Monday, September 28, 2009

Mission Milestones

You know your in a good mission and you've been out a while when they hand out worm pills at zone conference like pez and you don't think twice about doing your laundry in a bucket by candle light because you haven't had electricity in 2 days....haha we had an earthquake the other day..it happened during the night. The funniest part about that is everyone was talking about it the next day and all worried there was more coming and fixing their houses and my companion and I didn't even feel it! or wake up! haha exhausted much? we had a typhoon this week a signal 1 it lasted for almost 3 days it made work a little more difficult and I'm buying umbrellas like bread but its ok each one makes for some good stories and experiences ha.

The work is still going really good in Handumanan I really hope I stay there for awhile, we had Zone Conference on Thursday and it was sooo good! I love my new Mission President he his incredible, he is so humble and such a good teacher. He's doing great things here and making very necessary changes in the mission I'm so grateful for. The area doctor was also here from Manila with his adorable wife, it was good to see them again I had an interview/check-up with them and they were so glad to see me doing so well. The first thing he said to me when I sat down was "Well sis grant are you as happy as you look?" haha I'm so grateful for my health, and my area I really am so happy right now. We had a baptism on sat a part member family we reactivated and then baptized little 9yr old Gabriel ADORABLE I love him he's sooo funny haha we have another baptism this sat another part member family we have reactivated I love finding those families and helping them come back to the church. Well I love you all soo much and died laughing at jenny's letter! our stories are soo alike yet we are soo far apart I love it. Thanks for the letters and prayers. I sent home my camera and some other stuff earlier and I'm going to buy a new camera right now, thanks for the money in my account :)


Love you all!
Always,
Sister Grant

Monday, September 21, 2009

FHE Lesson....gotta love em!

HELLOOO!

Its good to hear that everyone is as busy as I am. I think our family has more mileage on em then anyone else I know! We are definitely a movin gang! So this week was another great one in Handumanan. Yesterday we had a break through with one of our investigators and it was great! She has been an investigator for over a year! She has met with sooo many missionaries but just never accepted baptism, so they dropped her. I came and we decided to visit her and follow up on the story because I was so confused, she comes to church every week, her husband is a member and she asked us to start teaching her 9 yr old son so he could be baptized but she doesn't want to?! Somethin aint right... so last we week we taught her and tried to resolve her concerns. She said she knows its true but its just not the right time...she's still waiting for her answer to get baptized. My comp said she was just nervous and scared to get baptized so we taught about acting on our faith and taking that first step to allow the Lord to show you his promised blessings and give him a chance to answer you. It went well and the spirit was strong, I committed her to not pray for when she should get baptized but to pray and tell the Lord she had the desire and if it was right for her to be baptized RIGHT NOW. We left but I wasn't satisfied. So we prayed a lot for her this week and met with her again yesterday. I told my companion who is the sweetest, kinda on the quiet side kinda girl that we were gonna have to be bold and direct with her, she was nervous so I told her I would start haha, I started by asking her very simple but direct ?s. What changes have you noticed in your life since investigating and living the gospel? in your family? How do you feel personally when you go to church? when you read the scriptures and pray? Of course her answers were that she's so much happier her family and relationship with her husband are stronger and better and she feels the peace the gospel brings. AY SALAMAT. We then helped her realize these WERE her answers! Then we asked her if she believed the Book of Mormon was true and she said yes so we asked her to act on that knowledge and the answers shes received and be baptized and we gave her a Specific Date. She hesitated....out of pure prompting before she could answer I asked her husband ( who is never there when we teach because he works but was off that day ) To bear his own testimony about his own conversion and baptism to his wife. It was the most beautiful testimony I've ever heard Not a dry eye in the room, He expressed gratitude for the gospel in his life, for his family and his desire for them to be sealed together forever in the temple. It was perfect. It was silent for a long time and we allowed it because the spirit was on fire. Then before we could even say anything, her husband turned to her with tears in his eyes and asked if she would act on the faith he has seen in her and be baptized. WOW! she accepted and we set a date. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I loved every minute of it. I was so grateful for his simple but sweet testimony and he has been inactive for almost 10 years! but it was powerful and sincere and just what she needed to hear.

