This has been a week full of miracles
and growth for little ol' Sister Franks. It's strange, but cool, I am
really starting to recognize how Heavenly Father is using this time on
the mission to shape and refine me. Never expected it would actually be
this successful. :P
On Wednesday, we got to work with the Sister
Training Leaders here. Sister Sanders (one of my roommates in the MTC)
and Sister Tibungcog (a Filipina from our batch coming to the field).
I've never really been excited to work with the STLs (except Sister
Houser), but it was a really good day. I got to work with Sister
Tibungcog (from Mindanao--the part down south that's really dangerous,
where they don't let foreigners go), and learned a lot from her. She's
so fun and down-to-earth and so humble. She's a great missionary--great
at being bold and sharing our message with simple testimony, but also
good at connecting with investigators. We were actually able to have a
LOT of lessons, even though our time was shorter than a normal work day,
and even found some new investigators! One of the biggest realizations I
had while working with her though, is how confident I am becoming as a
missionary. In previous transfers (especially the first half of the
mission), I kind of dreaded working with STLs because I was so
self-conscious about them judging me and my teaching skills, or my
ability to lead the area, connect to investigators, teach people not
lessons, etc. Last week was the first time that I was able to just let
all of those preconceived notions/inhibitions go and just work like I
would with any other companion. I think, as a result, all our lessons
went much better. The respect we both have for each other led to a sort
of automatic unity that really surprised me, since I had never really
met or talked to her at all before that day (just knew her name from
other sisters who served with her). It was a really fun day, and SO good
for our area, because Sister Morrell and Sister Welling have been sick
the past couple of weeks so we haven't been able to work as much as we
would have liked to.
Immediately following our great, successful day with
the STLs, Sister Morrell and I experienced THE HARDEST DAY of our
entire missions!! It's hard to even explain why it was such a hard day,
really. We left the house at 11:30am (did all our studying back-to-back
in the morning, instead of how our normal schedule is of working 10-12
and then having language study after lunch) and went to lunch at the
house of one of our recent converts and his less-active family. The
lunch was good (sinagang! mmmm... :D) and we were able to share a
message with them about missionary work from Lehi's dream (1 Nephi 8:12)
and invited them to be fellowshippers to some of their friends who we
are teaching. Overall, a good experience, should have been fine. After
that, we had a bunch of lessons planned, but the schedule didn't work
out quite how we had lined it up. Long story short, we just walked A LOT
(like probably 5+ miles--no joke--throughout the day) and I swear it
was THE HOTTEST DAY of the summer. On the way to one of our lessons at
like 2:40, we were both just exhausted and hot and talking about how
crazy our lives are as missionaries here in the Philippines and just
both started laughing (the preferred option to crying). It was kind of
an amazing turning point for both of us, though, because we talked about
how strange missionary life really is, that everything in your body and
spirit--every part of our "natural man"--is telling you just to go home
or give up or whatever, but just we just keep walking. We just keep
pressing on. It was the first that either of us had experienced what it
truly means to let our wills be "swallowed up in the will of the Father"
(Mosiah 15:7; see also PMG pg 120). Honestly, I was surprised. That was
probably the start of my realizing how this mission has changed me. For
those that know me, you know how I have never been good at diligence or
perseverance. When things get hard, I basically do all I can to get out
of it, quit, or at least make it as painless and easy as possibly
(doing the "bare minimum" required to get by). Who would have ever
thought that little ol' ME would get to a point of mental stamina to
just turn everything over to the Lord and follow His will, trusting Him
entirely to get me through it? Apparently Heavenly Father did. I still
can hardly wrap my mind around it. My respect for returned missionaries
has once again skyrocketed. I know I am not the only one who has had
that kind of experience (probably every Elder and Sister does at some
point), but it still amazes me. I wish I had words to convey my
feelings, but I don't. I just hope I will remember this experience when I
get back to real life and have to go through finals, or finding a job,
or raising a family. It's like what Kristen and I used to tell each
other all the time: "YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS." :) We really can, if we
remember to rely on the right source: our Savior Jesus Christ and His
Atonement.
Speaking of the Atonement, Sister Morrell was
reading a Sunday School manual last night and found this beautiful quote
that we really liked: “The wounds in [the Lord’s] hands, feet, and side
are signs that in mortality painful things happen even to the pure and
the perfect, signs that tribulation is not evidence that God does not
love us. It is a significant and hopeful fact that it is the wounded
Christ who comes to our rescue. He who bears the scars of sacrifice, the
lesions of love, the emblems of humility and forgiveness is the Captain
of our Soul. That evidence of pain in mortality is undoubtedly intended
to give courage to others who are also hurt and wounded by life,
perhaps even in the house of their friends” (from Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland).
She read it to me as we were getting ready to say our nightly
prayer, and it reminded me of the story that Leo tells Josh on the West
Wing. How there is a man who falls in a hole and is trapped. He calls
out for help. One of his friends passes by and he shouts "Hey Joe! It's
me. I've fallen in this hole, can you help me out?" The friend quickly
jumps into the hole with him. The man says, "Are you crazy? Now we are
both stuck down here." The friend just says, "Yeah, but I've been here
before and I know the way out."
