Sister Pike goes to the PHILIPPINES!: Week 20

Hala!!!! Craziness this week! So you know how I got a new companion? I have another one! Yeah. Sister Cornillez still needed to process her passport and visa and realized she wouldn't have much time if she finished the 6 week cycle, so I have Sister Pedong! Also preparing for a mission, waiting for her call, native waray-waray speaker and from UEP oh 19, turning 20 in July while we will be companions , one ward over the other direction. By the end of the week, Sister Cornillez and I had just gotten our routine down and teaching styles then enter Sister Pedong, but I'm really grateful because I'll have even more training for when I train! And it's nice having a practice run on natives because being a missionary is hard enough when you don't need to help them with homesickness and freaking about the language, food and culture gihapon. Also, it helped prepare for whatever personality because they couldn't be more opposite! But it's great! She's very well-adjusted and sometimes I feel like she's training me! haha

So I know I said we would basically have no work last week because Tacloban and moving... turns out it was a big lie! They texted us we weren't going because there would be too many people and Sister Robinson, Nelson and I were SO SAD. Seriously, could not focus because we were looking forward to it so much! Then our landlord told us to move tomorrow instead. So we worked all week and it was really great! We decided to start asking for referrals (we always needed too, we were just horrible at remembering) and we got so many! Like super prepared people too! And here's a miracle- in March, we started visiting a less-active couple who needed to get married. They have been less active 8 years and really had a desire to return, but it was really hard because they felt because they weren't married, they would be judged... or something like that. So we have been visiting them for 3 months! And They bought their marriage license now and preparing to get married! Woohoo! Not only that, when we visited we had an awesome lesson about how reading the book of mormon has helped them (because through our visits we have helped them establish a habit of reading every night as a family and praying together) and they both bore strong testimonies of how awesome reading the Book of Mormon is and how it helps them keep there life in perspective. After, we asked for a referral, and she said, oh yeah, I have a friend that has been asking to go to church with me when I go! I'll go introduce you! And we set up an appointment for her to be with us while we teach her friend. Then on sunday, GUESS WHO WAS AT CHURCH?!?! Abel and Weng AND their friend who we will start teaching this week. It was the greatest sight ever. Not only have we worked with them for 3 months, other missionaries before us have been working with them for at least a year and FINALLY it is all coming together. So great.

In other news, the Catarman 1 elders had a baptism and none of the speakers showed up so they asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost with like zero preparation and guess what? tanan waray-waray! Marks the exact 3 month mark from the Ordonez Baptism when they asked me to talk, but I was too sick/ didn't know a single word of waray-waray. Wow, I've come a long way! And I gave I talk in church the next day- all warary-waray too! It feels so great. I still have some ways to go, especially with conversational, but it's so cool to see how fast I have progressed and through me, our whole ward is able to see how truly powerful the gift of tongues is. Seriously! From what I'm told, this never happens. Everyone asks if this is my second area. I know I could not have done this on my own.

And this week, we really are going to Tacloban with all the Sisters! Yay! So excited. And we are moving tomorrow, so for real not very much work this week. Today, we had a zone activity at the beach and it was so awesome! I can't believe I live in paradise. We rode a jeepnye and then a habul-habul (motorcycles with an extended so 5 can fit) and it was so fun! We rode the habul-habul through the jungle and along the coast, just gorgeous. Then we went to the beach and climbed a bunch of these huge rocks and ate and just had fun, played games. It was the best. I'll include some pictures, for sure. And I think that's about it! I'm doing so great! I love you all! I don't miss America! but really... Thank you so much for your support!

Sister Pike