Lifted by the Light & Love of Christ

This week has definitely been one full of many successes. We have been working hard over here trying to accomplish our goals and the work ended up paying off! Because not only did we get everything we had planned accomplished, we exceeded our goals :) and had lots of fun doing it.  

Today we had an awesome district meeting...

 and we went hiking...

  It is so gorgeous here, don't you think?!

  So, this week has been great! I think I've drank more water than ever with the increasing heat here! Literally, I think I stop at almost every tindahan we pass for more water, since I have been downing all my water bottles so fast! 

The other night we didn't end up with enough time between our appointments to get more so by the time we finally got to one of our members houses and asked for some water, Sister Black and I downed almost an entire litter by ourselves within a couple seconds! We were so thirsty! The members looked so amazed by how much we managed to drink and we all had a good laugh.

Speaking of good laughs, I think one of my biggest struggles here is names. Granted, I have gotten so much better at remembering names since I started my mission but every now and then there is still a name I can't remember no matter how hard I try. Usually, it's not a problem when that happens though because I just ask how to spell their name and figure it out from there (so they won't think I forgot). The problem is when someone ends up with a really obvious/easy to spell name, like Bob for example. Because then you have to choose: do you want to look dumb for not being able to spell their name? Or do you want them to know you forgot? Well of course I don't want them to know I forgot, so our conversations always end up looking a little like this:

ME: "How do you spell your name?"

THEM: *with a look like I am crazy/dumb* "It's Bob... B - O - B"

ME: *With fake surprise but on the inside, feeling really silly* "OH!!!! Pala! I thought it was b - o - O - b!"

Besides that, the kids here are still adorable

and they like to follow us around while we are headed from appointment to appointment.

 I have heard them start shouting "Sister Matheny!" as we pass by, which is super cute! (sometimes they call me Sister White, because Sister Black is my companion). 

In addition, we have eaten pretty well this week...

and I made pizza for my kabahays

 and we had some mac & cheese and other goodies my mom sent for Easter.

  I was super thankful for everything she sent and I know my roommates were too :) So thanks mom for everything, I love you a ton!

Besides that, we also had lots of really good lessons this week. I think one thing that really helped was the spirit. Recently, I feel like it has been getting easier and easier to recognize and follow the spirit, which really seems to help. And even when I have a bad day or it's really hot out,

 I always come home happy 

and with a big smile on my face because I'm so full of the spirit! It's AMAZING!

This week, some lessons that stood out to me a lot started with the Ajero family when we managed to offer a little comfort to Nanay Ajero as she cried to us about the feelings she has been having since her husband unexpectedly died two months ago. She was asking why it had to happen to him? He was a good husband and didn't do anything wrong. We comforted her by sharing part of the plan of salvation and before we left, she thanked us smiling. We felt really good about the lesson as we left.

Additionally, I was so happy when we went over to our investigator Mark's house to find he had read through 1 Nephi 7 and really has a strong desire to be baptized. In addition, I remember feeling so hopeless when we went over to Tatay Nagrampa's this week and he still hadn't made any progress with smoking.

I remember not having any idea of what to do or say. He comes to church every week, has read the whole BOM and has gotten down to 1 cigar every other day... but he doesn't want to give up that one! I was at a loss for what else we could do to help him when suddenly, the words just started to come.

Without even thinking, I shared parts of the plan of salvation. I could feel that the spirit was there as we testified of the importance of baptism and the Savior's atonement for us. I could feel that the Holy Ghost was there and as we taught, something weird happened: I saw Tatay change. I saw him start to want to change. By the end of the lesson, I could see a light and determination in Tatay's eyes that wasn't there before.

When we left, the spirit was so strong and I felt so good, I felt that we had made a difference, which is what I came here to do.

Finally, this Sunday I felt so accomplished as Sister Black and I led our "army" into church. We worked so hard  this week and I felt it all pay off when we managed to get 10 of our investigators to church this week. Granted, we definitely had a bit of a workout going to pick them all up as we literally ran back and forth from house to house trying to get them all ready and to church on time. At least I can now say that I think I have a little taste of what it feels like to be a mom, trying to get everyone to church or school on time, It's SO STRESSFUL! But I have to admit, I couldn't help but smile as I saw the look on the elders faces as all our investigators came to church.

After church, I almost cried as we visited another one of our members, the Isip family, and she explained to us the problems they have been having. Apparently, earlier that day, her husband's food cart had gotten tipped over by a passing car so they had no money for the day to feed their family or get a tricey to church (since Nanay had a stroke and can't really walk). It is so hard to watch that amazing/special family struggle so much. They always are feeding us and doing nice things for us when sometimes they don't even have enough to feed themselves. Sometimes, they have to resort to catching mice for dinner... it breaks my heart!

