So... the events of this week... this has been an amazing week! There have
been a lot of little miracles and tender mercies and we are very excited about
the work.
Our investigator, Brother Reynaldo, who is really progressing a lot, shared a cool experience with us the other day. We followed up with him about his church experience and he said that before sacrament meeting, his 8 year old granddaughter was complaining about being hungry... but after she took of the sacrament, she said she felt full. He compared it to when Jesus fed all those people with the bread and fish. It was definitely a testimony builder for him. :D We are so excited for this guy. His whole countenance has changed since we started teaching him. He loves, loves, loves the book of mormon and we frequently find him reading it when we come to visit him. It's so great!
It's been raining a TON lately! and hard! The other day, it was raining really hard and even with our umbrellas, we were getting wet. While walking to an appointment, I saw a woman quite a ways ahead of us, walking without a payong, soaking wet! I felt impressed to go run and catch up with her and give her mine! I brushed the thought off - she was really far away!!! We were walking faster than her though and kept getting closer. I kept feeling that same impression... finally, we were almost caught up with her and I decided to talk to her. I said "basa ikaw!!!" or in other words... "you're wet!" haha. She was super friendly, actually accepted my umbrella, and she said we could teach her ANY time! We set up an appointment for the next day which went well and I got my payong back. And... she and her daughter both came to church yesterday... :D We should follow the promptings we receive... immediately... :D
That rainy day just kept getting better. We were soaked completely... and got even more wet as we shared one payong. Because we were so wet and couldn't go home until the evening, ALL our investigators that we visited prayed for us that we wouldn't get sick. One of our investigators, Sister Nelia, prayed that we wouldn't get any more wet than we already were... and it didn't rain on us any more after that... only during lessons and after we got home. We went home that night and boiled some water and I took my first hot shower in the Philippines (why didn't I think of that before???)... and neither of us got sick!!! :D Prayer works.
We also used the opportunity of being wet to tract at a rich home. (how could they turn away two freezing cold, soaked, little American girls in need of a bathroom?? ;D) It totally worked!!! We got in their house!!! Unfortunately, we couldn't get a return appointment because apparently they are always busy!! but at least we got past the front gate... which is progress! :D It's very hard to OYM at rich houses. But we're not letting that stop us from trying! :D
Sister Butler and I go jogging almost every morning. It feels so great to
really be exercising. I always exercise,
but rarely to the point where I sweat... :D I'm so grateful to have a companion
who enjoys that kind of thing. She's the first one who really enjoys any kind
of physical activity. :D
Our investigator, Brother Reynaldo, who is really progressing a lot, shared a cool experience with us the other day. We followed up with him about his church experience and he said that before sacrament meeting, his 8 year old granddaughter was complaining about being hungry... but after she took of the sacrament, she said she felt full. He compared it to when Jesus fed all those people with the bread and fish. It was definitely a testimony builder for him. :D We are so excited for this guy. His whole countenance has changed since we started teaching him. He loves, loves, loves the book of mormon and we frequently find him reading it when we come to visit him. It's so great!
It's been raining a TON lately! and hard! The other day, it was raining really hard and even with our umbrellas, we were getting wet. While walking to an appointment, I saw a woman quite a ways ahead of us, walking without a payong, soaking wet! I felt impressed to go run and catch up with her and give her mine! I brushed the thought off - she was really far away!!! We were walking faster than her though and kept getting closer. I kept feeling that same impression... finally, we were almost caught up with her and I decided to talk to her. I said "basa ikaw!!!" or in other words... "you're wet!" haha. She was super friendly, actually accepted my umbrella, and she said we could teach her ANY time! We set up an appointment for the next day which went well and I got my payong back. And... she and her daughter both came to church yesterday... :D We should follow the promptings we receive... immediately... :D
That rainy day just kept getting better. We were soaked completely... and got even more wet as we shared one payong. Because we were so wet and couldn't go home until the evening, ALL our investigators that we visited prayed for us that we wouldn't get sick. One of our investigators, Sister Nelia, prayed that we wouldn't get any more wet than we already were... and it didn't rain on us any more after that... only during lessons and after we got home. We went home that night and boiled some water and I took my first hot shower in the Philippines (why didn't I think of that before???)... and neither of us got sick!!! :D Prayer works.
