Sister Brittany Ann Mecham : Nanay Mecham! Week 13

Nanay Mecham
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Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 12:36 AM

I am officially a NANAY (mom)!! Sister Begontes found out on Tuesday that she was transferring to Santa Rosa and so that meant I would be staying here in Candelaria.

We had a not so great week of work and got punted over and over and over and over. It was really rough. Plus with all this rain, people just are not outside, so it was really hard to find anyone to teach or even talk to.

On Thursday it was kind of a nice break to be able to go to San Pablo for transfer day. I said goodbye to Sis. Begontes and went into the chapel by the mission home to wait for Transfer Meeting to start. There were about 3 rows of Americans and only 1 row of Filipino sisters, so I just really felt like I would get an American. Well Heavenly Father was definitely looking out for me. My new companion is Sister Lorente from Baler, Aurora (Philippines) and is totally fluent in Tagalog and has really good English too. I am seriously the luckiest. Not to mention she is the kindest person ever. I really feel so blessed. Sis. Wilkes is also training a Filipina, and Sis. Smart is training an American. Both of their companions looked super nice too!

So after Transfer meeting, we all ate lunch together and then headed back to Candelaria. I seriously had no idea what I was doing (still don't actually...) and so we had our companionship study and I showed her the area book and explained some of the basics and then we went out to work. And guess what. The first house we decided to OYM (Open Your Mouth) let us in and we taught them a lesson!!! Ha it was kinda crazy. But Sis. Lorente didn't want to say anything (I totally don't blame her though. I don't think I said a word my first 2 weeks during lessons). I taught the whole lesson! After we left I had chills all over because somehow I had just taught a lesson in pure Tagalog and the Spirit had even been there! It really was a testimony to me that this work is real. And the power of the Atonement is real.

Friday and Saturday were full of punts though and finally last night we had 1 lesson. I really don't know why we have been punted so much, but I really hope that changes because it is not very fun and walking all day is really hard. But I know there has to be someone here that is ready for us to teach them. We just have to keep trying our best to find them.

Yesterday I was a little bummed though because Bro. Avilino wasn't at church and none of our other investigators we had invited were there. I really am at a loss at what we can do to really help these people understand why these things are important, but we are doing our best and it is really just up to them to choose to accept it or not.

Another sad story though. On Wednesday we had to drop another investigator. His name is Justin and he is 12 and Sister Nabus and I actually had taught him and his mom a long time ago, but his mom wasn't interested. We started going back to them again and seriously that little boy is just amazing! He wants to know everything he can and he knows how important it is. He reads the book of Mormon and he has come to church by himself.

We had to drop him Wednesday because his mom doesn't want to be taught. We know that if he was baptized, he would eventually go less active because he doesn't have support at home (plus we also have to get written consent from the parents for him to be baptized and I don't think they would give it to him). It pretty much broke my heart to have to tell him that we would have the missionaries come back in 1 year to see how he was doing.

When we got home that night, I went in our room and just plead with Heavenly Father to not forget about Justin and to let him find the missionaries again when he is 17 so he can be baptized. He could then go on mission when he is 18. He is only 12 but really he is so smart and knows that these things are true. I really really pray that one day he is baptized because he would be such a great missionary!

That is pretty much life here. Getting punted all day, dropping people who aren't interested, and walking and walking and walking, and trying to find people who are ready for this gospel.

On a brighter not though, on Saturday we OYMed some people and they asked me how long I had been here and I held up 3 fingers and was about to say "3 months lang" (just 3 months) but the person kinda interrupted and said "3 years?!" and I said no months and he was SO shocked! Ha he was really impressed with my Tagalog. It felt really good!

I know that Heavenly Father keeps His promises and I know that that is why I have been able to pick this language up faster. I can talk to people and teach them lessons, but understanding what they say back to me is definitely the challenge now. But I know it will just take more time.

This past week I have been reading in 3 Nephi when Jesus came to the America's and I have just loved it. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it was written to help us is these last days. I love it so much!I love that I get to study it everyday and tell people about it every day. Being a missionary is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. but I know I am growing so much everyday!

Love,

Sister Mecham