I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

Dear family, 

I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

Sister Teo,
     After much prayer and pondering you are being called to be a new sister training leader. I have confidence in you that you will be exactly obedient, that you will love and care for those in your stewardship and that you will fulfill the mission vision. 

     You will serve in Makati 3B/Makati 4 with Sister Pamesa. I know that this is a very difficult change but I want you to know that I KNOW that the Lord is in the transfer. Part of your Sister Training Leader stewardship will include Bonifacio 4 so that you can go on exchanges from time to time and attend the baptism of your precious investigators. Thank you for your faith. 

With love,
President Ostler 

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     There is so much to be said and yet so little to be said about what is to be done when a servant of the Lord tells you what your next "assignment" will be and who the next people you love will be. 

     There is not much to be said about a call from God that I accepted when I agreed to come to the Philippines, and when I had already agreed from the start to do anything and everything that Heavenly Father would have me do. I left my heart and soul on the table for God and I have no claims on me, on the Kimberly Teo from before the mission, until the day I get released from this calling. 

     I feel so sad having to leave this area. I fell in love with this area the first week I arrived here from Palawan. This area has been a tender mercy. Coming from my first (difficult) area to this area where people are progressing and the investigators love the missionaries and vice versa...all of it has been a tender mercy. God only granted me twelve weeks here, but perhaps twelve weeks was all I needed to regain my confidence and to LEARN to be a missionary, to LEARN what it means to help people advance towards baptism, to LEARN about planting and harvesting. These twelve weeks have been the greatest miracle of my mission thus far. 

     And even less has to be said about the past six weeks that I have had with Sister Veras, whom I love SO much. She reminds me so much of Gladys (minus Gladys' teenager side, ahem) and there has been so much love and peace at home that the work has been nothing but hard and fun all at the same time. 

It's set; I am going to Hawaii to visit her one day. 

     God is in the details of our lives. I don't know what is up next, and I'm scared silly of all the changes and responsibilities that lie ahead of me these next nine months. I feel so young in the mission and so inadequate to be called to be an STL. But when it's for you...who can be against you? 


With love,
Sister Teo

P.S. A bunch of pictures from this week! I'll let them speak for themselves :)

 

These Four

Dear family,

     SURPRISE! I know I told you guys last week that we'd email on Tuesday but our activity got cancelled and so we are having a normal Monday P-day today. I can imagine that you guys are enjoying yourselves in Hong Kong right now (or have you guys already gotten to Singapore?) and I wish so bad that I could be with you this summer BUT! To every thing its proper place and time. Next summer will be a good summer. 

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Marco & Carolyn

     1) Marco is down to ZERO cigarettes. He's been off cigarettes for almost three weeks now! I am so proud of him! I wish you could all see the glow in his countenance. The physical changes are real. I know that he's probably feeling really great internally and spiritually, but nothing beats the physical glow that he is rocking! I know that it wasn't easy for him to quit cigarettes at first. It took him from May until now. But his drive was his baby girl, his daughter, Charmaine. 

     Family. Family drives every good thing.

     2) Carol's birthday was this past Tuesday (the 14th) and Sister Veras and I were determined to make sure that she enjoyed her special day! Tuesday saw us running up and down the city (because our district activity took up a good chunk of time and we had to make it back to our area/the mall Market Market) but we had so much fun worrying about how to make someone HAPPY! 

     We bought her a Goldilocks cake roll- chocolate mousse; no woman can turn down chocolate OR mousses- and Pizza Hut. And we were thinking so hard about what present we should get her but then it occurred to us that maybe we should get baby Charmaine something instead (because, come on, all new mothers appreciate ANYTHING for their babies). Sister Veras and I bought Charmaine some church dresses/home clothes. Pictures attached! By the end of running up and down the mall Sister Veras and I were BEAT, but that night was so special for all of us because I know that Carol really appreciated it all. I love Carol. So much. I love Marco, and baby Charmaine, and families can be together forever. Theirs, will. 

     3) Marco's re-baptism will be in August and I'm not sure if I've told you guys the story of how his church records got lost, but...EITHER WAY, his church records did indeed get lost and so for record purposes he has to be baptized again. Sister Veras and I are really pushing for Marco and Carolyn to get marreid as soon as possible because although Marco will get baptized and therefore "cleansed" again it still won't be right for them to be putting off their marriage for a couple more months. The situation is super complicated but the stake president granted this procedure and to be honest Sister Veras and I are still a bit confused BUT! One step at a time. I can't wait for Marco to get a second chance! 

