Happy Day of Hearts

Erik Ivan 9 years old

Maligayang Araw ng Puso, (Happy day of hearts. Or Happy Valentine's Day!!)

It's More Fun in the Philippines (Highlights):

-We had a baptism this week for a nine year old that comes to church every week with his guardians. He is a really great kid and was SOOO HAPPY to get baptized!

-Elder Egli and I got Super Bad Food Poisoning!! We ate some bad liver and ended up getting crazy sick. The whole night we were up "taking care" of the sickness. Then the following day we tried to work, but we ended up crashing super hard and weren't able to get much done. Luckily Filipinos are extremely nice, so they were taking care of us, giving us medicine and giving us everything they thought we needed haha. However, the next day we went to work and made up for the sick day.

New Companion Elder Hart-Stephens from New Zealand

-Also, my companion, Elder Egli, was transferred to Assistant to President. My new companion is Elder Hart-Stephens. He is from Auckland, New Zealand. I already know we are going to get along SUPER WELL!! He is super awesome!!

Kapangyarihan ng Panalangin: (Power of Prayer)

This past week we have been trying to find new people to teach and bring to the gospel (Good News) of Christ. We found a few families that said they would come to church. This past Saturday we opened a fast from food and water for 24 hours (as a way to receive blessings by our faith and work). We fasted and asked our Heavenly Father to please bless the people were teaching that they would have the means to get to church. We prayed for them by name. Sunday morning we waited for them at church, but when church started they still hadn't come. We went in and took our seats among the other people in the congregation, but my prayers did not cease. I prayed that Heavenly Father would provide the means for even just one investigator to come to church. We sat and the service began. Not even 3 minutes into the start of the meeting a miracle occurred as ELEVEN people we were teaching came flooding through the back doors. I waved for them to come sit with us and they did. They were so happy that they made it, and of course, SO WERE WE! I was smiling from ear to ear that entire time!

CHALLENGE: Pick someone that you believe could use a little help right now for whatever reason, and pray for them BY NAME. Then after praying for them by name, get up and go do something to help them. Jesus Christ will answer our prayers only if we are also willing to act.

Elder Hemmert