Week 44

 Hello Family.
This was a really great week.  We taught many, many lessons and have several investigators.  We get more and more investigators every week.   The challenge is helping them to progress, but we believe that they will.  We had some good experiences.  At the wedding last monday, we were invited by the wife of an americano to his birthday party. So on Wednesday, we went to his birthday party and found the biggest gathering of americanos than I had seen in a really long time.  I found it so hard and slightly awkward to talk to them.  I don't know why, but I was super nervous to even approach them and say hi.  I have no social skills around americans!! haha.  But we did and found out they are all from America and many of them have retired and are living here with their Filipina wives.  None of them know the language at all... but they were very nice.  One of them was a less-active member from Mississippi and had a very strong accent.  He stopped coming to church because he didn't understand what anyone was saying and felt
like it was pointless... the only part of church he understood was the sacrament.  We tried to help him as best we could, but being at a party... we couldn't really teach a lesson ;D  but we know the elders have been visiting him at his home.  The house we were at though was probably one of the biggest houses I have ever seen... and right on the beach.  We were able to get a few addresses of people though and have been trying to contact them all and teach them.  It's been fun.

Another good experience.  Sister Geraldine, one of our good investigators, had a concern about being baptized because her family were all of a different religion.  This last week we had the opportunity to teach her father about baptism.  We were really not expecting his response.  When we first began teaching him a few weeks ago, if we invited him to church, he would just say that he was going to go to his church, but this last time, we taught about baptism from 2 Nephi 31 and he accepted the invitation to be baptized! And he said that he and Geraldine would both be coming to church.  The spirit was so strong in that lesson and Sister Aurelio and I had big smiles on our faces as we left.  Then Sunday came... and they didn't come.  But you don't need to know that part, haha.

We are still enjoying this work.  We continue to visit all these people and help them to build their faith.  And once their faith has increased to the point where
they come to church or keep other commitments, their faith will continue to increase because of their exercising of their faith and keeping of their commitments.  And they will be baptized. :D

This work is really satisfying.  Of course we also have a lot of disappointments and challenges, but that's to be expected.  We will never give up.  We won't stop trying, even when the mighty winds come
and the fiery darts of the adversary, etc. come. We are doing what we can to raise our warning voices. We are calling the world to repentance :D  Like Ammon, Alma, and my other heroes in the Book of
Mormon. :D  It's awesome.
Love you all,
Have a wonderful week
Sister McClellan