"Supernatural wisdom! Supernatural strength!"

We had three investigators that got baptized this week! Crisjoy
Santiago, Bea Mallari, and Rodel Yambao.
Best part about the baptism: Their faces as they
walked out of the water. Priceless. {Pure Smile}

This week was really one of the hardest weeks of my mission. I've also
gotten 2 more boils since I've last updated you on my boils. I got
sick last week and felt awful, and got a fever for the first time
since I was a child. Last friday was such a weird night. Because of my
fever, I felt freezing and wore socks for maybe the second time on my
mission. I was bundled in a bunch of blankets and then decided to take
a quick shower which chased the heat out and my 102 degree fever went
back down to normal in a couple of hours. THANK GOODNESS. I'm still
not feeling 100%, but I'm working, so I'm doing okay.

Last monday, we met an interesting woman, named Yda who is from the
Philippines but works in Singapore. She came home to vacation here and
so we only met with her one time. She's been attending a baptist
church in Singapore for about 3 years. Anyways, she gave the closing
prayer and Sister Ticzon and I were graced by one of the most
interesting prayers I've heard on my mission. She gave 2 prayers. The
first one was for her mother to accept Jesus Christ 'as her personal
savior and redeemer.' She had her mother at her side, repeat what she
was saying as she prayed. It felt actually a little coercive and
unnatural to me and I feel like it's easy to say those things about
Jesus Christ, but much harder to live and apply. The prayer felt a
little meaningless to me. We thought she was finished but then she
told us that she was going to pray again for us, and so we let her.
She asked God to give us supernatural wisdom and supernatural
strength.(wow!) I was grateful for the sentiment and the several
'Hallelujahs' that were uttered. (How funny it would be to just let
out a few 'Hallelujahs' during a sacrament meeting at an LDS church.)

Last Tuesday, our investigator, Ian talked about his experience at
church. He really enjoyed church. Ian then asked us if he could be
baptized. My jaw dropped slightly and silence filled the room. I
looked at Sister Ticzon and nothing but a smile filled her face. Ian
said that he wants to serve a mission to share with other people the
things that we've shared with him. We were really just surprised. I am
really surprised at his sincerity and how fully he wants to embrace
the gospel. It's incredible.

We had snails last Tuesday which was great and was also a first for
me. We were also given some clams from a member which were yummy. The
problem for Sister Ticzon was that they weren't that yummy when she
was vomiting them back up last Wednesday morning. :s

Okay. I'll leave you with that, and a whole lot of loooove.

-Sister DV


Photos:

Baptism! Our investigators that got baptized were the 2
on the left and then the little girl in the front.

Clams-This is actually before Sister Ticzon vomited, in case you
couldn't tell. Clams seem to look a little scary.

Mahjong- This is a form of chinese gambling that is so bizarre and
entrancing. After watching for a few minutes, I still had no idea what
was going on. I snuck this picture. Sorry it's not very informative...

Bicycle- one of the forms of transportation in a couple of
neighborhoods in Sta. Rita (Our area covers GuaGua and the
neighborhood town of Sta. Rita.) We don't usually use this, but
decided to use it one day to get a picture. I may have laughed the
whole ride. : )

 Corpse-got your Dear Elder. you're da best.

(kalugod-lugod na nakilala kita)

Hello family! Hello mellow friends!

This may have been the fastest week so far on my mission? Weeks feel like
days. How is that possible?
Sister Ticzon wasn't feeling so well, and it was one of the harder weeks
that we've experienced so far. BUT, we have continued to continue and have
seen the results of our labor, which is a sweet feeling. We are helping
several of our investigators prepare for baptism on February 23. We're
really excited about this:)

It also got extremely hot for a few days last week. I've actually made a
conscious effort to not talk about the heat during my emails to you all,
but it was really really steamy. Not just hot, but steamy- the kind of
humidity in which I would just close my eyes as we were walking any sort of
longer distance. Anyways, it's all part of being a missionary. We do the
things that we probably wouldn't do unless we were driven by some sort of
higher motivation for doing them. That's exciting, neh? ('Neh' is
kapampangan for 'no?' or 'right?')

As you can see, this is a shorter email.Time has run out, and I will save
some special yummy thoughts for you all next week.

