I have a new companion, Sister Lumanog. She is from Bacolod, in Visayas and she is teaching me so so much, including how to wash my clothes faster. I was a little humbled this morning when Sister Lumanog, a small filipino woman, started to help me wash my own dirty clothes. I am shocked by her sincerity to help other people.
My dad sent me a talk by Boyd K. Packer, called 'The Mediator.' I read this talk in high school when I started to want to understand the atonement better. I have found that though it's been a while since I've read it, different things have seemed to sink more into my heart. It's interesting how old things, once revisited seem to connect, in an ever fuller way. (I especially appreciated his description of spiritual knowledge and what that actually is.)
Conference was beautiful and I never cease to cry whenever I hear 'Come Thou Font,' as I believe it communicates some of my deepest feelings of inadequacy combined with the hope that only comes from God. I particular loved and hope to reread the talks by Dieter F. Uchdorf, Donald A Hallstrom, Dallin H. Oaks (He cries more and more at every conference. Maybe it's because he's feeling more and more the things he's saying), and D. Todd Christofferson. Small answers seem to come to questions I've had in small, small ways, and General Conference seems to be more and more helpful the older I get.
Yesterday, we had a beautiful experience of being guided to where we needed to be. I had just heard an incredibly sad, discouraging story of a member's older sister, not being able to take care of her children and thus decided to sell her twin babies at the market, not to the knowledge of her family. (This is not normal here and was definitely an illegal deal.) I felt like crying at the prospect that someone's life could ever be diminished to a mere 5-10 thousand pesos.
The appointments that we had planned to go to did not fall through and we had an extra hour and a half before we needed to go home. I was feeling a little at a loss, since I'm leading the area and I know who lives where, who is who, etc. I didn't know what to do but felt the strong desire to pray and seek for guidance. The member that was working with us, Jerome, said a prayer to give us guidance. Sister Lumanog started asking him if there were some members who lived nearby, or some former investigators nearby. He actually remembered one family that was being taught by the other set of missionaries that used to be in our area, but were transferred out. (There used to be 4 Sister missionaries in our area.) He knew where they lived, and so we went to their home and they happily welcomed us in. They fed us a yummy rice desert and while Sister Yumol and I were talking, she told me that it felt like we had known each other for a while, by the way we were talking. I, as well, felt extremely familiar with her. We decided to share the story in 1st Nephi Ch. 8 about the Tree of Life. As we started the lesson, she opened her Book of Mormon and remembered that this was actually the exact same chapter that the missionaries shared to them, before the transfer, during their last visit to them.
God is mysterious. I am humbled to be a part of something so much larger than my own world, my own sphere of family and friends. I am so so grateful for the darkest of moments, especially on my mission, as the moments of pure hope seem to echo even more. I wrote in my journal a few days ago, " I have hope. I cannot fully explain my feeling, but it is a small light that I didn't have before. an effect of the atonement? YES."
P.S. My dear dear friend, Katja got just engaged! !!! !!!! Yes for being in love. Yes for brave people.