INVITATION

You are all invited for Elder Bacarro's Homecoming talk this Sunday, September 16, 2012 at Capas ward chapel, 8:30 in the morning.

AIRPORT ARRIVAL!

Elder Bacarro arrived home safely from his two year mission in Korea Seoul Mission. You are all invited on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012 in his Homecoming talk in Capas Ward chapel.

Elder Bacarro's last week, last email as a missionary

Hello My dear Family!!!

The time has come. I can still remember my first email to you guys and now this is my final email to all of you as a missionary. I can't believe that my mission is almost over. 

It's a really fun to think that I'm going home, seeing you guys after 2 years and going back to my normal life but of course it's also sad to think about it. I will miss these things waking up at 6:30 in the morning, having a personal study from 8-9am, language study from 10-11am, lunch at 11 and begin to work at 12to9pm with dinner at 6pm, finding people to teach on the street, walking under the heat of the sun and blistering cold winter, testifying a lot about the gospel and wearing this nametag almost every single day. I can say more stuffs but their are ton. I'm really really grateful that I'm here in Korea as a missionary, as a representative of Jesus Christ, as a servant, as a helper. I want to share some scripture verses that I loved a lot during my mission. It's in 2 NEPHI 4:18-21: I remember

 18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily ^abeset me.

 19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have ^atrusted.

 20 My God hath been my ^asupport; he hath led me through mine^bafflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

 21 He hath filled me with his ^alove, even unto the ^bconsuming of my flesh.

I learned these verses when I was in my 1st transfer here. I had a lot of hard time like learning Korean, missionary work and others but I knew that the Lord never ever left me in the times of trials and challenges, like Nephi and his family in the wilderness, I felt more the Savior's love for us. It has been an amazing experience! Missionary work is hard but it's worth it. I want to share a talk from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: MISSIONARY WORK AND THE ATONEMENT:

Almost everything I have said here has been an aid directed toward the missionary process, ultimately toward the investigator. May I close with an extended testimony about how focusing on the Atonement helps full-time and member missionaries and mission leaders.

Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” ¹⁶ then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

I testify that the living God is our Eternal Father and that Jesus Christ is His living and Only Begotten Son in the flesh. I testify that this Jesus, who was slain and hanged on a tree, ¹⁷ was the chief Apostle then and is the chief Apostle now, the Great High Priest, the chief cornerstone of His Church in this last and greatest of all dispensations. I testify that He lives, that the whole triumph of the gospel is that He lives, and because He does, so will we.

On that first Resurrection Sunday, Mary Magdalene first thought she saw a gardener. Well, she did—the Gardener who cultivated Eden and who endured Gethsemane. The Gardener who gave us the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the cedars of Lebanon, the tree of life.

I declare Him to be the Savior of the world, the Bishop and Shepherd of our souls, the Bright and Morning Star. I know that our garments can be washed white only in the blood of that Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. I know that we are lifted up unto life because He was lifted up unto death, that He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, and with His stripes we are healed. I bear witness that He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, that He was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief because upon Him were laid the transgressions of us all. ¹⁸

I bear witness that He came from God as a God to bind up the brokenhearted, to dry the tears from every eye, to proclaim liberty to the captive and open the prison doors to them that are bound. ¹⁹ I promise that because of your faithful response to the call to spread the gospel, He will bind up your broken hearts, dry your tears, and set you and your families free. That is my missionary promise to you and your missionary message to the world.

I know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, everyone can feel his love and can be happy in their life. It is important to think always how the Savior saved us than to think that he leaves us in the times of trials. I have a testimony about the atonement. Through the atonement of Christ, I can come to mission, I can repent and become converted to his gospel. I testify that the atonement is true. My mission has been the best experience ever in my life. I really really felt the power of atonement in my mission. I'm really really happy for this opportunity. I love my mission. I love my mission. I love my mission. I will always remember it. I will cherish the moments that I had in this 2 years. I have come to know more the Savior. I know HE LIVES! I know that this gospel is true. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, who called him to help to restore this glorious and wonderful gospel.

 For Dad and Mom, thank you so much for the support that you gave to me. Thank you for the sacrifice that you did for my mission. I know that you did everything for my mission. Mom, Dad, I love you with all of the sincerity of my heart. I missed you all so much. Kath, Kim, thank you for the prayers and for your love to me. I'm happy to see you all again on Friday. I'm really really excited. This is Elder Kenneth Edward Bacarro of Korea Seoul Mission, serving from Aug. 25, 2010 to the 14th of September 2012. I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to be his disciple among his people that they might have everlasting life. I am a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. I have a special message for everyone, it is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, The Book of Mormon, and eternal families. I know that the message that I shared is true. I know that God lives. I am a disciple of our SAVIOR. I love this gospel. I love the people of South Korea(Republic of Korea). Seoul Mission is the best and greatest mission in the universe. I love you all. This is my final email as Elder Bacarro. See yah on Friday and I love you all.

ELDER KENNETH EDWARD BACARRO

Korea Seoul Mission

Aug. 25, 2010-Sept. 14, 2012

Last week of Elder Bacarro's last transfer...

We got a news from Elder Bacarro, He will arrive at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on September 14, 2012 at 10:40pm Manila time. We are all excited to see him after his two years mission from Korea. This is his email, the second to the last in his mission. Here are some of the pictures that he sent to us.