Challenge is Good for the Soul

What. A. Week.

Birthday Girl!

This week was my birthday. Yay, Happy Birthday. I am no longer a teenager?..what? Where did the years go? So for my birthday, I made no-bake cookies for our district meeting, we went out to Shakey's for pizza for lunch, and I got a new assignment.

Yes, you read that right. At about 9:30 Thursday night, we got a call from the Assistant's that Sister Andres would be transferring to Canaman (my old area) and I would become companions with Sister Sanft, my old apartment-mate in Canaman.

Due to some mistakes and disobedience of missionaries, we had an onslaught of emergency transfers occur this week. It was a BIG shock and hard to say goodbye to Sister Andres but things are going well for Sister Sanft and I. While waiting on Friday morning to meet up with our new companions, one of the Assistant's, Elder Davis, said "Disobedience never just affects the one being disobedient." Although a bit harsh, it is true. That was one of my life lessons and reminders this week, to always be aware of what you think, say, and do, because our words and actions affect others. 

It was quite unfortunate that Sister Andres and I only got to be together for 3 and a half weeks, and that we were split up due to the actions of others. We all have agency, but we also have consequences (good and bad) that come, based on our choices. 

I am not a perfect person, but that is my goal, my desire. None of us our perfect, but that is what we should be striving for every single day. Because God knows we will continually make mistakes in this life, He has given us His son, Jesus Christ to atone for our sins. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can repent, receive forgiveness, and become clean again. We will all fall sometimes, but what is of utmost importance, is how we will react to that fall...sit down and allow yourself to be defeated? stand up and slowly walk again? or jump up, start running, anxious to try harder this time?...We need to pick ourselves back up from our weaknesses, our challenges, our imperfections, and our mistakes, and start running again. We may stumble a little bit here and there, but how do we expect to grow without some struggles along the way?

This week was full of change, with a nice, new set of challenges in tow as well. Although the mountain may seem really big right now, step by step, before we know it, we will be at the top and be able to look back and recognize all the growth that came, all the hard times overcome, and the joy of staying strong in the faith, the entire hike uphill. 

I know God is aware of all of His children and not only has a plan for you and me, but He has a plan for this area, this Baao, Iriga, Philippines area. I am so grateful to be here at this time when the Lord continues to hasten His work.

Remember to pray and read your scriptures every single day! I just about want to cry when our studies are over each day because I just love the time we get to soak up the scriptures, the word of God, and learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I love you all and pray for you every day. :) We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. Always remember who you are and never let your thoughts, words, or actions, say otherwise. As my MTC Zone always says, "Obedience brings blessings, but EXACT obedience, brings miracles."

Much love from Baao to you! :) 

Mahal Kita!

-Sister Roderick

Hello There Progression

The Lord is hastening His work! Did you know that? I sure thought I did, but I know it now more than ever before! What an exciting time this is! 

Tuesday this week we had Zone Conference! I love meetings like this, they are so unbelievably enlightening and motivating! President Reeder and his assistants came and led the meeting, instructing us on some new goals, ideas, direction, etc. It was great! Really. President was very bold and told us some shocking numbers about our area that really helped get us excited...so right now, our area is a District, not a stake. That is our goal, to become a stake. We have been a district for 19 years now and President says he will not let another year go by before we make this district become a stake. Dang. So you know what that means, get to work folks. Two requirements to become a stake are: 1. have 1,900 members and 2. have 5 wards/branches..

We currently have 1,876 members and 4 branches. President then asked the Baao Elders and Sisters to raise their hands. That would be 2 elders, Sister Andres, and I. Yep. Then he went on to say, that he wants Baao group to be that 5th branch to qualify us to become a stake. No pressure right? We are working on that one though. He also emphasized to us the importance of teaching whole families, father, mother, and children. Too often we settle to just teach mom and kids but it is of utmost importance to teach and convert whole families and to increase the number of worthy Priesthood holders. Definitely a challenge at times BUT just in this past week since we received that direction from President Reeder, we have seen so many miracles in our missionary work! As we have put forth the extra effort to invite fathers to join and emphasized teaching as families, we have increased our teaching pool so much! It is great to have this new focus. It is funny because now everywhere we go, we see men and we say to each other "future Priesthood holder, go go go!" haha It is kind of funny, but isn't that how we should see all people? for who and what they can become? 

This week was also exciting because they signed the papers for our new meetinghouse! It is a green house in San Nicolas, Baao, not far from Centro, and it is perfect! Saturday we got to go move everything from our little overcovering of a meetinghouse to our new house of a meetinghouse. :) We cleaned up the new meetinghouse and got it all set up for Sunday. Then yesterday at 9:30 am we met together for the first time in our new meetinghouse. It was a beautiful day. :) There were some complications and what not, of course, with everything right? But overall it went really well!

