Maajong buntag! This letter is going to be a little longer than usual because I missed last week and I'm adding this week into the same letter.. Hope you all enjoy!
December 16th, Wednesday, Sister Herdegen and I got to spend one last P-day together before she traveled to Cebu! We went over to Sister Paz's home and had a family scripture study and ate some breakfast with them, and then I hurried and bought some food and Sister Herdegen finished packing up her bags because the missionary couple was coming to pick Sister Herdegen up and take her to Tagbilaran to get on a boat to Cebu. The couple dropped me off at Sister Paz's home and I just stayed with them and worked with them a little bit. I actually ended up sleeping over at her house because my new companion wasn't coming until the next day at night so I needed a companion for the night. So I got a little sleepover! But not really because we sleep by 10:30 p.m. every night. haha.
December 17th, Thursday, Sister Paget (sister serving in Jagna; my 1st area) and I were companions for this day because her companion, Sister McMaster had also transferred. We ended up going to both of our areas so we can at least have some lessons in for that day. We first went to my area in Garcia and taught Sister Adelyn and Sister Dodo about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and about prayer. We had to re-teach them because they thought that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were one being and that we should pray to Jesus Christ. After we explained everything they seemed to understand pretty well.
After teaching them we took a rela over to Sister Fila's, a new investigator, and taught her the same thing. I had taught her once before and it was the same lesson that we ended up teaching her this time. She's kind of old and stuck in the Catholic ways. I'm not sure she's really applying what we're teaching into her heart. No matter how much we explain everything to her, we kind of have to repeat ourselves with her and re-teach everything again. It's kind of sad.
After teaching Sister Fila, Sister Paget and I walked over to her area in Garcia as well and decided to visit a member there that I would always visit every Sunday, Sister Matea. When we were walking up the hills, there was this security guard that was on the other side of the rice field and was yelling to us. I asked Sister Paget if it was okay to walk the way we were and she said, "Yeah, I don't know why he's yelling at us?" We thought it was kind of weird, but instead of going over and asking what he wanted, we just continued walking to Sister Matea's house. But then as we were walking, a motorcycle passed by with a guy and his wife, and they stopped and asked if we were heading to Sister Matea's house. We told him "Yes. Is she out of the hospital now?" (Because she was really sick and in the hospital for a couple of days) and he told us, "She died"... Once I heard the news, my heart just dropped. It hurt so much to hear that Sister Matea had died. I never even got to see her again and say goodbye. She was the sweetest lady ever! She couldn't walk anymore so she couldn't go to church but always got a special sacrament and always paid her tithing no matter how poor she was. I don't think she ever had a mean or angry bone in her. She was the happiest even when she was super sick and could barely move. I will ever forget her. I'm glad she's at peace now and not in pain anymore. She's definitely in a better place now.
December 18th, Friday, It was Sister Dayhop's and my first day together! It was a pretty good day. At the end of the day we went over to the Quilicot family's house and all of the missionaries had dinner together. The sister's curfew is pretty early so we had to start walking home, but then it started to rain . . . really bad! The rain here is really strong and the streets flood badly. And that night there weren't any relas driving around so we ended up walking! We all had our umbrellas but still we were soaking wet because the streets were flooded with water and the wind was really strong. When we were somewhat close to our home, a rela/truck type thing came over and picked us up. But we ended up having to sit in the bed of the truck and it started to fill with water! So instead of just walking in water, we sat in water too haha. But I love those moments where you all end up soaking wet. It makes good memories.
December 19th, Saturday, Sister Dayhop and I worked in Garcia and it was a good day until it started to get dark. We were walking along the road waiting for a bus because we always have to catch a bus around 5:30 p.m. to get home or else you're stuck in Garcia for a while. But NO buses were coming. It started to get darker . . . and darker . . . and still no buses. So Sister Dayhop and I just started walking home thinking that a bus would come soon. But we ended up almost walking to Valencia because there was literally no bus coming to pick us up. We almost entered Valencia when a bus finally drove by and picked us up!
