More fun in the Philippines!

I just want to start this week by saying that things are definitely more fun in the Philippines! 

We've had a great week of service, lessons, good times and new experiences here and I can't believe the week is already over! It flew by so fast!!!  It's hard to believe I've been on my mission for four months now!  I think it helps that I am finally starting to fit in here. 

 I am starting to get the hang of the language, can understand more and more of what people are saying, and am getting more comfortable with the life-style here. 

For example, I was taking a shower the other day when I thought "huh, cold showers really aren't that bad." Additionally, I've started to actually enjoy eating rice! It's not that I disliked it before, I just always thought that rice was a little bit bland. But recently, it doesn't feel like a meal is complete without a little rice. So weird!

(My companion, Sister Villa eating rice with lasagna)

Side note, they have lasagna here!  Yay!  It's my favorite food ever! 

 Before I left on my mission, I was trying to figure out ways to bring the ingredients with me to make it! So, you can only imagine how pumped I was to find lasagna in the Philippines!!!  Success, I tell you...success!  ;)

Also, I think this week flew by so much faster than normal because I was able to relax a little bit and just take things as they came, instead of worrying about everything at once. Let me explain that a little bit.

I was talking to my kabahay Sister Stackhouse the other night about how sometimes, I feel really discouraged because of how amazing my companion is and I feel so inadequate compared to her. I have so many weaknesses and things I could be doing better and I don't even know where to start! Sister Stackhouse said she understands and shared an analogy she heard from President Zapanta with me.

She asked me what would happen if I tried to hold 10 cups full of water in my hands. Naturally, they would all fall and make a big mess (which my mom would hate). But if I held only one or two full glasses, I could handle it. She said that our weaknesses in life are the same. She said that there was no possible way I could handle trying to fix all of my weaknesses at once so I just need to work on a couple at a time and come back to the others when I have finished the cups I am already holding.

I really took that advice to heart and have been trying to only focus on a couple of weaknesses at one time. It is amazing how much of a difference that has made in my whole attitude and outlook here! And it also feels like I am having a lot more success improving my weaknesses since then. I know there are still many challenging and new experiences to come on the mission, but I think that if I can just learn to take things one step at a time, I will find so much more success and happiness here :)

Speaking of success, I would definitely call this week one. For one, I got a package from home this week full of rat traps & rubber gloves (which are super helpful - thanks mom!), 

 

treats, and our family Christmas card! I loved getting to see pictures of my family all together and looking so happy. They truly are the greatest family in the world and the greatest gift God has blessed me with. I am so lucky to have them ;) Additionally, we are having a baptism for one of our investigators this Saturday!!! I am so excited!

So our baptism will be for Brother Corre, who is just about one of the coolest people I have ever met. When we first started teaching him, he was always full of wacky ideas and lots to say (it could sometimes be hard to get a word in to be honest) but as we have taught him, it has been amazing to see the change that has happened these past few weeks. For one, he started becoming more eager to listen (instead of just talk) and now whatever he does say is always of real importance. Additionally, it has been fun watching him gain a testimony in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has started dressing nicer for church, made an effort to get to know the members in our ward and has started praying and reading the scriptures on his own! It is crazy how in just a matter of weeks, his faith has grown so much. I have learned a ton from him and his example and am excited to be a part of watching the gospel change his heart in the weeks to come.

On another note, this week Sister Villa and I had to say goodbye to our investigator Brother Argili because he moved back to Cebu. We went to visit him one last time before he left where we shared a scripture verse and encouraged him to continue coming unto Christ in Cebu, which he plans to do.

(Brother Argili and his family.  He is in the top left corner.)

He truly is amazing! His testimony is so strong and we have definitely had some of our most spiritual lessons with him. At the end of the lesson, after that final prayer, we all had tears in our eyes. I will admit, I couldn't completely hold them back after we left. 

Later that evening, he texted us thanking us for the help we were able to give on his journey of coming unto Christ and gaining his own testimony of the atonement. It was definitely a hard goodbye but I hope only the best for him in Cebu. I know the Lord has a lot of amazing things planned for him, and Sister Villa and I will definitely miss him a lot. 

