Week 79 - February 6, 2017

From: Jordan Mark Merrill <merrill.j@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2017 7:54 PM
To: Lauri Merrill
Subject:

Annnnnd... another 6 weeks in Malilipot. :) So this area is going to be #2 of longest time in 1 area but it’s all good with me! This is a great area. I was actually told that the location of my area is a blessing to the people here. It’s a little hard to explain but just know it’s good here. :) I have a great view of the Mayon, a great view of the ocean and I’m not too far from a McDonalds. ;) But as of my work here, we really have been blessed with plenty of potential investigators; part members, families, and re-activation of less actives. But it is all because of the hard work of course. We’re trying our best to use the blessing of obedience to see the fruits of our labors. We cleaned/rearranged our apartment and organized all our literature and we invited all the Branch missionaries to work with us as much as they can, and so far they have been pretty committed. One thing that happened this week, we visited a man (Baptist preacher) that we know likes to debate so our goal was to keep an organized lesson and share with him just our simple beliefs. Come to find out, he’s read the Book of Mormon, found all the "faults" then used it against us. He studied the restoration story of Joseph Smith then again, found the "faults" and used them against us. He studied us before we even knew him, then totally turned our lesson around. In short, he told us Joseph Smith is a silly false prophet and we should only believe in the Bible to be saved. He also claims to be a prophet. So all in all, he only strengthened our testimony and made us that much more prepared to go back with full force of the truth! Ha-ha. But he’s a nice man. Another big thing that happened this week was the worldwide missionary broadcast about the new missionary schedule. They announced that we are to become our own agents and choose our schedule during the day which gives us more room to work around our progressing investigators schedule. It was a big change but it came from the prophet so I guess we should follow it ha-ha. Sorry I don’t have any pictures this week, I did take some! But I’ll just have to send them next week. Well that’s it I think for me. :) Let us not forget our prayers. Mahal ko kayo. :)

**Elder Merrill**