Abbey in the Philippines: Sister Abbey Hafen // Week Fifteen // "I can't think of a creative title"

Wow, what a week (as usual)

It was "National Family Week" for the Philippines. A holiday week that the church started here and suggested to government like 40 years ago, and now it is celebrated every year across the entire country. It was SO fun and so cool to see the entire community celebrating the greatest blessing we've been given here; the family. I was hoping maybe they'd let us skype our OWN families each night of family week, just to celebrate ya know? But I guess that didn't happen... :)

Man. Every week is full of so many ups and downs I can't even take it! So many highs, and SO many lows.

This week we had zone conference. I fell asleep on the 30 min bus ride there and the window was open so yeah, all that delicious air just dried my whole mouth out. Ha. Anyway, holy cow- The spirit was THICK in that chapel where President presented to us. President focused on the nature of Heavenly Father and the nature of Jesus Christ. Honestly, I cannot tell you how strong the spirit was. It was just heavy and real. We spoke of pure doctrine and I learned SO much about my Heavenly father and brother Jesus Christ. We talked of the roles of the Savior: President Rahlf outlined 6 roles:

The Creator.

Our Redeemer..

The Son of God.

Jehovah.

The Savior.

and lastly, Our Judge.

Us 4 Alicia Sisters (me, Acoba, Suay, Bates) performed Be Still My Soul, piano, violin, singing at the Zone Con.

I just have to say that there have been few times before the mission that I felt the spirit testify like it has here when I have the opportunity to share my testimony through my violin. During that zone conference, the spirit was so strong. As we performed, I thought of the words to the hymn and tears filled my eyes. I KNOW that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World.

Zone con was a blast, and our zone won the jeopordy game. SNICKERS were the prize- AH heaven. We went to McDonalds (called MAC-DO here) and oh my heck I was in heaven. I am serious. It was so awesome to order a big mac, coke, and ice cream.

Life is so good here in Alicia.

Our investigators are doing SO well. Mary Joy honestly is so celestial, I love her. She is cruising through the Book of Mormon. She came to the family week celebrations with her little 2 year old JohnJohn and 1yr old Princess. They had so much fun and it was so fun to hang out there with her! She is 22 and honestly is converted. She wants to be baptized so bad, and is now just waiting for the people at the Munincipal to follow up on her validation of birth certificate. She told us last week that when they sat down to eat dinner, JonJon bowed his head, put his hands together, and just started whispering and mumbling for maybe 10 seconds, and then started to grab his food. He was saying his little prayer! AH its just so incredible what little kids learn. Mary Joy is such a beautiful example to her family and is so patient. Her husband, who works long days away from home, was asking her about why she was reading so much and about the BOM and prayer. She explained to him and now he seems interested she said. We will see what happens.

Our recent convert Joem (10 yrs old) is reading the "Book of Mormon Stories" book that we gave him and is on page 100! He is also like 30 pages in on Ang Akalt Ni Mormon. I love how excited he gets each lesson to talk about what he learned.

We have 2 baptisms on the 12th. Sister Norberta and Brother Godfrey. Norberta is the lady that literally came up to us on the street, apologized for not coming to church, said she'd be there the next day, and she was. She wants to be baptized and we have been teaching her ever since. She is 26 and has 3 little kids and her husband works from 5AM-10PM every single day. She has this great faith, but is struggling to remember and follow along as we teach. We teach her sooo simply each lesson. But as my companion said, its amazing how much people improve when they begin to learn gospel truths. She has already started to remember more and improve, and ah. She is just so beautiful and every time we visit I just can't believe her faith.

Brother Godfrey is 11 and is part of a partmember fam. We've been wanting to teach him for a while now, but we had just began visiting the family because they are less active. We decided to just wait and be patient, and of course, after like the first sunday the family comes back to church, the mom gets so sick, goes to the hospital, and has to get an emergency surgery. So now that she is recovering, they have every excuse NOT to come to church. But oh guess what. She comes every week. And brought her family to the family week celebrations. Honestly, it is so incredible to me the miracles I see every day out here. So now we are teaching Godfrey and he accepted a baptismal invitation the first lesson! He sees us around his neighborhood, and just like Joem (our RC in Gumbauan), they run over and say hey, like, we're all pals and they feel so cool that we're friends. Haha, he is doing soo good and yesterday at church we were drawing and he asked me in tagalog, "when are you coming to my house next?" I told him hopefully that evening. He then told me he was so close to finishing the assignment we gave him. He was so excited to tell me that. The faith and diligence of little children. PART MEMBER FAMILIES ARE THE WAY TO GO. Honestly, their family is reactivating and soon they will be a complete family.

