This week felt really long for some reason, but is was a good one! It has been really cold (for the Philippines) and so I have been constantly entertained by the outfits the people here come up with for the cold. They get pretty dang creative. But really I don't know how I am going to do Utah winter. I have been boiling my water to shower and sleeping without an electric fan. It's madness.
A lot of awesome things happened this week with investigators and a lot of crazy things happened! So I have a lot of stories! Let's start with yesterday! Church was a miracle! We had SO many less actives come and 2 investigators that we weren't really expecting showed up! Marilyn came and then Rosallee. Rosallee showed up with three of her kids and then 2 of the neighborhood kids. It was darling! Primary doubled in size yesterday. Last week we taught Rosallee the Word of Wisdom and she hasn't had coffee since. She used to drink it 4 times a day. She told us that she taught it to her husband and sisters, but they wouldn't follow it. haha. She is so funny and awesome!
On Wednesday we were walking down a road to an investigators house and we started talking and walking with this 14 year old girl. She was pretty shy and seemed lonely and a little sad. She started to smile though as we walked with her and I think was a little shocked that 2 white girls were walking with her and talking to her in Tagalog. When we got to her house she told thanks because she usually has to walk alone and that scares her. We are going back to teach her on Tuesday. I hope that when I get home I will be a lot more aware of those that need a friend, like Jancesca.
On Friday we visited our investigator Juna, who is so golden and can pull off a dew rag... But we can't seem to get her to church. We taught about faith and she told us that ever since we began to teach her that her faith has increased. She said before religion was just a Sunday thing for her, but now she prays and reads the Book of Mormon each day with her family (how awesome, they already have family prayer and scripture study) and so she is constantly thinking about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. When she said that I really felt like my companion and I were fulfilling our purpose as missionaries.
On Friday we also tracted a girl named Charm...yes Charm. At the end of the lesson her question for us was, "How can I contact my brother that lives in Germany that I haven't seen since I was 6?" She thought that America and Germany were on the same island...So yeah that is Charm.
I don't know if you guys remember Rock Lady, but she is totally hitting up the parties these days. We saw one of our investigators and it was her moms birthday so she wanted us to come say hi really fast, so we walk into the house and sure enough there is rock lady with a GIANT plate of food jamming to "Can't Touch This." We were dying! She would.
On Saturday we went to find someone we had talked to on the street named Annalyn. We had been told that her husband was sick, but we were expecting a cold or something. When we went into her house her husband was laying in a hammock helplessly and she told us that he had had cancer for 3 years. It was the saddest and hardest thing I have ever seen. They have no money because she has to stay home all day and take care of him, so she can't work and so they can't afford medicine. Her family gives them food each day. He is only in his 20's and he looks at least 50. They have a 4 year old son. It literally broke my heart. I was trying so hard not to cry the whole lesson because I didn't want to make her feel bad, but a few tears for sure slipped out. The craziest part was that she was so happy and had such strong faith. The whole time we were just thinking- what can we do for these people? They need so much, but we decided to leave her with a Book of Mormon that she could read while she was home all day. That is the best gift we could ever give her. I hope that it will bring her peace. I really can never complain about anything. If Annalyn isn't complaining, I have no reason ever to complain. I hope that I will always stop myself if I ever start to complain again.
OH, this morning I got to ride a Caribou! Total bucketlister! We asked this guy if we could come back and ride his caribou a couple days ago when we were trying to find a new apartment and he said yes, so we went back this morning and of course he had invited all of his friends and family to watch the 3 white girls ride the caribou. It was so awesome though!
Again, probably an all over the place email, but that was a little of my week! Just living life here on the island! I miss you all and hope everything is good at home! MAHAL KITA!
-Sister Gardner
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