Monday, July 22, 2013

July 22, 2013

Kumusta po sa lahat kayo!
What a week it has been! We went to trainers training on Tuesday through Wednesday. We met our companions on Wednesday morning and left in the afternoon of Wednesday to our areas. Attached is a picture of Sister Andrada and I with our new companions. Sister Hafoka is my new companion. She is from Tonga. She is 20 years old. She is half Tongan and half German. She is a really great sister. She is really quiet so we are working to find a way to help her adjust to everything. It has definitely been an interesting week...just between training and adjusting to the change in our area...we have been trying our best. We had some really great lessons this week with our less actives and it was such a blessing to be able to introduce them first to my new companion and help her to adjust to the members in the area. I am hoping that this next week we will be able to find more people to teach to adjust for the boundary changes and find a way to work better with the members in the branch. I am sorry that I don't have much for pictures or reporting to you....there is a lot of change that is occurring within our branch, mission and companionships and we are trying to find a way to adjust and change to work best as servants of the Lord. I know that this is the work of the Lord. I know that the Lord restored His gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that the Lord is behind each of us to help guide and strengthen us as we do His will. I have felt His strength and guidance as I have been entrusted to train Sister Hafoka. I never thought that I would be able to do it at this time...but who the Lord calls...He qualifies.

I have to say that it has been weird to think that I am half way through my mission...10 more months. But I how I wish that I could tell you what great growth moments I have experienced....but they have each happened gradually. Just as we learn the gospel line upon line and precept upon precept, we learn about our purpose and the will of the Lord, line upon line and precept upon precept. I have learned more about my part in the plan of our Loving Heavenly Father. I have gained a greater knowledge and testimony of what the Lord desires for us to become. And I have seen more than ever the importance of each of God's children. Although some can be really difficult....I know that the Lord loves them anyways and cares for their salvation....and so should I. This is something that Henry B. Eyring said, "You didn't come for the weeds. You came for the Savior." we didn't come to this earth to deal with the 'weeds' that are in our life, our work, etc...we came for the Savior..."I came into the world, to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me" (3 Nephi 27:13). The Lord sent me here to do His will. I am still learning what that entirely requires of me...but how I have felt the love of the Lord as I have struggled to understand His will for me in His vineyard. Dad, I can't say that I have met any heavenly messengers....or at least I have not had an eye keen enough to recognize them as one. There are many things that you could suspect or generalize about heavenly messengers. But I feel that the people you have in your presence are heavenly messengers in their own ways. Their purpose, is to help you to find your way.

I am so very grateful for this opportunity to serve in the Philippines and in the vineyard of the Lord. I am surprised each day, by the joy that Heavenly Father gives to me and the opportunity to be His servant. I know that this is the Lord's work and there is to come, greater and more glorious miracles in the world.

Ingat po kayo palagi!

Sister Pace
 
new companions
 

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