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Sarah

     Bless Sarah's heart. No, for real. Bless this woman a million times in ths life and for the eternities to come. Yesterday was Sarah's third consecutive Sunday at church, and again she brought all five children with her by herself. That woman is a superwoman indeed. I have so much respect for her. SO much respect. 

     Mom, I feel like you and Sarah would get along well. I see so much of you in her. She always tells her kids to say "po," she always tries to teach them good manners...she is a good mother. I can't wait for you guys to meet Sarah, Mom and Dad. One day we will come back to Manila together and I will introduce you to the superwoman of Brgy. Rizal- Sarah Padua. 

     1) Her blessings just keep coming. Sarah is so humble. She lives in such humble circumstances but she is so grateful, for EVERYTHING. A grateful heart goes a long way and I am so, so, so thankful to Heavenly Father for having prepared her for the gospel. She's been taught a LONG time by missionaries but only this past transfer having come to church consecutively...and she is seeing immediate blessings from her efforts. Every night before I sleep I beg God to bless Sarah. She is really trying so hard. 

     2) On Friday Sister Veras and I gave them our food because we've had some chicken sitting around in the freezer for SO LONG now and we've always been too lazy to cook it, so we thought, why not just cook it up and give it to Sarah and her kids? So I fried up the chicken - I didn't know that frying chicken was so easy but so hard - and we cooked a pot of rice and brought it over to her. She wouldn't stop thanking us, but by the end of the night, I couldn't stop thanking God. Because after we left Sarah's, the other two appointments of that night saw us fed to the MAXIMUM!!! 

     Sister Veras and I were SO full by the end of the night! It wasn't until that next morning that I realized...we had tried our best to give what little we could to Sarah, and God had given us TWICE more than that in return. SO grateful. I could not complain. This people, having so little, are still so eager to give what they have to the missionaries. I didn't mind a full stomach that night. (I swear I'm still full today from that night.)

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Raff

     1) AUGUST 1 LOOKS LIKE IT IS A GO! Raff's baptism is coming up. He's doing really great. We are bringing him to the temple this Thursday for a tour. My fingers are crossed that he will have a great experience on temple grounds. 

     2) BUT, this seemingly smooth road hasn't come easy. This past week Raff asked a piercing question - "I've been to other churches. Why does everyone say that THEY are the right church, the true church?" Good question, Raff, good question. 

     3) His answer came when we watched the Restoration DVD together the next night. No kidding, though, there is NEVER a moment of quiet when missionaries preach about the Restoration. I've experienced this countless numbers of times and it was no different with Raff. We didn't have good, large electronic speakers - just small ones - and so as if it wasn't hard enough already for him to hear the DVD clearly, a billion airplanes were flying by, the kids out on the road were screaming, motorcycles seemed to have roaring engines...I was in my seat panicking that, "Oh no! He's not FEELING it!" 

    But who am I to doubt the power of God and the influence of the Holy Ghost, because by the end of it all, Raff was GLOWING. All my worrying had been in vain. He'd FELT something. His question had been answered. No matter his surroundings, he'd been watching intently. He had been listening. God helps those that help himself. And Raff was a recipient of the Spirit that night. 

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     Forgive me for such a long email of stories this week; I just consider myself the luckiest girl in the world to be friends with these four people. I love them with all my heart. 

     I have cried over them, prayed for them, BEGGED God on their behalf. I have loved them. I have laughed with them, smiled with them, encouraged them. I am doing all I can to help them because I love them. Infinitely, indefinitely, forever, always. 

     This area will always have a special place in my heart. 


With love,
Sister Teo

A Good Place

Dear family, 

HALO-HALOED MY HALFWAY MARK

     You are all probably wondering what I did to celebrate my halfway milestone! No, I didn't burn any of my clothing like they did in Saratov's Approach. No, when you're in the Philippines, you get to...EAT HALO-HALO! Even if the weather was cold and rainy, Halo-Halo is the way to go. No kidding. I was a very happy sister at her halfway mark. 

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CONQUERING GOLIATHS: COLD WATER SHOWERS

     Showering in freezing cold water hasn't been so bad. I am actually so proud of myself! Ask me nine months ago to shower in cold water and I would have died. But there's something about making something habitual that makes it easier to do/overcome. I'll have to say that the first three seconds are the hardest. When the cold water hits my body it feels like icicles piercing my skin (FUN!)...BUT then I take a thousand deep breaths and tell myself "Mind over matter, mind over matter" and before you know it...successful shower. (Okay, won't lie- it's been hard this past week because the weather's been getting colder, what with it being rainy season, and so I've had TWO hot water showers this week...but only because I'm feeling like I'm catching the cold!)

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"WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT YOUR CHURCH?"

