The Final Stretch

The Riblora family baptism photo.

The Manila Temple

[This photo from Pres. Lopez facebook posting. Brooks and his companion on the left, President Lopez on the right. ~K]

[The original group of elder's Brooks started out with at the Provo, MTC in front of the temple. ~K]

This was an adventure in Balabag. We took another way to get home and crossed a fun hanging bridge. One of the sisters working with us decided she would rather ford the river than chance the bridge. :)

Looking back.

This is what you call "baby on board". As you can see Katie, I get to see a lot of carabaos... it's the main mode of transportation in my area.

[It's so different to see a missionary in the water, but this is a regular occurrence in the Philippine mountains, with the need to ford rivers! ~K]

[Notice the boy climbing up the coconut tree! ~K]

[These are "young coconuts"! We sometimes buy them here at Asian markets or health food stores but all the green is cut off and they are just white. So fun to see! ~K]

 

 

Oct 08, 2014

Hello Family!

Well here we are. My fellow batch mate (arrived at the same time in the MTC) Elder Cannon reminded me the other day when we went to Manila how we only have 4 more emails home to family before the big D day comes.

That made things a little more real for me for some reason. I think mainly because of how fast email time seems to come around every week.

So I guess I just have to make the most out of these last few emails that I have left to send you while I'm a full time missionary in the field! I'll give it my best shot.

The work in our area is still progressing as ever. I've been spending some time reflecting on my mission lately and I figured out that I will have baptized more in this last area of mine in Colonia Divina than I have in all of my other areas in my mission combined, which fills me with so much gratitude to the Lord for allowing me to have this kind of experience here, and especially letting it be the note that I will leave my mission on. The Lord is truly mindful of His servants and I know He's been more than kind and merciful in sending me here to this very special place.

On the other hand I've been considering how much of a change it's going to be for me to have to come down off the mountain and then step right into first world America again, with running water, cars, super markets etc., and how out of place that all seems to me now.

I got a little taste of that on my little excursion to Manila this last week with the rest of my foreign departing batch. It all just seemed BIG to me. Big roads, big buildings, big cars and so on. Granted we only went two places in Manila, first to the immigration center to get some finger printing thing done, then straight to the temple. I think I may or may not have been inside PJ's mission [Brooks' cousin who is serving now also].

I absolutely LOVED going to the temple again after so long. I feel like I just got a huge spiritual boost that I really needed. As soon as the doors to the temple opened and I walked inside the spirit of the temple just hit me like a wall and it built so much to my testimony that the temple is truly the house of the Lord. I didn't however get to see the new video though since there was an Indonesian in the session and they don't have that translated in the new, but the temple was still the temple nonetheless. I received so much comfort and revelation while inside that I think I came out walking on air once we came out onto the temple grounds again. Looking over the white planes I felt like just starting my mission all over again and taking another two years right then and there in Manila, or quite honestly basically anywhere as long as I could just keep serving the Lord.

But of course we had to get back in the van and be rushed back to the airport to make our flight back to Bacolod. It was nice to be back in a place where I spoke the language of the people again. Then coming back to Colonia felt like I was coming home again. Can you tell that I'm getting a little too adjusted to the mountains?

Oh! And I have some wonderful news about Christian's mom! [The Field is White letter tells about Christian.] She started coming to church the week before last and brought her youngest son Yohan and her house helper who is a high school student that she is sponsoring, and she really enjoyed it! She had been slow in progressing, especially in seeing why our church is different than others, so we had just been reading with her and Christian in the Book of Mormon and helping them apply it to their lives, and after this last Sunday when she came to church again we visited their home and Christian's mother just "go it". She came out with a whole slew of questions of things we had taught her before but never really sank in until then. And after we reviewed the restoration and baptism with her she accepted and is now preparing to be baptized at the end of the month!

It was so fulfilling to see the change in her countenance, and showing all of the signs of the true seeds of conversion, such as asking Christian to pray that we will be able to teach her husband so he can be baptized too, and then giving us referrals, completely unprompted, of three families in Colonia that she knows that she said need the gospel. Also telling Christian half jokingly, on the topic of when I go home, "You better not be going to church just because you think Elder Butler is gwapo (handsome/good looking)! I better not find you missing church because there are different Elders! You go to church so you can worship the Lord!"
Just more tender mercies of the Lord. Sister Andong (Christian's mom) also invited her house help, the high school student who she is sponsoring, to listen in on the lessons as well and she is also planning on being baptized with Sister Andong.
Patient and loving persistence pays off! :)

I attached the baptismal pictures of the Riblora family. We held their baptism at the river that runs around their farm (which we have to cross every time we go to them) and it was a great experience. Our branch president and several other members walked with us to get to Balabag, where the Riblora family lives, from Colonia which is an hour walk which takes you up and down several big hills and across streams and rivers, and the whole Riblora family makes that walk every Sunday to come to church!

That's all I'm going to write today. I feel like I kind of just went for it today and this is what came out.

I love you all! What wonderful news about the Carney family! I actually still remember quite clearly that first visit that I had with them. I am truly happy and excited for them.

Take care always,
(Halong kamo pirme)

Elder Butler