Matheteusate

June 18, 2018

Good afternoon family and friends!

So I forgot to tell y'all last week but we had a mission conference and Elder Juan A. Uceda of the Presidency of the Seventy came and spake to us. Some of the things he talked about were very powerful. His wife talked to us about "being the missionary your momma thinks you are." Funny thing is that's the last thing my momma said to me before I entered the MTC. It was pretty cool.

Elder Uceda shared D&C 36:2 which says-
 And I will lay my hand upon you by the hand of my servant Sidney Rigdon, and you shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall teach you the peaceable things of the kingdom.

He told us that it was Christ's hands that set us apart, he was just using one of his servants (a stake President) to do it. He also said from the second that our stake President took his hands off our head, we were different. We are disciples of Jesus Christ.

He also shared Matthew 28:19-
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

He emphasized the part where it says "teach." If you look in the footnotes it says in Greek it is meant to say "to make disciples" The Latin root is "Matheteusate" which was translated into English as "teach" which is "a very weak translation" he said. He said we are not merely called to teach. But to in fact, make disciples. He said "you can talk and talk all day. Most missionaries think if they talk and talk all day with investigators that that is teaching and that they are doing their job. But no, people learn the Gospel not by being talked to all day, but by doing. Talk less and do more. Go and make disciples.

It was a very inspiring conference.

On Friday, we went to teach Nanay Gonzales. She is keeping her commitments and actually reading and praying with her kids. She opened up to us about her concern of not being able to go to church because of her little kids. Elder Penrose and I felt prompted to read Enos with her. We told her that just like Enos, you can receive answers through prayer. We then talked about fasting and how you can receive answers through fasting. I felt like we were really guided through that lesson. But here's the cherry on top. Their whole family (except the dad because he had work) came to church and stayed for all of it. We also re-extended her baptismal date for July 7th.

Amnel also came to church and it getting baptized on the 7th as well.

I had my 20th birthday as well last week! That was pretty cool. We actually had the mission conference on my birthday so that was a really awesome birthday present. Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week! I can't wait to see you next month!

-Elder Furniss

Ano ba yan? Ang huling kalipatan? What the Heck? The Last Transfer?

This week was wild! We got kabahays (housemates) Elder Spring and Elder Lim so we had to give up half of our area to them. Most of this week was just spent showing them around and doing baptismal interviews. It's also my last transfer in the mission...ano ba iyan?

So Elder Penrose and I were out finding on Tuesday and we stumbled upon a less active part-member family. They have a son that hasn't been taught by the missionaries or baptized yet so we were able to teach him and get him a baptismal date for July 7th. Him and his older brother came to church and stayed for all three hours!

So we got a calling in the branch as Sunday school teachers for the youth. Elder Penrose and I taught about developing Christ-like attributes. We had them read D&C section 4: 5-6 which is about Christ-like attributes and had them pick one from those verses that they are struggling with and to work on it. I took the challenge as well.  What Christ-like attribute can you work on developing?

Well, my little brother just emailed me and said that he's finished the Book of Mormon before he leaves on his mission. I'm so thankful for family that continues to inspire me to do my best and treasure up the word of God. I was reading in Alma last week and in Alma 37 it says:  "...the words of Christ, if we follow their course, [will] carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise."

No matter what we are going through, we can find hope for a better tomorrow and receive personal revelation as we treasure up the Book of Mormon and all of the Holy Scriptures. Like Neal A. Maxwell said "God does not send thunder, when a still small voice is enough."

I am so thankful for the opportunity I have been given to be a missionary! I hope you all have a great week and stay close to your Father in Heaven.

-Elder Furniss

The new kabahays

My boyz Tatay Sentino and Pimentel from San Narciso!

Our investigator's son put his sandwich in my shoe...salamat!!!

Mango stained shirts and trenchfoot...HAPPY LANG

Hello friends and family!

Well it is officially rainy season, which means my feet are going to be raisins for the next little while. We went trudging through what felt like a signal 5 typhoon a couple days ago but hey we were actually able to teach a family that we hadn't been able to teach for a few weeks so it was worth it.

Update on Charlie: We still haven't been able to teach with his cousin; he was busy last week so we'll see if we can get him this week. We taught Charlie about the Sabbath day and he said "Ok so you're saying I need to get active in my church again?" and we said "No, Charlie we are inviting you to come to our church. The whole point of us coming to visit you is not to help you get active in your church or to have bible study. We are inviting you to come and see what this church is all about and we want you to find out if it's true." So we were pretty bold with him but it's just frustrating because we hit a wall every time we bring up church with him.

We were working out in our far area (Reserva) on Friday and some of the little kids were climbing up in a tree to get some fruit that kind of looks like plums. Anyways, I was talking with one of the members by the house and I just heard a "SNAP" and saw the kid hit the ground. We ran over to see if he was ok, and he just looked up at us and said "Happy lang!" (I'm all goods, no worries), with a purple stain from the fruit around his mouth. It was HILARIOUS! We were all laughing about it for the rest of the day.

So we were in Sunday school yesterday, and they started a discussion about how to determine if a prompting is coming from the Spirit or if it's just your own thoughts. The members couldn't settle on an answer, but as they were discussing it a scripture came to my mind in Moroni, which I shared with the class.

Moroni 7:13

But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.

It's so awesome how one single verse from the Book of Mormon can answer the complex questions we have. The Book of Mormon certainly is a powerful tool. I have seen the blessings in my life from treasuring up the Book of Mormon. I invite you to read it everyday!!

I love you all and hope you have a great week! Ingat kayo lagi! (Take care always!)

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