Two by Two: Philippines Week 51

It seems like my whole mission has been filled with “crazy weeks”. That has been the most stable thing in my mission—weekly letters that start with ‘This has been a crazy week…’

I don’t know why the weeks all feel so chaotic but I think that it is just part of the Philippines experience. I love it.

This week, I just want to simply share from my personal study and pondering. Because, at least for me, my personal scripture reading is almost always followed by some deep thinking.

I want to start with one thing that President Dahle shared in church on Sunday which kind of tied together my personal studies for the week. He said that we have a divine potential to become Gods. No matter how lowly we feel sometimes, that potential is still there.

In Ephesians 1:5, it says, “Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”

So we were foreordained to be adopted as Christ’s child into the House of Israel. As I pondered this, I thought, of course we can only be adopted as a “child of Christ” through baptism. We are baptized after we have accepted the Gospel of Christ. So the meaning of this is that we have all been foreordained to accept the gospel and become clean through it. “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness.” (Thes 4:7).

These people that we are working so hard to find have this same potential. I truly believe that there are people that remember the gospel because they accepted it before this life. I know that God’s plan is not NEW news. We are just reminding these people of their own divine potential.

We are foreordained to accept the gospel and seek after the coordinating ordinances. This is the way. God has given us every tool to know and accept. This is his plan and we are just instruments to help others realize and remember the truth.

Other Tidbits and pebbles:

We climbed bundok bato. A huge rock mountain. Thought we were going to die.
MY area here is beuatiful
We have mission president interviews on Thursday.
I've gotten really good at cooking filipino food. Im pretty sure that mom will hate it when I make it at home.

I love you all so much. Keep being good. Hopefully the pictures that i sent will all get posted. In the one picture with the Calagos family (with the black skirts) you should zoom in on my toes. I have a really bad tan line.

Special shoutout to Rachey for writing me a dearelder--you da best.

Until next week, love Sister RAINY (my new nickname)

Yep climbed that mountain mountain mountain..... and yes, we almost died. It was like bouldering at the rock climbing gym.