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)
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