempted and He was perfect.  If being tempted is a sin, then even our Savior wouldn't be perfect.  However, what is a sin is acting on such temptation.  Jesus asks us to do as He did when faced with temptation--to resist.  At all costs we need to resist temptation!  Three times our Savior resisted the temptation for food, for a miraculous proclamation of his Messiahship, and for all the kingdoms and principalities in the world.  His greatest desire for us as we "follow Him" is to say as He said to the Master Tempter, "Get thee hence Satan."  I promise that the best way to resist temptation is to stay worthy to have the Holy Ghost with you.  Be very clear on this--THE HOLY GHOST WILL NOT FOLLOW YOU ACROSS ENEMY LINES.  He will not even come close to it.  So don't cross them either.  Stay out of situations that don't feel right.  Stay out of situations that make it hard to live the standards of the Gospel.  Because if you enter into the Devil's territory, you will be all alone.

These following scenes of the Savior's life are my focus.  The path that our Savior walked was not easy, nor was it meant to be.  Much too quickly Jesus found himself in Gethsemane, suffering for the sins of a wicked world.  We cannot, and I promise we never will, understand what that experience was like for Him.  As I try to draw comparisons to our lives, I want to reiterate that any trial, sorrow, or heartache that we feel in this life is infinitesimally small compared to what our Savior felt in that sacred garden,  But the sad fact of the matter is, that we will all walk through our own Gethsemanes.  We will all feel pain, sorrow, and heartache.  Most times because of our own mistakes, but sometimes because of the mistakes of others.  Even harder, sometimes because it is the will of the Father.  Heavenly Father gives us trials to test us and to prove us (Mosiah 23:21)  This life was made as a test!  It isn't supposed to be easy.  It wasn't for Jesus Christ and it won't be for those who follow him.  But in these terrible and difficult situations, we must find the courage from within to say as the Savior said in Matthew 26:39.  We need to say, in effect, "If at all possible Father, stop this from happening.  Don't make me go through this, but not as I will but as though wilt."

Next is a place called Calvary.  Jesus Chris was accused of a lie, unfairly tried in a night trial (which was outlawed by Jewish Law), and sentenced to death by crucifixion (a Roman method for killing criminals).  The parallel I want to draw here is a small variation from the last one, because none of us will be asked to suffer death by such an inhuman method.  After all our Master had gone through, as weak and physically exhausted as He was, all the tortures of Gethsemane came back.  For three hours while hanging on the cross, our Savior suffered for the sins of everyone.  And this time, He did it alone.  Even He was shocked when all Heavenly help left Him.  He was being asked to go through this as a man--a very mortal, very alone man.  This caused Him to make a very humble and heart-wrenching plea to the Father.  "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? or "My God, My God, why hast though forsaken me (Matthew 27:46)?"  I do not want to cheapen the experience of our Savior in any way, but we will all at some point or another want to ask our Father in Heaven why He has forgotten us.  Prayers may go unanswered, trials may push us past what we feel like is our breaking point.  But please remember, everything our Heavenly Father does has a purpose.  Christ needed to experience that by himself, so that in our times of struggle we can be assured that He has felt our pain and that He knows how to succor us.  I want to finish this with a quote by Jeffrey R. Holland, "If at times you feel like your prayers aren't being answered, take heart.  One greater than you once exclaimed "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?'"

The last stop on the tour of our Savior's life, and the path we all must walk, starts in a garden tomb where our Lord received a perfect resurrected body.   A body that will never again be subjected to pain, death, or sickness.  This body is as real, as tangible, and perfect as we could possibly imagine.  And, the best part, we will all receive a body like this.  Whether we are wicked or righteous, because of our Savior's love, we will all receive resurrected bodies.  What happens next is where the invitation to "Come follow me" reaches its final destination.  Yes, that invitation leads to the Celestial Kingdom of Heavenly Father.  Jesus Christ has received His throne, which sits adjacent to our Father's throne in Heaven.  And not only has His place been made ready for Him, He is making and preparing our places as well (John 14:2).  We have this promise from our resurrected Savior from D&C 58:3-4.  He knows first hand that the glory of eternity only follows after much tribulation.  His invitation leads to more glory than we, like Peter and Andrew before us, can even imagine.

