Called to Serve

Called to Serve
Cauayan, Philippines Mission

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Sore Eyes

This week has been exhausting to say the least, but very worth it!
We did a little exploring in our area and it has definitely paid off. Last Tuesday, as we walked through one of our areas, we were contacting when we came across a path that we'd never really noticed before- we just walked past it every day. Sister Velasco stopped me and said we should go down this path. We did. There were a few houses and a dead end. We stopped at the dead end and waited. We were standing on top of a small hill, and if we walked any further, we would have reached a pig stall. There weren't any people anywhere that we could contact and we stood there wondering why we had been led down this path. Not long after that, a young woman peeked her head from behind the three or so houses and saw us. She got our attention and told us to come and sit down. We had never met her, but taught her the first lesson. We met her husband, who is less active. They were very nice. When we had finished teaching them, they also invited us to teach her husband's brother, who is also a less active member. As it turns out, they are the nephews of Nay DeGuzman, who is a member of our branch. All of the DeGuzman clan sell ice cream for a living, and it is the best tasting ice cream in all of Luzon. 
We did the same thing on Wednesday. We walked to the farthest part of our area. Usually we just take a Tri C because it is so far away, but we decided to walk and find people to teach. It was a long walk! By the end of the day, we had walked over two hours! The good news is that in our contacting we found a less active brother who invited us to mother in her eighties. Her name is Conchita, and she has twelve children who are all less active. They were so welcoming to us! Sister Conchita was never baptized as a member, even though her kids were. She has always been interested in the gospel, but never had the opportunity to become a member. We now have the opportunity to re-activate several families and we have several new investigators on top of that. All at the price of a long walk! The work here in Roxas is really progressing. It is so exciting to find so many new people to teach and strengthen-both investigators and less active members.
That is about as exciting as our week was. We didn't work for the past few days after that because I have contracted what the people here call, "sore eyes." Sore Eyes is the filippino equivalent of "pink eye." There has been quite the outbreak of sore eyes here in Roxas, and I must have gotten it from one of our investigators because it is so contagious. I have been confined to my room for a few days. Sister Velasco and Sister Acain went out searching for the medicine or any kind of eye drops that would help ease the pain, but they checked five different pharmacies (the only five in roxas), and they were all out of stock. Luckily I'm getting better. The swelling has gone down quite a bit, but my eyes are all red and creepy looking.
This morning we went to the Ilagan Sanctuary for our zone activity. The Ilagan Sanctuary has a hike to a waterfall, a zoo, and caves. It was a lot of fun. Sister Velasco bought me a pair of hip shades, so I could go and not look like a zombie. I am so glad that I am feeling better so I could go. Sister Velasco also really enjoyed it because her birthday is tomorrow and she got to see all the fun things in Ilagan. Anyways, that was my week. Exhausting, but worth it!
Love,
Sister Lewis


 

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