The Lord's Timing Is Now

Hello Family and Friends.

I'd really just like to thank you all so much for your support, love, and encourage to me throughout these past life changing months of my life/ mission to our heavenly father.

Within the past 3 months, a few health problems that I developed before my mission have come up again. The Lord has really blessed me with great health for the majority of my mission.

I've been at the missionary recovery center in Manila for the past week and the doctors said that they couldn't get proper diagnosis and medicine due to being in a 3rd world country and

refuse to send me back to the field. But in short, these health issues have taken a strong toll on fate, and I find myself unexpectedly returning home a transfer earlier than expected. I'm given an honorable release and leave sometime this week. 

My companion from Legazpi, Sister Wilkins has been experiencing some health issues as well and the same experience is happening to her. So we will be going home together. We're kind of shocked that that this is happening to us together. But we're grateful we have each other to lean on for support and whatnot. I suppose another inclination of the Lord's perfect timing.

There have been so many miracles and manifestations the Lord has provided me with in accepting what's happening, and I ultimately feel at peace and have gained so much trust in our father in heaven. 

With going to the temple frequently and receiving such strong personal revelation from Heavenly Father, I know that this is all part of His plan. 

My faith in Christ has grown so much as I've relied so heavily on the merits of His atonement, prayer, and scripture study to receive answers to my many questions and comfort from leaving my beloved Filipino people. 

Also, the timing of general conference has been impeccable. 

Of course, Elder Jeffrey R Holland said everything everyone needed to hear, and within seconds of his presence, I felt the Lord's love in strong abundance. He has such a soft heart for missionaries and Ive watch many of his devotionals that have been therapeutic. 

Some eternal truths that I learned from Elder Holland that have helped me grow in faith was when he reminded us that although the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, might, mind and strength, our Heavenly Father loved us first. He created us. Elder Holland said,

"The first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of HIS heart, HIS might, HIS mind, and HIS strength. That love is the foundation stone of eternity, and it should be the foundation stone of our daily life. Indeed it is only with that reassurance burning in our soul that we can have the confidence to keep trying to improve, keep seeking forgiveness for our sins, and keep extending that grace to our neighbor."

Because of this mission I am no longer afraid of tomorrow.

With the Lord's grace and His son's mercy, we get credit for trying.

Our efforts, our intentions mean everything to the Lord. 

I'm so grateful for the sacred opportunity I had to wear my Savior's name over my heart everyday while here in the Philippines.

I'm so grateful for the love and lessons learned every single day with the filipino people.

Legazpi will forever hold a special place in my heart. 

The people I've met on this adventure will forever be remembered.

I will never forget things i've seen, felt, and done here while serving in His vineyard. 

I love the Lord so much, and am eternally grateful for Christ's sacrifice. 

Because of Him, I can never be the same. 

Because of Him, Christ is written in the fleshy tables of my Heart.

I trust and love the Lord. 

It's been such a great journey. :) 

Love you all! Till we meet again! :)

-Sister Delgado 

The Head and the Heart

Hello family and friends!

It's been a good week!

I don't think I express enough how much I love serving and teaching the people here in Irosin. Seeing the light in their eyes when they receive help is priceless. This tiny branch is slowly but surely growing and the Lord has mercy upon these people. i love it here :) 

This week we had zone conference and I loved it!

The topic of the week was on follow up with investigators, and the analogy given was in ACTS 3:1-8.  As soon as the bible video was shown, I instantly understood. As Peter reached his hand to the lame man, the lame man felt his love and help, and had the courage to walk in faith in Christ. I realized that's exactly the way we should handle all investigators that fall off the wagon of progressing towards Christ. We must be patient with those around us, and give them our hand to help lift them up. 

Well the heart of the week was finding one of my new favorite scriptures and Julie. 

Julie is a 15 year old investigator that was originally being taught by the elders, but since she moved, we are now her new missionaries! She's super sweet, and we instantly clicked. She's been going to church for 2 Sundays in a row and has a baptismal date for April 16th! 

She has a real desire to change and has a lot of faith. Such a tender mercy of the Lord to be her new missionary! 

My favorite scripture of this week is found in 2 Corinthians 3:3-5

3. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

4. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

I'm at the point in my life where I know what I want in life, and how the blessing of being an epistle of the Lord Jesus Christ for the past year and almost half is the reason behind that. 

That aren't that many consistent, definite things in life. It can get so confusing at times, and there may even be times where we just want the train to stop.

But I promise that once we allow Christ to truly sink in our hearts, everything He is and Has to offer is sufficient for whatever trial we face. No, it won't fix it all at once. But day by day, we can rely on the commandments He's given us and the promise blessings that follow.

I love my Savior so much, and I feel so blessed to represent Him here in my area. Heavenly Father loves His children so much. It's up to us if we will come unto Him and give out our helping hands to others. 

There is so much to feel good about family and friends!

Be happy!

Seek the atonement of Christ.