I know that Jesus Christ lives.  I know that for my self, independent of any other person's testimony.  I know that He prepared the way for us to return to our Father's presence.  I know that His invitation to "Come follow me," will lead each of us through our own Gethsemanes and our own Calverys.  But, without the temptations in the wilderness, without His suffering in the Garden and subsequent death on the cross, which was followed by His glorious resurrection, without those bitter lows in the life of Jesus Christ, He wouldn't be our Savior at all.  It was because He did the things He didn't particularly want to do, but did because of His undying love for us, that all of us may follow Him into the kingdom of our Father.  He is our Savior!  We all must follow Him through the highs and lows that this life throws at us if we want to become worthy of eternal glory.  I testify of this in Jesus Christ's name, Amen.

Cherlyn Mae--One of the cutest 9 year olds ever!

Raffy and Rose Ann--Raffy leaves Friday on his mission.

 

 

Cole and Elder May

Cole and Elder Stagg

Cole & Sister Maloata--one of the coolest sisters there!

Elder Zobell, Cole, Elder Stagg, and Elder May

Elder Stagg and Cole

The Zone

Always great to see him happy!!!!

Cole & Elder Stagg at the "Taj Mahal" of the Philippines

Exchanges with Elder Stagg

Nothing bad happened last week, but for some reason I was really glad for P-day to come so we could start a new week!

We had a baptism on Saturday that went very well.  Because of a brownout, we had to have the speakers in the sacrament hall, but I actually really liked it!  It seemed to be more conducive for the Spirit.  I am thinking of telling the idea to our Bishop, and will see what he does with it.

We have started doing online proslyting and it has had some success!  We have actually received two referrals that we will contact this week, and we also got in contact with a less active lady who has some part member children. To be honest, I was a little skeptical about how well this would work, but it is!  We are still playing around with it and trying to figure out what is the best way to go about using it most effectively.

This last week I went on exchanges with Elder Stagg in EB Magalona.  The progress he has made in teaching and in the language is pretty incredible in just one transfer.  He is a little frustrated with the lack of support from the ward, but I told him that if he does all he can, the ward will pick up.  It was great being with him again for the day!  We were able to visit the Antonano family. I was able to see the change and the happiness in their lives.  During the lesson with them, I was able to feel the spirit way strong.  I could feel Heavenly Father's love for me and know that he is thankful for my work.

Last week our zone had 14 baptisms!  We are at 22 after two weeks, and I am hoping for 50 by the next transfer.  It is amazing to be able to see the missionaries' dedication to accomplish the Lord's work.

I had a Zone Leader Interview with President Lopez and I was a little frustrated.  After I told him all the great things happening in Bata and that we are fulfilling the mission's vision by baptizing each week, he tells me I need to stretch myself more and I need to accomplish more than I am right now.  Not even a thank you or anything!  I know I am just doing what I was called to do, but a little encouragement would be nice sometimes!

I was thinking a lot this week about how little I really know about the lives of my grandparents.  I know they love me and when I was growing up nothing else really mattered.  I was thinking about Grandma Wilstead and how little I know about her life.  Then I thought of Grandpa Wilstead and Grandpa & Grandma Olcott and realized I don't know much about their lives either.  One thing I want to do when I get home is spend a day with each of them just to learn their stories and get advice from them.  They are all great examples of having joy and happiness with their family.

I love you guys so much and hope you all have a good week!