     This past week while Sister Veras and I were waiting outside the barangay hall for one of our recent converts, Brother Jose, one of his colleagues came up to us and starting making conversation with us. I'm sure that he had seen us around before (we always teach Jose and one other recent convert, Henry, outside). 

     Conversation begun, everything was normal, we introduced ourselves and he introduced himself. And then the piercing question: "So how is your church different from X church? What's so special about your church?" In that moment I felt like the world stopped. This man had asked this question in an almost teasing way, in a "let's-see-what-you-got" way. I felt like all eyes were on me. Sister Veras wasn't saying anything, and my heart was beating a million times faster because I felt like I had to stand up and say something that was right.

"Authority," I said.

"From who?" he said.

"From God." I said.

"So you believe that God gave your church authority and no one else?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied.

The priesthood. That is the only answer.

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OOPS, WRONG JEEP

     This past Saturday we held MTC exchanges once again in our area, but this time for the missionaries that had just arrived in the Philippines, fresh out of the Provo MTC. These missionaries...were FRESH. They had culture shock written all over their faces, but I wouldn't blame them because they had only flown in the day before AND these poor babies were jet-lagged. 

     Anyhow, Sister Veras and I were running late getting to the chapel to meet them, and we were desperately trying to find the right jeep to get on. When we did, however, and Sister Veras climbed on board first and I tailed behind, the first thing I heard her exclaim was, "Oh no!" I was a little confused but when I got on, I "Oh-no"-ed as well. We'd climbed on board a jeep full of young hooligan boys! 

     Not even boys, but young men. Hooligans! The jeep was blasting music like it was a traveling club; these boys were NOT conducting themselves properly...I felt SO uncomfortable sitting there, especially because Sister Veras and I were the only two girls on board of that vehicle! "Oh no!" indeed! Seeing them behave the way they did made me very grateful for the reverse example of one particular man I know- my best friend, Ether Tam. The men of this world vs. the men of God are so different. Thank you, Ether, for the kind of person you are. For the values you uphold. Thank you.

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THIS WARD

     Has got it goin' on! I LOVE the Bonifacio 4th ward! I love it, love it, love it. The members are so great, the bishop is so great...God is blessing this ward and we are seeing it through sacrament attendance. I testify that ward unity is ESSENTIAL. SO essential. Missionary work is SO hard when unity is lacking in an area. I am so blessed to get to work here!

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HEARTS SOFTENED

     This past week was the third/fourth time now this transfer that Sister Veras and I managed to get into the house of a less-active member and actually get to TEACH them! This sister never really liked/even LET the missionaries teach her before because she was always trying to argue/debate with them (reason for her going less-active: she'd been offended)...BUT. Like I've said a thousand times. God puts certain people in certain places for certain reasons. I take no credit whatsoever for the sister opening up to us and trusting us. I know that God has done everything to prepare her. But I also know that there is something that Sister Veras and I can do here to help this sister! Fingers crossed! Where there is a will, there is a way...and where there is trust, that way goes a LONG way!

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PACKAGE(S)

     FAAMILYYY! I got your package! Thank you so much! The funny thing is that the night before I actually got it from the mission office, I'd DREAMT that I was opening a package from home! Bam! Dream came true. Mom, did you pick out the clothes? The accessories- too cute. Except, Mom, I'm kind of getting mixed signals here. You KNOW I can't wear bling on the streets here...but you still sent me bling?!?!??! Haha. Love you. Okay, the birthday card though. Thank you Krys! And Dad and Mom (again) and Gladys for your notes of encouragement.

     Mom (I say "Mom" alot in my emails)- I sent off a package as well to you this week. It's for your birthday. Watch out for it! Don't open it until September 2, provided it even gets to you before September 2. Fingers crossed!!!

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P-DAY...

     Will be on a Tuesday again next week. Members planned out an Amazing Race type activity that we're going to be doing as a zone. Sounds fun!


I miss you all.

With love,
Sister Teo

Dear family, 

LANDFALL

  As I am writing this email the winds and the rains are POURING outside. It is so cold. This might just be the closest I get to winter. I miss winter. Sort of. It's nice living in a tropical place where the sun is always out (except for when we are sweating a million degrees), but its also nice to have a change in the weather right now. Yes Mom, I am ready for typhoon weather! 

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MAGNETS

  Remember the Nanay/new investigator that I told you guys about last week who kept saying she was super impressed with Sister Veras and I? Well, this week we went back and taught her again and she told us how before our lesson she wasn't really feeling like sitting down with us because she was feeling ill. BUT, she said, she came out anyways because she felt like we were so familiar to her. She felt like we were her daughters. She felt attracted to us, even though she didn't really know who we were. Nanay Veronica is her name. As she said all of that I felt something tell me that this was not an accident that we had met her. Something reaffirmed to me that somewhere, some time ago, both Sister Veras and I already knew Nanay Veronica. The miracle of a mission is meeting those who you loved up in heaven. 

