It's the little things.

Well, we were back in Naga today! 

 Earlier I had the opportunity to stop by and visit Nanay Cea, the Balmes Family, Tatay Nagrampa and just felt so happy to get to be back in my last area! 

So we headed into Naga earlier this morning for an eye checkup for Sister Habla. She has been getting head-ache's because of her eyes, so we went there to figure out why?

 Well... it turns out she needed GLASSES!!!! 

So that was fun to go get those for her.

So here, I haven't had much problem with budgeting throughout the mission, but it has been a lot harder here in Iriga because our area is SO big, so we spend SOOOOO much more on transportation! We have even been reaching 600 or more pesos a week! Which is WAY more than in my other areas. And in addition, we decided just to eat at calendaria's for lunch because we missed real food (and neither of us are very good at cooking). Well... that ended up about being the dumbest thing I have done the whole mission, because as we pulled into Naga on Monday with no food in our fridge and 300 pesos left of our emergency fund, I was thinking "crap. We are going to die." It is stressful not to have money! 

So we ended up making a good budgeting plan, and as we walked around the grocery store choosing what we were going to eat (according to our pre-made menu) 

I actually ended up having to put things back and plan smarter as we hand-added up the expenses to make sure we would not exceed our budget. Now we have envelopes to separate our money for food, transportation and bills :) Hopefully that helps! I will say, budgeting definitively makes life more stress-free!

I think this week, all the fried food started to catch up to me when the other day, my heart started hurting

Luckily the senior couple are just next door so I asked them what to do and they told me that I was not having a heart attack... we just need to eat healthier. 

I was feeling super stressed and told Sister Hanson that I just didn't know how to cook any healthy food here! And she gave me a list of healthy ingredients and told us that she would come teach us to cook healthy food that isn't deep-fried (it seems like everything here is fried!) So ya... we have been eating healthier and I don't ever want to eat unhealthy again!

Anyways, HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all of you there!

  We will have a Very MERRY Halloween here,

 with all the Halloween decorations up in the store and Christmas music playing on top of it... Filippinos are so weird!

Anyways, on another note, it has been another good week of work and as usual, so much has happened! For one, our interviews with President were this week, which I had really been looking forward to so that I could get some advice on how to better help our area.

 President ended up giving us some awesome advice on how we can improve and we have really made an effort to do the things he told us and it ended up being really effective.

In addition, interviews also left me really happy, energized and ready to work hard throughout the rest of the week. And we definitely had a good week.

I remember on Wednesday morning feeling so happy as our district got to go over and spend the morning weeding at an investigator's house. When we went over and saw that some of the weeds (which covered their entire yard) were as tall as I am, I started to have second thoughts about the whole "service" thing. But with smiles on our faces, we got down to work, me carefully working on pulling out a big thorn vine.

Although I definitely came home with a few splinters, we all felt so happy and grateful to have been blessed with the opportunity to be a part of helping others. I think I felt especially happy when after the project, we ended up with a pile of weeds taller than I am.

All in all, we have been really lucky this week as God seems to be guiding us to exactly where we need to be and who we need to teach.

 I have constantly been amazed and left thanking my Heavenly Father for all the amazing experiences we are having. Like on Wednesday when Nanay Norma (one of our investigators) cried during her closing prayer and after, thanked us for everything she was learning. "Before" she said, "I never knew that I could pray like that."

Or on Thursday, when we got to share with our Part-member, Sister Andrea and got to see how much the gospel is changing her life. When we first met Andrea, she was quiet, wouldn't smile and seemed depressed. But now, she is always so happy, smiley and seems to be a light to her family.

And finally, on Friday when after gaining the opportunity to go on splits, I got to meet sister Vangie! An investigator who has been out of time since I got here.

I always wondered why Sister Habla kept pushing us to go back to her even though she was never there, but last Friday, I understood why. As we shared with Vangie, she told us about the trials and challenges she has had to face these past few weeks and finished by saying "But I know that God will always give us challenges in life, to test our faith and see if we are really determined to stick out to the end. As for me, I am determined to make it." I felt so inspired by Sister Vangie and so lucky to get to be a part of her life.

I think that out of all of these unforgettable moments that just leave you overflowing with joy, the one that seemed to leave me smiling and laughing the most was when on Friday night, we walked up to a guy we had met the month before in the hopes of sharing with him, when at the moment he saw us, he literally took of running across the highway just to get away from us. From the way he kept looking back, it seemed like he was under the impression that we were going to start sprinting after him! Haha. Don't worry, the dogs took care of that for us.  I LOVE dogs!!! 

Anyways, all in all I am grateful for all these experiences and the ones still to come in the next weeks. 

