Well, it is officially my last day with Sister Sanft. Where has the time gone? I swear we were just back in Canaman (my first area) as apartmentmates, and now we have already been companions for 8 weeks and I am sending her home tonight! What?! Time is such a strange thing, kind of scary at times. Anywho, I am definitely sad to see Sister Sanft go but I am glad we had the time we had to work together as companions.
Saturday night we got transfer announcements and I received the lovely word that I will be staying in Baao for another 3 months while I train a new missionary. Of course there are a few butterflies floating around in my tummy right about now but it will be good and I am excited for all I am about to learn. 6 solid months in Baao, that means a whole one third of my mission in one small town. Bring it on. I am so stoked. What a great place to spend 6 months of my mission. :)
On that happy note, we have sooo many investigators with baptismal dates. Our teaching pool right now is tremendous! We have 8 baptisms all scheduled for the 12th of April! (plus we have General Conference that day..) That will be an AMAZING day. :)
Let's see, what happened this week?...
Tuesday we went back out to the house of the young girl that passed away and attended her funeral. We went with the thought that it would be 2 maybe 3 hours long, but nope, it ended up being over 6 hours long...BUT it was worth it. A bunch of the members from our District rented a Jeepney and rode out to the funeral together. It was amazing to see the sacrifices made and the support shown to this family at this hard time in their life.
Later on in the week I got a sore throat and started getting a cold. I have now been wrestling with a terrible cold and cough for the past 4 or so days. Not fun. On top of that, there was a typhoon again in the South so we have had really cold, stormy weather the past couple days, that really does not help my sickness. Oh well, push through and I will get better eventually.
Sunday, Sister Sanft gave her farewell talk. We took lots of pictures, visited with others, ate lunch, etc. then headed out to the cemetary with an investigator family of ours who lost their son 2 years ago. They invited us to go with them to visit the gravesite and of course we gladly accepted the invitation. As we walked up to his tomb, they called out to him and told him that he had some visitors. It was hard for me to watch this family visit the grave of their 23 year old son but there was such a strong spirit there. That night we went to their home and taught them about temples and eternal families. The gospel really just brings such a peace to my life. I know that there is a life after this life and that we will be together with our families if we are worthy and do all we can to prepare to meet God again. The family told us the very first time we met them how they had not felt true happiness since the passing of their son but that since we have been teaching them again, they are happy again, truly happy. I wish I could share a piece of what was felt last night as we taught about forever families. They are so excited to go to the temple and to not only do the work for their son but to be sealed together for all time and eternity. The uncle said something like, "You know, if he were still alive, he would be right here with us, listening, and accepting the gospel too." What joy it brings to my heart to exclaim to them that it's okay, that he can and will accept the gospel. Just do what you can, prepare yourself to be worthy to enter the temple, then go and do the work for him and for the rest of your family. The temple is truly the house of the Lord and is so sacred, special, and dear to my heart. Families CAN be together forever :)
Lots of change this week but of course with change comes the chance to learn, grow, and become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. Keep smiling and doing all you can to place Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ at the center and focus of your life.
Much love to all of you from good ol' lil' Baao, Philippines. :)
Mahal Kita!
-Sister Roderick
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