Uhhh... Yeah. So. I haven't seen conference yet. I always forget to tell you. We watch the rebroadcast out here a week late. We'll see it this weekend. ALCIA IS SERVING A MISSION?! All of a sudden huh? Just like that! Well. She is going to kick some booty I tell you. Wow. I don't really know what to say.
I did hear the news of the mission age change last Sunday. There was a viral text going around the Philippines as soon that was announced. It never even crossed my mind, however, that Alicia was a part of that. Holy Moly. Then Mom just kind of casually throws that out there, "yeah, so Alicia is super excited and is getting ready to go." What!?! I don't know what to think, but I know that Alicia is going to be a killer missionary. She won't be gone when I get home though will she? I don't know what to tell you about the college thing. I would sure like to spend a semester with her in college before she heads out, but it is really up to her, and the Lord.
So this are my thoughts on the new changes. Boys will go younger, and less matured, but they will be able to get out the door with a little less temptation, which is great. They will also be able to mature on their missions and then come back ready to build up the church from an earlier age, get married sooner, and do better in life because of it. For the Sisters, this will eliminate the "I turned 21 and still wasn't married so I thought, 'eh, why not? I'll serve a mission," thought. Many more sisters will be serving out of a pure desire to serve God, and due to the influx of sisters, spirituality of the mission field will soar, and work will increase greatly. They will also be able to return sooner, smarter, and more ready to lead a family into exaltation. This is sorely needed. A mission teaches both men and women what kind of eternal companion they need, and thus, the quality of marriages inside the church will become much better because of this. I think this is great!
About the Muslims, there are no foreign missionaries presently assigned in Mindanao due to the fact that they seem to mysteriously disappear. A few years ago a couple baptist missionaries where kidnapped and held for ransom before being killed. White skin is associated with dollar signs in the Philippines, and the southern, more Muslim populated areas make it a lot more dangerous. So there are no Americans in Mindanao now, and there aren't many Muslims in Region 7 where I am at so that news doesn't effect us at all here. I hadn't heard about it until now. There are a lot of rebels down south though.
This week was good. But super fast paced. We didn't get to work much in our area, but we were able to check up on Nany Efepania. She is doing well, and is always ecstatic to see us come over. She didn't come to church last week because she was in another part of Cebu doing some family business, but promised that she is coming this week, and that she understands the terms of her blessing depend greatly on her diligence to fulfill her part of the deal to be baptized in a timely manner. ZLC was again, absolutely amazing, but I mentioned that last week. Maybe the prophet will come out next session and announce that Sister missionaries will also be able to become Zone Leaders so that Alicia can experience how amazing ZLC is. Zone Training went well and Elder Barcellano were able to rearrange our area a little bit. We are focusing now on finding those chosen from before the foundation of the world, due to their faithfulness, to receive this gospel on the earth. Most people we visit don't and will not accept what we tell them, and it is our job now to focus on those who are ready and will. We have seen great success as well have dropped the natural, and found the elect this week.
We also found out about transfers this morning. Elder Barcellano is leaving for City Zone, and I am getting Elder Olojan as my new companion who is coming from Negros. We now have a bust day ahead of us as Elder Barcellano and I have to organize how all the transferring Elders are going to make it to their new areas and how the new ones will make it here. This is completely the zone leaders responsibility, so we'll be making a lot of phone calls today to make sure everyone knows what to do, what buses to ride, where to get off, and who to meet and when.
We're off! I love you all! I want an email from the girls next week telling me what they think of this new mission age thing. Especially Alicia.
Love,
Elder Garver
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