Philippines Mission--Week 46

CRAB FOR DINNER!

Maayong hapon kamong tanan! Here's the letter for the week!

February 23rd, Tuesday, we had our district meeting in Kawit and had to bring some food so we could eat afterwards. We cooked some rice and enough noodles for the whole district to eat. The meeting was about companionship unity. Making sure that our companoionships are united and good before we start teaching. Missionaries are called 2 by 2, not 1 by 1. If we didn't need a companion, we wouldn't be given one; we need their help. It was pretty helpful/refreshing to have our district meeting on companionship unity, just to remind us of how important it is that we and our companions are united. Whether it's a companion on the mission, or an eternal companion, there needs to be unity in order to have the Spirit.

February 25th, Thursday, Sister Delos Reyes and I went on splits and I worked with the senior couple, Elder/Sister Bock and we went to Canhabagat. We went and visited the Inot family, recent converts, and taught them about family prayer. The mom and dad are having some personal problems and they haven't been praying together like they used to. So we emphasized the importance of praying, especially when you don't want to. After them, we went and taught the Travis couple. Brother Travis is British, and Sister Travis is Filipina. It was kind of a hard lesson to teach them because Brother Travis, and Elder Bock kind of talked for a long time. We ended up being there for about 2 hours, not at all what I wanted, haha.

After we taught them, we traveled back to Medellin, and picked up Sister Delos Reyes because all of the sisters were going over to the Bocks home and having dinner! They deep fried some fish, and cut up some potatoes to make fish and chips! And then we had some salad to go with it. (And it wasn't the Filipino salad where it's just fruit, it's actual salad with Thousand Island dressing!), and then afterwards we had some banana splits! Mmm, lami! February 26th, Friday, Sister Delos Reyes and I were doing some of our weekly planning and then the other sisters told us that we have no gas. So we weren't able to cook some lunch! So instead we bought some matches, and built a little fire with rocks and palm tree leaves and cooked our lunch on that. It was pretty fun making a fire and cooking. It was like living like a caveman! But the lousy part is, the senior couples buy the new gas for us, but they were going to be busy for the rest of the week! So we had to cook like this for a while. But I guess living here in the Philippines is good practice for an Apocalypse. I wash my clothes by hand, sometimes I go days without any electricity, I cook with fire and wood instead of an oven, I kill baby snakes, and shower with a bucket full of water instead of an actual shower like in America. So if you ever need an Apocalypse buddy, I'm your girl. haha.

February 28th, Sunday, I went to Canhabagat for church, while Sister Delos Reyes stayed in Lamintak Norte. We've had to split up on Sundays because we have special sacrament in Canhabagat for our investigators/members that can't go all the way to Lamintak Norte.

It was a pretty awesome Sunday because a lot of our investigators went to church! One of our investigators, Brother JunJun Arnaiz, had a stroke about 6 months ago and he's really interested in the church. He can barely walk and talk, but he walked all the way to the Datahan's home (members who are holding the special sacrament in their home) to go to church for the first time. When he showed up he had this really big smile on his face. It was so awesome to see him finally be able to come to church.

I'm so happy with this week! I've really seen the small miracles that come from being obedient and working hard. Sister Delos Reyes and I have gotten tons of lessons this week, a bunch of our investigators are coming to church and some are getting baptized in March/April!

I've also seen the changes in myself since I've been on the mission. I can see Heavenly Father slowly changing me to be a better person than before. Even though it's sometimes frustrating and hard to be here, I'm still really grateful that I was able to serve a mission. I love it here!

I love you all! Amping kanunay!

Love,

Sister Johnson