Megan's 2-15-10 e-mail

I have a scripture for you all that has helped me this week. Genesis 18:13-15. "And the Lord said unto Abraham, wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I of a surety bear a child, which I am old? IS ANY THING TOO HARD FOR THE LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not, for she was afraid. And he said, nay, but though didst laugh." IF we truly know and beleive that God is ALL POWERFUL-we will live our lives differently. Knowing that God has power to do anything, and that everything is in HIS control, Our faith will GROW! We will have PERFECT and COMPLETE Peace because we know that he is in charge. Sometimes we "laugh" in our hearts that all things are not possible. Think about a time that you have "laughed" in your heart. I know I have!!! "Haha-yeah right, am I going to learn Cebuano and teach to people's needs the gospel when I have no idea what they are saying!!!" " yeah right am I going to be able to learn everything that I need to to be able to fulfill my sacred purpose and bring those that the Lord has prepared unto him!" We all have "yeah right statements." BUT if we truly understand that our Heavenly Father has ALL POWER-Everything about our perspective in life will change.

McDonalds in Argentina!

Mom! Speaking of the the food…I have bathroom problems. I was really careful, but I think it is a rule to have bathroom problems at least once while you serve a mission in a foriegn country. Hopefully it will get better!
Melanie's comment: Do you think there is a connection between him sending this picture and then letting me know he has 'bathroom problems'. That was the news I have been dreading to hear!

Josh's 2-15-10 e-mail

Yesterday was kinda interesing for church. It was good-just interesting in some parts…haha. In the morning we played ¨Where´s the investigator?¨ We went to all of their houses and not one came to church! We ended up having one, but that is because she became new yesterday…Then the 2nd counselor in the bisophric came and asked me to give a talk on missionary work. I said yes, but I wasn´t prepared. I gave my talk in stutters and didn´t speak very well. It taught me a really important lesson about how we need to be prepared always!!! Karla and Miguel are doing really well. Well…except yesterday they didn´t come to church, but we are going to talk about the importante of church tommorow with them! Anyways, Miguel and Karla love my last name. When we are in their house with them, they always say ¨ hey dustin! ¨ What do you like to eat dustin?¨ Does everyone in your family have blue eyes dustin?¨ What do you think dustin?¨ Miguel even gave me a hat! They are my examples of charity! We taught them how to recognize the spirit. Afterwards Miguel and Karla commented and I realized I needed to learn from them how to recognize the Holy Ghost!

We are entitled!

I am reading in Mosiah right now when Alma receives word from the Lord about how to take care of the people who are in iniquity, and it made me realize that if Alma received revelations like that, visitations from the Lord, if he is entitled, I am entitled, we are all entitled! If we are worthy and if we truly want it! It said that he "poured out his whole soul to God" Mosiah 26:14. I know that Jesus Christ can be your very best friend if you want Him to be. He knows you better than any person that walks this earth. He knows your personal struggles and trials, He knows exactly how you feel all the time, every moment. He can see you. He loves you with a love that is too intense to describe with words. He understands you.

Megan's 2-8-10 e-mail

The Book of Mormon is the Rod of Iron that Leads us back to ETERNITY. My favorite scripture for this week: Hebrews 12:1-2 "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross". Jesus Christ understood the joy that he would experience by enduring the atonement. Because he went through the most pain and sorrow than any man has, he experiences now and forever the most joy.

A friend of Jesus... Josh Dustin

There was a talk by Bishop Edgely that really affected me. Bishop Edgely talked about his father before he died said, ¨Oh, I hope I am friend of Jesus!¨or among these lines. This affected me greatly and has helped me. Every day now I am looking to know Christ and not just know about Christ. I hope to say the day when I die, I am friend of Jesus Christ. I know he is my friend.

Josh's 2-8-10 e-mail

Miguel and Karla are doing good, but we had an interesting experience with them! We were with another family and Karla and Miguel were our backup plan for that day. We were just going to pass by and say hello and then the next day we were going to teach them. It was late and we weren´t sure if we should pass by because we were going to see them tomorrow! But we went anyways and…there in their house was the Jehovah´s Witness! They let us in and the Jehovah´s witness quickly left. They were so confused! They didn´t know what to believe! I was nervous also, they had just had a huge spiritual experience with the Book of Mormon and now they were confused. After we saw that they were confused we sat down and listened. The Jehovah´s Witness had told Karla and Miguel that we worked for the devil and that they should put the Book of Mormon in a trash bag and throw it into their neighbor's yard. Miguel was really confused why they would say this about the Book of Mormon. For probably around an hour we listened and once in a while shared a scripture and bore our testimony. With time Miguel and Karla calmed down and regained the spirit during the lesson. With the spirit they began to remember the feeling they felt Sunday about the Book of Mormon and didn´t worry. We left with confidence and no doubt that the spirit had taught Miguel and Karla. This experience with them helped me. It showed the importance of listening to the spirit, just listening to people, and that everything will be all right if you have faith in Christ. They came to church this Sunday and really enjoyed it! We went to their house in a taxi and it was so beautiful to see them in church. I never really thought that one of the biggest challenges would be to encourage people to come to church or how to keep it holy.

