Sister Pike goes to the PHILIPPINES!: Week 18

This week brings LOTS of changes which is so exciting and scary at the same time. New companion, new "roommates" maybe even a new area/language though it's very unlikely. This week we have spent visiting all the members and learning where everyone lives so that when everything gets mixed up, someone will know. We dropped a few of our investigators this week because we've been teaching them for the whole 3 months and not really progressing. It's such a weird concept because they love being visited and would continue forever but we've basically taught them everything they need know, they just need to do it know. So we just say, sempre (of course) continue doing what we have taught and we just won't be visiting on a regular basis until they start going to church or working toward getting married. They know, now they just have to do which is always the hard part.

I want to share a cool experience, a week or two ago we decided to focus our efforts on finding because we have many non-progressing investigators so we went through the potential investigator list from a few years ago( missionaries wrote down referrals/contacts that might be interested and we have no idea how they turned out). And I went through pages and pages of names and picked like 20 to follow-up on and ask about. We had the barangay (neighborhood) where they lived and we just need to ask around. So when we didn't have any appointments and we were in Abad Santos, I just picked one of the names and we started asking people. We asked about 5 people and no one knew so we figured she just moved or something and that was that. This week, we decided to focus on visiting the members and asking for referrals so we planned to teach a family in the bishopric the restoration then ask. The day we planned to visit them, we had district meeting and our training was? Visiting with the members, teaching the restoration, and asking for referrals. We felt pretty awesome for being ahead. Anyway we taught them later that night and asked. They said they didn't but they said they would love to work with us and show us the houses of all the less-actives. So the next day we walked all over Catarman and contacted 8 new less-active families! It was SO tiring, but really great. At the end when we were in Abad Santos and Sister Magalang (the member) said she wanted to show us the house of her coworker for a referral. She wasn't home but she told us her name. Later that night while we were working, They texted us and said, "sisters, contact that referral immediately, she is very interested in your message. Regina" Every missionary's dream! And earlier that name didn't sound familiar but when I read the text, I said, "Sister, we know her!" huh? no we don't... Then it clicked, SHE was the name we had tried to find just the week before. We taught her with her 8 year old daughter the Restoration and it was pretty great. She was very open and honestly seeking the truth. There is no doubt in my mind that we were lead to her through not one, but two different ways! I have no idea what will become of us teaching her, but I know we were lead by God to find her and I'm pretty excited.

This morning we played basketball and I was pretty excited. Sister Robinson loves to play and I think she's staying too! I have 4 T-shirts that we made, it's so fun and they are so cheap! And they are great souvenirs. And I've just been enjoying my last week with Sister Somera, speculating about what's going to happen. It's gonna be so weird being in the Philippines without her! It's been so long, but it's gone by so fast! In two transfers, I will have 1 year left. that's crazy. It's going to go by so fast! But I love it here, and I'm excited for the changes too to spice things up, as if it needs it haha I love you!

Love, Sister Pike