So this week I had my first instance where I actually had to RUN away from dogs. There are dogs EVERYWHERE here, as in everywhere. None of them have been fixed, so they just keep going around making new barking, sad, starving, angry dogs. In my previous areas, we had dogs that would bark at us, but they were harmless or tied to a tree with a chain. But this week, we were walking away from an investigators house and everything is fine until we hear all this barking behind us and we turn around and a pack of dogs comes running out of this gate coming right for us. Sister Deyro and I look at each other and then just start running. We get to a patch on the dirt road where there are a bunch of stones and we pick them up to throw at the dogs. The good thing is, since the dogs here always have stones thrown at them, they see you bend over, and they usually start to back off. The funny part is, I picked up a little stone and just threw it as they ran back to their house, but Sister Deyro picked up this giant shot put sized rock and hurled it at them. Die laughing I did. She is itty bitty, and she chose the big rock. Maybe you had to be there.
So this week we had a couple of set backs, we had two investigators with a lot of potential drop us through text. Boo. Mary Jane said her husband, who was less active Igelsia ni Cristo, decided that he wants to go back to church and does not want her to talk to us anymore. Then Angelica, she was a former investigator that we re-contacted on Tuesday, taught again on Thursday, extended and accepted a baptismal date and she said she would come to church on Sunday, then she texted us during church and said that she no longer wanted us to visit her. It is so heart breaking to meet these people, who have so much potential, to drop you. I think Angelica is just scared because we extended baptism so quickly. Even though you explain that coming to church does not mean you will be baptized immediately, a lot of people here think that going to church means you are a member. I think we might try and visit Angelica again this week and try to explain what we are really there for. To help her come unto Christ, not just to throw her into the baptismal font.
I had a realization this week about the organization of the Church. It really is like a family. We went to a recent convert's house to teach them, and as we started talking, she started telling us about this problem that they were having with their farm land. They rent the land and they have a little farm and some pigs. They had paid their rent, but the people they rent from said that they had added a payment of 6,000 pesos because of some maintenance work they had done. This family does not have 6,000 pesos. So we talk to her about it and Sister Deyro says that she should talk to President Tabulog, the Branch President, about her problem. Sister Cabudol just kind of looked at her and was like "he can help me?" we said yes, that if she has any kind of problem, she should talk to the Branch President because it is his job to help the members in Sta Teresita. We took her to President's house and they started talking and we left, so I dont know what happened there, but I think I realized, like Sister Cabudol, that once you become a member of the Church, you become a part of an international family. When you have a problem, you should tell your church leaders, because they have the authority from God to help you. This Church is so much more than just a church, it is a family and families help each other.
I think that is something I have slowly realized on my mission is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not just a church or a way you live your life on Sunday, it is everything. The more I have realized that, the more comfort I feel. I dont really have to worry about anything else in life except trying to live the gospel and keep my covenants, everything else will shake out in the end, because if I am being a valiant disciple of Christ, I may have trials, but I know I can make it through them because of his promised blessings. I just love Jesus.
Mahal Kita rin!
Sis Bet
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