This week was great! Tuesday we had the BEST Zone Meeting I can ever
remember... probably because Sister Butler and I were the ones teaching... we
were definitely inspired. We had been trying to think of ideas for a week
beforehand but ideas weren't really coming until the day before. We fasted and
prayed and the revelation started to come. We decided to teach about faith to
move members in seeking the upper class. We created an awesome analogy about an
airplane emergency and had all the missionaries act it out... we prepared a long
room, with chairs aligned and numbered like in a real airplane and taped face
masks to the bottom of every chair. It was an awesome analogy... if I do say so
myself. We had emergency exit personnel who had additional assignments taped to
the bottom of their chair. President and Sister Auino were the pilot and
co-pilot. We gave them instructions and passed out peanuts and began out
flight. A few seconds into the flight there was an emergency... the airplane
started to lose pressure and all the passengers needed to put on their oxygen
masks and they only had 30 seconds to do so. Each missionary however had a color
on their chair that determined whether they were an adult or child. The
children could not put on their own masks... and the adults had to first put on
their own before they could help anyone else. The trick was... that some of the
masks were either missing or broken... it was up to the emergency exit personnel
to follow their instructions in helping their fellow passengers to either
retrieve new masks from us, the flight attendants, or to help them fix their
masks. It was awesome. 3 people died in that emergency... which was perfect.
No matter what the conclusion was, it would have made for a great
discussion.
So, I guess I'll explain what each thing means... The flight attendants (me
and sister butler) were representing all the missionaries. We are trained and
know what everyone needs in order to be saved... and are equipped with the tools
in order to do so. The Emergency Exit Personnel represent the members... they
know the people around them and what they need and are able to help them get
what they need. They were given special instructions in which they could work
through us to help the others. And they are SO important! The adults represent
the upper class... who have the ability to help others once they have been saved
themselves... and the children represent the lower class... who are just as
important as everyone else and also need to be saved... but can't really do as
much in building the kingdom of God. In our analogy... there were a whole lot
more children than adults, which is accurate for here in our areas. We have
been encouraged by our amazing leaders in the church to seek the middle and
upper class, people who can really help build the kingdom of God... and once the
church is strong... everyone else will much easier be able to live the gospel.
As it is... when all the members don't have enough money to get to church, they
can't really hold a calling, and the church doesn't get any stronger. (D&C
58:9-11)
Anyways, it was an awesome training and we had an amazing discussion
afterwards where the missionaries came up with even more amazing insights about
things that happened in the activity and about things that they have been seeing
and experiences they have been having in their individual areas. Participation
in meetings is amazing and really brings the spirit. I am so grateful for God's
help in this and in our work every day. I really had a good time!
I had a really cool experience yesterday at church. We miraculously had 7
investigators at church! We were hoping for about 15.... but it's okay... 5 of
those were potential priesthood holders and they doubled the elders quorum
class, haha. Anyways, in our gospel essentials class, the topic came up about
whether God has a body of flesh and bone or if he is just a spirit. It became
quite the debate and the branch president got involved and then President Aquino
even came in and shared. Our investigator Romeo, who will be getting baptized
this Saturday was still confused about this issue and he wasn't sure what to
believe... he was sharing all these scriptures from the bible that proves God is
just a spirit... he doesn't know yet about JS Translations, haha. I know
though, that you can't prove anything with the bible... there are errors in the
bible! You need an additional witness. The situation was starting to get kind of
intense, and I could just feel something welling up inside me... I knew I needed
to say something. I raised my hand and waited to be called on... I don't know
why, but my heart was pounding so hard and I felt really hot and shaky... when I
was finally called on, I just shared my simple testimony of the restoration of
the gospel and the church and about prayer in order to know the truth for
yourself. I never felt the spirit so strongly. The classroom got quiet again
after that and soon ended. I will never forget that experience... My testimony
of the restoration of the gospel increased a ton with that experience. Even
though I've been testifying and teaching about it for months, this time it was
just a little different. It felt good. :D
There are a lot more things that happened this week... we went on exchanges
which was super fun, lots of great new investigators, getting soaked again from
rain... opportunities to serve and more. I love missionary work SO much! I
will never ever ever regret this chance that I had to come here to the
Philippines and serve these people and God for 18 months. It is the best thing
ever and I am learning SO much! I will never be the same again.
I love you all. Take care always. Choose the Right.
Love,
Sister McClellan
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