Every dang day is an adventure out here...
I'll start out with the spiritual side of things. The other day I was trying to figure out how to become a better gospel teacher because I've felt my skills slipping a little bit. So I read in Preach My Gospel in one of the study and application sections. It asked the question, "How well are you doing in fulfilling your responsibility to love and serve those among whom you labor?" And it had a scripture next to it: 1 Thessalonians 2:8-9, 20 Which is the apostle Paul describing the joy of missionary work, "So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us... for ye were our glory and joy." I really thought about how I could impart of my soul to our investigators and how to show to them and to God that they are our joy and glory. I then proceeded to write down the names of the top 5 we have who need the most help and I'm praying about each of their names specifically and what we can do to help them. Now, me and my companion are making a plan to do these things to help them. I really feel more guided by the spirit and I feel like I received a direct answer to my prayer. We are now making very specific plans for each person we teach and the spirit is much stronger when we do. It brought the Holy Ghost back to our teaching.
I can feel his influence stronger as well. For example, last night we were about to head home when a name was dropped inside my head I hadn't thought about for a month. We went and visited this brother immediately and found that he's not only trying to read the Book of Mormon, he's living the word of wisdom for the first time of his own free will and he expressed the desire to be baptized. He explained that he feels clarity for the first time in his life. And to make it even better, we figured out that his real concern was not having a fellowshipper. And it just so happens that that night when he was put into our thoughts, we had a brother his same age working with us who is more than ready to be friends with him. So cool!
On Valentine's Day, I hit my 1 year mark. Holy ANTI-TRUNKY feelings! I was reading my journal entry from my setting apart and I can see how every gift that was given to me by the stake president has been fulfilled or is currently being fulfilled. I'm so grateful for the priesthood and the spiritual gifts I was given because of it. It grows my faith that Heavenly Father remembers and fulfills his promises when we are faithful.
So last Tuesday afternoon as we were waiting for our worker to come meet up with us, I noticed a crazy man walking down the street babbling gibberish to himself. I didn't think much of it except, "Woah. He's crazy." Then I noticed him again about 30 seconds later standing a safe distance from us. We took a few steps to see what he was up to and he followed each step we took. I started walking in circles and he even followed that. So we went in the gas station to get away and he waited outside, sucking on the rosary cross in his mouth and having a full-on conversation with himself. When our worker showed up, she had the security guard escort us into a tricycle and when we got in, this crazy man went in a full-on sprint to chase the tricycle. We finally got away and about 10 minutes later he shows up again (no idea how he caught up so soon) and then just walks away never to be seen again, staring at us as he goes. I think he was possessed or something. We were, at the time, OYMing a guy who started conversation with us about church and religion. He told us he would be glad to have a discussion with us so we went into his house. I thought he meant that he wanted to share with us, but no... he had different plans. He walked out with a briefcase that had all kinds of locks on it and pulls out a large book. He hands it to us and it's just full of numbers, or "codes." Then when we look up again he's wearing a purple and yellow cloak with the same codes on it. He goes on to explain that it was "the language of God" that one cannot understand without writing their own "book of codes." God gave him the name "Excavius" and he goes and does demonstrations in the Muslim area of the country. My poor companion, having little Tagalog in her, had no idea what was going on and I was trying to push us out before we got initiated or had to be killed for knowing too much or something, haha. I couldn't bear to stay any longer without losing it so I told him we also have a book that doesn't require any codes and tells us how to live in peace. I gave him a Book of Mormon and then we high tailed it out of there and about busted a gut laughing.
Heavenly Father really likes to keep my mission interesting. Mabuti n'lang. Love you all.
Sister Wilson
P.S. Please enjoy this picture of an itty bitty frog I caught last week. It took half an hour to upload so you'd better enjoy it cuz it's all you're getting.
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