6-11-17 I traded seats with a woman

Magandang hapon po na naman family!

 I forgot my planner at our District Center yesterday so I probably won't be able to remember everything that happened last week, sorry. Everything continues to go well though! Our District Meeting last week was about service. Elder Palacio, the zone leader who attended our meeting, shared an experience he had in his last area. He went out of his way to serve their next door neighbor by getting up extra early just to help her pump water, and through that she treated them more nicely and gained respect for them. I thought that was a cool story and committed my district to go out of their way this past week to serve someone. I had a pretty cool experience the next day after our meeting in Cauayan for our going-home batch. On the jeep I traded seats with a woman so that she could sit more comfortably. It was a little awkward since we were already moving and jeeps get so cramped up, but I remembered what Elder Palacio did and asked the lady if she wanted to switch. We found our way around each other and even though it was a little awkward, it felt good to go out of my way to do something nice. She even thanked me using "elder" which means that she did recognize me as a representative of Christ and the church. Like what Sis. Housman mentioned in her email, we don't know how great one act of kindness can affect one person. 

 Our going-home meeting in Cauayan was really good and it was cool being together as a batch again. We learned about setting goals and plans, but mostly about the importance of doing these things in a way that is in accordance to God's will. Something I liked that was shared was that even God has an ultimate goal and a perfect plan in order to accomplish that goal. His goal is "...to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man", and his plan is called the Plan of Salvation. If we will follow this plan exactly, there's no way we can't receive the blessings Heavenly Father wants so bad to give us. After the meeting I also ran into some members from Alicia! It was super nice seeing them again and catching up real quick. 

 Before I end this I wanna give a quick update on our progressing investigators. Jackie is doing so so well! We felt like we needed to jump over to teaching her about the Law of Chastity before moving on to lesson 2. We hesitated a little but really felt like it was the right thing to do so we went with it. The Spirit guided that lesson again and we got to teach her very boldly, yet in a way where she could feel the concern that we have for her and that we, especially the Lord, only want her to be happy and protected. She texted us that night and thanked us for the lesson. She's reading through 2 Nephi now and is just soaking in everything we teach her.

 Nanay Sofia is reading the Book of Mormon as well and will stop what she's doing at any time to listen to us. She invited another friend to listen to us today while we taught her, and she was happy to tell her friend that her baptism is coming up! Once she can get to the point of steadily going to church, she'll be baptized. Unfortunately I won't be here to witness it, but I'm so so stoked for the email and picture confirming that everything went through. Her husband sat in as well earlier as we taught about the Plan of Salvation, and he seemed very interested. Hopefully that will push him to overcome his vices and have the desire to follow this great plan as well, because I know that that's nanay's greatest desire, for her family to be together forever. 

 Alright we're a little overtime again. I love you guys! Thank you for the pictures and updates. Have a great week!

 Elder Ishibashi 

 

 

Elder Tuwai from Fiji! He doesn't know any Ishibahis, but he knows the one Fijian kid coming out to the Cauayan Mission. This elder fell out of a coconut tree a few weeks ago so is in Cauayan while he heals haha. 

 

 

Some of our great YSA fellowshippers