"You will raise a prophet"

The compliments I get here are unreal. I don't deserve them haha

Anyways!

This week was crazy busy because we're doubling covering how and our area was already the biggest area ever. Craziness. 

So one of the people we're teaching Joselyn can't read from the Book of Mormon because she can't see the words. So a while ago I got a few different pairs of reading glasses different strengths and before the lesson this week I gave them to her so she could try to read with them. And it worked! We gave her a hymn book because we were going to sing before the lesson and after she put on the glasses she started smiling so much and she got emotional because she could finally see well enough to read. It was such a happy moment. It's crazy the things we take for granted. She also said she wants to be baptized but she wants to wait until her husband wants to come to church with her. But he works all day and get's home late and there's no transportation there in the evening so we're praying for a miracle! 

I had my first experience with finding through service this week! We were out in Flora and we were talking to an old Nanay who was shelling peanuts and I saw an other old Nanay who was tiny tiny carrying two huge buckets of water so I went over to her and asked to let me carry the water for her. She was really shy about it but she said yes! So we carried the water to her house and then she let us in to teach her and her grandchildren. Her husband passed away a while ago so we talked to her about the plan of Salvation and she said we could come back and teach her more! 

We taught Dindo and Daniel the word of wisdom this week and they both have struggles especially with smoking. Daniel smokes 10 and day and Dindo 5. They said they want to give it up so we gave them goals to help them stop Dindo's goal was to drop down to just 3 and we were going to give Daniel a goal of 6 and he said "No sisters I can do just 1" His faith has grown so much!  I have so much love for him. He's a less active member that we met when I first got here and he was super reluctant to talk to us and kind of quiet and shy and didn't really want to read with us. But the change we've been able to see in him in just less than 2 months is amazing! He's so excited to see us now every time we go over there he's reading from the Book of Mormon on his own and he's being a huge help and support to Dindo as he's preparing for his baptism in December. The gospel changes lives I know and I see it in him every time we go there. So cool. 

Also Christine prayed out loud for the first time ever at the end of the lesson. Biggest miracle ever because she's the shyest person I've ever met. The church is true. 

We had a really fun lesson this week with Tatay Jerry and Tata. They're so fun to teach because they have 1000 questions. Tata really wants to know where the true church is and how he can know that it is the true church. He said that if we had the information he needs to be saved and we don't answer his questions it will be our fault and not his haha. He's not wrong. They get so excited every time they learn something new. Each principle takes a full lesson to teach because they ask so many questions but we know they're really understanding it so it's great! 

 

We had so many lessons and new people and miracles this week. Doubling covering is crazy stuff but we get to see twice the miracles so that's wonderful. I've felt so much peace this week and strength from heaven. I know that God's plan is perfect. I've been studying more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my personal study. Three things qualified Christ to be ready to perform the Atonement for us. 1. He was completely obedient. 2. He was prepared and willing. 3. He was completely submissive to the will of His Father. I recognized that all three of those things are things I can strive to do every day. My goal is to become completely submissive to God's will for me. Come what may and love it. I'm sooo blessed. 

 

I love you all. Be good

 

Sister Zollinger

 

P.S. I ate chicken liver this week. Interesting. Also a lizard sat on my lap during sacrament meeting yesterday. I named him Tinapay(Bread) because I saw him while they were passing the bread. Also a cockroach sat on my shoulder like a parrot during our lesson with Christine and I didn't even cry when I noticed he was there. Ground breaking. 

Here is the process to do my laundry. 

 
soak first in soap 

then load into the washing machine and fill the machine with water from the hose 

then spin twice for 15 minutes

oh if there's stains you scrub them out before you put it into the washing machine

then you rinse off the soap in the machine and put all the clothes into a bucket of water and rinse again

then you put them into a different bucket of water and rinse again

then dry spin twice to get out the excess water

then hang

"You have the eyes of our God"

This week I feel weak. It's been rough honestly. 

I'm officially in the trio life again.

I just watched the new video on the church website "Songs Sung and Unsung"  It's true. Some days are difficult. Our faith and our fortitude are tested. Something I say to the people we teach almost every day is that God gives us trials so we can show our faith in him. I'm grateful for opportunities to live what we teach. I know that Jesus truly can hear the songs we cannot sing. 

 

One of my new favorite scriptures right now is 

 

Romans 8:26:

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  

Sometimes when I'm "wrestling with God in mighty prayer" I don't have the words to say what I want to say or to ask for what I need. I love this scripture because it was an answer to a prayer. One of my questions of the soul. When we don't have to words to sing or the words to explain how we feel to God the Holy Ghost steps in and fills the gap. God truly can and does hear and answers the prayers of our hearts that we don't have the words for. 

Miracles this week:

Dindo and Ernesto accepted the invitation to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized!

Christine fasted on her own! 

Tatay Sandy who has never listened to us before joined in the lesson with his family and participated!  

"Above all don't abandon your role in the chorus! You're irreplaceable. The loss of even one voice diminishes every other singer in this great world choir of ours"

Stand as close as humanly possible to the Savior. That's what I'll be doing. 

Love you all. 

Sister Zollinger 

Hala! Kana!

Happy happy Conference Week! 

Fun update in my language journey: I officially dream in Hiligaynon so that's pretty sweet!

We had some amazing lessons this week! 

