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| Mga Bata and Sister Wood - This is an older picture but one of my favorites. |
Alright, alright, I know I failed. No letter last week! I am SORRY! I don't even have a good excuse. We will just put it behind us. Forgive and forget. :) THANK YOU! Haha how was your week? Did anyone get told they weren't a child of God? Haha I did! By a less-active old woman. There is never a dull lesson with this nanay. She was baptized here then went and lived in Seattle for 20+yeasrs and while she was there, started going to JW. Plus she is old now, and is taking way too much medication, so she is a bit interesting at times. Anyways, we were teaching here and she stoppped us and asked if we will be able to go to heaven, and we of course we responded we have the chance to! That lead into a huge thing of her saying if we believe we are going to heaven we are not children of God. And then she went on about how in the bible it says only 44000 people will go to heaven. Some things are even worth arguing about haha we just say what is true. And then like a snap of a finer at the end of the lesson she is telling me how mabait I am and how I am a child of God. Oh i love people. But it's cool, she hooked us up with some Top Ramen from the US. Oh and then on Saturday we went there again to teach and I asked if she wanted to sing a christmas song, away in a manger, and that opened us another can about how there is no Christmas for her because it doesn't say it in the bible, and so i just said okay we will sing a song about jesus. Then just sang away in a manger haha. She is nuts! But we still love her.
Another funny story, this week we were on our way to Paoay for general conference, which was outstanding. We were sitting on the jeep across from a special boy who is named michael that is 14 years old. He was with his grandma. Michael would not stop starting and me! I kept waving and smiling, and finally got a conversation going. All he was saying was "ang ganda ganda mo ma'am!" Haha it was so cute. Other than that he was only speaking ilocano so i did what I could. Then he goes, "Adda picture mo?" Or, Can I have a pictuer of you? Haha keep in mind that his grandma is sitting there egging him on to do this. So good thing I had photos with me! I gave him one of my family. Haha after I gave it to him, he was so pumped and giving his grandma high fives. He had game, just cut straight to the chase! Then, on monday, I was sitting by elder castillo in the salon at robinson's and outside the glass doors I see the same boy, but now with his WHOLE family. He somehow spotted me and started making the gestures of picture picture! The people with him immediated started digging tyhrough their bags trying to find their cameras haha. They opened the doors and all filed in and came and sat all around elder castillo and I. Hahaha I was laughing so hard. Of course Michael sat right next to me, like we are talking he couldn't have been sitting any closer to me without sitting on me haha. There were probably about 8-10 filipinos around us. When they were about to take the photo, Michael through his arms around me and his face was touching mine hahaha. I was just doing my nervous, "I can't do anything about this" laugh hahaha. I wish I could have seen the photos. They are probably all over someone's facebook now. Oh the little things like that that make me way happy.
Now about happiness. The word happy takes on a whole new meaning for me now being a missionary, and it will throughout the rest of my life. As I have been serving the Lord I have been blessed to take even the smallest taste of what heaven will actually feel like. Even though it still doesn't even compare. Through the spirit and through living the gospel of jesus christ is how you will fully understand the hapiness God wants us to feel in our lives here on earth. Sometimes I feel like we cut oursevles short of the joy we can actually feel lin this life. Here, we are constantly telling people that we understand that they don't have money, or we know they are really struggling, but we know that if they live the teachings of the gospel, you will be happy. Because when we live the gospel, we feel the spirit. When we feel the spirit, we are happy. The last couple weeks it seems for me that the theme has been all about the spirit. Something I have been able to learn a lot from. I have come to know that happiness and the Spirit are fully linked. I read forever ago in the bible dictionary under the word Earnest about the Holy SPirit. It has stuck with me. It says, "The Lord gives us his Holy Spirit in this life as a foretaste of the joy of eternal life." Alright. How cool is that? I know for a fact that through the Spirit and living the gospel, we can feel real happiness that you can't get from score a goal or making the winning basket. (don't get me wrong that feels good too.) ButGod loves us enough to give us the chance to fretaste here on earth what it iwll be like to live with him and our families eternally. It is our choice to make if we are going to partake of those fruits or not. That's my spiritual thought for you all haha.
So I will admit that it has been kinda rough combining our areas. Only because there are so many people that need to be taught and so little time. At first it was hard because our attitudes were more on our OWN areas. Like, no we need to go to my area for this person, no my area." It wasn't that bad, but you could kind of feel that it was like that. But we went thought and sorted though everyone and pic ked out the people that are really ready for the gospel. I guess it is good cause there has not been americans in this area of the other sisters for a long time, so now we got some white blood and people are more than willing to talk to us as they look me up and down haha. (according to my companion they weren't like that before.)I was super overwhlmed with the amount of people and things that needed to be done in the time given, but i found that god will help you with the time as long as you are prepared and have planned. Everyday we have a lesson planned every 30 minutes. We don't stop! :) We are still teaching the Gabriel famiy and the mom and kids are oging to church. The dad has a drinking problems and doesn't want to go until it is resolved. We are teaching 2 progressing families now! :)
As far as how my companion and I are doing, we're doing good. I have never experienced only living with my companion on my mission until now. It was super weird at first cause our apartment/house is pretty big for just 2 people. I t was way quieet and empty but now we are used to it and it is the greatest thing ever. Neither of us cook so we are just living super simply haha. Because there is only 2 of us, our cleaning takes longer on p-days. You would think that only 2 people it wouldn't be that big of a mess, but you'd be surprised. Maybe it is just me that is the mess though. My companion is really cool. I am grateful for her. Haha I alway s wondered who my last companion would be and always felt bad for whoever it'd be because they will have to help me get all my stuff together and ready to go. Sister arancis is awesome. Nothing is ever uptight. We are chill and we work. Plus I drag her running with me every morning at 6. she is a trooper. I thank her ever day when we get home from jogging cause i really am so grateful she goes with me. I told her i would hellp her buy a pair of running shoes too. :)
I was going to tell a story about soccer, but i will waiyt til next week. But needless to say, i miss it and i will leave it at that! MALAPIT NA!
Well, I can't believe that it is already october 20. Somtimes I look at my watch and I think the date is wrong. Time is going bny so fast. Maybe someday someone will come up with a word to describe the feeling of a missionary whose time is ticking down. But as for now, there isn't one. I am excvited. I am nervous. I am overwhelmed. I am hopeful. I am anxious. All of the above. And that's just now. Pero, matagal pa. Lots of time for those feelings to change. But if you're wonder, no it has not set in that I am coming Home. At all. I only really realize it when the other missionaries ask how I am feelings. And I alway s respond it's not real yet. My batch going home is all going to manila later today at 1. To go to the immigration office for our visas. We have to do finger printing. We will fly there and stay for 1 night and then come home tomorrow. I am excited for am ini vacation. Not quite sure exactly what we'll do there, but it will at least be a change of scenery! Sorry again for no email last week. Haha it won't happen again the next 4 weeks. I will leav eit all on the field and my emails haha! I love you all for even reading this. See you soon!
Love, Sister Wood
PS: I have miller's lips. :) I am trying to think of a good way to preserve all of his letters. Let me know if anyone has a good idea.
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| Miller's lips - Can you see them? me neither. This is one of hundreds of letters that I'm sure she has tucked away for safe keeping. |
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