3 Months in the Pines

 

Sister Salvetara's (Grandma Jackson - Filipino version) grandson. He has a crush on me. He is so cute!

Pedicures for less than $5! What a treat! #lastpdaysplurge #fivedollarsisexpensivehere

 The day after the pedicure!!

This picture happens when you ask a 5 year old boy to take a picture for you. "We look drunk!"-Sister Gerhards

The picture we were trying to get that kid to take - I found a bucket to put the camera on.

I had all the ward missionaries meet at Macdo our last night because Sister Gerhard's birthday is tomorrow and she told me she has always wanted a birthday party at Macdo.

 

Justine...she reminds me of GWYNETH! Love her. Miss the Dunaways <3

 My new kasama, Sister Dizon!

 Sister Dizon and I did not plan these busy pattered skirts and striped tops on purpose...We are just crazy like that! :)

The first day with Sister Dizon going out to work in the morning....
I got fried! I'm gonna go buy some sunscreen! It's super hot now!
  

I just took this picture about a half an hour ago! We went out to eat with our house mates and two other Sisters :) So fun! The Elders happened to be there and photo-bombed.

My new companion, Sister Dizon, is great! AND! Sister Gerhards is a Sister Training Leader in Lingsat now (which is the place we used to live with the STLs while they were looking for an apartment for us). So I still see her all the time! So lucky! And we will go on exchanges probably!

Sister Dizon and I get along really well. She is awesome. We look like quite an odd couple though! We both ended up in stripes and patterns one day; we weren’t matching like that in the beginning of the day, but Sister Dizon changed because it was so hot out. I love her! She kinda reminds me of Alyssa Delos Reyes. :)

This week had some great stories: powerful lessons, new investigators, such a strong spirit and strong commitments. But, they all ended the same way: ”And they didn’t come to church.” Too bad preparation day isn’t on Saturday because then my letter would have been full of excitement and hope! So instead of telling those stories, I hope y’all enjoy these!

EPIC FAIL! Sister Gerhards and I had a great idea to invite Sister Jen to Family Home Evening with 2 ward member families. Remember she has 1½ year old twins and a four year old. Before I go too far with this story, you should know that missionaries aren’t allowed to hold babies or kids, let kids sit on our lap, tickle kids, etc. I understand why, but it’s so hard to live sometimes though! So Jen was trying to participate and listen at FHE, but her twins were all over the place! Crying, wanting to be held, wanting to walk free, wanting food, etc. Things got super crazy when one girl pantsed the other one then BIT her smack on her naked bum! They both started crying hysterically! I wanted to get up and help so badly, but all I could do was stare! So did the other family members! Finally one of the 11 year old boys picked up one of the babies, carried her inside and set her on the floor. But then he just left and shut the door behind him! Oh my goodness! Poor Jen! She has her hands full!  

Sister Salvetara (ward member that reminds me of Grandma Jackson) is so nice! On Tuesday Sister Gerhards and I went over to her house and filmed a video about how we do door approaches. Every companionship in the mission had to make one and turn it in. She was such a great actress! Then afterward she cooked for us. I helped cut veggies. She took one look at my cutting and said “Ugly! You’ll never get a husband if you cut onions like that!” The cool part is she said it in Tagalog, and I understood what she was saying! She’s totally right. My onion cutting was pangit. :) But, thanks to Sister Salvetara now I know how to cut onions so I can get a husband. Sweet. 

I’ve been here 3 months now, but sometimes I’m still way confused. In a different lesson with Jen (not the FHE, but yes, one of the girls still peed on the floor) I asked her what she felt when she prayed. She gave me a 3 sentence-ish answer. I didn’t understand a word of it. She was smiling, so I figured that it must be good! Nope. She said she didn’t feel anything and didn’t get an answer. I proceeded to testify that she felt the Holy Ghost and I know that God answered her prayer. AWKWARD!

These are some of my favorite quotes from Preach My Gospel this week:

“Remember that people have agency to choose whether or not to accept your message.”

“When you have done your best, you still may experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself.”

So, even though I don’t have the “Happily Ever After” ending to my stories this week of “And then they all came to church!” it’s ok! We worked hard this week. We did our best. This week kind of made me think of how hard it must be for our Heavenly Father to give us our agency and let us make mistakes. I just want to tell some of my investigators, “You’ve got to do this! You don’t understand what you are missing!” because I love them so much. Heavenly Father loves each of us more than we can comprehend. He must be so sad when we choose the wrong path and so happy when we come back!

I take comfort in knowing that God knows best! Everything will work out in the end.