I had a creepy man yell this at me as we were passing by him this
morning. I'm just not sure what he meant to say....
We had such an incredible week this last week. We had 3 investigators
that were baptized. We had a baptism on Christmas, which was maybe one
of the most memorable Christmases I've ever experienced. Last
Saturday, we had a wedding and then a baptism afterwards. This
particular couple is fairly poor and the branch was so so awesome and
they prepared food and a wedding cake for this couple. Then they were
baptized afterwards. They cried and I did too. it was an exquisite
feeling to have been a small part of that day. It was one of those
days that I will not forget. :)
We have a new investigator, who's name is 'Helo Denzel.' He is Aeta.
(Feel free to google that.) His mother has been a member for a long
time and she referred us to her son for us to teach him. The Aeta are
the natives here. They are distinguished by their black skin and
shorter height. I have been so so curious about these people and am
very excited about this opportunity to learn more and also help this
boy. He's 13 years old and doesn't know how to read. We are hoping to
be able to get him started to learn how to read. He knows the
alphabet, but doesn't yet read. I also noticed that I'm not really
sure where we are going to start, but we're just going to start and
see where this goes. His mother told us that they live 'near the
mountains' and that if we wanted, we could just teach her son after
they come to church, for convenience. Sister Ticzon and I are
insatiably curious about where they live and we've already talked with
some members about going up and visiting them at their home. I will
keep you updated on how this goes.
We had a companion exchange last week. Sister Palmer from Washington
came here to GuaGua and it was such a great experience. Memories came
flooding back to me when I was still new and struggling with the
culture/mission life. I also realized just last Thursday during the
exchange, that her speaking/struggling to speak in Tagalog was such a
humbling experience for me and for everyone who watched her. It made
me remember when I was new and I would just cry during the lessons.
Nobody understood anything I was saying, but they would cry with me.
It was so powerful and I never knew it, until I watched Sister Palmer
struggling like I did.
Last last week, the relief society lesson went from Tagalog/English to
straight up Kapampangan. I felt like I was new all over again, and I'm
officially deciding to learn basic Kapampangan, out of frustration.
I've heard that there aren't any books written on how to learn
Kapampangan, and so I asked my friend Jerome to write down basic words
and pronouns. We'll see how this goes... :)
The new Sunday School Manuals are incredible and I am really excited
about them. I remember something that my friend Melissa told me about
the gospel. She said that maybe the first step in learning the gospel
is understanding the facts and then we are left to connect these facts
for the rest of our lives. These new manuals are more about making
connections and finding application in real life. How do we connect
timeless principles/truths to our time?
I remembered a conversation with my friend Peter in fall of 2010. We
were sitting in my living room and he told me that he believed that
there was something after this life, but he wasn't sure what it was.
He said that the idea that we die and then are gone forever, just
didn't connect with him. I think he was in some sort of transition
period in his life. I still remember that conversation, and I'm not
sure why I remembered it yesterday during church. I thought it was
interesting that despite having a different understanding of God, that
the idea of 'living again' or 'living still' after our bodies are
buried was something he was sure about. (What are you sure about?)
OKAY. I love you.
-Sister DV
X-tine-- Loved your postcard. Take a picture for me of the pet sharks.
Show it to me next spring, when I come and visit you in Chicago. Ok?