This was gonna be great...

Welp, I have had a GREAT week! I really have.

I had all these wonderful things I was planning on sharing with you all and what not but you know, this computer decided to take forever to load and now my time is UP! Naku! Sorrrrrry about the lame email! Hopefully next week will be better!

Lets see, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Big news of the week:

1. Got to go back to BAAO and see my people! It 

was the best. I thoroughly enjoyed it. They are still strong in the faith and progressing even more!

2. Got my Christmas package delivered right to my apartment door steps Christmas Eve morning by our AP elves. Nice surprise! It was perfect! Exactly what I needed thank you! 

3. Made M&M cookies! YUM!

4. Studied all about the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was so enlightening and filled me with hope! :) The gospel really does bring hope to all who will listen and follow Jesus Christ. 

5. Skyped with the fam! They couldn't hear my voice but its all good. Loved every second of it anyways!

That's all for now! So lame, I know. I love you all though and can't believe that I am heading home in less than 2 months! Stay amazing and keep smiling! There IS hope for us all, through Jesus Christ. Just trust and follow Him.

-Sister Roderick

Ang Paasko y' Paalala

Merry Christmas to all! :)

I love Christmas! The lights, decorations, food, music, family gatherings, festivities, lahat! This is my second Christmas on the mission and it feels great. :) Being a missionary is the most wonderful thing and even more special at Christmastime, as Jesus Christ is on everyone's mind.

This past week I went on my first exchanges as a sister training leader. Long story short, they were two of the best days of my whole mission so far. The spirit was so strong and we felt guided they entire day! Tuesday, I worked with Sister Villarca and on Wednesday with Sister Iloa. Two amazing missionaries who love to work hard and walk fast. (My perfect match!) I can't even explain how great our work was those two days! Heavenly Father was there guiding us and literally gave us the strength to keep going, to talk to one more person, to invite one more person to listen, to push ourselves just a little more to be that much better. We found many wonderful, potential FAMILIES! You know me and those families. Can't hold me back when it comes to teaching them. The best thing in the world. Aint nothin gon top that.

Friday was our Mission Christmas Conference in Naga. So fun! We watched Frozen. You know. :) (don't worry Char, we will still watch it when I get back!) It was a day full of friends, laughter, food of course, and topped off with a wonderful message from President Reeder.

This Christmas season will we CHOOSE to LET Christ in to our lives?.. I know that Christ lives. He is our Savior and Redeemer. LET HIM IN. Embrace His goodness in your lives and follow Him always.

Merry Christmas all! Maligayang Pasko! Mahal na mahal ko kayo!

-Sister Roderick

Choose to Be! :)

The flood is gone. The sun is out. The Christmas music is playing through the streets. And this is one happy sister missionary.

I have noticed this week that as I walk down the street, I do this little jolly bounce step thing coupled with a huge grin on my face that doesn't seem to wipe away. It is a great way to live. Being a missionary is not easy. Having people yell at you or lie to you or blatantly ignore you or rudely kick you out of their house is not a very fun endeavor BUT aint nothin' gon' bring me down. Like that great English of mine? :) It is true though! One of the biggest things I have learned so far on my mission is that it ALL depends on me! If I want to let things get to me, of course I am going to get discouraged and down...BUT if I CHOOSE to be positive, upbeat, happy, patient, encouraging, hopeful, and kind, it all works out! No matter how many supposedly "bad" things happened that day, it is up to us whether we will think of all those "bads" or find a way to turn those supposed 'bads' to 'goods'! and moooove on. Not worth it to get hung up on the little things. 

I am so happy to be a missionary! I love Christmas time! This is a beautiful, cheerful, love-filled, magical time of year. Still not sure why I am here in Nabua, it is so so so different than anything I have had to deal with my whole mission, guess that's why I am here, to learn something new. Anywho, I am hopeful and my faith is strong that Heavenly Father has a plan for us all, including for me and these people here in Nabua. Miracles are a'coming. I just know it. Enjoy your Christmas season and keep striving to be more like Jesus Christ every single day! It's the little choices we make, the way we use our agency, that brings us closer to and helps us become more like, Jesus Christ. 

Mahal ko po kayong lahat! Merry Merry Christmas!

-Sister Roderick

Covered in Tubig

Where on earth to begin. This past week and a half certainly did not go anything like I expected it to.

Monday- Last night in Libmanan. It was sad. I miss them but I gotta move on.

Tuesday- Transfer day in Naga. Good to see the other missionaries, sad to say goodbye to my second kid in the mission, nervous as always to get a new comp and area. I was called as a sister training leader, the sister who goes on exchanges with other sisters, and am assigned in Nabua, Iriga...aka next town over from my beloved Baao! Mixed feelings there. My new companion is the lovely Sister Gayla Prakash from Fiji. She's awesome. She also goes home in January so yep, just one transfer with her then boom, my last transfer in the mission. Where did the time go?!

Wednesday- I worked in a trio with some sisters in Naga while my comp and her batch were fixing their visas in Manila.

