Abbey in the Philippines: Sister Abbey Hafen // Week Forty-One // "You Will Find What You Look For"

Wow this week was great. I have felt fine and am glad that hospital trip was just a fluke and will NOT becoming a regular thing for me

First things first… we had a Women of God Specialized Training, and it was incredible. It was an ALL sisters meeting, the mission split in half. So half of us went to Cauayan on Wed and the other half on Friday. Sister Rahlf (mission president’s wife) and the wives of the senior couples, and then of course President Rahlf spoke to us. It was one of the most incredible meetings I have ever been in. I learned so much and seriously know this mission is for the rest of my life. I got a new charge, a new start for the week and for the rest of my mission. I am soo happy I got to be a part of that.

We have been using so many of the things we learned in Women of God Conference in our teaching and referring to the quotes and stories that were shared. We had a really spiritual lesson with one Recent Convert who has been struggling lately, and it was all on womanhood and her potential. She is 16 and is doing her best to live her standards, but has so many darts coming at her from all sides. She opened up about her friend that is not living the law of chasity and lost her virginity 1 year ago, but is not a member of the church- she asked if she would be held accountable at the last days for that. We told her yes, that all of us have to live the commandments to return to heavenly father. We told her that as a woman of god, as a chosen servant of his, SHE could become the instrument for this friend to receive the gospel- to become ready to meet Heavenly Father. The lesson was so awesome, and I honestly felt such a sincere love for this young woman- and her friend that I haven’t even met. I could just feel and relate to the love and worry she had for this friend of hers. The spirit was so thick as she shared and opened up to us, and Heavenly Father testified to all 4 of us that night as we talked of becoming Women of God.

So this week was full of very spiritual moments. Some of the most spiritual yet so far on my mission.

Tuesday, we were working, and we really just got ‘panted’ (it means like no one is home, plans fall through, etc). Everyone was gone, out of town, or just did not want to listen to us. It was frustrating, and I was tired, and it started to get hot. I was just praying so hard that I would keep my head up… and of course I received strength. Us three just laughed and made the best of it (I am in a threesome companionship if I didn’t mention that last week, sis bien is just temporarily with us). That night we decided to visit a member (they are sealed/endowed) who we had heard was taking the lessons from his sister who is Jehovah’s Witness. We got talking and shared about families, and then shared about the importance of the covenants we made in the temple. In this lesson was the mom and dad, and their niece who is 15 and very very active. I asked him what some of the temptations that we feel come at our families today… and then he opened . and then started with tons of questions, and we knew that his testimony was really just shaking. I won’t tell the whole story, but after 10 or so minutes of clarifying the story of Adam and Eve, they just kept asking for proof in the bible of everything we were saying. As we were searching and helping answer their questions, I literally just got a prompting telling me to clarify what OUR purpose as missionaries was and make it clear to him how he can know what we are saying is true.

I explained very clearly to him that I’m sorry, there is NO way to prove this is the true church- there’s no magic solution, there’s no verse in the bible that says to ‘join the mormons’, there’s no essay or video clip of Jesus Christ saying this is His church; there is one way, and one way only, to know if this is His Church. And it’s what we tell investigators every single day- to ask Heavenly Father. To read the book of mormon. And to act on the prompting you will receive if you have a sincere heart. I knew he was asking all these questions to try and prove to the Jehovah’s witnesses that our church is true, or maybe to prove to himself that our church wasn’t true.

Then I said, “Brother, sister, here’s the truth; if you look for things to destroy your faith, trust me, you’ll find them. They are out there. But I promise you, I promise you, if you look for things to strengthen your faith, you will also find those.” Sister (the wife) repeated the very words I said to her. And she said (of course all of this is in tagalong haha) “That’s right. Yeah, that is true. What you look for you will find.”

As us three bore testimony to this couple, the spirit was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. I was so grateful that the power of our calling was present in that lesson, and that our words could cut right to this couple. Especially the testimonies of my companions. Brother then opened up about being worried for his family, if this really is the right place, having the right authority to save his family. We bore strong testimony to him and I know they felt it. From what started out as maybe a subtle debate, or a battle, ended up being one of the most powerful lessons and moments on my mission. We ended on such a good note, and we set to have a family home evening with them (which is tonight) and they were MORE than happy to have us over. We are doing a lesson on the book of mormon and are going to challenge them to read it as a family are going to do our best to help them find the testimony that at one point, they really did have.

We have 3 of our investigators getting baptized next Saturday the Fifth. We are so excited! One of them is the cousin of our recent convert, and yesterday, SHE asked to work with US! She was so awesome at fellowshipping our YSA/Youth investigators, and honestly is so awesome. She is so excited to be baptized. She said to me the other night, that one night while laying in bed, she just thought “yes, I get to be baptized next week.” Hahah, it was so cute. She is attending the youth conference in april and I am praying that she will have a really spiritual experience as a new member of the church. The programs of the church really are what gave me my first conversion of the gospel.

I love the people here; I love them and legitimately desire them to receive the gospel. I seriously feel Christ’s love picking me up on the tired days, and I feel Him helping me love and discern the needs of the people here. I actually feel I am starting to naturally see their potential instead of instinctively judging them. I don’t have to trip over the language every 5 seconds and I can just really listen to every word they say. We are being so blessed, the three of us here in Almaguer. I am so happy to be on a mission and am just so happy. I love my companion(S).

This is one thing I think I told Grant the other week, is that it seems like everything that is happening to me, is answering or filling some sort of hole that I had before the mission. All of the things I was aching for before, to be like this or that, are slowly just being filled while I am here. I seriously have never been so sure of anything in my whole life, that this is the church of Jesus Christ. The spirit is very real. The gift of tongues works, and God is mindful of all things, and all people.

Love,

Sister Abbey Hafen