Filipino! Filipino!

Hi all. :) GREAT week this week. Miracle after lovely miracle. I hope all of you are healthy and well at home. We have worked so hard this week and the work has most definitely paid off. 

The most ever lessons I have gotten here in Baao in one week is 18, so this past week we set a goal to get 20 lessons. Well to our lovely surprise, we are happy to report that we were able to get 28 lessons this week! Wow. :) Of course not due to our own effort but rather as we have tried to be more obedient and to put forth greater effort, Heavenly Father has blessed us more than we could have ever asked for. 

As always the time just flies by way too fast so this is going to be a bit of a shorter email this week. Sorry! BUT I am safe and I am happy. :)

The number of families that we are teaching increases every single day, I love it! Families CAN be together forever so it makes our work much easier and much more meaningful when we get to teach to whole families and help them grow closer to God while also growing closer to each other.

I sleep talk almost every single night now. At least it's in Tagalog right? 

I am currently trying to learn sign language while also learning Tagalog. It gives me a headache but is rewarding when we get to help 2 of the lovely people here come closer to Christ and better understand our messages, however difficult it may be.

Scripture of the week: Alma 13:27-30 

 27 And now, my brethren, I ^awish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great ^banxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not^cprocrastinate the day of your repentance;

 28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and ^awatch and pray continually, that ye may not be ^btempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be ^cled by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, ^dmeek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;

 29 ^aHaving faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the ^blove of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his ^crest.

 30 And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be ^abound down by the chains of ^bhell, that ye may not suffer the second ^cdeath.

I read this in my personal reading the other day and felt the Spirit so strong. This is me. I feel so much like Alma and Amulek right now. This is the beautiful message that I get to share with these people every single day. Sometimes I think about it and realize just how simple the gospel of Jesus Christ is. It is so simple and yet the blessings are indescribable, IF we are willing to follow it. If you have faith in Jesus Christ, you have a desire to change and become more like Him through repentance. Through repentance we are forgiven of our wrongs and desire to do good continually, therefore we enter into covenants with God through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. That is the beginning. That is the door to let us on to the path back to our Father in Heaven, and every day we have the opportunity to work harder and to choose to be better. As President Gordon B. Hinckley once said, "in all of living have much of fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." Do the basics and you will be blessed beyond comprehension. I know these things are true. That is why I am far from friends and family, to share with my extended family members here in the Philippines how to become worthy to live in the presence of God with our families for all time and eternity. I love you all and pray that you will stay true to your faith in Jesus Christ every minute of every day!

Let's Do This Thing!

We are in the process of making our little Baao group in to a slightly bigger, Baao Branch! We are in full-blown mission possible mode right now! We have gone to Iriga City multiple times now to close some loose-ends in records, had meetings with other church leaders, searched/asked/prayed/found many many many members here in Baao, made lists on top of lists, and practically worked our tushes(?) off this week to get some order to this place! This is what I was made for I guess. List-making, problem-solving, and organization (except maybe my room, yes Mom, I know I know...) Anyways! What a great week we have had! Lots of miracles seen in our work this week as we continue to work harder each day to build up the church in this area!

2 new elders were added to our area this week, Elder Davis (my old AP in Canaman) and his new trainee, Elder Arganda. There are now 6 full-time missionaries, and 1 set of couple missionaries here in Baao! That makes a solid 8 missionaries here in Baao working toward the same thing: bringing others unto Christ! What a great purpose no? I love my calling. We met this week with our group leader, Brother Botor (such an inspirational man) to finalize some records for our group and to fill out our application to become a branch! We are hoping and praying that in the next couple weeks/months we will become a branch! 

Someone needs some SUNSCREEN!

In other exciting news for this week, many of the miracles we have seen this week, came by way of families! I love families! We are now teaching 4 full families! We feel so blessed and are praying for these families to continue to learn and grow together and desire to be baptized together in the near future.

In other other exciting news, Ace (remember him? my recent convert from my last area, in Canaman) he received the Melchizedek Priesthood this week! Isn't that great?! I am so happy for him! It is weird to think that just a couple months ago I was there in Canaman teaching him, then all of a sudden he was baptized, and now he is a Melchizedek Priesthood holder preparing to enter the temple! Wow. The gospel of Jesus Christ really does change lives.

Well, we are in Naga today for Sister Sanft to get her going-home-x-rays so we are on a bit of a tight schedule so I am about out of time. But thank you for all your thoughts and prayers in our behalf here in the Philippines and for the missionaries in general! I know this church is true and am happier than ever here in the small town of Baao sharing my testimony with anyone and everyone that will listen! Love you all! Ingat po kay lagi!

Mahal Kita!

-Sister Roderick

Getting Lost

Well folks, it is that time again. Hi. :) I can't believe it has already been a week since I last wrote! So much and yet so little has happened, how does that even work out?

Welp. This week let's see, we had Zone Training on Friday, Transfer Announcements Saturday night, taught 2 church classes yesterday, and today we moved into our new apartment (beautiful, amazing, much-better-than-our-old-place, home sweet home) Quite the week no?

New Apartment

Due to emergency transfers the other week, my trainer, the lovely Sister Webster, is now here in Iriga with me! Yay! So I got to see her at Zone Training. We walked right up to each other and she stretched out her hands full of goodies for me, at the exact same time I did the exact same thing to her. haha Like "mother" like "daughter" right? Even in the mission that saying works. So Zone Training was good. I really love my zone. I always learn so much from the other missionaries, it is a great learning experience. 

