11-21-16 (Monday)
Today we had an FHE with a recent convert family at Elder
and Sister Jensen’s house. And boy was that a great experience. (: For our
lesson we just read Alma 7:11-12 and bore our testimonies. But as all the other
Sisters were bearing their testimonies about the Atonement of Jesus Christ it
just hit me how incredibly important families are to God. Everything Heavenly
Father and Jesus Christ do for us are for us to have an eternal family.
Obviously the most central part of God’s plan is the Atonement. But I truly
believe the most central part of the Atonement is eternal families. I better
not mess up when I pick my husband. (:
11-22-16 (Tuesday)
Happy Birthday my Dearest Abigail. ;D I don’t know if it was
a coincidence or not that the best day of my life was on Abby’s [Nelson] birthday, but I
think Abby is my new lucky Lenny. ;D
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| Rizza and Maryann |
Anyway.. This morning during personal study I wanted so
badly to sleep, my eyelids were so heavy! And I straight up had a mini
angel-devil battle on my shoulders kind of experience. (; I was like “it’s okay
to sleep now, you used to fall asleep during studies all the time.” “No! You
can make it 20 more minutes! Do it for the miracles!” 5 minutes later.. “Just
sleep now so you won’t need to nap at lunch time.” “No! You set a goal not to
sleep at lunch time anymore anyways! Magaral pa more! Kaya mo iyan!” [Learn more,
more! You can do it!] And I am proud to say I did not heed to the temptations
of my mini shoulder devil. (; (AND! I didn’t sleep at lunch either! SUCCESS!
:D)
But after studies, while Sister Buna Cruz was getting ready
to go out to work, the sleepiness hit me again. So once we finally left the
apartment I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I did not feel like OYMing at all!
But as we were walking down the street I saw a lady sweeping the leaves in her
yard and luckily I saw an opportunity and took it. She wouldn’t let me help
her, but it sure helped me. Ever since I finally opened my mouth I was on fire!
I talked to everyone. (:
But the most exciting thing I have to say about today is
that I am already seeing miracles in the work here AND my life. (: The first
miracle is the referral our Branch President texted us this morning. President
Bautista was like “can you go visit him today at 1:00?” Uhh. Heck yes! So we go
out to work and eventually went to go find our referral, Arnold. And he lives
in a barangay [neighborhood] that even Sister Buna Cruz has never been to so let’s
just say… OYMs were a total score there!
But after we finally found A.. Let’s just say he is what
we call elect! Oh my word, I wanted to see him baptized right then and there!
The Spirit.. man, his heart is wide open. I have no doubt he will be baptized
one day soon. (: The best part was that
we were literally able to answer all his questions in order with Lesson 1. He’d
ask about prophets right as we were getting ready to talk about prophets. Then ‘why
we have so many churches’ right before we talk about the Great Apostasy. It was
just crazy to see the Spirit working through ALL of us. (:
Then… because I have been doing my best to show Christ I am
truly focused and here to work, I have felt the Spirit in my life a lot more
and a lot more powerful. And I am here to tell you.. when we have the Spirit in
this great of abundance.. The gift of tongues is real. I was able to almost
understand perfectly all of R’s stories. I didn’t understand or know every
word, but I truly was able to understand her struggles, desires, and even
random stories. BOOM panes! ;D Life is 100% when you give 100% of your effort
to the Lord. (:
11-23-16 (Wednesday)
All kinds of stuff happened today but I’ll talk about our
experiences with R today. This morning we went to go help her do the laundry
so she would have time to go to the church for her interview. So as we were all
doing the laundry and washing the dishes, the supply manager, Elder Pawasa
called and told us he was at our apartment to fix things. So we had to hurry up
with the laundry to get back home before we were able to teach R. So.. we
just told her her baptismal interview will be tomorrow. Then later in the
evening we went to go teach her and fill out her BCR [Baptism and Confirmation
Record] and have her husband sign that it’s okay R will be baptized. And while
we were visiting and teaching she kept talking about how happy it made R’s
mom that we came to help R with her house chores. I don’t know.. But I believe
that service will one day open R’s mom’s heart and door to hear the gospel
of Jesus Christ. (:
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| For Bubby |
Now.. Fast forward an hour or so.. R’s husband will not
sign the “permission slip”. Ouch. I thought we were friends, R2. R,
Sister Buna Cruz, and I were all completely heart broken. Like R was border
line mad that we told her she can’t be baptized till her husband signs the
paper. But as heart breaking as this is.. I still have a lot of hope.
But most of all, I feel just fine because I know I have done
everything I can. Just because R2 is being a brat doesn’t mean I haven’t fulfilled
my purpose as a missionary when it comes to R. But once again.. the desire
to be exactly obedient is insane. I will do everything I can to help R accomplish desires. Obedience brings blessings. But I need miracles so.. That’s
why I need to be exactly obedient.
11-24-16 (Thursday)
The closest thing I had to turkey on this Thanksgiving Day
was a chicken sandwich from McDo… [McDonald’s] Kill me. (;
Anyway… Sister Buna Cruz and I went and talked to R2 today while he was at work. It worked out good. He opened up a bit and actually
listened to what we had to say. He still hasn’t signed the “permission slip”,
but I think he will sometime soon.
