WEEK 69: "Matthew 19:14"

Friends and Family,

We have made lots of progress in our ward this week. We were able to witness 2 baptisms and commit another 3 to baptism it the next little be. Myself and Elder Mesina have had so many miracles as we have been in this companionship and we look forward to seeing many many more.

Christian and Christoni have been amazing! We have had some great laughs as we have answered their questions. At this age, these kids are truly innocent and just want to know things. We are very blessed to have witnessed this as it has all play out the way it has. The Lord has his hand in the littlest of situations. This is the true church upon the earth today.

"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

 I am grateful for your prayers and I testify that they play a very big part in this work. I love each of you.

 

 

Elder O'Neil

 

*PS, to anyone who may be interested, per Brennan's request we have made him a facebook page, Elder O'Neil

WEEK 64 "Gerard's Baptism"

Family and Friends,

This week is aslo short on time. We had another wonderful baptism. Gerard is 15 and is the last person to be baptized in his family. A year from now this family will be sealed in the temple. That is was this work is all about!

Love,

Elder O'Neil

It was the church's national day of service here in the Philippines so we helped by cleaning the river  and removing the garbage.

WEEK 63 PHILIPPINES

Family and Friends

We had the wonderful opportunity this week to witness the baptism of Edze. The Lord had truly prepared her for us. 

 

 

 

 

 

Love

Elder O'Neil

WEEK 46 "Mark's Baptism"

Friends and family,

As I said last week, we had the wonderful opportunity of baptizing Mark on Friday and then confirming him as the newest member of the San Juan branch yesterday. It never gets old to see the change that is brought into peoples lives as they accept Jesus Christ and his teachings and follow his example by being baptized. 

After each baptism we go back and teach the lessons again. Its interesting to watch how there is now confusion when we teach the lessons the second time because they now have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Mark understood so much before he was baptized but his mind has been opened even further. Please continue to pray for him and that he will continue to choose the right.

Hermas and Ednalie are continuing to read and are making changes in their lives before we even commit them to just because they feel they need to after reading the Book of Mormon. Their progress in sure and steady and I cant wait to see them dressed in white. Please pray for them to keep reading and doing the necessary things to be prepared for baptism.

I feel your prayers everyday and am so grateful for them. I love you all.

Love Elder O'Neil

 

WEEK 31: PHILIPPINES

Friends and family,

I had the wonderful opportunity of baptizing Sister Kayzel on Saturday and then yesterday witnessing her confirmation as the newest member of this TRUE church. Like I asked last week for you too pray for her and her strength to resist temptation, your prayers were answered. She was and is so prepared to enter this sacred covenant and take the first step towards the Celestial kingdom.

On Tuesday I went on exchanges with our district leader a couple days after her interview and asked him how it went. We talked about it for a little bit and then he shared this with me that really mad an impact on me. The interview had one more question and our district leader asked her if she would continue to come to church and keep her covenants even after she was baptized. He said she started to laugh a little bit and then said "Elder why would I be baptized in a church if I wasn't willing to do what was asked of me? Of course I will!" I reflected on that and the different covenants and responsibilities I have taken on and will continue to make throughout my life. If we are not willing to do something to the fullest or to the best of our abilities we need to evaluate ourselves and make changes where necessary or not take on the responsibility. A thought also came to mind that we need to leave our comfort zone and stretch ourselves. Change brings forth growth. Sometimes we dont fully meet the requirements of but as we apply ourselves and do our best the Lord will help us and make up the difference.

Sister Kayzel lives 2 hours away from the church and has faithfully been coming for about the last month and a half. She works for the military and was referred to us by a member that is serving with her. She had never been taught by the missionaries before us but had been attending church and the gospel principles class for about six months almost a year ago. Because she lives so far away from the church and the cost of travel, we have just taught her during Relief Society. She has so much knowledge about this church. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon and found out the she had already been reading it on her phone using the gospel library app. She was in Alma at the point and has continued to read and pray since. She is truly prepared by the Lord.

What a blessing it has been to be able to teach her and watch my testimony grow right along side hers. I love baptisms for the simple fact of  watching faces light up as they realize how important this covenant they have just entered into truly is. As we are obedient we are blessed I can testify of that.

Please pray for Jemil and Marvin. They are still keeping the Word of Wisdom but as their baptism gets closer and closer, Satan will work harder and harder on them. Rosita is struggling to come to church. Please pray for her as well as Jeremy that they will realize the importance of church attendance. I love you all.

Elder O'Neil

WEEK 21: PHILIPPINES

Family and friends,

Sorry for the lack of writing the last couple weeks. Things have been busy and I haven't had the time. I've been informed that even just a little quick update is better than none at all so I will try to do that every week event if it isn't long.

One of the challenges that President Peterson has given us for the next cycle is that we focus on college age kids and colleges in general. At this age people are trying to find what path to go down in life and what things to invest their time and energy in. If we as missionaries can help them by showing them how the gospel is a life long thing but that it also helps them for the eternities then they might have a better chance of accepting it. We visited a pretty big college here in our are and offered to teach an English class. The dean was ecstatic about the idea and we are now making plans as to how to make this happen. One of the things that we have to work around is that it cant be anything faith related. As a missionary you are always trying to find ways to tie in gospel principles with everything you do. I have faith that this is the Lords work and that somehow we can tie everything back to the gospel and not get any negative feedback for it. Here we go! Lets see how good my English really is. I know that the Lord is going to give us people to teach as long as we teach the impressions that He places in our hearts.

