This has been quite the week in the Philippines and in our area also. As of now we are in a trio, Sister Roderick, I and Sister Sands. There was an emergency in her last area, my old area Goa, and the Sisters were pulled out. Everything is okay, and fine, but we will be a trio until transfers, which is about two weeks. It is very different being in a trio, and a little weird since I am training Sister Roderick, and Sister Sands and I are batch (we were in the MTC together), but we are making it work. And we are pretty lucky to have 3 of us, with strong testimonies bearing of the truths we know to be true.
So this week has been quite a different one, but there have been some great highlights.
We OYMed (Opened Our Mouths), to a lot of people this week when plans would fall through and had some amazing opportunities. One woman asked us what the book we were holding in our hands (which was my Tagalog Book of Mormon). She flipped it open and said a scripture I had highlighted; she started reading it (Mosiah 4:9). She said she would like a copy, and we said we would return with one for her the next day (of all days we didn't have one in hand to give her!!!). It just really made us both realize our image, and what we are holding in our hands, or carrying with us can be effective tools for talking to people. People notice the little things and we need to make sure the little things are what we want them to notice about us.
We taught a less active member’s daughter who we found a couple weeks ago and I felt this overwhelming prompting to invite her to be baptized. I kept shoving it aside, but then it kept coming back, so I did, and right away she said "yes", she just needs to ask permission from her parents first.
The next day, we had Trainers Training for Sister Roderick and I, and we separated the Trainers, and the trainees, and it almost became a vent session, or time to figure out what’s not going right, and what the trainers need to do better at, and what the trainees can do better. It made me SO grateful to be companions with Sister Roderick, and for the friendship we have. We have so much fun, and have loved being companions. I feel so lucky to be her trainer! She is an amazing missionary!
On Thursday, we had a service project with our district. We were almost to the family's house when we saw them driving up towards us. The Sisters had double checked the night before to see if it was still happening, and they said maybe another day sisters.... we didn't know quite what to do, but we decided we'd use our time/and bus ride there wisely, so we went and cleaned the stake center in case it would need to hold people who were evacuating their homes. (This was the day before the Typhoon). It was fun, and we were cleaning up the outside of the church. There were these grates for water, with so much trash down in them so we had the Elders hold it up and I volunteered to get in there and grab the trash. I started moving it around with my shoe and SO MANY cockroaches came running out. I squealed, and jumped out of there so fast! Cockroaches have turned into my least favorite thing here, especially after seeing little kids with puffed up faces from ipis (cockroach) bites. I refused to get back in there haha.
Friday, we were told we were not allowed to leave the house until further notice. We were without power for most of the day, and spent most of it having our weekly planning session and studying Tagalog. Being productive right ? (: The highlight of the day was when we texted in an order to McDonalds (texted hahaha) and he called us asking us to help him locate out apartment. We stood at our gate, and realized it was pitch black, so we talked it out with him on the phone and he dropped off our Big Macs, fries and drinks haha. We had ordered Sprites, but they gave us Coke (which as missionaries in the Naga mission our Mission President has asked us not to drink caffeine), so we decided let’s give it to our kabit bahay (neighbors). They told us come in, come in, haha I was wearing my hair in a big bun, my pajamas, and glasses haha.. Not the best missionary attire (but I did have my nametag (: ). They were 3 girls, and we started chatting a bit, and one said, "You know I am actually a member.". Haha. She told us she came here for her job a couple weeks ago and didn't know where the church was, then she realized she lived next to the Sister missionaries. So she said she would come to church with us when she didn’t\t have work. The Lord really places people in the right places (:
One big highlight of our week was when our investigator Ace showed up to church! We found him when we were looking for his uncle, who is a less active member. He is awesome, and is always sending US scriptures to look up and read. He also is quite possibly the funniest person I have met! We love teaching him because he is serious when it’s right, but loves to live life to the fullest and laughs alot. At church he wrote down every scripture that was said in all the meetings. The topics were a little deep, about baptisms for the dead (which if any one questions about feel free to email, and ask me or look it up on lds.org), but he said next time we visit, he wants to talk about that.
I feel so blessed to be safe and sound through the typhoon that has affected so many people here in the Philippines. It’s hard not to think when events like this keep happening how close the Second Coming of Christ really is. These are signs of the times, and we really need to prepare ourselves not only physically, but spiritually too. I know that if we read the words of God, listen to His guidance through apostles, and strive to endure to the end, we have no need to fear the things that lie ahead. I love this gospel, and the joy it brings. Hope all of you are safe and sound. Count your many blessings ! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment