So we're e-mailing now, before we leave on Monday! I don't have much time, but I'll update you a bit. This seems unreal right now!! I can't even believe it! I'm scared, but actually, the fear has decreased and I'm more just excited!!
So remember the first week, when I had that "Teaching Experience"? With George? Okay well, every Wednesday evening they do that for the new missionaries. Anyway, how it goes is they have an investigator in front of a group of around 50 missionaries, and at the beginning, 2 missionaries knock and come into the room and begin teaching the investigator. Then about 5 minutes in...the training person pauses the appointment and has the missionaries in the room take over.
Well this week, my companion and I were recommended to be the missionaries that go in and begin teaching. Ha! I was nervous at first, but it was actually really fun. They microphone-ed us up and we taught two different situations. It was a good experience. And it was different for me because it was actually in ENGLISH! haha
Anyway, I haven't written down as many notes of what to include in my e-mail this week so I'm trying to pull from off the top of my head. Oh! I've got a kind of funny Tagalog mess up for the week. In Tagalog Jesus Christ is JesuCristo--simple enough. Anyway, I was teaching Lesson 1 to one of our investigators--God loves us, Christ's Atonement, Restoration & Joseph Smith, etc. right? Well I must have been really tired because I accidentally said something like "God sent his Son, JesuSmith, to the earth to atone for our sins." Haaaa. Good grief.
We also did some "door approaches" this week with Brother Mace. He started out easy on us and then he began to make it more difficult for us to get them to let us in to teach them. Well we we're doing some role-playing as a whole district and none of us could get him to let us in. He said he had some dinner he was cooking and needed to go. Hahahaha...well I asked him if we could help and we'd bring some food too and "party-party" hahaha. The MTC is great.
Well, I think I'll share something that I've learned over these past few weeks here. God is real. He lives. And as real as he is...Satan is also real. And he is so good at weaving his way into our thoughts and attacking us with lies. And he's been attacking me a lot recently and making me focus on my weaknesses. Every time I would fall short of my expectations, I would beat myself up about it. I would see only my weaknesses and things I didn't do right. I look back now and see I did a LOT of things right. But then, I could only see the places I fell short. And I realized that Satan started to make me believe that my weaknesses were all my Father in Heaven saw too. Well. These are lies. Our Heavenly Father sees ALL of us. Our entire beings. He sees our weaknesses--but he also sees our strengths. And being our loving Father, he will know how to help us with our weaknesses and make them strengths. He's proud of us! We are not perfect, and He knows that. We will always fall short. We're human. But he never instills inside us feelings of discouragement or worthlessness. He gives us motivation and light. He wants to help us become better in the most loving of ways. He is always there with a warm smile and open arms.
So don't listen to Satan. Don't let him get in your mind and whisper lies. But seek always for that God which gives us life.
Anyway, I just wanted to update you and say that I'm doing fantastic! I hope you are all doing just as well. I'm so anxious to get to the Philippines. It's going to be an entire new world and experience for me. But I'm so ready. I love these people so much and I can't wait to be there with them. I have felt how much our Father loves those people in the Philippines. And a lot of them don't realize that. They don't know that they have a Father who loves them and watches over them and stands, waiting to make them happy. What greater calling is there than this? To find these children of His and bring them back to Him? I love this work. I can't wait to begin.
Mahal na mahal ko kayo!
love,
Sister Oyler
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