I have no time ! I'm sorry!
Hello President!
This week has been one of the weeks that I just know Heavenly Father has a lot of personal growth planned for me. It started out when Sister Asug had a small open wound on her foot where her shoe was, and so it got infected. We went out and worked because I thought that what she said about yellow on the inside was from Hydrogen Peroxide. Halfway through the day she said she wasn't feeling well and she was reaally hot so we took her home and cleaned out her wound and she slept for a day and a half. It was really scary because it was probably really minor but I've never had to deal with something like that and I was worried she was really sick. We still need to figure out our languages. I can understand her Tagalog better than her English but I know she needs to learn English and so I think she should speak that but then we have scary misunderstandings like that.. I think it's just something we'll have to work on. Maybe I'll make her say everything twice, once in Tagalog and once in English. Or just three times and we'll throw Waray Waray in there.. Just to be sure. Haha just kidding.
Besides that, we are pretty sad about our area. It just kind of died. All our progressing investigator's just kind of dropped off the face of the earth. That's why I say Heavenly Father wants me to grow. And to stretch, and to use my faith like I've maybe never used it before. So that's where we're at. We're going on exchanges with the STL's tomorrow and we'll see if I can think of ways to help the area.
Also, I was reading in Alma 42 today about mercy and justice; that chapter is MINDBLOWING! It's so good. I love the scriptures! More than I ever have in my life. Also, in the Bible I'm in Isaiah and I'm actually understanding it. So that's wonderful.
Okay thank you President! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Sprouse
Monday, October 20, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Hello Everyone!
I have like no time, because my letter to President was really long. Here it is:
Hello President!
How are you this week? This week has been kind of a disappointing one for us, because our IBD, Sister Arlyn Gayo, didn’t come to church again and can’t be baptized as we had planned on the 18th. Sister Asug was especially bummed, but I guess if she hadn’t come to church for two weeks she wasn’t ready to be baptized and it’s better to have no baptism at all than to have a baptism where someone doesn’t understand the commitment they will be making. We will continue to work with her and see what we can do. As for miracles, we have seen quite a few this week. We have been a little low on investigators, so we decided to go tracting one day. I had been praying really hard that morning for Heavenly Father to help me find those who would be ready for the gospel, and I was really hoping for a miracle. So we went out, and taught a couple lessons, and as we were heading back to the meetinghouse to eat our lunch, I had glanced at a house and for some reason it really stood out in my mind that I should go there. It happened again with one other house. So after we ate we went to them. At the first house I saw, our ward member hesitated and said that he didn’t think those people were ready for the gospel but I REALLY wanted to try! So we stopped in; I didn’t really know what to say at all but I just felt like I should testify of the love of Heavenly Father for them (it was a husband and a wife). I felt really awkward actually haha but then the husband had a lot of questions that we actually didn’t even have time to answer and so we made an appointment for Friday. The second house that I saw was one of the most powerful lessons of my mission. This lady always actually waves at us and this time we almost passed by, but I couldn’t let that prompting go. So we stopped and talked to her. Her name is Dolores. Her husband just barely died in August. We started to share to her about the Plan of Salvation, and when we started to talk about our purpose in life, and how we should always be ready, and she started crying and talking about how none of them expected her husband to die and she knows that he’s with the Lord but it still hurts. At that exact moment, one of the strongest members of our relief society came walking down the road and joined our lesson. Her husband also died, and she was sealed to him in the temple. She is also lifelong friends with Sister Dolores. They hugged, and Sister Dolores cried, and after that we were able to teach about what happens after this life. Sister Clarita bore her testimony about families being together forever, and it was just beautiful. We have an appointment with her this Wednesday, and of course Sister Clarita is going to come too. I am so glad that I didn’t ignore that prompting from the Holy Ghost. I have also realized more than ever how much I need to let Heavenly Father run our area. I could look forever and not find those He has prepared. Only He knows. Only He can make miracles like that happen. That’s what my General Conference goal is: Not to try and do things by myself. It’s so silly that I always do that, but everything is so much easier once you give it up to Him.
Well, this email is REALLY long, so I am going to end it. Thanks President! Have a good week!
