Philippines Mission--Week 41--Island Hopping

Maajong buntag! I never sent a letter home on Monday because it's transfer day this week and so our p-day is on Wednesday. But I still hope you all enjoy my letter!

January 18th, Monday, The sisters in Jagna and Valencia all got together and we had a "Sister's Activity" in our apartment in Valencia because we have an oven to bake. The sisters from Jagna came over and we all got together and baked this cinnamon cake together while listening to music and just talking about life. It was a really relaxing activity that didn't require you to do anything physical, haha. It was also good that we had the activity because our STL, Sister Villegas, went home in January and so it was nice to be able to spend time with her again and say 'goodbye.'

January 19th, Tuesday, Sister Dayhop and I taught Brother Marcos Sr. Maestrado, a member (he's very old and loves to talk). We taught him about enduring to the end. It was such a funny lesson because instead of us teaching him he ended up teaching us! He would quote scriptures in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. He was so adorable talking about his life and the gospel. He had on some pajama pants, and lifted up the pants to his knees and showed us his scars on his knees from always kneeling and praying literally every day. He pointed to his scars and told us, "When I die, Heavenly Father will see my knees and say to me, 'Come son, you may enter my kingdom and rest now.'" My eyes got all teary when I saw how much prayer meant to him. He's such an awesome guy!

January 23rd, Saturday, there was a baptism for all of the Elders in my district and so we all went to the church and witnessed the baptisms. There were a lot of little kids getting baptized. First a mother and her three children, and then a little girl and boy of a different family. It was a long baptism but awesome because I could feel the spirit even if the kids were being silly/loud. After the baptisms, we all went over to this less active family's home in the Elder's area and had an FHE! It was so fun! Elder Pagotaisidro (good luck reading his name) gave the lesson and it was pretty good. He took this box and asked people to put something that they have on them that they really like in the box. Some people put their phones, rings, expensive watches, and some missionaries put their name tags. He then went around and asked some people to take out one thing in the box that they wanted, and then he asked why they took it out of the box. After everyone explained, he went and took out some little paper and handed it to 4 other people. The papers read, "family prayer," family scripture study,"and "family home evening." Elder Pagotaisidro then explained that the worldly things won't matter after we're gone, that what we take with us is this gospel, and if we haven't been praying as a family or reading/having FHE, then the worldly things will become more important for you and your family won't survive.

January 24th, Sunday, it was Sister Paz's birthday and all of the missionaries and family members went over to her house and had some dinner for her celebration. It was awesome getting together and spending some time with her and her family. We had a little FHE type thing and then ate some food! Elder Sumalpong taught the lesson and did something really cool with a glass of water and a bottle cap. He filled the cup with water and put the bottle cap in the cup. He then told us to try and make the bottle cap stay in the middle of the glass without floating to the side. No matter what we did, nobody could make it stay in the middle. He then took another glass of water and filled the cup up and the bottle cap stayed. He then related it to the gospel saying that Jesus Christ needs to be centered in our life so we don't sway to the side and get lost. It was a pretty cool object lesson.

January 26th, Tuesday, Sister Dayhop and I went to Jagna and had our District meeting there because it was transfer calls! I was really nervous to get my new transfer call. I don't want to leave Valencia because of the members and missionaries. But unfortunately I will be transferring. I will be transferring to Medillin, Cebu and training a new missionary again! I'm excited and a little nervous at the same time to transfer and train again. It's so crazy that I'm returning to Cebu. My 1st area- Jagna, Bohol, 2nd area- Carmen, Cebu, 3rd area- Valencia, Bohol, and now 4th area- Medillin, Cebu. I'm always going back and froth from Bohol island to Cebu island. It's so tiring but kind of cool.

I love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Johnson