Puppies!!!

I give piano lessons in the Agustins' home to Hazel Joy Agustin and her friend Kim.



Kim, Sister Agustin, and Hazel Joy.

Kim enjoying marienda after a very "stressful" lesson! Sister Agustin insists on serving marienda after each lesson.

During a recent lesson, I kept hearing something squeaking.  At first I thought it was the fan making the noise.  But it didn't sound like the fan, so I asked Hazel Joy if by any chance they had puppies.  Yes, they did!  Hazel Joy took me into her bedroom.  There were four darling, round-bellied, in-a-dog-pile puppies. 

Four beautiful babies

Mother and babies

 

Elder Eddington's feet and babies

So then the other morning as Elder and I were returning from our morning jog/walk, I noticed Granny in front of her apartment getting ready to pump water.

Cute Granny graciously posing for a picture

Pettingills, the senior couple who have moved in upstairs and diagonal from us, (there are four units in our building) have this view on the other side of the apartment building.  The view includes Granny's pigs, the landlord's tied-up dogs, and rats that invade the pigs' food bowl.  Sister Pettingill has watched Granny pet and sing to her pigs.  She said as long as Granny sings, the dogs bark up a storm.  As soon as Granny stops singing, the dogs stop their noise. (I'm not going to jump to any conclusions about that bit of information.) But I did want a picture of Granny and pigs. Side note: I love the way the older people dress.  Their clothes have a tropical flare that the clothes the younger generation chooses to wear don't have. Mostly jeans for the younger people.

Granny was laughing because her pig was trying to eat the buttons on her skirt.

After the Granny/pig photo opp, I figured I might as well make the rounds. So I took pictures of the landlord's dogs that bark ALL THE TIME.

I didn't really want their pictures, but when I noticed puppies, I couldn't resist, even when the mother dog had a coniption fit when I approached the puppy nursery.

 

 

I think we'll stay on our side of town. Pettingills can have their side.



Pettingills' side of town

Eddingtons' side of town

Jonats' Restoration Lesson

I hope it won't get too boring to always hear about Jonats' lessons, but I really want to record Jonats' progress.  I stifled the impulse to take his picture last week.  I'm so proud of myself!

We met at Jonats' apartment for this week's lesson. As we walked in the front door, we came face-to-face with a large Catholic statue.  My first thought was, "Oh, no! Someday we are going to have to tell Jonats that his statue of Mary has to go! How are we going to break the news to him?" Whew! The apartment is more like a boarding house for about twenty students.  No problem. Mary can stay!

 Jonats offered to say the opening prayer, so he "could get practice in praying." He wondered if we crossed ourselves when we prayed.  Sister Diamond answered that question very nicely. Jonats' prayer was great, as usual.  The sisters asked if he had any questions or feelings about his Book of Mormon reading assignment.  He said as he opened his Book of Mormon  to read for the first time, the bookmark he had placed inside the book touched his heart.  It outlines the characteristics of the pure love of Christ. He jokingly (?) stated that he is going to make a huge poster using the bookmark information.  The bookmark opened the door to more such warm feelings as he then started to read the Book of Mormon.  I created the bookmark from an article written by Marvin  J. Ashton ("The Tongue Can Be A Sharp Sword" May 1992 Ensign) and pass them out to anyone and everyone.  It's a great message. 

We had given him the bookmark during last week's lesson when he said he felt that being in contact with the Church would help him with a problem he was having with his boss at work.  It felt good to explain to Jonats that the bookmark message that had helped him was taken from a talk given by an apostle. So this message was directly from Heavenly Father through one of his apostles.

The sisters explained about the ancient Church, which included prophets and revelation and then the apostacy.  Jonats asked the question of why the last apostle couldn't have passed the Church on to others before he died.  Elder answered that questions beautifully.  Before the lesson, the sisters had invited us to give the part of the lesson on the restoration and the bringing back of the Book of Mormon. It was like old missionary times! I thoroughly enjoyed telling the first vision account.  As I related the incident, the Spirit reconfirmed to me again that what I was telling Jonats is true. Elder explained how Joseph Smith received and translated the Book of Mormon. He then answered another of Jonats' questions as to why the Book of Mormon was a shorter book than the Bible. Elder invited Jonats to pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. We explained the many ways we can feel the Spirit testifying to us.

