Sister Delgado serves in the Great Legazpi! : "Seek to understand before you seek to be understood"

Kumusta Pamilya!

I absolutely love receiving all your emails. They warm my heart so much and it makes me happy to know that you are all doing well. Don't be offended, but I thought it'd take a little longer to for me to miss you all, but I already do! Haha. I love you all and pray for you every night. I hope it continues to stay that way.

I just realized in my last email I said "these past 3 weeks have felt like weeks" when I meant "these past 3 days have felt like weeks".... hahaha. I'm assuming you all got the memo.

I'm starting to enjoy my time here at the MTC. My district and I are working hard everyday studying the scriptures, studying Tagalog, giving service to the facility. Now that I've been here for 10 days, my body has adjusted to the rigorous MTC schedule. At about day 5, I got super sick. The district next door to us got the flu, and with little sleep and no down time, I just crashed. I didnt want to go back to room at all. But after sacrament, one of our zone president's wife thought I didnt look well and sent me to my room. Thankfully I didnt get the flu, I just got an ugly cold. I definitely feel the Lord's hand in my time here. I feel Him blessing me to be alert and effective no matter how many hours of sleep I get. One of my favorite things to do here is play volleyball with Sister Killian and the Tongan elders serving in Cebu, Philippines. They are crazy good at volleyball! A good portion of the game turns into to dodge ball because of how hard they spike. Hahaha.

I was able to see two people here at the MTC from my ward at BYU last semester Elder Keck (serving in Germany) and Sister Lui (serving in Taiwan). They brighten my day. I still adore my district. We're constantly laughing and smiling and having too much fun wherever we go. They all call me crazy kasama. aka crazy companion. I really don't know why. It's not like I'm crazy or anything... ;) It was definitely an adjustment getting used to being with a kasama 24/7, but I'm getting better at it. People are people. In our language class our teacher Brother Kaka wrote a quote on the board that said, "Seek to understand before you seek to be understood." I really like that quote. It helps me get along with my companion and try to see things the way she does. It helps me strive to be more diligent and patient with her when we're planning lessons for our investigators when we dont meet eye to eye. Everyone wants to feel adequate and valued, so it's important to consider others in all you do.

My tagalog is progressing. I love it. We all set individual goals for ourselves as far as the language goes, and I've set some pretty high ones that I plan on achieving. They're insane, but I know the Lord will help me. I've been hearing that our flight to the Philippines is February 19, then we'll be staying at the Manila MTC for a couple of days. I'LL BE ABLE TO GO INSIDE THE MANILA TEMPLE AHH! YAY! I'm so excited to go.

So our last investigator, Beverly taught me an abundance about being a missionary. She taught me that without the Holy Ghost present during our planning and during our lesson, nothing will be accomplished. Nothing. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, which begins with baptism. Missionaries dont teach lessons. We teach people. Missionaries try to help with the needs of others by helping them feel of God's love by inviting them to join his restored church to receive the fullness of His blessings. The gospel is so plain and simple. Our lives should good and happy. They dont have to be hard. As long as we have the gospel in our lives, we will be happy. I can testify of that to be true because this is the happiest I've been in my long 19 years of living. Hahaha. Also, in learning about missionary work, it's important to know that a missionary's purpose isnt baptize investigators for the mere increase church statistics, but to rather invite them to understand the reality of Heavenly Father's plan and desire for all of His children to return to His presence. We can only reach the highest degree of His blessing through HIS priesthood authority. Through HIS gospel. Through HIS plan. I'm so grateful for the love God has for His children. My mission is teaching me a lot about who God really is and how he feels for his lost sheep. I especially feel this when I teach investigators.

So I have to tell you, Beverly ended up being an MTC worker and former missionary from the Philippines. I'm so gullible I genuinely thought she wasnt a member. Her purpose as an investigator was to teach us what it would be like teaching a filipino. I about died when she came in our classroom and she introduced herself and our third teacher. I literally cannot tell you the amount of shock and embarrassment and happiness I felt all at once. It was weird/ funny/ I wish I wasnt so gullible.

In the midst of still learning tagalog and teaching in tagalog, we map and script everything we'd say when teaching. I already told you I hated doing that, so I stopped. As the days go on, we're becoming more confident in simply preparing scriptures, experiences ,and our testimonies. It gets easier and we work hard in the language and in personal/ companionship study. I've come to learn that as long as my kasama and I do our part in studying and being obedient to God, the spirit will take care of the rest.

This coming week, we'll be teaching two new investigators. They're actually our other language teachers that we've had for the last 10 days. Brothere Kaka and Sister Macklachi. Our district feels sort of intimated to teach brother Kaka because we know he'll make it challenging and will try our patience. But I know it'll be a great experience and I cant wait to tell you all what I'm learning.

Anyway, I love you all and hope you're doing well. Life is good. Be happy. :)

Mahal Kita,

Sister Delgado