Thursday- Went and waited for them to get back, met up, got lunch, more waiting and stuff, then finally made our way to Nabua. To get to Nabua you have to drive right thru Baao so that was exciting and weird all at the same time. It will be fun though because we get to go on exchanges with the sisters in Baao so I will get to see all my people again! :) Yay! That night we did studies then got to go work for a couple hours. So funny thing is, since I was assigned in Baao before, I came and worked on exchanges in Nabua about 4 or so times so I already know a lot of the people...bonus. It will be good. 

Friday- District Meeting and District lunch in the morning then work! Glorious work. 

Saturday- Lock down. Typhoon Ruby was supposedly making it way to us, hence why we were put on lock down and not allowed to leave the apartment. A little rain here and there but that's all we got until Saturday early in the morning when the rain and the winds came. Lots of it.

   Side note- here in Nabua we are supposedly the low point of Iriga/the whole Naga Mission so when it rains, it floods..

Sunday- Still on lock down so we didn't even get to go to church! Can you believe that? What kind of missionary doesn't go to church?..but ya know, not much you can do when a typhoon is going on outside. So yeah..

Monday- Lock down, hence why we didn't get to email.

Tuesday- We were supposed to go to Naga for a Mission Leadership Council Meeting thing but waist-high water covered the town so we had no way to get out of the city and did not get to go. So sad, I was excited for that but next time na lang. That afternoon though we were able to walk out to centro a ways with our fellow elders and see the damage..walking in knee-high water in the middle of town! What! It was so crazy! It felt like we were at the beach..right outside the grocery store! haha Man. Praying it doesn't rain anymore so the water can finally go down.

Wednesday- Were able to go out a little again and check some of our area.. I say some because well with deep water still covering almost all the streets, we couldn't go far and couldn't see much.

I am sick of staying inside but there is nothing else to do. We have read, studied, written letters, cooked, talked, taken pictures, slept, eaten, done laundry, cleaned, and more but my head is seriously spinning from boredom. I miss work! We are almost done with the second week of this transfer and we have not even had a full week of work. Ugh. They are estimating that it will take at least another week for the water to go down.. That is no bueno. We are struggling here but learning lots of patience. :) 

Happy that we finally got electricity back and were able to email! :) We are alive and safe. I hope you are doing well and have lots of dry land there :)

Mahal ko po kayo! Take care! :)

-Sister Roderick

Here we go again!

Transfers tomorrow, I'm transferred. I was told I will be staying a couple days in Naga with a temporary companion while I wait for my new comp to get back from fixing her visa in Manila...which pretty much narrows it down to where I am about 95% sure I know who my new comp is and where I am going BUT we will just have to wait til tomorrow to find out for sure :) ..she is for sure a foreigner though and for sure this is her last transfer in the mission...going to kill another one. 

Mixed emotions this week. I didn't want to tell people I was leaving before I actually knew and even then, I didn't want to make a big deal so I just kind of kept it on the DL that I am leaving Libmanan. Goodbyes are never easy. I told one of my Nanays at church that I was leaving and she started bawling right then and there, in the middle of the entryway, with people walking all around her! Oh billy. I guess I could have thought that one through a little better but I was NOT expecting that response! hah I will definitely miss this place and especially these people. 

Funny to look back to my first transfer here and how much I did not want to be here and was looking forward to leaving..well, the Lord works in mysterious ways and I have truly grown to love these people as my own family. I feel like in my other areas, I have gotten really close to one or two families but here is different.. I feel close to everyone and am going to miss them all! It's a toughy. Despite me going to miss them, I feel good leaving, meaning I feel like I have really given my everything to this area and to these people and now it is time for me to move on to somewhere else and I am okay with that. I feel content in that I have done the very best that I can to build up the Lord's kingdom here in Libmanan and now it is in His hands. :)

Thanksgiving was a good one. We had a big thanksgiving meal with our district after district meeting. :) Sis Falcon and I made mashed potatoes and frozen peach pies, which actually both turned out really well. Yumm. Then we had fried chicken, rice (of course, can't live without it), bananas, and root beer..what a grand Thanksgiving feast. It was delicious. :)

Holy guacamole, we had so many people at church yesterday it was great! (and for the record, no, it was not because I am leaving, no one even knew yet that I was leaving), but truly the Lord answered our prayers and blessed us with so many people at church! It was a great Sunday. :) Last night we had dinner at the district president's house and later tonight we have another dinner at the home of one of his counselor's. Mmm benefits of working hard...oh yeah and having the whole district presidency living in your area boundary.. :)

Ano pa..I strongly dislike packing. It's terrible. Especially when I just washed all my clothes to pack them nice and clean...and now its pouring rain! My clothes are never going to dry by tomorrow morning! AH! Oh well, it will all work out, it always does. 

It is freaking me out a bit that this is now my second to last transfer of my entire mission. It goes too fast. It never ceases to amaze me just how much you can learn every single day! Staying strong. Working hard. Christmas is soon, I'm soooo excited! I love Christmas! :) 

Mahal ko po kayo!

-Sister Roderick