Barugo Week 6

Eva~
I read a nice article in the recent Liahona about giving kids assignments so they can feel like they have a responsibility, and gives them something to do at the same time. I don't know, but maybe that will help a little bit?
It may be really really hard teaching Primary, but I know that I will FOREVER be grateful for Primary teachers from now on. The branches here usually do NOT have a strong Primary organization because Primary seems like the last priority for the branch. There are ALWAYS kids running around during church. Running down the halls, in and out of Relief Society, even during Sacrament meeting they just run in and out of the chapel. X_x So yea, I thank you Eva and Morgan for your good work!!

The date we're allowed to have phone calls is December 25. I'll email you with more details later about that, like the phone number you can call.

We had a little Thanksgiving of sorts because I really wanted to have SOMETHING to show Sister Sacayanan, about this crazy American holiday where everyone just EATS. I ended up making mashed potatoes (FOR REALZ! FROM REAL POTATOES!), some pork and beans, corn, and lechon manok (rotisserie chicken basically). We got a really cute picture of the two of us with the food, but the internet cafe doesn't let me hook up my camera here to upload pictures. :(

Don't worry about those packages you sent! I got them already! Wow super fast. ;) One reason is because our zone is somewhat close to Tacloban, so the Zone leaders go to Tacloban fairly often. I haven't actually SEEN them yet (there are 3! oh my!) because they are the Elders apartment, but they've arrived here safely. :) The Elders told me that they were reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally tempted to open them, just because the boxes are so big and inviting and probably full of candy. Haha.

I don't know if I told you about Athena, She's the niece of a less-active member named Liberty. We just talked to her the second day I was here in this area and said: We'd like to teach you. She said sure, and she committed to baptism on the first lesson! ;) The only reason she hasn't been baptised yet is because she hasn't come to church. She has a 2 month old baby and it's been raining a lot. We've also been working on re-activating Liberty. She has a really crazy conversion story. She was working at the most presigious Catholic university in Region 8, which is Samar and Leyte when she decided to get baptised. (She had been attending Institute! haha) So it caused quite a stir at her school, because she was a gospel doctrine teacher there. HAhaha. I think the only problem is that her fire for the gospel might have dimmed a bit. She says she knows its true, even if she hasn't come to church in a while. So this ENTIRE transfer, we've been working on getting them to come to church. We taught Atuz, who is a 9 year old boy that Liberty basically adopted as her son because his dad died. We asked him if he thought it was important that we go to church on Sunday. He nodded yes, so Sis Sacayanan and I just looked at Sis Liberty and Athena with a smirk. Heheeeeeeee.
The great end to this story so far, is that we were sitting in Relief Society and I was again thinking that they didn't show up, when Sis Sacayanan turned to me and said: Athena's here! And the first person to come through the door was Sis Liberty!! I jumped up and gave her a hug in front of everyone, cuz I was HAPPY. I know Liberty had a good experience because at the end she asked about the last General conference and remarked that she should get a subscription to the Liahona. :)

We taught the Baquiran family and showed them the Restoration video. They hadn't read their assignment in the Book of Mormon, so my heart was broken. They are just such wonderful people, I want to help them GET THE BLESSINGS OF THE TEMPLE. After we watched the video we testified we knew it was true. Sis Sacayanan started to cry. The Spirit was just really STRONG. The Spirit is always especially there when we teach the Baquiran family. I'm not sure why, I've just been thinking that it might mean they're ready to accept the gospel. They've been taught for 15 years by Baptist missionaries, and we've only taught them for 1 month. But I believe in miracles with the power of the Spirit. After we left the lesson, the feeling came to me that the thing that might be stopping them right now, is Sister Becky is scared of changing, because she's felt the influence of the Spirit and understands that what we're teaching them is very important.

Sister Merlita is having a lot of personal problems, and she said the time isn't right now for her to be baptised or continue the lessons. We're heartbroken. We still need to talk to her about everything to see what we can do to help.

Mark was confirmed a member! YAY. A week late. haha. Oh well, it's all good. He knew he didn't have the gift of the Holy Ghost yet, so we were happy that he at least knew he needed to be confirmed to be complete. During fast and testimony meeting, he got up and bore his testimony! AHHH. It made me so happy to see him smiling so hard and talking with his new friends in church.

We taught Abraham 3 times this week. He's DIFFICULT to teach. He's very well educated in lots of things, so he tends to go on a lot of tangents. >_< There are points in the visits that I look at sister Sacayanan and SMILE because what Abraham is saying is REVEALED truth! He says a lot of things that are consistant with the doctrine restored in clarity in the gospel. Like eternal progression, that the righteous will become HEIRS with Christ not just angels in a heavenly place, the gathering of Israel, agency... it's alot. But he has a LOT of other stuff that's not right. Like, God the Father is JUST a spirit, Adam chose to follow Satan and FAILED in God's plan, that there were no Prophets after Christ... He really loves his Bible. And I can tell that he really loves God too. I was mistaken when I said he was 7th day adventist, because he told us he has no religious affiliation! o_O I guess he hasn't found the "right church" yet. Hahaha. Anyway, it's really slow with him just because it takes FOREVER to go over one principle because he always has a lot of things to say.

There are various reasons why I'm glad that I did go on a mission. I feel that I am more appreciative of everything, that I can be more considerate of other people, that I can really try to truly love EVERYONE. I feel more influence of the SPIRIT. I am not very well versed in understanding the Spirit, but I feel that I made progression this week. We had interviews with President Malit, and I ALWAYS feel the spirit when I get to talk to him. :) I was able to have some really nice prayers too this week. It's just hard to stay on the high sometimes.

I love you all! I pray for you! I know you pray for me too. :) Thanks a lot.
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~the end~

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I am a LDS sister missionary serving in the Philippines Tacloban area. I made this blog so that I may share my experiences with my friends and loved ones and anyone who may need to hear my story. My sister will be updating this blog with letters that I'll be writing home.