The Gospel has the power to change, lift, and help others!

This week felt like the fastest and best week ever! So many miracles happened! And it seemed like day after day, the Lord was there every step of the way, guiding our steps and helping us to know where He would have us go, what He would have us say and who He would have us meet.

So this week marked my first week with Sister Cabral as my companion, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE her! She is so awesome, fun, and super easy to work with.  Talk about team work!

Usually, when you get a new companion, you go through what I like to call an "adjustment week" where you have to adjust to each other and their way of teaching, living, eating, ex. In short, you have to get to know them. But for me and Sister Cabral, I don't feel like there was any adjustment at all! Right from the start, I felt "the spark." 

The fire to do missionary work and the desire to give it your all every-single-day. 

I am super happy about that, because the only thing I prayed for before the start of this transfer was that Heavenly Father would give me a companion who world help me to give my very best for my last month as a missionary. Well, Heavenly Father is definitely answering my prayers and I am so grateful for Sister Cabral for all the support she has given me every single day.

As we go about our work every week, I can't help but to feel my love for the Philippines and it's people grow every single day. No, they don't always get my sense of humor

  and have trouble saying my name, 

but they are such sweet, loving and humble people, and the culture here is so family centered! Meaning that in many cases, your best friends here in the Philippines are your very own family! It's definitely been fun living in a culture where people are there to look out for each other.

For example, we heard that in one of our areas, some old lady was attached by a man near her home! The attacker however, was indeed caught when her neighbors heard her scream and a big mob chased the attacker down and brought him to the police.

Despite the love however, there are still some things from home that I still really miss: like a good old-fashioned milkshake. There have been times where we've gone over to an investigator's house and seen that they have a blender only to leave me thinking: I wonder how much milkshake I could make in that blender? Because when you say "shake" in the Philippines, what you mean is ice mixed with powder flavoring, sprinkled with marshmallows... more like "crunchy ice" than "milkshake".

Well, my ever-longing dreams for a milkshake were actually answered this week when as we were doing our shopping last Monday, we noticed our kabahay's eating at an Americanized diner (shakey's)  and when we went to say hi, I noticed that they had real milkshakes on the menu!

I couldn't help but order one, it was amazing. 

 And the banana splits were awesome too!

 Besides that, this week definitely had its fair-share of trails, like when I had to fry our tilapia for dinner last night (cooking is a trial) or when we took the bus up to Naga on Tuesday to get our new companions, only to discover a massive TV on-board playing some high-intensity action movies.

Let me just say, I haven't seen a movie in over 16 months, and it took all my prayers and willpower to avoid looking at that massive screen just 3 rows in front of me for the next 3 hours, especially since even looking out the window, I could still see it out of the corner of my eye.  And it doesn't help that I couldn't distract myself by doing something else on the bus, since in the Philippines, you can't really do anything else but hold on for dear life because driving in the Philippines is basically the equivalent of a roller-coaster in America. So that's fun.

I'm also excited that Sister Raneses (my trainee) moved to Daet this transfer, meaning we will get to work together again in the next few weeks!

Overall, I love my mission. And I especially love my area! Daet is absolutely AMAZING! 

So beautiful and full of awesome people. And being here has definitely helped my testimony to grow as time after time, I have seen the way the gospel blesses and changes lives.

For example: Austin. When we first started teaching him, I felt like he was carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders. He was usually relatively quiet and I didn't usually see him smiling or laughing.

But over the past few months, I have seen a huge change in him as he has accepted the gospel and a remission of his sins through baptism. He seems happy now, he is always smiling, joking around and seems to be friends with everyone. In short, he has definitely become one of my favorite people ever! In addition, his example has also helped influence and lift up his family in so many ways! Last Saturday, Austin gave an amazing talk at the baptism of his little brother Lawrence,

 and this upcoming week, he will baptize his other brother: Aldwin.

So all in all, I guess what I am trying to say is that the gospel has the power to change, lift and help others. It is the key, the key to joy in this life and eternal happiness in the world to come.

So if you are ever struggling, if life seems hard, if you are feeling alone, hurt, abandoned, or even just having a rainy day, know that you are never alone. He is always there, He is always listening and if you will just give Him a chance, even if you only have the slightest desire to even believe He exists, He will answer. And you will see your life and more importantly, yourself grow and change in ways you never even dreamed of. 

He is Jesus Christ. And with His help, all is possible. With His help, you can accomplish the seemingly impossible.

