Open Your Mouth Pa More!

I love Bacolod!

There's SO MANY PEOPLE in our area which is amazing. We spend like half our days just meeting new people and talking to everyone. Sister Christensen is amazing and is super on the ball with teaching all the ends of the earth. This week we gave out like over 200 pass along cards and that was cool because we had some of the members come up to us at church and said "You gave my inactive big brother an invitation to church!" God is really placing specific people in our path I know it. Also I keep getting blessed with angels as companions I'm so lucky and learning so much. 

This week is kind of a blur because I'm still trying to figure out the area and who everyone is and where everything is but it's really a wonderful place to be! We're working with tons of part members families right now and a lot of them have goals to be baptized this transfer! So that's really exciting also we met a ton of new people this week and we're super excited to start working with all of them. 

Tatay Susing came to church for the first time this week and

when we asked him how he felt he said it was beautiful! In the past he's been hesitant to come without his friend Mark but we had a really great lesson with him this week. We asked if he had any unanswered questions about God in his life and he just asked us why God took his wife early because she passed away a few years ago. We reviewed the plan of salvation with him and he said it helped him feel peace and then he came to church even without Mark. He's the best and we also met another one of his friends yesterday and he said we could come teach his whole family. We happened to have given his daughter a Book of Mormon on Tuesday and they were able to talk about that a little bit before we met her dad. Heavenly Father is really working here it's amazing to witness. 

I learned so much this week and I'm super excited to apply it all and continue to see miracles. I feel a lot of urgency right now to give Heavenly Father everything I have time is really flying.

I love you all!!

Sister Zollinger 

Sister Christensen and Sister Zollinger

"Nay do you want some chips?" "I don't have any teeth"....... oh sorry

 

I GOT TRANSFERRED!!! I'm in Bacolod 2nd ward and my new companion is Sister Christensen! Sister Schenk and I traded places and she's in Cadiz now.  I definitely cried myself to sleep last night but I'm really excited for the miracles we will see here in Bacolod. Who knows maybe I'll finally find Oca's family. 

It was so sad to leave Sister Villanueva she's an angel on earth. Honestly the nicest person I've ever met she really inspired me and helped me everyday to be more Christlike. I'm really going to miss her but we'll see each other and MLC and stuff. I'm trying to convince her to name her first child after me hahha I don't think she's buying it. I'm so grateful for the 12 weeks we had to work together. 

I had an interesting experience this week. An older lady invited us in to teach her and her daughter in law was there but when we walked in and said hello to her she just ignored us and then hid in the room and played on her phone. After the lesson I just felt so strongly that I needed to go talk to her so I went up to the door and just said that I needed to tell her that Heavenly Father loves her and knows exactly what's happening in her life and that we were sent to her house just for her to know that and I invited her that the next time God sent a servant to their home she would open up and listen to them. I felt the spirit so strong it was really an incredible experience and I'm so grateful for it. One of the most important things I've learned so far as a missionary is really to fear no man. The only reason people reject the message is because they forgot their true identity and we're just here to remind them. And sometimes we need to be brave enough to remind them even if they ignore us or reject us. Something I always think about is 'when is the next time I'm going to see this person and what will they have to say to me?.. "Thank you" or "Why didn't you talk to me?"' It helps me be brave.

Also this week Randy received the priesthood!!!!!!!! I was so proud of him. I'm going to miss their family so much. We had a last FHE with them on Saturday night and it was so bitter sweet. They've come so far. 

And yoko came to church all by herself! Usually she comes with her next door neighbor who's a member but she was visiting her aunt in another part of town and she came anyways and she was early!!! Be still my soul 

Sister Villanueva

Yesterday I got the best gift of my life. My last lesson in Cadiz was with Diolinda and her husband Ricardo and Kevin came too. We taught Ricardo for the first time because when we first started teaching Diolinda he had just had a stroke and couldn't talk but he's better now. Anyways Diolinda told me that tons of missionaries and Americans have walked by their house over the years and she never wanted to talk to any of them and would just brush them off. But when she first saw me she felt something in her heart and really hoped that I would talk to her and when I finally did she said she felt her heart melt or something and because of that she's come into the church. She promised to keep going even though I left. Her baptism is scheduled in two weeks. I really just cried so much when she told me that. I could serve 18 months and have nothing else happen but just knowing that I was an instrument for Heavenly Father just for Diolinda makes everything so worth it.  My one wish I had before I came to the mission field really came true and it really brings the tears I'm so grateful and humbled. Heavenly Father is so good to us and we are so undeserving. 

Alma 29: 9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.

 I love you all remember who you really are and why you're here!

