But lets get business out of the way.... My Phone Call
HOME! So what's the time difference again? If I call you Christmas
morning here is that too late for you? Or when should I try and call?
Cause I think I can use the Couples phone (which is free!) but there
will be a lot of us so I think there is a scheduled. Just remind me of
the time difference. Excited ako!
And the Thank you's!
Kevin- I love the pics of Mara and the house, I can't wait (ok I really can) to see them in real life
Deb- My mom told me you gave me money for Christmas, Marami Salamat po! I am really grateful and will put it to good use! :)
Paul- Thank you for your note, but I still have a very loooooooong time left to go! I hope you have a great Christmas!
Rachel-
Ummmmmm..... I would really like to thank you for the pictures.... that
I hope will be here next week. But I still Loves you tons!
And the apologies, I still can't send pictures. :( Sad day. Later on I will see how much a card reader costs.
We
have had so many investigators come to church this last couple of
weeks! 8! That's a lot for me before the last two weeks the highest I
ever seen is 6! And the was a miracle! We won't be having any baptisms
in December but we will hopefully have a bunch in January!
So the funny stories for this last two weeks...
We
are teaching this really cute family, the Lagat's, they are less active
and two of their kids haven't been baptized yet. They have ten kids all
under the age of 16 and one grandchild. So it's a zoo! But we love
them! But every lesson we have to make EXTREMELY interactive or we lose
them all. So we were teaching about the Book of Mormon so we took a map
so they could see where the Bible come from and when Nephi traveled.
They thought it was epic. But when Clyde, the little boy, saw America,
we all lost it because he was like, "hey, that's were Captain America
lives!" Yes, that would be the thoughts of a nine year old. Then we
asked the question, who was the wife of Lehi? Nothing... ok, it starts
with an 's' Then cute little Judea, "Santa Clause?" Yes Santa Clause is
married to Lehi. and Christmas is coming and that is all a 8 year old
girl can think of! We love it there, it is always so fun, but we never
know what is going to come out of their mouths!
The second story... We were teaching another kid,
Eric James, who is 12 and who's whole family are members but him, but
less active. Just to explain him, he took my camera and took a picture
of himself acting all cool. When his whole family comes to church, he
doesn't, cause he is just a little independent punk. He has 9 brothers
and sisters and is ADHA. So our lessons there are also interactive. One
time we were teaching and he was super distracted, and I butchered
a pronunciation of a word, so simpre he totally started making fun of
me. And being the punk that I am, decided to switch to teaching in
English. Two can play that game. :) He busted up laughing! He didn't
understand anything. (cause I was saying really big words) I asked him a
question in English and told him to answer in English. It was so funny
to hear what he thought English sounded like to him. It is like when we
'try' to sound Chinese. So now, every time he is out of control we
threaten him with English. Very effective. And last time we taught
about Sabbath Day and set things on fire. Needless to say, he came to
church finally! So yes, mom, it's not just the Elders that are pyros.
Now for the Spiritual stuff...
I love the
Plan of Salvation! We were trying to teach the Plan of Salvation to a
family. They aren't members but the wife and the daughter are interested
but the father is kinda combative and just wanted to bible bash with
us. It was just so sad to see how little people really know about God's
plan for us, when it is all so clear, even in the Bible. He couldn't
except that we lived before this world. To him we just come from dust
and will go back to dust. It just made me realize how much I have taken
for granted the knowledge that we are more then dust and that we really
did live before this life, and this life now isn't just some accident.
And that their is more to come. At every little point in the lesson he
would tell us we were wrong, although he could not support it with the
Bible. When we said Jesus created the world, it was almost more then he
could bear. We finally told him that we were not here to Bible bash or
debate. That we did not come here to prove him wrong, so we would like
the same from him. I really thought he would leave. (cause I was kinda
bold.... yes I am even stubborn in Tagalog) but he didn't he sat down
and actually listened and we were actually able to teach him. The next
couple of days Sister Hunt and I really studied the Plan of Salvation.
It's all there in the Bible, even that Christ created the world.
Shocker! But it is even that much clearer in the Book of Mormon and the
Pearl of Great Price. Sister Hunt and I have been just really talking
lately how much the Gospel makes sense. How much knowledge we have
always taken for granted because we have been members our whole lives.
It's just been another testimony to me about the importance of
missionary work, because people really don't know. I love being a
missionary! I can't believe I have been doing it for a whole year!
Gahhh!
My Nanay, Sister Stonick, goes home next week.
Weird. I am now one of the old sister missionaries. Most of the
missionaries now in the field will go home after me. I still feel super
new and can't believe I am hitting my year mark. Days feel like week,
and weeks feel like days.
I get to go to the temple the day after Christmas!
(that is if I don't transfer, but I'm pretty sure we are both staying,
but then again, I though I was set in Carmona.)
I love Sister Hunt! We are always laughing about something. I can't
remember if I told you this but she is from Australia, but her parents
are Samoan. So her accent is super cool! And she has see a real kangaroo
in real life! We are already planning my trip to visit her. Now just
for the money part....
I have yet to have a companion from the same country. Canadian, American, New Zealander/Tongan, Filipino, Pakistani,
Well, I hope that was a long enough letter to
satisfy all of your wishes and desires! But I want to make sure that you
know that I love you tons! ALL OF YOU! And I can't wait to talk to you
all in real life... or at least over the phone. Can you believe it's
been 6 months since we last talked? Crazy! It went by so fast!
Love you all!
Sister Lyons
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