Week 42, in which I pretend to be less happy than I actually am for fear that I might scare away potential investigators

Yeah, it's true, I'm pretty much having the time of my life here. Sure, I may still have my down moments (opposition in all things, it's kind of essential right?), but we just go out, teach some people, work, get rejected a few times, and by the time we get home, I'm just singing! I've had the most random songs going through my head this week: primarily "Princesses on Parade" (from Swan Princess), but I've also been singing "Please Bring Honor to Us All" (Mulan) and "Seventy-Six Trombones in the Big Parade" (which is kind of frustrating because all I know is the first line, so I just say it over and over again). It's pretty great.

Eating out with Sister S

So t-shirt of the week! I think it might be trying to be one of those "I hate the world and proud of it" t-shirts, but it doesn't do it very well. It says, "So what, this is the rude gallery."

Oh, and here's the text message of the week, from some random person in our phone who I've never actually met, but who seems to be a real sweetheart: "Hopeing the weather these days are warm they shine ur days.take care and have a gud day :)"

So sometimes God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. We met a girl a few weeks ago named E, and we haven't been able to contact her since then. We went finding in the rain last week, and had little success, so we were about to go home when we ran into E! We'd only talked to her for about 30 seconds when we first met her, but as we walked past her, her name just popped into my head and I kind of yelled at her (she only looked a little frightened) as she passed haha. But then she recognized us and immediately said that she'd meet us the next day! It was such a miracle that we ran into her, but the even bigger miracle was that God helped me recognize her and remember her name. And then the biggest miracle that happened was this: the next day, she didn't show up. We'd originally planned to meet her at the public square and then take her back to the church to teach. But as we were getting ready to leave, I grabbed two copies of the Book of Mormon in Tagalog. Then I put them down thinking, "No, they're too heavy, and we can just give her one at the church." But then I just picked them up and took them along anyways. And as we stood there in the square waiting for E, we saw two other girls that we'd met a few weeks ago, J and G! They're so cute, I just love them. They're cousins, and together they take care of about 12 dogs! We've never been able to meet with them because they always work, but we keep running into them while they're working, and so we're slowly sharing bits of the gospel with them. They're so sweet, so prepared. And I just happened to have two Book of Mormons for them. It really was so perfect, and they were really excited to each have their own! I told them that this was evidence of how much Heavenly Father knows them, and they said that they really could feel his love for them.

And then we had General Conference this weekend! It really was such a happy weekend for me, and I've learned so much! I loved what Elder Scott said about how the Lord doesn't expect us to learn everything all at once--there's a time and a season for all things. At first I thought, "Okay, perfect, so this is the time for me to learn how to be a missionary, all the spiritual growth I'll need for the near future." But then I realized that the Lord is even more specific than that. My mission is broken into different times and seasons, and each different principle, skill, or lesson has its own time. So I don't have to freak out and try to master everything all at once! I just have to try my best to learn what the Lord expects me to learn in the time I'm to learn it. God knows our mortal weaknesses and limitations; his patience is perfect and his comprehension complete. And I loved President Monson's talk about obedience. And Elder Holland's talk about faith. And wow, I should probably calm down. But honestly, I've never appreciated the blessing of having living prophets and apostles as much as I do now. It just makes so much sense that we need prophets today, and that the Lord would provide them out of love for each of his children.

I think the most ridiculous thing that happened this week was when we did companionship exchanges with the other sisters. People always say that companionship exchanges bring miracles, and I've found this to be true... However, in my experience, they also bring the truly weird and crazy and ridiculous experiences too. Due to poor directions from several different people, Sister Y and I ended up wandering around in the pouring rain under one tiny umbrella about five or six bus stops away from where our appointment was. We were absolutely drenched, and I'm pretty sure we looked anywhere from fairly amusing to quite unsightly due to the looks people were giving us as we wandered back and forth. Fortunately our investigator was okay with us showing up a little late (or maybe an hour late?), and it all worked out just fine. Those kinds of things just happen sometimes, and all you can do is laugh and move on!