Kumusta
po kayo pamilia at mga kaibigan! Magandang araw ito! Sobrang mapagmahal po ako
para sa inyo! Na isipan po ako palagi tungkol para sa inyo! Alam ko po na
mapagmahal ng Diyos po kayo! Pinaka mahal ng Diyos po kayo! Alam ko po na
puwede po kayo na matanggap ng aliw sa pamamagitan ng Espiritu Santo at Aklat
ni Mormon! Alam ko po na puwede po kayo na matanggap ng mga sagot ng
pamamagitan ng magdasal araw araw. Alam ko po na tunay ng Diyos! Alam ko po na
totoo po ang ebanghelyo ng tunay para sa mundo araw araw!
Lol okay so I don't
have any of my books with me to translate this so probs like 90% of that is
incorrect but its okay! I said: "Hello family and friends! I love you all!
I think about you all always! I know that God loves you! He loves you so much!
I know you can receive comfort through the Holy Ghost and the Book of Mormon. I
know you can receive answers through daily prayer. I know god is real! I know
the true Gospel is on this earth today!"
Okay so first of all I just want to apologize for the last email that I
send you all! It was short and super rushed! Pinaka pasensiya! (Sorry from the
bottom of my heart!) I was in such a rush because we had to get our hair and
make-up checked and then head over to salt lake to rehearse! The experience was
beautiful! And one I will not easily forget! It so cool to sit where the
tabernacle choir usually sits and then sit behind the prophet and his apostles
during the broadcast! I also got to meet the relief society general presidency!
They gave us some encouraging words before we sang and then they came and
thanked us once the broadcast was finished! My favorite part was President
Monson's talk. I could really feel the spirit and it made me even more grateful
to be where I am today.
Something interesting occurred throughout that entire
day. In the days leading up to our departure to Salt Lake I will be honest with
all of you. The thing that I was most excited about was leaving the MTC.
Period. Lol I was also excited that we were finally doing it because all of the
choir rehearsals were taking up a lot of valuable class time. So when we
boarded the bus at the MTC to head over to Salt Lake for the day instead of
enjoying the freedom like I thought I would the only thing I could think about
was our 2 investigators and what we needed to teach them next and what I needed
to change in my personal and language study to make our lessons more effective.
Also what I could do to improve my self so that inviting the Spirit will come
more easily and naturally. Throughout the entire day that is all I could think
of. Even when I saw the First Presidency and Elder Holland and Elder
Christofferson, I thought to myself how cool this experience is and then I went
right back to thinking about my investigators and what more I could do to help them.
Tagalog was constantly on my mind and what sort of vocab I needed to learn so
that I could better say what it is I want to say. By the time we were finished
with our last song, I wanted to jump on the bus and race back to the MTC and
back to my purpose. I personally couldn't enjoy the experience as much as
I wanted to because the only thing that was on my mind was the welfare of my
two investigators and what I needed to do to help them properly receive the
restored gospel. We have two investigators, for those of you who don't know
foreign speaking missionaries get 2 teachers and those 2 teachers play our
investigators. Now from the moment that we started teaching our different
investigators, I never thought of them as Brother Pearce and Sister Osbourn. I
thought of them as the investigators they are, 16 yr old Jenella who believes
that God is real and is looking for more in life and 50 yr old Fernando who is
at a hard place in his life. His wife and kids have left him, he lives alone
without a job, and his family. Now for most of the day all I could think about
was Fernando and how I could help him. Fernando was the investigator that we
worried about the most about. Our very first lesson with him was awkward and
extremely discouraging. We had prepared this big lesson on the atonement and
were really feeling it before the lesson started. And then while we were trying
to get to know him, I accidently said "Why?" probably at like the
worst time anyone could ever say that word. He had just finished telling us
that his wife and kids don't live with him anymore, and that he doesn't have a
job. I felt horrible! And super embarrassed because he gave a
confused/insulted/dirty look. Lol I blushed bright red and just tried to keep
not to put my foot in it again. My companion and I felt the spirit while we
were teaching but Fernando didn't. When we tried to teach him about faith he
was honest with us. He told us that he wanted to have faith, but that he
couldn't believe in something that he couldn't see. It was impossible. When we
tried to teach him about Christ's atoning sacrifice for all men especially him
he seemed uninterested and confused. By the time we left the lesson we were so
discouraged and we felt guilty. We had put a lot of effort into that lesson and
it definitely wasn't received the way that we had hoped it would be. Actually
it wasn't received at all and that I think is what made it even
worse. Our other investigator Jenella was pretty much a golden investigator.
