6 October 2013

  Paxenxa for my uneventful week. I did learn a lot though. So Lunes we went to Tacloban to get our support (our money for the month) and that is always interesting.. its the closest place to America here. That took up most of the day because we have to travel forever to get there. Martes- frustrating for sure. We got punted ALL DAY LONG! Punted means no one was home or would listen to us... All day! That was my first experience of having that happen all day. Not my favorite, but missionary work still the same. We did however find this family that were playing outside. They looked like they were enjoying themselves and were friendly so Sister Sousa and I decided to attempt to make a smooth transition from family and game to family and gospel. We joined them for a few minutes until we realized they were gambling, hahahah. That whole "avoid the appearance of evil" scripture came quickly into my head. I felt pretty stupid, so we left a small message with pamphlets and told them we would come back another day. It was fairly amusing.... I'm learning more and more just how naive I am. It's not good /:

   Every Saturday we have reactivation in the morning where we work with members to go visit LA's and leaders in our ward. They were late and so Sister Sousa and I bought pina and ate it on the street while we waited. I wish you all could try the mangos and pineapple here... soo good!
   After reactivation we got to attend the R.S broadcast. It was a heartbreaker. 45 min into the broadcast, Sister Sousa and I were the only Sisters from the entire stake there. We just sat there in shock. We had been talking about this for weeks and how excited we were... and no one else was there. We spent all morning walking and walking to every sister in our ward reminding them and still no one came. Ahh!! Well... if nothing else, my testimony was strengthened. I was in tears before he began to speak. I just love Thomas S. Monson so much. The whole time he was speaking I just was full of this overwhelming love for him and I know with all my heart he is our prophet, called of God. I feel this truth with everything I am made of.

   His message was perfect and just what I wanted to hear. There were a few sisters who came straggling in after a while. One sister from our ward came. She bore her testimony yesterday (Sister Brier) a recent convert about the prophet, even though it was in English and she did not understand a lot of it, she was touched. And I was a mess during Sacrament too. When Sister Brier testified of the prophet... ahh I felt this swelling inside, this urge to stand up and shake everyone in the room and pierce their hearts with this truth. Why, how do these people not understand what an incredible blessing the gospel is, the prophet. I just want soo, soo badly for them all to know for themselves, to feel this truth burn in them, to feel the way I feel when the prophet speaks, when I pray, when I partake of the sacrament. My words are insufficient. I know only the Holy Ghost can do this... Again I feel I can relate with the prophets in the Book of Mormon that wet their pillows at night and cry throughout the day. I love these people so, so much. They are so kind and so good through and through, now I just need to figure out how to reach them. Don't worry, I'm still happy, still in love with the work; It's just that my desire for their understanding has increased 100 fold. I love this work. I love this time I have to feel a tiny miniscule amount of what Our Savior feels toward us. I love you all! Please be happy!
   All My Love ,
Sister Ralph