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MARCO & CAROLYN

  Because I love them, there has to be a paragraph on them. 

  Marco sat in on our lesson with Nanay Veronica this week and because he didn't go on a mission, that lesson was one of his shining moments. He bore his own, simple testimony to Nanay Veronica (who is their landlady, by the way; they live right next door to each other) and I was so. proud. of. him. There is something so special in being the first set of missionaries to have found a certain investigator and then to watch them grow. To watch them progress. Marco made me very proud that night. He even came to church yesterday! Again! Little by little, I know that his life- as well as the lives of his family- will change. 

  Because Marco also has a WOW (Word of Wisdom) problem- he told us that he loves anything calamansi flavored and one time caved and had calamansi tea- Sister Veras and I prayed hard this week to find SOMETHING calamansi-flavored, that WASN'T tea, for Marco. And lo and behold. One night when we had to run into Mercury Drugstore...we found an entire shelf of TANG'S Calamansi-flavored juice. One SHELF. Limited edition, too! Hallelujah. Sister Veras and I cracked up. God gives us what we need. We bought up 18 packets of calamansi juice and now he has no more excuse to be drinking calamansi tea. Yay.

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BOLDNESS BUT NOT OVERBEARANCE

  This past week called for many instances where we had to be bold with our investigators and let them know that they had let us down for not having come to church last week. I remember struggling with this at the start of the mission, being a fresh, new missionary, but now...while it IS scary, I am understanding the necessity of it. Doesn't change the fact that I am scared as heck inside whenever I have to say, "We were disappointed in you" because I am always worried of offending people, but I must say: Dad, I'm learning to apply alot of your mannerisms here on the mission. You were never afraid to be bold with us when it came to telling us that what we were doing was wrong/if you were giving us counsel. It wasn't always the nicest feeling in the heart, sometimes, the boldness you used, but because you were bold, everything that you have said has always stuck with me. And so I know that boldness will work with our investigators as well. 

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RANDOM DISCLAIMER

  As I am trying to type this, none of my pictures will upload. This makes me sad. We had some good pictures this week. It's okay. Next week. (Hooray for Filipino technology. #kiddingnotkidding)

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SUPERWOMAN SARAH

  Yesterday Sarah came to church. She is one of the investigators that missionaries in this area have taught for a long time, because we are all still waiting on her marriage to her less-active husband. BUT the good thing about Sarah is that she is PROGRESSING. She keeps her commitments. And yesterday, through the rain, Sarah came to church, ALL BY HERSELF, with FIVE YOUNG KIDS. No, not kidding about this. It was raining. She has a 7 year old, a 5 year old, a 1 year old, and then a 3 month old baby. AND she brought along her 7 year old niece. Um. Superwoman? I think so. It took ALOT of work for us to commit Sarah to come to church. And she did it. She was my miracle. 

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"JESUS IS BEHIND YOU"

  So at one of our lessons at Sarah's this past week, halfway through the lesson her seven year old son comes up right in front of Sister Veras and I, looks behind us at the window behind us, and says, "Papa Jesus is behind you." Of course, Sister Veras and I are shocked and super confused because this kid is staring up at the space behind us, and we obviously see no one, and a million and one goosebumps ran up and down our bodies. I don't think Angelo was crazy. But I don't know what that was either. But "Jesus is behind you" will never leave my memory for as long as I live. 

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HALFWAY

  July 10, 2015 is coming up. I don't  know what to say. I'm afraid to think about it. Where has all the time gone? 


  I love you all! Mom and Dad you guys are the best. The longer I am out here on the mission the more I want to become better and better, for you two. Gladys I love you and Sister Veras reminds me of you; you two have similar mannerisms. Krystal I hope you are loving New York City the way I did. And EVERYONE ELSE, all my love from the Philippines. 

  (Wish I could upload pictures!!!)


With love,
Sister Teo


P.S. A quote I read this past week that struck me with full force: 

"People who choose to work seven days a week are essentially in bondage- to work or perhaps to money, but they are slaves nonetheless. A millionaire who works seven days a week is just a rich slave."

P.P.S YAY the computer decided to upload pictures! Say hi to Marco and Carolyn's baby Chairmaine, and then say hi to Marco holding his eighteen packets of Calamansi juice :) (Not sure if I'll get lucky with uploading MORE pictures)