Treasures in Heaven

Area:  Floridablanca

Companion:  Sister Echon

Sister Training Leader

Monday, January 27, 2014

Helloooo! Wow another week has come and gone! Crazy.

This week started out a little rough, we didn't work Sunday and Monday because I was sick with a fever, but luckily I was able to rest up and get healthy just in time for exchanges on Tuesday! I went on exchanges with Sister Makihele, we proselyted over in her area in GuaGua. GuaGua is the biggest city that we have in our area. It's a pretty nice city, but the surrounding areas are sooo dirty and poor it is soo sad. We were super punted all day, none of our appointments were home, so I decided that we would just start talking to everyone to see if we couldn't try to get them some good potential new investigators. That is pretty much what we did all day which I actually have missed walking around talking to people, our area in Floridablanca is SO HUGE that we can't walk, we have to trike, or else we would only have 2 appointments a day for walking so far. Anyways, we were nearing the end of the night and I decided to walk down this dark street, yeah good idea I know, but we ended up running into this group of teenagers standing outside their house. One of them turns to me and starts talking in FLUENT ENGLISH. K, people here know how to speak english, but the only way you are fluent is if it's your first english, you can just always somehow tell when it's not someone's first language. And, this kid didn't even have an accent, I was so weirded out, I kept responding to him in Tagalog and didn't even realize it. Then he is just looking at me with a blank expression, turns out he doesn't know Tagalog! I was dumbfounded, you're a filipino, living in the Philippines, and you're fluent in english and don't know tagalog!? What? Turns out he is from Texas, born and raised. Well, fast forward twenty minutes, of course I wanted to teach the guy, I've never taught in english, I thought it would be fun! So we sit down, well turns out the kid just wanted to Bible bash--I have officially met my first atheist on the mission. He is all about the scientific theories of how the world was created and what not. He kept asking for evidence of a God, and how I know there is a God. At first I was a little frustrated, like how do you not believe there is a God? But then, I just felt sad. This poor kid is so confused with his life. I decided that no matter what we said, he was going to just battle everything we said. So finally I just decided to bear my testimony. I told him that I know that God is real, and that no matter what theories he tries to throw at me, nobody can ever take away my beliefs. I told him that he needs to do some soul searching, to stop listening to all the theories and views of other people, and just find out for himself through prayer. When we left, I felt so happy, my testimony just increased ten fold, I KNOW that there is a God, and nobody could EVER convince me otherwise. I then came across this scripture in my personal study that related perfectly to this conversation. It is found in Matthew 6: 19-21

v 19 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal;

v 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal;

v 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

My testimony is not tangible, it is something that nobody can ever steal from me. I know that God is real. I have felt His love personally, and have witnessed His miracles in my life as well as the lives of others. 

For personal study this week I have been studying about the life of Christ in the Bible in Matthew. I of course have always known that Jesus Christ is perfect, and that he is the perfect example to us, but wow, I have just been blown away all over again. I personally want to become like Him, I know it is impossible, but I want to strive to be as much like Him as possible. I love all the parables that He teaches to the people, and time and time again we see the compassion that He has for the people, even when they may not deserve it. He is the perfect teacher, the perfect missionary. I love this verse, Jesus Christ said, "Freely ye have recieved; freely give." Matthew 10:8. Of course reading this as a missionary, I think directly to the Atonement. That he freely gave His life for the WORLD, and the least that I could do to ever repay Him, is to give 18 months of my life to serving Him. When the people here find out that we don't receive any salary here on our missions and that it is just service they are blown away. We always just smile, and then bear our testimonies that we do this because we know that our message is true. That we wouldn't be thousands of miles away from our families with little to no contact if we didn't know the truthfulness of our message. May we all strive to become more like our Savior, a little bit more compassionate, more humble, more grateful. I know as we do these things we will be happier, and will think less about ourselves, and rather more about the needs of others.

This week I have learned that I am not the best teacher or the best at Tagalog, but that's not my purpose as a missionary. We aren't here to teach lessons, we are here to save souls. If I am bold, have the Spirit, and invite my investigators to keep the commandments, then I am fulfilling my purpose. Sister Echon and I made a companionship goal to invite EVERY SINGLE INVESTIGATOR that we taught this week to baptism. And we did it! This is our purpose as missionaries, to call the people unto repentance and invite them into the waters of baptism. I know that as we continue to follow our purpose, be exactly obedient, and work hard that we will continue to see blessings in our work here in Floridablanca. 

We had a Leadership Training this week in Bataan, and WOW the Spirit just absolutely raged. I am soo grateful for President and Sister Querido, and also for our AP's. The messages that they shared were so inspired. The comments of all my fellow missionaries were also incredible. I feel so blessed to be among the leaders of this mission. The meeting was so inspiring, and has motivated me to really lengthen my stride, work harder, and be more obedient so that I can be a better example to others. 

We had a baptism this Saturday, John Waver Aguilar (Jenver), he is living with his mom's sister (Sister Ticsay) because his mom passed away. Sister Ticsay and her family are all members, we have been teaching Jenver and he is seriously the smartest 9 year old I have ever met. I'm generally against baptizing younger kids because it becomes so easy for them to become less active, but he has the support of his Aunt and Uncle, and he also has a very strong testimony. The baptism was very simple but beautiful, no better feeling that someone you care for being baptized.

Happy happy week, I have learned a lot and am more inspired than ever to become a better me!

I love you all and hope you are doing well. Feel free to write me anytime, my address for letters stays the same my whole mission! 

Love you,

Sister Pilkington

Philippines Olongapo Mission

140 Km. National Highway

Mangan-vaca, Subic

2209 Zambales

Philippines