But for now, I hope you all have an awesome week!  And always try to remember the little things God does to make life better and to help get us through. I promise that if you will write them all down, not even all the books in the world could hold them all! 

Ingat po palagi

Sincerely, Sister Matheny

P.S. Check out this bug...

 GROSS!

Endure to the end.

Where to even start? This week was another great one! Especially since we have focused ourselves entirely on the work, which has really helped our area to progress! In addition, we have definitely seen God's hand helping to guide us along.

Since we have been here in Iriga, I have been pouring out my soul in prayer for help to find those who God has prepared and have been surprised time and time again as I have seen Him pull through week after week to help us reach our goals.

For example, this week we did everything we could to work hard, be exactly obedient and have faith so that Heavenly Father would provide the way for us to have 10 investigators at church on Sunday. But by the time Saturday came around, and we went around to remind some of our investigators about church the next day, I began to feel discouraged as investigator after investigator started to tell us that they probably wouldn't be able to make it.

Going home that day, I wasn't sure what to think, especially since the days proceeding church (Friday and Saturday) work had been so slow! I just remember walking and walking and walking Friday evening only to be turned down at every single person in our planner after 6:00pm... some in not very nice ways. What added to my discouragement was the rain! Which had not stopped the whole day.

By 8:00pm, I felt so discouraged and wanted more than anything to head home. I felt that we were doing everything to measure up, yet still nothing was happening! We had even skipped lunch earlier that day just to give us more time to make it out to all of our awesome investigators.

But as we stood out in the rain, I started to remember our goals, the help that Heavenly Father has given us in the past and our commitment to follow Him and to put in our all. I know that this is HIS time, so if we just continue to press forward and have faith, then he will bless us.

After that, I just remember myself forcing a smile and we kept going! Doing our best and even being able to find, teach and set a return appointment with a large group of boarders who happened to be studying at a school near by.

On Saturday, we ended up with a similar situation, being turned away house after house. But with the help of the Lord, we were able to continue pressing forward with faith and even managed to come home with a total of 10 awesome lessons for the day!

So as I said about Sunday earlier, I felt anxious, nervous and uncertain about if we could reach our goals this week. But we had faith! And so after a stressful morning of bringing investigators to church, I was a little disappointed when only 2 were able to make it out of everyone we had tried to pick up. But we had faith! And as sacrament meeting started, I felt a surge of joy as three more investigators walked in! I couldn't keep a smile off my face as we partook of the sacrament and went from class to class with them!

I was happy with what God had helped us accomplish but we weren't satisfied and wanted to be able to do more to show our gratitude for everything He has done for us.

So after church, we had faith and headed out for round 2! 

Managing to bring 3 more investigators for the afternoon ward's sacrament meeting!

Going home, I felt so happy and grateful for everything God had done to help us and even more determined to work harder this week in order to make our goals even more possible!

What added to my joy Sunday night was when after church, we visited with some of our first-timers at church to answer their questions and were happy to hear that they had an awesome experience.

I remember at our last appointment, one of our investigators--Joemel--who had come to church earlier told us that after leaving church, he felt lighter and happier. As we taught, he wanted to know what that good feeling was.

Smiling, we told him that was the Holy Ghost, which was our Heavenly Father's way of showing His love for us. And that as we committed to follow Him and to keep His commandments, He has promised that He will leave his spirit (the great comforter) to be with us always.

So let us show our Heavenly Father how grateful we are for Him, His son Jesus Christ, and Their love for us this week by faithfully following the commandments and enduring to the end, because I know that until the end (and after) They will be there to stand by us every step of the way to help us through And Heavenly Father has even given us His Holy Spirit to help prove it.

I hope you all have a great week and don't ever forget how much your Father in Heaven loves you :)

Sincerely,

Sister Matheny

Transfer week!

So to start, it has been another challenging, hard working, good week here in Iriga 

and a good end to a good transfer. Especially this week, we have really been doing our best to work hard here and help as many people as we can this past week and I have really seen those efforts pay off. So to start with transfer announcements: I'm excited to start another great transfer with Sister Habla! 

Even though I will be sad to say goodbye to my kabahay Sister Segovia. 

So after last week, Sister Habla and I set a goal to do everything we could this week to have 10 investigators attend sacrament meeting this week. At the start of this week, that goal almost seemed impossible because as of then, we only had a couple of investigators with baptismal dates and even less progressing investigators.

 But as it says in 1 Nephi 17:3 "...if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the things that he has commanded them..." So I knew that if we just worked hard, did our best, and HAD FAITH that God would be there every step of the way to help make our goals possible. With His help, I knew we would be able to achieve them.

