A Month?! What?!

Yeah... so tomorrow it will have been a month that I've been here. Time goes so fast.Craziness. Anyway...

Mabuti po ang buhay. (Life is good.) I learn and grow so much every week. This week I learned a lot about patience. Haha... And love. It's always all about love. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. That's why God sent His Son. That's why the world would be better off if there was more of it. That's why my teachers are so great, even (and especially) this one substitute I had last Saturday. He could tell I was struggling and just took me aside and talked to me, and he gave me some great advice that I've already begun to implement.

Speaking of teachers, I'm getting a new one. Sister Landrum is starting school on Monday and her schedule has been changed so Brother Lakanienta will be taking her place. He was just hired at the MTC and has been sitting in on our classes. I think he'll be great. Our second teacher, Brother Cook, is still the same.

So I was still not in the best mood when Sunday came around even though I had a great talk with the one teacher and had been praying a lot, but throughout the day my heart just got softer and softer, and by the end of the day I was sobrang masaya (so happy). Relief Society was great we heard from Sister Eubank of the RS General Board and she talked about the Plan of Salvation, but defined it as love, choice, work, and infinite patience (on the Savior's part). I really liked her perspective. And she shared one of my favorite scriptures--Romans 8:37-39. She also had us ponder if we could sum up our testimonies for our posterity in a couple lines what would we say. She shared some of the things from the women in the scriptures like Eve, the wife of Lamoni, Martha, and Ruth. I would definitely include something about God's love if I only had a sentence or two. Exactly what I would say, hindi ko alam (I don't know). The musical number for the fireside talk that night was by this Elder who sung "This is the Christ." It was beautiful and powerful. And at night we watched "Legacy." We LOVE watching the Church films on Sunday nights. It's funny how we get into them. We're watching with hundreds of other missionaries and when there is any bit of a love story we're all cheering and stuff. It's pretty ridiculous and hilarious.

Tuesday was amazing because for our devotional that evening we performed this song called "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer" about curbing the winds and calming the billows from the story at the end of Mark 4. It's a beautiful song and the Spirit was there as we sang it. Elder Zivic of the seventy and his wife spoke, and one thing that was touched upon was prayer and I was reminded that I need to act on promptings immediately. Even if they're not directly from the Holy Ghost, they're never bad things, and what's wrong with doing more good? Sorry I know this might not make much sense to all my friends who are not Mormon, but I can always explain more in personal letters.

I continue having great personal study and really being lead by the Spirit as to what I should study. Most recently, I was reading in the Book of Mormon (sa Tagalog and in English) about Nephi wanting to know for himself about the visions his father had seen and there was a great verse in 1st Nephi chapter 10 about coming unto Christ and it helped me come to terms with working through Christ to get to my Heavenly Father. It was an added witness to that idea. I also read this fabulous talk by Jeffrey R. Holland called "An High Priest of Good things to come" recommended by one of the Elders in my district. It addresses issues that many people go through, but that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, which light is Christ, and it's such a beautiful message of hope. And then Sister Biggs was sharing with me about some scriptures she had been reading and made the point that we limit the blessings we receive with our faithlessness and lack of creativity. If we ask for great things, according to the will of God, He will answer our prayers and keep His promises. I know this with all my heart and mind.

The things we study always seem to help us meet the needs of the people we teach. It was the same this week. In the TRC, we taught about having faith enough to see and expect miracles to the first volunteer. (See Ether 12:12) To the second, we shared experiences and testimony of Heavenly Father helping us through hard times. There's this great scripture in Romans 4:18-25 about hoping and trusting in God. It's about Abraham in particular, but it applies to everyone.

We had a funny experience in class yesterday evening learning about the abilitative version of fall (makahulog - to be able to fall). And the joke won't really make sense, but Sister Biggs asked if there could be an actor in the sentence: Nakahulog po nila Adan at Eva. (Adam and Eve fell. Adam and Eve being the object.) She wanted to insert 'si Satanas,' but it would mean that Satan dropped Adam and Eve. Sobrang funny, and kind of a Tagalog inside joke, but I wanted to share it anyway. Sister Biggs and I couldn't stop laughing and the Elders and Brother Cook just stared at us because they didn't find it nearly as funny as we did. And the other girls in the other district mentioned to me that they heard me laughing. Seguro (of course). Haha...

Anyway. I'm very happy. I know God loves each and everyone of you. I pray for you.

Mahal ko kayo. (I love you all instead of I love you, which is what I've been saying...)

Sister Copé