Payton in the Philippines: Taytay 1A!!!

Well, hello from my new area!!

First of all, happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!! Whether you're literally a dad or you are acting as a father figure, your role is so important. And I am very grateful for my dad, and for all the father figures I have in my life. I hope you enjoy your day!!

Taytay 1A is amazing! I had learned to love my last area, but Heavenly Father definitely heard my prayers to be transferred somewhere less urban. Parts of our area are definitely still city, but it's very manageable city, and we have other parts that are like out in the provinces. It's amazing!!

I met my new companion, Sister Gasu, and we have gotten along great. Her previous companion, Sister Salintao, was being transferred to Mindoro, so we actually spent a couple of days as a thrisome, which was a lot of fun. Me and Sister Gasu have our apartment to ourselves, and then Sister Latham (my MTC companion) and Sister Pakalani (my mission field sibling--we had the same trainer) are right next door!! We all agreed that it would be more fun as kabahays (housemates), but kapit bahays (neighbors) is ok :)

So, funny story, from my last area. Sister Arcangel is basically fluent in English, there were occasionally only a couple of words that she needed help with. Well, one day, she asked me to define clumsy. I couldn't think of how to define it, so I just told her to watch me for a little while and she would understand what clumsy is. Sure enough, a couple weeks later..."Sister Pectol, I know what clumsy is now." Glad I could help.

We've taught one of our investigators, Benji, a couple of times this week, and he is amazing. I came in in time for his second lesson, and we taught about the restoration. When we were committing him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet, he looked at us like we were crazy and said "Totoo, totoo. It's true." We were surprised, but still tried to extend the commitment. He just kept telling us that he already knew it was true. It was pretty amazing. We're preparing him for his baptism, and when we teach him it's like he knows the principles of the gospel already. It's really cool.

My quote this week comes from my personal study in Preach My Gospel this morning. This quote stuck out a lot to me. "We will all stand before the Lord at the last judgement and give an accounting for what we have done with the opportunities He has given us." Every day, Heavenly Father gives us so many opportunities to improve ourselves and help those around us, and to just be happy. It is completely up to us whether or not we will recognize and take those opportunities, and how we will use them. I am very grateful for all the opportunities I have in my life right now :)

Ecclesiastes 3:1 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." No matter what we're experiencing, both the good and the bad, there is timing in it. We meet people at specific times for a reason, and the things that we are given to learn from are given to us at the time we need them to improve ourselves. I am definitely learning what it means to trust in the Lord's timing :) sometimes it's really hard, but as I look back, I'm just filled with gratitude for my trials, because I've learned so much from them.

Love from the Philippines Quezon City Mission!!

XOXO

Sister Pectol