Power of the Book of Mormon

We had a precious experience with Miguel and Carla this week. We have sisters in our zone and found Miguel because he works in their area. Well he got transferred over to us because he lives in Mananteal. The Jehovah Witnesses went over to their house because Miguel has started the search to know God. He enjoyed them. He enjoyed what they said. He even has their book that explains the Bible. Then we came and talked with them. During the lesson we gave the them the Book of Mormon and left with a promise that if they would read the Book of Mormon they would know the truth. We promised we would visit them Sunday morning to help them to church. We went to their house and they had forgotten, but they had read!!! Miguel was ecstatic about the Book of Mormon, he loved it. He read 3 Ne 11 three times! He loves the Bible, he said, but now wants to read the Book of Mormon more. He knows the truth. He said, I don´t have to search for no longer, the truth is here as he touched the Book of Mormon. Ohh! It was amazing! I loved it. Like Megan said there is power in the Book of Mormon, more than we know.

Josh's 2-1-10 E-mail

We had a baptism! I feel spoiled I didn´t do anything! Just came! His name is Agustin and he was excited to meet someone from the United States, but he tells me everytime I try to talk with that he can´t understand me....haha. But his Mom is a member, his dad isn´t but we hope with time, and his brothers want to follow his example.

Another Teaching Experience

All that I still want is to speak Cebuano. It's getting better. On Sunday I gave a lesson in English because a girl's husband (they are from Manila), knows English and Waray Waray, no Cebuano-so I gave it in English. He is awesome. He went to church earlier that day and then we taught him in the afternoon- and I felt the spirit soo much. I don't know that I have felt the spirit like that in a lesson thus far on my mission, and it made me kind of sad because the reason I did feel the spirit was because I think, I was able to invite the spirit by my words. I was able to really tell him how I felt and I wasn't worried about grammar or if I was saying it right or anything, I was just talking to him like a person, like a person who really needs to hear this. I had no worries at all!!

Teaching Rudy Sevilla-Megan

Sunday we had an investigator come to church that we've been teaching for about 3 weeks now. I'm pretty sure he'll get baptized. His name is Rudy Sevilla, and he's 65. He wanted to know more about the church one Saturday a while ago and so he came to the church-one of the branch presidency members was there and they talked for quite a while about the church-Bro. Sanoy gave him a Book of Mormon and the next time we visited him he said he was so grateful for the Book of Mormon and for us coming. We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and gave him a pamphlet. Then the next time we gave him the plan of salvation pamphlet and he had a lot of questions about baptism and authority. We assigned him 1 Ne. 13, and 2 Ne 31. Then the next time we taught him the restoration...kind of backwards because that first day we were out of pamphlets. His son is a pastor and his wife gave him a lot of persecution the night before sunday when he told her that he was going to church,but he came anyway. The first day we met him he said, I dont' know if I'll come to your church, it's all up to the Lord. How cool is that? It wouldn't matter if these missionaries came to him and taught him something, he is going to leave it up to the Lord on whether he should go or not.

Megan's 2-1-10 E-mail

Sometimes I forget that I used to live in America. Sometimes I forget that I have a family. Sometimes I forget who I am? Just like Matt was telling me-it's like you just forget that you used to have a life before...it's hard to describe. But it's not a bad thing-hopefully it means that we've gotten somewhat lost in the work.
Melanie's comment: looking at her living conditions, no wonder she's forgotten about America, but that's better than wishing she was here!Look closely at her legs-bites and scratches all over!

1st Transfer for Josh

Josh left San Pedro on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010 and transferred to Manantial arriving at 9:30 p.m His new companion is Elder Heddinger from Chile. His father is from Germany which explains his non-Chilean name. Several members from San Pedro were waiting at the bus station to say good-bye to Josh and Elder Lugo who were both transferring, but to different areas.