I know He loves you SOOOOO very much and I hope you have the best week ever this week!

Love,

Sister Matheny

Pray! It makes the HUGEST difference.

So this week marked the end of another transfer and the start of my very last one here on the mission. It has been a great transfer, full of lots of love, 

miracles,
 
 and happiness every single day. 

 Sister Segovia and I have had a good last 3 months and are excited to give it our very best in this upcoming transfer.

Last night, we received transfer calls and learned that Sister Segovia . . .

. . . will be moving back to the city for her last transfer, to Kanaman, which is right next to Naga, while I will be spending my last transfer here in Daet with SISTER CABRAL as my new companion!!!

To be honest, I am SUPER excited! Because Sister Cabral is AWESOME! Super hard working, lots of ideas and an overall amazing missionary, so I am excited to see what I will learn from her. She was my kabahay back in Iriga and she DEFINITELY knows how to cook! So I will be looking forward to learning before I go home.

Anyways, to start of this last week of the transfer, Sister Segovia and I went with our district

to the beach! And it was super fun! It has been a long time sine I've gotten to go to the ocean and stick my feet in the sand.

While we were there, we built sand castles, ate popcorn, and took lots and lots of pictures! 

 So overall, I would call our district activity a success!

In addition, we had a lot of great days of work this week, full of lots of miracles and meeting lots of people.

   As we walked around day after day, I never felt at a loss for where to go or who to meet, it all seemed to come naturally and because of that, we had a lot of great success.

On Thursday, we even got to go to Labo to work with some of the other sisters in their area, and our work was really great!

This transfer it has been really fun to get to travel to some different parts of the zone and see lots of different areas.

It definitely reminds me of how diverse and beautiful the  Philippines are.

After working with the Labo sisters, we headed back to our own area to make it to a few return appointments and picked up some members to work with us on the way.

As we were out working, I remember we had a bad rejection at one of our investigator's homes when after calling out at the door, they responded, "Who is it?" to which we said, "Sister Missionaries po!" And then they just wouldn't answer the door.

(I mean, who wouldn't answer the door to these faces!  LOL)

 As we were walking away, IG (one of the members working with us) said: "Wow, that's the first time I have experienced a rejection. It feels... bad." She was sad and discouraged, so I quickly responded, "Don't worry! It's a happy thing, it's a happy thing that they rejected us if they are not ready to listen, because it just means there is somebody more prepared and more in need right now that we need to find and teach!"

After that, we made a huge effort to talk to EVERYONE on our way to the next appointment and managed to find great success when we stumbled upon a family that was willing to let us in. 

 After that, we were all feeling super motivated and ready to work some more.

And that wasn't the only time I felt happy and motivated to work. I remember Saturday night as we were going about our work after having experienced a supper successful day of appointments, I somehow managed to drop my planner somewhere between the church and a referral we were trying to contact. Worried, we took a loop around our area and even went back to the church to see if I had left it there, but it was nowhere in sight!

Finally, feeling hopeless, desperate and ready to give up, I went and kneeled in the chapel and poured out my soul to Heavenly Father to help me find my planner before heading out again.

By this point, we had already decided to forget the planner and head out to work, so we headed out. As we were walking down the road, I happened to casually look to the side, and noticed a difference in color underneath some weeds. At first, I thought it was just a rock or something, but I decided to poke it with my umbrella only to discover that it was in fact my planner! I was so overjoyed and excited to have found my planner and couldn't help but feel so grateful to God for answering my prayer, because I know I never would have been able to find it on my own.

Looking back on the mission, prayer has definitely been one of the things which has made the HUGEST difference. There have definitely been times when I sat pleading with Heavenly Father and asking "why does this have to be so hard?"

But as Elder Ukdorf said in his talk: "The Three Sisters" last October: "It will not be easy. It will require the very best that you have--all your intelligence, creativity, faith, integrity, strength, determination, and love.  But one day you will look back upon your efforts, and oh, how grateful you will be that you remained strong, that you believed, and that you did not depart from the path."

I have noticed that the times I have been most successful are the times I am praying the most for the Lord's help. That was why Sister Black was such a great companion: because she says such long prayers! Really opening up the door for help and inspiration from the Lord.

So all in all, I am happy with this transfer and what we were able to give to help further along the work of the Lord.

I love you all and hope you have a great week! Until next time.

Love,

Sister Matheny

p.s. don't ever forget how much the Lord loves you and I hope you had a Happy Valentines Day!