That story had never struck me before as such a beautiful analogy
for the Atonement, but last night I realized how true it really is.
Christ went through all that He went through "that he may know ACCORDING
TO THE FLESH how to succor his people according to their infirmities"
(Alma 7:12, emphasis added). He knows what we feel not just in a
hypothetical sense, but in a very real, literal, physical sense. Sister
Morrell has had an ear infection for two weeks, and last night cut her
finger on one of our fans, and we were talking about how Christ knows
that pain. He knows the sting of her bleeding finger, the ache of her
clogged ear, and everything else on top of it. But because He felt that,
He has the power and ability to heal her, to heal us all, to take away
that suffering, to lead us out of the hole we have fallen into.
This Gospel is beautiful. The Atonement is incredible.
My
birthday was kind of strange, but good. One of the coolest things was
waking up on Saturday morning and realizing that not only was I turning
22, but that nearly my entire life as a 21 year old was spent as a
missionary and representative of my Savior (I was set apart the day
after my birthday last year). I was just so overwhelmed with gratitude
as I thought on the past year and everything I have been through, all
the blessings I have received, all the miracles I have witnessed. It's
kind of sad, almost, that I won't be able to say that about this coming
year. And it is still weird to think that I have already been gone
almost a year. It's good at least that the effects and memories of my
time here will last a lot longer than my visa and ministerial
certificate do. ;)
Saturday was pretty much a regular day (even did my morning
exercise like the diligent little missionary I should be): we studied,
went to work, got punted, followed the Spirit and found new
investigators (that story to follow shortly), made a yummy lunch of
homemade Five Guys style burgers (and Puregold, the grocery store here,
finally got green olives! Best birthday gift Heavenly Father could have
given me!), studied some more, went to work again, bought a couple
shakes (more like icees) between lessons. When we got home though, my
kabahays had prepared a little party for me, including a yummy chocolate
cake, and cookies and cream ice cream (the best!). So we all sat around
on the kitchen floor (our "living room", if you will) and had cake and
ice cream and talked about birthday traditions. They are so cute, and it
was so sweet of them to make such an effort to make me feel so loved.
:) It was a good day.
Okay, so about our great finding story on Saturday! The
mission/wards/stakes here have given us, as missionaries, these lists of
people that used to live in our ward but that moved away and left no
forwarding address for their church records. So we have been given the
task of trying to go find people who knew them before they moved (from
their old neighborhood or whatever) and trying to find where they are
now. Well, after we got punted on Saturday morning, we had some time to
kill before going home for lunch. Being the diligent missionaries we
are, we knew that meant some kind of finding activity. :P We happened to
be just a couple of blocks away from where one of the "lost members"
(people that moved with no new address) lived, so we decided to go try
to find them. We found the right street and started asking people if
anyone knew them. We were eventually redirected to a tindahan (a house
with a little storefront for selling snacks and drinks), where we asked
help. The teenage boy who we first asked was apparently scared by two
white girls talking to him and went to get his parents. They came out
and we explained what we were looking for, and they started shouting to
all their friends/neighbors to try to find out if anyone knew the people
we were looking for. No one did. But despite the lack of success in
locating the members, we were able to talk to the parents a little bit
and explain that we are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (better known here as "Mormons"). We were about to go
try the other end of the street, but asked if we could come back to
share with them our message, about Jesus Christ and intended for
families. They said yes, and I went to get their information (names,
etc, so we could come back), but then Sister said "just come in! It's so
hot outside!" So, of course, we went in! We talked to them and got to
know more about their family, and they agreed to let us share a short
message with them. Turns out Brother has a LOT of questions, especially
about why there are so many churches/religions, and Sister is looking
for something that will help her know how to raise her kids to be
obedient and grounded and grow up to be good people, even though she
herself is imperfect. Sister Morrell and I just kind of looked at each
other, thinking "this family is golden!", and testified to them that
this message is exactly what they are looking for! They also happen to
have 3 kids, all youth age (a 15 year old boy, and two girls, 12 and
13), who are really sharp. They agreed we could come back, but said
Saturday would be best (so we have to wait a whole week to see them
again!). I think Sister Morrell thinks I am a little overly optimistic
about them, but honestly, I just feel like they are so prepared for this
Gospel, and it is exactly what they need and are looking for in their
lives. I am so excited to see what will happen and what the Lord has in
store for their family. :)
Being a missionary is THE GREATEST! We also happen
to have a stinking AWESOME ward here! We had ward council yesterday, and
I have literally never seen a ward council so strong and so eager to
help the work move forward in such a productive way. I just feel so
blessed and motivated to be assigned here in Taytay. The Lord really is
hastening His work, and it's so inspiring to be a part of it, and seeing
how things really are coming together to provide a way for us mere
mortals to be successful in our endeavors.
I hope that you all have a great week!! I love you
so much and think of and pray for you always! Thank you for all your
love and support!
Love always,
Sister Emma Franks
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