Week 10: What E'er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part

29 days before Christmas! I found a countdown chart from an old Liahona issue and I pasted it on my wall. That's when we get to call families too. I am hoping we could skype but we'll see how the internet here can permit us.

This week went by in a snap. We went home to Bayugan on Tuesday and it was raining hard. The bus did not stop in our street but a few blocks more. We had big bags full of Book of Mormon copies and pamphlets with us and it was crazy. We were all laughing at how long we have to walk in the rain carrying them. We had a great time. I love when we have moments such as this. Times are hard but the 4 of us are still laughing and can see the positive side of every everything. It makes us act well our part too. 

We have been visiting the S family for a few weeks now. Everytime we teach them we can constantly feel the strong influence of the Spirit. Both S. Esguerra and I feels the confirmation of the Spirit that this family has been prepared to receive the gospel. However, they don't make it to church. I felt frustrated but it didn't take long before I learned how to exercise patience again and continue to do everything out of pure love. This cycle will not have baptisms but planting the gospel is a wonderful job of missionaries. It is as wonderful as harvesting. 

Some missionaries are fond of making protective cases for their planners and white handbook. Sister Esguerra made one for me and it is so cute! It has pictures of the apostles and the qoute I picked myself. "What E'er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part" qouted by many leaders including Pres. David O'Mckay, Elder Ochoa and Sister Dalton. Truly, it is important that we remember who we are and to act well the calling Heavenly Father gives us. 

We will be travelling every Pday until the christmas conference. Butuan is a great city. It is famous for the H-bridge. Its the same bridge that is on our mission logo and I will talk more about it next time :) 

Super loved the photos of Haley and Scarllette. Enjoy the photos with some of the families in our ward. Have a great week! 

Love always, 

Sister Javelona

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Week 9: Time flies

Time flies! It seems like it was only yesterday when I last emailed and here I am again. Yay! I am 3 weeks away from completing the training for new missionaries. Another batch of missionaries came last week from the MTC. So I guess we are not greenies anymore? :)

This week my training focused on commitments. Helping people make and keep commitments is an essential part of missionary work. As always Sister Esguerra is the best in teaching me the ropes how to. Brother J stopped going to church for  5 years already and we have visited her twice. He is funny because he would act like he doesnt want to be visited or pray with us but when he prays it was really hearfelt. Also, he came to church! Brother B also came to church again after many visits. Truly when we keep our commitments as missionaries, it would one way or another reflect to the commitments that are kept by the people we teach as well.

Funny story of the week, Sister Juliet is the best ever! She is the wife of our 2nd counselor and they always love the missionaries. Well, she gave us gifts. Bras! It was funny but they were pretty! She acts like our mother here and obviously we love her too.

President Torres announced in our zone conference that we will have christmas conference. All 170+ missionaries! How cool is that? We are now brainstorming what to present. We might be doing the cup song :) Haley and Eli, help!

Im sorry I don't have many photos to send this week but I'll make up on my next email. Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Sister Javelona

P.S. We are hunting for a new apartment to move to and its crazy hard! The photo I attached is when we were waiting for a member to show us another apartment. I will update  everyone when we find one. 

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