#1
I'm so glad you got the video!!! Isn't that the coolest? I kinda looked the
grossest ever because we had just been riding on a bus for a few hours and I
had a really terrible sick voice but that was such a cool experience that I am
so thankful for! It's actually pretty crazy how it happened. Last Monday, we
left at about one to head to Tacloban. Our zone leaders said to BE THERE at 4
so we thought it was a big deal, like the whole mission would already be there
and we would have a meeting or something. So we show up at the church in
Tacloban exactly on time and no one else is there! Just a bunch of members
cleaning! So we think, are we at the wrong place? Are they all at the other
chapel? So we're just standing around outside all lost and confused when a car
drives up with two Americans! That is NOT normal. So they get out and talk to
us, they're looking for President Andaya and the AP's and they soon find out
that we know absolutely nothing. And then one says to the other, do you just
want to interview them? And that piques our interest. Turns out one of them is
David Perry who is a world renowned videographer who is here to catch some
footage for a video about Tacloban to show to youth of the church and such. So
we volunteer and they set up the camera and such. At first we thought they were
going to do all 8 of us, just little short clips about our experiences and how
much we grew. The others were pretty shy kay they're Filipino and shy about
their English so we went first. They asked us to share our story and weren't
really sure how long he wanted us to go so we just went and waited for him to
tell us to stop but we went and went, wayy longer than we expected but it was a
really cool experience. Especially since I'm COMPANIONS with someone who shared
almost the exact same experience as me. What are the odds of that. When we
finished, he loved it! And we said, we hope you can find something to use! And
then he said, if nothing else, I'll send this to your family and it's a great
thing to have on record to share with your friends, family and even future
family! By the time we finished, the other half of the zone got there and he
did a few short clips of what they learned and how they grew from that hard
experience. So it turns out, we had absolutely no reason to be there at that time,
no one else ever showed up. Are tender mercies real? Yes. I'm so grateful for
that!
(The video Mary is talking about was sent to our parents - it will be made into a documentary for viewing later)
#2 Mission Tour!!!!
For the first time ever, Tacloban mission was gathered all together and it was
just the best ever. 168 all together- 56 sisters, 112 elders. We were smaller
than I'm used to but we still barely fit inside the chapel. President Nielson (area
president of the Philippines) and his wife came and spoke to us and it was such
a great experience. We had studied the talk "mountains to climb" in
preparation and we talked about not only using typhoon Yolanda as a personal
testimony builder, but putting it in a place where we can help others learn
from it too. Also, they talked about how we can use this situation to help
others who suffered recognize the miracles and use it to bring them closer to
Christ. One thing that he said was many people said, "We need to repent.
That happened because of wickedness." But he emphasized that these things
happen, natural disasters, terrible situations, etc., not to call us to
repentance but to show forth his power. And both Sister and President Nielson
made it very clear that while everything was going down, especially the
rescuing of missionaries, they knew they were witnessing nothing short a modern
day miracle. It was really cool to hear their testimonies especially now that
it's been 6 months, the work is continuing, Tacloban is very progressing and
it's all looking up but just to be reminded of the miracles we've all seen.
#3 it's transfer week!
So I probably will stay but it's exciting to see what happens for transfers. It
is likely that Sister Brown and I will not stay together which is pretty sad;
we’ve had the best time! I'm so grateful for her. My English fast is going good;
I didn't expect how hard it would be! Especially when we meet with the zone, we
all speak so much English... I definitely felt was it was like to be a
Filipina- to know English but maybe not well enough to keep up with fast paced
Americans. I've slipped a bit but I'm definitely getting better. Progress! And Skype-
siyempre I will speak English haha! But as far as I know, there are no elections
next week and I for sure can only do it on Monday. I will MAKE SURE to be
online at 11am my time. Hopefully Mark can get on too! That was basically
the saddest moment ever when I found out he got special permission, I thought
there was no way! But now I know to be PROMPT and we will search for a good
internet cafe with Skype this week (google chat). I love you all, thank you for
your support! See you next week! The last time I will talk to you before I see
you in person... weird.
Love, Sister Pike
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