Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Well That was Unexpected--Confessions of Love and Feeling Like an Alien

Hi all!

It has been another fantastic week here in PQCM.  We had our pdays swapped around last minute, so we ended up going to the temple early this morning.  The bishop here works at the church office next door to the temple, so he was kind enough to let us catch a ride lol.  Despite the fact that we left at about 5:45, because of traffic, we didn't get there until it was time to start the 8:30 session.  Yay for city life.  But the temple was, as always, amazing, and I am so so grateful that I am blessed enough to have a temple in my mission.  It is such a blessing to be able to go every other transfer!

And about the mac&cheese...that's something they don't really have here in the Philippines, so I special-requested it from my mom.  And let me tell you, I was so happy to open that package and see some delicious Kraft!  It was pretty fantastic.

And guess who was assigned to speak in church on Sunday...yep, this chicky here!  I was prepared and everything, but one weakness that I have is that public speaking absolutely TERRIFIES me.  I can deal with skydiving and storms and snakes and why not? I'll take a shark too.  But public speaking is a whole different story!  I stood up to the microphone, and felt like my Tagalog and my preparation and all of that stuff just ran out the door.  Welp.  A couple of people said it was good though, so maybe I was the only one who felt confused the entire talk lol.

So, I had yet another electric fan experience this week.  I didn't break it though!  I think it actually tried to break me.  We had a lesson with one of our new investigators who is in a tiny house, and their fan didn't have a cover, but it was hot so of course it was on high.  I got the lucky seat next to the fan, and when I wasn't paying close enough attention, the evil thing attacked me!!  I have a nice little burn on my elbow where it tried to chop my arm off.  Good thing it was plastic and not metal, because if it was metal, kawawa ako!!  It would not have felt good at all!

And I had the unique experience of understanding what it would feel like to be an alien.  We went to pick up one of our investigators for church Sunday morning, and Sunday is usually party day here in the Philippines, which means that a lot of men have already opened the beer.  Which is extremely unpleasant if you're a white girl that has to walk past them.  That is one thing that I have struggled with here--the amount of attention I get because I'm white.  I literally turn heads when I walk down the street, and constantly get called after.  I hate it.  Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely fallen in love with the Philippines and the people here, but sometimes I just hide under my umbrella and pretend I can't see anyone.

Ok, now that I've got that little vent out, let me tell you the big funny thing that happened this week.  My companion has an admirer!  It's hard to have a beautiful companion, because then our investigators just fall in love with her XD one of our investigators texted us Sunday night apologizing that he wasn't able to go to church because of work, and ended his text by telling Sister Udarbe to take care of herself and that he loves her and blah blah blah...we were cracking up!  We brought it up to the zone leader, and he basically shrugged and said "It happens." XD  So, the quote this week once again comes from Sister Udarbe:  We need to work on our flirt-to-convert skills.

John 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  On the more spiritual side, we don't actually do the flirt to convert :)  As I've been here, I've really seen the truthfulness of this verse.  Those that are prepared do recognize that we are here speaking for the savior.  Sometimes it takes us a couple of tries before they realize it, but eventually they do :)  It is such a blessing for me to be here, and I really have seen the effects of the seen and unseen forces preparing people to receive the gospel.

Lots of love!!
XOXO
Sister Pectol

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