August 8, 2011

Funness

Dearest Family and Friends,

Mahal ko kayo!!!!!! (I love you all) :)  Just thought I'd let you know!  I'm in a very loving and happy mood right now!  Life is great.  I just want to start off by saying Sis Whitley and I have decided if there is any chance of us still being comps again next transfer (next week) we need to show the Lord how grateful we are that we ARE comps right now......we definitely put our shoulder to the wheel and kicked but this week with finding people.  Holy cow, Heavenly Father blessed us SO MUCH as we talked to everyone we could.  I have never felt such power and fire behind my desire to share the gospel, it was like I had no fear and nothing mattered, I was gonna tell everyone of the joy of the gospel.  We were able to find 22 new investigators this week!!  That is a record for my mission, I think the most before that has been 16, but usually it's around 10.  We didn't just find random joe's either, like the Lord specifically placed people in our path that had questions and wanted to listen.  Miracles.  We've also been running into some very different types of people like never before.  I never would've been ready for them until now.  Let's share some stories.....

Last week we went to teach an older couple who calls us their new daughters and loves everything we teach.  I think I mentioned them before, they knew the Catholic church was wrong because they actually read and understood the bible.  So, when we went there last week they were just finishing up listening to a pastor from The Church of Christ, Pastor Johnny.  He looked SO nervous to be in our presence and it seemed he had no confidence in his teaching while we just sat there and waited for him to finish.  Then he left.  We thought it was funny how a grown man was afraid of 2 white girls.  Well, then we went back on Friday and he was there again, just finishing up and then he decided to stay and listen.  I felt a little funny about it, but we began following up on Nanay and Tatay's reading and prayer (they were supposed to pray to know if this was the true church) usually they are very open with us and are excited to report on their reading from the BOM but this time they gave the general answer that everyone else gives...."oh, it's all good"  I knew right then something had changed.  I wasn't too sure what we should do but then Sis Whitley started bearing testimony and then we opened with a prayer.  Nanay was just like "oh God must know we want to learn about God so He sent us you guys and Pastor Johnny" And this was after how many times we've taught that there is only one true church of God.  I started reviewing about Joseph Smith and his search for truth just like Nanay and Tatay.  The pastor stayed quiet at first.  We told them how important it was to pray and ask God for truth and answers and not believe everything people were saying.  We testified boldly of the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration.  They seemed to not really listen to us like before.  They kept asking Pastor Johnny if things were right.  It was so weird and I didn't like it at all.  Then towards the end Pastor Johnny decided it was in his best interest to give us some "tips"  He said "for me, I don't force people to join my church, I let them study and pray about it"  "for me, as missionaries we should only teach" "from my experience....."  all of these suggestions which blew my mind because that was exactly what we had just taught them.  To study then ask God, we even read scriptures about it.  He couldn't question any of the doctrine, just tell us what we should do, that we were already doing.  But for me, he was doing so much more than that.  I saw the slyness of the devil working through Johnny.  He was sitting in between Nanay and Tatay feeding them what they wanted to hear.  He was saying "it's okay, you just need time, you don't have to do it all right away" I thought of a scripture in 2 Nephi

We also ran into a Jehovah Witness.....that was fun, they love to share their gospel.  Luckily this one was newer so she didn't have much to say.  We just taught about God and Christ and how they have bodies.  She didn't believe it at all, even when we showed her in the bible after Christ is resurrected and eats with His apostles.  She was like, whoa, I've never seen that before, but He's only a spirit.  It was so crazy to hear how set she was just from what people have told her.  She was brainwashed.  Programmed almost to say the same thing and not accept anything else.  Especially about the 144,000 who are automatically going to heaven with God while the rest of the good people will just stay on the earth.  Why in the world would you be content with that and why would you reject doctrine that teaches we can all live with God again with our families????  Blows my mind.  For the first time, I also had to teach Satan is real.  One girl didn't believe he was, but was able to understand after we taught and also understand why he wants us to think he isn't real.  Then we encountered a Baptist, that was a first.  They have  a lot of truth, just missing some pieces, and of coarse, the Priesthood.  It was a fun week to say the least!!!  I quite enjoyed it and know the Lord doesn't give us anything we can't handle.

Okay, so the in-town fiesta was last week!  So fun!  Lots of booths from all over the pines with fun stuff to buy :)  And don't worry I finally got a good bathroom story, i know its been a while since you've gotten one of those......really, they happen all the time, its just normal to me now!  But this one's funny.  So last Monday we went to the fiesta with a member to buy some stuff and just started walking around when my stomach started hurting....uh oh, I know that feeling but i prayed it would hold off till we got back home, i wasn't to fond of the idea of finding a CR (bathroom) so we kept walking and looking at stuff when my stomach started to KILL.  Not a good feeling and I didn't want to take a trike home so the member led us to a public CR....hehehe, love those.  There is a huge bucket in the stall with the toilet just being filled up with water and no toilet paper of coarse.  I went in and was there for a nice little while then took care of everything with the water--the usual when there's no toilet paper (not gonna lie, its not too bad to just pour water down your back, it works!) then I walked out and noticed there was a sign that said:  Payment to pee 3 pesos, payment to poo 5 pesos.....and there were a couple guys my age sitting there and I asked if I needed to pay and they were like yeah sure so i gave them 5 pesos and they were like "oh no sister, it's only 3 pesos!" and tried to find 2 pesos to give me as change, I was like haha no really, keep the 5 pesos, lets just let everyone know what I just did!  We walked away laughing, and they were laughing too.  Love my life here! 

So there you have it, my exciting week!  I love Lal-lo, all my experiences, and especially Sis Whitley!!!
Hope you all had a great week and have an even better one this week!!!  Keep on sticking to your task and don't worry when the storms come, it only means a beautiful sky is on the way.

Ingat!  (take care)
Sis. Carroll

Alma 39:15 "And now...I would say somewhat unto you concerning the coming of Christ.  Behold, I say unto you that it is he that surely shall come to take away the sins of the world; yea, he cometh to declare glad tidings of salvation unto his people."

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