I just told him that him and R need to actually talk and
try to understand each other in order to fix the tension in their relationship.
I sure hope when we go to check on R tomorrow things will be better.
But on a brighter note, we were finally able to see J for the first time in a while since she’s always busy at work, and she’s still
living the Word of Wisdom! :D So her, J2, AND J3 are still good to go
for their baptism on December 10th! :D Man, life is good. I’m truly
seeing the miracles in my life now. I think they’ve always been there though..
I’m just now learning to recognize them. (:
11-25-16 (Friday)
Today was AWESOME! It was just one of those days where the
plan for the day was actually successful. Like.. we didn’t get punted very
often, but when we did we weren’t let down by our back up plan. (; Honestly it
was just a good fun day. There’s nothing better than actually spending the
whole day teaching instead of walking around saying “well, where do we go now?”
We did get to visit with R today and she told us she said
sorry to R2 and that they talked and she thinks they’re better now. He
still hasn’t signed the paper, but it looks like he might here pretty soon.
Sana.. [should] (; But the miracle I believe I saw today was with one of our
hardships.
So! Yesterday while we were visiting with R2 trying to
get him to be okay with R being baptized, we met his friend J4. Now..
J4 is one of the most genuine and sweet men I have ever met. He was so cute!
As we were talking I asked him about his family and he has a 7-year old, 4-year
old, and a 1-year old. And he is actually married to his wife! So I was just
super giddy as I was talking to him about his cute family. Then a little later
while we were talking to R2 some more, J4 comes back to introduce me
to his kids. And freak.. Ang cute cute nila! [They are cute, cute!] (: So of
course after we were done talking with R2 we went to say goodbye to J4
because he lives in the same building that R2 works. And as we were
saying goodbye we asked him if the Elders over their area could come visit
them; and he said yes so we texted Elder Presenta and Elder Tindoe to give them
J4's information.
So fast forward to today.. Elder Presenta and Elder Tindoe
texted to tell us they were able to contact J4 and that he is just awesome.
So.. I guess the strange miracle I see in my hardship is the possible reason
why we have to post pone R’s baptism. Maybe Heavenly Father made it so we
would have to go talk to R2 at work so that we could find J4 and his
cute family. AND! If things continue to go great with J4.. That could
possibly really help R2 listen to us with an open heart because one of
his buddies is coming unto Christ along with R.. I don’t know.. I just have
a lot of hope for this situation. (:
11-26-16 (Saturday)
Today was great and all but I really don’t have much to say.
We did meet/find Tatay A though. Honestly I just felt so much love for
him the moment we started talking. Him and his wife are separated and all 5 of
his kids live in Manilla. I asked him if his kids ever call him and he said no,
“They could care less if I was dead or alive.” Needless to say he is a very
lonely and depressed 62 year old man. But man.. As we were testifying about God’s
love for him I just truly felt what I would consider Godlike love for Tatay. But for real.. we should never feel
alone. Ever. Our Father in Heaven AND Jesus Christ are ALWAYS there for us. I
told Tatay that when he’s lonely he should just talk to God. I shared with him
how I was struggling while in my training and that I was constantly praying and
just talking/venting to Heavenly Father. I think he thought I was a little
weird, but whatever! That was something that really helped me draw closer to
God and find comfort when I felt really lonely.
Aaand.. Sister Deyro [Mission President’s wife] told me I
have to get a chest x-ray on Monday because I’ve had my cough for over a month
and still isn’t getting better after two different kinds of prescriptions. [prescriptions
were for an antibiotic and a decongestant] Weird.. I never in a million years would have
thought or guessed I would need to go to the doctor for a cough let alone get
an x-ray! ;D Especially because I am in no pain.. But I guess as weird as this
all is, it is a bit concerning that my silly cough isn’t going away.
11-27-16 (Sunday)
I like Sundays, I really do. It’s just nice to sit down and
actually listen to someone teach ME about the gospel instead of the other way
around. (; The STLs [Sister Training Leaders] also came over tonight to come to
our District meeting tomorrow and they brought me a pouch from Sister L!
AHH! That just made my whole life! That really made me miss her a lot. I guess
she’s still having problems with always getting in trouble with the police
because people keep trying to take her property. Gahh! She doesn’t deserve
this! I really hope I can see her again before I go home. [Sister L was one of
Sister Fivas’ first baptisms in her first area in Aguilar].
Questions:
What are most people afraid of in the Philippines? Ghosts and dogs. Dogs? Are they wild? Uhh.. I'm not sure. I'm sure a lot of them are though. Like.. There's always dogs and chickens running around the streets just living life.
What options do they have for vocational or college education? I believe it's similar to what we have in America.. Just.. Not as good. (;
Describe your apartment. Uhh.. It's an apartment complex so it's on the second floor. It has one room and a big open space for our study desks and kitchen table. This kitchen is also in the same big space which consists of a sink. Haha. We do have a camping stove top thing we use to cook. There's also a bathroom and a little room to wash your laundry.
