Thursday, September 22, 2011

A Woman's Responsibility to Teach


As I was cleaning my files, I came across this wonderful  story. Here's the story:

Elder Frank Croft was a missionary in the southern United States in the early day s of the Church. He taught the gospel in an area where some of the people became very angry at his teachings. A mob of armed men forcefully took him into the woods, where they told him to remove all of his clothing above the waist. They tied his arms and body to a tree and prepared to lash his back until the blood flowed.

Elder Croft had no alternative but to do what the mob asked, but as he was doing so, a letter fell from his pocket. It had been written by his mother, who lived in Utah. A short time before, Elder Croft had written to his parents telling them about the mob violence, and this letter from his mother was an answer to his concerns. 

The letter said:

My beloved son, you must remember the words of the Savior when He said, 
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;”
 also 
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” 
Also remember the Savior upon the cross suffering from the sins of the world when He had uttered these immortal words, 
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Surely, my boy, they who are mistreating you Elders know not what they do or they would not do it.
Sometime, somewhere, they will understand and then they will regret their action and they will honor you for the glorious work you are doing. So be patient, my son, love those who mistreat you and say all manner of evil against you and the Lord will bless you and magnify you in their eyes and your mission will be gloriously successful.’”

The leader of the mob picked up the letter and began to read it. His face and eyes were so hard and cruel that Elder Croft knew no sympathy would come from him. He closed his eyes and waited for the beating to begin, silently thinking of his home and his beloved mother. 

He opened his eyes a few moments later and found that the leader had seated himself on a nearby stump and was rereading the letter. His face had undergone a great change. “Much of the hardness and cruelty in his face were gone; his eyes were slightly dimmed by moisture. His whole personality appeared to have changed. He would read a line or two or a paragraph and then sit and ponder, and deep down in the Elder’s conscience was the hope, yes, the conviction that the man’s heart had been touched by the loveliness and beauty of his mother’s letter.”

The man finally arose and said, “‘Feller, you must have a wonderful mother. You see, I once had one, too.’ Then, addressing the other member of the mob, he said, ‘Men, after reading this Mormon’s mother’s letter, I just can’t go ahead with the job. Maybe we had better let him go.’ Elder Croft was released and went his way” 


*After reading and pondering what I've read, I remembered my Mom and all of her teachings which benefited me a lot. Since I am away from home, the only thing I can do now is to do what she taught me and surely I know that I will be safe. I miss home, but come December, I'll see them again.^_^

Friday, September 16, 2011

Where am I?

Today is the 12th day since I came here in PASAR, LIDE, Isabel, Leyte.

How am I?

Well, I'm doing fine. It really is a big blessing that my roommate is a member too, so I have a kauban in most of our activities, including institute every Saturday and church every Sunday.

I've realized that I've receive a great blessing yesterday. During our afternoon activity, we were assigned to know the process done in Cathode Segregation. We hiked more than a kilometer to the port area under the extreme heat of the sun. Upon arriving at the port's area, the person assigned to entertain us asked if he can explain the process in bisaya (since most of PASAR's employee are from Visayas and Mindanao). I agreed that it's not a problem in my part coz I can just ask my groupmates (all of which speaks Bisaya) if dili nako kabalo sa iyahang ka-istoryahan. 

But the amazing thing happened. Every bisaya word that he uttered, I understood it clearly. I just looked at him amazingly, looking at the movement of his lips and I really knew what he was saying.

Till now, I can't really believe that I can understand a Bisaya conversation so quickly. Now, I just have a little difficulty composing sentences, adding conjunctions to every word, and stuff. But I can manage.=)

The Lord guided me all the way. He even helped me know the language so soon. I love Him so much. In exchange, I need to follow His commandments coz I won't deserve any blessing that He'd give me if ever.

I am happy that I am here now. I miss my family, yes, but not so much. There's so many people to know here.^_^

Take care, everyone!=) See you again when I see you.^_^

Ganbatte Kudasai!