I am not being transferred. Phew. No I knew I wouldn't be transferred so honestly I kind of forgot about transfer announcements but nonetheless, the came and went with no major change to me. Except! a new set of Elders will be coming in this week and we will be splitting our area with them. I am excited to get double the work in this area, especially because it is so massive and we can definitely use the additional help. Remember when we were spending hours on end looking for apartments the past few weeks for the new elders? Well, we found one but President (I love that man) thought the new apartment should go to the sisters and the elders should move into our old apartment. SO that is what happened. This morning we moved all of our grand things into our new amazing apartment. It is so beautiful and we are spoiled beyond belief. Apparently the church is trying to upgrade all living quarters for missionaries, so I guess this house is a good start because it is NICE. yep. We are a bit excited. The first thing we set up when we got to the apartment were our duyans (hammocks) on our balcony upstairs, overlooking centro. Fresh. :) Exciting isn't it? Pictures to come of the new crib.

Sister S. and I also had a nice little heart to heart this week which was much needed apparently and we are a lot closer because of it. She and I both have our different challenges and weaknesses, but we were able to talk some things out, establish expectations for each other and our companionship, and set some goals to help us stay focused and work even harder here in good ol' Baao. She expressed to me her gratitude to me for being obedient and how it has helped her. I often feel inadequate here in the mission field, including at that moment, when a sister getting ready to leave the mission, told me, little newbie me, that I was helping her. I was reminded of the promise we all have from our Father in Heaven that He not only calls the qualified, but rather qualifies the called. Despite our weaknesses and other challenges, our Heavenly Father knows each of us and knows what we can do. I am grateful for all of the experiences I have had so far here in my mission and for all the people I have met who have taught me, and continue to teach me every day. There is no other substitute for being exactly obedient. It is of utmost importance for all of us, missionaries and all. I am grateful for Sister S.

and her willingness to let things go and move on with our best foot forward. We are excited to be here in Baao together and are dedicated to the work. She told me this week that when we are working, she is focused and therefore does not get distracted by temptations and other challenges with the world. So, that is our plan. Work harder than ever before. We are determined and I love it. :)

In other news, Baao is very unorganized. We have the grand pleasure of going through lots and lots of records to find ALL of the members within my area. Yesterday we met with our District Presidency and we were able to acquire more information and other records to better help us in our quest to rescue the one. It is an overwhelming task but it is one that I am willing to sacrifice for. One of our Naga Mission Visions is "In the Naga Mission, we leave our areas better than we found them." THAT is what we are striving for. Not a simple, barely noticeable change here in Baao, but we are working towards becoming a branch and we are looking forward with the hopes of big changes. Big improvements. Big growth. Big accomplishments. What a wonderful calling I have. :) I love being a missionary. 

I love you all and wish you the best this week! :)

Mahal Kita!

-Sister Roderick

This one's for baby Tim Dan!

The Heat Has Hit!

Hello Summer! Yep, it is Summer again here in the Philippines. There are 2 seasons here, Summer and "Winter." "Winter" lasts about 2 weeks in which it is not as hot, then all of a sudden it is blazing hot outside again and Summer is here for another many months! haha Not sure how that one works out exactly but oh well. Lots of hot, sweaty, sticky, bug filled days ahead. :) Bring it on.

Transfers are next week and we have been told that we will be getting a new set of missionaries here in Baao so we need to find an apartment for them. Seeing as we had not yet found an apartment as of last week, that is what we got to spend lots of our time doing this past week, finding apartments. It was hard to spend so much time on that and not on teaching, but our work (and prayers) paid off and we finally found some good options for the new Elders. We are happy with the progress of our area and love being here to see it continue to grow. 

Being the person I am, I have been trying to "clean up" if you will this area to best use our time, help build the area, and get it organized and ready for the future missionaries assigned here. It is definitely hard work but we are determined to go through old records, get organized, and change this area for the better. 

I am happy to report that yesterday we had a solid 55 people at church (11 more than last week), and for the first time in our little group, we had the full 3 hours of church! Interesting no? It was wonderful though! We had enough people to split into different sunday school classes and even to have Relief Society and Priesthood. The work is moving forth. Hop on the train because we are rolling fast! I love this little Baao area so much! It is amazing to be here at a time like this. 

Hoops!

This week when I was reading in the Book of Mormon during my personal study, I was chomping away at some trail mix while reading in Mosiah, when all of a sudden I snapped back to reality and realized that I had just read (more like devoured) multiple chapters and my study time was almost up! Sometimes it is hard to read the scriptures but I tell you, the more I read the scriptures, the harder it is to put them down. I love the scriptures so much and have grown to love them and cherish them more than ever before in my life. Read your scriptures every single day. Never make an excuse not to. I know that the Book of Mormon together with the Bible contains the fulness of the truth. I love the scriptures and know that they will help you in your life if you just take the time to read (even just one verse a day)! That my friends, is the best food, the best medicine, the best everything in the world. 

Creepy Cat

I love you all! Choose the right and count your blessings! AND of course, keep smiling no matter what! :) 

-Sister Roderick