Called to Serve: Pray! It makes the HUGEST difference.

So this week marked the end of another transfer and the start of my very last one here on the mission. It has been a great transfer, full of lots of love,

miracles,

and happiness every single day.

Sister Segovia and I have had a good last 3 months and are excited to give it our very best in this upcoming transfer.

Last night, we received transfer calls and learned that Sister Segovia . . .

. . . will be moving back to the city for her last transfer, to Kanaman, which is right next to Naga, while I will be spending my last transfer here in Daet with SISTER CABRAL as my new companion!!!

To be honest, I am SUPER excited! Because Sister Cabral is AWESOME! Super hard working, lots of ideas and an overall amazing missionary, so I am excited to see what I will learn from her. She was my kabahay back in Iriga and she DEFINITELY knows how to cook! So I will be looking forward to learning before I go home.

Anyways, to start of this last week of the transfer, Sister Segovia and I went with our district

to the beach! And it was super fun! It has been a long time sine I've gotten to go to the ocean and stick my feet in the sand.

While we were there, we built sand castles, ate popcorn, and took lots and lots of pictures!

So overall, I would call our district activity a success!

In addition, we had a lot of great days of work this week, full of lots of miracles and meeting lots of people.

As we walked around day after day, I never felt at a loss for where to go or who to meet, it all seemed to come naturally and because of that, we had a lot of great success.

On Thursday, we even got to go to Labo to work with some of the other sisters in their area, and our work was really great!

This transfer it has been really fun to get to travel to some different parts of the zone and see lots of different areas.

It definitely reminds me of how diverse and beautiful the Philippines are.

After working with the Labo sisters, we headed back to our own area to make it to a few return appointments and picked up some members to work with us on the way.

As we were out working, I remember we had a bad rejection at one of our investigator's homes when after calling out at the door, they responded, "Who is it?" to which we said, "Sister Missionaries po!" And then they just wouldn't answer the door.

(I mean, who wouldn't answer the door to these faces! LOL)

As we were walking away, IG (one of the members working with us) said: "Wow, that's the first time I have experienced a rejection. It feels... bad." She was sad and discouraged, so I quickly responded, "Don't worry! It's a happy thing, it's a happy thing that they rejected us if they are not ready to listen, because it just means there is somebody more prepared and more in need right now that we need to find and teach!"

After that, we made a huge effort to talk to EVERYONE on our way to the next appointment and managed to find great success when we stumbled upon a family that was willing to let us in.

After that, we were all feeling super motivated and ready to work some more.

And that wasn't the only time I felt happy and motivated to work. I remember Saturday night as we were going about our work after having experienced a supper successful day of appointments, I somehow managed to drop my planner somewhere between the church and a referral we were trying to contact. Worried, we took a loop around our area and even went back to the church to see if I had left it there, but it was nowhere in sight!

Finally, feeling hopeless, desperate and ready to give up, I went and kneeled in the chapel and poured out my soul to Heavenly Father to help me find my planner before heading out again.

By this point, we had already decided to forget the planner and head out to work, so we headed out. As we were walking down the road, I happened to casually look to the side, and noticed a difference in color underneath some weeds. At first, I thought it was just a rock or something, but I decided to poke it with my umbrella only to discover that it was in fact my planner! I was so overjoyed and excited to have found my planner and couldn't help but feel so grateful to God for answering my prayer, because I know I never would have been able to find it on my own.

Looking back on the mission, prayer has definitely been one of the things which has made the HUGEST difference. There have definitely been times when I sat pleading with Heavenly Father and asking "why does this have to be so hard?"

But as Elder Ukdorf said in his talk: "The Three Sisters" last October: "It will not be easy. It will require the very best that you have--all your intelligence, creativity, faith, integrity, strength, determination, and love. But one day you will look back upon your efforts, and oh, how grateful you will be that you remained strong, that you believed, and that you did not depart from the path."

I have noticed that the times I have been most successful are the times I am praying the most for the Lord's help. That was why Sister Black was such a great companion: because she says such long prayers! Really opening up the door for help and inspiration from the Lord.