Wow! Another week has come and gone! Next
Wednesday I will be in my third transfer and done
with the 12 week training. Crazy! I am absolutely
loving my mission! I can never say that enough.
Sadly, my trainer, Sister Palmer will be going
home next week! She has been a great influence in
my life. She has helped me to become a more
obedient and effective missionary. I will miss her
dearly and I know many others here in the mission
will miss her as well. I know Heavenly Father needs
her to go and help others in their lives now.
Whatever she does and wherever she goes I know she
will be wonderful!
Friday I had the opportunity to attend my first
Tagalog meeting. International sisters here in this
mission have meetings where they help each other out
on improving ways to take tours and contact people.
This is one of the rare times they can speak in their
native language as well. As most of you know, the
only language I speak is English, but since I am
Filipino, I was invited. During part of the meeting
each sister went around and shared why they decided to
serve a mission. There was only one other sister in
the room that did not speak in Tagalog, but she could
understand the language. But, not being able to
understand definitely did NOT ruin the experience for
me. Although I could not understand a single word
these sisters were saying, I could clearly feel the
Spirit of their testimonies. I knew that each of them
had a testimony of the Savior and a strong conviction
in their decision to serve a mission. It was such a
wonderful feeling that is almost indescribable. It
was an experience I will never forget.
Sister Palmer and I
have been struggling pretty much both of the transfers
that I have been here with finding solid new
investigators. Unfortunately we have had to drop a
ton of our contacts in our area book. We have been
praying really hard, asking for help, but everything
is in the Lord's time. Typically the people that come
on to chat with us are either argumentative or are not
interested in staying in contact with us to learn more
about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Saturday was
different. We chatted with so many people who had
sincere questions and by the end of the day we had two
new investigators! Sister Palmer and I immediately
got on our knees after both chats and expressed our
gratitude to our Heavenly Father. I am thankful to
Him for giving us our trials because it was all worth
it! Even if it does not work out with both of these
new investigators, I am grateful we had the experience
to have joy in finding them. Heavenly Father blessed
us with the determination and lifted our Spirits.
On Sunday as we were walking past the temple we saw this
older man walking the opposite direction with a huge smile
on his face. I decided to wave and smile at him. He
stopped to talk with us. He asked us where we were from,
what we did before our missions, and what we were going to
study when we got back. He was just a super friendly old
gentleman. The whole time he had this warm big smile on
his face. As we said our good byes I asked what his name
was and he said "Grandpa Ron." Afterwards, Sister Palmer
and I called him "Smiley Grandpa Ron." My invitation to
you this week is to smile at as many people as you can,
wherever you go. I promise you it will make their day!
I love my Savior. What a blessing it has been for me to
meet the people I have met. Although I am done with my
official training, I know the Lord has much more in store
for me to learn. I am excited for what this next transfer
will bring into my life. I know that the prophets in the
Book of Mormon did have personal testimonies of the Savior.
I believe in the Holy Ghost. God places certain people in
our lives to take care of us. I say these things in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love Sister Aquino
No comments:
Post a Comment