Change is in the Air

To start, this week has been bitter sweet. Sweet because I had a ton of fun/cool experiences this week, like a baptism for one of our investigators (Brother Corre) 

 
and bitter because this will be my last P-day with Sister Villa.  

She is moving to a new area and I am, getting a new companion. :(  I am going to miss her so much!  We have had a great few months together.  This week was no different!

 

 We caught this kitten that keeps trying to come in our house.  Hopefully, it won't try coming back again!

Dinner at a members house...

Sister Lucy (in the back) is just about the sweetest lady in the world!

And look, I found my Prince Charming...

So for the past few weeks, I have had trouble sleeping because there are a bunch of chickens that sleep in the tree right outside our window. Every morning at 3:00 am, they like to wake up and make a ton of noise, which always wakes me up.

This week, I think the missing sleep finally started catching up to me because I was having a little bit of trouble staying awake and motivated throughout the day. That's alright though, because it ended up being a good learning experience for me.

We were walking along on Thursday and I was thinking to myself "I don't know how I am going to do this... I'm exhausted!" I think I was using that as a little bit of an excuse to not work as hard as I could because as we were walking along I thought, "That's dumb, if I always have an excuse for why I can't work hard we will never get anything done!" I realized that in order to be a better worker and a better missionary, I needed to focus more on doing things well and right no matter how I might be feeling.

Anyways, I think that was a good lesson for me to learn because it helped me to put in my best effort the rest of the week. But I was definitely grateful when Friday came around and at our zone conference we got to watch the worldwide missionary broadcast that talked a lot about teaching the doctrine of Christ and announced a new schedule change. 

Now we will have more time in the mornings to make sure we actually have the time we need to work out and we will also have more free-time in the evenings to write in our journals and to get to bed on time because now, we can do daily planning in the mornings. It has already been so nice and made such a huge difference! I think having that little bit of extra time to get to bed early if we need is going to help me a ton!

So I think the highlight of my week was definitely last Saturday. To start, in celebration of our upcoming baptism I decided that today would be the day I finally tried halo-halo! So during our lunch, Sister Villa and I headed out to Graceland and ordered one. 

I thought we would just split it but when we were waiting for them to bring out our food Sister Villa asked "did you order one?" I said no because I thought we would share. Sister Villa then said "No! They're little! You need to order one too!" So I did... only to find out that Sister Villa was wrong. They were MASSIVE! Thank goodness it was tasty though because I'm not sure how I would have managed to eat so much if it hadn't been so good! :) 

In Tagalog, halo-halo means mix, which is exactly what a halo-halo is: a pretty bowl full of beans, banana, sago, flan, and jello with a pile of purple yam flavored ice cream in the middle and cheese sprinkled on top. It is all sitting on crushed ice and you are supposed to mix it all together.

As I was eating I thought "who came up with this idea? Who must have thought, "What are all my favorite foods? Well, I like cheese, ice cream, beans... I know! I'll just throw them all together! It will be GREAT!!!!" To be honest, it actually is pretty good. Especially compared to some of the things I've eaten here (Can you see the fish eyes?)...

On a side note, I ate goats poop a couple weeks ago. Of course I didn't know what it was until after I ate it, otherwise I don't think I would have been able to handle it. 

Anyways, after the halo-halo Sister Villa and I headed to the church for Brother Corre's baptism! I was so excited! After the actual ordinance, he got to go up and bear his testimony, which was really cool. Over the past few weeks, it has been really fun to watch him slowly be converted to Christ and develop greater faith in Him and His atonement. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be a part of Brother Corre's conversion and to get to help in this part of the Lord's work.

Finally, my Kabahay (roommate) Sister Baylosis left for New Zealand this week, which she was really nervous about. She was a Visa waiter here in Naga for a few weeks and even though she is nervous, I know she will love it in New Zealand.

Also, as I said earlier, this is my last full day with Sister Villa. I am SOOO SAD!!! She has been such a good companion and I have learned so much from her and her example. Over these past three months I feel like we have both grown so much and she is such an AMAZING missionary. I don't know what I will do without her here! Additionally, she is just about the most humble and easy to get along with person in the world, which will make me miss her even more. 

But I know that the Lord has a plan for her just as he does for all of us. Whatever is meant to happen will happen, and as long as we are willing to just trust in the Lord and his timing, everything will always work out in the end.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great week and thank you SOOOO MUCH for all the awesome emails I get each week. I don't always have the time to respond, but I promise I read them all and appreciate them A TON :)

Y'ALL ARE THE BEST!!! Have a great week!

-Sincerely, Sister Matheny