P.S. Happy 4th of July!! I miss America! But I love it here too, so ayos lang. We made French toast as a kabahay to celebrate. Sister Tingey's mom sent her stuff to make homemade buttermilk syrup so....oh my gosh, our French toast was heaven. And yup, sister Tingey went home now :( Sayang. She's awesome. She left Monday morning at like 3:30am, so none of us got much sleep that night and were all dead the next day haha. Anyway, so now it's just me and Sister Acostan!
So yes, there is a mouse in our house. haha actually in our toaster. (Yes, my new apartment actually has a toaster!) Ha! We have a little toaster-oven toaster with the mini rack, etc. Anyway, I saw the mouse the other day! He ran down our curtains and then we lost him. But...I was doing my Language Study on the couch later and spotted him crawling inside our toaster! Well...he got away again and we still haven't caught him. It's not a big deal to us all....except Sister Lopez. haha poor thing. She hasn't used the toaster ever again I think....I still use it..is that gross? I can't remember if that's abnormal for us in America, but it's not grossing me out so haha....I'm still making toast :)
So one of the senior couple missionaries that work in the MRC here in the Philippines had some of their family come vacation and visit. Well, they wanted their daughters to experience a day as a missionary, haha so the girls came and worked with us. They are from Texas. They were super sweet. I forgot how fun it is to see the Philippines for the first time haha. I forgot how many weird things are here that have just become normal to me now :) It was a fun day.
We starting to see some progress with one of our investigators! Nanay Delia! She's been taught for a while and wasn't really progressing....she absolutely loved the missionaries and having them over, but when we would start a real lesson, her attitude would change and she would kind of withdrawal. It confused me and I didn't exactly know what to do. I think she has a lot of hidden concerns that aren't showing on the surface and I'm not quite sure how help her with them or help her open up. However, we took a different approach with our visits. We started reading the Book of Mormon with her. We stopped teaching her the specific lessons, since she wasn't really progressing, but we have begun to read the Book of Mormon with her each visit. She has just lit up!! And she's beginning to read on her own! She reads with us and then reads more when we leave. Tapos, when we come back she tells us all about Nephi and how he killed Laban and took his clothes and on and on. She is actually intrigued! And it made me so excited! It's awesome to see the scriptures stir excitement in her too. There is a real power in the Book of Mormon.
We also had a great lesson with Ricky. Gah. I don't even know where to start. Ricky has hit a pretty big low in his life. Before, he was part of the "Eastwood" community. He was pretty high up in business and was really wealthy--He had a big house, cars, maids, pretty much life served to him on a platter. I don't exactly know what happened, but now...he has no job, his wife left him and is with some Austrailan guy now, he shaved his head, and he's now living in his parent's old house here. Ricky's story is one of the proud being humbled. We can truly see that he has been a man ....that's been proud, high-up, merciless, can do it all by himself....and then he got humbled. He got it all taken away. And currently, he's going through that process of being humbled and I just get to watch as his eyes are opened and he is starting to see what really matters to him in life.
He is awesome. His lessons are unlike anyone else's--he pretty much teaches himself. I think he knows it. He knows it all deep inside and we're just helping it all come out and help him realize it for himself. It's amazing. As we start the lessons, he just starts talking...haha he really really likes to talk...but it's like he talks himself through it; teaches himself. As he unloads and admits his problems and weaknesses, he discovers, on his own, all the gospel principles we were going to teach him. And this last week, we shared the DVD, "Finding Faith in Christ". The Spirit was so strong. And afterwards was awesome. He opened up and then told us he's never opened up to anyone before because it makes him vulnerable. But he opened up to us and then he applied everything from the video and literally just taught himself. Of course we taught too, but for the most part, we just got to witness the Spirit working with him and teaching him as we just listened. I think I was actually being taught. There were multiple things that Ricky said that I know I needed to hear. It was amazing. And then I talked with him a little bit about the trial of our faith. How sometimes, the reason why we are hit with trials is to humble us and to try our faith. The lesson was awesome. We are just witnessing the change in this man's life. This gospel is bringing him a light. Before, he was living and hungering after happiness...and finding all the happiness that the world had to offer him. But he wasn't happy. Now...stripped of it all...he's finally discovering the true joy that lasts throughout eternity. His whole countenance is changing. It's absolutely beautiful.
I say it all the time, but I seriously love this work. It's so hard, but so rewarding. And I'm learning so much.
I'm out of time, but I love you all so very much! Thank you for everything!
Until next week,
Sister Oyler
P.S. Just some extra thoughts I didn't have time to really get to...
Be a creator of circumstances;
Not a creature of circumstance.
"Many people go through life allowing life to serve up the menu. They seem to be subject to every mood of the world. They seem to go forth lost in the world with only a vague idea of what they would have from life.
Some decide what they want, commit themselves to obtain it, and, in righteousness, exercise their faith until they obtain...
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