Dear Family,
Transfer Announcements. My last area will be......... NAGA 3. No transfer between Sis. Tanodra and I! I'm going 7 months here in Naga! That makes one year in one zone. I'm happy about it. Love the work, members, investigators, my companion, area ect. I've really seen this area flourish, and have made the best of the situation that was first given to me 6 months ago. I couldn't ask for a better place to finish my mission. I feel like there are certain investigators here that I still need to help. This area has been and still is shaping me into a better person. It's lengthened my patience, hope, and my smooth out my over all character. I'll just share with you all more in depth about my learning experiences here when I see you next month.
Sister Tanodra and I keep getting tried and tried here. But we are enjoying every minute of it. On Saturday, we had 6 set appointments, a baptismal interview, and just in case set 6 back up plans of referrals and following up on tracting. Left the house at 9 am and entered at 9 pm. We squeezed every minute out of our day. Although all the juice we squeezed must have evaporated in the suns heat. By the end of the night we still hadn't taught a lesson. We bounced from place to place being rejected from appointment to backup then to appointment to backup. Even our baptismal interview fell through due to conflict with her schedule. But.... Sister Tanodra and I never felt discouraged! We smiled and kept our upbeat attitude the entire day. Our hope never failed. Even til the last minute, we kept hope in the people outside. Even though our day left us empty handed, we never stopped hoping through planning our next days events, and then waking up the next morning. I really appreciate our attitude we have together. Sister Tanodra and I looked over our transfer together, and recalled our success together. What an incredible transfer. Not one wasted minute. We never felt a glimpse of sadness. Excited to go out every day, side by side and work together. I'm just so incredibly happy.
Yea. Gotta love my ghetto city area. I guess to make my letters more interesting, I'll tell a story that happened yesterday.
While visiting a recent convert family, every one in the Barangay got ordered by the police to get out of their homes and gather in the street. 3 gang members were having a shoot out with the police, because they were trying to bust them for drugs. We all huddled together and watched the policemen rade the houses to catch the men. They wanted everyone outside so the men wouldn't enter someones home and take them hostage. They finally caught them, and we were able to go inside our homes and continue the visit. Man, this place is the king of places for distractions. You know in my entire mission, I have yet to experience a lesson with no interruptions. There's either children running screaming, chicken flying in and out, neighbors radio blaring, rain pounding on a tin roof, brown-outs, I could go on and on and on. Last night, we were having an incredibly powerful lesson with a less active (all the while his children hanging clothes on the ceiling, and cooking rice) Then suddenly a drunk guy over hearing our conversation outside bursts in through the window, and ended up non-stop talking for 10 minutes. Welp. What can ya do? Just pray that they remember the spirit they felt before the interruption.
Anyway. Merry Christmas! yes, its Christmas time in the Philippines. People here get a little to excited about the holidays. We've already started singing Christmas songs, and right now the mall is blaring "walking in a winter wonder land."
That's all I have time for now. Love you all,
Sister Hancock
Transfer Announcements. My last area will be......... NAGA 3. No transfer between Sis. Tanodra and I! I'm going 7 months here in Naga! That makes one year in one zone. I'm happy about it. Love the work, members, investigators, my companion, area ect. I've really seen this area flourish, and have made the best of the situation that was first given to me 6 months ago. I couldn't ask for a better place to finish my mission. I feel like there are certain investigators here that I still need to help. This area has been and still is shaping me into a better person. It's lengthened my patience, hope, and my smooth out my over all character. I'll just share with you all more in depth about my learning experiences here when I see you next month.
Sister Tanodra and I keep getting tried and tried here. But we are enjoying every minute of it. On Saturday, we had 6 set appointments, a baptismal interview, and just in case set 6 back up plans of referrals and following up on tracting. Left the house at 9 am and entered at 9 pm. We squeezed every minute out of our day. Although all the juice we squeezed must have evaporated in the suns heat. By the end of the night we still hadn't taught a lesson. We bounced from place to place being rejected from appointment to backup then to appointment to backup. Even our baptismal interview fell through due to conflict with her schedule. But.... Sister Tanodra and I never felt discouraged! We smiled and kept our upbeat attitude the entire day. Our hope never failed. Even til the last minute, we kept hope in the people outside. Even though our day left us empty handed, we never stopped hoping through planning our next days events, and then waking up the next morning. I really appreciate our attitude we have together. Sister Tanodra and I looked over our transfer together, and recalled our success together. What an incredible transfer. Not one wasted minute. We never felt a glimpse of sadness. Excited to go out every day, side by side and work together. I'm just so incredibly happy.
Yea. Gotta love my ghetto city area. I guess to make my letters more interesting, I'll tell a story that happened yesterday.
While visiting a recent convert family, every one in the Barangay got ordered by the police to get out of their homes and gather in the street. 3 gang members were having a shoot out with the police, because they were trying to bust them for drugs. We all huddled together and watched the policemen rade the houses to catch the men. They wanted everyone outside so the men wouldn't enter someones home and take them hostage. They finally caught them, and we were able to go inside our homes and continue the visit. Man, this place is the king of places for distractions. You know in my entire mission, I have yet to experience a lesson with no interruptions. There's either children running screaming, chicken flying in and out, neighbors radio blaring, rain pounding on a tin roof, brown-outs, I could go on and on and on. Last night, we were having an incredibly powerful lesson with a less active (all the while his children hanging clothes on the ceiling, and cooking rice) Then suddenly a drunk guy over hearing our conversation outside bursts in through the window, and ended up non-stop talking for 10 minutes. Welp. What can ya do? Just pray that they remember the spirit they felt before the interruption.
Anyway. Merry Christmas! yes, its Christmas time in the Philippines. People here get a little to excited about the holidays. We've already started singing Christmas songs, and right now the mall is blaring "walking in a winter wonder land."
That's all I have time for now. Love you all,
Sister Hancock
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