The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is close. We are seeing signs everywhere. The moon was red last month.
"Ako ay nakakita ang isang haligi ng liwanag higit pa sa liwanag ng araw..na dahan dahn bumaba hanggan sa ito ay ppumalibot sa akin"
I saw a pillar of light..brighter than the sun...that slowly descended until it surrounded me.
This is Sister Michelle (the lesbian on the far right). She is the best. Last night we taught her the Law of Chastity and she not only agreed to stop being a tomboy (lesbian in Tagalog) but she said that she was going to wear a skirt on her baptism day (DEC). Her first Sunday at church (three weeks ago) she called and asked if she could wear a tie. Her progression is amazing to me.
The white lady is a scary story in the Philippines. Basically when someone dies, if you wronged them then a white lady will come haunt you. Last night, I decided to go scare my housemates dressed as the white lady. IT worked. :)
This week I had a realization. Not so much a realization as an old truth that was brought back to my remembrance. It seems that whenever we are doing what is right and on track to do the right, we are tempted more.
While studying the Book of Mormon gospel doctrine manual, I read a story by George Albert Smith. He told the story of a traveler who happened to walk by a huge, beautiful, glorious city. When he saw the city, the traveler said to his guide that it must be a very righteous city because there was only one little devil in the whole city. The guide responded that the city was one of the most wicked cities because the people only needed one little devil to keep them subjected to the powers of the adversary. Further down the road, the traveler saw this little old frail man struggling to climb up a mountain. The man was surrounded by seven huge beastly devils. The traveler said that he must be an extremely evil old man. The guide responded that the man was one of the only truly righteous. It takes seven of the biggest devils to tempt him and they still can't make him falter.
This week I saw two recent converts that were preparing to enter the temple second guess their decision.
Satan works double time on those that are choosing the right. He wants us to be weak. But it is up to us to overcome him and the obstacles that lay in our path.
We explained this to out recent converts. I don't know if they will go to the temple this November or not. They have agency to make their own choices.
As long as there are people striving to follow the Lord, Satan will also be there to make us feel weak, unworthy,and small. But I know that with the help of God, Satan can have no power over us.
We need to be like that little old man-frail and worn- but still struggling to climb our mountains even though temptations and darkness surround us.
Weekly highlights:
- transfers- no one in my apartment got transferred! So that means that I will most likely get an Olongapo Christmas!
- We had Missionary Leadership Council. I got to see Sister Hart and Most of my batch!
- I now have a granddaughter here in the mission!! I am so excited that Sister Pizon (my daughter) is training!
- I taught the law of chastity to a lesbian. She has now committed to change her ways and be baptized on December 21!
- I met a man with Spock hair. It made me want to watch Star Trek :)
I sent a ton of pictures, I hope you got all of them!
I love you all. Be good.
Love, the better Sister Raynor :)
I love my mission!
So I learned something cool here.
President Dahle taught us this week about the five saving ordinances of the gospel. Its the focus of our mission now.
So there are 5 things that you need to do to receive exaltation and salvation:
1.baptism
2.confirmation
3.Melchizedek priesthood
4.endowment
5.Sealing
Isn't that cool. So now when we teach even the very first visit we promise the blessings of going to the temple. Like we are teaching deeper doctrine. It is sooo cool. It helps them see the big picture. At conference Elder Gibbons or Robins(?) said that if you dumb down the doctrine its apostasy. So now we teach everything like baptism for the dead before an investigator is baptized. IT IS SOOOO COOOL.
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