Week 16

Dear Family,

This was a super good week! Two of our investigators, Aillene and
Karla, had their baptismal interviews yesterday and are all set to be
baptized this coming Saturday. I am so excited for them!  They are so
prepared and excited.  They know the covenants that they will be
making and are willing and desirous to make those covenants to become
clean and to receive all the promised blessings.  They are also ready
and willing to take the sacrament every week for the rest of their
lives and continue to make and keep those and other covenants.

I'm still the ward pianist, and I have been asked to play for stake
conference this coming Sunday as well.  So that will be fun.  The YSA
choir of our stake have also been chosen to sing for Elder Bednar when
he comes to Iloilo on the 28th of this month.  I wish I could sing for
him too!!! haha.  I'm still excited to go listen to him though... and
to have a few hours to relax as we travel :)

This morning in my Personal Study, I was studying about Charity... and
since I can't think of anything else to write about, maybe I'll share
some of the things I learned or thought about.  First of all, the
whole reason we are here on earth is because of charity.  We are here
because our Father in Heaven loves us so much and desires our
happiness. He wants to give us the opportunity to become like Him.  He
also sent His Only Begotten Son to the earth to suffer and die for us.
 Now, the love of Jesus Christ... his sacrifice... is what enables us
to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.  He accomplished the
Atonement so that he would know how to help us, so that we could be
forgiven, and be saved.  He did this even though the people persecuted
Him so much.  He forgave them.  He also lived a perfect life, always
having compassion on others and setting a good example for us.  God
and our Heavenly Father have both done their part and yet they still
bless us daily and continue to help us even though we make so many
mistakes.  Now, we need to do our part.  If we don't have charity, we
are nothing.  God knows this, which is why he gave us the commandment
to have charity.  God gives us commandments to help us!  He knows what
we need to do in order to return to His presence.  Charity is also a
gift.  We need to pray for it "with all the energy of heart."  Charity
leads to sincere action.  As I was studying and pondering and making
connections, I learned a lot that I think will help me in my
missionary work. Each of you should also strive to study this topic
more completely, to try to develop the attributes of Christ, and to
pray for help and guidance as you do so.  It is a life-long process to
completely understand all that we need to, so we can't afford to slack
off a single day! :-)

I still need to work more on making my Personal and Companionship
Studies as meaningful and productive as they could be.  What I know
for sure though is that they are so worthwhile.  I know everyone
always says this on their missions and right after and some don't end
up continuing, but I really have seen the benefit of studying the
scriptures daily.  I really do want to continue to do this for the
rest of my life, even when things get hard or busy.  I know that life
gets hard and busy, but I know also that you can do anything if you
have enough desire.  Make this an important part of your life.  Make
your daily scripture study a priority.  I know it will bless your
lives.

Halong!
Sister McClellan