Before I get started... GUESS WHAT! I lost my camera cord. I misplaced it and I have no idea where it is, and at first I was really bummed out and getting a little frustrated looking all around the apartment, but thank goodness for angel companions because for the entire transfer now, Sister Esmolo hasn't been able to find HER camera charger...so we were both laughing about how there's a ghost or a camera-cord thief around here that is stealing everyone's thingamajiggy....we had a good laugh about it. Thank goodness for angel companions. I was about to go crazy!
Thursday (the 10th) was the day I...
I hit my fourteenth-month mark
I burned up with a 39.3 degree fever with a burning sore throat and couldn't breathe through my blocked nose
No taxis wanted to pick me up earlier that morning and so I had to walk around this traffic-drenched city that is Manila, sweating my fever, feeling like I was going to faint, feeling forsaken by God (dramatic) because NO CABS WANTED TO LET ME RIDE IN THEM!
My eyes swelled up like GOLDFISH halfway through my fever, and I was like, "Ummm.........okay...."
Later that night, as I was lying in bed dying from the fever, SUDDENLY FIRE ALARMS WENT OFF LIKE CRAZY and the street outside our apartment broke out in chaos, BECAUSE! Two streets away from us a compound of houses was up in FLAMES. No kidding. FLAMES.
Burning while watching something else burn
Okay. So all four of us sisters in the apartment run up to the rooftop garden of this apartment complex (not that high up; only three levels high) and I'm coughing and not being able to breathe and my fever is HOT, and I'm standing there burning with the fever, WATCHING houses burn down. Perfect! Heavenly Father has a sense of humor! I felt so worried for whosever's house that was that burned down. I can now officially say that I've seen houses burn to the ground. The flames were high and h u g e. As we stood there watching, Sister Vaka (who was next to me) said, "These people are lucky that missionaries are living here!". She said that in reference to how God always protects his missionaries. Our apartment was actually not too far away from where the fire was. If the wind started blowing and it blew the flames in the wrong direction, there was a pretty good chance that the fire would spread to us. We really weren't that far away. And so Sister Esmolo and I said a little prayer and I asked Heavenly Father to send angels to protect us. And thankfully the fire was just contained in that area. The firefighters were able to put it out within a couple of minutes.
Things I saw while the house was burning
...A man on the street running, CARRYING HIS LARGE, FLAT-SCREENED TV IN HIS ARMS. Okay. Fire! First thing- GRAB THE TV and JET! That was an image I'll never forget. How come as human beings we place so much emphasis on the things of this world?...Two men in the house across from us SPRAYING DOWN their small, cement house with water. They were just splashing buckets of water all over their roof (they had gotten up on the roof) and hosing everything down to get it soaked, just in case the fire spread to them. They were preparing for the worse. We had a good view of them because they were standing on the top of their roof, and they were constantly surveying the flames that were just right across the street from them. Now THAT'S what I call worthy preparation. Props to them. The fire never got to them, but they were prepared.
...Chaos on the street. It made me think: Is this what the world will look like when one day, all hell breaks loose and commotion ensues and Christ comes?
MORAL OF THE STORY
Kids: don't play with fire.
Adults: be smart. Don't burn down your house.
Overcoming fears
Sister Esmolo and I are working REALLY hard at talking to people on the busy streets of Manila. Most of the time we come into contact with people in the little barangays, sectioned off from the MAIN streets. And most of these people within the barangays are working at a much slower pace and so it is easier to go up to them to talk to them. But I'll have you know that I am TERRIFIED when you place me in the middle of a CROWD of city people and tell me to go up to any old Jack or Jill and tell them that we are the missionaries. I know I've heard Ether tell me how he did it in Montreal, in trains, on the roads, buses, wherever, and that takes COURAGE! Again, though- I'm grateful for a good companion who cheers me on and we have good laughs when people reject us and try to run away from us. Only the missionaries have the power to dispel crowds! :)
Christmas
Christmas. There is such a special spirit in the air when people, families and NATIONS know that Christmas is around the corner. I've been thinking alot about my Savior recently and about His birth and what that has meant. And I feel like I can safely say that...my appreciation for the TRUE meaning of Christmas has matured alot from last year. Christmas is different this year. I'm a different young lady than I was last Christmas. And that's a good thing.
+ + + + + + + + + +
This month is going by WAY TOO FAST! But I am excited to see you all in less than two weeks!
I miss you all so much.
With love,
Sister Teo
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