11/21/2016
So this week was nuts. I don’t think we really had any time to catch our breath yet our lessons were way low. We barely taught anyone this week, but Mary-Jane and Jennifer are all set up for their baptism this Saturday and I'm so excited for them. Mary-Jane (11) has completely finished reading the Book of Mormon and has started over while Jennifer is in 3rd Nephi (age 16) They were a referral from their grandfather who was baptized earlier this year, and we hope that the gospel will continue to grow in their family.
This Tuesday I did NOT want to get out of bed but we ended up having a really successful day and even if we didn’t get that many lessons we did help some people out who seriously needed it. We also went finding (out trying to find new people to teach) on a rainy morning after a huge concert was held the night before so we weren't sure if we would find anyone (as they would probably still be sleeping) but THE CRAZIEST thing happened. We had walked for 2 hours and had only found one guy who didn’t seem that interested so we didn’t stop. We kept going in the rain up the mountain and past the cow.
So this is a side note but there was this cow who was, apparently he had decided he wanted to be a free range cow so he ran away from home. He was running and running and you could see the farmer chasing after him. After a while we lost track of the two as we continued walking but about 15 minutes later we saw the cow again and he was still running and the poor farmer was still chasing him. It was quite funny.
But anyways we went all the way up the mountain trying to talk to everyone but no go. We ended up at a less-active's house and chatted with the mother for a bit. She expressed how she wanted to encourage her whole family to be active but felt that she needed to stay home and work so they could go. We set up a FHE (Family Home Evening: where the family gathers for a spiritual message, games and such) and then headed back down the mountain as we figured we could keep finding in the main part of town where there could be more people.On our way down we were feeling a little discouraged (having walked for 4 hours and only found 1 person and met with a less active. As we were walking this sister approached us, just beaming, and said “Sisters! Remember me?” We had found her several weeks ago while we had been to the outdoor market buying fish and had given her a pamphlet. We may have found her those weeks ago but she found us this week. Let me tell you about Rosie. The first thing you think of when you see her is ‘wow, that is a gorgeous smile.” She is just beaming from ear to ear all the time. We got to meet with her youngest son and talked about the Plan of Salvation as her husband died two years ago, but you would never tell based on that smile! She had chosen that although she misses and loved her departed husband she will live her life well so she may be with him again- and that is before we started teaching her! It was simply the most incredible thing ever. We hope she will be ready for baptism by the end of this year.
That is really all that happened this week, besides the new trainee, sister Pangilinan from Manila. When Sister Ganaden and I were waiting for Sister Hermoasa and Sister Panilinan to get home we knew we would get home close to lunchtime so we kept checking at the door every five minutes or so to see if they had arrived yet. It was really funny. We have a squeaky gate so every time we heard it swing open we would fly to the door, but it was the neighbors getting home or the water delivery guy or a dog bumping into it.
As for Sister Salbation Espiritu. Her grandson JR has come 3 consecutive weeks in a row to church now and we are trying to work with him and the relief society to help him bring his grandmother with him to church. Salbatin’s mental state has greatly declined but there are days where she can remember the day of the week and she is just as adorable as ever. Her son, Edgar has also started to return to church and overcome some problems but the family is truly being strengthened by the ward and by God. It amazing to watch.
From the sister who will never stop smiling
Sister Eldredge
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