Quite the eventful week here in the Philippines with Mission Tour, sickness, teaching, hospital trips and of course the lovely Barangay Elections today.
So our week started out pretty normal, teaching, studying, finding, the normal missionary stuff. My companion has been struggling with an in grown toenail the past couple weeks (because we went running...whoops. see what happens when we try to stay in shape? what's up with that??) haha It got to a point last week when she was just really suffering so Friday afternoon we headed to the hospital to meet with a Doctor to check out her toe. He was really nice and spoke great English so she was able to explain what was going on and they got to discuss options. He prescribed some medicine to get the swelling down and then if it still didn't feel good come Monday (today) then we were to go back to see him and most likely he would remove the entire toenail so it could regrow and start fresh, cute right? Really appetizing. NOT. Haha so she took meds, and it is feeling a lot better! Yay! The swelling is down and she can actually walk, but get this...
Friday I started to have a bit of a sore throat. I was okay though and just pushed through. We taught lessons all day Saturday. Progressively throughout the day, I got colder and colder while my temperature got hotter and hotter. Our last lesson Saturday night was in a part-active home. It had been a hot, hot day that day and was now pouring outside, we are sitting inside teaching with a fan blowing around the room, everyone else is dying of heat and I am sitting there with my long skirt and sweater on to try to stay warm. It was not what I would generally call fun. The lesson went great though, regardless of the chills running through my body. You can imagine my relief when we went home that night. We planned really quickly for the next day then without eating dinner I went to bed at 9:30. I woke up the next morning, Sunday, at 6:30 just to roll back over and sleep til 11:30ish. I would wake up every so often to my companion checking up on me but other than that I was out cold. The APs (assistants to the President) came and took my companion and I to the hospital at about 12:30 to get me checked out.
Sooo I have had a fever between 101 and 102 degrees, a very swollen left tonsil, achy joints, migraine, and a lovely infection on my leg since Saturday night.
When we went to the hospital, we waited in the ER for 10 minutes, the doctor came over, asked what was wrong, took my temperature, looked at my throat for a solid 2 seconds, then says quote "Yep, you have a fever and a swollen tonsil. It is tonsillitis." Hahaha okay thank you ma'am. She then proceeded to write me 3 prescriptions and left. Most pointless trip to the hospital. The medicine was pretty expensive so I didn't even fill the prescription but instead just went home. (don't worry we went and got the generic versions today so hopefully those will help me feel better soon.)
So then last night, I just got worse and worse. My fever continued to climb and I could barely stand without falling over. The APs came over last night and gave me a Priesthood blessing then I went straight to bed. I went to bed last night with a fever of 102.2. One of the sister training leaders I live with, Sister Simbol, she's so cute, she's a little Filipino she would come in and check on me periodically and every time, she feels my forehead and goes, "Oy! You are one hot sister!" Haha she's so funny.
I am feeling much better today though. Far from perfect but I could actually get out of bed, that's a start. My throat is still very swollen, I still have a fever, and a headache, and the infection, and my neck and back are in a lot of pain (Where are you Brother Prymak when I need you??) but I somehow feel better. haha don't ask how because I'm not sure, it doesn't really make any sense, I know. Just know I am doing well, despite my many sicknesses ha I still love being here and being a missionary! I just wish I could go out and teach already! Although being sick and being in pain is pretty hard, the worst part is definitely that I am unable to go teach. It is horrible! I miss my people. I cannot wait to go out and teach again. Hopefully this sickness runs its course and gets out soon, real soon, because I'm not sure how much longer I can take laying in bed, dying of heat and chills, watching Preach My Gospel videos and eating toast. All stinkin' day long.
Welp on a happier note, this week we had our Mission Tour with our area seventy, Elder Arndern. So Thursday, we spent essentially all day, 8:30-3:30 at the stake center for the Mission Tour. Elder Arndern and his wife, along with President and Sister Reeder spoke to us a lot about reactivating less-active members as well as how to improve our service as missionaries in general. Everything was amazing! I learned so much and loved the entire thing. I thought it was going to be a long day but it amazed me just how fast the meeting went by.
There were a couple things that I really loved from the meeting. There were many but 2 that I wanted to share.
1. Ask yourself this question, "What thinks Christ of me?" Quite the question isn't it. Have you ever thought about that before? I wrote that question in bright, bold lettering and hung it right next to my desk so that I will remember to ask myself frequently and re-assess my life to make sure my priorities are always where they should be. Just like the song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," it is a good reminder for us as imperfect people to continually choose the right and try harder each day to come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. Would He be happy with what we just said to that person? Would He be proud of how we handled a situation? Would He be pleased with how we use our time? The questions go on and on. Ask yourself. Evaluate your life. Don't just do it once, or twice, or three times. We should continually be asking ourselves these types of questions in order to push ourselves, to change, and to become not only better people but to come more like Jesus Christ and closer to our Heavenly Father.
2. The second thought that I too decorated all nice and hung by my desk is like that of the first. Elder Arndern was talking about staying centered on our mission. It can be easy sometimes to get distracted or get off track but it is so important for us to stay focused and motivated to teach everyone and bring others unto Christ. He applied this concept to us as missionaries but I thought about it as more than just for my mission but for my whole life. Picture a dart board. The further from the center you go, the less points you get, and before you know it, you are completely off the board. Jesus Christ should be that center in our life. Are we allowing ourselves to move away from that center or even to fall completely off the board? We all make mistakes some times, we' aren't perfect, but that's why it is so important to ask ourselves those questions and re-evaluate our lives to ensure that we stay in the center. Don't let yourself move to the outside of the dartboard of life, continually strive to be in the center circle of love, happiness, and truth.
