11-15-16 (Tuesday)
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| Missionary Council Meeting with the Hundred Islands Branch. (: |
Today the STLs told us to go on exchanges with our kabahay
[room mates]. So this morning sister Alversado was my companion and after lunch
until tomorrow Sister Reyes is my companion. I liked being with Sister Reyes
because she treated me just like a friend.
11-17-16 (Thursday)
This morning we had to wake up early so we could get to
Urdaneta on time for our big Urdaneta Mission Conference with Elder Quinten L.
Cook. (: Yeah.. I don’t want to brag or anything but I got to shake an
Apostle’s hand. (; But honestly today was great! I got to see ALL my friends,
since the whole mission came together. Like Sister Miller.. Freak, I miss her.
And my two anak [sisters], Sister Diaz and Sister Alpino! And all the Elders
that were in my District in the MTC! And let’s just say Elder Budge will be my
favorite person forever.
It was just so good to be around my friends again. OH! AND! I
saw Sister Tanielu and she told me the D Family got baptized! YAAASSSS! I couldn’t
be happier. Even though R and T weren’t baptized with the rest of the
family because they’ve been in San Carlos.. they’ll be baptized in December and
that’ll just be the best day ever. (:
But anyway… during most of the Mission Conference people
shared examples of miracles that people were able to see on their mission
and/or because they opened their mouth; and man.. I will do ANYTHING to see
miracles, like the people in their stories, in my own life. I promise you all,
and myself, that I will do everything I can to be the type of servant that sees
miraculous miracles regularly in my efforts to do the Lord’s work. I will be
myself while doing my all- time best to confidently do and understand the
promptings of the Holy Ghost. Being a robot isn’t going to open doors or people’s
hearts. But a sincerely loving, and goofy 20-year old girl is just what at least
one person here in 100 Islands needs, and I will do everything I can to find
them. (: #baptizepamore (:
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| It's been my dream to get a picture like this because it straight up reminds me of Mulan. (; |
11-18-16 (Friday)
Today I did everything I could to be worthy to receive and
see miracles in my work AND respect the agency of others and it was great! We
found an awesome family today that I have great hopes for! I asked them if we
could come back and show them what a Family Home Evening is and they were a
little “Ehh… we can’t set a specific time or day because we never know if we’ll
be home or not.” But I don’t care. One of these days I will pack snacks, go to
their house, and make them have an awesome time as a family and testify that
families can always be that happy with Christ and His gospel as the center of
their home.
I also did my very best to listen, understand, and follow
the Spirit. And because of that Sister Buna Cruz and I were to better
understand Sister R’s concerns. She should be baptized tomorrow, but she
just seems to be afraid of something so we obviously pushed her baptismal date
back. But during our lesson I felt we should go through the BIQs [Baptismal
Interview Questions] to help her see for herself if she’s ready to be baptized
or not. And when we got to question two that’s where we found her problem. She
still has questions about Joseph Smith which is interesting because she has a
pretty solid testimony of the Book of Mormon. So I think we’ll be able to help
her out simply enough. (: But yeah.. Today was great! I want so badly to be
exactly obedient!
11-19-16 (Saturday)
I saw miracles today! :D First! We finally were able to
address Nanay R’s concerns and she said she will be baptized on the 26th!
:D It was the best moment of my life when she said yes! Because honestly during
our lesson I got a little frustrated because the whole lesson she was
testifying to us about she finds all her answers in the Book of Mormon without
realizing it! Then she said every time she reads, it talks about baptism and
she prays and asks God if that’s an answer. Literally though.. for probably 20
minutes she just testified and shared her experiences, answers, and blessings
she’s received because of this gospel. But she doesn’t recognize her feelings
and experiences as the answer “Yes! This is all true. Get baptized NOW!” But
then something happened, I don’t even know what, and when Sister Buna Cruz
asked her if she’ll be baptized on the 26th this coming Saturday she
looked at us and said “okay, I will.” YAAASS! I about died! I am so happy she
listened to the Spirit and finally said yes! :D
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| I don't even know.. ;D |
Second! As we were walking down the street after one of our
lessons, we OYMd [street contacting] these two ladies. They were both super
friendly and just great. But one was especially promising and said she’d love
for us to come over and that we can teach her whole family. AWESOME!
Then later as I was doing my laundry during lunch I was
pondering life and then it just hit me hard. That super awesome and very
potential lady has 5 children and lives close to the church. I don’t know if she
and her husband are married yet or not, but I have very high hopes! Because if
she is.. This could be the family I’ve been looking for ever since my follow-up
training when President Deyro told us all to pray to find a married couple with
5 kids that lives close to the church. I truly believe that OYM was the start
of a new miracle. (:
11-20-16 (Sunday)
We honestly didn’t do anything today. After church Sister
Buna Cruz had a headache so we didn’t go to work till after 5:00. But we did
get to go visit Tatay P in the hospital. And boy was that such a bitter sweet
experience. It was super great to see how happy and grateful he and Nanay were
that we came to visit them. But man... he straight up looked like a shriveled
up raisin in this joke of a hospital. It’s still hard for me to see how most
people have to live their lives here and know how we live our lives in
America.. I just can’t help but think “it’s not fair.”
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| I don't know why, but every time I see these banners I can't help but think of Sadie. It just reminds me too much of "Bvvvrrrttt." ;D |
But today was pretty good all together; especially because
we had 11 investigators come to church. :D Most of them aren’t 15 yet so they
can’t be baptized without their parents, which sucks, but hopefully we can help
their parents start to come to church too. (:
I really want to train again. I want to be able to follow
all the rules, even the little simple ones like leave the house at 10:15 and 30
minutes of nightly planning, and not be scared to enforce the “rules”. I want
to be the missionary that Christ trusts to give me special assignments in His
work. I have 100% learned from my mistakes here in the mission and I see them
as blessings now because the change in my heart that I received through the
Atonement and repentance process is INSANE. I want so badly to become a true
miracle worker because I’m just that close to Christ. (: The drive I have right
now is real, and I do not want to lose it! I will not lose it!
Have you seen any crazy wildlife lately? No.. But I did eat crab a couple weeks ago. Like.. real crab. It's freakishly hard tearing apart and eating a crab. And 100% not worth the effort. ;D
What do kids in the Philippines want to be when they grow up? All kinds of things. I hear seaman and policeman a lot though.
How do the people spend their spare time? And honestly.. They do nothing. They just sit at home or if they want to visit they chill on the side of the street with their friends.
