.: Week 39 "Lets Get To Work!" --Elder Bednar

Week 39

We took a giant group picture with Elder Bednar this week and this is what he said after he stood up from the picture. OK you got it--whatever you say! haha :)

Dear Family and Friends,

Helloooo everyone! Well this week was just one for the books. A really spiritually edifying week, I really wish I could just press rewind and relive this week at least one more time. But I first just wanted to start out and say THANK YOU to all the great family and friends who sent me hump day postcards!--Ward friends, family, you guys know how to make a missionary's day! I literally can't believe I hit 9 months this week. It WEIRDS me out. I wish time would just stop for a second so I can catch my breath. But I am so grateful for all the support from everyone. So humbled and grateful to know you. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU :)

Well a little bit about my week. I will give you a quick update on all my friends. Claudine and Jecil--they are doing great! Our lessons are the funniest things of my life as we try to figure out what each other is saying with all the different languages flying about. Bright side is that they are feeling the spirit and still coming to church so we haven't screwed up that much haha. They should be baptized coming up this month. Shoot some prayers their way!

Claudine's family :)

All of our investigators are in confession mode at the moment--we got a lot of people telling us about all of their past sins and how they want to change. Which is good that they want to change--the gospel is not easy to follow so that's great they want to change for the better. Lupian, Michelle and Mike--they are all coming along great.

Cool moment this week: So we were teaching the Villamor family this week. And I have been just praying to find out what is something we can do to help them want to have that desire to change and listen to us--but REALLY listen. We were chatting with Sister Villamor and I just felt for the weirdest reason that I needed to stop talking and just listen to her. And for a second it was a little awkward haha, no one was saying anything but then Sister Villamor just opened up to us about all the fears that she has about religion, God--everything. So it was just a nice moment to know that the spirit is real and we really need to be instruments for people to feel that love/guidance from the spirit. Taking the time for listening is so important.

Also super cool this week--we found a member out of nowhere haha. We were walking in our area that is on tulay--sorry I don't know what it's called in english. Bridges? Sticks? Something like that. And we walked down to a house and starting chatting with Nanay Estonis and we asked if we could share a message and she said yes. She goes in and it takes her like 15 minutes to come back out and she had brought out her cute little Book of Mormon ready to read :) She told us she was baptized FOREVER ago--she's almost 90. SO SWEET. So she told us her conversion story. It was awesome.

The rest of the weekend was spent in Manila! We flew out on Saturday Morning and just got back earlier today. We had a special conference with Elder Bednar on Saturday! IT WAS SO COOL. It was literally like seeing a movie star--all the missionaries were buzzing around and we all had this nervous energy before it started. He said some awesome things in our discussion. We got to ask questions and give insights on the conference talks we have been studying for the last 2 months. It was sooo cool :) No words can describe the spirit felt or the words said.

Boarding for Manila to see Elder Bednar

Selfie while waiting for Elder Bednar to arrive!
Everyone's all lined up for the huge group pic

At the conference with all the American Sisters--we're up to six now!

Sister Barton, me, Sister Holzworth (my Aussie trainer)

BFF Sister Singer--love seeing her!

One of Jack's companions (Elder Bilog) who came to hear Elder Bednar

I spent the rest of the weekend in Pasay--we had a family home evening and there are just SOOO many people in Pasay. It is like New York times 100..Its crazy. But I had a fun weekend with that--pictures to come. We overtook the ward with 6 sister missionaries at church--SISTER POWER haha!

But to finish off with a spiritual note of some cool moments with the conference on Saturday. One moment was when we were all standing for the big group picture with Elder Bednar. And we were all singing together as a mission before he came in. And this was the first time the entire Manila mission has been together in over 3 years. So we were all singing together--when Elder Bednar came in we sang 'We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet.' Just a spirit I will never forget. Learned the importance of listening and just the peace, stability, and comfort that comes with being a member of this church!

Love you all so much. I hope this week is a good one.

Love,

Sister Zarbock