Sister Pike goes to the PHILIPPINES!: Week 66

I can't believe I've been back in Tacloban for 3 months! And I can't believe I only have 3 months left! Time, where does it go? This week was fantastic. We were on fire! And then Saturday I got a bad cough and just slept... but it was still a wonderful week! Highlights:

We went back and taught Bom-bom and Ja-Ja before they went back to Catarman and they were amazing!!! We were a little bit later than we expected and they were there waiting for us, SO excited and were studying the reading assignment we gave them all together. Is this real life? And we taught them about baptism and it was just such a fun lesson full of the spirit! They want to be baptized but we aren't sure if there are missionaries in their area yet so we committed them to keep reading the book of Mormon and seek out the missionaries wherever they are. It was so sad to say good-bye to them.

Went on exchanges with STLs, sister Nelson is my batch so that was a fun reunion. The award of the week goes to Sister Bayani. She's been giving us TONS of referrals lately and every time we go to her house to walk with her to contact the referral, she literally stops every single person she knows and asks if we can visit them! We got 3 return appointments! She is just on FIRE and she loves helping us and working with us. She's the coolest. One of those return appointments was on Saturday and he was so great. He was a teacher (so potential leader which we really look for in these areas where the church is still pretty new) and he had tons of questions of the soul. You know, every missionary's dream because we have all the answers! Why are there so many churches? Which interpretation of the bible is correct? If God really loves us, why is there so much suffering in the world? He was actually the first person we've taught that questioned our ability to get answers and we are both SO excited to come back and teach him about the book of Mormon. He loves reading the bible and we think he will just eat it up!

So this past 40 days, Sister Brown did this thing, "how to become a sanctified missionary" so she gave up some things (fasted basically) like talking about worldy things, just things to make her more focused and bring the spirit more fully into her life and she really inspired me! I really want to finish my mission strong and I only have 3 months left so I'm going to step everything up so it's like a rededication to avoid getting trunky! I'm pretty excited and it starts this Wednesday. The hardest thing about it is going to start an English fast! No English ever except during our studies and missionary meetings because we're supposed to. It's so hard when you're with Americans all the time, but I figured, I would totally be doing this anyway if I had Filipina companions so why should I short change myself this experience. I only get this time to speak these awesome languages once in my life! And the other just involve being EXACTLY obedient and relying more on grace for strength and help to become the missionary I need to be. And I'm telling you so I'll be held accountable. Woo!

Later today, we are traveling to Tacloban for mission conference tomorrow! SO STOAKED. So look forward to a bazillion pictures of me and all my favorite people. Hope you have a great week! Learn from Sister Bayani and give referrals to the missionaries :)

Love, Sister Pike