Week 10

This week has been a very interesting one, yet really good. First, our tracting is starting to pay off, and now we have a nice big teaching pool full of investigators who want to hear the gospel, which is PERFECT!

Minda, one of the investigators we have debated dropping for awhile has come out of nowhere this week.

She is never home every time we go to teach her, and she has been really cold to us lately.... we decided we would give her a break for awhile and see if she still is interested in our message. She has been telling us that she wants to be baptized, and yet she hasn't kept the one commitment we have extended to her at least a dozen times: Will you come to church? We decided to go to her one more time and give her our expectations and let her know we really need her to come to church if she has a desire to be baptized. We know she has a testimony and knows that it is true, but every Sunday we hope and pray she will come....but nope. Not to be seen. This week we taught her. She opened up to us and told us how hard her trials have been, and just cried and cried. We told her how much we cared about her and how much we wanted to help her and how the gospel could help her. We then extended the commitment:   Will you come to church this Sunday?

 

Waiting for a bus in Lipa

We get to the chapel and are standing in the doorway of our tiny little meeting house. Just waiting. Looking at the gate to see if she will turn the corner into our chapel. Feeling really, REALLY doubtful, looking at the rain come down, Then there she was! Walking with her little baby and an umbrella. Minda came to church this week! And she even shared in Relief Society her story. And the best part is, she loved it. And wants to come again. Sometimes the best things happen when we want to give up most. The Lord is always so patient with us.. Why should we not be patient with our fellow men?

This mission has taught me a lot about patience. Patience in learning the language, patience in your investigators, and patience in the Lord. All of those things are really hard, and yet as we are patient we learn more about God. I think this life isn't just about overcoming sin. It's about learning how God lives, everyday. And as we overcome our sins and weaknesses, we learn more about how our Heavenly Father lives, and what he wants us to live like, too.

Local Cemetary...no "6 feet under" here!

It's great, this mission life. Really. It's perfect. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Transfers are coming up soon......not so sure how I feel about being with a new companion again, but I gotta have that faith that the Lord knows me and what I need in this mission. It will be DEC 18. One week before Christmas! I REFUSE TO BE TRANSFERRED! YOU CANT MAKE ME GO PRESIDENT! (If only I could really say that.)

The best part about missions is you learn all your faults and strengths all at the same time. And you grow with each investigator, as you extend them commitments you can also keep yourself. This gospel is TRUE. It's perfect and everything we need. Anything and everything else we get is just extra stuff. I'm grateful to be here. The Philippines are a blessed country and they are so ready for the gospel, I can't even handle it.

Merry Christmas!

Here's to another week in my new home,

xoxo, Sister Seastrand