Patuloying lang!

Hello All,

Heavenly Father has taught me so much this week. I pray that I can share a small part of it with you all. 

Sister Marlene is all set for her baptism on Saturday! She passed her baptismal interview (of course) and everything is all set for Saturday! We are so excited to see her make the first step towards entering the celestial kingdom. Look for pictures of her baptism next week :)

I am constantly amazed by the power that the gospel has to changed people's lives and hearts. I read a quote by Elder Ballard this week that talked about how when the Spirit touches people's hearts, hearts are changed. I can testify from my own experiences here in the mission that that is true. My heart has been changed as it has been touched by the Spirit each day and I've seen others' hearts change as well. 

We didn't have any appointments a few weeks ago, so we asked directions to some people on the side of the road. They are related, but I'm not sure how. They all live together in one compound though. We scheduled a return appointment, but they weren't very enthusiastic about us coming back. They were not very interested, but we went back and taught them again. We now have three progressing investigators there at this compound. We have given them a BoM and Brother Samson is reading it. On Saturday I asked him if he had tried praying to know if it is true. He said that he had (every missionary's favorite answer!) and that he was surprised at what had happened. He said he had a wonderful feeling come over him and that he believes the Book of Mormon is true. wow. I think I was more surprised than he was. We never expected them to progress! The Spirit has great power to change hearts!

We had a few experiences this week where investigators who we thought were golden (the De Guzman Family, Liza, and another brother named Darwin) refused to come to church. ouch. It was a little discouraging for me because I love these people and desire their salvation! What I've learned though, is that if I am doing everything I can, I am successful. Even though I was disappointed in my brothers and sisters, I am not disappointed in myself because I am giving my best to Him.

We actually did something exciting with our p-day this week! We went to the Capitol of Pangasinan, which just happens to be here in Lingayen. It's a gorgeous building with a really cool WWII museum and park in the back. See the attached pictures! We were even lucky enough to meet a real live 86-year-old Filipino WWII veteran who was at the museum too.

 That's all for now! Ingat lahat!

Love,

Sister Mckenna Gustafson :)