What a week! So this week I definitely have to say that things seemed to take a bit of a turn when our work went down and instruction went up as day after day we gained priceless opportunities to learn from our leaders. Now, of course that means we didn't get to teach nearly as much as we would have liked--leaving me a little anxious and over-energized by the end of the week to get to work--but I am so grateful for the valuable instruction we received which will definitely and ultimately help us to be better missionaries.
Speaking of becoming better missionaries, I have been so grateful for this transfer and companionship as I feel like I have seen and been surprised by so many of the changes I have seen in myself over these past few weeks. To be honest, I knew that a mission was supposed to "change a person" before I started, but before now, I honestly had no idea how much or in what ways.
For example, the past few months I feel like I have become happier, more comfortable with and more confident in myself. I know that's kind of a "weird" change, but to be honest, I remember sometimes I used to almost feel awkward with myself and others. But if there is one thing I have learned from non-stop talking to people over the past year, it's that people are weird! So we just have to accept that and then be happy with ourselves because there is nobody else like us.
When it really comes down to it, I think that if we will just be comfortable being ourselves instead of trying to be a "half-rate" version of somebody else we will always be happier and will even be surprised by how many more people we will be able to reach out and influence as well.
I feel like I learned that again last Tuesday after some awesome exchanges where I got to work with my kabatch, kabahay, and STL: Sister Segovia!
So exchanges actually ended up being an awesome opportunity for me because I learned so much from Sister Segovia and her AMAZING teaching skills! For one, she can really get through a lesson in a clear and concise manner, which I sometimes have trouble doing. As I have sometimes said to my companion, I feel like I have a tendency to get "principle stuck" as I call it, where I have trouble moving from one principle of a lesson to another.
That wasn't the only thing that I learned (and have been able to use) from Sister Segovia and exchanges, and upon coming home I felt so happy and grateful to be able to work with and learn from her. In addition, what made the day even better was during our group companionship studies, where I got to make all three of my Filippina companions sing "America the beautiful" as our opening song.
In addition, on Thursday, I was once again grateful when we got to take an hour and a half bus ride (me squished shoulder-to-shoulder between two people I didn't know the whole way) to Naga for Zone Conference. But for me, the waking up early and being squished in the van were all worth it when I got to see both Sister Raneses
and Sister Black at Zone Conference.
When I saw Sister Black again, I ran over and gave her the hugest hug ever and as usual, couldn't hold back a few tears since I was so happy to see her! And of course, I loved seeing her companion, Sister Sorenson as well! Long live the "white girl club"! lol
Besides that, the conference ended up being really uplifting and inspiring, giving us some awesome new ideas to use in our work.
Finally, we received another special opportunity to learn on Saturday and Sunday when we watched general conference. At general conference, I learned so much and received so many spiritual impressions that left me feeling so lucky.
One impression that seemed to hit me again and again during that Conference was the Book of Mormon. As authority after authority talked about the divinity and authenticity of the Book of Mormon, I started to ask myself: "what is the Book of Mormon to me?" Just from this past year, I have really developed a strong love for and testimony of this divine book, which I really don't have a way to describe in words. It is true. It is the word of God. And for anyone who is struggling with doubts, a problem, or anything else, this is my advice: read the Book of Mormon. It is the key. It is God's message written specifically for you and it is the key to feel God's influence in your life and infinite love for you.
That being said, after conference I really felt that I needed to put more emphasis on my reading of the Book of Mormon. Because as I have seen, it is always the investigators who are reading who end up being the ones converted.
I know God loves each of us and has an amazing plan... recorded in the Book of Mormon. So I hope you all have an amazing week, and don't ever forget that you have a Loving Heavenly Father and Savior right there to help with whatever you might go through in life :)
Love,
Sister Matheny
P.S. My mom asked me about this picture I took last week . . .
It's a weird fruit in the Philippines. It grows on the trees (we just picked that right off) and is full of these weird seeds all stuck together by white stuff. You are supposed to just suck on them and it is really sweet, like candy! It tastes kind of like a jolly-rancher type candy but the flavor is not quite as strong.
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