Bata Missionaries

Goofy Picture

Tang is the only thing that makes the water taste good enough to drink

Mission Correlation Meeting

Rian before her baptism

Another Week in Bata

This was a great week!  Sunday morning we had Brother Mark's baptism.  He was the one who was feeling very "heavy" because of his past.  Anyways, I got to baptize him and after we were walking out of the font he was bouncing up and down.  I asked him how he was feeling and he answered, "Light, like a feather."  Wow!  I got into the stall to change and literally started to cry a bit.  It's those moments when it is all worth it!

We also had eight investigators to church.  What a tender mercy from the Lord.  It is always good when members bring their referrals to church.  That makes getting them to church so much easier!  

Another cool experience was last week when I got to confirm our last baptizee a member of the church.  I blessed her in the confirmation that she would be sealed in the temple to a worthy priesthood holder.  It was kinda a weird thing to say in a confirmation, but I was prompted to say it.  I knew she had broken the law of chastity, but I found out on Saturday when we visited her that she had a child.  Elder Rillorta knew, but didn't tell me.  It isn't something that would disqualify her from baptism because her and the guy had been done for two years.  Anyways, she asked me why I said that in the blessing and how I knew she was worried she would never have that opportunity.  I just told her I didn't know and I had no clue about her child, but Heavenly Father knew she was worried about it, and he answered her fear through me.  It was another eye opener for me.  Sometimes it is hard to know whether I am following the spirit or if I am missing promptings, but it calmed me down knowing that if I am living right and just trying, I will follow the spirit without even knowing it.  I promise that sometimes we won't know why we are doing things or if we are being guided by the Holy Ghost, but if we are constantly repenting of our sins--even the little ones--he will guide us!

I love you all!  Have a great week!

Mark's Baptism

Our Zone - August 2013

The Three Amigos -- Elder Stagg, Elder May, Elder Wilstead

An every day occurrence!!!

Biopsy Results

The biopsy results are back.  This is what was reported:

"The specimen exhibits acanthosis, mild spongiosis and a peri-eccrine lymphocytic infiltrate. These findings support the histologic diagnosis.  The differential diagnosis includes miliaria rubra or miliaria profunda."

I have no idea what they mean, but the rash is gone and I am just going to deal with the pain.  I am so tired of not being able to work!!! 

I came to the realization that Heavenly Father will put me where He needs me.  I came to this conclusion after having the prompting to read the story of Joseph in Egypt.  I had never read it from the Bible, but I did and I just realized that even though he was exactly obedient, bad things still happened to him so he would be in a position to save the ENTIRE House of Israel from the famine.  It just helped me see that if the rash does come back, it means that someone needs me in the Institute or wherever President Lopez puts me.  If it doesn't, I am needed here in Bata working as hard as I can.

I had a great lesson on Saturday morning with a 22 year old brother named Mark.  We were preparing him for his baptismal interview on Sunday and we were going over the commandments.  His whole demeanor changed and I could tell something was wrong.  I asked him what he was feeling and he lowered his head and just said , "Elder, I have had problems with all those things (word of wisdom and law of chastity).  He said he felt like he shouldn't be baptized because he wasn't worthy enough.  He told us about the things he had done and there was some pretty crazy stuff.  He made the comment that everything he had done was flashing before him.  He said he felt like he could remember every sin he had ever committed in detail.  I was silently praying and asking Heavenly Father what I should do.  I had no clue what to say to him.  I was praying to know if we should move his baptism.  I felt a prompting that it was up to him if we move the date and then very clearly I was told to share Alma 36.  Oh my goodness!  That was the FIRST time in my whole mission where I have been told what to do by the spirit and consciously knew it was from the spirit.  Anyways, I asked him again what he felt and he said "heavy".  Then we went through Alma 36: 13-21.  I told him (as much as I could because we aren't supposed to tell past sins to investigators) about how I KNOW that story is true because I have felt it and experienced it in my own life.  We talked about repentance and after a very, very spiritual 30 minutes, I asked him again how he felt.  He answered, "Light and hopeful."  He is such a great guy!  He has made mistakes, like we all have.  His mistakes are bigger than ours, but it was a great feeling to have the spirit testify to me again that repentance is real.  We can be forgiven and we can be clean.  He passed the baptismal interview and will be baptized on Saturday at 11 a.m.