December 21st, Monday, Sister Dayhop and I went to a CSP at a member's home and ended up cleaning up their yard and chopping down trees. It was awesome because Sister Dayhop and I took some machetes and cut out the weeds in the ground. We then went over to their pig pen and started washing the pigs by throwing some water on them and spraying them with hoses. The women got the easier jobs while the men were climbing trees and cutting them down. One thing that I can't believe that happened at the CSP was that while Sister Dayhop and I were cleaning the pigs, Brother Donald, (SA) was in a tree chopping it, and Sister Dayhop turned to me and said, "We should go over and see what the others are doing." And right as we moved away, I kid you not, within 30 seconds after we walked away from the pig pen, a hug tree trunk that Donald chopped came crashing down on the pig pen right where Sister Dayhop and I were JUST standing and their tin roof crashed in on the pigs. It was pretty scary! Sister Dayhop and I turn to each other and said, "We were JUST standing there 30 seconds ago!" After that little scary moment, we all took a break and ate some delicious food! It was chicken. I actually have a sad story about that chicken. When we were doing the CSP, this guy grabbed a chicken, and chopped it's head off because he was going to dress it and cook it for our food. And it happened right in front of me! I didn't realize that that's what he was doing until he did it. It was sad, but delicious (a little). After the CSP, which kind of took forever, I emailed, then bought food and supplies for the rest of the week.
December 23rd, Wednesday, Sister Dayhop and I worked in Garcia and we ended up working with Brother Eborn Arais (son of Sister Paz) and Brother Donald, who are wanting to go on missions! We first taught Sister Dory, a friend of Sister Paz, about the Restoration. She was really interested and is letting us teach her again. The problem is she works in Manila because she's an interpreter for Chinese/Mandarin speaking so sometimes she's not home for quite a while.
After teaching her we traveled to Garcia and taught Sister Adelyn/Dodo and the Tagud family. We taught Adelyn/Dodo about faith and repentance, and the Tagud family about charity/love. We then returned back to Valencia and taught Brother Eborn and Donald so they can prepare themselves for their missions. Donald is 20 and Eborn is 21 and so they really have to start preparing now for their missions before they get any older!
December 24th, Thursday, Sister Dayhop and I traveled up the "hill of death" in Garcia to teach some people but ended up getting punted. But we passed by an investigators home who we stopped visiting for a while because she always punted us, but she ended up being home! We caught up with her and then retaught her about the Restoration. But we mainly focused on Heavenly Father and revelation so she could really understand what it is.
After teaching her we taught the Cordova family, less actives, about our purpose on earth. We finally got to meet the father because he's never home. They kept telling us that they were really active when they lived in Tacloban but because of the storm they had to move here and now they're too far from the church. But Paul, the son, is always asking his father questions about the church because he really wants to go back and pass the sacrament/participate in the activities.
After teaching them, we traveled back to Valencia and went to a Christmas Even party that the Maestrado family was throwing. All of the missionaries showed up and it was so fun! The father pulled out some sparkling cider and it reminded me of home! My family would always drink that for special occasions. We all poured a glass and just sat around talking, listening to Christmas music.
December 25th, Friday, Sister Dayhop and I did our weekly planning and then traveled to the church because the ward was having a Christmas party! We had lunch there and then actually traveled back home because we changed our clothes and put on sports attire to play some volleyball! We played with the Maestrado family and they're so competitive and good! It brought back memories of high school, club volleyball, and my singles ward back at home. We ended up playing all night, and then took a break and had some delicious dinner. The members cooked lechon pig, noodles, chicken, and of course, rice. It was so good! It wasn't like the food I would normally have for Christmas back at home, but it was a good enough replacement haha.
December 26th, Saturday, Sister Dayhop and I traveled to Tagbilaran so I could Skype my family! It was so awesome being able to Skype them and see them again and see how they've been doing. I was happy to see them, but for some reason it just felt different. Maybe because I knew that I would Skype them again in just 5 months and return home in just 8 more months. It's so crazy how fast the mission has gone by! It goes really fast and these next 8 months will go by even faster. It was good being able to laugh with them again and joke like an American and have them understand my humor, and me understand theirs. 8 more months!
"In living a Christ-centered life . . . There is joy along the journey."
Love,
Sister Johnson