The Best Way to Avoid Home Sickness is to Work

Another week down.  Seriously, time is flying.  I've been in the field for over six months and I can barely believe it. Missionary life is crazy, we work all day and barely have any time to think, which is honestly a blessing. It states in Preach My Gospel that the best way to avoid home sickness is to work.  It's true.  Work, work, work. 

This week was great.  Elder Tofi and I are having a great time. The great thing about our companionship is that we can work and laugh at the same time.  

Shanne's baptism was awesome. She's the cutest little girl ever. They invited us over to their house later that night and we had an FHE.  FHE's are one of my favorite things here. They are so much fun.  Every FHE consists of a lesson and games. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it's worth restating; the people LOVE FHE games. It's hilarious. We have a great time. That's where the lipstick on our faces come in.  There's always a consequence for losing and often the consequence includes lipstick.  That's why we always have lipstick on our face.  They always pick on the kids that can barely speak Tagalog hahaha 

Being a district leader is going great.  I finally received training so I finally know what's going on and what I have to do.  One of the great things about being a district leader is interacting with the investigators of the other missionaries in my district.  As a district leader, I call everyone in my district 3 times a week and see how the works going, talk about investigators, their concerns and other stuff that varies week to week.  It's great. A little stressful at times, especially at the beginning of the transfer, but I'm finally getting used to it. 

Tagalog is going well.  I get a little bit better every day.  Still frustrating at times because I can't say everything I want the way I want to.  I have to utilize the words and the grammar structures that I know.  A missionary told me that Tagalog is a language of short cuts. You can get around with a basic understanding and people will understand you, it just takes longer and sounds less fluid.  As you get older in the mission, you learn easier and better ways to say things. Gotta love learning another language.  Fun and frustrating at the same time. 

So we had a great experience at church yesterday. We began teaching a few girls a couple weeks ago but progression has been slow.  Their father was once a member of the church but was excommunicated and their mother is catholic. Not the most ideal circumstances.  We asked the father if he wanted to join in on our lessons, but he refused each invitation.  Yesterday, we experienced a miracle; the whole family attended church.  The father, the mother and their four children.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was amazing.  After the meeting we were talking with the family and the father's heart had completely changed. He invited us over later that night to teach his family.  It was so cool.  The lesson was awesome.  I'm so excited for this family.  They are an amazing family and I really look forward to seeing their progression. 

That leads perfectly into my next paragraph.  President Stucki is splitting our area. The split is not in our favor.  Out of our 18 progressing investigators, only 3 will remain in our area. I'm so sad.  I've grown to love these people in our area and have loved teaching them.  Unfortunately, I won't have the opportunity to see it all the way through to their baptism.  As a missionary, sometimes you plant, sometimes you reap. It's difficult to find an investigator, nourish them, teach them, see them progress... and then get transferred. Thank goodness I'm the district leader and can keep up with their progression and am allowed to go to their baptisms.