Keep Smiling

Happy 14th Birthday to Jordan!

Perfect patience is really a tough thing to acquire.

This area requires a lot, and I mean, A LOT of patience. 

It is definitely not always easy, actually I would venture to say we have yet to do anything that was 'easy' here in Libmanan but I am happy to say that things are growing, things are progressing, and we are all coming closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I hope you are all doing well. This week there have been many times when I was so exhausted I couldn't even hold my own head up or the things coming out of people's mouths were so rude and not Christlike that I had to literally bite my tongue from not responding to them, and then other times where we saw some of those we teach doing those things which they should not have been doing. The natural man wants to get annoyed, angry, even lash out sometimes, but I have really been trying to step back, think clearly, count to 10, think of my Savior and what He would do, then press on with brighter hope and faith for the future. It certainly is not easy and I am still working on it every single day, but I know if we stand up straight, put a big ol' smile on our face, and press forward with faith, it will all work out and we will become better, stronger, and closer to our Savior through our diligence and perseverance.

Never give up. Never. 

Love you all. Keep smiling. :) BIG smiles. It makes life a lot happier, promise. 

Mahal ko po kayo!

-Sister Roderick

P.S. It was Sister Lua's birthday this week so that was fun getting to celebrate a little bit with her. :)

A Sense of the Sacred

Hey fam and friends!

Another week come and gone.

Hope you are all doing well and staying healthy and strong. :)

This week.

Hmm. Still not over this sickness. My throat is still sore and I'm just dragging a bit but I feel it leaving..sana. So this week I am praying that we will get ALL better and be able to kick some serious rump this week to get this area going again. 

The past several weeks we have spent finding the members/less actives right? Well now that we have found just about all of them, we are hoping that this week we will be able to just go, go, go and teach, teach, teach. YES. I miss a more of a normalish schedule of teaching. :)

Friday this week we had our Zone Conference. :) So President Reeder and his 2 assistants came down to Pamplona and we had hours of fantastic instruction and learning. I love it. 

President had us all read the talk "A Sense of the Sacred," by Elder D. Todd Christofferson before the conference then Friday we went through it and had a great discussion about those things which we hold sacred. 

I learned a ton and really gained greater reverence for those things in life that are truly sacred, or at least should be.

I think everyone should read that talk and re-evaluate how we treat different things in our life. 

Ask yourself, what do you consider 'sacred' in your life? Why is it sacred to you? How do you act, or what do you do, to express your reverence and respect for that thing, place, person? 

There are so many distractions in the world that we sometimes lose our sense of sacredness. If we truly understand the gospel, those things that God has blessed us with in this life, our families, the prophets, the scriptures, our bodies, the temple, etc..we will re think how we talk and act about such things. Read the talk. Ponder it. Apply it to your life and together let's bring back that proper sense of sacredness that has so often been lost due to the distractions of the world. 

Love and miss you all. Stay strong. Read your scriptures every day. :) Take care!

Mahal ko po kayo!

-Sister Roderick

Up Down Up Down Up?

Time is ticking down...yikes!

10 things of my week.

1. Zone training on Thursday. Always great. Love hearing from my mission leaders and seeing the other missionaries. Weird to me that I am not one of the 'old' missionaries in the mission. Huh? When did that happen?

2. Sometimes it just hits me that I am in  the Philippines, speaking Tagalog. Think about it, crazy right? It hit me the other day mid-sentence when my companion (whom I love dearly and will miss when transfers come around) and I were talking in straight Tagalog. I am still far from being fluent but finally I feel like I can understand and communicate decently! Yes! Just upward from here.

3. We're sick. yucks. 5 of the 6 missionaries in my district have the same sickness- cold, cough, congestion, fever bleh. Work was slow this week.

4. Someone broke into our church building this week and stole our computer...uh oh. Not sure how that happened and what we are going to do about it but yeah, not good.

5. Attended another funeral.

6. 3 service projects. I am getting pretty darn good at using a machete to do just about anything yardwork-y. Dad, you gotta get one. Plus I am so tan! People keep telling me I am turning Filipina now ha YES! :)

7. You know how we have been searching for all the 'lost sheep?' or the members that no one knows anymore. Welp we walked for about 2 hours out in the middle of nowhere bukid or rice fields to find this guy. His brother is a member that we visit here close to town and who just happened to be out working way far out in the bukid when we showed up..i wish i could have had my camera ready. Tatay's face was priceless! He is working up on the roof of their farm house when he sees us walk up and his eyes get HUGE and mouth drops. hah he goes "why are you here? how did you get here? what? what?" hahaha funnier in Tagalog. Anywho, he was so shocked that we went all the way out there. Then when we asked him where his brother (the less active) was he simply pointed to a guy sitting close by and we all started busting up laughing. Yup. The crazy sister missionaries that walk and search all over just for you. We gon' find you. No empty seats. :)

8. Had a meeting with our branch mission leader yesterday. Apparently some of the members aren't too happy with our work. Not sure why. It was discouraging for a bit then we realized we are working dang hard and there should be no room for complaining so we just put on a big smile and are gonna work harder.

9. Passed our cleaning check this morning. :) That's good. A clean home really is a happy home.

10. I have started reading the book, Jesus the Christ, this week and it is phenomenal. I am at this point where I never want to stop reading the scriptures and other like books. I love increasing my knowledge of the gospel and having my faith and testimony grow. Although I still have a long way to go, I can feel the conversion happening in me. Change is always present. I am  continually striving to be more like my Savior everyday and to follow his example. I challenge all of you to reassess your life and think of what you spend your time doing. You have 24 hours in 1 day. Do you spend your time wisely? Are you using your time  to learn, grow, and come closer to our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ? Try it and you will gain much greater joy and motivation in your life when you strive harder to center your life on Him and to do all things with a desire to become more like Him.

Love you all. Mahal ko kayo! Take care! :)

-Sister Roderick

Success is in the Air. : )

Week full of finding, cleaning, and getting our act together...

Exhausted as always but the good exhausted where you know you have gotten so much done that you can fall into bed and sleep a nice, long, good, peaceful sleep.

We have sort of become the clerks of this Libmanan Branch this week. More responsibilities but at least someone's getting work done. 

Keep the faith! Never give up. Obey with exactness and the blessings WILL come. Not always immediately, but I promise they will come. 

Not much more to say. I think this is a record for the shortest email of mine..ever. 

I do love you all and miss you much.

Take care and enjoy your week! Go do some service and help others come unto Christ!

Mahal ko po kayo!  

-Sister Roderick

P.S. My dream came true the other day when I got to hold baby pigs!!!! 2 days old! I was loving it! I have pictures but cant upload them. You will see them eventually! :)