I had a really cool experience this week when we were teaching. We were supposed to be teaching a young recent convert, but when we went to her house there were 4 guys there hanging out. They were 15, 17, 21 and 21 years old, and were so interested in the lesson. The cool part for me was that as they talked to each other and to us, even though I couldn't understand all of it, they reminded me so much of my brother James. As I pictured him, it was like he was part of the group we were teaching. It made it so easy to love those young men, and to want to share the beautiful message of the gospel with them.
We're promised as missionaries that we'll have the Lord's angels around us to help us and bear us up. That's wonderful, but I'm pretty sure the angels surrounding me roll their eyes a lot. Between the crazy steep stairs in our apartment and my natural clumsiness, I'm a walking disaster. For example, a couple of days ago I was sitting on my bed reading the BoM, and I got up to get something off my desk. Well I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention, because out of nowhere my electric fan was suddenly under my feet and I was half kicking it, half tripping over it. I caught myself just fine, but the poor fan wasn't so lucky. It shot a piece of plastic off one of the fan blades, and started bouncing on the floor because of the missing chunk. OOPS. Luckily we had an extra fan downstairs, so I won't die of heatstroke any time I'm in our room. We don't have A/C, so the electric fans are literally our lifesavers. And then, when we were walking to an appointment, we had to step around a parked car. No biggie, except it was in a big mud puddle. I thought I was stepping into a dry spot, but apparently not, because I suddenly skidded forward and splatted black oily mud up my leg. Yum. Thank goodness our investigator had some water I could rinse off with haha.
And my umbrella broke!! Which wasn't my fault. It just randomly stopped working, and when I went to try to fix it I realized it had lost a spring when we were out proselyting. So that's on my shopping list, because this redhead is going to FRY without one lol.
I was sitting in the combined Sunday School class at church yesterday, when I suddenly felt the end of my braid move. There was one of the young men behind me flicking my braid!! He was absolutely fascinated haha. Then he asked about my freckles and if they were normal. It was hilarious. He kept trying to talk to me in Tagalog, and I was trying to do my best to keep up, but it just wasn't happening. I told Sister Arcangel that towards the end of my mission I'm going to come back to Sumulong 2nd ward, and say "Remember how bad my Tagalog was?? Well, listen to this!!" Hopefully by that point I'll know what I'm saying lol.
The scripture that I loved this week is D&C 6:32-37. I especially love verse 34: "Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail." I'm learning that this is true. That even when we're faced with a challenge that seems impossible to overcome, the Lord is ALWAYS on our side, and He will not let us fail.
The weekly quote kind of goes along with that, and is something that I heard at our trainer/trainee meeting this week. I wrote it on a flashcard and taped it to the wall by my desk, and it has helped me through the couple of rough moments I've had. They're only short moments, but it still helps to have stuff like this :) "Things are going to work out today; they always do." I truly love the work here, and even though I've never been so sweaty in my life, I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to come to the Philippines and share the beauty of the gospel with the people here. It has brought me such comfort in my trials, and I know that it can help anyone who applies the principles, and I'm so excited to share that.
Mahal ko kayo!!
XOXO
Sister Payton Pectol
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