This morning was pretty cool  Elder Rillorta and I had kinda a weird companion study.  We didn't start with a prayer, and we didn't read scriptures or anything.  We were just talking and it got to the point where I was able to tell him why I am sometimes an ass when it comes to being obedient.  I told him about all that had happened the first half of the year at home, in the mission, with my family and my girlfriend.  I told him that I felt that all that was happening because I wasn't being 100% obedient.  I told him that I will not let us not be exactly obedient because I am afraid of the consequences.  I am afraid of losing all the blessings I need!  I feel like it really helped him understand where I was coming from, so hopefully all will be well.

Anyways, I love you all!  Thank you all so much for your love and support!

President & Sister Lopez with the Bata Missionaries

Bata Chapel

Transfer news--not exactly the news we wanted

Brother Wycoco and Brother Medel

Biopsy

I had the biopsy on the rash on Tuesday.  It was okay, but she downplayed the size of hole she was making in my back!  She said it wouldn't even be noticeable.  Anyways, I was freaking out because of my fear of needles, but she said, "Oh Elder this won't hurt--just like a bite, from an ant, a big ant, a big red ant," and then she jabs the thing in my skin!  Anyways, she was a little quick on the trigger with the scalpel so I felt the first part of her cutting through my skin because the numbing hadn't fully started working yet.  But I made it! 

Wednesday we went to 7-11 on the way to the office and I got a Slurpee,  It was awesome!  We spent the day in the mission office helping the elders prepare for transfer week.  I got a pdf for a book called "The Kolob Theorem" and had it printed off.  This book is insane.  It is a mormon's view of the universe.  The guy who writes it is a member and explains the universe and connects it to the gospel and makes everything about the universe make sense.  It's theory of course, but Dad would love it.  His thesis is that the milky way galaxy is our Heavenly Father's creation and that other galaxies have other Heavenly Father/creators. 

Thursday was spent in the mission office again.  I was putting together housing contracts.  I was thinking I could be doing a lot more of that type of work if I go out in business law.  It wasn't too bad, but we will have to wait and see.

We spent another day in the mission office on Friday.  It was okay though, because I actually felt like I accomplished something.  My OCD was actually a good thing because I spent the day organizing the office.  The elders were laughing at me because I went though and lphabetized all the files in the file cabinets.

Saturday was when I read the entire "Kolob Theorem".  I also found the best talk I have ever read.  It is a BYU Devotional talk called, "His Grace is Sufficient," by Brad Wilcox.  It helps you to understand the atonement so much.  Seriously, I always thought of the punishment aspect of the atonement and felt like we were always trying to "earn points" with Jesus for the final judgment.  It is not like that at all. It's all about changing us so we will be comfortable in God's presence. 

We were able to teach some good lessons.  One in particular was very spiritual.  We taught a man about temples and the spirit was very strong.  His wife has passed away and he has said he feels very lonely at times.  Elder Iloa caught it and told me we needed to teach about temples.  After hearing that he could be sealed to his wife for eternity, he seemed to just light up.  It was very cool to see.  However, he didn't come to church yesterday, so we need to focus on that issue now.

  

We also had Christian Baluyot's baptism and it was way cool.  I gave him one of the CTR rings that Melissa sent me and he started crying and gave me a big hug and said thank you.  It was awesome!

Sunday was a little rough.  we only had three investigators at church, but I know it will get better.  That is three investigators with limited work.  Just wait until I am back at it! 

I am going to end this with some Elder Iloa quotes.  I have never laughed so much in my life.  You need to remember that his English isn't that great!

"I cannot have vees fings (these things).  He meant to say I do not have these things.

 "What are vees fings that make my nose so bad?"  It was the spicy sauce in my adobo.

 "Elder, can I sauce my food?  He wanted some of my sauce.

A taste from home!