So some stories about this week:
Last Monday the APs (they are in our ward, that's why we do so much stuff with them), they showed us to a teenage boy, Jason that they had taught in our area. They introduced us to him and then left. We then talked with him and his family, got to know them a little bit better then taught about how God love's them and how we are all His children. Apparently Jason has taken all of the missionary discussions, accepted the gospel, went to church more than 10 times in a row, and even had a baptismal date at one point but stopped going to church when he was offended by someone so he was not able to be baptized. Well, he knows everything. Seriously, he amazed us as we taught. Actually there wasn't much teaching going on at all because everything we started to say, he would just finish for us then say "Yeah I already know that." Well then. I thought to myself, "Why on earth are you not baptized then?" So I asked him, I asked if he wanted to be baptized, he said 'yes,' and I proceeded to invite him to be baptized (all in Tagalog by the way) I said, "Susundan mo ba an halimbawa ni Jesu Cristo sa pamamagitan ng pagpapabinyag sa isang taong maytaglay ng awtoridad ng Priesthood ng Diyos?" Then we set his baptismal date for November 23rd. Well, you can imagine how excited we were to have our first investigator to accept to be baptized! Really exciting. But he texted us yesterday morning and told us that he had a job interview during church so he wouldn't be able to go to church tomorrow. Well, we are going to have to push back his baptismal date then. Already. It's really heartbreaking. One of the hardest things for people here is to go to church. So many people don't realize the importance of going to church! It is really aggravating sometimes. Not just here, but in America too. It is so hard for me because I feel like, if you really know this gospel to be true then you would make every sacrifice needed to read the Book of Mormon or to pray or go to church or dress modestly, etc. We are not asked to do that much. Going to church is so so so important. I don't know how to better emphasize to people the importance of going to church.
We have this investigator, Ariel, I can't remember if I have talked about him before, but he is astig! (awesome) Seriously, every time we go to teach him he is just so anxious to get started, there is never any wasted time in our lessons with him, I love it. Well the other day we taught him about the Restoration and about Joseph Smith. We showed him the Restoration video and he loved it. That is a great movie. It uses so many scripture references, both from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. A lot of the people here don't believe that we use both the Bible and the Book of Mormon so I love that that movie shows verses from both books of scripture. Every time a Bible verse would come on the screen, he would just nod his head, as if being reassured and accepting that our message is good and true. Before the video he told me that he believed 70% in Joseph Smith. After the movie and after we discussed it, as we were leaving he said "71% now." haha that is good enough for me! Improvement for sure. In our lesson on Saturday he told us he was up to 75%. We're getting there. He has yet to come to church but he is praying and reading the Book of Mormon so we are praying that he continues to gain a testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel.
This is an amazing work. I love everything about this gospel. Although the people, the scenery, the church set up even, the leadership, etc., may be different, the doctrine of Christ never changes. He is the "same yesterday, today and forever."
I love this gospel and know with every part of me that it is true. That's why I'm here right? We have had many people ask what we are doing here. I imagine it must seem quite odd to many people why a little, blonde, American girl would pack up all her belongings, pause her schooling, and move to a completely foreign land for 18 months, to be a missionary? What does that even mean?
In the scriptures, in 3 Nephi 5:13 we read, "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." That sums it up pretty well. The scriptures always seem to say things much more eloquently than I ever could. I am here as a disciple of Christ. I am here to share His gospel with others. I am here to invite others to come unto Christ. I am here to remind them where they came from, why they are here, and where they are going. I am here to teach them what they must do to receive "everlasting life"- faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. Simple but true. That is why I am here. :)
Welp HAPPY ELECTION DAY! HAPPY HALLOWEEN in 3 days! HAPPY ALL-SAINTS DAY! (jsut kidding, we don't celebrate that, but it is a BIG holiday here so we have an early curfew 4 times this week! Last night for elections, tonight for elections (apparently these elections are a big deal and people sometimes get a little crazy and it could be potentially dangerous so we just go in at 7 on both of these nights) then Halloween and All-Saints there is usually lots of drinking so we have to be in our apartment by 6. Crazy huh. Get this, for All-Saints Day they spend the night in graveyards, eating food, drinking, laughing, playing music, etc. the whole nine yards, in the graveyard, over their dead family members...quite the holiday isn't it.
Oh on another happy note, there was a stabbing in my area last week. Really comforting isn't it? haha not exactly but that's okay. We may or may not have been in the area of the stabbing that same night, but we didn't even know! Welp, we're still alive and we now know which areas to avoid at night. Did I tell you my companion almost got robbed last week too? Well, she did. We were at a tindahan, (this little store, shack thing that has everything under the sun I swear) well we were there, in broad daylight and all of a sudden I turned around and there was a guy with his hand on her bag! He unzipped the whole thing before I saw and before she felt it, can you believe that? Pretty crazy huh. You learn new things everyday. Our area is kind of the slums of our zone. That is part of the reason they just split this area because the bad parts weren't getting much attention so they split it and assigned us to that area. Woo hoo! No, I love it here, I really do. We just have to be careful what barangays (neighborhoods) we are in and what times. We really are pretty safe here though. Promise. :) There have been maybe 2 times where I was even close to feeling actually scared and even then, we were fine. No worries here!
Well this email was abnormally long, sorry about that. Sorry too that it was not as uplifting as I would have liked. Things are going so well and I really do love being a missionary. This week had it's ups and downs for sure, but what week doesn't right? It's not about the challenges we face or even the mistakes we make, but rather how we react to those trials in life. Do we let ourselves wallow in sadness, stay beaten on the ground, or do we jump back up, brush off the dirt, and say "that's okay, I will try again today." :)
I love you all! Thanks to all who have written me and kept me in your prayers! It is much appreciated!
Mahal Kita!
-Sister Emily Roderick
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