.: Week 13 "Every Day rain is falling..."

Week 13

Dear Fam and Friends,

HELLO PO LAHAT NG MGA TAO :) I hope everyone had an awesome week, my week was full of lots and lots of rain with lots and lots of work :) So of course it was another great week. So good to hear from everyone and a big fat congratulations to my brother Jack for getting engaged! Masaya po ako para sa inyo! So sad I won't be there for you on your special day, but I am so excited for you! Well like I said this week was a good one and I can't wait to tell you all about it :)

To start out I would like to tell you about this crazy weather we have been having here! So like I said the rain has been crazy and so has the flooding here, in the streets all the kids are swimming and as missionaries we aren't allowed to walk in the water and we were wondering how are we going to get across the street? We need to teach investigators! We see a couple of guys with a giant styrofoam block with chairs on it and they said they would give us a ride! Haha so in like waist deep water these guys gave us a ride on a styrofoam block across the street--seriously only in the Philippines. They gave us no charge cause we were "People of God" best thing of my life. It was awesome :)

Craziest rain ever!

Styrofoam water taxi?!?! Only in the Philippines :)

So this week we had transfers and I got separated from my Nanay (mom/trainer)--bitter sweet saying bye to someone that brought me into the mission. It was a good six weeks with her. With Sister Holzworth leading that means its been up to me to navigate this crazy place because Sister Dolor is so new to the area. So that means there has been a lot of us walking around, getting lost, and a lot of prayers on my part haha :) In my defense I feel like the streets change everyday and its hard to recognize houses and streets that are flooded ;) But with that being said we still had a couple of awesome lessons and finds this week.

Last pic with the trio!

Saying goodbye to Sister Holzworth

Harold. Harold is a referral given to us by a super great family in the ward, he has been taught by the missionaries before so he knows a lot about the church. and we taught him twice this week. And on Monday, my Tagalog was just suffering. I couldn't form a solid sentence, it was just super broken and I came out of the lesson like what did I do wrong? Why was it so hard to teach? I left so defeated. We went and taught him again later in the week and I prayed so hard that I could just form a couple of thoughts or at least testify because this was going to be a big lesson to have him understand the Book of Mormon. And Sister Dolor looked to me to teach and I was so nervous but I literally opened my mouth and the words just came...I just spoke so naturally, I could talk to him and he understood and the other people there were super surprised too haha. When people talk about having a Gift of Tongues moment--it was always that thing that happens to other people but would never happen to me. But I walked out of that lesson and I just had tears in my eyes because I felt like in that moment God knew I needed his help and there's no way I could have done that without His help. Just a cool little experience from the week :)

Next experience this week was with Yuta--he's Japanese, we have been teaching him ever since I came to the area and he had the best lesson this week :) We were talking to him about baptism and the Holy Ghost and he said that he wants to get baptized and hearing those words made me so happy for him and that he wants to do it, he is super new to Christianity and so this was a huge step for him. His prayer at the end was so great though, "Thank you The God for helping me want to receive the baptism and for being in me, and I know you are always there" It made me take a step back actually, because do I think that God is always there for me? Yuta says he just knows God cares and is there for him--I feel like I need to think like that more :)

This week because there was so much flooding, it is hard to find people..Go figure right? So this week was super hard in that aspect. But one night this week we were walking around in the pouring rain and we were so tired, didn't have a dinner break yet and it was like 8:15. And we had only 45 minutes left. Sister Dolor was like we should go back--but I just felt like there was something more we needed to do. I just felt like we needed to stay out and keep trying. Within the next 10 minutes we found Brenda and Karen. :) and we taught them both. Super awesome experience that God will place people in your path, but only if you give him one hundred percent of your efforts.

So the spiritual thought I would like to leave with you today is that I have felt a lot of long days on the mission so far, a lot of walking, a lot of studying, and I have just found that if I am continually obedient...God will bring miracles. Even if it is as small as being able to share thoughts in a foreign language and being guided to people to teach when you have no idea how to get around a city :) following and letting the Spirit guide is so important in our lives!

Well I hope you all have a good week this week :)

Love,

Sister Zarbock