Cadiz is amazing!!! It is so so beautiful and so so fruitful!! Something that I have learned since being here is how affected this part of the Philippines was from Yolanda. We don't enter one house that apologizes for a lack of chairs or for their house because they lost so much from Yolanda. It is a small amount compared to the impact in Tacloban (I haven't met anyone that said they lost a loved one from the storm) but I have still been surprised to see how people are still trying to recover the little that they had to begin with that was affected by typhoon Yolanda
Something else that I have learned about this area is the way the Branch works compared to a ward. So there are about 700 members here in the "branch" and they need 30 full tithe payers for it to become a ward. 30! It doesn't seem like a lot but that puts into perspective the amount of less actives that we have here!! Speaking of Less Actives- we have what's called "special sacrament meeting" here now. It started the first week I got here and it is a work in progress. Basically it is a sacrament meeting at a member's house that lives in an area pretty far from the church but much closer to a majority of the less actives in the area. We have been trying to find (that's the hard part- there's no addresses here) and teach and invite less actives to this special sacrament. It was a little bit disappointing yesterday when there was only 1 adult that attended the special sacrament (out of the tons that we have visited these past 2 weeks) she brought her 4 children (one of which is also less active- 13 years old) and I thought "this really is a SPECIAL sacrament just for her!!" haha. She is so lucky! And she will be blessed for taking the sacrament and making the sacrifice to attend. We are hoping to at least double the number that attend this next week and still be able to focus on our new investigators and finding even more new investigators. If only we had more hours in a day... the Branch President is really relying on our efforts with the Less Actives to help this branch to become a ward and so to help gain his trust and to really leave this area better than we found it- we're doing our best! The problem is finding the less actives that have the desire to be active- with some we have to start from square one and help them remember the sacred promises that they have made with their Heavenly Father when they were baptized that what that means in order to obtain eternal life with our families. We are working hard and see a lot of potential for this branch. I love the branch members and they are so so supportive of the missionaries which makes a huge difference!!
I have been learning a lot in this area and am preparing for Sister Manosig to go home (crazy!) to lead this area and harvest the seeds that we're planting here! Not only that but I'm continually humbled by these people. I am excited to tell you all about our baptism that will be this saturday! I am so grateful for the love and support that I feel from you all and I love the experiences that I am having here and they are really shaping and changing me. I don't know if I told you about one of our new investigators last week but her name is Sister Lilibeth. She looks like Mulan. But that's just a side note. (you will agree when she is baptized- not this week but in the coming weeks). Her husband is American and works for the Navy. He is working in America. She is here with her small son and living with her family. She is has truly been prepared to receive this restored gospel. I am so excited about her progression and the testimony that she has received through prayer, scripture study and church attendance that this church is true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. One of my favorite things to experience as a missionary is as these people recognize the love that Heavenly Father has for them and the Plan that He has prepared for every single one of us, their simple understanding yet strong testimony builds their desire to have an eternal family, be baptized by someone holding the proper authority and find out for themself through revelation from Heavenly Father is this church is true or not. I see it happen and my testimony is strengthened more and more each time. This truly is the Lord's work and I am so grateful for this opportunity and for these experiences!! I know this church is true- I have NO doubts! I love this gospel and know Heavenly Father loves every single one of us so much.
no funnies this week- I can guarentee there will be some to come this next week! Love you all so much- have a wonderful week!!!
Sister Judd
So we had a great week! Sister Erlinda was baptized on Saturday! Her mom is less active and she is the oldest in her family. She has 7 younger siblings and I wish you could see their amazing chaos! She is only 13 years old but I swear she's really 19 years old. The amount of responsibility that she has is unreal! As soon as she gets home from school her mom goes to work (all night). She is in charge of everything and 7 younger siblings is no small task! Their cooking is they have to start a fire and cook the rice in a pot over the fire. Whenever we are there, there's always fights over food (like there isn't enough for them all) and the baby right now is soo sick. I sit there so amazed watching this 13 year old carry her family. Her and her mom are soo strong! Not only that but the part that amazes me the most is her beautiful constant smile and her faith in the gospel! Her understanding, sincerity and excitement about the gospel is way over my expectation for a 13 year old!! She is such an example of faith and strength to me and she is so inspiring!! I love her and her family so so much- (pictures to come hopefully after this email). She wants to go to the temple hopefully the next branch temple trip and she wants to serve a mission some day!! I just love her so so much!!
So this week we also taught these 2 active members (brothers) in the ward- one is blind and the other is deaf. It was really humbling to me as the blind man (brother mario) welcomed us into his home. He lives alone and does everything on his own even though he's blind. No wife, no mother, not even one of those helping dogs. I don't know how he cooks with fire but he is such a happy, jolly and friendly person!! He was so kind as he appologized asking if I was knew and as I told him I was he made friendly conversation and just basically is the friendliest member I have yet met in this branch!! As for the deaf man (brother serio) he is very old and I feel so bad yelling as hard as I can into his ear but that's the only way he can hear! I feel like I'm bursting his ear drums. And then I feel uncomfortable because I'm screaming in public.. hahaha people just stare and brother serio just is the happiest old man there is with his no teeth and shaky voice. I wish I could record him talking it almost sounds like another language because he's so old but I can remarkably still understand him. It was an interesting lesson teaching/sharing with them yelling into Brother Serio's ear and holding Brother Mario's hand but the spirit was so strong and these members despite their hardships and humble lifestyles are active and strong members of the church.
So every single day I hit my head on something. It's an on going joke my entire mission. Ceilings just pop out of no where and I still haven't figured out why people nail bamboo rods the exactness of my height between trees.. also people hang rotating fans from the ceiling and I alwayyyyys hit my head on them. It's their form of a ceiling fan. So at least I keep the people laughing!:)
AH! There is a recent convert in the branch that LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE SPOK'S DAD FROM STAR TREK!!! When I met him I was like waaaaiiit, how do I know this person?? He even does Spok facial expressions.. meaning he has no facial expressions. And he's full of wisdom. He always interrupts as we teach to share his wisdom and when he's done teaching us I always want to say "thank you spok". hahaha maybe someway I'll be able to get a picture of him to send to you all! Oh but I forgot to mention that he's an incredibly tan version of spok.
Well I'm out of time but I love you all so so so so much!! Thank you for your prayers, support and love! This work is as amazing as ever. Heavenly Father is truly preparing people for us to teach and the experience of teaching someone that is so so prepared and realizes they've been waiting for this truth that you're sharing with them and that they feel through the spirit... those are the experiences that are like nothing else. As soon as I start missing you all so much and feeling that homesick cloud creep over my head, I remember these people here that I love so much, the people that we're teaching that are progressing so well and I imagine leaving this place right now and then I snap right out of it. I can't tell you all how much I love this place. These people are amazing- I wish I could bring them home with me I just love them so much!!!
Oh and on Saturday we went without electricity, water, toilet paper, gas for our stove and my umbrella broke in the pouring rain. But we pulled off the baptism and that's all that matters!!
Things to look forward to in upcoming emails: how we're teaching a gay teenage couple. Have I mentioned how that is a huuge fad here??
That's a super weird note to end on... But I really need to go!!
ALL MY LOVE!
Sister Judd
