Begin With The End In Mind
Hey everyone! This week was super busy so it's been getting faster and faster. The highlight of the week was definitely Christian Ric's baptism! We said goodbye to sister Bentley RIP and I cried just only a little bit. And Abu, Jovie and the Barcenal Family are moving closer and closer to their baptism! We have been incredibly focused this week on helping families work towards the temple. With that in mind most of my email will be centered around the temple and the individual stories of people I have seen work towards the temple.
COVENANTS
I finally got to watch a session of a general conference and I'm gobbling it up. I feel like every talk was about temples and covenants. With that in mind Sister Pernitez and I have been trying to mention temples, covenants, families and the truths restored through Joseph Smith. I realized we were waiting too long to explain what in reality is God's end goal for each of us, temples and eternal families. Why should we even hesitate for a second to tell people about the temple and the promises we can receive inside. When we truly understand the temple, the promises we make and the way we bind ourselves to Christ and our families there, it should be only natural to want to visit more frequently and share those blessings with others. I can't explain to you how much people here wish they had a more easily accessible temple. A temple trip for the people of Antique is almost a whole week ordeal that requires months if not years of saving. So here is the first temple story.
JHEA
Jhea got to go to the Cebu temple this week!! Watching her progress towards the temple and seeing her desire to do baptisms for the deceased members of her family got me right in the feels. Her parents are not members so she saved her own money to get to the temple and she's 15 years old. Her family is one step closer to being sealed.
CHRISTIAN RIC
Christain Ric was baptized this past Saturday! His father is returning to church and was able to baptize his son. We met Christian's older sister that day and she told us now that Christian has been baptized they can work towards being sealed to their deceased mother. We had no idea that was even in the plans.
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THE BARCENAL FAMILY
I know I write about this family every week but I won't be stopping anytime soon. Jovie and Abu have been consistently coming to church and have even started bringing their friend Reymark. They have been teaching their other friends on the street how to pray and read the Book of Mormon. Jovie's father, Renante, has also been progressing towards baptism.
Like I mentioned earlier Sister Pernitez and I decided we needed to focus more on the temple. So after a simple lesson about temples and family sealing with Tatay we gave them a picture of the Cebu Temple. We came back the next day and they had it on their wall. Everytime Tatay prays he includes how grateful he is for the possibility to be a family forever.
We visited them last night with our cute senior couple, the Powells, and Abu and Jovie told us they want to go on missions. My missionary heart couldn't handle it. Focusing on the temple helped Them make better decisions today and for their futures. Love them.
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That concludes my schpeel on the temple. For those of you close to a temple, please take the time to go. Thank you everyone.
QUICK PHOTO UPDATE
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This is Sister Pernitez and I in the sizzeling heat after being rejected by a whole neighborhood.
PEARL!!- she was baptized a few weeks ago and she got sister pernitez and I little key chains of our favorite animals. SHE IS ADORBS
District Activity at the beach…. The Elders had a little Moana moment and collected some rocks.
Last moments with Sister Bentley. Now she will live her best life in Kalibo and Boracay.
Love you all and one more time go to the temple please. If you aren't ready yet, do what you have to do recieve those blessings.
Palangga ko kamo
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