Adventures in Baguio: Gusto Ko Maging Bold sa Inyo 06/30/2014

Kumusta sa inyong lahat!
This week, I ate a burger made out of the heart of a banana with banana ketchup, try getting that in America! Also, I ran into a group of students from Texas A&M, and one was from McKinney, Texas! This world is too small, and it made me realize that I feel much more comfortable being around Filipino's than Americans haha I just love these brown people.
Anyways, this was a really amazing week! Brother Erick Gaerlan was baptized this past Saturday, and I'm so happy to see another worthy priesthood man join the Agoo 3rd Branch. I think that best part of his baptism was just seeing how happy he truly was. He really has repented and humbled himself and is so excited to be a member of this true church. Even better, his parents really want him to serve a mission! He's only 21 so he could if he wanted to, and I could really honestly see him being such a great missionary and sharing his conversion story with others. Baptisms are my great, but I also really love all the little steps leading up to baptism that remind me of why I'm on my mission. I saw a lot of those this week as we worked with our other investigators like little old Nanay Huling. She is a referral from who other than Gaerlan family. We have been teaching her for a while now, and at first is was more Bible study to her, but now, she feels the spirit, she told us she knows this is Christ's church, and she said a REAL PRAYER!! This is huge because every time we would teach her, she'd always pray "Lord Jesus", no matter how many times we explained that we pray to our Heavenly Father, not Jesus, because we follow the example of Christ. Like I said, she's old, and can't really hear, or read because she doesn't have glasses. But the last time we taught her, she said that her granddaughter read the BoM to her and she loved it, and then she prayed the right way, straight from the heart and had tears streaming down her face by the end. It was such a tender moment that I will never forget. She wants to come to church so badly, we just need to get a wheelchair for her, but next week she should be able to come. Please pray for Nanay Huling, she is like my grandmother in the Philippines. We are continuing to have investigators that are really making strides in the gospel, I'll talk more about them another time, but just know that the work is great here in Agoo!!
Now onto other business, so the title of this email says that I want to be bold with you. This is something that my comp says right before she lays the hammer down, I love it! Anyways, I was reading through Elder Ballards conference talk about following up, and just felt really inspired that I should follow up with all of you! The apostle of the Lord has counseled us to invite 4 people a year to listen to the missionary discussions. That is four of our most loved and cherished friends and family members who are missing out on the blessings of the gospel because they don't know where to find it. Family and friends, this is our responsibility to share this gospel with them! Be that example that they want to follow, and then act, invite them to an FHE, a church activity, or to have dinner with the missionaries. Nothing happens in missionary work until we act and actually do something to invite others to listen to the gospel. The Lord is hastening His work of salvation. SALVATION people, this is for the eternities!! Something I've really learned on my mission is that we can't just be bystanders and expect to obtain the kingdom of God, we have to act too, we have to be worried about others salvation and not just our own. So I want all of you to take on this challenge from our dear apostles, and give those referrals to the missionaries. Pray to prepare people, and then actually prepare them! I know you can do it, it's so simple and will give you the best feeling when you see your dear friends and family members enter the waters of baptism, I can promise you that!
I love you all! Shout outs to Sister Behrmann, Shanoah, and Grandma for the letters! And Mom for 3 packages this week, you're still the queen of packages and I think the AP's hate me for always having to deliver them haha, but I appreciate it so much!
Mahal Kita!
Sister Bangerter