Abbey in the Philippines: Sister Abbey Hafen // Week Twenty-One // "I am safe, don't worry"

Wow. This week was AWESOME.

first things first, This is what my mission president sent us this morning:

We wanted to update you on the situation that has happened as a result of the Super Typhoon that hit the central Philippines on Friday. All missionaries and members of all of the Philippines Missions with the exception of the Tacloban Mission are safe and accounted for. All but 75 of the missionaries in Tacloban are safe and accounted for. The remaining 75 missionaries in Tacloban are presumed safe also, but communications are still cut off and roads impassible, so we have not heard from all of them yet.

As a result of this disaster, Sister Rahlf and I would like to call a mission prayer. Today, Monday evening at 10:00 pm as we all get ready for bed, lets us all kneel together at the same time, 10:00pm and offer a prayer for the missionaries and families hit by this storm.

We love you. The God of Israel leads this Mission.

President and Sister Rahlf

To start the week off, our housemates had splits, so sister stabenaw, sister training leader, slept over for splits. She is so sweet. She's from Utah, went to Davis I think. It was SO fun staying up just being girls and having a good time. She's been out for like 8 months I think, and she is such a good example. We shared stories and it was so fun.

Wednesday, we were panted (you go to teach and no one is there) like crazy. As in, like in 30 minutes we had contacted all 8 people we planned for and all their back up plans. and no one was home. It's so different here in the Philippines, because you can't really like "schedule" exact times because peopl or like zip on over in a car or bike to see someone, like you have to tricee, van, bus or walk forever to get to someone's area, and then if they aren't there, its better to hang around and wait to see if they come back, and bleh. I have really learned to BE PATIENT. And the lifestyle here is so different too, so its not like they don't want to hear you if they aren't home when you come, its just that like, they need money for their family that night, so they have to travel by jeepney to go pick up their money from the job on the random. Definitely not the scheduling like I am used to, but hey, i love being a filipino.

Anyway, so PANTED PANTED PO KAMI (no one was home for us). We taught 2 of our investigators, and then headed back to the barangay where we live, San Antonio. We went to everyone we planned for there, and their back up plans, AND NO ONE. And it was only 6PM. And no one wants to be tracted at 6pm while they are cooking. And cooking isn't like how mom cooks, with the TV going and one ear to the phone- cooking here is a family affair- someone is tending the fire while someone else is pumping water from the water pump out back. So we sat there, just thinking man. We are so tired and there is no one left. We paused, and then I remembered, hey. What about that one guy I talked to and got his information on the tricee last pday? Danny? we knew he lived super close to us, so we thought we'd give it a try. We walked back behind this little store and entered this dark little alley, but then we saw lots of kids. I asked them if they knew Danny and they kind of pointed but said the didn't know. Then this lady saw us walking around their compound and stared right at me. I smiled and said "kilala nyo ba si danny leanyo?" (do you know DAnny?) she looked right at me and said "bakit" (why) Haha. slightly awkward. Sister obi ignored that she said why and then the lady stood up, and walked us to his house. and then called out for him- it was the most random thing. Anyway. he came out, and grabbed chairs and invited us right down to sit and talk. We sat there and got talking. He then asked if we were branch 1 or 3. We said one, and then he said, oh, over by Aurora is branch 3. We paused, and sister obi said "um, how do you know that?" he paused and said "member po ako" (i am a member). Our mouths just dropped. he told us how him and 7 best friends all got baptized together in high school, and he has been inactive ever since he got married. We got talking and honestly, it was the coolest experience. His eyes teared up and then i asked him how he felt when we OYM'd him in the tricee. He said he felt happy- We talked about his experience and just talked. He wants to come back to church, and yesterday, his daughter came to church. It was such a cool experience. He was so happy to see us and this light just clicked on inside ofhim. We are seeeing him tonight and I am so excited. His kids aren't baptized, and neither is his wife.

Maybe it doesn't sound like that great of a story, but becuase our day was so frustrating, it was such a blessing. We were so happy inside and grateful, so we just sang hymns and i played the violin just praising our heavenly father for leading us to him and what a blessing our conversation with him was. The spirit was so special that night on Danny Leanyo's front porch, decorated with christmas decorations he said he found at the junk shop, here in the little place of Alicia, Isabela.

