Elder Ben Bondoc: "Lord, I Believe"

Hi.

So first and foremost, my new companion is (drumroll, please) Elder Cortez from Mocada, Tarlac! This is his first time being transferred and I am his third companion. When we went to pick up our new companions in Naga, I saw him and immediately new that we were going to be close. He's awesome. This was our first week of work and boy did we get a lot done. Oh here's a cool story. So this week we had a lesson scheduled at a house 45 minutes away from our apartment, if we take a jeep. We were short on time and the last jeep headed for our appointment was PACKED. So we had no choice but ride on the top. The sun was out and we were ready to get to work. Not 15 minutes after riding on the top of this jeep did the rains come crashing down on us, two innocent missionaries going about 30 miles an hour. It was awesome and awful all at the same time. SO yeah.. we got to our appointment, drenched from head to toe, and taught one of the most powerful lessons that I'll never forget. Missionary life is awesome.

So something that I'd like to share comes from a talk that I read by Jeffrey R. Holland entitled "Lord, I Believe." So this talk basically states the importance of standing our ground on the faith that we have rather than expressing to others faith that we don't have in order to impress them. All of us have doubts and concerns that aren't immediately answered. But at the same time, we all have some sort of existing faith that we can build upon. Elder Holland, "...hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes..." An Apostle of the Lord promised us that additional knowledge will come, but that it's up to us to "hold fast" until such a time. Christ taught that if we express the faith that we already have, be it as small as a mustard seed, that we'll be able to move mountains. It's up to us, however, if we're willing and ready to hold fast to what we know. And one day, when our faith is truly tested, hopefully we'll have the will and power to say "Lord, I Believe." And only then will we witness miracles. Only then will our faith be strengthened. I love this gospel. Faith is truly what binds us to the Heavens and to our Heavenly Father. I love this work. Thanks for the emails. I'll talk to you again next week!

-Elder Bondoc