But for a Small Moment

How are you wonderful people?!

It has been a grand ol' week here in Naga City. 

Drum roll please...I am free of sickness! Whoot whoot! Let me just tell you how relieved I am to be all better and not be on my death bed anymore. I feel SO much better! Man am I grateful for good health and for my body. :) What a blessing our bodies are. 

Let's see where to begin. Welp due to me taking time to get better along with having multiple curfews this week due to holidays, we didn't get to go out and teach nearly as much as we usually do, but at least we got to go out right? So we got punted a lot this week (meaning lots of people canceled lessons with us or when we showed up, they told us they were busy so we didn't get to teach them) Anyways, that was difficult but we were able to find other people in that time instead so that was neat!

We found one part-member family, the San Andres pamilya. We had baptismal records for the mother, father (both had since passed away) and the 2 oldest children. The 2 baptized kids are now living in Manila but we were able to share a message and get to know a couple of their siblings. It was really sad because the man and his sister were both quite bitter toward us. They were still kind but there was a bitterness on their words that was sad to hear. They told us that no members or missionaries have come to visit them since their mother passed away, some 23 years ago. Wow. That is really sad and unfortunately this really offended the people and their opinion of LDS members is not as great as it should be. I am grateful for the opportunity we had to go talk to them. It really was a miracle how we found them too. We have tried a couple times now to find this family,without any success, when the other night we decided to try again. We searched and searched and finally found the address of where the family supposedly lived. We asked the owner of the shop if she knew the SA family and eventually we figured out that the numbers on all the homes and buildings in that area had changed about 2 years ago...grrreat right? how on earth were we supposed to find them now? Well, turns out she told us to try down the street and ask at the motorcycle repair shop. So we did. At first they told us they didn't know the family then another man came out and he knew the family and directed us to their house! It was such a blessing and I am so glad we were able to meet them. It was definitely hard to sit there while they told us how awful their life is and how hard things have been and no one has even tried to see them, but the important part is that we found them now and I can't wait to teach them again and hopefully their hearts will be softened and recognize how the gospel will be able to bless their lives. The hardest thing for me with this man and his family is when he told me I am too young to know anything and to really believe in what I am teaching...

Talk about a slap in my face, heck it felt more like a stab to the heart. That was so so hard. We tried to just bear testimony to him but he just wouldn't hear what we had to say. 

I know with all of my heart and mind that this is the true, restored gospel on the earth and that this is the church that Jesus Christ himself established on the earth so many years ago. I know that we have a living prophet on the earth today who is called of God to lead this church and these people. I may be young, I may not have that many experiences, I may not be that educated but I have asked God if this is the truth and I received confirmation for myself from God through the power of the Holy Ghost that this is the true gospel and that only by following its precepts and following the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ can we return to live with God someday and receive eternal life. I know that anyone and everyone can and needs to pray to God and receive an answer for themself that this is true. Please don't tell me that I don't know what I am talking about. I cannot deny God. I cannot deny the answer I received. I will follow the example of Jesus Christ. I will keep the commandments and be obedient to my Father in Heaven. I will pray to Him and read my scriptures because I know it is word of God. I will be married in the temple of God and I will strive every day of my life to be a better person, draw closer to God, and become more like Christ. And you better believe I will share this gospel with everyone I can because it is true and it is the right way, the straight and narrow path back to our Father in Heaven where we can live with our families forever. I know what I believe.

Okay I am running out of time already but I wanted to share this cute analogy our district leader shared with us this week at our district meeting. He was talking about how important it is that we do everything we can here on this earth to return to our Father in Heaven and how much He loves us and wants us to return to Him. He then related it to the movie Toy Story. Bear with me okay. Woody lives in Andy's room and is so close to Andy for a really long time then one day he gets lost and taken on this wild chase around town. He does absolutely everything in his power to return to Andy. He makes friends along the way, he loses his arm, he gets dunked in a bowl of cereal, almost eaten by a dog, stuck in a machine full of aliens, etc. He goes through a lot on his way back to Andy. Sometimes he got upset, frustrated, impatient, and even sad at times. He had good experiences and bad experiences along the way. At one point, he looks down at the bottom of his boot and looks at the name written their "Andy." I imagine he thought he never would return to his owner and lost all hope at times. BUT as he kept trying, helped others, and endured to the end, he was able to eventually make it back to Andy and what a joyous return that was. 

