This week Elder Conte went on visits with his companion Elder Gonzales to four different Districts.  They had lots of hours on jeepneys!  They returned to their apartment exhausted, but continued to be called upon for service to their members.  They were sustained!  This is a story he included in his letter:

There was a little boy playing psp on an airplane, now on this airplane all the people were going crazy, they were yelling, scared, had their oxygen masks and life jackets on. The plane was going to crash so all the people were getting ready. The people finally realized that this little boy was not scared at all.  He was just sitting there quietly playing his psp. A man came up to him and asked ,"Aren't you scared?" the little boy replied, why should I be scared, my Dad is the pilot."

I love that. Why should we be scared when our Father in Heaven has a plan for us. It's just a short story, but I really liked the message that it has. Maybe you guys can ponder more about the meaning.

 

 More from his letter:

In the morning got up and went to Irosin. That is the area for the District Leader. So we went there and we had what you call a District Leaders Council. We talked with both of the District Leaders and told them what their jobs were and what we expected from them and it was very spiritual and very good. Then we went on exchanges with the District Leader. I went on exchanges with the junior companion. He is very humble and very nice. He has a speech problem so he is very humble. So what happened is while we were planning what we were going to teach, he randomly says, "I was reading in this 50 year old Liahona and he read a story about the 10 virgins.  I was like ok we can share that. Now this less active is a returned missionary and is very busy with life and a lot of kids that are crazy!!!! So when we shared that story with her, she was remembering that story and she explained it perfectly on what she needed to do. She said, " I need to fill my lamp" and we were like YES!!! It was amazing just watching the spirit teach this less active what she needed to do for herself instead of us telling her what to do.

 

In Matnog:   while we were working we really felt the spirit. The area was really nice and we met a lot of great people. There is this one super old member. He is like 120 years old but still strong. Anyway his grandchild is sick so he paid for everything even though his job is riding a bike and taking water jugs to people. So he paid for everything, then his wife got sick and now they have no money. Then his niece comes asking for money because her son has nothing to eat. Then what he did is late at night while it was raining super hard he gets out on his bike and went to ask for money, so he came back with enough money for his niece and not enough for him and his wife. It was just a great example of sacrifice for me.

 

Then when we got home we closed and while we were talking i noticed that he was getting emotional, so i asked him if he wanted to talk about anything and he said, anything? and i said, Anything. he then began to tell me how he has been in the mission for 1 year now and he is still having a really hard time. he then started to cry and kept saying that he could'nt do it anymore and that he wants to go home. so i prayed for help and said things that came to my mind. i used the verses that philip shared with me. the moroni 7: 16-17 and then i told him that he can do it. he is also having really bad body pains. he had an accident before he came on his mission. he is from the rice fields, so he would carry heavy bags of rice on his head, so one time he get injured from it and the pain keeps coming back. sometimes they don't work because it hurts so bad. . then i asked him how his prayers were. he said ok. i then asked him if they are sincere. then he said sometimes. i then challenged him to have sincere prayers. he said that her would because the sincere prayers would help him a lot more. because i have experienced it. especially when it comes to getting help from the Atonement. so i told him that He was there for him. That was a very humbling experience for me. it really means alot to me when i am able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to help one of His missionaries. I really felt the spirit that night and i am glad that i was able to do my part. He is just so humble and once he gets the confidence that he needs in the Lord, he will be able to do miracles.

 

Then we went to SAN VICENTE AND BULAN. it is an hour away again. so when we got on the jeepney there was a guy smoking hard core right next to a baby and i was like. "i ain't havin' none of that!" i said " pwede ka lang sa labas" that means. can you be outside. so right when i said that he got straight up and left.  i really felt the spirit having my back on that one.  Then we got the apartment and ate a lot of food:) what i noticed is when you are the ZL missionaries worship you. i don't know why but they just treat you like royalty!!!! every apartment we went to there was so much food and they did everything. But we were not having none of that either, we did dishes and cleaned up as well so they don't get the wrong about the ZL's coming over. Then we had a intense 2 hour companionship study. one of the companionships there is training so they have to have 2 hours of companionship study everyday.

 

Elder Conte wrote a lot more, but it would be too long to post here!!  I will post pictures next!