On average we have about 45 or 50 people at church each week, but yesterday we had a record high of 67 people at church! Amazing isn't it? :) You can imagine how happy we were to see so many of our less-actives come back to church for the first time in years and have a great experience at church! I am hoping and praying that our numbers just continue to increase and the group continues to progress and become more established. 

I gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting too, about missionary work (who would have guessed right?). I of course was very nervous but it went pretty well. I spoke about the truth we have in our life and why we need to share it with others. 

I shared the story about Lehi and the tree of life. The gospel is the fruit on the tree of life. It is the sweetest, most delicious and rewarding fruit in the world and we must share that with all. Don't keep it to yourself but go out and share it with all. 

In other news, we are getting another set of missionaries here in the Baao area. Exciting. 

Also, I'm an aunt now, what?! Yep good week.

Keep being awesome, be happy, and smile always. 

Mahal na mahal kita!

-Sister Roderick

This is Salvation We Are Talking About People!

Hello World! How are you all doing? Thank you for all the emails and letters! Sorry if I have not responded to you yet, it is medyo difficult to respond to everyone quickly, but I am working on it! I really do appreciate it though and feel your love and support from across the world! Thank you :)

Alrighty folks, news for this week. Let's see, where to begin...I am still in Baao, whoop whoop. It still takes an outrageously long time to get anywhere. It has been cold (like 65) the past couple days with rain (I am actually wearing a sweater right now, can you believe that?) Hmm. I held a goat this week. A couple actually. One of them nibbled on my elbow, yum. I love Buko Salad so much, it is potentially one of my favorite foods now.

Oh this is exciting! We found a meetinghouse for our cute little group to meet in! Yay! It is perfect! I actually haven't been inside yet, BUT it looks really great from the outside! It is a little green house that we are looking at renting. Hopefully everything will go through with that and we will be able to start meeting there within the next couple weeks! I will keep you posted on that one.

Honestly not much has happened this week. We are just working hard, trying to teach as many lessons as we can and to build up this area the best we can. Sobra mahirap. Talaga. Pero we are trying and doing what we can. I really do love it here though. It is a beautiful area and I am really growing to love the people more and more! :) We have a couple amazing investigators who have so many wonderful questions. Can I just say, that is one of the BEST feelings in the world when someone says "May tanong po ako.." (I have a question) with this look on their face like "don't hate me this question is really hard and i know you won't have an answer" then boom. They ask the question. You're heart pounds with joy. A big ol' smile spreads across your face. You and your companion exchange glances of excitement. And you say "May sagot po kami." (we have an answer.) Every single time. There has not been a single question that we have not had some sort of answer to. It is wonderful! Honestly, sometimes the questions are difficult to explain or to answer but every single time a question is asked, we have some answer to provide these people with greater knowledge, greater understanding, and greater hope. That is the power of the truth my friends. It is beautiful. God loves us so much that He gives us the means by which we can receive answers to our many questions and concerns. We have the answers. Every time. Every single time. Take courage and have faith because we do have the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the Earth today. That's why I am here in the Philippines, to share that with others. It gives me so much pleasure to share with others that which gives me strength and hope in this world.

One of my challenges as a missionary is when people hide from us, turn us down, are rude to us, or just simply don't recognize the importance of our message. We are here as servants of God, as literal representatives of Jesus Christ, to declare HIS gospel to you and to help you see the way to return to live with God again and to obtain eternal life. If you truly understood our purpose and our calling, you would never turn us away. It breaks my heart to see and hear others deny us. I just want to reach out, grab their hands, and say "Listen to me, please! I am here for you! God loves you and has given us the way to return to Him. Just listen to me. Open your heart and listen. This is your salvation we are talking about!" We are of course very respectful to all people, as they have their freedom to choose, but I just wish they would listen to us. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that it is the same church, restored to the earth, that He established when He was on the earth. Just as Jesus taught, served, and loved others, we too must teach, serve, and love others in the same manner. He taught us of our Heavenly Father's plan for us and how to return to His presence to live there, together with our families for all time and eternity. Now that is an amazing message, isn't it? Would you have listened to Jesus Christ? Would you have followed Him before?

Jesus Christ is our Savior. He lives. We must follow Him now. We have His gospel on the earth. We have the way back home. He has given us His gospel, the path to return to our Father in Heaven, now it is up to us whether we will take the steps to follow Him or not. Stand strong. Remember that you are a child of God and heed our Savior's invitation to "come follow me."

Thanks for all your love and support. I hope life is treating you well. Keep smiling always :)

Mahal Kita!

-Sister Roderick

Check out the CTR Barbershop!

This is where we meet for church - not in the house but in the lean-to on the side of the house!

Bago this, Bago that.

Em's New Companion, Sister Andres

Eating a Coconut

Hello folks!

