Week 22: Its GODS WORK here in the Philippines

December 10, 2018

Wow do i just want to say that I love this Gospel and the opportunity that i have to share it with everyone i come in contact with! This week while we were walking from one lesson to the next i was just started to talk with these ladies sitting in front of a tindahan (basically a small store out of someones house) and i just sat down on the curb and started talking with them and got to know them and these ladies, like most people i talk to on the street, say that our church is the same as theirs and that its fine if we just stay at our own churches. And so with these ladies i wanted to help them understand that our church is the ONLY true Church on the earth today and how through the restoration that we have all these blessings of having the restored gospel and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. Anyway i finished telling them what i was prompted to say and testify about, and i saw that they weren't going to change their mind and so i just shook each of their hands and told them thank you and to have a good day and we left to our next appointment. And while we were walking my companion basically just looked at me and told me that i was so BOLD with those ladies, and that she doesn't know if she could ever do that cuz shes so shy. Haha and thinking about how i was talking to these ladies i guess i was kind of bold, but were told many times in the scriptures or by prophets to be BOLD as we share the gospel! And guess what, I was just so proud of myself cuz i was able to talk to those ladies all on my own, all in Tagalog, as my Filipino companion just stood right next to me and didn't say a word, haha i may have not understood everything that they said, but i just use that to my advantage cuz i have less fear to just say what i want to say to then no mater what they say! 

So on Sunday during our Relief Society lesson the teacher asked a YSA sister in the ward and me to randomly come up and sing a duet before she started her lesson. And i wasn't super familiar with the song, but me and her, and we convinced Mamang (that her nickname, but her name is Sister Baysa, one of my favorite members) to come sing with us and while we were singing i couldn't stop smiling just because im so happy that i just love all the women in our ward, and that they make me feel comfortable enough that i could sing a song i didn't know and it didn't matter if it was good or bad, but that they would smile back at me and still love me for me! 

This week i was in another sisters area for exchanges and our last lesson that we had together was with a former investigator with one arm. It was dark outside at this point and while we were teaching Him we all sat down on the ground (because he didn't have enough chairs for us) and he didn't have any electricity and so we all sat down on the ground in a circle with a small candle in the middle and we taught Him about the gospel! it was such a cool, spiritual experience to teach this man and he was telling us how he believes its true and at the end of the lesson he accepted the invitation to be baptized!

We had many other tender mercies in our work this week, such as the other day one time we had just finished teaching a lesson, and I was prompted to talk to this random girl sitting on a bench in front of her house and after her telling us her name and then looking in my planner to see that we have been trying to find this girl for a couple days now, but didn't know who she was or where shed lived, just her name! She was taught twice by the missionaries before, but then the lessons just stopped, and so that day we were able to teach her and she told us we could come back and teach her again! wow God is truly in every aspect of his Work here on earth! 

The work is hard, but the blessings are so great, im so grateful for the opportunity that i have to be a full time missionary sharing the love of God to the people in the Philippines! Don't forget this Christmas season to share Gods love with those around you! love you all so much and im so grateful for all the prayers! Have a fantastic week!

Sister Thayn

-San Tomas, its basically in the middle of nowhere.

-Me trying to share the gospel with a random cow we found.

-Mondays FHE with the Noriega Family

-Some little girls saw me trying to take a picture with a cow, but i got to scared by the cow so i instead took a picture with them and they were so excited and couldn't stop hugging me!

-I say YES TO GOD!