There have been so many other cool experiences that have happened this week and I wish I had time to write about all of it!

(A cute goat we saw on the way to teach Brother Corre)

(Birthday party at Sister Mayen's house)

(Brother Emmanuel & his family.  He is in the green & Brother Israel is in the white) 

(A ton of people on tricys.  I will try to get a picture with more!)

I will just say that life has never felt so real. I have taught so many different people and heard so many cool stories and hardships: like the time one of our investigators broke down crying because she is a mother of 5, doesn't have a good relationship with her husband but has nowhere else to go. Or the time when one of our tricy drivers told us about his sons miraculous recovery from leukemia. 

Apparently, when his son was 3, he got leukemia. He was so sick, but there wasn’t much the family could do because they didn’t have any money. Tatay said he went to every clinic he could trying to find some help and chemotherapy for his son, but the chemotherapy at each clinic was too expensive, so he just had to watch his little son get sicker and sicker. Finally, when his son was 4 he was so sick that he was confined to the hospital. The doctors said there wasn’t much hope for him and finally, he got so sick that he died. After unsuccessfully attempting to resuscitate him, the doctors left Tatay alone in the room with his dead 4 year old boy. He said he felt so crushed and sad, that it was awful. He said he was in shock, sitting and not knowing what to do when he had the strongest impression to beat on his son’s chest. Crying, he started pounding on his son’s chest yelling “wake up! Wake up!” and then his son coughed up a bunch of blood and woke up.

His son is now 15, has no problems with leukemia and their whole family is happy and healthy. After talking to the tricy driver, we told him that the impression that he received to pound on his son’s chest was the Holy Ghost and he shared about how he knows God is watching out for his family. It was so cool!

Every week, I hear tons of stories like that, which always blow my mind! I really love it here. The people are amazing and they all have such cool stories. As a missionary, I feel so lucky getting to be a part of it all. For once in my life, I can actually be there to help many different people through their hardest problems and trials in life.

Sometimes that is really hard. Sometimes, I wish I could give everything I own and have to help fix these people’s problems. Like one of our investigators who’s 10 year old son got an infection and is now blind in one eye. The hardest part is that they could fix his eye…. If they just had the money. It can be so frustrating! But I know that God really is here with these people. Loving them and looking out for them.

Additionally, I had some cool new experiences like on Saturday when we helped tear down a family's home that got destroyed in the typhoon.

 In the process, I had a couple cockroaches run up my leg,

 we found a ton of lizards and had so much fun playing with them...

and hanging them from our ears!

On the way home, Sister Stackhouse, Sister Baylosis and I got to ride on the back of a tricy for the first time! (Usually we ride inside because we are wearing skirts). It was so fun!

Anyways, I just want to finish with a spiritual thought on repentance that I learned at zone conference form President Zapanta last Thursday.

Before, I had always been under the impression that after we repented of a sin, we were supposed to let it go but not forget. In case we might make the same mistake again. As we studied repentance though, I learned that repentance is about so much more than just letting go of or leaving behind our sins. It is about changing our very natures from the inside out. So after we have truly repented of a sin, we won't need to remember it anymore because our very nature will have been changed and we won't have the desire or capacity to commit the same sin again. In essence, through Christ and his atonement, we can use repentance as a tool to truly let go of and leave behind our former selves in order to become so much better. Like a Caterpillar shedding and leaving behind its cocoon we are able to spread our wings and fly, leaving behind our old selves as we grow into the beautiful butterfly that the Lord meant us to become. That is what the atonement is for. That is why Christ died for us and that is what will happen to every person who truly seeks to be converted to the Lord through the atonement.

I love Christ. I love everything he does for me. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission, share his glorious gospel and to draw closer to him. I know that there is no happier way to live than by following the example of the Savior.

I hope you all have a great week and don't forget how much your Savior loves you. He is always there and ready to listen, we just need to call out to him :)

-Sincerely, Sister Matheny