Love, Sister Sprouse
Monday, October 6, 2014
Hello everyone !
My life is insanely busy!! I'm putting my letter to President on this(: :
It’s been another good week in Borongan! I was happy because we
actually got to stay in our area ALL week! That was awesome!! Sister
Asug is doing great. She was kind of having difficulty speaking the
language last week. I can understand why; she is completely fluent in
Tagalog and of course the Filipino people can understand Tagalog. I
can also understand Tagalog, and it’s not a struggle for her to speak.
But I remembered how hard it was for me in my training and how much I
hated speaking a language I didn’t know (and how much I still hate
it.. Haha. ) My faith grew as a result of having to put myself out
there and speak, even though it was so hard every lesson, and even
though the people all told me to just speak English anyway. But as I
spoke, I really got better and felt more and more comfortable in the
lessons and most importantly, I more clearly understood the way that
the Lord brings forth His purposes. He said that the gospel will be
preached to people in their own tongue, and He makes it happen if we
are faithful. I learned that the Lord doesn’t just hand us solutions;
the gift of tongues doesn’t make you efficiently fluent at a language
in 3 weeks. He expects us to work at things, and even struggle a bit.
He wants us to show our dedication, and mostly faith. So even though
it would be perfectly fine to let Sister Asug to just teach in
Tagalog, I wanted her to have that learning experience. So we talked
about it, and she’s doing GREAT this week! Her Waray Waray is so
amazing. I knew she would be really good; her native language is still
a type of Visaya and they usually pick up other dialects very quickly
because there are a lot of similarities. But it just took that leap of
faith. And she understood that, and she is doing so so great. This
Sister came Pre-trained, President. I’m not even doing anything. Haha.
Our area is doing okay. Just working on those Less Actives! Arlyn, our
IBD, didn’t go to church, so we’re really sad about that! She is still
doing well, just said she had no time this week to go to church. So we
focused on getting her to read the Book of Mormon this week so she not
only will start going to church but will know why she goes the church
and have the desire to do it. That’s the magic of the BOM. We’re
trying to get everyone to focus on reading it every day.
In other news, no we haven't gotten to watch conference yet, as it
comes a week late in the Philippines. But I am SO excited to watch
it!! I can't believe it's already been 6 months.
Okay, that's about it! I love you all! Thanks so much for the support
and love! (:
Sister Sprouse
It’s been another good week in Borongan! I was happy because we
actually got to stay in our area ALL week! That was awesome!! Sister
Asug is doing great. She was kind of having difficulty speaking the
language last week. I can understand why; she is completely fluent in
Tagalog and of course the Filipino people can understand Tagalog. I
can also understand Tagalog, and it’s not a struggle for her to speak.
But I remembered how hard it was for me in my training and how much I
hated speaking a language I didn’t know (and how much I still hate
it.. Haha. ) My faith grew as a result of having to put myself out
there and speak, even though it was so hard every lesson, and even
though the people all told me to just speak English anyway. But as I
spoke, I really got better and felt more and more comfortable in the
lessons and most importantly, I more clearly understood the way that
the Lord brings forth His purposes. He said that the gospel will be
preached to people in their own tongue, and He makes it happen if we
are faithful. I learned that the Lord doesn’t just hand us solutions;
the gift of tongues doesn’t make you efficiently fluent at a language
in 3 weeks. He expects us to work at things, and even struggle a bit.
He wants us to show our dedication, and mostly faith. So even though
it would be perfectly fine to let Sister Asug to just teach in
Tagalog, I wanted her to have that learning experience. So we talked
about it, and she’s doing GREAT this week! Her Waray Waray is so
amazing. I knew she would be really good; her native language is still
a type of Visaya and they usually pick up other dialects very quickly
because there are a lot of similarities. But it just took that leap of
faith. And she understood that, and she is doing so so great. This
Sister came Pre-trained, President. I’m not even doing anything. Haha.
Our area is doing okay. Just working on those Less Actives! Arlyn, our
IBD, didn’t go to church, so we’re really sad about that! She is still
doing well, just said she had no time this week to go to church. So we
focused on getting her to read the Book of Mormon this week so she not
only will start going to church but will know why she goes the church
and have the desire to do it. That’s the magic of the BOM. We’re
trying to get everyone to focus on reading it every day.
