Philippines Mission--Week 30

Maayong gabii kamong tanan! Kamusta mo! (Good evening ya'll. How are you guys?)

So here's my week so far. Full of scary moments and fun!

October 27th, Tuesday, Sister Acosta and I traveled to Danao to participate in the District meeting. After the District meeting, we went and taught Jelly Mae Banzon, daughter of Daisy Banzon, a less active. Sister Daisy Banzon has been less active for quite a while, and out of the blue she called us one day and told us to come over and visit/teach. She then told us that she and her family wanted to go back to the Catholic church, so they went to church on Sunday at one of the Catholic churches, but didn't feel welcome. So she decided to come back to church again at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and after she came to church, she said she felt so much love from the members, and that everyone welcomed her back. We then decided to go and teach her daughter Jelly Mae who is 9, but not a member. We ended up teaching her about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and how this gospel can bless the family. Even though she's a little kid, she's still really smart. She had a lot of questions about deep doctrine. She was very receptive and really wants to listen and be baptized.

After teaching Sister Jelly Mae, we went to Sister Aigen Rosales, 8 year old daughter of Jerry Rosales, a less active. We taught her about the spirit world and the kingdoms of heaven. She is really receptive and really wants to be baptized as well. Her baptism is on November 28th, and she's really excited for it! Sister Acosta and I are pretty excited for her and her family as well! At first when I got to Carmen, the Rosales family wasn't really interested in listening to the missionaries except the father, and now we are teaching many of their family members, and one of the daughters/sons of Jerry really want to go on missions! It's so awesome to see the family progressing.

After teaching Sister Aigen, we taught Brother Raven Villamor, 8 year old son of our recent convert, Sister Villamor. We taught him about the Atonement. Even though he's a little kid, he still could understand what sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us. He also has a baptism coming up on November 21st or 28th.

October 29th, Thursday, Sister Acosta and I visited the cousin of the Morales family, Chucky Bejoc. We ended up teaching him about our Heavenly Father and His love for us, and how the gospel blesses families as well. The 1st time that we had taught Chucky, he literally had no faith at all, and was not happy with his life. Before we taught him, he didn't go to church, pray, or even believe that Heavenly Father loved him. But the more we've visited him and taught him about repentance and faith,the more he's grown his faith in Heavenly Father, and is always praying and saying that he can feel Heavenly Father's love for him. It's so awesome! We had also committed him to be baptized, but he was a little hesitant at first and wanted to know why he needs to be baptized, and why he can't just listen to our messages. We gave him a little "assignment" to read in order for him to understand why baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is important.

After teaching Chucky, Sister Acosta and I did some "tracting," which is where you don't have an actual appointment at a house, you just go over and ask if you can teach them. We visited this one house with this older lady named Margarita and her granddaughter, Rose. At first, Sister Rose was too shy and didn't want to listen, but we got her to come out of the house and listen to our message. We ended up teaching about Heavenly Father/Jesus Christ, and how they're two separate beings, and how much they both love us all. Towards the middle of the lesson, Sister Rose got really interested in our message, and you could really feel the Spirit as we were teaching. After we taught them, we asked Sister Rose to pray. Usually when we ask people to pray, they're very shy and say 'no;' but Sister Rose prayed, and she was awesome! The only bad part was that they don't live where we taught them, they only visit that home everyone or two weeks. They actually live high in the mountains, and you can really only take a motorcycle up to their house (which is now forbidden to ride). We gave them a pamphlet, our number, and Sister Rose gave us her number so we could stay in contact. We really hope we can teach them again!

October 30th, Friday, Sister Acosta and I taught the other cousin of the Rosales family, Rhyan Docejo. We ended up teaching him about the spirit world and the kingdoms of heaven. He was really into the lesson and asked/answered many questions. He is really interested in our messages and really wants to be baptized. He says the only problem is his girlfriend, Charicse. She also wants to be baptized, it's just her parents that she's afraid of. So they have to kind of wait a while before getting baptized. But every night they read the Book of Mormon together and are always praying together. It's so awesome to see their progression!

October 31st, Saturday . . . HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (I think) Today, Sister Acosta and I visited Brother Nab Espinoza, cousin of Rosales family, and our other investigator. We taught him about the Restoration/Joseph Smith and a little bit about the Book of Mormon. Brother Nab is really interested in the church and wants to listen to the missionaries. We invited him to baptism on November 28th, and he said 'yes!' He really wants to come to church and is really progressing. The sad thing about him, is he has a heart enlargement, and even though he's around the age of 23, he never passed the 4th grade, and so his mind is kind of like a little kid's. So Sister Acosta and I have to teach him little by little as if he were a child, so he can understand our messages clearly. He's such an awesome and really nice guy.

November 1st, Sunday, Sister Acosta and I went to church and it was fast Sunday! When Sister Acosta and I got to church we were pretty sad because in the morning, we had received a text from the Rosales family saying that they would not be coming to church, so that meant that Aigen, and Brother Nab Espinoza, would not be able to come as well. So we were pretty sad that they all wouldn't show up. But then we received a text from the Rosales family to come outside. The moment we walked outside, we saw the Rosales family, with Nab and Aigen, walking up the steps to the church! I don't really know why, but I was starting to get teary-eyed. It was the first time that a lot of them came to church together as a family.

After church, Sister Acosta and I went to Puente and worked with Brother Riri and Sister Jeda Rosales (the two siblings that want to serve a mission). We worked together in a place called 'Luyang', and ended up teaching this one man named Melick Dala. We taught Brother Melick about prayer, but the whole time during the lesson, I felt something was wrong with him while we were teaching him. The way he was acting was not normal. After teaching him, we all walked back to Puente, and Brother Melick actually came with us because he knew Jerry Rosales, the father, and wanted to catch up with him for a while. Brother Jerry and Brother Melick had left and were gone for quite a while. Brother Jerry had then returned and told us that Brother Melick was actually on drugs the whole time, and was carrying with him a little knife. And then it all made sense! The way he was acting during the lesson wasn't normal. Sister Acosta and I are pretty glad that we had Brother Riri Rosales with us just in case something bad had happened.

After we taught them, Sister Acosta and I had to walk home because we actually had no money left in the month to get a ride. It was pretty dark, and the Philippines celebrates Halloween on November 1st and 2nd, and so there were lots of parties going on. When Sister Acosta and I started walking home, some drunk guys had actually started walking behind us, shouting out to us, so Sister Acosta and I started running until we couldn't see them again. We then turned around and saw Brother Riri and Brother Nab on a motorcycle driving behind us. They decided to follow us home because they didn't want anything bad to happen. So that was a scary, but nice moment! haha

Also! At 10:45 p.m, Sister Acosta and I experienced an earthquake!! It was so awesomely scary! haha. We were sitting on the ground and planning for the next day when all of a sudden, we just felt the ground, and saw the couch/tables shake pretty hard. I'm pretty sure it was my first time to experience an earthquake. It's getting pretty close to storm season in Cebu, and so there might be quite a few earthquakes/floods coming up soon.

Guess what?? In the month of November, I'll be hitting the halfway mark on my mission! Whoop, whoop! Exciting!

Well, I hope you all stay safe and have a good rest of the week!

Love,

Sister Johnson