Hello everyone! How are you?! Here, it has been an awesome week in the Philippines!
The weather has been absolutely gorgeous so I've actually found myself becoming cold a couple times, which is kind of nice and we've had a lot more sunny days than usual. Let me just say, I forgot how nice it feels to come home with clean, dry feet...
...instead of soaking wet,
muddy raisins.
This week, I've had a couple struggles with the language, had some awesome lessons,
disposed of a mouse or two (with help),
ate some good food,
The language is getting a lot better now. I pretty much teach the entire lesson in Tagalog and understand most of what people are saying. The only problem is that here, the main dialect is Bicol and when people talk, they kind of just mix the Bicol and Tagalog so it can be hard piecing everything they said together. I've learned that if I don't understand, to just smile and nod and hope they didn't say something crazy! When I talk, most people understand what I am saying now, even though my grammar is still like a 5 year old, lol.
One of our lessons that really stuck out to me was with one of our investigators: Brother Argili. He is one of the coolest and sweetest people I have ever met and I care for him soooo much! He is from Cebu but has been living here in Goa with his cousins for the past few years because he needed to make more money. His cousins are less active members of the church.
Argili knows that the church is true and has an awesome testimony; we always have the most amazing lessons with him! When we first met him, we knew he was planning on heading home to his family in Cebu soon (because he has been away from them for so long) and he told us when we went over the other night that he is planning on going back this upcoming week. Sister Villa and I were both so sad!
It's crazy how in such a short time, you can start to care for someone so much! Even if you don't really understand what they are saying most of the time, lol!!!!
Anyways, during our lesson, Sister Villa asked me to share a spiritual thought. I felt prompted to share Ether 12:12 about faith. After, we put everything we had into testifying and the spirit was super strong! By the end of the lesson, his cousins, sister Villa and I, and even Argili were all crying: because the spirit was so strong. It was amazing!
On the way home, I was definitely on a little bit of a spiritual high when this massive dog came out of nowhere barking and growling like it was going to attack us. For the first time, I really learned what I would do in a fight or flight situation. Apparently, I would not be as level-headed as I had thought. I am the type of person who would grab Sister Villa and use her as a human shield against the dog. Granted, I did try to grab my umbrella to hide behind first, but I was in such a panic that I couldn't find the thing hanging on my wrist. I know. Pathetic.
Along with the awesome lessons, we also had a couple hard ones this week. On Tuesday for example, we went over to one of our less actives house only to find that they weren't doing so well. It turns out that last week, their tatay was at work when he accidentally dropped a board and got a nail stabbed straight into his eye. They took him to the hospital but here, they won't help you until you can afford to pay and his family can't afford the surgery that he needs to recover. As their family explained the situation to us, they were all in tears. To be honest, I felt pretty close to crying too.
Because tatay has a nail stabbed in his eyeball, he is unable to work. He told us that if they had been able to get the surgery he needed after the accident, he might have recovered his sight. But since it has been a week since the accident, he will be blind in that eye even after the surgery. His family can't afford the surgery so now, tatay is too sick and in too much pain to work. Apparently, their oldest daughter cried hard the night before because she might need to drop out of college and work full time to support the family.
Listening to their problems, I was once again so humbled. If I were in their situation, I don't know if I could handle it. But by the end of the lesson, we felt prompted to tell them that God hadn't forgotten them and everything would work out.
Towards the end of the week, we returned with the Elders to give their tatay a priesthood blessing. He looked even more in pain than before but after talking with their family, we learned that the church is going to help them afford the surgery. I'm not quite sure how all that will work out yet but I know that God is really looking out for this family, just as he does for anyone who is in need.
On a happier note, we had a couple of service projects this week which was awesome! Even though they left Sister Villa pretty sore for the past few days, lol.
For the first project, we cleared a ton of Bagio debris off of a piece of land one of our investigators is planning to build a house on. We spent a couple of hours moving heavy logs to make room for the house.
Our other service project was a ward service project, which ended up being really fun!
We got to prepare one of the members fields for planting!
They served us an awesome lunch which we ate on banana leaves...
During that project, I got to spend 4 hours helping pull grass and weeds out of the ground, use a hoe to get the ground ready for planting (that was hard),
and finding earthworms! It was great, even though my back has been really feeling it since then.
Other than that, on Sunday we had a couple investigators at church again, including tatay Baidal, one of our new investigators. He is amazing! He has been reading the Book of Mormon every night for an hour, says he knows it is the word of God andf has the most AMAZING family. He has 5 kids who all like listening to the lessons whenever we come over and every time tatay Baidal prays or talks about God, he ends with tears in his eyes. I don 't know if I have ever met someone so sensitive to the spirit! He truly is remarkable.
Anyways, after church Brother Baidal told us that he could feel the difference in the Church of Jesus Christ. He said he loved it and couldn't wait to tell his family about his experience here. It was awesome!
I think my Dad would love church here. For one, the ward is pretty small, but there are tons of kids running around the chapel, the mic doesn't work half the time, and half the ward comes in late! So that's fun. Also, the speakers are always switching back and forth between languages and everyone here is tone deaf, so my dad would fit right in singing! I don't think anyone would even notice if he was off pitch (Carter as well for that matter!!!)
So overall, I would definitely call this week a success.
As usual, there were ups and downs but I know everyone has those and as long as we just remember to stay close to Christ, everything will always work out in the end. As it says in D&C 122:7; 9 "...if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thee, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good...for God shall be with you forever and ever."
I hope you all have a great week and don't forget to always rely on the Savior!
-Sincerely, Sister Matheny
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