Thursday, we read our assignment for zone conference- 1st nephi 11-17. Us 4 sisters got talking, and honestly I had one of the biggest testimony builders of my life. Sister Bates explained all the history behind the restoration, starting from the book of mormon, clear until the restoration. And how everything was IN PLACE for the restoration. Heavenly Father put EVERYTHING in place, down to every little detail, watching over each explorer and guiding it all by hand. as we were talking, honeslty, i just recieved such a witness again that the restoration is real and true, and Jesus Christ's gospel is BACK on the earth, in its real form.

.. i then began to feel so overwhelmed and almost guilty. How did I have a testimony of all this before i knew all the history behind it? Satan made me feel like my testimony before this was fake and that how did I even have a testimony before I knew all this?

Then sister bates pointed out how its ironic how my favorite verse, my mission scripture, which was IN the reading, 1st nephi 11:17- "... And i said unto Him, I know that he loveth His children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." She pointed out that even without knowing all of the unimportant history details, I still had a testimony. As we continued discussing, I continued recieving such a witness of the truthfulness of the restoration. Honestly, this is the restored gospel. i wish i could explain this experience better, but this rambled, teenage girl version will have to do.

Zone conference was the best thing ever. Elder Neilson from the first quorum of the 70 came for his Mission Tour of the philippines cauayan mission. to start the meeting, all of us knelt and he offered a prayer to our heavenly father, to watch over and protect the people in the areas of the typhoon. He updated us during the meetings as he got texts. What a cool experience, to kneel with over 100 servants of the Lord, our mission president called of God, and a general authority of the church. It was the greatest block of meetings ever. He talked about so many wonderful things, and his wife is the greatest lady on the planet (besides my mother of course). Honestly, she talked about how the change in mission age really is helping bring up our nation- all of us girls out here will come home women. We will come home so much more anchored in the gospel. And little do we know, but our toughest and most investigators, we haven't even met yet- they will be our children. She said that maybe even for some of us here on missions, maybe the reason we are here isn;t even for someone here in the philippines, but maybe for someone when we get home and stay engaged in missionary work. In another talk, she talked about companions. About how someone doesn't have to be just like you to be loved by you. This day was an answer to so many of my prayers.

We have really been working with the Visperaz Family, a less active family, well part member. We have been getting really close to them. We had the greatest conversation/ lesson saturday to their family, and Michael, the 22 yr old brother, expressed he wants to go on a mission. He isn't educated and hasn't been active for years, but has been these past few months. We really just helped him understand what a mission could do for him and he then expressed that he can't leave because his famiy won't get by without him working for them, and that he doesn't feel he knows enough. Anyway, long story short we really helped this family see their potential. They commited to come to church, and low and behold, they were all there the next day. And attended all the meetings. They were SO HAPPY. As in, SO happy. That night, we visited them and had them all report on what they learned. After this experience, sister obnias and I were so happy. I then reflected on my family life. We always went to church together- no question. And we always went around the dinner table after, sharing what we learned. I didn't even realize all the wonderful, good, SOLID things my parents did while we were growing up, those CONSCIOUS decisions, and goals they had for us. i guess to be honest, I am now just realizing how smart my parents are! haha, sorry mom and dad!

This week was so great. Full of ups and downs, as usual. but as Grant said to me last week: I hope this week wasn't easy and that it was fun. "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

-Tom Hanks
There never was an easy day in the mission. Be happy that it is hard! .

It's so true. This is hard, but if it was a piece of cake i probably wouldn't really be learning anything worth knowing. I am so sorry these are so long, but honestly, I love recapping my week and seeing it all layed out. Time is so weird. I swear it was just PDAY, but then I think about zone conference 3 days ago and I swear that was last year sometime.

I love being here and i have a feeling that when it's time to come home, I won't want to. I love all of you a lot, thank you for spoiling me my whole life, i am so blessed.

Love love love LOVE,

Sister Hafen

Me and Sister Meinzers trainer, Sister Janda... She is now in my half of the mission and Sister Meinzer isn't so we sent her this and made her jealous!