Through Small and Simple Things

My companion and I totally planned on buying paper and other cute stuff to make Valentines for the family members that haven’t been coming to church on our preparation day…But we forgot! So, I made these ghetto looking Valentines out of what I had. Post-it notes (2 per Valentine, sticky sides together), lined paper, scripture marking pencil, and THANK GOODNESS I had ribbons from your Valentines package mom! Thank you for that! 

They turned our Post-it notes into Valentines. :)

So these little ghetto cards got us in the door of 3 family’s houses who have been hiding from us! Two of them have been hiding from us since week 1! Funny, I guess it’s harder to shut the door on someone after they give you a card that says “Mahal Namin Kayo!” [We Love You] and tell you “God loves you so much. We want to share a message with you about God’s love! Can we come in?” Irresistible! It’s really true though, God does love you! No matter what. And even though I challenged the people we taught this week to spread the love of God this “Valentine’s Season” kind of as a joke – it’s true! We should always try to spread God’s love! His arms are open to everyone, and some people don’t even know! As Clayton Christensen says in the book The Power of Everyday Missionaries “Every time you take someone figuratively by the hand and introduce him or her to Jesus Christ, you will feel how deeply our Savior loves you and loves the person whose hand is in yours.” So even though Valentine’s Day is over, I hope you will find simple ways to show people that God loves them. Spread the love! It’s the little things that count.

ALSO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER! I can’t believe you are 13! That’s so old! You’re a teenager. Wow! Growing up so fast! I can’t even handle it! I didn’t have a cake to celebrate your birthday, so instead I bought some BBQ dugo! You’ll have to google translate that one. It’s just as masarap as it sounds! :) 

[dugo = blood  masarap = delicious]

I learned this week you can get road rash from dirt roads. Well, dirt and rocks. I was walking along, and BAM! My right leg slipped and knocked over my left leg. I got pretty cut up actually! Good thing it happened by the cemetery in our area. I sat on a tomb to wash my leg off while my companion said, “Brother Alfonso, please don’t come haunt us later tonight. Thank you for letting Sister Jackson sit on your coffin!” Haha! She took this lovely picture of me, although my cut-up legs are not pictured. :) Why am I so clumsy?!

This week we figured out that the house we’ve been stopping by to see Jun Jun isn’t actually Jun Jun’s house. So, Sister Gerhards and I walked around the neighborhood asking, “Do you know a kid named Jun Jun? No, we don’t know his last name. Do you know where he lives? He’s about this tall and he is 11 years old.” Super sketchy! That would NEVER fly in the U.S.! We’d get the cops called on us! Turns out two random old dudes knew who we were talking about. They said, “The kid you gave your book to? He lives over there!” Huh. People definitely notice what we do and how we act all of the time; even when they just see us give a Book of Mormon to the neighbor boy.

We found Jun Jun’s house! Every time we go there his parents are not home. We are going to try to go back tomorrow night to visit them. Cross your fingers for me!

Violetta had her baptismal interview! She is getting baptized on Saturday! I am so excited for her. She is adorable! She has come so far! After her interview she asked Sister Gerhards if she should share her testimony after her baptism. Sister Gerhards said “Pwede!” Violetta asked, “Can I say it in Ilacano?” Oh my goodness! She is so cute! I am so happy for her, for the decisions she is making in her life and the person she is becoming.

Thank you for all your prayers and emails! Sorry I don’t have enough time to reply to all of them, but I do read all of them! They make my day! I have the best family & friends! Thanks for everything! 

Till next preparation day,

Ingat!