Philippines Mission--Week 29

Kamusta kamong tanan! This week has been full of adventure, pain, and sore bodies. But I hope you enjoy!

October 20, 2015, Tuesday, Sister Acosta and I got a call in the morning from our Sister training leaders that they needed to go on splits with us that day. So we had to hurry and get ready and I had to pack my stuff because I was leaving Carmen and traveling to Bogo (about 2 hours away), and I would be working with Sister Villegas.

It took Sister Villegas and I a while to get to Bogo, so we just went straight to the chapel to participate in the District meeting. And I was SO excited to attend this meeting because I got to see Elder Robanakadavu (my batch from the MTC, and who trained in Jagna with me) and talk/joke around with him once again. It was a pretty good District meeting. The District leader taught about the Spirit and what a vital role it is during the mission. We then had the opportunity to go in front of the missionaries and answer three questions, "Why did you come on a mission? "What's keeping you here on the mission?" "What do you want to become after your mission?" It was pretty awesome to express myself to other missionaries that I've never seen before and with those I had been in a zone/district with before.

After the meeting, Sister Villegas and I went straight to work in her area. We had to travel about another 30-35 minutes to get to her area, San Remigio, but it was a pretty nice view! It reminded me of Idaho because there were tons of corn fields. It kind of felt like home, I loved it.

The first person we visited was a less active names, Jian Luceno. We ended up teaching him about the role of the Holy Ghost and why it's so important to have him in our lives. Why going to church is so important, to partake of the sacrament and renew our covenants with God, and to have the Holy Ghost. Whenever we taught him he'd agree with us and always say, "Yes. Exactly. You're so right. That scripture is so right." But then he'd have a lot of excuses as to why he didn't go to church. We had then asked him a very bold, straight forward question, and he finally opened up a little as to why he really doesn't come to church anymore. We asked, "Brother, you know that what we're teaching you is right, and that what the scriptures say are true; then why do you NOT go to church when you know the truth?" He finally opened up and said, "I had a calling and I loved the calling, but once I got released I thought, 'If I don't have a calling, then what's the point of going to church?'" That question we asked helped us to see the bigger problem, the bigger part of the "ice berg," not having a calling.

After teaching him, we then walked over and taught some investigators named Janette and Ritchell. They're both sisters-in-law, and we ended up teaching them about the spirit world and the 3 kingdoms of heaven. It was a pretty awesome lesson. You could really feel the Spirit strongly as we taught them. We then committed them to come to church, and they kind of hesitated and said, "If our husbands aren't home, we'll go, but if they're home from work, we have to stay and take care of them/wash clothes." Sister Villegas and I then bore our testimonies that the only way they'll ever know if our church is true is if they go to church. We testified that the Spirit doesn't lie to us, and that if they go to church, they could feel the Spirit even more. And oh man, the Spirit was even STRONGER as we bore our testimonies. It was so awesome!

After teaching them, we walked to another investigators house, but she ended up not being there, so we shared with her mother/sister instead. We had introduced ourselves and then shared about our purpose as missionaries. One of them had a baby that was really distracting, so we cut the lesson short and committed them to read the pamphlet and pray. After we taught them, I saw this well that they grab water from. I then looked down it and wow, it was so deep! We traveled back to Carmen at night, and the STLs just stayed over at our place and left the next day. Overall, it was a pretty awesome companion exchange. Sister Villegas kind of reminds me of my trainer, Sister Lagan, so it was cool to be companions with her for a day to get to know her a little more.

ALSO!--- Funny thing about the word "Bogo". In Cebuano, "bogo" means "stupid", and so whenever Sister Acosta and I talk to people and they say they're heading to Bogo, we always say this really dry, dumb joke. "Padulong ba ka sa Bogo? Pero, bryt kaayo ka!" ("You're going to Bogo? But your'e so smart!) haha. Some laugh, and then there are others that just give us that blank stare.