Loving, breathing, teaching,

Sister Vickers

2 Cor 5:17
Romans 10:14-15

Tagapamagitan at Pagkakasundo

Hi,

This week was challenging and yet proved to be an extremely successful
week in regards to our investigators. We had 9 investigators that were
able to come to church, which was very exciting after a difficult week
of not feeling very well. But, we'll be having a baptism in a few
weeks:)

I had a boil last week and started taking antibiotics. The antibiotics
worked great and my boil starting healing. The problem was that the
'eye' started to heal itself despite my boil still being painful and
full of pus. So to speed up the healing and to get rid of my boil, I
made my own passageway for the pus to run out. I was actually really
surprised that that much pus was having a party underneath my skin.
Sister Ticzon was extremely grossed out, and I think I probably
would've been too if I was watching someone else squeeze pus out of a
boil. ANYWAYS, the pain is gone and my arm is now healing : ) I'm
really enjoying the hot, humid, tropical climate here, as well as all
of the interesting sicknesses that I've never experienced back home.
: )

I would like to share a few thoughts that were finally verbalized,
last week in my journal, in regards to my last area in Pilar. I would
like to share a few things that I had the privilege of better
understanding. I wish that I could express this to all of you in
person, because I know how emotionless emails sometimes can be, but I
cried as I wrote this, and hope that in some small way, you could
relate or connect to this:

" I can say without shame that in the low points of my mission- I mean
those times when I was beyond tears or emotion- those times where I
felt like I was rolling on the ground in the darkest of nights and I
couldn't see anything, were the times that I felt a divine presence
unlike anything I have ever felt. It was a hope. It was pure strength.
It was love beyond my small capacity. It was then that I better
understood why I came here and what I was supposed to learn. I better
understood what the focus is of what we teach to other people. It was
then that the reality of that man named Jesus Christ, whom I have
never seen nor personally met touched my prideful heart and changed it
to a believing, feeling, softened one. I was humbled and started to
rely less on my own justifications, ideals, and opinions about what I
thought 'The Gospel of Jesus Christ' was. For me it required being
humbled beyond anything I had ever experienced. BUT, because of that,
when the morning came, it never felt so beautiful and so exquisite. In
a sense, because of what Christ did, I was saved, not just from my own
sins, but from my own fears, my own defense mechanism, and my own
false ideals and thoughts."

I also want to share a few things that I read in a talk by Boyd K.
Packer, called 'The Mediator.' My father first gave me a copy of this
talk when I was 16 years old and kept asking my parents, my leaders at
church, and even the missionaries in our ward about why we need Jesus
Christ. I was at a loss about why the 'Atonement' is needed, and even
how I could actually apply this event that happened over 2,000 years
ago to my life. What's the real application? I think this talk was a
small stepping stone for me in understanding this and I am grateful
that almost 7 years later, I am still learning from it. I don't want
to spoil the fitting parable that he used, but just wanted to mention
a few things...

"We become so accustomed to learning through our physical senses-by
sight and sound and smell, by taste and touch-that some of us seem to
learn in no other way. But there are spiritual things that are not
registered at all. Some things we simply feel, not as we feel
something we touch, but as we feel something we feel....As surely as
we know about material things, we can come to know of spiritual
things."

In regards to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Packer said, "This truth
is the very root of Christian doctrine. You may know much about the
gospel as it branches out from there, but if you only know the
branches and the branches do not touch that root, if they have been
cut free from that truth, there will be no life nor substance nor
redemption in them."

As an ending to Packer's talk, he said, "I have carried with me a
great desire to bear testimony of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I have
yearned to tell you in as simple terms as I can, what He did, and who
He is. Although I know how poor mere words can be, I know also that
such feelings are often carried by the spirit, even without words. At
times I struggle under the burden of imperfections. Nevertheless,
because I know that He lives, there is a supreme recurring happiness
and joy. There is one place where I am particular vulnerable-when I
know that I have abused someone, or caused them hurt, or offended
them. It is then I know what agony is. How sweet it is, on those
occasions, to be reassured that He lives, and to have my witness
reaffirmed. I want, with fervent desire, to show you how our burdens
of disappointment, sin, and guilt can be laid before Him..."

I love Jesus Christ. I love His gospel. I know very little about
anything, but I know ^ this is real. I love you all and hope that in
some way you could connect to this.

-Sister DV