My Book of Mormon Essay

This Christmas 2014 each of us were gifted with a Book of Mormon with instructions to color code it as we read it and finish it by the month of April. Before we go to zone conference this month we have to write a short summary of our experience. This is my submission and my testimony of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. 

I loved reading the Book of Mormon with the rest of the mission. I feel like this challenge not only inspired me to restart reading the Book of Mormon in full, but also inspired wonderful discussions in my companionship, district, and zone. The week before our Christmas conference I had just finished reading and studing the Holy Bible from front to back, so when I started reading the Book of Mormon it was with new eyes. I realize now that the Book of Mormon is literally a companion to the Bible. Priesthood, temple ordinances, prophets, revelation, it's all there and more. My love only grows each time I reread this inspired "book of answers" as President Monson called it. In my mind it has come to not only be a book of answers, but a book of hope, a book of learning, and a book of peace. As I studied I color coded the suggested categories as well as marked each instance of healing, whether it be temporal or spiritual. I also drew a red heart each time the people were righteous and a black heart when they hardened their hearts. I was interested to see the pattern of the pride cycle. I feel that the more I read the Book of Mormon the more I understand it. It's as if the language gets simpler and the personal revelation becomes more easy to receive. I have come to learn that sometimes we don't learn from the actual words that are written on the page, but by the whisperings of the Spirit in our heart. As I read each day I found myself fervently thanking my Heavenly Father for the gift that is the Book of Mormon. I know the Book of Mormon is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. Through prayerful study I have come to know that he is truly my Savior, my Redeemer, and my Advocate. I have once again started reading the Book of Mormon over again from the beginning and I am eager to once again learn what Heavenly Father needs me to learn this time. 

Want to find out the truth for yourself? Click here to learn more about The Book of Mormon.

This Week in Pictures

FHE with the Pimentel Family. Brother played the guitar while Sister danced her heart out. This is the kind of marriage I want when I am 65 years old, they are darling. 

The garden in front of our house complete with mangoes and bananas. 

 A beautiful day at the Manila Temple.

 A peek at my new area. 

We spent nearly the whole afternoon teaching in the rice fields. We sat on the ground and taugh,  enjoying the breeze as little barefoot children laughed and played. Does that sound like a story book or what? How can you not love life here?

FHE with the Tuazon Family

Our beautiful chapel in Balagtas

This week's episode of Sister Cork's ugly legs: 

116 Mosquito Bites and Counting...

Bulakenya sa Puso

Hey y'all! Well, we are finally starting to figure out our open area. We have been visiting a lot of the members in our area and they have been so helpful. I hope you'll take a moment every once in a while and think what you can do to help the missionaries in your area. 

It's so very interesting to have a companion from Pakistan. I feel like my global understanding and knowledge have been so expanded in just the last week. We are quite the interesting pair. I think it makes a bold statement; an American and a Pakistani, united as sisters to share the gospel. That's one of the most amazing things about the gospel; it can reach across any cultural, racial, or political barriers to unite us as one, as children of God.

Hope y'all have a great week. Mahal ko kayo!

He rode along for two hours of proselyting until sun killed him.

Sister Cork and the Legs of Many Colors

Biglaan

Well, this week turned out a lot differently than I expected. On Wednesday morning I showed up to pick up my new companion and was told that she wouldn't be coming. She has been reassigned to serve a mission in her native Tonga. Another sister was scheduled to train a visa waiter, but at the last minute, the sister received her visa and went straight to the United States. Seeing that there were two of us without trainees, we were made companions. So on Wednesday night, I moved out to Malolos with my new Pakistani companion, Sister Kaifi. She is absolutely lovely. We have quite the big job ahead of us as we open an area that hasn't seen sister missionaries for 25 years. Many of the members have never met sister missionaries before; they call us the "girl Elders". A large majority of my new area is rice fields. It's pretty different from what I'm used to, but I'm way excited. This weekend we got to watch General Conference and it just reminded me how thankful I am to be a part of a gospel with living leaders who hold priesthood authority. And it's super cool that members all over the world have access to their words, in their own native language.  I know it can't possibly be very hot anywhere else because the Philippines has to be sucking up every last degree of heat in the whole world. Y'all don't get too cold out there. Love you all, ingat!

 We spent my last night in Novaliches shelling peas for our dinner with the Ocampo family.

 My new area in Balagtas

Washing clothes: Hour 3 of 4

Goodbye Novaliches, Hello Malolos.

As I close my time here in Novaliches and prepare to move to final area in Malolos, I feel a sense of incompleteness. I have loved getting to work with this new sister. I wish I could stay and continue to watch her grow as a missionary. I am so humbled and thankful for the opportunity I have to had to work with her and her trainer.

This week was Holy Week. The Filipino way of celebrating Easter is quite different from ours in the States. There are no chocolate bunnies, colored eggs, or baskets full of treats. But there is a procession from town to town, all night chanting, ending with a public Crucifixion. It's hard to explain, you really just have to see it. I am thankful that we choose to remember the Living Christ. The Church's new video, Because He Lives, is absolutely beautiful. Check it out here.

I will admit the thought of moving to Malolos tomorrow is intimidating yet simultaneously comforting. It will be my last area of my mission and I know it will be difficult to train while opening an area, but I feel nothing but optimistic about it. I am excited to make the very best of the next two transfers. I recently read the talk by Alexander Morrison, "Come and See", and I have decided to do exactly as he said and "seek to wear out my life in the service of the Master".

Love y'all!

Sister Cork

My housemates on the left and my companions on the right.

(S.Teorobwati, S.Funaki, S.Pacquiao, S.Muller)

Singing songs with Eli

 Nova zone with Sister Wilwand

 Meeting with Sister Ajek from Malaysia

My "daughter" and my "granddaughter" in the mission. Love my Samoan girls!

Saying my last goodbye to Sister Clark. 

No electricity? No problem.