October 22nd, Thursday, Sister Acosta and I traveled to the mission office/mission home in Lilo-an early in the morning because all of the trainers/trainees had to attend a meeting together. The meeting was where we could talk about how the training is going and what we need help with. The first hour or two we all stayed together and Presdient Tanner talked a little bit and then Sister Tanner shared about health and what we as missionaries need to do to stay healthy on our mission. After their talks, we split up, trainers with trainers, and trainees with trainees. We split up so we could all openly talk about how the training is going and get some advice from other trainers, without feeling so awkward or shy in front of our companions. It was a pretty helpful meeting because I learned a lot about how to more fully help Sister Acosta with her training and grow as a missionary. It was also awesome to be able to see my batch (from the MTC) again, Sister Tatarata-Maheahea, and catch up with each other.

October 24th, Saturday, Sister Acosta and I got to witness one of the Elders' baptismal candidates! His name is Gilbert and he is a part member because his wife is a member. The awesome thing about his baptism is that you could feel the Spirit strongly, and the funny thing about his baptism is that he was a little too excited to be baptized, that before we had started the program, he started walking into the water thinking he'd be baptized right away. It was the cutest thing ever! haha.

October 25th, Sunday, Sister Acosta and I got to have a 'Family Home Evening' with the Rosales family! It was such a fun FHE. The father, Sister Acosta, and I, shared a little message, and then afterwards we played this game called, "Hello Harry, Hi Harry." The objective of the game is to get people to screw up, because if they screw up, we get to mark their face with a dot of lipstick. It starts off where everyone's name is 'Harry,' and the person who starts off the game says, "Hello Harry" to someone else, and the person they say 'hello' to HAS to say, "Hi Harry" back. But if they say "Hello Harry" back, they're wrong and they get a dot of lipstick on their face. And then, if they have a dot on their face, their new name is "One spot." if they get two dots, their new name is "two spot," and so on. It's a pretty challenging, fun game. It's supposed to be fast and so people always screw up. At the end of the game, one of our investigators, Nab, had about 11-12 dots on his face because he kept screwing up! haha. It was so fun.

October 26th, Monday, Sister Acosta and I woke up around 2:30 a.m. (so tiring) and got ready in regular clothes because we had a District activity at 4:30 a.m.!! It was such a fun, painful, exhausting, adventurous activity. I loved it! Sister Acosta and I traveled to Danao, and then all of the missionaries in our district got in the back of some trucks and headed up to the mountains because we got to go hiking!

Walking up the mountain of course was tiring, and there were tons of rocks we had to climb over and be careful not to slip on because the grass/rocks were wet. We had walked about 30 minutes up the mountain and the missionaries in front of me stop walking so I'm thinking, "Yay! We made it!" But then I looked up and over to another mountain, and saw the other missionaries walking up, and up, and up some more mountain! I almost had a heart attack. All of the missionaries joked around and related the experience to life. That the mountain is our life and that we have ups and downs and it's hard, but then if you endure to the end you can receive many blessings. And it was true! Because we all "endured" the mountain. We finally made it to the top of the huge mountain (after about 1 1/2 hours), and the view was so beautiful! You looked out to the other mountains and saw fog and the sun was the perfect light on top of the mountains. Our suffering was worth it; even if we were all sweaty, sore, and tired. The worst part though, was coming down the mountain. I'm pretty sure I slipped and fell about 10 times. It was so painful but hilarious at the same time. I'm pretty sure I suffered more going down the mountain, then going up.

After we went hiking, we all got back into the trucks and headed down the mountain to another area where tourists can go and hang out. And guess what . . . we got to go to a little "Ostrich farm!" I just have to say, ostriches are the creepiest/weirdest looking animals ever. After taking pictures with the ostriches, everyone walked over to the other side of road and took some more pictures in this little relaxing, tourist spot. We all just got to take a while to just relax from the hard work and just not think at all.

It was probably the most fun (not to mention most tiring) P-day/District activity I've had so far.

Well, that was my awesome week so far!

I love and miss you all! Have a good week!

Love,

Sister Johnson