Smile Because it's Bright

Sister Lopez posted these photos to facebook. (It was zone conference earlier in the week.) Brooks sent the three photos I placed below his letter.~K

 

Performing in a duet at Zone Conference

He has always had the great gift to sing with his heart. I think this picture even gives you a little sense of that...

Hello Family!

I hope that this letter finds you well and smiling. I've been making a conscious effort to always have a happy face whenever I see people that I pass on the streets/paths, and especially make sure that I always smile when I see them because I am happy to see them.  I often find that people ending up smiling back and looking a little happier themselves. I do think that I'll never regret having smiled too much or at too many people. Why not give it a try?

On that note I want to share a story from our work today (we work in the mornings on preparation day instead of the evenings since we have to stay over night in Sagay).

We've been teaching a lot today, mostly just quick lessons where we sing two or three verses of a hymn in Ilonggo and then share a 5 minute or less message. Near the end of our proselyting time we came up to the house of a young wife that we had taught a few weeks ago at a different house and found her at home with her husband that we had not met yet.

The wife was happy to see us, but the husband was completely indifferent and quite frankly looked like he'd rather be facing down an angry carabao than sit in the same room with us. Of course always inviting others to come unto Christ, we asked if we could share a short message and sing. The husband agreed, somewhat reluctantly but said yes out of general Filipino culture of not wanting to appear too rude, and after getting to know him a little we asked if we could pray.

After the prayer I could see that Brother was starting to immediately zone out, so I gave my best three sentence lesson about Jesus Christ being the light in our lives (the song we were going to be singing was "Teach Me to Walk in the Light"), and as I started to speak I saw something amazing happen.

As I talked about Christ I felt I could literally see Brother A's stone cold features soften little by little, like watching ice melt on a hot day, and as my companion spoke his part I could see he was starting to think about what we were saying and it was almost as if I could see light starting to grow in his countenance. And all this in less than 2 minutes.

We then asked if we could sing. We sang the first and last verse of "Teach Me to Walk in the Light”, and then thanked them for their time and said the closing prayer. By the end Alex had turned from stone cold indifference to smiling and laughing. I knew that he felt the spirit and it showed in his eyes, going from dullness to a brightness that was in such stark contrast that it was like I was seeing a different person by the end.

I don't know the future of that family (as we only just taught them for the first time and very quickly), but I love the effect the spirit has on people, and I love being able to see it in the eyes of those we teach.

I do have hopes of a return appointment and hope to teach Alex and his wife Ilene again.
Being a missionary is wonderful.

I also got an unexpected package that contained a mini quad with snap close a few weeks ago (slipped my mind to mention it last week). I guess that was the one you ordered 8 plus months ago? The shipping must be backed up here.

I hope to attach two pictures, but I'll do it in other emails.

I love you all! I think of you every night and pray for your well being.

Halong!

~Elder Butler