In other news, no we haven't gotten to watch conference yet, as it
comes a week late in the Philippines. But I am SO excited to watch
it!! I can't believe it's already been 6 months.
Okay, that's about it! I love you all! Thanks so much for the support
and love! (:
Sister Sprouse
Sunday, October 5, 2014
The week of Tacloban!
I'm copying and pasting part of my letter to President Maurer so I
don't have to type it again haha. Kapoy!
Hello President!
This week was kind of sad because we only got to work in our area for
2 days. You actually already know this, because we were in Tacloban
all week. Poor Sister Asug has a pretty mean ear infection that she
didn’t tell me about for a week! She’s so cute, she said she was shy.
But I have straightened her right out about that she doesn’t need to
be shy to me because I just want to help her. So she’s doing good now.
Apparently there’s still a discharge from her ear but it’s different
from the one before in a good way? .. (I don’t fluently speak Tagalog
and she doesn’t fluently speak english so sometimes our communication
isn’t completely clear.. Haha.) But anyway, it’s been a good week!
Lots of companionship bonding. The funny thing is, no matter what the
reason is that I can’t work, I’m never fully happy or content with
just sitting around. I guess I’ve been blessed to learn the value of
good, hard, work. It was only for two days, and our number of lessons
is kind of small because we have a ward member who translates
literally everything I say into understandable Waray Waray, but
there’s really no acceptable substitute. I go home feeling SO tired
that I just want to drop and sleep, but it’s like the best tired
feeling in the world. I guess that is my miracle this week. It’s that
I further understand the healing power of the atonement. It doesn’t
happen when you’re giving all the attention to yourself, it happens
when you “forget yourself and go to work!” It’s like they always say
in Preach my Gospel, I’m so tired and I don’t know why, but I’m so
happy! And I feel a sense of peace that I don’t think I could find
anywhere else. About the language.. from what you read you already
know that I’m not doing so hot. I think my anak speaks better Waray
Waray than I do! Haha but for me it’s just an Ether 12:27 moment. I am
glad that Heavenly Father cares about me enough to teach me about
trust in Him. As for the work, it’s going good. We had more
investigators come to church, but unfortunately some of them are
children that have been previously taught without their parents. So
we’re going to try to get their parents to listen and see how that
goes. We have seen a LOT of less active or inactive members and we
want to focus there, because it’s pretty pointless to bring more
people to a ward that’s losing them as fast as they comes. We’ve
already had a couple of stories of success with that, and one even
brought her live in to church with her! So we’re just going to press
forward with faith and rescue the sheep that had previously been found
but were lost again, though we will of course be looking for new
investigators also.
Well, that’s about it this week. Thanks for everything President!
Love, Sister Sprouse
Okay, I might do that more often. That's such a time saver! In
addition, we went to Tacloban (a five our van trip) for specialized
trainings. It was so fun! We got lots of good instruction from the
APs, Zone Leaders, and President. Then my favorite workshop was Sister
Maurer. She's concerned about the health and nutrition of the
missionaries, so she taught us to cook and then we ate the lunch we
cooked! Best workshop ever! Haha (: After that, we stayed in Tacloban
for 2 days for Sister Asug's ear infection. We were literally out of
our area from Monday to Friday! But like you read, we got to work for
two wonderful days in Dolores and DapDap. Dolores Branch is so good!
President Cesista told the youth that they have to work with the
missionaries to get their makeup work done so we have members to work
with us every day!! It's so funny at MCM it's like an auction for who
can work with us on what days. I've never felt so popular! They're all
yelling "Waray na utang!" Which means no more debt!
Arnilyn, the awesome one who came back after being inactive since
April, began the Book of Mormon after our last visit to her, and is
now in Alma 5 as of Saturday. She also brought her live in partner
with her to church and has a desire to get sealed in the temple. She's
amazing! Also, because of her, her less active mom has come to church
for the past two weeks and her little brother wants to be baptized and
also came to church with her. This all happened after just one visit
that I didn't even think seemed that insignificant! Lesson learned; we
never know what lives we can change from one visit to one person, even
if you don't think you did that much. We're just working on her father
and younger sister so they can all come back as a family (:.
