Monday, July 1, 2013

I'm still here

,
I'm am here.  In the Philippines.  I've already had some experiences I hold so close and dear to my heart.

John Paul - age 24.  The week before I got here, he showed up to church.  He had just been left by his fiance, who left with another man and took all their wedding savings. 

So, instead of going and drinking and gambling,
he decided to go to church.  He dressed up and came to the nearest chapel.  The week I arrived, we taught him a lesson and have continued to do so 10 more times.  He committed to be baptized on July 28 (his birthday - he wanted to make it special).  Every lesson he has been so receptive.  You can see the light in his face and the peace he feels when he comes to a lesson.

And, every lesson, I make myself look like an idiot.  He would laugh and feel really uncomfortable for me, and then we would just carry on with the lesson. 

He would learn something, I would learn something, and he continued to get closer to Heavenly Father.  Yesterday, he didn't come to church, and we learned that he had been transferred to work an hour away.  He was too sad and shy to mention to us that that was happening.  

So, he left.  However, I told him to go to church on Sunday and find the missionaries there.  

I pray pray pray that he will continue to listen to the missionaries.  And I pray that he will be watched over.

I give away lots of things - like gum.  The first day I was here, I gave a piece to a kid and realized that it was golden.  

We visited Rolando and his wife and two children.  They live under a tree fort.  Their house is a bunch of blankets strung together, tied up in the tree branches.  They live under it.  He has a son named Junior.  Junior is 4, and the first time I met him, he was very hesitant.  So, I gave him a picture of Jesus. Then the next time I visited, I gave him some gum, and slowly he really warmed up to me.  

That was Friday.  The following Wednesday, we came back.  And Junior was excited to see me.  I noticed he was chewing the same piece of gum that I had given him 5 days before.  So I quickly gave him a new piece, and he threw his old piece on the ground.  His Smile is one I WILL NEVER forget.

These people change my life everyday.  The people I am privileged to teach....I love them...I love them...with my whole heart.

Don't get me wrong - like...I still don't know the language.  One bit.  I'm worse than I was last week.  But I just speak in English.  Sometimes I forget that I'm supposed to be speaking a different language.  That kind of stresses me out, but....Whatever.  I don't want to think about it.

I'm still obsessed with the moon.  The weather is ridiculous - but I can't change it, so it's not worth thinking twice about.  Every Filipino asks how old I am.  When they hear I'm 20 they all say, "Oh you are so young.  You look 15!  When they say that I always want to say, "look who's talking."  but I don't. If every dog in the Philippines got sucked up by some flying vacuum, I would be very happy.

Well, I don't know what else to say.  I don't know a lot of things - 
I don't know if I'll every learn this language,
I don't know if I'll every meet anyone in the Philippines that will want to listen to my testimony and be influenced by it,
I don't know how I will change in the next 1.5 years,
I don't know where I'll be in one month, 
I don't know a lot of things.

but, what I keep reminding myself is that someone does.

He does. He lives.  

No matter what, He is still Christ and I am still His missionary.

As long as I know that, I can get through each day.  I give it my best effort. If I give it that much, I'm carried the rest of the way.  And I am so blessed to have that knowledge.  

We all are.  And that's why I'm here.  To share what I know and continue to learn more each day.


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