We're Just Getting Started

This is Tess Montilla​ (I promise she's usually smiling i'm not exactly sure what she's doing in this picture)  She has been an investigator here in Paranaque for 14 months.  She comes from a catholic background so she already had somewhat of a testimony of Jesus Christ as our Savior (as do the majority of the people here actually)  She is a single parent with a son named Roland who is a member of the INC (Iglesia ni Cristo) a popular church here in the Philippines.  I've mentioned her in my previous emails, when we began to start trying to teaching her again back in February she was super receptive to the message and accepted the baptismal date we extended to her for a service in March.  We encountered a stumbling block when she was informed by one of her friends that our church was a cult and she told us that she wanted us to stop teaching her.  We were able to resolve her problem and ever since that day we noticed a very apparent change in her.  She began to take our lessons very seriously and STUDIED the Book of Mormon.  Not only did she read it but she had pages of notes that she had been writing as she pondered its message.  It was incredible!  I was able to baptize her this last Saturday and she bore a strong testimony at the service.  It felt amazing to know that just like that, another one of Heavenly Father's children is on the path to salvation and will have a chance to return to him!

We also threw a sick party after the baptismal service and a lot of members showed up and brought food.  It was also a party to celebrate Elder Sanchez's birthday so there was also cake and ice cream so if you're wondering why my face is way more round than it used to be there is your explanation.  You can also see that Tess looks a lot happier in this picture than in the previous one!  Baptisms are a great experience, we'll keep working to find more of scattered Israel, we're just getting started.  

We also had the opportunity to visit this majestic House of God last Tuesday.  ​So if you were wondering why my email was one day late last week (which i'm pretty sure none of you were except for my poor mom who waited until 2 am to read my email) this is where I was sorry mom.  The temple provided the spiritual jumpstart that I really needed.  

Also something that excited was one of our investigators who we had actually dropped because he was not replying to our texts showed up at church yesterday!!  He told us he wanted to continue hearing our message and that he had some family issues and that's why he had not been able to attend for the last two weeks!  So exciting can't wait to start teaching him again!  Missionary work is great, such an honor to be here!

Elder Burdeos