I love seeing the people we teach come to understand and accept in their hearts basic gospel truth. One of my favorites is when we get to teach people that God the Father. Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings. We were teaching Mary Ann this week and she was confused about that and as we were teaching and clarifying it was SO cool to see the light bulbs go on as the Holy Ghost confirmed truth to her. What a blessing to see. Her heart is so receptive to the gospel we love teaching her. When we were getting ready to leave she was like "wait.. Who's Mormon!" haha I love teaching people that have questions! It's fun to help them answer the questions of their soul and see their knowledge grow and their hearts soften. 

We had another wonderful lesson with Marivic. She lives really far away and it's hard to get transportation out there so we don't get to see her as often as we want but she's amazing! We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she was really excited to read and pray. She was so happy to see us and glad that we came. At the end of the lesson she jumped up and told us to wait while she went to buy us sweets haha. She's the best. We also got to teach her dad with her this time.He's kind of deaf like me and speaks mostly Cebuano but he was also really happy to learn. We found out she has a brother who is a member! 

Like always I wish I could share every lesson but it would take all day! I love the people we teach so much. They're wonderful examples to me and it's such a blessing to see their faith grow! 

We finally got to watch Conference this weekend! Wow! What a delight! The whole thing was like a giant spiritual hug! Some themes I noticed where Fear not! Lift up thy head and Rejoice! and we need to become like Christ in everything we do- especially in loving and ministering to his children. 

Sometimes I think I get weighed down by the gap between where I want to be and where I am. I think sometimes we let our fears and inadequacies get in the way of realizing our divine potential. This conference I realized that all we need to do to overcome that is to focus on our Savior and focus on his children! "Just do your best. "Then the Miracles came!" I know that perfect love casts out all fear. So when we are focused on giving all our love to the people around us there's no room for fear. There's no room for doubt or second guessing our own abilities. When we're focused on others we can receive more help from the Holy Ghost. Christ never used his power to help himself. It was always always for others. I realized that we have to have pure intentions for wanting revelation and power from the Holy Ghost. We have to want it so we can help and love others. Also if we're doubting not and fearing not and looking to Christ in every thought- our thoughts will be focused on the welfare of those around us. 

That's the highlights of what I learned. We need to try try try to be like Jesus. He'll help us I know it. 

We had so many beautiful experiences and lessons and new people to love this week. The Lord of the vineyard is in the vineyard!I see his hand in everything we do. Especially in the timing. I'm grateful that I prayed all those months ago for patience. It helps a lot ;) I'm so grateful to be a full time shepherd. Even if I can't be a German Shephard like Elder Uchtdorf. 

The church is true. God loves us so much. Try to be like Jesus. 

Palangga ko kamo! 

Sister Zollinger

"I can't believe she hasn't been translated yet" - relatable statement about all mothers

Welcome toooooo Sister Zollinger's weekly letter! 

This week was wonderful! The Lord is with us here in Kabankalan! Transfers are today and great news! Sister Aguda and I are staying together! A dream come true!! We're still seeing miracles every single day. The church is true. I checked this morning :) 

Yesterday on our long walk from Flora to Ayucotan a beautiful analogy was born. So I always lead the way on that particular walk because it's ALWAYS muddy and I always wear my little rainboots. I go first because I can find the solid places to walk that won't get Sister Aguda's shoes wrecked with mud. Yesterday I said that the real leader on our walk was the Holy Ghost and the ward missionary that was with us said "you're our Holy Ghost so we won't get muddy". I'm not actually the Holy Ghost but it was a pretty profound statement! In life we need to follow the leader! The Holy Ghost! So that he can show us the solid places to step so we won't get muddy! He can see far ahead and he can see the places where we might sink. I know that we can be protected spiritually and physically by following the leadership and guidance of the Holy Ghost! 

Yesterday was really fun. We started the day in the Primary. We got to tell the primary kids what missionaries do everyday and then we had a Q&A with them and they were so attentive and their questions were so serious. They wanted to know why it was important that we share the gospel. I love their sweet spirits. Later in the evening we had a lesson with Dindo and Daniel and Candido and all the primary kids that live by them came along to the lesson! It was so special. We taught the Plan of Salvation and they helped answer our questions. The Gospel really is simple. We need to be more like the Primary kids and open our hearts to receive it and stop over-complicating it :) 

A few weeks ago I told a story about Hermenia- she's the sweet less active member that really wants to be be able to go to the temple but things out of her control have been keeping her from coming to church. Well! Miracles! She got to come to church yesterday!!! It filled my heart so much to see her there. It was a huge testimony builder to me that what we promised her was true- that if she did her part God would provide a way for her to come to church! 

We had zone conference this week and it was marvelous! I

got an opportunity to speak on the Power of the Book of Mormon in confirming the message of the Restoration. I love the Book of Mormon so much. I just finished my Power of Prayer topic. :D Anyways the spirit was so strong at zone conference. Some of our senior couples are going home now and they bore their testimonies to us. Sister Bell talked about how all God wants to know is if He can have your heart. I know that's true.

 3 Nephi 9:19  And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings.

20 And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not. 

The only thing we have to sacrifice- to make holy- to give to the Lord- is our broken heart and a contrite spirit. That's all he asks for. The rest has been taken care of by our Savior. He just wants to know if he can have your heart!

Anywho. I want you to know that I know that God loves you :) Look for him in your life. Show him that he can have your heart through your actions. Find opportunities to serve the people God has put in your life. Pray and ask with a sincere heart if what you learned from conference is from God. Don't just brush it off or accept it without a thought. Really pray and ask- and God will let you know. And then have an action plan for what you'll do when you know it's true. 

Do a dance. Play with Legos. Ask a primary kid for life advice. Be happy. 

I love your stinking guts all of you.

Sister Zollinger