Reflections on The Setting Apart

 
Hello everyone!!

Once again, we have had a fantastic week.  We had the baptism of Jhapz, and that was so fun.  He's so cute and it's been so fun to teach him, and he was so excited!  We did a fun musical number by combining the English and Tagalog  I am a Child of God.  All the hymns here are in English, but one of the other sisters had a Tagalog hymn book so it was fun to do that.

 

 

 

So, I think this week I experienced what it would be like to have a stroke.  A lot of times when we're teaching we end up sitting on the ground, which is totally fine but I always have to move a couple of times or my legs will fall asleep.  Well, we had one appointment where we were all pretty squished, so for the whole lesson I was in the same position, pinching what felt like all the nerves in my leg.  So when we got up to leave, I LITERALLY had no muscle control.  None.  I could barely hobble to the door, and Sister Udarbe had to get my shoes for me.  Her leg was kind of asleep too, so we were both leaning on each other to hobble down the street while the ward missionary who was with us just laughed and made fun of us.  It literally took almost to the end of the block before I didn't feel like I needed to drag my leg.  Welp.  Maybe we made some of the neighbors there laugh.

We had a really cool realization this week.  One of the families we're teaching has three boys, ages 18, 19, and 20.  So right our ages.  As we were leaving one of our teaching appointments with them, we started talking about how different we felt.  The setting apart for missionary work is a real thing.  At home, it would have been kind of awkward to try to teach guys my age (or kind of any age) things like the law of chastity and eternal marriage and all that stuff, but it's not awkward here.  I think that people can feel that missionaries have a special calling, because whether we're teaching somebody our age or somebody the age of our parents or grandparents, they treat us differently.  There's a quote in Preach My Gospel that says it's a setting apart from the world, and that is so true.  As missionaries, Heavenly Father has literally given us power and authority to teach His word.  Isn't that so cool?  He gave me--just the plain, ordinary, 19 year old, sometimes dweeby, can-barely-speak-Tagalog me--the power and authority to teach His children and to bring them to Him.  Wow.  To quote Sister Udarbe: "God is awesome."

Luke 17:10  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.  Even though I am here and I get to experience all these amazing things, I know that I really am an unprofitable servant.  No matter how hard I go out and work; no matter how diligently I plan, how much I open my mouth to talk to strangers, how much I bear my testimony, how many people I help come to the waters of baptism, I am an unprofitable servant.  Because I am just doing what Heavenly Father has called me to do.  I am just doing my duty.  And He always blesses me more than I ever thought possible.  Missionary work literally blows my mind sometimes :)

Well, I continue to love it here!  And I love you all!

XOXO

Sister Payton Pectol