I  have definitely learned a lot since I got here, from these people and their amazing example to me. I know I could not handle half of the struggles they go through every day 

and there have been so many times that I have not been able to hold back the tears as I feel only a particle of the problems that weigh on some of the people here. It's so humbling!

 But the reason we keep going and working our hardest is because we know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much. And through His gospel, I know that the weight of all life's burdens can be lifted

 as we are filled with the light and love of Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. I know He lives and I know He loves each of us so very much.

I hope you all have the best week ever :)

Sincerely, Sister Matheny

Trust in God

As usual, it has been a very good, very busy and very fast week. I feel like we have been running around all week trying to get to appointments in with all our new investigators as well as all of our Choir practices for the performance last Saturday. So even though things have been feeling a little chaotic, that's alright! We had lots of fun and a great week, so I think that's the important part.

 This week started out with the b-day of sister Sosoter! Which ended up being really fun! We surprised her with a cake,

 took lots of pictures, 

 and some of the members brought her some spaghetti and fried  chicken, 

 so I think we ended up with a pretty good Filipino-style b-day, just add some karaoke and it would be complete.

In addition, I also started this week out a little stressed, because the Elders in our district asked us to give the workshop at our district meeting this week. To me, that sounded like a terrible idea because they are all so much more experienced than us and we always learn so much from them.  So I honestly didn't feel like we really had much to offer...

It kind of felt like that moment when you get cornered at church and are asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting. In your head, you are thinking "NO WAY" but what ends up coming out is a very reluctant "okay", after which you always regret by the time you get home from church. 

That was basically my feeling about the whole workshop thing. But it actually didn't go nearly as bad as I had anticipated. 

Sister Black and I both studied the doctrine of Christ (our topic) during personal studies and were super surprised when both of us came up with nearly the same idea, it definitely made it a little clearer about what we should share.

In addition, the Elders in our district are really nice, so even though I was feeling super shy about the whole thing, it actually ended up going well. I think we all ended up getting something out of it, sister Black and I didn't crash and burn! We're still breathing so for me, I would call the workshop a success.

We taught the doctrine of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, holly ghost, endure to end) but I used 3 Nephi 27:14-16 to teach that the doctrine of Christ is meant to LIFT us, so we should always be focused on lifting our investigators. We came up with a couple of acronyms:

Live

It

Find

Teach

And said that we live the gospel by fulfilling our purpose: "Inviting others to come unto Christ by HELPING them to receive the gospel..."

We had an acronym for HELP too:

Humility

Enthusiasm

Love

Pananampalataya (faith)

We focused on how each of these elements is related to the gospel and why we need to develop these attributes, it went really well!

Friday and Saturday we basically spent the entire day at choir practice since our performance was Saturday night, and I don't think I have ever sang so much in my life! (Except when I was trying to show off my mad skills to Sister Stackhouse)

I just had to keep reminding myself of what Sister Black had told me that first practice: "It will all be worth it in the end". And to be honest, I think it was. We had lots of investigators/members show up to the performance, which I think will do some good for our area. I'm really excited to go back and see what our investigators thought about the performance. I know for me, I was definitely feeling the spirit.

 Speaking of the spirit, this week I really felt it! Of course I have been blessed with many experiences since I started my mission where I have felt the spirit in a lesson: giving me words I didn't have and a greater capacity to do what the Lord has asked of me than I thought possible. But this week, the spirit felt different, it was something I had never experienced before: a small but more consistent feeling of warmth that seemed to follow us from lesson to lesson through our the week. It was amazing!

I felt so calm and peaceful and it was easier to know what to say and teach because I knew the spirit was there. For me, it was a very good experience which helped me to remember why I am here. I love serving and am so grateful to be here. Yes, some days are really hard but it is the days like the one I have had this week where despite all the chaos, I feel that calm, quiet and still peace that the spirit brings that I am the most grateful to be here.

 Making ice cream!  There are tons of little homemade ice cream carts all over the place here and so they showed us how they make the ice cream and let us help, it was super fun... even though we weren't very good at it, lol :)

  For anyone who might be struggling with a testimony or with a decision, just read the Book of Mormon and I know you will find and answer. It is true, it is the word of God and it is a Book of answers made specifically for us. No matter what our struggle, problem, addiction or question the Book of Mormon has the answer.

And when it comes down to it, just trust in God. I know he has a plan for us and as long as we are doing our best to choose the right, we will always end up exactly where we need to be.  Because we have a Heavenly Father who loves us more than we can comprehend. Not only does He love us enough that He gave his only begotten son: Jesus Christ, but he also loves us enough that he gave us our agency. He loves us enough to let us make choices, even when those choices might be wrong because He knows what we have the potential to become if we so choose. So just trust in Him, do your best and everything will work out in the end.

I love you all and hope you had a great Easter week and will have a great week to come.

Sincerely, Sister Matheny