Seek to find REAL happiness through Him that created everything on the earth.

I testify of Him and His divinity and how much we are capable of through Him.

Mahal Kita!

-Sister Delgado 

Philippines and American Flag!
Davs is getting anxious for when her visa arrives!
(She's going to Scottsdale, AZ)

Having fun in satay DeJesus' garden!
(Less active we teach)

Busy with Holy Week!

On our way to our hike!

The hill we climbed

and a home on the way.

There is a true art to chopping coconuts.

The art of chopping coconuts

HAYEAH!

Raining on our way to the top!

Progression!

Hello family and friends!

This week was interesting!

So sister Davocol and I finally have progressing investigators!! After hours of tracting and finding, our week has paid off! 

Brother Joseph and Brother Valentine. 

They came to church! It was so cool because they were both previous investigators of the zone leaders in our zone and they gave them to us to teach and it was such a special experience to see them stay the whole time!

For Filipinos 3 hours is a long time to go to church! haha

Brother Joseph really impressed the members with his understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ even though he's just an investigator!

I have a good feeling about these tatays and even though we may not witness their baptism within the transfer, I enjoy teaching them and feeling the spirit with them and my companion. The branch is in need of more priesthood leaders and so the Lord is definitely making preparations for that!

I really love the Irosin Branch members.

We have too much fun together and everyone is so kind. 

I'm really beginning to enjoy the simple things that are happening in this tiny branch.

I really feel the Lord's love for each of these beloved saints.

I'm so grateful to be where I am at this time!

Love you all!

Sister Delgado

View from our meeting house!go Irosin! 

Grace shall be as your day‏

Dear friends and Fam!

It's been such a great week of finding and teaching!!! Hay nako!!

Sister Davocol and I have seen many miracles in opening our mouths to share the gospel with others and with teaching when we find and finding when we teach. We’ve had several cases were we were looking for investigators in our area book (a lot harder to do in the PI because no really has direct addresses haha) and we’d ask people if they knew a certain someone and the person we’d ask ended up being the person we were looking for! Super cool stuff. Then we’d teach them and have super spiritual experiences.

But since we are the first sisters to ever go to Irosin, the elders basically gave us the less actives who have been having a hard time coming to church. Its been a humbling experience to find ways to help then in their individual trials and help them realize that coming back to church is the answer to helping them feel of Heavenly Father’s hand in their life. 

During our personal study, I started to read a talk I printed last week from BYU speeches called, “His grace is suffient” By Brad Wilcox. 

That changed everything for me. 

I wish I had all the time in the world to talk about how that talk strengthened my understanding of the atonement and it dawned on me what  should be shared to the less actives who are having such a hard time coming back to church. THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST! 

Once we started focusing on Christ and his grace and mercy and LOVE for all His children, the eyes of the less actives let up and were even watery. And as I testified of our savior’s love for them no matter what they’ve done in the past, my eyes started to water as well. 

And seeing some come back to church the next Sunday was such a tender moment.

Brad Wilcox writes: 

“The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there. If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen to live without faith and without repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon sin and become comfortable with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon God and become comfortable with sin. If Jesus did not require covenants and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, then there would be no way to change. We would be left forever with only willpower, with no access to His power. If Jesus did not require endurance to the end, then there would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and becoming part of us—part of who we are. Put simply, if Jesus didn’t require practice, then we would never become pianists.

Christ’s Grace Is Sufficient to Help Us

“But Brother Wilcox, don’t you realize how hard it is to practice? I’m just not very good at the piano. I hit a lot of wrong notes. It takes me forever to get it right.” Now wait. Isn’t that all part of the learning process? When a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don’t say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We don’t expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying. Perfection may be his ultimate goal, but for now we can be content with progress in the right direction. Why is this perspective so easy to see in the context of learning piano but so hard to see in the context of learning heaven?

Too many are giving up on the Church because they are tired of constantly feeling like they are falling short. They have tried in the past, but they always feel like they are just not good enough. They don’t understand grace.

One young man wrote me the following e-mail: “I know God has all power, and I know He will help me if I’m worthy, but I’m just never worthy enough to ask for His help. I want Christ’s grace, but I always find myself stuck in the same self-defeating and impossible position: no work, no grace.”

I wrote him back and testified with all my heart that Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have done “all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). He is with us every step of the way.

Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written, “The Savior’s gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time to ‘after’ all we can do. We may receive his grace before, during and after the time when we expend our own efforts” (The Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 155). So grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now. It is not a finishing touch; it is the Finisher’s touch (see Hebrews 12:2).”

The Savior is with us every step of the way.

Our every falling moment, He has atoned. He will help us during the journey of becoming better people. That’s something I didn’t understand so well. 

Im so grateful for the Savior and my better understanding of the atonement.

Because of Him, we can do all things.

Love ya all!

-Sister Delgado 

I sure love my kasama! She's such an angel!

Our wonderful meetinghouse! 

Pretty Irosin!