Zone Conference

Dear Family,

Thank you for your prayers this week, they have helped a lot. We had zone conference on Tuesday. That was a lot of fun, since the First Presidency changed Interviews and Zone Conference to every other Transfer, that was my first one, seeing that we had interviews last transfer, also there are only 2 Zones that come so it is more personal. We talked about the new 8 topics of focus that they are adding/emphasizing from Preach My Gospel, it was amazing. The spirit was strong and I got a lot of support and comfort from it, driving home I felt all new and refreshed. I also got to sit in the front of the Jeep-nee for the first time...yay for not being squished in the back! Another fun part about last week is we stayed in Cainta so Sis Miras had her friends to talk with, we also went to eat and they wanted rice and meat as usual and I found Pan De Manila...masarup! ["Masarup" in Tagalog means "delicious". And I'm pretty sure that Pan De Manila is a bakery chain in the Philippines. - Emily] Needless to say I rode home with a big backpack, your package (I didn't open it until we got to Morong) and 2 loaves of whole wheat (as whole wheat as the Philippines comes) bread. Happy Day.
Well this week has been slightly discouraging. We had an elder diagnosed with an ulcer this week, he is in my district, I finally have a bread eating buddy! Not fun though his is a lot worse, he has been throwing up blood, which concerns me a lot. Anyway I was able to help him understand what he is feeling and what he can eat ect...he went to the hospital but still was fuzzy on some points. I miss speaking Med, it makes me so happy. Also because of his drastic change in diet and now eating the way I always have, I have been getting a lot less grief for my crackers, bread, and water. So I am sad to see Elder Robbins suffer but he is helping others see that I am not just a weird American.
The work went really well this past week, we invited a lot of people to baptismal dates, some accepted some didn't. When we tried to use our new skills to resolve concerns to help them accept, we discovered who were really our progressing investigators and who just liked to visit. We have one that has been taking lessons for 4 months now and she finally said that she has no desire to join she just likes us...sigh, so we told her that we couldn't come see her as often, but then she came to church on Sunday. Also Brother Diaz after 14 days being smoke free, broke down and smoked. What hurt the most was that he did it right after our really spirit filled lesson about the Priesthood where he committed to becoming worthy to hold the priesthood. We were so excited after that lesson and when he told us yesterday that he had smoked it is like your heart dropping into your already throbbing stomach... ya not fun. Also last week we had 12 investigators at sacrament meeting, this week 4, odd how we feel the spirit testify more powerfully and our companionship is more unified and opposition has ramped up as well. The work goes on though, there are still people to teach, commitments to extend, and souls to save.
Well I think that is about it for the week. Oh my fan died the other day, luckily the weather has been cooler with the wind but still dead hot in the apartment. I seriously woke up a puddle and have melted everyday since...Elder Sibley said that he would get me a new one with in the next week or 2...sigh...
Alam ko po na totoo ang simbahan, at ebanghelyo. Buhay si JesuCristo! Puwede tayo maging mas malapit sa kanya sa pamamagitan ng ebangheylo ito! Alam ko na nakikinig ng Diyos lahat panalangin at sobrung salamat ako para sa malaman ito. Kaya namin iyan!
Mahal ko po kayo.
I love you,
Thank you again for everything.
Sister Becky Jensen