November 11, 2019
I feel like the luckiest missionary EVER! Because within the last week I have had the opportunity to go to all 4 of my areas. Last week I was in Cauayan for meetings, I didn't get to visit any members or recent converts, but I was in so many familiar places. Then I got to go to Alicia, my second area, where I got to see some of my most favorite people in the world. Then this last week we had zone conference at the church in my first area, Ilagan, and it was so weird to be back in my first area. It felt like I never left and could take us anywhere we wanted to go. But things have changed since I was in Ilagan, it finally got a 7-Eleven (and it's like a 2 minute walk from the missionaries apartment), and one of the neighborhoods that had a couple of members houses and 2 of my recent converts is now no longer there and is a parking lot for a sports complex! But i got to see Brother Jerick, who was about half way through his teaching when I was transferred, and then got baptized I think in the beginning of March! He is a tricy driver and the tricy stop that he is always at is right next to the church, and so as we pulled up to the church, and we were walking in, he yelled 'Sister Thayn' and waved at me! It's crazy how there are so many people here that I have met and helped receive the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Then right after that we had to go to an ATM for one of the sisters we were with and so I took them to the nearest one and while she was doing her think i was just standing on the sidewalk and I turned around and this tricy just pulls up right next to me and turns off his tricy. I had to take a second look at this man, because it turned out to be Brother Pua, which was the father of a family that we were teaching in that area up until I left. Then after I left I heard about how they had family problems come up and they stopped progressing towards baptism. And since I heard about that back in March I would sometimes have dreams about their family, and hope that the missionaries there were still visiting them. Anyway, I basically jumped when I saw him, because in all of my other areas i feel like i see so many other tricy drivers that look just like him! Haha one of the first things he told me when he actually remembered who I was he said "gumaganda ka", which means that I got better looking, haha because at the time I met him and his family i was still adjusting to the Philippines. Seriously God works in mysterious ways because I got to talk to Brother Pua for a minute and I asked him how he and his family are and he said his wife is pregnant and about to have a baby. I asked him if they are going to church, and he said no, and I strongly encouraged him to take his family and promised him blessings! I sure hope that at least seeing me, one of the first missionaries who taught him restarted what he felt when he started to gain a testimony. I remember our first time teaching his family, because me and my companion and i think 3 members that were working with us had just walk a long distance from a teaching appointment and I was still on crutches (december 2018), thinking how hard missionary work is! But looking back on it, im so grateful for God and His plan in EVERYTHING!
I feel like the luckiest missionary EVER! Because within the last week I have had the opportunity to go to all 4 of my areas. Last week I was in Cauayan for meetings, I didn't get to visit any members or recent converts, but I was in so many familiar places. Then I got to go to Alicia, my second area, where I got to see some of my most favorite people in the world. Then this last week we had zone conference at the church in my first area, Ilagan, and it was so weird to be back in my first area. It felt like I never left and could take us anywhere we wanted to go. But things have changed since I was in Ilagan, it finally got a 7-Eleven (and it's like a 2 minute walk from the missionaries apartment), and one of the neighborhoods that had a couple of members houses and 2 of my recent converts is now no longer there and is a parking lot for a sports complex! But i got to see Brother Jerick, who was about half way through his teaching when I was transferred, and then got baptized I think in the beginning of March! He is a tricy driver and the tricy stop that he is always at is right next to the church, and so as we pulled up to the church, and we were walking in, he yelled 'Sister Thayn' and waved at me! It's crazy how there are so many people here that I have met and helped receive the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Then right after that we had to go to an ATM for one of the sisters we were with and so I took them to the nearest one and while she was doing her think i was just standing on the sidewalk and I turned around and this tricy just pulls up right next to me and turns off his tricy. I had to take a second look at this man, because it turned out to be Brother Pua, which was the father of a family that we were teaching in that area up until I left. Then after I left I heard about how they had family problems come up and they stopped progressing towards baptism. And since I heard about that back in March I would sometimes have dreams about their family, and hope that the missionaries there were still visiting them. Anyway, I basically jumped when I saw him, because in all of my other areas i feel like i see so many other tricy drivers that look just like him! Haha one of the first things he told me when he actually remembered who I was he said "gumaganda ka", which means that I got better looking, haha because at the time I met him and his family i was still adjusting to the Philippines. Seriously God works in mysterious ways because I got to talk to Brother Pua for a minute and I asked him how he and his family are and he said his wife is pregnant and about to have a baby. I asked him if they are going to church, and he said no, and I strongly encouraged him to take his family and promised him blessings! I sure hope that at least seeing me, one of the first missionaries who taught him restarted what he felt when he started to gain a testimony. I remember our first time teaching his family, because me and my companion and i think 3 members that were working with us had just walk a long distance from a teaching appointment and I was still on crutches (december 2018), thinking how hard missionary work is! But looking back on it, im so grateful for God and His plan in EVERYTHING!
(My last zone conference picture)
*We will be teaching someone for the first time and we always start our lessons off with a song, and because Filipinos start celebrating Christmas in September we sometimes will sing a christmas song. Well here in the Philippines around Christmas time you will see people going around town or house to house singing Christmas songs to try and get money. So sometime before we are about to sing a christmas song the people will try and stop us to tell us that they don't have any money to give us, and then we have to explain our purpose to them and how we don't want their money. Or at the end we will have to stop people from reaching into their pockets to give us money.
*We made s'mores this week with the Hipolito family and it was so fun to see how excited they were to eat marshmallows and chocolate! haha we made them for them, and after we handed them to them they started eating them by eating the graham cracker first then the chocolate and then the marshmallow, haha they wouldn't eat them together like a sandwich.
GRACE is baptized! it was such a sweet thing to see her baptized, because I remember when we taught her for the first time and she asked us why everyone says that this is the true church, and she wanted to know for herself. Then on Saturday she bore a sweet testimony about how she know all the things we taught her are true and that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ!
I love you all and im so grateful for this chance that I have to be a full time missionary! The book is blue and the Church is true, have a great week :)
Sister Thayn
-Brother Jerick in Ilagan
-Our 2 hour van ride home from zone conference where we almost fit our zone in it, but we could only fit 19 people in it.
-Smores
-Sisters Packer, Gibson, Thayn and Whittington at zone conference
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