Maayong Hapon sa inyo tanan!
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| [Usual mode of transportation] |
There's no direct translation for my title this week but what I'm trying to say is that time is flying! Haha, I know I probably say that every week but it's so true! Anyways this was a really good week! I'll just give some highlights of the days 😊
Monday -
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| ["Candle"-lit dinner] |
After emailing, we had dinner at a members house. We call her Nanay (motherly figure) because she really does feel like a nanay to me! She also calls us anak (child(ren)) 😄 She cooked us Sinigang (sour soup) aka my absolute favorite! There was no power and it was already night time so we ate using a DIY candle type of thing (pero it wasn't an actual candle!) Also I saw fireflies for the first time ever this night. It was so awesome! There were so many gathered in one tree and it was just so beautiful.
Tuesday -
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| [In the city for a day] |
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| [Mwahah I received a package! Thank you to my parents kag Kuya!] |
We went to [the city] again because Sis. Reyes had to take an English exam. It's really tiring to travel, labing na gid kon (especially if) [it takes] hours. Na-tuyo ako! [Note from admin: I think she means "I got drained!"]
Wednesday -
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| [Very windy!] |
Happy 4th of July! As the weeks have gone by, we have usually gone to the same places around the same times. However we haven't had too much success lately following our normal schedule because mas busy sanda - people are working more and their kids have school. So Sis. Reyes and I changed up our schedule and went to the same places just at different times. We were able to talk to more people and also talk to people who have spoken with missionaries before! It was a really busy day, we were all over the place but I love the feeling!
Thursday -
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| [Our third companion! (aka a member who comes to work with us a lot)] |
Had a really good lesson this day. One of our investigators who we have been teaching since March has been going through a lot lately. Her dad had recently healed from a sickness but soon after he got a stroke. It's been really hard on her and this is just one of those moments when I feel like people need to know and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ the most. Sis. Reyes and I have grown to love her so much and it's hard for us to see her going through this, but she has been so strong about it! We shared with her how times of trial help us grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ more than we have ever been before. I know that what we told her helped her to feel the love of her Savior through His Holy Ghost! I am so grateful that she has trusted us enough to tell us about her problems.
Friday -
So as missionaries, we have one day in the week where we plan for the week. For my mission, we do weekly planning on Friday! This was Sis. Reyes last weekly planning EVER - how crazy is that! It was actually kind of difficult to plan for this week because she's leaving me Saturday morning... ahhh! We had to squish everything into [fewer] days than usual but it's all good. Another highlight of this day is when we taught one of our investigators who hasn't been receiving an answer to her prayers. One example that Sis. Reyes often uses is: for example, there's a fruit that you want but it's really high up in the tree. We can pray to God to ask Him for help in order to get the fruit, but if we just sit around and wait, we'll never get and namit nga fruita! We also need to work at it and try to reach for that delicious fruit. I believe that to be so true. There's a lot of things that we all want in life and when we pray, Heavenly Father puts in His part in helping us, however if we don't put in our part or our effort, we won't get what we want! God wants to see that we want that specific thing through our actions and us working at it to receive it!
Saturday -
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| [I love my area!] |
Today was another busy day! 😄 One of our recent converts who was baptized last May just loves to share with his friends how much his life has gotten better since he became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. One of his friends expressed interest and joined him for church last last Sunday! And Saturday was when we were able to teach his friend for the first time. It was such a spiritual lesson and he was just so receptive! I am really amazed how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ prepares the hearts of people to hear the sacred message that we share. I know that there are so many people out there sa bilog nga kalibutan that are looking for the truth and that sense of belonging and knowing nga kita tana amo ang mga anak sang Dios (we are all children of God).
Sunday -
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| [This is the fam that speaks Tagalog!] |
A highlight of Sunday is that we taught one member family who speaks Tagalog sometimes because they moved here a couple years ago. It was so funny they told me to try to speak Tagalog but it was so hard, haha! I could understand them but I automatically turned back to my Ilonggo! 😆 (Sorry Mommy I am still trying to learn Tagalog for you!)
That's it for my week! This time next week I'll probably have a new companion!
Thank you Sis. Reyes for everything!
Hope you all have a great week!
Halong kamo pirme,
Sister Ventura
Philippines Iloilo Mission (Jan 2018 - July 2019)
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*Some names have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of individuals.
Send me an e-mail:
elza.ventura@myldsmail.net
Written letters and packages:
Sister Elza Ventura
Philippines Iloilo Mission
Osmeña Street,
Arevalo, Iloilo City,
5000 Iloilo
Philippines
*Some names have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of individuals.