Blogging from Baguio: BEST BIRTHDAY EVER

Wow. It happened. I’m 20 now. It feels so old. But I don’t feel old! I still feel like a teenager inside…maybe it will hit me next week.

I had a great birthday though! Thanks to the love from housemates, love from home, love from members and missionaries here and GREAT lessons with investigators.

We woke up early on Friday because my birthday wish was to go running in Burnham Park. My housemates and companion came with me. It was EXHILERATING! So much fun. My housemates also decorated down the stairs with little signs and downstairs with a cute birthday banner. It seriously made my day! They are so thoughtful.

Thank you SO MUCH for the packages! Maybe that’s why I don’t feel 20…cause I had way too much fun opining them! Thank you for the new clothes. They feel so nice! And for all the food; granola bars, mac n cheese, jello…y’all are the best!

My companion made me pancakes for breakfast! So nice. Then we went out to work, determined to give away 20 pamphlets that day. We did it! The last one we gave to the taxi man who drove us home. It was great because we were working in an area that we thought we had finished tracting, but we still managed to find lots of people to talk to.

We went out to lunch at Yellow Cab (which is the best pizza place ever!). My companion surprised me by inviting TONS of people! Missionaries, members – it was super fun!

After lunch I had to change out of my red dress. Which is a bummer because here in the Philippines you wear red on your birthday (how did you know Gma J?) Well, I sat in human poop. Yup. On my birthday. I thought the chair I sat on was just really dirty. Nope. There was poo on it. I think it was from the investigator’s baby.

BEST LESSONS OF THE DAY

4. Agata – She doesn’t understand why she needs to be baptized again. I don’t think she understood what we were saying. But, she understood our invitation to pray and ask God if she should be baptized.

3. Mama D. – we found her concern! She is afraid of change. Even though she knows Joseph Smith is a true prophet, she is afraid of what her family will think and afraid of changing. We invited her to build her foundation on Christ – not her family or anyone else. Because He is the only sure foundation.

2. Lola! We taught her a simple lesson and while Sister Campos was using the bathroom she told me, “I love it when I have visitors. Thank you so much for coming to my house today. Thank you for not forgetting about me. It means so much to me!” Made my day.

1. Prima – Her oldest daughter, Angel, still hadn’t made it home from school; she was getting really anxious because Angel was an hour late and Typhoon Mario was starting. Rains were really heavy and it was pretty windy. I said the opening prayer, and remembering President’s advice to really pray for the investigators, I prayed that Angel would be safe, that she would make it home, and that Prima wouldn’t worry about her. We said “Amen” opened our eyes and not 2 seconds later Angel appeared from around the corner! Safe and sound. HUGE testimony builder for me – I need to pray for the simple things that God wants to happen. I also always need to pray with faith – meaning I expect God can grant me the blessings I seek. I think it was also a testimony builder for Prima because she mentioned it in her closing prayer. It also shows that sometimes God lets “bad” things happen so that He can show His hand in our lives. If we were safe and happy all the time I don’t think we would remember Him.

All afternoon we had really heavy rains, but then it started to get SUPER rainy and windy. I don’t know if you can really tell from the picture – it was like I took a shower with my clothes on. We ended up having to go home a little bit early (the typhoon got too strong to stay out and work), so that meant we had enough time for me to cook birthday dinner. My housemates love the package food. Thanks SO MUCH everyone for making it such a memorable day. I felt so loved.