So after a fun district activity at the church last week, where our district played some fun games and took some pictures (of course),

we headed home, finished up our "P-day chores"--including hand-washing 2 weeks worth of laundry I had neglected to do the week before--

 and headed back to work.

One awesome opportunity that we had this week was to work with the Senior couple: Elder and Sister Hanson. They accompanied us on Tuesday to visit lots of the less actives in our area and let me tell you: having a car is SOOOO convenient!!!! In addition, I think Sister Habla and I were both amazed at the teaching skills of Elder and Sister Hanson. What I think amazed me even more was the fact that even though they don't speak Tagalog, what they had to say always seemed to be exactly what the people needed, and everyone seemed to feel the power of the spirit through the Senior Couple's words.

I was shocked that by simply listening to others and their problems seemed to do more than attempting to "force-feed" everyone the gospel and in addition, by listening first (and the senior couple REALLY listened), it seemed that the part of the gospel that the person we were teaching needed just seemed to come.

I think that one more thing I really learned from that experience was how important it is that we do our home and visiting teaching. I have seen a HUGE difference in the effectiveness of a ward just based on if they are doing their home and visiting teaching.

As I was thinking about it, I realized that we have a church in order to strengthen and build each other. We are not meant to go through this experience on earth alone. We NEED each other! We need to be there to listen, love and smile when others need it.  We all need a friend sometimes, and we also need an opportunity to serve and to feel the joy that comes by serving each other, and I know that home and visiting teaching are meant to help us do just that!

Besides that, as we have worked hard to meet our goals and the expectations of the Lord this week, I have really seen His hand in our life, going before us and giving us miracle after miracle to help push the work along. Like on Wednesday, when we had an amazing FHE with the Odapi kids! I just remember as we sat in their home all laughing and having a good time, big smiles on everyone's faces, I looked outside to see a big smile on their mom's face (who has not yet joined in our lessons) as she saw the joy that the gospel can bring to a family.

In addition, I was happy and surprised when a package from my mom arrived on our doorstep Wednesday morning,

  full of chocolates and Halloween goodies,

 I am excited to try out the rain-boots my mom sent for the start of rainy season! Love ya mom!

  I also received a b-day present from Sister Jimenez! 

Which I was SUPER grateful and happy to receive! 

I miss Sister Jimenez a lot, but I am so thankful that we have been able to keep in touch even after she has gone home from her mission. 

(throw back of Sister Jimenez & I)

But I think out of all our teaching appointments this week, the one that stood out to me the most was with Jayden and Joshua from Francia.

We teach them at night because Joshua has school and Jayden works at a restaurant which is open "25 hours", so they usually end up being our last appointment (since we started teaching them last week).

 But anyways, this lesson we shared about the Book of Mormon and its importance for us and by the end of the lesson, the spirit was really strong and we were feeling like we could extend! So we did... we extended for December 2nd, which Joshua immediately accepted. But Jayden sat there for a minute. He looked at Joshua and then at us before saying: "For me, I know that this is true. I know that nobody would write the Book of Mormon if it weren't true, so I will just be baptized." When he said that, Sister Habla and I were both so surprised and happy!

 Of course, we had to explain to him that before baptism, we need to prepare first. But we also promised that if he will continue to pray, read the Book of Mormon, and come to church, then the Gospel will continue to change his life for the better and he will become so much happier.

In addition, I definitely had a lesson on humility on Saturday when after an unexpected Zone Fasting (which we had not been prepared for) Sister Habla and I were left completely starving. To be honest, I was feeling a little sorry for myself when on the way to lunch, we saw John Michael sitting outside the 7/11. He is the 12 year old homeless boy I mentioned in a previous email, and when we saw him, he told us that he hadn't really been eating. After that, we were again humbled when Nanay Marilyn (one of our investigators) started crying as she said the closing prayer as she poured out her soul to Heavenly Father for help. She told us that she hasn't been getting enough sleep because on the other side of their plywood wall in their tiny home, sits the neighbors big charcoal stove. Which is super hot and leaves their room sweltering in the Philippines heat.

After that, I honestly started to feel bad for feeling sorry for myself when I am surrounded by so many people who have it so much harder. Here, just to wake up in the morning is a blessing that the people are really grateful for.

In the end, God really has come through this week. Just this past week, he has proven my faith time and time again as we watched our hard work pay off and our numbers triple from last weeks work. I know that if we just continue to do our best and work hard than in this upcoming week, we can do even more!!!!! 

We just need to remember: God is there. He really cares. And if we call on Him, we will never have to do anything alone because he will be with us every step of the way.

I love you all!  And I love these cute baby goats . . . 

 

 Love,

Sister Matheny