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| Sister Wood in Rainy Laoag |
Hello everybody!
Well that was the fastest week of my life!
It has been raining so much the last few days. Actually it has never stopped. I think I finally got my feel for the Philippines when we were wading through puddles up to our calves this week! Haha awesome right? Well with water comes loads of frogs. Like loads. They are all over the roads, mostly splatted and guts all over the place from being run over, but yes lots of cool frogs. I tried catching some in my umbrella (taking after my dad). But with rain comes cool weather so it is the best thing in the world! Gosh I am not complaining! I would rather be wet and cool then sweating hot!
We found some friends in our apartment this week, I mean not super bad, but there were 2 ginormous cockroaches and then we found A MOUSE in our SHOWER BUCKET!!! Yeah that really grossed me out. I refuse to use it haha. I will get over it sooner or later.
We spoke in sacrament this week. All 6 of us sister missionaries, because yes we got a new set in our ward! Yay! But the funniest thing was that one of the conpanionships had a baptism this week so we all went to it. We go and they have us down for a musical number. So 4 of us (yes that includes me) goes up and sings a song that we picked right on the spot. Nearer my God to thee I think. Hahaha yeah it was great.....
I mostly want to share with you all an experience we had this week right out of my journal:
" We made an appointment to teach mervina and her daughter. We went there to teach and she let us in and invited all the young workers (that we had previously taught) to stay and join. So they did, probably just cause they felt forced. They are troopers! Andyway, we were planning to teach about the BOM. All the workers were there, and then Mervina got up and left and said she had visitors. So we didn't think anything of it. We began and prayed, and sister Rico started introducing the BOM. Then finally in walks Mervina with some people. They went over to her kitchen table, so we just proceeded. As we started teaching about the BOM we could tell the people at the table were listening in. Then an older man from there walks over and sets a stool down to be part of it. Right then he began arguing against all the things we were teaching about the BOM. Come to find out, he is a pastor for Mervina's church and they had set up and made an appointment with their pastor at the same time. Don't worry though, nothing was going to stop us. There was a reason that Sister Rosell had chose to work with us (sister rico's trainer) cause she is fluent in Tagalog and used to be their religion ntil she read the BOM. She did most the talking. And even though the pastor was literally shouting and arguing with us, and saying things I won't write, the spirit never left the room. It was as if the spirit was screaming at them as we spoke with pure boldness. Sister Rosell bore the most incredible testimony about Joseph smith and the first vision. We never rose our voices, just spoke truths that were so bold. The spirit was so dense and I know the people felt it there. It was the most incredible experience for my faith and testimony. It strenghtened my whole being. While we finally got some silence from the pastor, we each bore our testimonies about the BOM. I bore mine last, and the spirit was so strong my heart was pounding. The spirit guided me on what to say, and I really don't recall what I said, all I know is I got emotional because of the spirit (which I haven't done the whole time being here)) AND THE FACT THAT i WANTED ALL OF THESE PEOPLE TO OPEN THEIR HEARTS TO THE MESSAGE OF THE RESTORED GOSPEL. I have never wanted something so bad. The whole appointment I was saying a prayer in my heart that they would be open minded. By the end of our testimonies, the spirit was so strong and I know they all felt it. We just did the only thing we could and challeneged them to read and pray like said in Moroni 10:3-5. Sister Rosell asked if I would pray to close, so we kneeled to pray and everyone refused to kneel. They just stood, so I began my prayer. All I can say is my prayer was completely guided by the spirit. The pastor and someone else began mocking the things I said as I prayed and I heard him and the things he said for a split second, but as I continued praying my heart out, it felt like us 3 were othe only people in the room. After the prayer we shook all their hands, left a BOM on the chair and left. That experience has already changed my whole mission."
I wrote a lot more with that, but because of time I just want everyone to know that I know the Book of Mormon is true, and the Gospel of Jesus christ is the only true church on the earth. I am so honored to be able to represent him and wear his name everyday.
Thank you all for all of the continued support.
- Sister Wood
PS: Filipino children are reading this letter over my shoulder as we speak. Yay for no personal space. :)
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