This week has been full of water. Lots and lots of water. The weather has gradually been warming up here and I've had to drink more water than ever to stay hydrated the past few days, which probably means I've just started drinking a normal amount of water since I feel like I have a tendency to not drink enough.
Anyways, in addition to staying hydrated, this week was full of a lot of great learning and teaching opportunities for me and Sister Satini. I feel like I've learned a lot about myself and seen a lot of development in my relationships with my kabahays, companion, and our investigators here as well as a lot of development in my own self-confidence.
Since I've gotten here, I have been really working on developing the Christ-like character of humility. I have been focusing my scripture studies on learning what humility really means and trying to develop it in my own character. I have also been praying for greater opportunities to exercise and gain stronger humility. And let me tell you, God really does answer prayers. And the hardest part about learning to be humble is it seems like the only way to develop it is in the moments you are feeling the most pride. Learning to set aside that pride is not always the easiest or most fun thing to do, but as I have said before: usually it is the things that are the hardest in life that end up being the most needed and worth it. So I guess I will just carry on and alisin ang pride ko (get rid of my pride).
So when I first started to work on the Christ-like character of humility, my first question was "what does humility really mean?" because it seems like there are tons of different ways someone could be humble. When Sister Villa and I were companions, I learned that one way I needed to learn to be humble was by trusting more in God and His timing. I feel like I had a tendency to become impatient or even frustrated because I want only the best for our investigators and sometimes I felt like no matter what we did, we weren't helping enough.
Learning to trust in God and His timing has been difficult at times but has been really helping me to become a more effective missionary. Whenever I feel frustrated or impatient about Heavenly Father's timing I have to remind myself that He really does love each of His children and loves them perfectly. Heavenly Father always knows best and will always give us exactly what we need in life in order to have the greatest opportunities for growth and success, if we will allow Him.
Sometimes I feel like no matter what we do, it is never enough to help those around us. While it is true that there is always something we could do better, it is also important to remember that as long as we are doing our best and giving it our all, that is all Heavenly Father is asking of us. The rest will come along in His perfect timing.
Anyways, this transfer I have continued to learn about humility and why it is such an important trait to develop.
As I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day,
a thought came into my mind about humility. I started thinking about all the people we have taught the past few weeks and what makes the difference between those who progress and those who don't.
As I was thinking, I realized that many of the people we teach do have great faith. They read the scriptures, go to church and have a genuine desire to come closer to Christ. But it is not the people with the most faith that I have seen progress the most. Instead, it is typically the people who have the most humility and who are willing to set aside their own wants and desires in order to follow God's will for them.
Realizing this really helped me to understand why it is so important for us to learn to let go of our pride and to become humble.
I know that God sometimes answers prayers in the most unexpected ways, or through the people around us. For me, becoming companions with Sister Satini has given me many more opportunities to work on developing humility.
I feel like being her companion has blessed me so much. For one, she is very easy to smile, laugh, and have a good time with. For another, she is a very hard worker and has a lot of great ideas for our area. Finally, I feel like our personalities go together in such a way that we have both had greater opportunities to learn and grow from one another. For example, it seems like all her strengths emphasis where I am being the most prideful, giving me greater opportunities to work on and develop humility.
At the end of each day, we always seem to come home having learned something from each other, which has really helped our companionship to grow and our lessons to improve. Like when Sister Satini came home one day saying "It is not about who is right and wrong, it is about listening to the Holy Ghost and following his promptings, because his ideas will always be better than our own."
Additionally, we've had a lot of fun watching our investigator's testimonies grow as they develop stronger relationships with Christ. For example, when we went over to Brother Roberto's home the other day and asked if he had started his reading assignment we gave him (the cover page and introduction of the Book of Mormon) only to find out that not only had he finished that, but he had also read all the testimonies of the witnesses and Joseph Smith and started in 1 Nephi. Or watching the change in one of our investigators (Nanay Asor) as she has slowly come to see the importance of baptism and is now excited for her baptismal date this Saturday! :)
We've also had lots of fun, like when we went over to one of our investigators and we got to see her big Karaoke machine they had rented for some type of party.
So as usual, despite the little challenges and bumps in the road,
I feel like it has been a very fun week here in the Philippines.
I love you all and hope you all have an amazing week :)
Sincerely, Sister Matheny
Alam ko na ang simbahan ni Jesu Kristo ay totoo at na mahal Niya tayo. Alam ko na bilang nagsisikap tayo na lumapit sa kanya, lalapit Siya sa atin. Alam ko na totoo propeta po si Joseph Smith at na ang aklat ni mormon ay totoo. Sobrang nagpapasalamat ako para sa pagbabayad-sala ni Jesu Kristo at alam ko na sa pamamagitan ng Plano ng Kaligtasan, magkakaroon tayo ng forever kasama ang ating Ama sa Langit, si Jesu Krito at ang ating mga pamilia.
Just never forget how much Christ loves you and everything will work out in the end :)
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