She was eager and willing to do whatever she needs to to become closer to
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It was about a week before we taught him
again and we were so nervous. We spent that entire week preparing for him. He
was constantly on our minds and we changed our lesson plan about 3 times before
we felt that it was right. Our lesson with him was probably 15 mins tops but we
felt the spirit so strong and he actually smiled! As we were walking out of
that lesson we might as well have been walking on cloud 9 we felt so good. He
seemed to be more receptive and he seemed happier at the end of our short
lesson that he did at the beginning. On our third lesson it was 5 mins if that
and I didn't even get to talk. It was good but it wasn't even close to being
effective. And as my companion and I were preparing the lesson we felt that it
was going to be good. What we had both prepared and considered during personal
study went hand in hand once we shared with each other what we felt was right.
This past week on Wednesday we taught him our last lesson. This week
we were both sick and that day especially was the worst. We felt terrible and
we almost decided to stay in bed but we felt too guilty so we got up, skipped
breakfast and went straight to class. As we got there we had almost forgotten
that we had to teach Fernando for the last time. As another companionship in
our district went first we tried to prepare. As we were preparing we both felt
that what we had prepared last week was what we should teach him the lesson
that we weren't given enough time to teach. So when it was our turn to teach,
tired and sick we just went for it. We said a quiet prayer together before we
went in and just hoped with all of our hearts that the message of love that we
were trying our hardest to share would be received well. My kasama started the
lesson and shared her first scripture and as usual I prepared the scripture
that I felt I needed to share and vice versa. We felt the spirit so strong. I
wanted with all of my heart to help him understand that there IS a God. And he
does love him! And that if he could exercise just a bit of trust in him that
Heavenly Father will pour his blessing upon him. We wanted him to know that he
doesn't have to be alone and that there IS a way for him to find peace. Once we
felt that we had said what we needed I asked him to give the closing prayer and
by the end of his prayer he was crying! We set up another appointment,
encouraged him and told him that he can do it and then we left! As soon as the
door closed we were squealing like little kids. We high-fived each other and
practically floated back to class. In the middle of our exclaiming and cheering
because that was the best lesson we've had to date! Our teacher took us aside
into that same room and talked to us. He asked us why that lesson felt
different. And there were tears in his eyes. When we took the time to think
about it we realized that during that lesson I hardly thought about myself at
all. I wasn't worried about what I didn't know and how I was going to fall
short by the end of the lesson. My only focus was on him and helping him feel
the spirit. Brothers and Sisters this lesson has changed my life. Up until this
moment I honestly didn't feel like a missionary at all. It felt like I was
trying to become this awesome ... idea, but I was falling short every time and
so because of that I accepted that every one else was more capable than me. I
was okay with this because I just wanted to serve with all of my heart so that
my family could be blessed. These weren't negative feelings I chose to dwell on
but it was a personal issue that I accepted to myself and never told anyone.
After that lesson however I realized that as a missionary I have the power to
change someone's life! This may seem like a duh DUH moment for most of you but
I honestly didn't think that I was apart of this blessing.
I know that God is
real and I know that if I love the people selflessly and with all of my heart
He will bless me with the Tagalog language, and He will bless me with the power
to change at least one persons life. I accept this responsibility and I cannot
wait to get there! "The field is white already to harvest." And I
know that God has prepared specific people for me to find and teach. I cannot
wait!!!!!!!!! I am so grateful for everything that everyone has done for me! It
truly humbles me and makes me work harder to understand my purpose and learn
the language. Thank you so much to my ward for sending that beautiful package!
My companion and I are still benefiting from that kindness! I love all of you
Young Women and I know that you will be blessed! Thank you Aaron and Pou and
Reni, and Jershon, and Gena, and James and last but not least FRANKY for my
beautiful birthday present!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those letters are
going in my scripture case and I am going to read them every day!
Mom and Aunty Sandy
thank you so much for the fruit basket! I felt AWESOME! Lol and that food was
amazing! Thank you mom for all the cards! And thank you Aunty Sandy for all of
your cards! They make me feel so loved and so special! I love all of
you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will email when I
get to the Philippines! Thank you for your prayers and your love! I can feel it
every day and it is a blessing I do not feel worthy of! I love you
all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Love always!
Sister Fonua
No comments:
Post a Comment