Road was washed out so we had to walk on the skinny cement wall.
Kamusta mo!!
Wow. Just a week and 3 days.. and it's transfer week! I'm a little nervous. I kind of don't want to transfer. I love everyone in the Jagna branch. We won't find out who is transferring until Tuesday. It can go either way. Sister Orzal either stays and I go or vice versa, or we both stay together for another transfer. I'm so scared!
Well, here's what's been going on for this week . . .
On Tuesday, July 28th, Sister Orzal and I had our district meeting and it was such an awesome meeting. After each district meeting, we have teaching practice, and we kind of role play lessons... I absolutely HATE practice teaching. It's always so awkward, and kind of hard to do, especially if you don't really know the language. But this practice teaching was...different. For the practice teaching, Sister Orzal and I ended up teaching Sister Legaspi and Sister Sumiran (our STL's) who pretended to be husband and wife. We all pretended it was the first visit. Usually on the first visit, we all introduce the Restoration pamphlet. Elder Borrego (our District leader) told us to try something different because sometimes we don't pour our hearts out and bear our testimonies on the first visit, we just go straight to the doctrine. So I started the lesson, and introduced the pamphlet a little bit. I asked them some questions, but they were so stubborn and it was hard to get answers. I didn't really know what to do. Elder Borrego was sitting on the side and looked at Sister Orzal and I and started crying and said, "What you're doing ISN'T working. These are your brothers and sisters that need your help. Help them." Sister Orzal then started talking, but got too emotional and just broke down in tears. She couldn't even talk. We all just sat there and waited for a couple of minutes hoping she'd say something, but she was too emotional to speak.
I then looked at Sister Legaspi and Sister Sumiran and said, "Do you even know how much God loves you? Can you guys even comprehend that he is your Father and you mean so much to Him? He is your literal Father in Heaven, we are literally his children. That means we are literally siblings." I then pointed at the "husband and wife" and said, "YOU are my sister.. and YOU are my brother. Do you even know why we're here? What our purpose is as missionaries? We're not here to bible share. Our purpose is to help you come unto Christ and have faith in Him, repent of your sins, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost so you can return back to your loving Heavenly Father's arms once again. And if we aren't doing the things we need to do here to return to our Father, then why are we even here?? I know with every fiber of my being that the only way we will ever return back home is through this gospel. I would not leave my family for 18 months if I did not know that this church was true. I would not leave my family to come to a foreign country, trying to speak a foreign language, if I DID NOT love you both. I wouldn't leave if I didn't care about your salvation, your souls."
Oh man.. It was such an emotional testimony! As I was speaking, tears were strolling down my cheeks, and Sister Legaspi/Sister Sumiran's eyes were filled up with tears and couldn't help but cry. I then looked at Sister Orzal and she bore some of her testimony and then committed them to baptism. They said "yes," and then we closed the lesson. The Spirit was so strong! It was one of the best lessons filled with so much love and Spirit that I've ever had. My heart was filled with so much love it started hurting. After we stopped our practice teaching, Sister Legaspi and Sister Sumiran evaluated our teaching. They told us that it was one of the best lessons they'd ever been taught. Sister Legaspi said that she didn't even know why she said "yes" to being baptized, she just felt so much Spirit that she knew she had to say "yes!"
It was such an emotional teaching practice. When I was speaking to Sister Legaspi and Sister Sumiran, I didn't see two sister missionaries, it really felt like I was in the middle of a lesson speaking to people I didn't even know, and I had to tell them how much this gospel can help their lives. I had to convince them that God really is their father, and we really are His children. Elder Borrego walked over to us and said, "You all felt the Spirit strongly, huh? You loved the lesson?" We all said "yes." He told us, "Then why aren't we teaching like this every time?? There's so many times that we don't bare our testimony/true feelings on the first visit, so people never understand how much this message really means to us. Do your lessons like that every time, and you'll be helping your brothers and sisters come unto Christ. I guarantee it."
On August 1st, Saturday, Sister Orzal and I got to participate in one of our recent converts, Sister Angelita's wedding! Sadly, she didn't marry in the Temple, but is planning on being sealed with her husband after she's been a member for a year. They were married in the Jagna church by the new Tagbilaran Stake President, President Gallotera. It was a pretty fun wedding. She looked so pretty and happy.. and so nervous at the same time. haha.
On August 2nd, Sunday, Sister Orzal and I visited member Sister Luz, and had dinner with her like we usually do every Sunday. The weather lately has kind of been like Idaho, really back and forth. Sometimes it will rain all day and then the next day it will be super hot. Then the next day it will be hot, but then randomly rain when you aren't expecting it. We weren't expecting it to rain tonight, but during our lesson/dinner it started raining super hard. (It Matrix-like rain). And since we weren't really expecting it to rain because it was super hot earlier, we didn't bring our umbrellas. On top of that, there weren't any RELAs (Filipino transportation) around to pick us up and take us home. So Sister Orzal and I had to walk (more like run) all the way home in the rain. To tell you the truth, it was actually pretty fun!
I think the lesson I've learned from this week.. don't be afraid to be "straight up" with the people and tell them how you feel. Don't be afraid to share your testimony. How else are people going to know how much the Gospel really means to you? Just because you aren't a missionary, doesn't mean you can't spread the Lord's Gospel. "Every member...a missionary!" -David O. McKay. We each have a responsibility to take the Gospel to every corner of the world!
I love you all! Have an awesome week!
Love,
Sister Johnson