Kamusta mo!! Whelp... I just have about 2 weeks left and it's already going to be transfer day and then I will hit 5 months being here in the Philippines! But what's even more surprising is that I've hit 7 months being on my mission since the MTC. Can you believe that I've been gone for 7 months already? That doesn't sound right. haha.
Well, Brothers and Sisters, here's my short week so far!
On September 4th, Thursday, Sister Canar and I had zone training meeting in Danao with the missionaries from the Camotes Island. It was a really awesome ZTM because President Tanner came and joined us! It's always so awesome seeing President Tanner and being able to hear his wise words. It was a kind of a sad ZTM because at the end, Elder Wilcox (an American from Hawaii) and Sister Cristoria (from the Philippines) each bore their testimony because they leave for home this transfer. Of course they cried, and of course, everyone else cried.
After we had our ZTM, some of the missionaries and I walked over to Jolibee (a famous fast food restaurant here in the Philippines; kind of like McDonald's in America). While we were getting our food I noticed two older American men sitting at a table talking, and one of them kept looking over at the missionaries, just staring. I don't know why, but the moment I sat down at our table, I had a feeling I needed to go over and talk to them. So I decided to go over with Sister Simmons (a new American missionary) after we were done eating, and give them some pamphlets (in English, of course). It was SO nice being able to speak in English and not have to "nosebleed" over Bisaya at the same time, kind of hard to not throw in Bisayan words that they didn't understand. One of the men was from California and has been living in the Philippines for about 4 years; his name was Louis. The other one was from Louisiana and, well, I kind of forgot his name (I'm not really sure why because he's the reason I'm telling you this little story right now).
The conversation started off nice; Sister Simmons introduced ourselves and our purpose. But then..the conversation kind of took a turn for the worse. The brother from Louisiana, (you can tell he's from Louisiana because of the accent) starts slightly hitting Sister Simmons' and my arm, trying to get our attention. So once we looked at him, he starts in with how God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are one being and how he doesn't believe in living-day prophets, etc. So Sister Simmons starts giving him verses in the Bible that prove that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are separate beings but he still had an excuse as to why our explanation was wrong. No matter what Sister Simmons or I tried to tell him, he still wouldn't listen. The only time he would stop and listen was when we bore our testimonies and told him to pray about what we had to say before reading the pamphlet we gave him.
The other brother, Louis, was a little less hard headed. He mainly talked to me because Sister Simmons was busy, but he was such a nice guy. He was really interested in our message and had told me that he had talked to an Elder a while ago that had bore his testimony to Louis, and Louis told me that he knew that the Elder was telling the truth. He then proceeded to tell me that he had adopted 16 kids, and that he had asked permission if the oldest one could be baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He then asked me if I had any pamphlets in English he could read. So I gave him a pamphlet and he wrote down his information. It was the most awesome conversation I've had here! (Not just because it was in English)
The one thing that he told me that I can't forget, is when I was about to bear my testimony and I said, "I know I'm only 21 years old and you're much wiser than I, but.." and then he interrupted and said, "Sister, I don't care how old you are or if you're much younger than me, all I care about is hearing the truth." It was crazy hearing that because when we asked his religion earlier, he said, "I'm actually not religious. I don't have a religion." It doesn't matter how old you are, if you know that this church is true, don't be afraid to share your testimony, because there are people out there just waiting to hear the truth. And if I hadn't listened to the promptings of the Spirit, there's no way we would have known if Brother Louis was interested or not.
On September 5th, Friday, the mission office Elders and the AP Elders came to the house in Danao and grabbed all of mine and Sister Canar's stuff because...we moved to Carmen! Finally we get to move into our own home. Whoop whoop! Sister Canar and I called it, "transfer day," and I must say, our house is so nindot! The living room is really big, there are so many windows to open so you can have some nice breeze during the day, and there's this nindot patio we can step out on at night. Not to mention, there are these stairs that we can take to the top of our apartment and there's this huge patio that we can hang out on as well. Sister Canar said this house is much better than the one she lived in before because it's not hot like an oven in the new home (which is really good because I live in the Philippines).
Then on September 8th, Monday, Sister Canar and I worked in the morning and taught one of our investigators, Sister Joyanne. The last time we had visited Joyanne, she had lots of doubts and lots of anger towards Nephi. She couldn't quite understand why Nephi had to kill Laban in order to get the brass plates. She kept saying, "God is all powerful. He could've easily made copies of the plates, or given Laban a heart attack, or even high blood that kills him. He didn't need to have Nephi go and spill blood, especially since one of the Ten Commandments is 'Thou shalt not kill." No matter what we told her, or how many times we explained why Nephi did what he did, she would not believe that it was for the greater good. So this time when we visited her, we followed up on her prayer about Nephi and if what he did was right or not, and once again she started saying the same thing.
But this lesson was different than the last. We had two members with us, Brother and Sister Ramayla, and they decided to explain to her why Nephi had to kill Laban. They had to explain to her for about 20 minutes, but after they were done explaining, we asked if she had any more doubts or questions and she said, "No. I understand now. I can relate it to my life and put myself in his shoes. He killed out of self defense. That makes sense." The whole time she said that I had two thoughts, 1) "That's so awesome! You believe now!" and, 2) "Really?? They said the same thing we did last visit and you believe them right away but not us??" I kind of had to just push the 2nd thought out of my head and focus on the fact that she believed. We then took advantage of her not having anymore doubts and decided to commit her to baptism for October 24th. so that was a very surprising lesson!
After we taught, we then traveled to Lilo-an (about 1 hour from Carmen) because the sisters in Cebu had a sisters' activity. The activity was like a workshop where we had some speakers and then a little activity. The activity was where we had a piece of paper with our name on it, and we had to pass it around in a circle and each of the sisters wrote something nice about the other. And then President Tanner had a few words to say about us as sisters in Zion, and how we need to do everything we can to stay righteous but also not settle for less when it comes to finding a husband. (I think he was mainly focusing on the people that are going home this transfer, haha).
It was such an awesome activity because I got to see my batch, Sister Tatarata-Maheahea, and my trainer, Sister Lagan! It was a very stress-free activity filled with laughter and love. Also what's awesome about this day is that I've hit 7 months on my mission so far! That's so crazy. Just 11 more months to go and I'm done. Time really likes to fly by fast. But it's been a good P-day to kind of celebrate being on my mission for 7 months.
So.. right now as I'm typing this letter, this is the bravest I've ever been in my life because I am in a computer shop.. surrounded by spiders! Daddy long legs to be specific. If anything happens . . . I love you all . . .
But seriously, I remember Elder Wilcox had said something during his testimony after the ZTM that I definitely know is true; "A mission will change your life more than you can even begin to comprehend. It will shape you to be the person your Heavenly Father knows you are." I love that because it's so true. In just the 7 months Iv'e been on my mission, I can see the change I've made. Not just changes like being able to type on a computer while 5 daddy long legs surround me, but also changes like my attributes. It's helping me to understand and come to love the Gospel even more than I had before my mission. It's helping me to love people and see them through the Savior's eyes. This mission is really helping shape me into the person that Heavenly Father knows I am.
I know that if we let Him, Heavenly Father can make us into the amazing, spiritual, glorified beings we're meant to be.
I love you all and wish you a happy rest of the week!