Monday, April 7, 2014

Week 30 in the Philippines - "tangdop sang tagipusuon"

It sounds like general conference has been awesome. We're so excited to watch it this next weekend. We also got the chance to watch the Relief Society broadcast, but they couldn't get the audio to work:( Did mom, Kels and kypoo get to watch that? I heard they combined it for the first time to be with the YW as well! That's so awesome!)

Thanks so much for the emails this week! That's so awesome jonny pots is in Stuttgart and getting to have such an awesome experience there. I hope he'll write and tell me about it! Also the focus week! Oh my goodness! That sounds like the coolest focus week that's ever been put on! I wish so much I could have been there. I would love more details about the presentations that jare, jaim and AK gave and Brian's mom and everything! That sounds so awesome. wow, those students are sooooo lucky!!!!

Well, things are going great! haha It's definitely been crazy trying to, well having to, take the lead and not just lead the area, but everything! It's been quite the learning experience. I guess it's good that I'm starting to realize how much Ilonggo I know! But sometimes it's a challenge to catch everything they say and express everything we need to share. We're really learning to trust and rely on the spirit:) 

Sister Davenport is such a big sweetheart.She's so positive and enthusiastic all the time! She gets excited about the funniest things. We've been having some funny experiences together! We actually had follow-up training on Thursday, so we went back to Bacolod to the mission home for that.  

We told Sister Sprite the day before that we were going to Bacolod because we were teaching one of her helpers, Sister Rizza. She said she was going as well with some other police and we could get a ride with them. So of course we accepted the generous offer. The next morning, as we're waiting out by the street for the police car to come pick us up-- we were standing by this group of sikad drivers all asking us if we needed a ride somewhere. We told them we were waiting for our ride. So they were all staring at us and talking about us because we're two Americans, and then the police car pulled up and we got in. I'm not sure there's much more we could do to draw any more attention to ourselves:) oh goodness. It's gonna be weird to go home and have people not even notice you hahaha.

So we rode to Bacolod in this police car van with a bunch of police and they were just so sweet to drop us off right by the mission home. but then we were early for the training. So we decided to go run an errand before hand. Well that ended up taking way longer than we anticipated and by the time we made it back to the mission home, we had to run to get there on time. My poor companion haha stuck with me:) We got the mission home like exactly on time and were all out of breath and sweaty. Then we gave the musical number -- it was just great. 

We have two super cute sisters getting baptized on Saturday!!!! We're sooo excited for them! Sister Rowena is getting baptized, her son Mark, got baptized in February. She's just the coolest person ever. She's such an awesome mom, raising her two kids on her own right now because her husband works in Manila. She brings her two boys, all dressed up so cute, to church every week and she always comes for all three meetings. I love them so much. Then the other sister is Rizza. She works for a family in the ward, Sister Sprite, and has been coming to church for a long time now. She's so ready and excited to get baptized this week! She's 17 and we all always end up laughing in our lessons:) I mean, it's spiritual as well, of course. She gives the most beautiful, heartfelt prayers. She was actually super nervous the first few times we asked her to pray and we would teach her how to and everything. She kept putting it off. But one lesson she finally agreed to pray, and it just was the most beautiful thing ever. Helping people learn how to truly pray, to pray from their hearts, to open that communication with their Father in Heaven, is so amazing. and praying out loud... There's power in praying out loud. 

I was reading through Pres. Uchtdorf's talk "You Can Do It Now" and I really loved his message about taking the hard times as opportunities to grow and to always get up again-- no matter how many times you fall-- and keep moving forward. Also one thing he said made me think about something mom used to always emphasize. He said "It is a great source of spiritual power to live lives of integrity and righteousness and to keep our eyes on where we want to be in the eternities. Even if we can see this divine destination only with the eye of faith, it will help us to stay the course." Seeing the big picture! Keeping that eternal perspective is so important! If we remember who we are, as children on our Heavenly Father, and our ultimate goal to become like Him and return to live with Him, we will receive the strength we need to get up every time we fail or have a hard time and keep pressing forward. What an awesome reminder. 

I love you all sooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!! Thanks for your testimonies, your love, your support, your example. everything. You are the best. 

Have a splendid week! The gospel is so true and is the best thing ever! I know that we are God's children and have the potential to become like Him! 

Love, Sister Malyon

No comments:

Post a Comment