Conversion

This week our IBD Jovilyn Castro, had her baptismal interview and she is all set to be baptized this Saturday! She is a truly converted individual- she loves to learn and she loves to ask questions and she really applies the gospel to her daily life. She's even been sharing with her neighbors and friends that she is "Mormon" now and explaining to them what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints really is. She is amazing and I really love her! We got permission from the branch president to have her baptism in the ocean in Calape rather than having it in the chapel in Tubigon- they're the same distance away, but here in the Philippines the ocean is a way better location than anywhere else- it's going to be a memorable day!

At the beginning of my mission I made a goal to share my testimony in sacrament meeting every first Sunday of my whole mission. And I've done that.....up until yesterday! The members here in Sagbayan are all recent converts and there is a family here that just got sealed in the temple- in other words, the level of conversion and enthusiasm for the gospel is very high. I didn't even have a chance to bear my testimony, and I wouldn't have taken time from them for anything! I feel so blessed and so grateful to get to be a part of the history of Sagbayan branch- they are a truly converted group of saints nestled here in the "bukid" of Bohol!

As for the biking, I'm getting a little better at the whole mountain-biking-in-a-skirt thing....good enough that I can high-five all the kids as I ride by them without falling over! But just as I though I was the greatest biker in the Philippines, it rained on us yesterday (really hard) and I may have crashed my bike and gotten a few scrapes to show for it!

And last, I wrote a poem about conversion and I'd like to share it with you all because it's in English so everyone can understand!

"All is counted filth and dross;

What I once called gain I now call loss

Here in me resides soul fire

To refine and purify my heart's desire.

Forsaking all to pursue this quest-

To faith I cling and forget the rest.

Faith tested and tempered, tried and true

Edifies and fills me through and through.

If carefully nourished, carefully grown,

Things once hoped for now are known.

This knowledge fills me with God's light:

An expanding joy in what is right!

All else is counted filth and dross,

For truly my gain far exceeds my loss!"

(Lectures on Faith 6:5 Phil 3;8-9, Alma 32)

I know this is the Church of Jesus Christ and I know that even though the world is ever-increasing in wickedness, sorrow, and confusion, if we seek the Spirit in all things and follow the commandments of our Heavenly Father with exactness, we will be kept safe and guided toward peace and happiness. Tinuod lagi kana.

Love you all!

sister bertoldo