Abbey in the Philippines: Sister Abbey Hafen // Week Thirty-Nine // "Batad- Banaue Rice Terraces, 8th Wonder of the World"

First off, we are emailing today (Tuesday) because yesterday we went to Batad- Banaue Rice Terraces, 8th Wonder of the World...... :) so we left at 2AM and got home at 10PM. So we are emailing today. Every missionary gets the opportunity to go at least once while they're here in the mission, so if you're ever assigned in Solano or Bambang, you take the opportunity :)

Second... That hike in Batad was SO HARD- legitimately the hardest hike I have ever done, and probably will ever do in my whole life. But definitely worth it. I will say, I won't do it again, but I am so happy I was able to go and add that to my experience. I had some seriously spiritually uplifting moments on that hike, ones that I will never forget and that are very sacred to me. I am so happy that I went. Although today my body is aching and I am so dang tired, haha. WORTH IT.

A tender mercy from our week. So I don't know if I mentioned, but last week or the week before I think it was, we decided as a companionship to fast. I was inspired from some entries in the Sisters in Zion Newsletter (the newsletter with 8 of us missionaries from high school) and from some journal entries Grant sent me from his mission, to fast as a companionship. We fasted to find a family- a new investigator family, but we kept it pretty open, just any family. Maybe a new less active family to work with, or a new part member, etc. We fasted 2 fridays ago, and then this sunday our prayer was answered. We had dinner at our Branch President's house Saturday night and we asked them to pray for families they could refer. Then his wife shared that she has been praying, and one night, the face of her classmate flashed in her mind. She prayed and prayed, and it felt right. So the next Sunday, we went over there, with another member of the branch presidency. We met them, taught, and it was awesome. A mom, dad, and 4 kids. The lesson was actually kind of frustrating, because our branch president's wife and fellowshipper, and the referral, are more comfortable in ilokano (a different language). So as they talked, it was in ilokano. So like, it was SO hard to pick up and to bridge their conversations to ours, and feel like it was flowing, but I just prayed SO hard that it would be fine. Our branch president's wife is an RM, so she knows all the right things to say, and her testimony to him was SO powerful.

The classmate, he has been taught maybe once before, and he gave us a little bit of a hard time about coffee, but we just laughed and have been praying for them to be prepared to hear our message. We now have an appointment with them every Wednesday and Saturday, and they invited their neighbor who they know is mormon to come join in the lessons (less active for a long time). That night, Sunday night (the night of the day we contacted the referral) we were laying in bed after our companionship prayer, and i said "Sister Dasalla. Natanggap natin yung sagot sa ating fasting." (we recieved an answer to our fasting). She said "Oo nga, pala. Wow. You're right." (oh yeah we did, wow, you are right.) It was such a sweet moment. I said "I love you Sister Dasalla" and it was awesome. We seriously are so blessed every single day and Heavenly Father is so wise.

We also just street contacted this Nanay (Nay Mely), and at first it kind of felt like she was mocking us, but we just kept it cool and I was praying really hard, and by the end of our conversation, she was looking with amazement at my pictures of the temple. She was asking lots of questions, and we set up a return appointment. She is a "crusado", its a religion here in the philps, and it started in 1955. It's so freaky and I just hate it haha. Anyway, we returned on Saturday, and just got to know her, asked questions, and LISTENENED. This is one goal we've been working on, is just listening with love, and letting the spirit have time to breath and tell us what to say. We just listened and listened, and by the end of the lesson, she was crying and hugging us. She is feeling soo alone and feels like her prayers aren't being answered anymore. I always forget how powerful the message of the restoration is, and it truly was so powerful that day, as we shared the restoration to her and what happened to Joseph Smith. She promised to pray about Joseph Smith and set a return appointment. It was so awesome. After the lesson, we just walked in silence for a minute or two, and then Sister Dasalla said, "wow. nafeel ko talaga yung spirit kanina (i really felt the spirit earlier). wow. we just knew what to say." She put her arm around me and we just walked down the street smiling so big. We are being so blessed every day.

I seriously love our companionship, the area, the people, language, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had splits this week and working with Sister Barril was incredible- she is such a good teacher. She goes home in 2 transfers, and is our housemate :) I love her so much, and working with her was even better than just being housemates! She is so intune with the spirit, and all of our lessons were "first return appointment lessons with new investigators" so it was a lot of getting to know them and "How to Begin Teaching". It was so awesome how the spirit works in these people as we testify of straight truth and let them know that their Heavenly Father loves them, and has a plan for them. It's things I have heard my whole life, but as you testify of that to people who really don't accept that, its awesome. The new people we taught came to church on Sunday, and it was AWESOME. I love this work so much.

So many things happened this week, so my letter is really long. But it was all just SO GOOD. We had an FHE planned with an active member who's husband isn't a member, and when she told him about it, he really didn't want it to happen. We dropped by the morning of the FHE to confirm, and she told us what happened, but she said to come anyway. We went, and after we said hi to brother, he left. haha. Anyway, we had so much fun. It was her sons birthday, and all her kids had a blast. It's so funny, because when members or investigators want to celebrate, they always want the missionaries there to have a family home evening because they know everyone will have a good time if we're there. The love people have for missionaries is so humbling, I can't even explain it.

On the hike, there were soo many foreigners, so I took opportunity to talk to them because they spoke english :) I realized its really hard now to talk to people and share the gospel in english, i just naturally do it in tagalog. But wow, of all the people I talked to along the way, these 2 girls (both from England) really had an impact on me. I started talking to them, and then they asked why I was here. I explained what we were doing as missionaries, and they were amazed. They asked so many questions and I answered them, and then I asked if they were religious. The one wasn't really, because she wasn't raised that way, and the other was athiest. When I heard the words, "Ya know, I really don't believe in Jesus Christ. And the longer I am in my profession, the more I believe that" my stomach just sunk. I legit don't know if I have ever heard that come out of someone's mouth. We are so blessed here because filipino's all have a belief in God and Jesus, but literally, before this girl even said this, I just saw this deepness or hole inside of her. I just prayed so hard to know what to say, as these two were sharing their beliefs and their lack of beliefs, I just listenend. I listened so hard, and prayed to know what to say. As we got talking, it legit just turned into close friends expressing their beliefs. The setting was so comfortable and as I testified of how I've come to know Jesus Christ is real, the spirit was so strong. The chills ran through my whole body, and these girls couldn't take their eyes off of me as I testified. After, they just were silent, letting these words run through them. I just smiled and all the one could say was "..Wow." It was a very special experience, one I will never forget.

I love my calling as a missionary, and am being so watched over every day. I love the Savior, and know He lives.

Love,

Sister Hafen