I loved your letters this week! You guys are just too dang awesome :) I had a good week, frustrating hahaha but good!
I'll start with the good first. We have an investigator named Mary-glore, I don't remember if I mentioned her last week, but she lives in this tiny little bamboo hut with her two little kids and her husband works all day at a bakery in the next town. As for their house, it would almost be nicer to live in the chicken coop. At least the chicken coop doesn't leak when it rains, the homes here mostly have tin roofs with numberless holes, and if you don't have money for gum to stop up the hole, you just have a nice indoor shower everytime it rains haha. It rained the last time we visited her and started dripping right on my scriptures so I had to hurry and cover them and do the rest of the lesson by memory haha. But she is so awesome to teach. She has such a desire to learn, and the last time we visited her when we were walking up to her house we could see through the gaps in the bamboo that she was reading the restoration pamphlet we had left with her and during the lesson she showed us how she had answered all the questions at the back for suggested reading *proud parent moment* and when we left her a Book of Mormon at the end of the lessons she was sooo happy and kept saying thank you over and over. So rewarding teaching someone who really wants the gospel.
Not all the people here want the gospel though. I love what Alyne sent me in her last email, the quote from her friend Lauren, "not to be dramatic, but it's 112 degrees and EVERYONE HATES THE GOSPEL." hahahah I can relate haha except instead of hating the gospel, they just refuse to open their eyes and their ears and realize how important it is!!! For instance: We went to visit a less active yesterday, she was baptized forever ago, like 25 years, but has been inactive for about 20 years. While visiting with her we discovered that she has been going to the Catholic church near her house for the past few years and had no interest in traveling all the way to our church building when that church was so close and "there is only a small difference between our churches anyway." :| YEP. Only a few SMALL differences. Definitely the restoration of the full and everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ through a true and living prophet called by God in our days with all the keys of the Priesthood to receive exaltation through baptism and temple ordinances and to be sealed to your family for forever by the same restoration of Priesthood authority and the full and authorized opportunity to partake of the sacrament and experience all the blessings of the Atonement as well as The Book of Mormon and modern revelation from Prophets and Apostles and all the knowledge needed to be unthinkably happy in this life and receive all our Father has in the next is just a few small differences when you really think about it. Why didn't I see that before?? :D You should totes keep going to that other church! :D
NO.
You should not. You should please just really listen to our message and let the Spirit tell you how true it is and how much it's going to help you!!!
Even after we taught her about all those things, and asked her questions to try and get her to remember how she felt when she decided to join the church, she just wouldn't really try. So frustrating. BUT. As long as we keep doing our best with her, and never give up, I can feel at peace knowing I have done all I can do.
The other frustrating thing is when people give you their excuses for why they didn't read, or come to church, or even pray. "I just didn't have time Sis!", "I totally was busy washing ALL day", "My husband had friends over and they were loud", "Sorry sis, I totally forgot!". -__- Would you say those excuses to God? Cause you'll have to someday if you don't start keeping your commitments! And it'll be much harder to tell him than to tell me! These people. Hahaha and what's even worse is I know that's exactly how Heavenly Father feels when I'm dumb and don't do whats right even when the obvious choice is right in front of me.
On to more positive things! Our investigator Winnie is doing so so so good. He has had the missionaries visit him for YEARS. At least 6 different companionships. He has a whole stack of pamphlets and Books of Mormon haha. But every time before he stopped progressing for one reason or another, most because of his smoking problem. In his last lesson he was down to 2 cigarettes a day and said he was going to stop altogether before our next visit. He has told us that he doesn't want to avoid God anymore, but he wants to change his life and become a better person. And the changes we've seen in him are sooooo testimony building and make me sooo proud. Literally so many proud-parent-moments haha :)
So I realized that I don't think I've ever told you guys what a normal day is like for me, and that was one thing that I always wanted to know when reading the blogs or letters of other missionaries. So here you go! A Special peek into the life of Sister Manwaring:
Morning! I wake up at
6:00 every day. Cannot for the life of me sleep until
6:30 hahaha so I read in bed until the alarm goes off. After prayers I do my totes effective workout (which always makes me look forward to being able to RUN again), shower and get ready, make breakfast and start personal study at 8. Since I'm still in my first 12 weeks of training we study until lunch and then go out after lunch.
Afternoon! We walk out of our little subdivision and catch a tricycle going to the main road, and then take a jeepney out to a part of our area depending on the day. Our area is pretty big (so excited to split it next transfer) so we can only go visit certain areas every day, meaning we don't get to see every investigator every day. We work from 1-8 and then come back home, taking about a billion jeeps and trikes and lots of walking throughout the whole day.
Night! We come home, plan, eat, and sleep. Oh and journal writing, I write at least a thousand pages in my journal every night. I'm going to fill a bookcase by the time I get home hahahah.
Okay I just realized that seems really boring, no wonder other missionaries don't send that in their letters hahahaha. Oh well! Something non-boring, I saw the biggest snake of my life the other day!!! We were walking home at night and i look in the road and it looks like a huge tube or hose or something, and then it starts moving and I realize it's not a tube, its a massive snake of satan. It was at least SEVEN feet long and as thick as clayton's thigh. And whats worse is Sister Bendoy said that is a small snake here and there are much bigger ones. Okay, I have to go home now hahahahahaha. Joke. But really, I sympathize with Eve, if that snake had told me to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, i would've too!!
So yes, that is what has been happening with meeee. I always rememeber a million zillion things to tell you during the week or after I email but then I forget them again or don't have time to write them. It's okay, I'll just send you all telepathic thoughts and you can know all the things!!
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