I had a great week this week.  We got quite a bit done.

     Last week it was funny, we met an investigator I used to teach with Elder Sagayno.  They went to Manila so they we stopped teaching, but last Monday we saw them selling stuff at the Palenke so we said hi.  She was way excited to see us and quickly asked when we were coming to teach them again.  This is the investigator that I may have mentioned before that tried to go to church but couldn't find the church so just sat in front of the Capitol building for an hour.  Well we were excited for them.

    This week also we filled the Gospel Principles class.  We had investigators and less actives it was great.  Our ward missionaries gave us a cheer, there were just so many people.  A bunch of those people were also coming to church for the very first time so it was even more exciting.  Yesterday was just a good day.  Our schedule yesterday was pretty random and sporadic, during church I asked all the ward missionaries whom they know that is less active that we should visit.  Then in the afternoon we took one ward missionary with us and went and contacted as many as we could.  We ended up finding 3 less active families that seemed super receptive.  Also yesterday we got a new investigator family.  We taught them about the Restoration and then invited them to be baptized, and then it got super intense.  After the baptism invitation they started asking so many questions and it was great.  They were asking weird questions that I have never been asked as a missionary.  Can your religion save you? etc.  I asked them Do you need to be baptized? Reply Yes.  Can just anyone baptize you? No. Why not? You need authority. Whose Authority? Jesus'.  Here is the opportunity to be baptized by the authority of the Priesthood of God, which authority comes from Jesus Christ.  That's something like how it went.  It was really intense and they all had really strong commitments to find out for themselves if this was true.  

        Also about new invetigators, we taught a daughter and father, the father whom we'd met before the daughter who is grown.  The daughter asked us 'How did you even get my dad to listen to you? he hates religious stuff"  Well that is the powerful change that the Gospel brings into lives.  We are finding people right now that are super prepared. It is so great to see that God is always getting people ready to join his church.  God is working and will not stop, and he loves the Philippines. I love you and will write again next week. 

Have a good week, keep your head up, and smile.
                                                                           Elder Nathaniel J. Merrill