Mission Dreams

I'm not sure where to start in describing this week, but some of the highlights were that Catherine's baptismal interview was a success! Her mom is even beginning to be more friendly with us. Catherine is a true "convert" to the gosepl: I only started teaching her because I thought her parents were members and less-active and that it would be what the missionaries call a "rescue mission". As we began to teach her, she accepted and followed what she learned with all her 11-year-old heart! Then, after we already invited her to be baptized, we learned that her parents are NOT members of the Church- just her lola (grandma). But by that point, she already had a testimony and a desire to join the Church, and with her parents consent and Nanay Minda's support, SHE WAS BAPTIZED this last Sunday! And I couldn't believe I was seeing a baptism in Danao after all the previous ones that have fallen through- but I know that a missionary's consistent efforts pay off and we just need trust in the Lord's timing and in His will!

We also had our TRANSFER CALLS and I am leaving Danao....oh how I love this ghetto little beach down here in Cebu island :) and oh how I love Sister Paget (who got HIT BY A CAR on Saturday and took it all like a champ!)

But I am being transferred BACK TO BOHOL island, but this time I'll be serving in Calape Zone in Sagbayan! Let me paint you all a mental picture of my new area- green fields of rice and corn. The famous chocolate hills. A small merkado to buy vegetables. Long walks and hikes. AND WE RIDE BIKES! I'm so grateful to be in an area that helps me be really physically active as I'm really missing fitness and gearing up to go back to it in 12 weeks!

The branch here is very new and just barely starting out, so there is plenty of work to focus on! Mostly all the members are recent converts themselves; in fact, the branch president right now is Elder Bell, the senior couple missionary! I feel so privileged to be a part of the history of this part of Bohol island, and to do it with Sister Ross as my companion again!

I love missionary work here in the Philippines because I know, and am continually seeing, that "great are the promises of the Lord unto them that are upon the isles of the sea" (2 Nephi 10:21) But I also know that missionary work is not just to be done out in faraway lands with foreign names and languages- it is best done in our own backyard and in our our neighborhood. No matter where we are, we are continually part of the "great and marvelous work" of spreading the Gospel!

Coming soon: gwapa pictures of me in my bike helmet.....stay tuned!

Nagmahal ko ninyo, ug gimahal ta sa Dios!

-sister bertoldo