Maayong buntag! Here's my lovely letter for the week!
June 6th, Monday, I had my first P-day in my new area and Sister Paget and I went to one of the big malls, SM, and got to shop and look around a bit. The weirdest part of this day was that while Sister Paget and I were shopping in this National Bookstore, this man came up to us and started talking in to us in English. He asked, "Are you Mormons?" I felt kind of weird around him so I just asked, "Why?" and then he said, "I'm interested in your messages." Sometimes as a missionary you get rejected, A LOT, and so when someone comes up to you and says, "I'm interested in your messages," you want to jump at the opportunity and go teach that person. But if you really pay attention and listen to the Spirit, you'll be able to tell whether or not they're REALLY interested. He then proceeded to tell us, "We can go to the food court and talk." Sister Paget and I just look at each other and then I said, "Um, no. It's much better if we just talk here." He then tells us, "No no. It's too public here. The food court is better." I then looked at Sister Paget and said, "Go get the Elders." We had seen some Elders shopping in the same store. Sister Paget called them over, told them to talk to the guy, and then we just booked it out of the store. But all is good, nothing more has happened since. It was just one of those weird moments that happen to white people in the Philippines!
June 7th, Tuesday, today we didn't have a district meeting, so we just went out to work early. We visited a recent convert, Anjie, and taught her and her friend about the restoration. Her friend was pretty receptive, but she doesn't live around where Sister Anjie lives. After visiting her, we went and visited some of our recent converts, Brother Jacob and Sister Brina Liston. We taught brother Jacob about missionary work and how he can prepare for a mission soon, and we shared with Sister Brina about the restoration, just to refresh her mind because she just got baptized. After that we visited a brother and sister (Rodel and Rosalie) and taught them as well about the restoration. The Spirit was so strong and Rodel and Rosalie are so receptive. They just accept our messages but also pray to know for sure if our messages are true. Sister Rosalie wants to be baptized, but the problem is that she isn't married to her boyfriend and so she can't be baptized yet. AND it's hard to be married here in the Philippines because it's kind of expensive and people are really poor here. But, of course, Heavenly Father will always provide a way for ALL of His children to accept the gospel.
June 8th, Wednesday, Sister Paget and I visited a less active, Sister Lucia, and shared with her a bit about the restoration. But it was kind of hard to teach her because it randomly started raining really hard, and she has grandchildren that like to yell really loud. So we kind of cut the lesson short so it didn't drive away the Spirit. We then visited Sister Tomimbang (active member) and shared with her about teaching the Gospel to her two little girls. They are all sealed in the temple and so we want to make sure that they stay active and that she helps her little kids grow up strong in the Gospel. We then visited a part member, Brother Juwarsi and Sister Renalyn (his girlfriend) and taught them about family prayer. They've been having a lot of family issues lately, especially because Juwarsi had a bad past and he did some things to Sister Renalyn that he regrets and that she can't forgive him for. We shared with them about how prayer can help strengthen relationships with our family and that's why it's so important that we're always praying with our family.
June 9th, Thursday, Sister Paget and I went to this one guy who, get this, his name is John Johnson and he's an American. Sister Paget and I think it's just a fake name that he uses because he used to be in the military, haha. But we shared with him a bit about prophets and Christ while he was here on earth. He's pretty receptive to our messages, but at the same time, kind of acts like he already knows what we're talking about. I do love talking to him because he's receptive and actually has a relationship with Jesus Christ compared to a lot of Filipinos here.
We then visited Brother Jacob and Sister Brina Liston, recent converts, and taught Brother Jacob about the importance of going to church, because he told us that he won't be going this Sunday. He seemed to have not cared that he wasn't going, but I think deep down he was really sad. We shared with Sister Brina about the Book of Mormon, and we did something where she would sort of teach us about it. It was a great way to see her share a bit and for her to see if she really does have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I think it helped her to grow a better love for the Book of Mormon.
June 10th, Friday, Sister Paget and I went over to a member's house and had some lunch with them and shared with them and their kids about family roles. The Espina family is so awesome. The parents know Bisaya, but their kids only know English because the parents only talk in English to them. They said that they are going to move to Australia soon, so they want their kids to already know English before they move there. After sharing with them, we went and shared with a less active, Analyn, who we're pretty sure got offended and that's why she stopped coming to church. We shared with her about service and she was surprisingly a lot happier to talk with us this time! She actually started singing to us in the middle of the lesson! Progress is being made. Whoo! After teaching her, we visited Sister Rosalie and Rodel and shared with them about The Book of Mormon. They were pretty excited to receive a Book of Mormon from us.
June 11th, Saturday, the Elders in our ward came over and gave me a blessing, because for some reason, my stomach hurt really badly, and I felt like throwing up. Sister Paget and I aren't quite sure if I had food poisoning, or if I developed a type of allergy to certain foods or ingredients since I've been here on my mission. But Elder Lagrimas gave me the blessing and it was his first blessing ever! He was REALLY nervous to give it, but after he blessed me, the pain in my stomach started to not be so harsh and my need to throw up went away. So even though it was his first, I'm glad he gave it because it really helped.
June 12th, Sunday, after we went to church, Sister Paget and I visited some investigators, Brother Ben and Sister Flora Mae and taught them about the Godhead and prayer. It's pretty much the first thing you always have to teach to Filipinos because they're all so confused on what the Godhead really is. We explained prayer really clearly to him and asked him to prayer after the lesson and he ended up praying to God AND Jesus Christ, which isn't THAT bad of a prayer compared to others. We then went to our recent convert Sister Brina and shared with her and her older brother, Brother Gino about the plan of salvation. The family is really awesome and smart. I can see them doing great things if they all work together as a family.
I love you all! Amping kanunay!