Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Labangon Week 9‏ No Pics

How is everyone doing this week?! Thank you so much for all of you who emailed me this week! I love hearing about all of you and how everything is back at home :) Can't believe that one year ago, my Dad stood outside Dunkin' Donuts to be one of the first customers, and that I left on my mission! Next week it's been a whole year! Sooo crazy!

Well this week has gone by sooo fast but it has been a great and productive week. No pictures, so sorry for that...the pressure is on for a good email ha :)

My anak went on her first splits last Thursday! I am just throwing her right into the missionary work :) We did visiting teaching with the RS president and one of her counselors. We went and visited less active sisters in Labangon Ward and got a lot of visits done in a short amount of time which was great with how big our area is here!
Fernando is doing great and progressing wonderfully towards his baptism which is tomorrow! Along with another investigator of ours, Marvin, who is doing great as well! It's so crazy to see how Satan works in the lives of these righteous people who are preparing for baptism. Poor Fernando has had quite a hard week! On Wednesday night he texted us and told us he couldn't walk, that he woke up last Wednesday and couldn't move! We went to visit him, and he got a Priesthood blessing, but he was seriously so sooo sick and almost paralyzed for no reason! This went on from Wednesday to Friday, and we were so worried because Friday was his baptisimal interview and we didn't want him to miss his interview!
Well Friday came, and it there was really heavy rain and get this...Fernando's house gets flooded! He couldn't even walk, and couldn't even get out of the house now because it was flooded! Well RIGHT before the interview, the rain stopped, and seriously like an hour before the interview he stood and he could finally walk! It was a miracle. And he passed his interview with flying colors and will be baptized tomorrow.

Also, they had the Cebu Central Stake roadshow this past weekend! Let me just say, that the roadshows here are AMAZING! Seriously, I was amazed by the talent of all the youth in the stake, they had costumes, props, makeup, special effects...and everything. Labangon Ward took first, of course! 

We also had a great FHE monday night with the Posadas Family! They are like my family here in Labangon. We have FHE with them every week. It was kind of a sad day because their son Aaron is leaving for schooling in the Netherlands for 6 months...and he will be missed! It was like they were sending a missionary away! It reminded me of when I was packing to leave last year haha.

Mom asked me to share a story about sacrifice and this week I had a great experience with an investigator who has sacrificed a lot to be baptized. Her name is Amada, and she is 84 years old. Her story started 2+ years ago when elders first found her, but up until now she has not been baptized! When I first got here to Labangon I thought she was a member. She pays her tithing, she goes to church every Sunday too! Well she has not been baptized yet because she has Alzheimer's and the previous missionaries just like stopped going to her and dropped her because of her Alzheimer's and the fact that she never remembers anything...it made her so sad. So imagine the smile on her face when my companion and I made the one hour trek in the mountains to her house yesterday! We were the first missionaries to visit her in a good 5 months. The first thing she told us was, "Sisters, I just want to be baptized!" I asked her simple questions to see how good her memory was, and she knows who Joseph Smith is, she knows who Thomas S. Monson is, and she said we need to be baptized to "be saved from our sins". Well, that's enough for me! She will be getting baptized on October 4th :)
Her house is seriously soooo far away, and bukid jud, so it was a little hard getting there, and it was so hot I was sweating buckets! But it was all worth it when we got there. She was just sitting in her one room hut reading the Book of Mormon. What a sweet lady! I would say she's made a lot of sacrifices for the gospel, and when the missionaries gave up on her...she kept sacrificing and kept going! 

I love you all, and I love this work. I love the people of the Philippines! They are absolutely amazing. They teach me more than I could ever teach them on my own. I am learning and growing in ways that would never be possible at home just because of these amazing people and their examples, their sacrifices, and their faith. 

Have a great week :) mahal ko kayo at ingat po kayo.
Love, Sister Joslyn Harris :)

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