 

This is what happens during the rainy season--no socks
because they get so wet I have to remove them

Biopsy wound

Just call Elder Kent!

Christian Baluyot's Baptism

A piece of me removed

Christmas in July

If your Christmas package came, go ahead and open it!

I called President Lopez and talked to him about Elder Rillorta.  I didn't give any specifics, because if I would have the repentance would have been forced and the process would have been much harder.  Unforced repentance is much easier to receive forgiveness rather than you got caught and forced to repen.  So President called him and they talked.  From what I gathered, President told him to be extremely careful and all that.  My companion still denies that he was watching it and it was only a pop-up, but I can only believe what I saw.  Oh well!  I can't judge him because we all sin.  I just have to trust that he did what he needed to do.

On Tuesday I went out and worked with one of the APs.  It went really well. He told me I am the most skilled at the language of any American he has seen and that I was the ONLY zone leader that asked him how I could improve my skills as a missionary.  He said it showed that I was really humble (can you believe that????) and it made a good impression on him.

The only problem this week was the dang rash!  It didn't go away, so I spent Wednesday through Friday in the Institute.  On Friday, President Lopez joined us for companion study.  I thought it went great, but at the end President just leveled us with things we can do better.  He was cutting us down to nothing!  Oh well, I just need to take it in stride.  He doesn't give us a lot of compliments, just ways of improving!

I also got a new companion.  President is putting four missionaries in Bata now and then adding two sister missionaries on July 31.  My new companion is Elder Iloa and he is from Tonga.  I love him!  He is so humble and has a great spirit.  He doesn't speak English very well and it is funny because he will ramble on about something, then just start laughing hysterically.  I have no idea what he is saying, but it is awesome!  The first thing he said to me was, "Elder, if you aren't exactly obedient, we will have problems!"  He has the deepest voice ever, so it was pretty scary!!!!  I am going to have fun with him.

Anyways, that is pretty much it for the week.  I will do my best to continue to stay positive.  I love you all so much and I hope you enjoy your gifts!

My new companion--Elder Iloa, the Tongan!

Front cover of Mom's Book of Mormon--her
early Christmas present

Back cover of Mom's Book of Mormon

Front cover of Kody's Book of Mormon

Happy 4th of July

The doctor told me I had to spend the week indoors, so it was a pretty long week inside the Institute Building.  I was given the assignment of talking to and teaching investigators in the Institute if the opportunity presented itself, and it did a few times.  Usually the people will bring in friends to hang out or to visit their class.  When this happened I would get very excited!  The bad thing was that there were hours and even a couple days when NO ONE came in.  On those days I pretty much just read the scriptures or sat there and made myself trunky--not good, I know!  But when you aren't doing anything productive, obviously your thoughts go straight to the people you love most.  I do know that if I didn't love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so much, there is ABSOLUTELY no way I would be able to endure much more of this!

One thing I studied this week that was pretty interesting to me was about an incident in Jesus' life that occurred after the transfiguration.  Jesus, Peter, James, and John came down and found the people arguing with his apostles because they weren't able to heal a kid that was possessed.  Anyways, after Jesus heals the kid and they had retired to the house, the apostles asked Him why they couldn't heal the kid.  In Mark 9:28-29 it is Jesus' reply to them.  He talks about the power of prayer and fasting and how sometimes that is what is needed to overcome situations or "demons".  I have come to learn since I have been here, how truly powerful fasting is.  I know sometimes it is a hassle, but it helps us grow closer to our Savior better than anything else.  You will also see the blessings that you are asking for. 

So I sent your Christmas package on Friday.  Yes, it will get there very early, but they are really sweet and I want you guys to be able to use them right now.  I don't want you to open them until next week during email time though.  I sent it DHL, so it should be there before next Sunday.  Don't expect much more around Christmas time though, because this was a little pricey.  It is so worth it though.  I hope you all like it.

I love you all so much!

American breakfast

Happy 4th of July

A day in the Institute