First off, Monday. Last P-day in Canaman. We ran more errands than ever before. It was crazy and hectic but good to check off some last minute to-dos before I left the city. (Btw I ended up buying a new camera, it's sweet. Just a little point and shoot canon thing but it is nice and works well. :))

Tuesday, ay chihuahua. Long day. I was sick to my stomach all day! I was so dang nervous for transfers. My luggage was crazy heavy. Took a tricee with luggage and other missionaries to the church building/transfer point. We sat around, mingled, waited for all the missionaries to arrived, tried to keep the nervous butterflies from jumping out of my belly, sang, did intro stuff, then came the dreaded announcements..."Sister Roderick, meet your new companion, Sister Andres. You will be serving in the Baao B, Iriga area."

Boom baby. I actually guessed that I was going to be with her, which is cool, but I was still nervous and a sweaty mess. Anyways, Sister Andres is my new companion! She is from Manila, really funny, sarcastic, crazy, and way good at English. haha She is great. We are different but I am excited. She likes to laugh and work hard-all I need in a companion. :) 

After the announcement, I went and sat with my new companion then shortly afterward we said our goodbyes to our old companions (that was way sad and sister webster was almost crying as I left) then off to the bus terminal we went! We loaded my luggage onto a bus, took our seats inside, and an hour and a half later, arrived in Baao, Iriga. It is beautiful here! Our apartment is in the more central part of Baao, which is actually the Elder's area, while OUR areas are way far out...really far. Yep.

We went straight to work that night! :) It was great. We pretty much take at least a half hour bus ride plus a half hour tricee ride and/or walk to get to our areas. Crazy right? I am used to being in the city with houses piled on houses...not quite the situation here. We literally are surrounded by rice fields and it takes forever to get anywhere. I love it but it is definitely exhausting.

We have many, many less-actives that we go to visit and slowly but surely are trying to build up our teaching pool of investigators. First challenge, how far away our areas are. Second challenge, we don't exactly have a ward/branch OR a church building. Mhm.  Crazy huh? As of right now, we meet as a "group," under the direction of a "group leader." I have never experienced something like this before. It is insane but so so so cool to be a part of it at the same time! We meet under a roof that was added on to a members home. They set up chairs under this lovely roof, and that, my friends, is where we meet for church. We only have church for 2 hours because we simply don't have enough people to split up to have classes and what not. Yesterday was my first Sunday in this group and it was amazing! We have church at 9am. Apparently they usually don't start until 10 but with the new year they are really trying to start on time and build up our little group. Anyways, we did start at 9 (a miracle for sure!), people continued to trickle in to the meeting as we began. I was asked to introduce myself and bear my testimony. I usually am really nervous to speak in front of church (especially in a completely different language) but it went really well and I was not nearly as nervous as usual, perhaps because it felt more like a Sunday School class than Sacrament, ha who knows. Anyways, after sacrament meeting, people stood and mingled for a few minutes, the little kids took chairs and made a circle under some trees nearby, with one of the young women as their teacher, and then the rest of us (adults, youth, and missionaries) took our seats again for sunday school. Our group leader (acts like the Bishop) is also our sunday school teacher. Funny huh? Yep. Welcome to the rice fields, out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere Philippines. It was so sweet! Oh btw, we had less than 50 people in attendance yesterday (including representatives from the local branch, 4 full-time missionaries, 2 couple missionaries, investigators, and children) That is a SUCCESS! Whoot! The group is growing! We have a meeting tomorrow with some people to hopefully purchase a local house that will act as our new meetinghouse and hopefully within the next couple years we will be able to grow enough to become a branch! :) Excited times folks. 

This is my life. I walk through rice fields every day. I make babies cry. I get my hair pulled every week. I bake in the sun. I eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches multiple times a day because we are too exhausted to make/eat anything else. I sing "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet" all day, everyday. I get stared at like nobody's business. I read and study the scriptures and pray more than ever before in my life. I am surrounded by brown people. I am sweaty always. I speak some foreign language that I don't even understand. I am a servant of God. I invite others to come unto Christ. I work hard and do my best to build up and nurture this part of our Father in Heaven's vineyard. AND I always have a smile on my face, because I am happy. Truly happy. I love my life. :)

I hope you are all taking the time to recognize and give thanks for the many blessings in your life. They are all around you. Soak them in. Be appreciative. Show thanks to God and to others. Remember that you are a literal child of God and never lose faith in our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. :)

With love always,

-Sister Roderick

P.S. today we spent most of our P-day in Naga so that we could go to the doctor for Sister Andres. No joke, literally 50% of my mission right now is sick. She has been struggling with a wide range of sicknesses for a week now, another elder in our area has a virus too, sister webster was sick all weekend (i got to see her today btw, it was awesome! we all got to go out to lunch together while we were in Naga, it was so good to see her!) my old sister training leader has chicken gonea (i have no idea how to spell that) while we were at the doctors earlier, we saw 2 other sets of missionaries there...it is insane. Literally 50 % of the mission is sick. We don't know what is going on, but it is not good. So keep your prayers up for the health and safety of us Naga missionaries please! Love you all! :)