I have to say something quick about Sister Policarpio. She is the one who just returned to church and now that she is a returned member, she is like the best thing thats ever happened. She's inviting everyone and their DOGS to everything and on sunday, her family was all at church. Her husband is abroad, but everyone else came to chruch with her. It was the most beautiful site. Someone once said that There really isn't anything more beautiful than seeing complete family at church, sitting together in the chapel on Sunday. It is so true. despite some of these HORRIBLE things that are happening to her, she is so faithful and is making sure all her loved ones are too. She is the best friend of Godfrey's mom, and when Godreys mom can't come to church, she brings Godfrey. Celestial.

Sherly is our 17yr old inv. who's fam doesn't support her in being baptized, but still let us visit. She came to our "open house" and took a tour of the church, as different members explained each part (ie: RS, YM/YW, YSA, the baptisimal font & missionary work, sacrament, etc). We had the open house all week and it was sooo cool. nonmembers got to tour the building and then the ending room was the sacrament hall. we explained the sacrament and then I played a hymn on my violin with my companion accompanying me. I couldn't believe how strong the spirit was each time we did it. After I played, the nonmembers wanted to clap, but they just sat there and the spirit really worked in them. We had all the baranguay officials (like, the city council members), a local pastor, our personal investigators, and friends of ward members come and get tours. One baranguay official said after the tour and after I played, "wow. I just have a different feeling right now, and I have the goosebumps." THATS THE SPIRIT TESTIFYING TO YOU, MAN! hahah, it was so cool to see all these people come in and just hear things they have never heard before.

After Sherly's tour, Alicia 3 had a baptism. Man. The spirit was so strong. A family of 4 was baptized, and also one other 25 year old guy. I was so nervous because it was so long and I was thinking goll, Sherly is probably so bored and is thinking what the hey i have been here for like 3 hours now, get me home, blah blah blah. I honestly was stressing inside. After the baptism we walked her home and she just opened up about how much of a spiritual experience she had and how she remembers when her family used to go to protestant church together and how happy they were as a family. she talked about how she just has to be patient as she waits for her baptism day. She said she really felt the spirit and was sooo happy that we stopped by and invited her to the baptism.

Why do I doubt the power of the spirit? Honestly, this happens to me all the time. I doubt the absolute surety and power that the spirit has. But each time, I am proven wrong. The spirit is the absolute teacher that testifies to people and EVEN IF the situation isn't ideal, if the spirit is there, no need to worry.

Saturday was the finale of Family Week. Parade, Program where President Rahlf came and spoke, FOOD, and cultural presentations. President spoke about families and the Alicia district choir sang- I accompanied them all their songs and again, I am so grateful for the power of music. I have had so many opportunities here to play and every time, the spirit testifies. I am so grateful for this gift I was given and that I had the means and opportunity to develop this talent before I came.

AFter the program we all ate and then watched the cultural presentations. It was so fun to see and boy that day was FUN. We got to wear our Family Week tshirts, skinny jeans, and nikes all day. YEAH.

Okay I honestly feel like my email doesn't describe the intensity of this week. This week was all over the place. There were some problems and honestly super intense moments, but the blessings and miracles wash those out completely. I am honestly so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for the knowledge I have of my Heavenly Father. I am grateful for the quiet whisperings of the spirit, for those little thoughts have saved so many situations and have changed the course of so many things. I am grateful for the POWER of the spirit. I have been having so many nightmares lately for some reason, but instantly rolling out of bed during the middle of the night and crying out in prayer saves me every single time. I am learning so much about myself and about people. I am learning of so many weaknesses I have and am learning to overcome them. I can't even imagine what I would do if I didn't have the gospel.

Deciding to serve a mission is the best decision I have ever made.

I have learned so much, and have so much more to learn. The people here are EVERY thing I am not. Humble. Useful. Patient. Hardworking. They know how to go without. They take care of each other. They KNOW what is important.

That's all.

With so much love from this girl in the Philippines,

Sister Hafen