At the beach!
At the top of the waterfall!
Kamusta!!
Hmm, where to begin? There's so much that has been happening here, so I don't know where to start. Life here in the Philippines is still... hard, hot, tiring; but good. I'll tell you a little bit of what has happened to me here in Jagna.
On Tuesday the 21st, Sister Lagan and I took a Rela (Filipino transportation) to the Jagna branch church, and had a district meeting. The missionaries in our district are Elder Larson and Elder Head (Americans), Elder Talan, Elder Acosta, and Elder Albar (Filipinos), Elder Robanakadavu (Figian, and from my batch in the Provo MTC), Sister Acosta, Sister Deliarte, and Sister Calautit (Filipinos) and Sister Anderson (American). The district meeting was pretty fun. We all did some practice teaching, where a pair of missionaries teach another pair pretending to be investigators, and then afterwards they would be evaluated. It was pretty scary and hard. Sister Lagan and I taught Elder Larson and Elder Head. It was still pretty hard to understand Cebuano and speak it, but Elder Larson said that even though I barely spoke Cebuano, and only said 2 or 3 sentences, he could still feel the Spirit powerfully. And the advice Elder Head gave me was, "Fake it till you make it" (which is what my mom says to me sometimes). He said even though my Cebuano may not be fluent, I have to fake my confidence and pretend that it is, and soon it will be, and I won't have to fake my confidence anymore.
After the district meeting, Sister Lagan and I went on splits with the Sister Training Leaders that serve in Valencia (another town). I served with Sister Anderson, and Sister Lagan served with Sister Deliarte. Sister Anderson and I took a bus to her area, Garcia, which is near Valencia, and Sister Lagan and Sister Deliarte stayed in Jagna (my area). It was awesome being with Sister Anderson. It was fun talking about things we liked to do back at home, and it was a little easier for her to relate to me because we're both from America and both liked/did the same things before our Mission.
After we got off of the bus, we walked over to a less actives house, Sister Mansuela, and taught her about Joseph Smith/The Restoration. We showed her "The Restoration" video, and afterwards Sister Anderson taught her about the Restoration. Towards the end of the lesson, I bore my testimony and told Sister Mansuela how important Joseph Smith is to our church. That if it wasn't for his faith, the church wouldn't have been restored.
After teaching Sister Mansuela, we walked over to some investigators' house, Sister Mary Grace and Ambrosia. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation. Sister Anderson taught some of the lesson and I joined in and bore my testimony about how amazing the Plan of Salvation is. As we were teaching outside, other people came over and listened. Of course, I got emotional when I bore my testimony, but I felt the Spirit so strongly during that lesson. It was awesome! Also, at the end of our lesson, a lady stopped by and asked us questions about our church and what it has to offer, because she doesn't quite feel comfortable with her Catholic church and what they're teaching anymore. It was cool being able to teach someone else we hadn't planned on teaching.
After teaching Sister Ambrosia and Sister Mary Grace, we walked over to the Tagod family's house. The kids are investigators and really want to be baptized, but their mom isn't quite sure if she wants them to be. We also taught them a little bit about the Restoration and why Jesus Christ came to the earth.
After teaching them, it was getting dark, but we walked over to the Casedez family's house (recent converts). Sister Anderson said that the father is blind, but has listened to the whole Book of Mormon on tape, and listened to his wife read it like 5 or 6 times. So if he can read the whole Book of Mormon that many times, anyone can. Our lesson for them was about enduring to the end and not giving up even though they get persecuted all of the time by their family/neighbors for being LDS.
After we taught all of the lessons, we rode on a motorcycle (companions with companions) to the Sister Training Leaders house in Valencia. It was the 2nd time I got to ride a motorcycle here! The 1st time was when Sister Lagan and I visited President Sangria (President of the Jagna Branch) and his family, and he had to drive us back home.
It was so fun going on splits because I got to teach other people and share my testimony of this gospel more. I loved being able to spend time with Sister Anderson and help teach her investigators.
On Saturday the 25th, my district, the zone leaders, and I went and did community service in a town called Duero. When we got to the church in Duero, we met some of the members helping out and sang some songs before walking to the beach to pick up trash. The weather was pretty nice because there was a nice breeze on the beach. After we cleaned up the beach, we walked over to a basketball court and ate some lunch. There were lots of people staring at us because they were so curious as to why we were cleaning up the beach. Some of us talked to people and shared a short message about our gospel and how it can bless their lives. It was pretty fun doing some community service for Duero.
Today my zone and I got to go to The Waterfalls in Jagna! All of the missionaries in my zone met at the market and walked over to a tent where there were guys sitting on motorcycles, and they take people to where they want to go. We had to ride a motorcycle to the waterfalls because the Rela/bus couldn't take us there. It was the 3rd time I got to ride a motorcycle and it was fun, as usual! At the waterfalls we took tons of pictures, played in the water a little (but didn't swim, which was sad) and played games like, 'Ninja', (which I won twice, of course--haha). It was so beautiful and such a fun experience.
P.S. One of our investigators, Sister Jessa, came to church on Sunday! It was so awesome seeing her.
Life here has been crazy busy and, at times, frustrating; but I know that with the Lord's help, we can do anything!
I love you and miss you all!! <3
--Sister Johnson