Sister Rosita, or the sister that had the stroke a couple weeks ago is going to be baptized on June 28th. Every lesson we have with her has been great. The Lord has truly prepared her for us. She is so positive and asks us if June 28th is the day her life can change forever. After being asked that so many times I finally thought about it. This is going to change here for eternity and I have the wonderful opportunity of being a part of it.

The investigators are doing well and the work is moving along. I love it more and more everyday im out here. Thank you for the prayers. As you can see they are being answered. I love you all. If there are any questions please ask.

Elder O'Neil

WEEK 12: PHILIPPINES

Family and Friends,

I want to apologize for not sending an email last week. I had it all typed up and went to send it and as I did the internet was lost and it deleted it all. I hate to say it, but now that I'm in this new area, there might be a couple weeks like that. 

In this new area my perspective of a missionary has changed a lot. Not at all in a bad way, but I my eyes have just been opened to a lot more things. I have grown up in the church in Utah my whole life and so I though the church was similar to that no matter where in the world you went. I knew it was different but its hard to understand until you've experienced it. 

-Out here we have a small branch that has an average of 45 to 50 members that attend sacrament meeting and about 30 to 40 that attend all Sunday school and priesthood/Relief Society. On average about 10 of those are our investigators.

-Our branch president is 23 and an RM of 1 1/2 years, the YW's president is 18, the branch secretary is 20 and getting ready to leave on a mission in 3 weeks, the YM's president was 17 and less-active until he got released yesterday and the new one was called, he's 17 as well.

-We only have 6 speakers that are willing to speak aside from us as missionaries so they just switch of each Sunday.

-We have only a few priesthood holders that attend because the area next to us has so few that the missionaries asked the district president to have a couple from our branch attend their meetings so they can have the sacrament and some one to preside.

Because of the young ages of the leaders they don't have a lot of experience and so they look to us as missionaries for all kinds of help and answers. We as a companionship have had to start reviewing a lot more the manuals so that we know the correct way to do things and be able to answer the questions that we get asked. As young as everyone is, the devotion to the church and to their callings is phenomenal. I love to see their growth every week and how their testimonies grow from the love they have for the gospel. It has only affirmed my testimony that no matter where you go the eternal principles and doctrines of the gospel are still the same.

I had an awesome experience in one of our lessons last week that I was going to share until it all got deleted. We had planned on going to visit a less-active sister and teach her about faith. She lives in the jungle and the fare for her to get to church is too expensive. We wanted to teach her that if she would put her trust in the Lord and exercise faith in his commandments that she would have enough money to get to church and still be able to have money for food. When we got to her house she had her daughter over. We were planning on keeping with our plans of teaching faith. We said the opening prayer and both decided that we needed to teach her daughter instead. We also felt that we needed to teach Joseph Smith instead of the whole lesson one. We began to teach her and she was so focused. She answered all of our questions and had so much knowledge. Obviously this was all being done in Tagalog but after Elder Hale bore his testimony I was going to bare mine and then close the lesson with the commitments. I began to bare my testimony in Tagalog and then had this thought come to mind that I need to bare it in English. I though it was kind of crazy because she didn't speak any English. I ignored the thought for a second and continued in Tagalog and then another thought came to mind that she needed to FEEL the truth of the message. I stopped my testimony and said sister I want you to pay attention to the way you feel as I bare my testimony not the words I say. I began again, but this time in English. I bore my witness that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I bore my witness that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior of the world. I told her that I know Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon though the power of God. As I spoke she began to cry. I closed and then asked how she felt. She said, "Even though I couldn't understand what was begin said I had a peace come over me that I have never felt before." After the lesson I reflected back on the things I said and the way I taught, just as a self evaluation so I could improve for the next lessons. I thought about why I felt I should bare my testimony in a language she didn't even understand. I remembered how focused she was. She was gaining knowledge but not a complete witness in her heart. She need to feel it in her heart and English was how that could happen. 

Amazing thing as well is the less-active sister said that in that lesson she knew that Heavenly Father gives a commandments but also ways to keep them. She has come to church the past 2 weeks. She came to us and said "elders a miracle has happened I have enough money to come to church and I have enough money to buy enough food for you to come to my house and eat. Please come and bring more miracles" I had to laugh a little because I felt like we just carried a basket labeled miracles and handed them out to whoever wanted them. In a way we do, its just according to their faith.

This church is true and Jesus is Christ. Thank you for all your love and support.

 

 

Wheres the tp? Oh yeah! Its the hose on the wall hahahah still have a hard time with it
 

 Beach, rice fields, american food, just for fun

The work is progressing! Another baptism yesterday

Love Elder O'Neil

WEEK 9 "The Work Continues

Family and friends,

As the pictures show, all is well. The work just keeps progressing. As I've said before and will continue to say, its due to your constant prayers and fasting in my behalf and in behalf of those here in this mission. I wake up every morning with a burning desire to leave the apartment running from appointment to appointment  to share this incredible message I've grown up to embrace. 

We had an amazing baptism on Saturday. Its the brother of Miko, one of the baptisms back in January. What an amazing experience is has been to be able to teach him. Michael is 14 and is just like Miko. He has such a desire to receive the priesthood and to become a member of this church. Myself and Elder Maguale were the first missionaries to teach him as a referal from Miko. He has been a strong example to me and I hope he continues to to do whats right.

This morning Elder Maguale returned to Tacloban. It was hard to say goodbye but I know that the training he's given me will be a strength as I continue to go throughout my mission. He has been an answer to many prayers and I cant wait to hear how he'll answer many more.

This letter is short but I hope you can feel the same spirit I feel everyday im out here. I love you all.

Elder O'Neil