Likewise, we are the Woody's in life. We lived with our Heavenly Father before this life and were sent here to earth to gain a body, have experiences, to learn and to grow. Sometimes we get frustrated with ourselves and others. We get impatient, downhearted, disappointed, sad, and even lose hope sometimes. It is not easy. It was never supposed to be easy. We all have our own challenges and concerns, but if we follow the gospel of Jesus Christ, have faith, repent daily, keep the commandments, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end, then we will be able to make it back to our Heavenly Father again! Our Father in Heaven loves us so much and wants us to return home safely to him more than we can understand. We must do everything in our power to return home to him. We can do it. It is hard at times but he loves us so much that he has given us lots of things along the way to help us return to Him, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the perfect example, Christ, our families, the scriptures, a living prophet, prayer, and many more. Nothing is impossible when on God's side. Whose side are you on? Are you trying your hardest every day to be the best you can be and to make it so you can "stand blameless before God at the last day?" We're not perfect, but we can try. :) 

I added a lot to what my district leader said but I thought that was a great analogy and very creative. Thanks for the idea Elder McBride. :)

Another thing from this week, I read a talk that Sister Webster had and it was SO GOOD. You guys should all look it up (Mom, maybe if you find it could you post the link on my blog? thanks!) It is entitled "But for a small moment" by Neal A. Maxwell from a devotional he gave on September 1st 1974 at BYU. It is kind of long but well worth it. Read it. Learn. Enjoy. Change. :)

We are really trying to get closer to our ward here so that they will trust us and do more on the missionary front. We made an announcement in Relief Society on Sunday about how excited we were to be there and how anxious we are to go out with the sisters in our ward. We then sent around a sign up for sisters to sign up if they would be willing and interested to come out with us. So many sisters signed up! It was great! We are anxious to get to work with these sisters! 

Oh also, yesterday was Fast and Testimony meeting. All the other missionaries in our ward bore their testimonies last week in Sacrament meeting while I was in the hospital so my companion and I were asked to share this week. I was SO nervous, can I just tell you. I had shared my testimony in Tagalog in the MTC all the times but all those people were bad at Tagalog haha so it was a bit more nerveracking to get up in front of my whole Filipino ward and speak their native language to them while trying to express the feelings of my heart. It was difficult alright but nonetheless I wanted to do it. I jumped right up and began talking. I introduced myself, and bore my testimony completely in Tagalog whaaa. Yeah I guess you could say I was proud of myself or something. (it wasn't because of my Tagalog skills though by the way, it's hard to speak for 3 minutes in another language when you are really bad at it, but let me assure you, when you let the Spirit speak through you, things go much much better. it was awesome!) So in the middle of bearing my testimony, I was talking about how we all have hard times in life and if we have faith and keep pushing through everything will work out..well no joke, right as I was talking about having hard times in life, out of no where it started POURING. I am talking torrential downpour people. It was so dang loud in the chapel as I am awkwardly standing up there with so many eyes glaring up at me wondering what I was going to do. Well you know what I did?...I spoke louder. It was really hard to do because I already was not comfortable being up there trying to speak Tagalog but I could no longer just talk normally because they couldn't hear me, so I had to yell my terrible Tagalog straight into the microphone. Yep that was a challenge for sure, but I pushed through and finished strong. :) It was pretty funny though I must say.

Oh also real quick, this morning all the missionaries in the area as well as their investigators and ward members met at the church and played basketball! It was so fun! Yes I woke up at 5:45, 45 minutes earlier than normal, just to go play basketball but it was well worth it. Oh the things I do for some good basketball..oh and for my investigators too :) No really it was great! We are getting creative here in how to bring people closer to the church but step by step it will happen. On eof our investigators, Ace came this morning and he said he had a really good time and got to meet some other men in the ward and play some basketball as well as see our beautiful church building. What a great idea. I loved it :) 

I love you guys so much and I am so grateful to be a missionary! Don't be afraid to share your beliefs with others! You have the power to change lives!

Thank you for all the prayers in my behalf. I love this gospel and am working hard every day to proclaim it to the beautiful people of the Philippines! 

Have a great week! Remember who you are! :)

Mahal Kita!

-Sister Emily Roderick

Elder Neal A. Maxwell's speech, But For a Small Moment:  

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1022

Sisters in Em's Ward playing hoops

Em showing her mad skills

She's still got it!