With love, Sister Teo : Empathy

Dear family,

You guys wanted pictures so there are a bunch coming your way today!

FIRE BURNING
No, not Sean Kingston's song. Fire burning because IT IS HOT, HOT, HOT here on Palawan! I never knew I could feel so hot. And it is only March! What is going to happen when April and May come around?! And we have to start work at 12 noon?! I can't even imagine the heat! Haha. No worries though. We got this. I've been using my umbrella EVERYDAY since I've gotten here (you should be proud of me, Mom!) and although I still don't understand how it is that I still get tanner and tanner even while being shaded...at least I'm protected somewhat from the sunrays. IT IS HOT!

ELECTRICITY
To top the heat off, BROWN-OUTS HAPPEN! So if you guys remember from my previous email, the Filipinos call 'black-outs' brown-outs. Black, brown...same thing ;) The electricity gets cut at the randomest times and I cannot remember the last time I was so grateful for ELECTRICITY. I feel so blessed to have been raised under privileged circumstances. It only took me a mission to the Philippines to realize how the rest of the world lives! More people live in the darkness than they do in the light! Isn't that crazy? We shouldn't take electricity for granted. That's right. Gla. Krys. "Don't waste electricity," in the words of Mom. TREASURE IT! Especially because you'll never know when the electricity gets cut in the middle of the night and you are drowning in sweat lying in your bed. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Maybe cold showers don't sound too bad anymore...

ZONE CONFERENCE
Remember how I said last week that Sister Himarangan and I will be giving trainings at zone conference? Well! At first I was super excited.........but now I am starting to feel so inadequate. The other two pairs of sisters giving the same workshop in Manila are sister-training-leaders. STLs, in short. And what of me? I am still relatively fresh on the field. Granted I have Sister Himarangan as my companion and she is WAY experienced (she goes home in 23 days!!!)...but we aren't sister-training-leaders! The STLs on Palawan aren't even teaching! And yet President called us two to! Inadequacy! Feelings of inadequacy are real. Keep praying for us that we will be able to do our part. It scares me now that I think of having to teach the ENTIRE batch of missionaries ON PALAWAN. Elders and sisters. We. will. teach. all. of. them. AHH!

J & A
Remember our golden investigators that came to church about a month ago? The ones that we took with us to an FHE later that night? Remember how happy Sister Lockwood and I were with them?! Well. They haven't been to church since. Killjoy! But it's okay. It's okay because we finally met with them again this past week after A had been out of town for a couple weeks and J was in the hospital. We met with them and things are going to pick up again. Note that I said GOING TO, not "maybe going to" or "ehhhhh we will see." I say "GOING TO" because I believe in them. I have so much faith in them. They are a good couple. I mean...never mind that they told us they are going to get married in May...at the Pentecostal Church! That's still two months away! Us missionaries have time to work with them. I know we can bring them over to be married in GOD'S CHURCH ;) We can do it. I have faith in them. I love them so much. They are my friends now. Please pray for them.

AGNES
Been saving the best for last. Agnes is 26 years old and a single/not-single mom. Basically, it's complicated. Bless her heart. Agnes was my spiritual highlight of the week. We met with her on Tuesday and it was a cry fest in her house. The spirit was there. Not because we were all crying but because I KNOW that the spirit spoke to her. It broke my heart when she told us that she feels that God doesn't hear her prayers anymore. She doesn't believe that He loves her because too much "bad stuff" has happened to her. It broke my heart. How I yearned for her to realize that her thoughts are so wrong. How I empathized with her. That one hour in her house will forever be a sacred memory to me. I cried with her as I told her how I KNOW with all surety of heart that God hasn't abandoned her. I testified to her that He loves her, that He is AWARE of her. I told her about my own experiences through which I came to know that God is indeed there. I told her of how at one period of time I, too, was angry with Him. I told her how I didn't understand why He was allowing certain things to happen to me. I told her that I was angry. But then I also told her - I testified to her - that I was wrong. He had never left me. He had always been there. He had heard every tearful prayer, every single plea. I know that He is there for her.

If you ask me what I remember from my setting apart prayer with President Dyer on October 8, I wouldn't be able to tell you anything other than this one thing that I do remember. I remember President Dyer telling me that a reason why I was sent here was to be able to empathize with these people. "To empathize." To feel and understand what they are going through, to some small extent. That blessing is being fulfilled. I love these people. I yearn for them. I pray for them.

The weeks go by like nobody's business. I don't know what it's like in the real world but I cannot believe how surreal time is flying by. While it seems like I have been here for forever...it also seems like I just got here yesterday. Seeing Sister Himarangan about to leave makes me realize how quickly the mission goes by. It encourages me to keep working harder, to not waste any minute that I am here.

I love you all so much. Friends, family, strangers, all of you guys! I can feel the strength that comes from your prayers. Do not worry; all is well.

With love,

Sister Teo

P.S.
The pictures are as follows:

The street outside our house that we walk on every night to get back to our apartment! Mom. Don't freak out.