Elder Austin Russell Cook Philippines, Legazpi Mission 8-2016 thru 8-2018: Now that both members of the companionship are being obedient and truly loving the work, people just walk up to us on the daily asking if we can teach them and their children

Alright so we FINALLY had the baptism of three of our investigators this week! Sister Lilia Cerdena, Estanley Arao, and Connie Sabas. Their baptism went great and they really really loved it!

Baptism day

This last week Elder Caballes and I have been working hard as usual! It's really funny, now that both members of the companionship are being obedient and truly loving the work, people just walk up to us on the daily asking if we can teach them and their children. In fact, just yesterday we had a woman named Evelyn walk up to us and asked us for a pass along card and told us to come and teach her family so that they can all go to church. So yeah, I'm really loving this area right now!

Baptism day with Estanley Arao

So we have been teaching this one lady named Maria Christina Saya. I've mentioned her before, she's the lady whose husband was basically beheaded in front of her a couple of months ago. Anyways, she has been absolutely LOVING our lessons and the Book of Mormon, and she really has been feeling the spirit when we teach. But last week for some reason she told us that she can't continue listening to us because of "Personal reasons." Well we remembered the last time that happened to us with the Docot family, and we were determined to not have a repeat, so we called her and told her that we would visit one last time and she hesitantly agreed. We went over there and I guess we just asked the perfect questions for her to open up to us. Honestly her reason for not wanting to listen was so sweet. She told us that our lessons and the Book of Mormon have been infinitely helpful in her life, but she knows that we missionaries get transferred around a lot, so she knew that we will eventually leave. She said that Elder Caballes and I are just a perfect team, and that she can see and feel our kindness and love for others, and she said that we are like her sons, so she said that she doesn't want to get too close to us and have it hurt too much when we leave. It really was such a sweet thing coming from the honesty of her heart, but we were able to comfort her and explain to her that even though we might leave, the other members in the church won't and that she will create eternal friendships in the branch in Libon. She really took courage with that and has agreed to continue following what we ask her to do. Even though I'm probably going to get transferred in a couple of weeks, I really believe that she will become a very strong member of the church.

On our way to the baptism

That's really all I wanted to tell about this week! Being a District Leader is really a blessing in my mission and I just LOVE having the opportunity to help all of the missionaries in the District! Every week their work is getting better and better and they are all becoming more and more obedient, I really do love them all!

That's it for this week. I love you all and will update you all again in another short week!

Elder Austin Cook