President & Sister
LeSueur left to go back to Arizona last week, and we will miss them. It was great to be able to spend some time with them and have them show us around and introduce us to a lot of people.
We have had some very special experiences this past week. Before we came on our mission we had a very strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but the short time we have been here our testimony has grown even stronger. A week ago on Fast Sunday was the first time we were really settled down and able to just enjoy the day and the people.We attended three Fast & Testimony Meetings, most of the people bore their testimonies in Tagalog, and we didn't understand very much of what they said, but we could feel what they were feeling, and we knew that it was what we were feeling. The spirit touched us so much that we could not keep our eyes dry all day. We found that it doesn't matter what language you speak to be able to feel the spirit and to understand that we are children of our Heavenly Father and that he knows each of us and that he loves us. We didn't need to hear the words they were saying to understand the feelings that they had in there hearts. As I sat there in those meetings I felt so grateful for that young lady from the employment agency that so many years ago encouraged me to read the Book of Mormon, (or listen to it on tapes as I drove back and forth from St. George) and she would not give up, she just kept encouraging me and then introduced us to our Bishop. Our lives have not been the same since, and as we listened to these people, and herd and felt them express their feelings for the gospel and what it had done for them and there families, it was so easy to relate to them and love them. It made me realize probably stronger than I ever have before how powerful the Book of Mormon is, how it can touch our spirit, as well as our hearts and minds. And how easy it could be to share those things that are most important to us. This young lady from the employment Agency didn't know me, she didn't have a special calling to share the gospel, see was just happy and loved the gospel because that is what made her happy. She didn't take time away from her job to teach me the gospel, she never taught me a lesson, or shared any gospel principals, she just encouraged me to find out what I had been missing. The same message that Bishop Buck in Las Vegas has been trying to teach us that to share the gospel we just need to be ourselves, we just need to let people know who we are and how we live, but as he emphasizes in order for us to do this we need to invite people into our lives so that they can see who we are. (most of you probably don't have any idea what I have been talking about as I talk about the girl from the employment agency, and it would be a long story in itself, but I will share it with you when I have time and the time is right) These people are so new to the gospel that these feelings are so fresh and strong, it is exciting.
We met some very special people here Saturday, they are from the United States, but are now living in Hong Kong. They are members of the church, one is a counselor in the Branch Presidency and the other is the Executive Secretary of their little branch in Hong Kong. The two couples each have three children from ranging from about eight years old down to nine months old. They have a friend who served his mission on one of the Philippine Islands and told them of the poverty here and how some of the schools did not have supplies. Last year the three families picked a school from another island and took them all kinds of school supplies. These two families decided to keep the tradition alive by finding a different school each year to help out. This year they found a little school way up on the North end of this island, and when we met them they were buying supplies to take to the school. They contacted there families back home to see if they would like to help with the project,then they took their vacation to come over, buy the supplies and take them to the village. They left this morning to go to the community that is about four or five hours over a very bumpy road from here, they will spend two weeks in the very remote community giving out the supplies to the school children. They bought boxes and boxes of school and medical supplies, we helped them get the supplies to their hotel, then we all went out to dinner together. Then they went to church at the Puerto 1st Branch with us Sunday Morning. Several members saw us together the night before, and thought they were our family and everyone wanted to meet them.
Yesterday we also attended three Sacrament Meetings, one of the Sisters that spoke in English told a very touching story about her live prior to joining the church and her life with her family now, how excited she is to bring her children up in the gospel. She is one of the older members on the island, she has been a member for twenty some years and is now serving as the Relief Society President. Nothing to do with her talk, but we had met her and her family the week before and had dinner at her home. They only had one small table to eat at, so they had us and the LeSueur's sit at the table, all of them stood around and talked to us, then when we were all finished they sat down and ate. Her sister is married to a man from California that served his mission here in the early 1980s. He taught her family when he was serving here, then he came back to visit eleven years latter and met her younger sister, came back again four years latter and married the young lady. They are trying to adopt a little boy, but it is very complicated to adopt a child that you will be taking out of the country, so she has been staying here with the little boy for the last two years while they are working on the adoption. He is here for the seventh time in the last two years trying to get the adoption finalized, they are hoping that it will be finalized by May of this year then they will all be able to go back home together at Big Bear, California where he is serving as the Bishop of the Big Bear ward, this ward is in the same stake as Shirleys sister Rae & Bill Pratt live in. (small world )
Well that was a lot longer than I had intended, but these things really touched our hearts. We love you and miss you, but are so grateful to be here.
Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Elder & Sister Golding