The sisters invited Jonats to Church next Sunday and set up another teaching appointment for next week. Jonats asked for another reading assignment and then gave the closing prayer.  

As we were getting into the car to leave, one of the neighbors approached. The gentleman said he wants the missionaries to visit him.  So the sisters set up a teaching time.  Awesome moment for the sisters! Another neighbor joined in on the conversation. He mentioned he is a member of the Church and wants to come back to the Church some day. 

Sorry there are so few pictures, but with or without pictures, it couldn't have been a more golden evening!

Picture courtesy of Google Image search. I can't take the credit.

Prayers Are Heard

While Elder and I were in the MTC last June, I remember a story told by a returned senior couple sister missionary.  She and her husband had been assigned to work in the mission office of their mission. She told how she had built a strong friendship with one of the delivery men who came regularly to their mission office.  After quite a few months, this sister informed the delivery man that it was time he learned something about her Church.  She explained a few things about how he and his family could be together forever.  He was interested in her message and accepted the invitation to have the missionaries teach his family more about the Church.  They were baptized.  Finding investigators isn't the mission of senior couples, but when it happens, it is a joyous experience.  I was hoping, and lately I have been praying, that such an experience could happen to Elder and me.  Don't get me wrong.  I thoroughly enjoy accompanying the missionaries and being part of the teaching experience, but the people we teach are always the missionaries' investigators.  Call me selfish, but I want my own investigator.

It's not that we haven't tried to get our own investigators. For Christmas presents last December, we gave our landlord and his wife and the two young girls living in the apartment upstairs from us, each a Book of Mormon along with a letter which included our testimonies. We even threw in some homemade-by-Elder cookies. Walang resulta. 

I buy fruit from a cute family who started their own sidewalk fruit stand business the end of December. We have become quite friendly. They wave to us as we drive by their stand each day.  I always give their ten-year-old daughter, Kate, a five-peso tip for being such a good money-change maker when I buy fruit. The husband always carries my fruit purchases to the car for me.  I have given Kate a picture of Christ and the father some Church pamphlets. Walang resulta.

Periodically Sister Agustin brings a catalog to our apartment from which I order cleaning supplies and other assorted items.  A few weeks ago, I noticed some items in her catalog I wanted to order to give as presents to the family come Christmas 2013.  So  I  accompanied Sister Agustin to the place of business to help her order these presents.  As we were returning to the car, a man came running up, shoved a note through my half-closed car door and said, "Sister, I have a letter for you."   I was kind of freaked out thinking there was a stalker in my midst.  He then explained what he had written in the note.  He had had some missionary lessons a few years ago and then had stopped taking the lessons.  But now he wanted to continue taking them.   Jonathan, or "Jonats", as he is called, was the young man who had processed my Christmas order.  When he had noticed my missionary badge, he quickly scribbled out his note and chased us down.  I asked where he lived and then said something profound like: "Awesome!",  before he disappeared back to work. This was too good to be true! Like manna from heaven!  Maybe THIS is our very own investigator! And not just our own investigator, but our very own, GOLDEN investigator!

We contacted the sister missionaries in Jonats' area and had our first meeting with him tonight in the stake center.  What a wonderful experience! Jonats explained it has been ten years since he has had elders teach him.  During that time he attended Church a few times, but declined the invitation to be baptized.  He wasn't ready.  He still remembers the good feeling he had when he was with the missionaries, misses that feeling, and wants it back.  (The "I miss the good feeling" part of the story sounds a lot like the Doug-Cunningham-conversion experience, doesn't it?) He said as soon as he stepped inside the stake center tonight, he felt that same feeling return.  My Elder explained to him that the feeling he feels is Heavenly Father telling him he is doing the right thing by wanting to know more about the Church. Without being asked, he expressed the desire to be baptized.  He feels it is the right thing for him to do.  He practically started reading the Book of Mormon right there on the spot.  We could feel his excitement to start reading.  In fact, he asked the sisters to give him a reading assignment. He had left his old copy of the Book of Mormon in a previous living place, and was glad to have a new copy. The sisters' lesson was an overview of the Book of Mormon. They shared a few scriptures with him, set up a return appointment time, gave him a Book of Mormon reading assignment, and invited him to Church next Sunday.  We all shared our testimonies with him.  He was very appreciative of all he learned from us and again expressed how he loved the good feeling he felt tonight. He knows it is Heavenly Father telling him what he is doing is right.  The sisters told him the steps of prayer and extended the invitation for him to pray.... which he did!  What a beautiful, simple, genuine, from-the-heart prayer!  After he finished the prayer he asked if the prayer was ok!  No, it wasn't ok, it was PERFECT! 

