Monday, February 17, 2014

Sipon/Ubo (cold/cough)


Hello my dearest family, 

How are all of you doing? I hope it has been a fantastic week and that Valentine's was fun. This was a sweet week!  I've been a little sick this week, and Sister Marchant has been medicating me with some herb thingy and cayenne pepper (yes, it burns) in a little potion. But anyway, I'm fine. I just have a cough right now. Why do I even mention this at all, you ask? Because this is the first time in my whole mission I've even been sick. And I've still been working every day. And it is funny because before my mission I was terrified that I would catch a parasite or get some fatal disease. No such luck. hahaha. The Lord is protecting me. :) 

Anyway, on to the good stuff. :) So! Angela (12 y/o) and Clarice (12 y/o) are two of the investigators we had at church this week. Mickey's girlfriend, Rose, also came. Yay! Leoandra didn't come. :( But, the good news is that we went right after church to find out why, and it was because she had to do some laundry and her kids were being sabad (naughty). I was surprised it was such a silly reason....so we taught her about the Sabbath Day and about the Holy Ghost and now she is committed gid to come every week. And to just do her laundry on Saturday. Guess what is AWESOME? We now have 3 investigators with a Baptismal Goal date, Cheryan, Angela, and Leoandra are all on date for March 29. Yesssss!!!!! We've been extending and extending and extending and extending BGDs for months, and these are the first ones to accept since the Vicente guy who was in love with us. Even though she did not come to church, I know she has a lot of real intent and she will definitely keep moving forward. 

I forgot to tell you all a cool thing that happened last Sunday, the 9th of February. So, we went to contact the mother of this little kid that we OYM'ed a few weeks ago. We gave JR, this little 8 year old, a pamphlet, and ever since he has been reminding us to go talk to his mom. So then we finally did. Her name is Shara, and we were surprised to discover that she is a former investigator who used to live in Iloilo city proper in 2012. When we showed up at her door, she went and grabbed her old Ang Libro ni Mormon and introduced us to her neighbor, Jeralyn, so we could share with her too. She wants to be baptized really bad, but she and her husband need to get married first, which is what held them back before. So, we are going to help them get that figured out and reteach everything, because she has forgotten a lot. It was an amazing finding experience. 

On Saturday, we did exchanges. Sister Orkin came with me, and Sister Marchant went to Jaro 2. Sister Orkin is a Filipina from Palawan. It was great to work with her. I was really humbled and made grateful for all that I have. When the Lord says "ye shall prosper in the land" all throughout the scriptures, He really means Sister Winward's life. We went to teach an investigator who lives in a falling apart bamboo house, and Sister Orkin said it reminded her of home. She lives near the beach on a little island and her dad is a fisherman and her mom is a maid. She worked as a maid for all 5 years of high school, living in someone else's home, away from her family. I know the sacrifice she must have made to be out on her mission is enormous. I was grateful for the opportunity to get to know her and to help her develop her English skills. She asked me a question I thought was really funny, she said she had only heard it before and didn't believe it, but I know she was really wondering if it was true or not. She asked if there is a tradition in America where one day every year we throw away everything in our house and buy all new things...refrigerator, TV, laundry baskets, dishes, everything. Whoa. I think we may have a reputation for being wasteful. Yikes. (I'm still proud to be an American, but I am definitely learning a lot from these Filipinos, that's for sure.) 

Something funny last Tuesday, We were riding a jeep with Leoandra and her kids on the way to the ward Valentine's party. We met Madeleine, and her mom, Ana, from the UK. Madeleine is on an 8 month volunteer trip here to work in a school up north. It was cool and a little weird to have an English conversation on a jeepney. It is always entertaining to run into another white person. haha. 

I hope you are all doing well. I found a verse I reeeeally like in my OT reading the other day, Deut. 8:2. We may not always understand why the Lord is testing us, but He does. And in the end we will be stronger and we will be thankful for the experience even if it is hard at the present. Even if it takes 40 years for us to understand why. 

I love you all soooo much. Thank you for your prayers. Halong pirmi! 

Love, Sister Winward

Sister Cassie Winward

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