Adventures in Bacolod: Week 49...The Carpenter's Tools.

This last week was great! Not much work got done because we had a 3 day training in Bacolod. So elder Newman and I left our greenies in our areas and then we came to Bacolod to get a training from President Tobias and the A.P.s. It was way cool. It was Elder Newmans 2nd time at the meeting. It was way good. The brethren have just come out with a new handbook of instruction. We have received a new way to use Preach My Gospel to better understand it. There are some different topics that it focuses on.

First, the Doctrine of Christ. That is the most important part. If, as missionaries we don't point to Christ, we are not fulfilling our purpose. It's my favorite part. The next thing is the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. If we don't have the Holy Ghost, conversion is impossible. This is the Lord's church and only he can bring others unto him. Us as missionaries are the tools in the Carpenter's hand.

Then there are 3 focus which I love. Revelation through prayer, Book of Mormon, and church attendance. These three things are of necessity for us to fulfill our purpose in bringing them to Christ. Because in order for us to truly have faith we must have works. These are 3 things that will bring the spirit to them and help them to learn of the truth. Then we have teaching people not lessons. This is us focusing truly on the needs of the people. We don't just teach a missionary lesson to mark it off the teaching record. But we show them how much they really need the gospel in their lives. This is where learning the recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost becomes necessary. Because we need to discern the needs of these people.

Next we have how to begin teaching. This sets the tone of the lesson, brings the spirit, and helps us learn needs. And also helps investigators know why we are doing what we are doing. That is what I taught earlier today at district meeting. It was great. It helps them learn to trust that God has sent us to their house to bring the message of the restoration.

And last, we have; We invite, they commit, we follow up. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. The key word being invite. Most people we meet have a relationship with Christ but they are missing something. The first thing I said. The Doctrine of Christ, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. That is what we are bringing to the people. But they must be invited first because they aren't sure of what they need to do. We have the steps to truly bring them into Christ's fold and stand before him blameless at the last day.

I love this. This is what we were trained on. I am realizing that I'm not even close to being the kind of missionary I've been striving to be. I have so much more I have to learn. And we do it through study and hard work. Know the doctrine, sharpen yourself to the best tool you can be in the Carpenters hand, and get to work. For "the field is white all ready to harvest". I am grateful for all of your prayers for me and for my mother. I pray that you will continue to pray for me for I can't do this alone. Pray that the work of the Lord here will move forward faster than ever and that the missionaries and I that are here will be the best tools we can be for our Lord and Savior as well as Father in Heaven! I love you all and hope you are coming to Christ daily through your works. tumanon ang pagtuo! (keep the faith)