Elder Austin Russell Cook Philippines, Legazpi Mission 8-2016 thru 8-2018: And to my surprise, when we exited the chapel after the conference, I saw Twinkle Frilles waiting outside to meet me!

This week was great yet again! Elder David and I have been working really hard to get the members to start working with us, and we learned that these members are capable of working miracles if they just put their minds to it! They have helped our investigators read the Book of Mormon, come to church, pray to God, and many other things. Especially our Bishop, Bishop Serrano, is helping us a ton.

One new progressing investigator that we have found is a girl named Aileen. She's about 30 years old and can't walk at all. She has legs, but they haven't really worked since birth, so she has a really hard time getting around. Poor woman has no one else living with her in her house, so she has to rely on infrequent visits from family and neighbors when she needs help with something. But she still does her own laundry by hand, her own cooking, cleaning, etc. Anyways, she has a baptismal date for July 28, so we are doing everything we can to help her reach that goal date. The only problem is her church attendance (because she can't walk) so we are going to make arrangements this next week for a member to pick her up to come to church. Wish us luck!

We also found a family (the Del Castllo Family) two weeks ago, and from what we see, they are very much ready to receive the Gospel. The first thing we asked when we met them was why they allowed us into their home to teach them, and they responded by saying that they really want to change their lives, come closer to Christ, and they felt, when they saw us, that we were the key to get closer to Him. We have only taught them twice, but they are really excited to go to church next Sunday, so we are very excited to see them progress.

The Magdaong family is just kind of on and off. Sometimes they show progress, and other times they don't. We still have hope for them, but they just seem to be having a very difficult time progressing.

Last Saturday all of the missionaries in the Legazpi Mission had a conference with a member of the Presidency of the Quorom of the Seventy, President Ucida. It was only a two hour conference, but it was an amazing spiritual experience, and we all learned a lot. President Ucida is a very bold man, and used the phrase (almost shouted it) many times, "I invite you to repent NOW." I think it was the closest I've ever come to being chastised by a general authority haha. But I learned a lot and received some answers to some questions that I've had for more than a year now.

And to my surprise, when we exited the chapel after the conference, I saw Twinkle Frilles waiting outside to meet me! Twinkle was one of my converts in Irosin, (my very first area on my mission) and probably the strongest convert I've met on my mission. I was seriously so shocked and excited to see her. It's been more than a year and a half now since I have seen her, so I was definitely not expecting it! Our conversation was only about ten minutes (which made me really sad) but it was the BEST ten minutes!! haha. It really made me MISS Irosin a lot! haha. It was such a blessing to see her and those she traveled with because I didn't expect to see her again while on my mission.

Well, that's it for this week! Pictures will come in a separate email! Love you all!! :)
Elder Austin Russell Cook