Maligayang Pagdating sa Pilipinas!

ANG HABA NG LINGGO

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Ashley Mecham	8:27 PM (17 hours ago)
to me, Amanda, Austin, Elizabeth, Jamie, Liza, Kendra, Lindsey, Patrick, D, Ryan

This was a long week. It was hard. And we're still having so many blessings. 

I know I keep talking about this, but we OYM'd two more people this week that happened to be baptized years ago but then moved here and didn't know where the church was. When I came this area, there was 1 less active member that lived in our area. Now we have 8. WHAT? That's so many, and the other seven we met through just talking to people. And one of them, Sister Lenie, is returning! And she's referring all her friends and neighbors. It's awesome. 

This week we had zone conference. Our zone leader wrote a huge 16 on the whiteboard and said, "This is how many baptisms the Lord wants us to have in March. That means we need 2 baptisms per companionship. How many of you believe we can reach this goal?" Everyone went silent. My first thought was how rough shape our area was in when I got here and how there was literally no one left behind from the last missionary to be baptized. But then, I thought of how he phrased that, "how many the Lord wants us to have." Then I shouted YES. Which was actually awkwardly loud. Every one else was still silent. He asked again, "Do you believe we can reach this?" Silence. "YES!!!" -coming from me only. Then he taught us how we need to have faith that we can do the things that the Lord has commanded us. And how these next two weeks will make or break it for March. SO, I know that we need a ton of faith here. But I really know that the Lord will help us do His will. This past week I've really been feeling like my faith was through the roof, but then Sunday came and only one investigator came to church. (If no one comes to church, no one can be baptized). But then I read this talk from this guy that says when things don't happen the way we hoped, "REDOUBLE YOUR FAITH AND TRY AGAIN." So, this week, I'll be redoubling my faith. Because I know my Father in Heaven loves His children in Paranaque and He will help us help them if we have enough faith.

That's all. I hope all is well with you. This next week a member is making me lasagna. This past week they fed me peaches. Those two things don't really exist in the Philippines unless you're very wealthy. Our members are very wealthy. I'm going to get fat here. 

Sister Mecham