hello

Hello everybody! Good to hear all is going good for you all. Things are still good here. This last week was a busy week with my companion getting ready to go. Transfers are tomorrow, so tomorrow i'll get my new companion. I'm still in the same area, Cabcaben. All is still going good there for us. Last night my companion left to go to the mission home, so today its like i don't have a companion, but i'm with a few other elders here in Balanga. Last night and today i am actually staying in Cupang, my first area. Last night i saw a few of the members there again. It was kinda cool. It was wierd to think that just over a year ago i got there to my first area.This last week i did finally get some of your packages and letters. Thanks for that stuff. Right when i'm always thinking i need to try to watch what i'm eating, i get a bunch of food haha. But it tastes so good.That is sweet that you, Mom and Dad, have to give talks next week. I don't know what i could tell you Mom to help you out. I remember in the last general conference Pres. Ucdorf gave a good talk about pride, and a few others did too. There is one thing that i remember hearing about pride. I don't remember where it is from, but it goes like this, "If your heart is full of love there won't be any room for pride." And whenever i think of pride, i think of the pride cycle that happens repeatedly in the Book of Mormon. It happens over and over again. I don't know if this stuff helps you at all, but hopefully it will get some thoughts flowing for you. I would suggest you could look in Preach My Gospel for some good help. It is an amazing tool to help with lessons and talks. So there are a few ideas. But most importantly just pray about what you should say about you topic. The Lord will give it to you.That is crazy what you told me Dad about the inactivity rate there. I didn't realize it was that high. I'm not sure what it is here. I know there is somewhere around 600 or so members in my current area, give or take 50. But only about 80 are active and attend meeting. So i guess that is around a 10% activity rate. So reactivating is always a focus of ours. That is something i especially want to focus on next transfer in my area, reactivating a couple people. Do you guys have any thoughts or suggestions for reactivating members?This last week we did have one cool experience with a member. It is an older sister, Sis. Pinkihan. She's in her 50's or so. One day while we were working i was kinda thinking about her. Then that night in weekly planning, my companion suggested we go visit her. i was like, okay, lets do it. We don't usually go by there place because they live a ways away. In the community where they live, there are only 2 families of members. So we went there and it looked like nobody was home. We stood there for a second trying to decide where to go, and she came out the door. She looked surprised to see us and had a weird look on her face. So we went in and talked a bit then started sharing. The branch missionary that was with us shared about trials and getting through them. Then Sister Pinkihan opened up to us. She told us how a few members had really offended her and hurt her the Sunday before. She said she had been thinking of not going to church that next Sunday. But that wouldn't have been good, because she is preparing to go and get her endowments on an upcoming branch temple on Feb 19. If she didn't come to church, she wouldn't go to the temple either, and who knows when she could get her endowments out. But earlier that day before we went to her, she had been reading the Book of Mormon and prayed about what to do. And then we showed up at her doorstep. It was a really powerful lesson, the Spirit was really strong. Then on Sunday, Sis. Pinkihan came to church. I know that the Lord lead us to go help his daughter in her trial. It made me think about how the Lord really knows all of us. He knows all of us, and he knows the trials we are going through. Because He loves us, he will send help. It might not be missionaries on your doorstep. but it might be a friend who gives us a call or texts. It could be in a verse in the scriptures. it could be in something we randomly here. But He will always send us help. He loves us all, He loves you specifically. I know that is true. I know this church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I love you all so much, and God be with you till we meet again.Elder Brough