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| I found this picture on the internet of cock-fighting in the Philippines |
My companion and I started our weekly planning with taking our highest numbers of all time in the mission and setting a goal to achieve one or two more higher- for example, if the most people we had talked to in a week was 100, then we set the goal that all the end of the transfer, we want to achieve 105. I'm excited to reach these numbers, not for the sake of the numbers, but more because I know that it will be more and harder work, a challenge but one that will help me stay focused and firm until the end.
As far as transfers go, I'm still here in Alaminos- thankfully! But we are adding one more sister to our companionship, meaning that we will be in a threesome. So the new sister is- TONGAN. If you couldn't have guessed that, I guess you haven't been reading my emails because every other transfer I get a Tongan companion! :) I will have now had 5 Tongan companions. I'll be honest, I thought that Sister Finau way back on number 3 was pushing my luck and that she was most definitely my last. That was a joke! Sister Viatohi is her name and she's actually the sister that I've been living with the last past few weeks. (She is super fun, kind and about 6 months in the mission as well.) We are really close as a threesome, despite how they can usually go. But it might not be for very long because President did say when we got the call that the threesome was "for now". We aren't sure if that means until the end of the transfer or until he has to move around a few missionaries, but either way, I'm happy to have ANOTHER Tongan companion. I'm sure your all thinking it too, but I'm getting a lot of teasing about what nationality my future spouse is going to be because of how many companions I've had that are Tongan.
Well, this week we had some wonderful miracles. We have found 3 new investigators and have 6 potential investigators to contact this week, and it's only just started! We had some great experiences as a companionship, one that happened when I and Sister Pablo got on a jeepney. Usually, in fact always, when I have gotten on a full jeep here in the Philippines, there has been at least one other woman on the jeep. So, we had a first this week when we climbed on a full jeep, took a seat right in the middle, and then realized that we were the only girls! Not that that is a bad thing or anything, but there is a good type of 40 year old men in the Philippines, and a bad type. Unfortunately, it looked to us that we had just sat in between 11 of the bad type. They all had their chickens with them, ready to go cock-fighting and we were so uncomfortable, we didn't even know where to look, so we just looked at each other. They kept trying to engage in conversation with us, but we were so scared of them that we didn't respond. My companion looked at me and said, "What should we do?" I jokingly responded, "Open our mouths and share the gospel with them." She took my joke seriously, and with confidence that I hadn't seen just seconds ago, turned and began doing exactly that, to all 11 of the men there. I was a little quiet at first, watching and anxiously waiting to see what they would do. As it turns out, Heavenly Father placed us on that jeep for a reason- each one of them were extremely interested. They all told us that they wanted to come to church and asked us many questions about our religion. We were so pleased that we forgot when to get off and ended up having to take another jeep to get where we needed to go. However, I learned that we can never, ever judge a book by its cover, or even a 40 year old cock-fighter by his stereotype. We were able to plant some great seeds, thanks to my companion, and we both hope that we've been able to open some doors in their lives.
The other miracles will just have to wait until we skype because I've run out of time!
I love you all so much!
Keep smiling and trusting in God. Follow the spirit and it will always lead you right!
Mahal kita,
Sister Beaumont
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