A week full of love, effort, and doing our best!

Well let me just say, it has been one crazy/busy week. I thought I was busy before, turns out I was wrong because with training it feels like things just got twice as busy.

So ya, I started training this week, and it has been one heck of a ride. I remember when I got the news I would train last Sunday I was so freaked out that I actually had a nightmare about it.  As it got closer to Wednesday, I had more and more mixed emotions. I figured that even though I was nervous, if President trusted me to train a new missionary, I would do my best and let the Lord make up the rest. 

I think the nicest part about preparing to train is that I got to eat at the mission home a couple of times, and the food was SOOOOO good! We got to eat there once for our training and again the day we met our new companion.  Another great thing about it was getting to see Sister Villa again (she was my trainer!)

~Me & Sister Villa~

Let me say, we were all waiting at the mission home (everyone that would train) for the new missionaries to come. When the AP announced that they were here, I got this huge nervous lump in my stomach and I could hardly sit still as we waited for them to come in. When the two new sisters came in, I just remember my first thought being "they are really pretty" and then we all got to eat.

I was feeling pretty anticipated up until the moment the new companionship were announced and I found out that my new companion would be SISTER RANESES! 

It's the weirdest thing because as soon as they announced that, I felt all the nerves drain out of me, it just felt right.

Since then, Sister Raneses and I have has SOOOOOO much fun! I LOVE that girl! She is an awesome companion and a very hard worker... to be honest, I feel like I will probably end up learning more from her that she will from me. She is so easy going, nice, smiley and always says hi to everyone!

Like I said before, training has been super busy. My whole mission so far, I haven't really learned how to cook Filipino food yet (sad to say). In Goa, Sister Jimenez...

...always cooked nice food for me and when Sister Black and I were companions, we just ate at a lot of tindahans outside...

 ...so I was super freaked out when I heard I would be training because I feel like it is kind of a trainers responsibility to cook for her new companion.

So since Sister Raneses has been here, I have been trying my best to cook for her...

 ...be more clean, and work harder. We also started jogging together every morning for exercise, which I hadn't realized how much I missed.

Besides that, since Sister Raneses has gotten here, I have definitely been speaking more Tagalog--since she is Philippina--which is really nice. I feel like my language skills are getting a lot better, especially with her help.

So all in all, I guess training is not anything like I expected. It is a lot more fun and requires a lot more work than anything else. For me, I remember the hardest part of adjusting to missionary life was missing my friends, family, and luxuries back home. I remember times when I would lie there after a long day of work and think "man, it would be nice to have a milkshake right now" or "I wish I could just watch a nice movie to blow off some stress." Other times, I remember just wanting a hug from my mom.

In the end, I think what ultimately helped overcome some of those feelings was #1 my family. 

I didn't want to come home early because I wanted to set a good example for my siblings 

(they were my strength and motivation through the hardest parts of adjusting) so that if they ever decided to serve a mission, they would feel more encouraged to keep persevering when things got rough. And #2, the people. I think that loving the people you serve is probably the most important thing you need to do while on a mission.

To love everyone and do your best to help them reach their full potential.

For Sister Raneses, I don't think that loving everyone will be a problem, she has a really big heart and a strong desire to help everyone, which I really admire. And she always gives hugs to EVERYONE (if they are a girl), which is something I have not been very good at.

Anyways, I think we are going to have a lot of fun together this tranfer. Just in this past week, we have had 2 baptisms...

...and 9 investigators at church, some of whom it was their first time. And with transfers and all, we didn't even get a full week of work! So I am excited to see what we can do with a full week full of love, effort, and doing our best everyday.

I love you all and hope you have the best week ever. Just remember, if anything hard or challenging happens in life, I know we can always make it good. Just do your best and always trust that the Lord will help you along the way. He loves us very much, we are His children and He will never lead us astray.

Until next week,

Sister Matheny