28 July 2013 - HBD Samuel

   This week was pretty calm. I did have a pretty cool experience earlier this week though. You know me- I am terrible with directions. And it's even worse here because everything and everywhere looks the same, haha, lots of trees and small brown houses.

Beach near the Bishop's house

And I am normally entranced with my surroundings so I have a hard time focusing on where I am going. But we were going to go visit a less active member and she was not there. We were walking away when suddenly I remembered about some boys that I had met with Sister Sevilla and how we needed to contact them and follow up. I had given one of them a Book of Mormon. I stopped and closed my eyes to try and remember where we were when I met them. I looked up and saw a man quickly walk into his house and for the first time since I have been here I recognized his face. Then I looked around and we were right next to the place where we had met those boys.

That man that walked into the house was the Brother I had met earlier!! I told my companion and we went and talked to him. He was so excited to talk to us and told us he wanted to change his life. He is a drug addict and is in with the wrong crowd, but he is so sweet and really has a desire to change.... I am so excited to see how his life progresses as we continue to teach him and he keeps commitments. But that was such an awesome experience for me and definitely not a coincidence.
   We also have another investigator- Livey. She is a teacher and seems very interested, but we can only teach her on weekends so hopefully this week she will have read and prayed about our message.
   I continue to purchase 15 Peso Halo halo's. They are so delicious and I think I am slightly addicted, haha.


Halo halo is addicting

   Yesterday was my first time singing in Sacrament meeting. I love singing here because no one judges. Haha, no one here can sing and so they think you are a famous singer if you can keep a tune, hahaha. Hahaha, I love it!
   We have no support, haha. I had to pay all the rent because my companion left and bought a new gas thingy so I have no money, so we got creative and for breakfast we ate oatmeal with this hot chocolate package mix and slices of banana. It's not terrible if you are really hungry.
   The language is still a huge struggle for me. Sorry )=

   Something I learned about the culture this week is bad spirits. They are soooo common here. So we are searching for a new apartment and not having much luck. Yesterday we were hunting and looking at a house and one of the members asked me to take pictures of the house- and I thought nothing of it and did so. Later she looked at the pictures and told me we could not stay there. She could tell from looking at the pictures even though she was looking at the house with us. Apparently what Philippinos do to see if it's a good house is they take pictures and look for faces, AKA bad spirits. And sure enough in the pictures in my camera there is a face in one of the bedrooms. ... Creepy yea? 

Root vegetables that are pretty good.

The same member took me aside and made sure to remind me to not eat anything except from members because poison is common here and there are many people with bad spirits especially at the craftsman school by my house. The members know witches and some of them have been witches in the past.

Blind sisters in the ward that we LOVE.

Kind of crazy! My companion will not sleep with the lights off and won't go anywhere without me in the dark (upstairs). She refuses to have the mirrors out too. Apparently there are people that watch you where there are mirrors. For me though, ever since I have been set apart I have felt the protective power of my calling. I am not scared and I know that if I am I just say out loud "I know that Jesus Christ Lives" and I walk on and keep going. I know that there are angels around me and I appreciate their presence and call on them frequently.
   This week my testimony of prayer has grown so much. I have no idea how I have made it this far in life without praying as much as I do now haha. I have a desire to pray all the time! I love praying- I just know that my Father is listening. I can really feel His love and concern for me. It is my number one source of comfort- in a different way than I have ever experienced before. When I get off my knees I feel empowered and capable of going on with a smile. I know that pray is so important and necessary in this life for us to have a relationship with our Father and Savior.
   I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love studying and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love all of you and pray for you every day! Please be safe and thank you for being a part of my life!

All my Love,
Sister Sarah Ralph




Happy Birthday Samuel

Eating sugar cane!