I know I shouldn't get my hopes up too high, but we are celebrating the moment.  And the moment feels very good.  We sincerely hope and pray that Jonats will continue on the path of conversion. We are going to enjoy every moment as we travel the path with him. I am very thankful that my prayers are being answered, and we have our VERY OWN, LIVE, BREATHING, GOLDEN investigator!

Ho Hum From The Philippines

Ok, but don't tell us we didn't warn you! You want a new post? You get a new, boring, humdrum, in-a-rut, life-is-routine post.

In the month of February we attended more than twelve baptisms:

A previous, already-posted baptism picture, since we forgot to take our camera to any of the February baptisms. 

Gave more than thirty-six piano lessons:

Same old picture of cute Michelle Formantes. (Hey, wait! THAT'S the missing flower arrangement we bought a replacement arrangement for!)

Traveled with Elder almost every weekend ...took pictures along the way....

Of all the overloads:

Of all the pretty clouds:

 

Of all the meetinghouses attended where elder conducted member-records meetings to collect member information:

Of all the cute babies, despite the fact there are no car seats or seat belts:

Of interesting Christmas trees, even though it was February:

In case you can't tell...this tree is made of individual-sized water bottles.

Took pictures of missionaries on p-day leaving an on-the-beach service project: (Who are they trying to kid?)

Elder and I didn't attend, since we were busy cleaning the senior couple's apartment. Sob!

Watched our Granny neighbor pump water and wash clothes on a weekly basis:

Took pictures of great members in awesome vehicles:

Ate more than eighty-four meals:

I guess the table cloth is new news. We bought it from the loom guy himself.  .

Crocheted and delivered to the hospital approximately six more baby blankets. (Four of the blankets were crocheted by Relief Society sisters.)



 

 

 

 

 



Assembled Book of Mormon flannel story kits to be given to members :

 

 

 

 

Fed miscellaneous elders on at least two different occasions:

 

 

Another old, used picture

Helped Sister Agustin and Elder clean the upstairs apartment for the incoming senior couple:

Not really the upstairs apartment, but it looks the same, except the floor plan is reversed.

Honored some of the less-active members' birthdays by giving them temple pictures.

A talented member painted this temple picture for us. Thanks to Laurel's computer skills, we give copies of this painting as baptism gifts, birthday gifts, going-to-the-temple-for-the-first-time gifts, Christmas gifts, and wedding gifts.

Waited for the moments when elder left his computer unattended so I could use two computers for family history:

Elder makes cookies to take to his member-records meetings. The members LOVE his cookies.

So there you have it. I told you it would be boring, reused, humdrum, and routine. NOW do you see why I haven't posted lately? Next time you beg for a new post,  just remember what you'll get.  That will make you think twice! 

Actually, though, we are enjoying the routine.  Elder's work on member records is so appreciated.  He is the man for the job! He is holding training sessions for ward/branch clerks so they can learn to update the records.

I am picking up new piano students all the time.  Three of my students are now playing in Church meetings.  It is very rewarding to see the progress of all my students. Sister Barrientos, the Mission President's wife, wants me to start giving her piano lessons next week.  Gulp! Can I really do that?

We continue to accompany the missionaries when giving lessons to investigators and less actives.  It is an enjoyable part of our mission.

Watch for the next edition of "'Tag a Long' With Elder And Sister Eddington". Coming soon in July of 2013! (Shouldn't it be: Tag Along?) Someone help me change the title, please!