This past week, things have really been heating up here in the Philippines... literally. Now that summer is here, we are finally starting to feel it in Naga as it has gotten more and more hot/humid every day. On the bright side, I think I'm definitely going to come home with an awesome tan, a nice summer body (from all the weight I'm sweating off), and muscles of steel, because in every lesson, I have been using my gradually increasing fanning skills to fan myself and our investigators with the Japanese-style fan I bought at the super market a couple weeks ago. So overall, I think things are going pretty good here :)
I am finally getting to know my new roommates (Sister Soseter and Sister Marinio) who are both awesome! Sister Soseter and I are batch mates, so we got here at the same time and she is SO SWEET and FUNNY, we are always laughing and having a good time.
My mom asked me if I liked living in the city or the country better. I think there are ups and downs to both and honestly, I love them both! I think there is always something nice about anywhere you live. I will say though, there are a lot of cockroaches in the city, and people don't really seem bothered by them at all... which is GROSS! At least I haven't seen any cockroaches or rats in our house, I just always have to remember to KEEP IT CLEAN!!!!
Speaking of my house, my mom has been asking for pictures of my apartment here in Naga. I kept forgetting to take pictures but this week I remembered, so here you go!
I hope y'all like them as it's a really nice apartment and we feel super blessed to live here.
~ I added a little "bling" to my desk :) ~
These past few p-days, we have been practicing for a Choir concert at the SM this upcoming Saturday. For those of you who know me and my feelings about choir practice, or course I wasn't in the choir! For one, I really can't sing. But as soon as I moved to Naga, that all changed when I got Sister Black as a companion. She can sing and she is in the choir. Which means I had to go with her.
I was going to try and go on splits the first week we went, but Sister Zapanta convinced me to stay and try. In the end, I was happy I did because it actually ended up being pretty fun! I got to see a ton of other missionaries, including Sister Satini and her new American companion: Sister Roberts and it was actually kind of fun to sing :) And now, I get to look forward to singing at the SM this Saturday. I'm pumped!
So enough about choir, let me talk a little bit about my week. This week has been amazing! We've worked hard, had lots of fun and got tons of new investigators.
I've learned a lot from Sister Black and her example as well as from President Zapanta's workshop at the zone conference we had on Thursday.
To start, Sister Black got this weird rash last week that we ended up needing to go to the doctors for. At first, we thought it was just an allergic reaction to something she ate, but it kept getting worse so we finally took her to the doctor and he said she probably caught the rash from one of the kids and that it was contagious.... ya, how do you think that made me feel?! I'm her companion!!!! If it's really contagious, I would be the FIRST to catch it!
It ended up being alright though. Because of my super durable, sickness-proof, super body I didn't catch Sister Black's rash and work went on as usual. I know she wasn't feeling the best on Wednesday but Sister Black worked hard despite that and we actually ended up having a really good day of work.
For me, it ended up being an awesome learning opportunity for me because even though Sister Black wasn't feeling well, she still worked really hard and we had a lot of success because of it. That made me realize that I want to be like that. To work hard, even if I am not having the best day or don't feel the best.
In addition, Sister Black and I both learned a lot from President Zapanta at Zone training this week. Lately, we have been trying to figure out how to get our investigators progressing and President's workshop seemed to be just what we needed. I feel like sometimes we start to feel a little buried underneath the load of reports, responsibilities, and things we need to do and it can be really easy sometimes to get lost in all of that and to forget why we came on a mission in the first place: "to help people come unto Christ".
We ended up using President's ideas as we went out to work the next day and were shocked by how much success we had. Basically, President told us that in the white handbook, it says to talk to everyone. So we should be saying hi to everyone we pass. Even if we are in a rush to get to an appointment, we should still be saying hi to everyone and if we have time and they say hi back, we should stop and talk to them. In addition, he emphasized the importance of being enthusiastic, optimistic and happy.
Because we will be able to make a better impression and find more people if we are charismatic. Overall, it was some great advice which we have been working really hard to use over the past few days. In particular, the success we had on Saturday using President's advice really stood out to me.
The whole day, we walked around with big smiles on our faces saying hi to everyone (I'm sure some people walking by must have thought we were crazy... because when I say we talked to everyone, I literally mean EVERYONE and we found a ton of new investigators.
In the morning, we were surprised to learn that an older lady we met standing outside had just lost her husband 2 months ago. He died of a heart attack, leaving her to work and support her 4 kids (ages 10, 14, 17 and 20). His death was unexpected and took a pretty heavy toll on their family. We shared a message about eternal families and how her family can be together through Heavenly Father's plan. And I felt my heart reach out to her and her kids. I can't even imagine how hard that would be! They would need to be so tough to endure that. But she said that she has faith and knows that Christ will help her and her family endure this trial. "After all" she said, "God will never give us a trial we can't handle". I was so amazed by the strength she was for her family.
Later that afternoon, we were walking along saying hi to everyone again when this guy inside a "tree-like" house responded, so we went up and said hi only to learn that he is 19 and already living on his own--which is kind of weird in the Philippines because they are so family oriented here. We asked him why, and he cried as he told us about his broken family. He said that his parents divorce had been really hard for him and has felt like a huge weight on his shoulders. Again, we shared about the gospel and how Christ has the ability to make our burdens light. Through His plan, families can be eternal and any problem can be fixed. Through His gospel, anyone can feel the love and peace Christ has to offer in their life. In addition, we shared the Easter initiative video (www.mormon.org) #PRINCEofPEACE with him and he said we could come back and share again this week.
The day continued with one person calling us over to ask for a Book of Mormon (we had never met him) and another wanting us to tell her how she can find peace in her life--she is always stressed because her parents are never home so she has to take on the role of "mom" for all her little siblings.
Additionally, I was super happy when 8 of our investigators showed up to watch General Conference this week. Sister Black and i asked ourselves what had been different about this week? How did we get so many investigators to church? We finally came to the conclusion that it must have been our attitude.
We talked General Conference up so much and made it sound so special and exciting because the living prophet--Thomas S. Monson--was going to speak that it caught all our investigator's attention and made them want to come. We realized that maybe we need to have that same enthusiasm and excitement when we invite people to church every week. Because every week really is a special and sacred opportunity for us to partake of the Sacrament in order to remember our baptismal covenants and have a fresh start for the week. I know the speakers each week are specially prepared to help us find answers to our prayers and comfort through our trials. Therefore, every week of church should be exciting and special, not just General Conference.
Everyday, I love it more and more here in Naga.
And I got an awesome package from my mom...
...full of milky-ways (my FAVORITE), Mac&Cheese (also my FAVORITE),
Girl Scout cookies (AAAAHHHHHH)...
and other goodies from home which totally made my week! Thank you Mom!!! I ended up sharing with the Elders in our district too--they are always super nice to us and do tons of nice stuff for us.
In addition, Sister Black and I have been getting closer. I really love being her companion and have found that the more open we are with each other, the better everything seems to be and the easier revelation seems to flow.
I have also been blessed with an amazing district! All the Elders are super funny, hard working and always seem to have really good advice. They want Sister Black and I to give the workshop this week at district meeting but I honestly don't know what we could say to them, because we always just follow their advice and everything ends up working out :)
So basically, my entire district is made up of amazing missionaries who I am blessed to learn so much from.
So overall, has been an amazing week here in Naga with more great weeks to come :P
I hope you all the best and hope you have an amazing week full of so many blessings as we look forward to this Easter week and our opportunity to celebrate the Savior--the Prince of Peace--and his life, death and resurrection for us all.
I love you all and hope you nothing but the best! Always take care :)
Sincerely,
Sister Matheny
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