Sister Delgado serves in the Great Legazpi! : Love is the very essence of the gospel‏

Kumusta po lahat tao!

This this week was pretty dandy. Sister Padre and I had two workshops we attended. One in Sorsagon with our zone and one in Legazpi for the trainers/ trainees meeting. We definitely learned a lot and our testimonies were greatly strengthened. I was able to have my first interview with my mission president, President Guanzon. He is just the best, and truly called of God.

President Guanzon reminded us that love is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten son, and thus provided is a way to return to live in His presence through the atonement and the restored gospel. All things Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has done, doing, and will do is out of pure love. Our challenges, everything given to us is to help us grow and learn so that we can become better than who we were yesterday.

Im so blessed and privileged to have heard President Guanzon’s words of encouragement, wisdom, love, and instruction this week. I’m very grateful for the opportunities ive had to learn and be edified from the workshops that were given to us.

As things get harder and I’m adjusting to the providences here in the Philippines, my faith is truly tested. My patience, my endurance….everything. But because I know my purpose here as a missionary and am striving to have a heart full of love, I pray to the Lord with all the energy of my heart every night. Especially when my body is physically trying to adjust to everything here and I don’t feel well, through the lord’s strength and the scriptures, I find so much strength through it all.

This work is quite demanding and can be difficult at times. Ive recognized that. But what I’ve also recognized is through praying, and pleading with the Lord until I have nothing left to give, he will deliver me comfort and strength that is exactly what I need in order to do His will. The amount of joy I feel with sister Padre and the happiness I feel when serving the Gubat branch makes it all worth it.

I really love this work, and I really love sharing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone I meet. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and as we read it, ponder, and pray to know it’s true, God will answer us. That’s something we’re working on with most investigators. A lot of them aren’t sure when it comes to the Book of Mormon because they are so used to the Bible only. Sister Padre and I promise them that if they do what it says in the last two paragraphs of the Book of Mormon introduction; which is to read it, ponder, and ask God in the name of Jesus Christ if it is true, they will know for themselves that it is through the power of the Holy Ghost. Then, if they know it’s true,they will also know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God’s restored church and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.

It’s amazing how before my mission, all of these things were simply beliefs of mine. But as I show my faith in Jesus Christ through actions, my beliefs have become knowledge. I know no matter how many challenges Sister Padre and I face, the one thing that will never change is our knowledge of God and Christ’s actual existence and that this is truly the restored church of Jesus Christ. Because God loves us so much, He’s provided us everything in order to find true happiness.. We just need to have that desire to find and use it.

I love you all and think of each of you often.
Mahal Kita

Sister Delgado

PS One night sister Padre and I were walking from an area Balig-ang and it was late and night and there were no tricycles for us to ride home. It felt like an even longer walk home because of how exhausted we are. And we hadn't eaten dinner yet. But on the way home this motorcycle stops right in front of us and these people jump out and run toward us... scared me to death, Luckily it was the Erhina family and they gave sister Padre and I a container of ulam and gulay. And Sister Erhina had made me a pooka shell necklace and placed it on my neck... Literally angels sent from heaven.. We were so surprised. Definitely one of the many tender mercies given to us.