We also used the opportunity of being wet to tract at a rich home. (how could they turn away two freezing cold, soaked, little American girls in need of a bathroom?? ;D) It totally worked!!! We got in their house!!! Unfortunately, we couldn't get a return appointment because apparently they are always busy!! but at least we got past the front gate... which is progress! :D It's very hard to OYM at rich houses. But we're not letting that stop us from trying! :D
Yesterday was amazing! We were a little disappointed because we were
expecting about 10-15 investigators to come to church... as in we were confident
and excited for ALL of them. Only those 2 new investigators came... which was
COOL! but ALL the others did not come. :'( We don't know why yet... but the
amazing part was that Sister Butler and I did a 2 hour training for the ward
council members and it was amazing. I am excited to see this branch really
progress. We've been using our companionship studies the last couple days to
prepare and really were able to receive inspiration and the training was way
smooth! Sister Butler and I were perfectly unified and the council members
actively participated. The practice went well, and I think they are feeling
motivated! We taught about establishing the church through retention,
reactivation, and conversion. What I loved most was how relaxed and confident I
felt. I wasn't nervous and I never had to wonder or worry about what I was
going to say. God really helped us and the spirit was the teacher. We did our
best to prepare and God took care of the rest. Now we just need to continue to
follow up with them and see that they are applying these things. We had a ward
council meeting afterwards which was one of the best I've ever been to. We have
so many plans... like a branch family home evening.. branch fast for specific
people... and many other things... It's going to be great!
The ATTACK of the CENTIPEDES!
I think it's centipede season here or something.. there have been
centipedes all over our house! It's really gross... usually it's lizards,
cockroaches, an occasional giant spider... sometimes a mouse or rat... but this
is the first time we've gotten centipedes... they're EVERYWHERE!!! And they're
especially gross when we squish them :D Did I ever mention, we also have a dog
and a kitten??? they're not ours... not allowed unfortunately... but they belong
to the owners of the house or something and they are stinkin' cute and love me
to death... sometimes the dog runs up to me when I come home at night and jumps
up on me and gets mud all over my shirt... :\ and sometimes the cat gets stuck
in the tree or on the roof and cries until we can save her... I love animals
:D
Yep... that's my life right now! Our new mission President is awesome. We
had a fireside with him the other day and we already love him. He's also
mentioned some changes that will be happening in the near future... including us
using facebook.?.?. we'll see what happens there. Anyways.. I think that's it
for now. It's great being a missionary and great being a leader as well. I'm
lovin' it!
Love you all,
Sister McClellanOur district activity at the beach last week where we played ULTIMATE! :D
Walking across a bridge the day it rained... it was flooded BIG time! The
bridge is about 7 feet high maybe?? the water is usually very, very low... like
1-2 feet high... this was fast flowing water! crazy! At first we weren't sure if
it was safe to cross... but the guys there assured us it was okay... and we were
already soaked from the rain... so...
Oh yeah... and cultural note... people here do not like to get their heads
wet. It's common to see someone walking around with their hand on their head if
it's starting to sprinkle... or book or towel or anything they have. Even if
they are already soaked... you'll see them bring their hand up to their head
occasionally. It's kind of funny. :D Of course it's because they don't want to
get sick. I guess I just never had to worry about it before in America because
it wasn't as humid? Also, it's very common to see people with towels inside
their shirts, to keep their backs dry... or paper... or pieces of cardboard...
especially parents do this for their kids... so they don't get sick. It's very
smart... just took me by surprise the first few times I saw it. It doesn't look
very comfortable... :D
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