6 MONTHS DOWN

It's official, Mahallies. I've reached my 6 month mark! ONE YEAR LEFT!

It feels almost impossible that the time has flown by this fast. I'm grateful for all the experiences I've had up to this point...and I know this is only the beginning. 

So having an english speaking companion is ALWAYS a little different, but I'm grateful for the opportunity we've been given to grow and progress together. My companion and I have been working REALLY hard to try to get a better grasp of tagalog aha, and even though our first lesson was a little bit of a mess, the ones to follow got increasingly better. Working with her really reminded me of the Mission Training Center, and made me realized just how much progress I've actually made out here. Looking back, I'd struggle trying to fit in a couple tagalog words into my sentence during conversations with my teachers, and now, I can have full on conversations with people in tagalog and sometimes can't think of the english version of words because i'm just so used to saying it in tagalog! it's like...automatic google translate in my brain ahaha. NOT TO SAY that i'm fluent, because i'm not anywhere close to that...but I just know that I couldn't have gotten as far as I have without God's help. This is His work, and He ALWAYS provides a way for us to succeed, so long as we heed His promptings. But...in order to progress, we must know where to start.

So where is the starting line? The answer is...

where you are right now. 

One of the most important parts of progression is preparation. We need to DECIDE and mentally prepare ourselves for change. I'd been reading in Alma 43 for my personal study this week and just wanted to share a few insights I learned from it (: (please read because it'll add more depth to this email https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/43?lang=eng ) 

This chapter is just about how the Lamanites (bad guys) and the Nephites (good guys) are going off to war. The lamanites are under prepared, going to war with only cloth to cover themselves and their swords to fight...but the nephites go with full armor and a game plan, relying on God for strength and fighting for their families, their liberty, their religion, and their land. I love this chapter, because it just shows us that if you're on the devil's side...you're disposable. When you follow the adversary, he doesn't care what happens to you at the end. he doesn't prepare you and doesn't defend you. But when you depend on God, He strengthens you and delivers you from the adversary's hand. So...which side are you on?

What really stuck out to me were Alma:43:43-50  

From these verses I've learned that there are going to be days when temptations and trials are going to be even stronger than normal, and we're going to want to give up...but we CANNOT SHRINK. In those moments of weakness, we must remember who we are. We are children of God. We are capable of divinity, capable of miracles, so long as we depend on God's arm, and not on the arm of man. We must remember why we're fighting to defend ourselves against the adversaries' grasp in the first place! Push forward with all of our heart, mind, might, and strength. 

During one of the lessons I had this week, one of our investigators mentioned how she only prays on sundays, or when things are hard in her life. But the thing is...you wouldn't expect the walls of a castle to be built in a day, so why would you expect it out of your faith? It takes TIME to create a defense against temptation. It takes TIME to build faith. and it takes TIME to build your relationship and trust in God. So, whether you're facing trials and temptations right now, or if things are just smooth sailing, NOW is the time to prepare.  

So start now, because you said 'tomorrow' yesterday. 

I know that God lives. I know that He loves us, and no problem is too small for him to care about. He can strengthen you through it all, so turn to Him in all you do.

I love you all and I hope you're doing your best to strengthen your faith and testimonies daily! You're in my prayers always. 

All the love! See you all in a year!

- Sister Calica

PICS: 1.Me and my new companion, Sister Leon, on our first girl date 2.A couple of the kids in my new area that wanted to take a picture hahaha. 3. Celebrating my 6 month mark with a twix shake at the cutest little cafe in the Phils!