Sister Acosta: Count your miracles, name them one by one!

The past week has been so wonderful. Elder Holland taught that when an investigator didn't keep his/her commitments, missionaries should be devastated (PMG, 8).

For some reason, Sister Evelyn -- the one who had a baptismal date on December 13, 2014 -- didn't go to church yesterday. I was devastated. Sister Crystal and I were so devastated. But we're not discouraged. All is not lost! Because yesterday, there were 2 less-actives and 6 investigators who went to church and attended all the meetings! One of the investigators was a former investigator. The rest of them we just met last week!! Aaah! Heavenly Father knew how happy we were when we saw each of them coming to the church.

When I saw the former investigator at the foyer, my heart suddenly shouted: "Miracle!". And then I saw Nanay Magdalena coming, and my heart shouted "Miracle!" again! And then investigators kept on coming so my heart kept on shouting "Miracle!". Basically, this week has tons of miracles! So my trainer and I started counting miracles and naming them one by one!

(1) Nanay Magdalena.

So last week, I had my first experience in tracting. During the first minutes of tracting, I was so excited. Like, I want to shake hands with everyone I meet along the streets and tell them I am Sister Acosta, missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . and I know that our message is true. But after being rejected many times (I mean ALL THE TIME!), I felt so sad. I felt very tired. To make it worse, we stopped at this particular house, and before we could introduce ourselves to them, the woman inside shouted "Pasensya! Busy!" (Sorry! Busy!)

So we continued to walk and walk and walk until we reached the dead end of the road. Then suddenly, Sister Crystal told me "Let's turn to the right. I heard something." I asked her "ARE YOU SURE YOU HEARD SOMETHING?" because I couldn't see a house on the right road except a house of a pig. So we turned to the right and after few more walks, we found Nanay Magdalena at the window of her small and dark house. She's in her 60s and she lives with her son. I want to tell the details about her son, but for now it is suffice to say that her son is chained in a small room in their house because he has mental problems.

We then introduced ourselves and the church to Nanay. When we asked her if she’s familiar with the Mormons, she excitedly told us that two of her children are Mormons!! Yes! Latter-day saints!! So she invited us to come inside her house and showed us HER COPY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON! And she has the oldest copy and edition of the most correct book upon the face of the earth! Aaah! I am so happy, especially when she went to church yesterday, and she found some of her old friends. For now, I am praying and hoping that we will be able to teach her just as how the Lord wants us to teach her, so she will understand and have the faith to embrace the truth.

(2)Tatay George Morales

We met Tatay George Morales after helping his wife bring 2 coconuts in their house. We had visited them for 5 times already, and every visit we had to this family, we learned and learned more about them. Tatay is a former seminarian of another faith. After being sick (seriously sick) because of vices, (he’s feeling better now!!), he wants to change for the better. He asked us if the Lord would still accept him after all the things he had done. So I bore my testimony that while it is true that blessings are reserved to those who keep His commandments, His love is EVER CONSTANT and EXTENDED TO ALL. The Lord is anxious to have every of His children come back to His fold. Aaah. I love this family so much! We also found in the area book that his family members (except him) had been taught by the missionaries last year. And then we found out that few years ago, Tatay attended the baptism of his friend in the church! He wasn’t able to go to church yesterday because he can’t stand or sit even for few minutes. He’s still recovering from sickness.

So yes! Many miracles to tell, so little time!

If you're asking me about my homemaking skills... I cooked dinner sa unang gabi ko dito sa Alinguigan.

Charan! Adobong atay with batikulen with boiled egg! Hahaha! Yung tatlong missionaries na nasa bahay eh gustung gusto nila! (Hindi ako nagbibiro!) In fact, pinaluto nila ako ulit ng ganito ... at dahil napressure ako sa expectations nila.. Hindi ko naluto ng mabuti yung atay.. Hahaha. Eew! Pero dahil ang sarap talaga ng luto ko nung una, pinaluto nila ako for the third time.. PERO PALPAK PADIN. So yes, chamba lang pala yung una. Hahaha.

Sabi ni Sister Davis (from Idaho) astig daw si Mamang Zorayda. She saw your recipe book and she wants a copy of it

Ganito po ang backride sa mission ko. Pero di ko pa nasusubukan. Sa kapitbahay namin ito na tricy. (Members din!)

My mission parents! President and Sister Rahlf! I learned so much from them. Last week, I learned about setting goals! It motivated me to work harder to achieve my goals!