Philippines Ilagan Mission

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Stories: A lot of patience

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A lot of patience 19 Apr 2004
It was my fourth area, but my first as a senior companion. Lamut was rumored to be a hard area to get baptisms, but I was determined to make a difference. I had been in slow progressing areas before, so I thought I would be able to take on anything. The membership was small and the previous missionaries had milked the members for all their best member referrals. My best option was to find new investigators, who had yet to hear our message. Tracting was daily activity for my companions and me and eventually we tracted out the whole town. First discussions were abundant, but our teaching pools did not include many people. Due to lack of member support, our investigators had a hard time accepting and fulfilling their commitments and I did not feel it was right to push an investigator further than they were ready to go. One day, while Elder Myers and I were tracting, we came across the Quiehentio family, who had recently been kicked out of their church for not voting their way in the election. This family was very nice and they welcomed us to share our discussions with them. Even though we spoke to them in Tagalog, they tried their best to respond in English. The father gathered his family every time we came to meet with them, so we could have discussions. That process continued smoothly until we reached the commitment of the third discussion-Will you go to church this Sunday? The answer was always yes, but there was always an excuse during our following visits to explain why they were not able to attend. I had hope for them, but their progress had stopped. Normally, I dropped investigators after three weeks of no progression because I felt there were other people out there who I could be using the Lords time with, but for some reason I stuck with the Quiehentio family. Weeks turned into months, and my companion was replaced by Elder Casaol. Visiting the Quiehentio family became a routine thing and I was getting ready to drop them from my investigator list after almost three months of little to no progression. I decided on a Sunday morning if that family did not come to that meeting, I would drop them and move on. Sacrament started and I was got settled in and I was ready to mark of Quiehentio from my list, until an old car pulled up outside. Out stepped brother Quiehentio and I was happy to see him. It turned out that he really enjoyed our church and he was anxious to learn more and share what he learned with his family. During the next week, his whole family came. There were two girls and four boys whole came with Brother and Sister Quiehentio. The whole family was excited to be there and they seemed to soak up everything we taught them. We finished the discussions, they followed the word of wisdom and then seven of them were baptized shortly after (one girl was under eight, so she had to wait.) They were a large addition to the branch and I feel that they will help strengthen the other members. I was disappointed in myself for almost giving up hope, but then I remembered that we are not tested beyond our means. I will most likely never know why I held on to that family for so long, or why they decided to go to church that day, but I do know that the Quiehentio family and I were helped by the Lord.
Joseph Allen Anderson Send Email
 

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