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Just a pretty
scene I thought I would share. Since my mom is not here to talk to me (= haha
Love you mom
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Ok so here we go. Let's see... this week...
well we talked to lots of Americans. One came up to me in the store from the
back and scared me to death... can I just say that.... You don't start talking
to people in YOUR language in a foreign land from their BACK! Grabe! I
seriously jumped like 3 feet in the air. My companion laughed so hard at me.
Another American we met as we were looking for less-actives in our area. This
one was in a wheel chair and I'm not sure but I think he has elephantitis on
his nose. I'm not saying that to joke or anything. He really did. But he had
never seen Sister missionaries in these parts... only Elders. He told us that
he was NOT catholic but that he was Christian. I said awesome! We are too!.
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| This is what a LOT of the catholic kids wear when
they go to church. Not really sure why still. But they are cute (= |
His
immediate response with "No you are not" set the tone for the rest of
the conversation. I just kept quiet but apparently my sass wore off on my
companion as she asked him to READ our name tags with Christ's name tag. He
went on to yet again explain our religion to us and how Joseph and Brigham are
drunken thieves.... blah blah.. you know that story. My companion was
fuming, hahahaha. I was laughing inside because normally that was me but this
time... here this old, wheel-chaired man is not only here trying to tell us our
religion is wrong but also trying to convince us that he has a great life here
in the Philippines rather than in America. Oh please man.... look at your
situation. I could not help but feel bad for him and my wrath would be put to
better use elsewhere (joke). So I gave my companion the "it's ok"
look and I just bore a simple testimony about the Book of Mormon and Joseph
Smith and invited him to do what we have done and ask God for himself. The
conversation ended smoothly and I was grateful for the spirit that I knew was
with us. Missionary work is full of surprises and quite fun (=
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Me and my companion earlier today at this fancy farm
place we went to.
I love my companion and I'm so happy we are still together.
She is my mom and my baby, haha.
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Uhhh... Yucks! this whole time he is driving
along side us and so I get behind his tricycle and start pushing it to move
along. Go!! I pushed him and then we stopped so that he would finally
leave us alone. But then he stopped too and waited and pleaded. Gross! This man
... basta..... I gave him a quick little piece of my mind and then he left (= I
love being me (=
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This is the
ocean view from our Branch Mission Leader's house.
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This is our
first baptism here in Sogod. Sister Melagros. She is super sweet and loves to
talk. She really knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is
a prophet of God, She has great faith and we love her.
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Like you saw in the picture we had a baptism
of Sister Melagros Bation! She is a doll and loves the gospel. We are excited
for her to partake of the blessings of the spirit over time.
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A little boy
in our branch caught these two little birds
and let us play with them, haha. It's
so tiny.
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So I was reading this talk
that talked about one of the apostles who talked about how sins do not simply
go away with time and that eventually they will have to be faced here or in the
next life soo. Sorry that was random but
this apostle was in his 40's or 50's when he realized that there was something
in his childhood he had not been honest with his brother with when they were
way young. And he asked forgiveness. I don't think I am an exception....
Ok! so Sister Melagros she is sister-in-law
with Sister Bation a member. And Sister M is living with them at this time so
we always teach at their house. They have three daughters and the oldest two
married Americans who served here (weird huh?) and the third is still in school
now but there are lots of immodest (not like BAD, but short skirts etc.)
modeling pictures of her in the house. We were all talking after a lesson one
time and Sister Bation was very adamant about how her youngest daughter was not
allowed to date. I was rather shocked due to the fact that they would allow her
to wear such clothing and I gave up my self control for a brief moment and let
my mouth open and kind of just told her that if her daughter wants to marry a
good husband than she better start dressing modest. Yea... we left and I did
not feel super good about what I said, but I justified myself saying that it
was true and someone needed to say it. Well that was Saturday morning and I did
not give much thought to it after that. Sunday comes around and here we have RS
first, Sunday school, then Sacrament. In R.S. Sister Bation is the teacher and
the topic is on kindness. The spirit chastised me Hard. I felt terrible. I had
this huge pride internal battle with myself in justifying and not needing to
apologize. But then in the back of my mind, I knew I had to. I knew that the
spirit was the one (just like in PMG it talks about how the spirit occupies the
mind and presses on the feelings) I could not get what I did out of my head. I
could not move on. I felt heavy-hearted, ugly and disappointed. I knew the
spirit was working on me. I thought and thought about how I would bring it up
to Sister Bastion and what I would say. I sat in Sunday school just wracked. I
experienced what it talks about in the scriptures and in general conference
talks about how sin really does CHAIN us down. It burdens us. It was almost
this physical weight and I had to get rid of it. I wanted to talk to her right
before Sacrament meeting but circumstances did not allow because we were
randomly told that the missionaries were singing the rest hymn. So I cried
through sacrament, got up and sang "Lead Kindly Light" and sat down
still feeling the burden, but at this time I knew that nothing would stop me
from asking her forgiveness and I knew that once I did the spirit would return.
That freedom and peace would come back. Right after Sacrament meeting I got up
and went straight to her and asked her forgiveness and hugged her. The spirit
did come right back and I never want to feel like that again. I am so grateful
for the spirit that not only guides but chastises and drives us to repent, to
change. I was praying for opportunities to use and become more aware of the
atonement in my life and my prayer was answered. I know the atonement of Jesus
Christ is real, and even missionaries need not only the enabling but the
redeeming power every single day. I love being a missionary and enjoying the
companionship of the Holy Ghost. ..... mom its up to you whether to put that on
the blog but I thought I would at least share with you. Thank you for loving me
despite my countless faults and weaknesses. I love you mom.
Please be safe!
Love Sister
Ralph
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| This picture is my companion during and after our companionship prayer, haha. I tried to wake her up, I even shook her...useless. hahaha got to love her. |
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It took me a while to hold the rooster. It sounds dumb
but after you have seen those puppies FIGHT! Cockfighting... I had good reason
to be scared of it. So thankfully Elder Lum is patient with me. Elder Lowe got
a video of me being all pathetic that I am exciting to see at some far distant
point in the future
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It took me a
while but SUCCESS!! I held the rooster ...
just quick enough for My companion
to snap the pix, as you can tell....
I was not exactly enjoying myself hahahaha
But I DID IT (=
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This is Elder Lum, my zone leader. He has a talent with
rabbits other than those shown here, haha.
Apparently he can lay them down and
make them knock out dead asleep. Crazy random talents haha.
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The last pix is a monkey. We became friends real quick. I
would throw cucumbers up at him and he would catch them and chew them like
there was no tomorrow. Love the Philippines.
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