Sister Zollinger 

Become as He is

This was a super full week!

This Wednesday we had a mission tour with Elder Wakolo! He's my favorite. I learned so much from him this week that will change our mission going forward. I'm excited to see what we can do as we apply everything. He put a lot of focus on being missionaries that are on fire by doing the basics every single day. Especially by putting more focus on studying Preach My Gospel everyday. Also evaluating our teaching every time by asking

1. Did my teaching build faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement

2. Did my teaching encourage repentance and change 

3. Did my teaching help them feel the Savior's love

Also he told a story about his first day in the mission field when he was a mission president. He went out with the assistants to teach a family and when the got there the father was waiting in the bedroom for the lesson to be done. Elder Wakolo asked where he was and all family said he's waiting in the room he'll never come. Elder Wakolo asked for his name and then called out to him and invited him to come join his family and listen to the message of Jesus Christ. He tried that twice and it didn't work the father said he would just wait in the bedroom and the family said again he'll never come. Elder Wakolo called a 3rd time and said I've come here all the way from Fiji to share with your family the message of Jesus Christ have some manners and come join us. He said it worked that time and the father joined the lesson and didn't chase them from the home. We talked about how you can never be too bold if you have love. 

I was pretty inspired by that story and the next day I was on exchanges in Victorias with Sister Tabelisma. She's great. Anyways we got to our first appointment of the day and it was two sisters and they both had their children with them. When we sat down to start the lesson only one sister joined us. She said her sister would just wait in the bedroom. I remembered Elder Wakolo's story and I asked what the other sisters name was. I called her name and invited her to join us and listen to the message of Jesus Christ. And she came! And it was wonderful and we got to give her her own copy of the Book of Mormon and she committed to continue to listen to the missionaries. That was a great day we started teaching 23 new people. 

We did meet one sister that day who was about 63 but she only looked about 40. We asked what her secret was and she said she didn't have a husband anymore that he had passed away. We asked if she wanted to be with him again and she said well no not really. We didn't really know where to go from there haha. 

Friday we had MLC with Elder Wakolo and I learned LOTS of ways that I can repent. That was a good time. He wrote down 6 struggles in our mission and then we split into 6 groups and found a solution for every single one. I'm pretty excited to see what we can do going forward. 

Saturday Kimberly was baptized!! She's actually the purest human I know. She's in 2 Nephi now in the Book of Mormon and she's now helping us teach Rex. She cried when she bore her testimony at her baptism and had the best smile when she stood in front of the ward after her confirmation. In the priesthood blessing after her confirmation they blessed her with a desire to serve a full time mission and that made me really happy. She's my hero. She's really become our little sister in the past few months and talks to us about EVERYTHING haha I love her. 

This week was incredibly rewarding and also incredibly spiritually stretching. Before I let California I prayed for the gift of being able to weep. I don't really know why I did that. haha. 

I love you all !!!! Be good and remember that you're loved by at least 3 people!! (Me, Heavenly Father, and Jesus :)) 

Sister Zollinger

 

 

The Filipino way is always the best way

This was a wonderful week.

I had two exchanges this week- one in Sagay and one here in Cadiz. We ate lots of food both days.  

Diolinda (Jolinda) is a miracle! She's been to church two times now and her testimony is already so strong. She's inviting literally everyone she knows to come to church with her. She accepted a baptismal date for July 6th! Also we promised her that her financial problems would decrease if she started coming to church and the next day she won the lottery oh my goodness haha. Now every time she prays she thanks Heavenly Father that she won the lottery. (We taught her about gambling now so all is well haha)  Also she told us to teach her everything that's not allowed for us to do because she's "Mormons" now . Oh my goodness I love her so much her baptism is probably going to be the best day of my life even if I'm not here in Cadiz anymore. 

Also Kimberly passed her baptism interview and will be baptized this Saturday!!! Yay! She's in 1 Nephi 20 now in the Book of Mormon and the people she lives with told us she reads every single night. I'm so proud of her. 

Also Yoko is doing Book of Mormon study with the member that lives next door to her all the time. Like seriously I think the people we're teaching right now are actually angels that just fell from heaven. They're all so precious and elect. 

Sister Villanueva and I got a little lost up in the mountain on Saturday trying to find a better way to get to one of the families we're teaching so we paused and took some sound of music pictures haha. It was good that we got lost though because we met a sweet lady named Celia and she opened up to us about some struggles in her life and we got to set a return appointment with her. 

Yesterday we had 10 people come to church which was another miracle! Maybe I'm dreaming because this week was just too good. 

Love you all!

Sister Zollinger