I'm trying to be like Jesus

magandang pday sa inyo lahat!  I’m not really sure how 6 weeks has already passed but its transfer day again!  This time I’m staying but my companion is leaving me already.  They told me that my new companion is also Filipina so that should be good. But it’s a little exhausting to have another transfer so quickly. I guess its ok though.  4 more transfers left.  That is a little bit crazy ;) but who is counting. 

 This week was awesome because we had a baptism!  Very, very exciting. There were a lot of people that attended and us missionaries sang I am a child of God.  In English, Tagalog, and Samoan. So that was cool.  It’s been a while since we’ve had a baptism so it was a nice change! 

    Also this week we went to visit our recent convert who just had her baby.  We heard about it and we couldn’t resist.  It was an interesting experience though. Because she was in a 'ward' which is like one room with a lot of people in it.  There were a ton of beds and three moms and their babies to one bed.  So it was really crowded and hot and there were a lot of babies!  But they were all sooooooo cute! and had so much hair!  We just went around and talked to people and looked at their babies.  One girl was 16 and had no husband, only her best friend there with her.  So that was sad.  I wish things like that didn’t have to happen. But at least her friend was there.  And her baby was so darn cute.  

   Let’s see what else happened.  Oh remember last week how I told you about the refried beans.  Well this week I made burritos for my kabahays and they were so delicious!  They were only simple ones with just beans and cheese but I forgot how amazing something that simple can taste hah. We didn’t have ketchup to dip them in so we used tomato sauce. But it worked and it was yummy.

   Kanina we went and played sports as a district for our morning exercise. That was super fun because we found a football and so me and the Samoan elder in the district threw the football.  He is teaching me how to throw it rugby style too. Its legit.  It’s fun to have someone else in the district that likes sports.  It gets a little old playing just for fun haha.  You know how I am! 

      As for a spiritual experience this week. We went to teach one of our investigators and she wasn’t there. So we stopped by the house of one of our old OYMs to see if we could teach her.  Of course she wasn’t there either but her asawa and his friends were.  So we were chatting with them and then one of the friends says that he knows some Mormons that live 'over there.'  We were able to get a general idea of where they lived and we went to find them. We circled a few times but actually ended up finding their house and they were there!  It was a family that was all members except for the son who hasn’t been baptized yet.  They have been sealed in the temple and everything but they moved and now they are less active and busy.  So that was a spiritual experience in itself!  It’s amazing to find new people to teach and to help.  But the real part that hit me was yesterday on Sunday we told them we would come pick them up for church so they don’t have to be shy to go alone and they said ok and they were perfectly happy about it and we didn’t see any difficulties.  So then Sunday we went and took a tricycle to their house...and let’s just say it wasn’t super cheap and on top of that we were running a little bit late so we were stressed.  And then we got to the house and out of the tricycle and they come out the door and say ehh sisters were not ready and we forgot and were busy.  Next week na lang.  So there was nothing else to do but just turn around and go wait for the jeepney to take us back to the city and we knew we were going to be late and we didn’t have anything to show for it and so I got a little bit mad.  I’ll be honest. I was so frustrated and I was just about to start telling my companion how ridiculous it was but right at that minute I just started humming the song that said I’m trying to be like Jesus.  It just came from nowhere and it made me stop and think how if we are really trying to be like Jesus we shouldn’t say things like that because we don’t know peoples situations.  Now I’m for sure not perfect and sometimes I complain a lot.  But I love the fact that when we are really trying to improve our actions...we have help.  Even something as little as a primary song coming into our minds when we struggle.  The little things mean the most!

    That’s all I’ve got for this week! Thank you all for your prayers and your love and I love you all so much!

XOXO

Sister Van Tassell