I Love Leganes!

Dear Family, 

How are you all? I hope you all had a great Easter! We are so blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father who sent His Son to atone for us. And we are so blessed to know that His Divine Son was resurrected and lives again. He lives! So, I'm sure you're all wondering how people celebrate Easter over here. Honestly, it wasn't a very big deal. There are some weird, sacrilegious traditions. The Ward went on a beach outing in Dumangas on Good Friday, and we were able to attend. It was fun! Some of our investigators also came.  

Remember how Jaro was a rather challenging area for me? Well, the Lord definitely rewards our patience and faith... because Leganes Ward is AWESOME! We are working with a couple of member referrals, the Ward Missionaries love to come work with us, we had a great correlation yesterday. I am really excited about this area. Church was really great yesterday. I was really impressed at how organized the ward is. It has the best attendance so far of the units I have worked in. The members are very humble and faithful and they are united by their love for the Savior. I am trying to learn all the faces and names fast enough. 

Some of our investigators are Johnmar, Jeferson, and Elvie. Johnmar is 18 and a referral of a recent convert. We have taught him twice so far, and he is very interested and wants to be baptized. He has the support of his family, though they are not interested at this time. He is really close friends with Renren, the recent convert, who has a really strong testimony. Johnmar is kind of shy, but I know that as we build his faith, the gospel will help him have courage. Jeferson is 18 and Elvie is 23, they are siblings. Elvie has been taught for a while now, Jeferson just started listening, but he attended General Conference with Mareta (one of the YSA). Whenever we try to extend commitments to Elvie, she always says, "Well, I can't promise..." She is afraid to commit because she is afraid of not following through. But she and Jeferson did come to church yesterday, despite her not "promising." Yay! :) They live in the same boarding house with Mareta. They are so cool! They have great questions. Jeferson and Johnmar are definitely future missionaries. For sure! 

So, you know the Lost Boys of Neverland, in Peter Pan? They really exist! I'm pretty sure I found them in Leganes. Yesterday, we visited with the RS President to confirm the FHE we have planned for tonight, and we learned that all the ruffian boys that were running around in her front yard/driveway area aren't related to her, they are just random street urchins who heard they would get food and a safe place to sleep there. Her brother uses his own money made from the family junk shop to help out the 8 boys (ranging in age from 7 to 17). She told us how boys just started showing up about 15 years ago when they moved into that house. Her brother built them a little bamboo-and-tin loft where they can sleep, and they just live off of the extra food and kindness of their family. It was so ridiculous and so sad and so heartwarming all at the same time. The boys are not orphans, their families just don't take care of them. She said that her niece didn't want to play with one of the boys, Fritz (7), because he smelled bad, so the RS President took him over to the bomba (water pump well) and tried to bathe him...she said it was like trying to bathe a cat. Fritz was afraid of water. She makes sure they have clean clothes to wear, even if they can only find a set of old pajamas. We invited the Lost Boys to our FHE tonight. Hopefully they won't hide from us, and hopefully we can share the gospel with them so they can have happiness and direction in their lives. 

This week in my study of Job and the Psalms, I learned that the Lord wants us to seek wisdom before we seek wealth. Wisdom cannot be bought. Information is different than knowledge. There is a lot of information available in the world today, but only knowledge understood and applied can help us to become like our Savior. Heavenly Father wants His children to learn spiritual and secular things. And like it says in Moroni 10:5, the Spirit is our guide as we seek for truth and wisdom. We do this as we study and ponder His words daily. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and truly is our Heavenly Father's kingdom on the earth. As we "immerse ourselves in His kingdom" we will feel His love surround us, and we will gain eternal wisdom daily. We are so blessed to be members of the true church. I love you all! Halong! 

Love, Sister Winward