On a lighter note, I got word from another missionary assigned in Valladolid that one of my converts Bro Montano, works with the missionaries all the time and bears a strong testimony where ever he goes. My smile was as bright as my new hot pink jody dress Sis Fairweather so kindly passed on to me. Im so excited for these friendships here and to keep them going even in the years after my mission.
Funny note. For FHE we went to a members house with 2 investigators, and the mother starts the lesson...about Post pardom deppression....um...hahah I was dying in the corner I thought I was going to pee my pants! It was so awkward it seemed to go on forever!then she finally ended and we played games and it was a blast.
Yes I got the calender and it sits on my desk and I love it!
Thanks for everything I love you all!

La Lu
Always,
Sister Grant

Monday, September 14, 2009

Utopia

Man! sounds like you all have been having fun in Florida and everywhere else. I'm glad things are going well with the Fam and with Grandmas health I got real tickled the other day during an OYM (open your mouth) cuz the old lady sitting next to us in a chair had the "shifty eye" thing going on that Grandma Jones always does haha I was dying.

Anyways, I can't even put in words how amazing things are right now for me. Handumanan is an incredible area, we have been workin sooo hard and the Lord is definitely blessing us and our investigators. Some days we pack a sandwich with us so we don't have to go home for lunch and we just work all day and I love it! We are just so excited and on a roll it seems like there's not enough time in the week to visit everyone. We have 10 people with baptism dates right now and ALL of our investigators are progressing soo well its so cool to see the changes they are willing to make once they feel that "special feeling" and witness for themselves. We go on splits like 2 or 3 times a week so we can make it to all our appointments! Its INCREDIBLE! I feel like I'm back to my old self again and that feeling and joy that seemed so dimmed the last 6 weeks in and out of hospitals and such is ON FIRE! I'm so grateful for all your prayers and help and the love and support you all continuously send my way. The language is there. I've got it. It was like I came home from Manila and someone shot me out of a canon haha everything fell into to place and there's no stoppin it now :) I love you all so much and cant wait to bring my family here one day to meet these people that are soo wonderful. The 2 Bishops are so great they help us so much we get new referrals every week! 4 of our investigators that had smoking problems had such changes this week. We had them all down to 7 or 8 sticks a day and then when we visited this week 3 of them were at 4 and 1 only had 2! I was so happy for them. The confidence they are gaining in the Lord and in themselves is so cool. Well I love you all again and keep you in my prayers.

Love always,
Sister Grant

Monday, September 7, 2009

Danka Shane

DANKA SHANE! haha thank you everyone for all your prayers and your support. It really does make a difference and help me over here so thank you it is greatly appreciated.
Well folks ready set go! I'm in my new area with my new companion both of which are sooo great and I'm feeling better everyday. I can't even begin to tell you how I feel right now, its so wonderful I feel like I got to push a restart button from the last 6 weeks and now nothin can stop me haha I've only been in Handumanan for 4 days now but it's already been great. For the first time I have 2 wards and both bishops are really good and the wards help us alot I'm so excited I'm sure you can see me smile from 4 peaks :) Not to mention the fact that IT finally happened. On Friday at our transfer meeting I SAW SIS FAIRWEATHER!! oh man words can not describe that joyous reunion! They was laughter, most definitely tears hah and the most ridiculous exchange of stories ever! I was soooo happy She took over Sterlings area in Victorias in Bacolod North zone and I went to back to South zone but we will still see each other often if not every Monday at our zone activities because our 2 zones always do stuff together we were both so excited our whole batch is on negros now so we'll see each other which is always fun. It feels so good to be back in the work full force and to have a companion with the same desires as I do, it makes a world of a difference. I'll have more info on my area and investigators next week. Thanks again for your prayers. I love you all so much. Mom and the girls, have fun in Florida! Dad, keep workin hard on your new gig and thanks for the email ;) Colton and Jamie hope all is going well with your growing family I love and miss you all. Have fun keep smilin in whatever you do :)


Love always,
Sister Grant


P.S Yes I got your package before I went to manila thanks! and I also got a letter from Jenny , Ha! I miss that girl soo much I was crying and laughing the whole time I read her letter! That will be another incredible reunion oh man.