September 15, 2014 Elder Bowen visits

We had FHE and these are some of the cutest little kids.  from left to right: Gwen, Ariel, Me, LA

FHE at Tatay Lero's house

FHE! Eating toyo.  (Dried fish) It's pretty good, it just smells really bad

Hola ang pamily ko! (I don't remember how to speak Spanish anymore....)

Well, we had a really great week this last week.  First of all, we had a special mission conference with Elder Bowen who is in the presidency of the Seventy.  It was such a great conference and I felt the Spirit so strong!  It was neat also because all the zone leaders and STL's got to have a special training with him and it really helped me to want to be a better leader here.  I still have a long way to go and it was really humbling to hear what he had to say about being examples and leading with power.  I have a long way to go.  I wish you all could have heard his workshop about the House of Isreal, the Abrahamic covenant and the Oath and covenant of the Priesthood.  It was so amazing and I learned soooo much!  It really opened my eyes to who we really are in the eyes of God and all of the amazing promises that He has made to us.  It is just up to us to qualify for them.  And it really deepened my testimony about the power of the priesthood and the wonderful blessings that come from it.  And that EVERYTHING about God's plan depends on the priesthood.  At the beginning of the conference, Elder Bowen said, "I am here because I think that I know you better than you know yourselves.  And I want to help you know who you are."  He really gave an eternal perspective on who we are and what we are doing here on this earth.

Saw some old comps at the zone conference

Yesterday, is was raining really hard and our sacrament attendance dropped to 35.  A lot of members got sick and there were a lot who didn't come because of the rain.  Sayang. And most of our investigators didn't come which was sad but they do have their agency.  We can't take that away!

But, we do have a really neat story for the week. About a month and a half ago, we met a woman named Annalyn and taught her a first lesson.  She said we could come back but she was always gone from her house until one time she was there again.  So we taught her.  She said that she had a friend that she wanted to introduce us to.  So the next time we came back, her friend Lorena was there.  We taught them.  Annalyn is really nice, but just doesn't seem interested.  But Lorena did seem interested.  Unfortunately, Lorena lives in Orion which is the next city away and that isn't our area.  But she's always at Annalyn's house because her kids go to school here in Pilar.  So they told us to come back but then they were never at the house.  So we dropped them and decided it just wasn't yet their time.  But I kept thinking about Lorena and thought "Too bad we didn't get where she lives in Orion, we could have referred her to the sisters there.  She really seemed interested!"  That's what I thought every time that we walked past Annalyn's house (which is often).  Then yesterday, we were out working and had planned to contact a lot of people that we met the other day and find some referrals of the members.  We'd tried to find one referral Rowena several times but never found her.  So yesterday, there was a huge storm.  It was pouring rain and the wind was really strong.  We contacted the first few people and taught them.  At the time, we were really cold, really wet and tired of walking out in the rain.  We were thinking of just going and teaching some recent converts and less actives instead of still trying to find the referrals.  Just then, we were walking past this one street that Rowena (the referral) supposedly lives on.  I asked Sis Domingo if we should go try and find her.  Sister Domingo said "Again??" I shrugged and we decided to give it a try really quick.  So we went to the apartment building that we figured she might live at and I saw a door close right as we walked up.  I thought to myself, 'Oh, I think that's her house. She probably recognized us and shut the door really quickly.'  So I told Sis Domingo, "I think that's her house!" So we went up to it and knocked.  No one answered for a long time, but then eventually the door opened and there stood Lorena! She was surprised, I was surprised and didn't know what to say! I said, "Sister, what are you doing here?" She said "We live here! We just moved here on Sept 1."  She let us in and we met her whole family.  She said, "Did Annalyn tell you that we just moved here?" We said no, we were actually looking for someone but this is the house that God took us to.  Everyone was so surprised, including myself.  Lorena looked so happy and said to her husband, "This is the sister that I told you about! It's been a month now.  The last time you came to Annalyn's house was August 9." I just could not believe that we came and knocked on Lorena's door when they had moved there just one week ago.  We taught her family and they seem so interested, even the husband!  I am so grateful that I followed the prompting to go down that street and look one more time for that referral even though there was a hurricane and we were cold and wet.  It wasn't the referral that Heavenly Father wanted us to find, it was Lorena! It just goes to show that Heavenly Father knows where all of His children are.  And if we are willing to listen, He will take us to those who are ready.  Definitely the Spirit guiding us yesterday!

Well, that's the update for the last week.  I love being a missionary!  Even though it is really hard sometimes, it is so worth it.  There is a happiness here every day that you don't feel otherwise.  And it's so amazing to be able to feel the Spirit everyday.  I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who cares about each one of us and wants us all to return to His presence.  He has a plan for us and He has called a Savior to help us reach that goal.  And he still calls living prophets to guide us and show us the way. We are that important to Him.

Mahal ko kayo!
Sister Sirrine