Alright, that's what I have for you this week! Missionary work is the best!!
LOVE YOU!
Sister Sprouse
don't have to type it again haha. Kapoy!
Hello President!
This week was kind of sad because we only got to work in our area for
2 days. You actually already know this, because we were in Tacloban
all week. Poor Sister Asug has a pretty mean ear infection that she
didn’t tell me about for a week! She’s so cute, she said she was shy.
But I have straightened her right out about that she doesn’t need to
be shy to me because I just want to help her. So she’s doing good now.
Apparently there’s still a discharge from her ear but it’s different
from the one before in a good way? .. (I don’t fluently speak Tagalog
and she doesn’t fluently speak english so sometimes our communication
isn’t completely clear.. Haha.) But anyway, it’s been a good week!
Lots of companionship bonding. The funny thing is, no matter what the
reason is that I can’t work, I’m never fully happy or content with
just sitting around. I guess I’ve been blessed to learn the value of
good, hard, work. It was only for two days, and our number of lessons
is kind of small because we have a ward member who translates
literally everything I say into understandable Waray Waray, but
there’s really no acceptable substitute. I go home feeling SO tired
that I just want to drop and sleep, but it’s like the best tired
feeling in the world. I guess that is my miracle this week. It’s that
I further understand the healing power of the atonement. It doesn’t
happen when you’re giving all the attention to yourself, it happens
when you “forget yourself and go to work!” It’s like they always say
in Preach my Gospel, I’m so tired and I don’t know why, but I’m so
happy! And I feel a sense of peace that I don’t think I could find
anywhere else. About the language.. from what you read you already
know that I’m not doing so hot. I think my anak speaks better Waray
Waray than I do! Haha but for me it’s just an Ether 12:27 moment. I am
glad that Heavenly Father cares about me enough to teach me about
trust in Him. As for the work, it’s going good. We had more
investigators come to church, but unfortunately some of them are
children that have been previously taught without their parents. So
we’re going to try to get their parents to listen and see how that
goes. We have seen a LOT of less active or inactive members and we
want to focus there, because it’s pretty pointless to bring more
people to a ward that’s losing them as fast as they comes. We’ve
already had a couple of stories of success with that, and one even
brought her live in to church with her! So we’re just going to press
forward with faith and rescue the sheep that had previously been found
but were lost again, though we will of course be looking for new
investigators also.
Well, that’s about it this week. Thanks for everything President!
Love, Sister Sprouse
Okay, I might do that more often. That's such a time saver! In
addition, we went to Tacloban (a five our van trip) for specialized
trainings. It was so fun! We got lots of good instruction from the
APs, Zone Leaders, and President. Then my favorite workshop was Sister
Maurer. She's concerned about the health and nutrition of the
missionaries, so she taught us to cook and then we ate the lunch we
cooked! Best workshop ever! Haha (: After that, we stayed in Tacloban
for 2 days for Sister Asug's ear infection. We were literally out of
our area from Monday to Friday! But like you read, we got to work for
two wonderful days in Dolores and DapDap. Dolores Branch is so good!
President Cesista told the youth that they have to work with the
missionaries to get their makeup work done so we have members to work
with us every day!! It's so funny at MCM it's like an auction for who
can work with us on what days. I've never felt so popular! They're all
yelling "Waray na utang!" Which means no more debt!
Arnilyn, the awesome one who came back after being inactive since
April, began the Book of Mormon after our last visit to her, and is
now in Alma 5 as of Saturday. She also brought her live in partner
with her to church and has a desire to get sealed in the temple. She's
amazing! Also, because of her, her less active mom has come to church
for the past two weeks and her little brother wants to be baptized and
also came to church with her. This all happened after just one visit
that I didn't even think seemed that insignificant! Lesson learned; we
never know what lives we can change from one visit to one person, even
if you don't think you did that much. We're just working on her father
and younger sister so they can all come back as a family (:.
Alright, that's what I have for you this week! Missionary work is the best!!
LOVE YOU!
Sister Sprouse
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