#1's Weekly Email: Week #32

Week 24: Wala akong creative headings ngayon... Sayang naman

This week has been a good one. Not too much eventful happened. Kind of just a regular week. 

Monday, Sister L's birthday! Happy Birthday! Woohoo! Did you know, fun fact here, when Filippinos have their birthdays, they prepare food for everyone else and then tons and tons of people come over to their house and eat their food. A little bit different than what selfish Americans do haha joke-lang. Anyways, Monday was good. We had our normal P-day and got tons of stuff done and then went out to work. We went and taught Sister E who is a recently returned less-active but we like to visit her anyways. She's kind of creepy... She's old and lives alone in this huge house. She's also a big fan of fortune telling and Sister C's got some fun stories about her from when she and Sister S went and taught her one time. But anyways, it was a good lesson and we helped improve her day (her words, not mine) and yeah. And then we walked around a bit more and I2L-ed a bunch of people.

Tuesday: We walked around one part of San Pedro Palcarangan that we had never been in before. We went and contacted a lot more people too. We taught three new people named Sister Am, Sister J and Sister Ai. Sister Am is an older lady and she's had a really hard life too. Something about her daughter getting a "husband" when she was 14 years old and moving out? Not exactly sure because she was talking really fast. And then something else about something bad happening to her son (that one was not fun to hear about and I understood every part of it. Gonna spare you the details right now). I love being a missionary but sometimes I definitely feel like a psychiatrist. I get to hear about everyone's problems. And sometimes (especially with the older ones) they don't have anyone to talk to about their lives and so they just love to spill everything when they talk to us. So that was an interesting lesson but that's ok because we're gonna go back and try to help her. 

We also got to teach the girlfriend of Brother K, Sister M. She's awesome. She actually lived in Japan for 8 years with her last husband and she has 2 kids. And she tried to teach us a little bit of Japanese. I am so glad that I'm serving where I'm serving. That language is so flippin hard. She used to live about an hour north of Sendai. I forgot what the place was called. But anyways. We taught her lesson one and she got it all. She said that she believes that it's true and so we'll see where it goes from there. 

Wednesday: We went and taught Sister M again. She's another older lady who looooooooooooooooves to talk to us. Her kids are part of one of those new Filippino religions that has some very... how do I say this nicely... *interesting* beliefs. Well anyways, Sister M went to church with her kids last Sunday for the first time. After church she said that her daughter asked her how she felt... This was her reply. She felt like she was only a visitor there and then she said that she felt more from when "the mormons taught her because we cheer her up every time we teach her." YES. Point one for the Mormons haha We then proceeded to teach her about the Plan of Salvation and she said that she was grateful for us, that we always come and visit her. And that we are a blessing in her life. Well that definitely made us feel good :) We then walked to Dela Paz and taught a less-active who has a gambling problem and maybe some other problems. It's always a nice reminder for me that even though we're members of the true church, we're not perfect. Everyone has problems.... And our job, as missionaries is to help them fix their problems. Anyways, that was an interesting lesson too.

And then we went and taught Brother J who is a new investigator. He's 13 years old but he is tiny. Like tiny tiny tiny. When I first met him, I thought he was 8 years old. But anyways, he's awesome and we've been teaching him a little bit at a time so it gets stuck in his brain. 

Thursday was interesting because I got sick. I haven't been sick my whole mission but I guess it happens to everyone. We worked for 3 hours but something just wasn't right with me. I was freezing cold, and it was like I didn't have any energy at all. We I2L-ed and then we ended up coming home. I went straight to bed and slept for a really really long time. 

Friday was another sick day. I think I was just physically exhausted. My body couldn't take it anymore. So we got me some vitamin C and some rest and now I'm good as new. 

Saturday was a baptism day for Sister L and Sister J and Sister P. So of course, we went to support. But nothing ever starts on time here. I'm talking like an hour late... So we got to teach Brother J again, and then finally, the baptism started. It was great. It was the baptism for 2 teenage girls who are hilarious and the funniest thing is that they used to live in Masinloc in my old area haha weird... But yeah. AND Sister Ca came up for the baptism :) She brought us brownies from Manila. I almost died. They were like homemade ones! Like from America! :) Sooooo happy. Anyways, after the baptism, we went to the house of a less-active that we'd never met before. They're great and we committed them to come to church and said we were going to come pick them up.

Sunday: We went to the house of the less-active to pick them up and they were actually there. We've tried to do that in the past but they've always flaked on us. But there they were :) We all went to church together and then Brother R showed up and got confirmed. Me and Sister C have missed that guy. He's been working in Manila and he says he's exhausted. Well that's what happens when you get a new job.

After church we went around and taught lots more people. And then had a Family Home Evening. I love FHEs here because they're always soooooooooooo happy. 

But yeah. So that was my week. I guess it was pretty eventful and definitely fun. 

Thank you for all your love and support and prayers. This is the true church, and I'm where I need to be right now. 

Mahal ko kayo!

Until next week!

-Sister Hess