What a week! So this week I have felt so blessed, happy and lucky to have gotten to be a part of helping others and watching the Lord bless their lives. These past weeks, I have really been praying that God would lead us to those he has prepared and he really seems to be pulling through as day after day, we are blessed with amazing people to teach.
So to start: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! I don't know about y'all... but this was definitely the coldest and wettest Halloween I have experienced so far. For one, when we woke up on Halloween morning, it was pouring rain outside! And we didn't have an umbrella! (Since Sister Habla's got lost and I accidentally left mine at an investigator's just two days before). So we were not too anxious to work when the time came...
But because we still had people to teach (rain or shine) I put on my boots (So at least my feet would be dry) and we headed out.
Luckily, our morning ended up being the only part that was super wet because by the time lunch came around, we were able to get a new umbrella for Sister Habla which we used until we were able to drop by the investigator that had mine.
Needless to say, when we got home we were both cold and wet,
so I decided it would be a good time to drink the hot-coco my mom sent me last year when I was still at the MTC. So tasty! I honestly had forgotten what home tastes like!
Anyways... about Halloween in the Philippines: It is NOTHING like Halloween back home. For one, they don't trick-or-treat here. Instead, on November 1, they all go to the cemetery, set flowers and candles on the graves of their loved ones and all spend the night on their ancestor's graves. It's actually super cool!
Sister Habla and I even got to drop by when a lot of our appointments ended up falling through, and it was PACKED! I have never seen so many people at the cemetery! There were food carts lined up all over the place outside and candles on every grave! In fact, there were so many candles, that the whole place seemed to be completely lit up (I remember thinking: if this were happening in Texas, the whole cemetery would burn down)! And as we went about greeting and sharing the Plan of Salvation with the people there, I even got to meet one person from Seattle and another from the UK! So it seems like people come from all over the place for this Holiday. Overall, it was definitely one of the coolest things I have experienced since moving to the Philippines.
Besides that, we also had another couple of cool experiences when we really saw the Lord's hand working through us, helping us along, and answering our prayers.
For one, I remember last Friday, we were in a tricycle and the people sitting across from me turned out to be on the way to the hospital. They immediately opened up to me, acting like we had already met before, so I thought maybe we had met at church or something (we hadn't)... As I asked the one lady about her son (who was the one in the hospital), I felt prompted to write down his name so that we could pray for him later that night, so I did.
Well... on the way back from proselyting that day, we actually ended up stopping by that hospital because one of our investigators was there and we wanted to say hi. But when we went upstairs and were about to go into her room, I noticed that the name on the door had been changed, meaning that our investigator had just went home earlier that day. We were about to leave, when the lady I had met in the tricy earlier that day suddenly stepped out of the room.
I immediately recognized her and was super surprised to learn that her son had just been moved into that room. She welcomed us in and sure enough, he was not in good shape. But sitting in the room, I couldn't help but feel that God had put us there for a specific reason. So we ended up giving them a short lesson about the Plan of Salvation and then doing as I had said earlier and leaving them with a prayer. Hopefully that will be able to help.
Finally, I had another miraculous experience this week, when once again, God answered my silent prayers (and almost immediately too!)
We were headed over to one last appointment the other night, when I could not stop thinking about the delicious gummy store close to where we were. I remember thinking that it would be so nice to eat some gummies then, but the problem was that it was already late, so even if we did walk there right then, the store was probably already closed anyways and we still had one more appointment to get to.
I remember as I thought this through in silent prayer, just thinking: "It's alright Heavenly Father... I can just eat gummy's next week." Right as I had this thought however, a tricy drove by and the driver stopped and told us to hop in. Our next appointment was relatively close, so we turned down the offer only to have him insist. So finally, we hopped in only to have him drive us right to the corner of that gummy store before dropping us off at no charge! And to my even greater astonishment: THE STORE WAS STILL OPEN! Even though it was already pretty late.
I remember as I bought my gummy's that night just feeling so happy, grateful and amazed at what my Heavenly Father had done to answer my prayers.
I hadn't NEEDED to eat gummy's right then, yet Heavenly Father had still answered my prayer. Going home, I felt so happy and grateful and couldn't help but think of the verse which reads: "...the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him. Wherefore, let us be faithful to him." (1 Nephi 7:12)
I know Heavenly Father will always be there to help us, just as he has been there time and time again to help me this past week. Thinking back on this week, I can't help but smile. I think of all my amazing investigators and all these people the Lord is letting us teach.
Turning to him, Sister Habla answered "Yes, we do get tired, but think: if we were always to go home when we were tired, we would never have met you."
Joemel, paused for a moment, and then responded "that's true. I am so grateful that you guys knocked on my door."
Serving a mission is the best decision I have ever made. And despite the bumps and challenges along the way, I don't think I have ever been happier.
I hope you all have an awesome week! And don't forget how much the Savior loves you
Love,
Sister Matheny
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