Tuesday, November 29, 2016

11-27-16 We had another great week!

Magandang hapon po family!

 We had another great week! Like I mentioned last year, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here so I forgot to mention it last week. Good to know you guys had a great Thanksgiving though and that the family continues to be safe! I'm especially happy to hear about aunty Roxie's recovery. Another huge thing that stood out to me in your email was where you mentioned that grandpa would name every single person in our family in his prayers. It makes me more grateful & proud to have had him as the head & example of our family. 

 As for the skype, that sounds perfect! The only thing is, wouldn't you guys be at grandma's house at that time? You sure you don't just prefer one of the following days? I'm not sure about the Fiji Mission President, but I think we're allowed to skype any day within a week of Christmas. Also you think 'Ohu would want some personal time with you guys before I sign on? It might be a nice thing to just focus on him for like 30-45 minutes before I get on since this will be his first skype and he'll probably be excited to share a bunch of things with you guys. Ask him then let me know.

 Alright so for our week! This week Elder Gatus and I really focused on finding new & potential people to teach. We've improved drastically when it comes to talking with strangers, and it is becoming a fun thing! We've already had some pretty crazy/cool things happen since we decided to overcome our fears and speak with others. This week we'll try to return to the homes of those who seemed a little interested and hopefully will be able to share a message with them. I'm excited! We're gonna go really hard this week since it's the last full one of the cycle. I'll know by my next email if I'm transferring! Still hoping I'm not haha.

 A cool thing we were able to do this past week was work with Elder Pangilinan & Elder Waite, the Almaguer elders. We worked one day in their area then the next day in ours. They're both really good missionaries and I learned many things from both of them. They have one really progressing investigator whose baptism interview is this coming Sunday. I got to teach her with Elder Pangilinan and I feel like she's more than ready to be baptized. 

 Yesterday we had a great day in church. Our lesson in Gospel Principles class was on charity which is, to me, more important than anything. Jesus Christ says in John 15:13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." When that scripture was brought up I remembered a story that Elder Gatus told me of an elder that was once assigned here in the PCM (Philippines Cauayan Mission) named Elder Bautista. Elder Bautista also had a twin brother on a mission and out of nowhere this twin had a kidney failure. President Rahlf called Elder Bautista into his office and told him what had happened. President asked, "Elder, are you willing to give your brother one of your kidneys?" Elder Bautista thought really hard about it for a few minutes, but eventually said yes. Pres. Rahlf commended him for his bravery and said that he'd be given time to recover from the surgery. Now this part was what got me. Elder Bautista was surprised when Pres. Rahlf said that he'd recover. He thought by giving his kidney to his twin brother, that he himself would die. How crazy is that? That story still gets me teared up whenever I think about it haha. It's hard to love others the way that Jesus Christ loves us sometimes, but it can and should be done. And when we learn to love others more our love for Heavenly Father increases, and vice versa, and the more we'll feel His love for us. 

 This week is going to be a really busy one. Thank you guys for the updates and I hope you guys have a great week as well! Love you guys!

Mahal ko po kayo,
Elder Ishibashi

Elders

"Album Cover Pose" at a CSP we had last Saturday

Kanina (earlier)






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