I'm gonna be a Nanay!

The Sisters on Palawan Island

Dear Family,

This week has been SO GREAT! Seriously, probably the best week on my

mission thus far. I have been working with Princess, who is a branch

missionary but she has been my full time companion. She actually just

decided on Monday that she is going to start her papers, and then on

Tuesday we called her to be my companion! She is so sweet and it has been

awesome working with her because she lives here and so knows the area

and people really well and obviously..Tagalog. It was also the

greatest week because our investigator, Aiza, and 2 less active members came to

church!! The joy that filled me up on Sunday morning was something I

can't even explain. After working so hard to be obedient and always

committing people to come to church, to finally see them progress was

so rewarding.

But, the biggest news of the week, I'm gonna be a Nanay!! (That means train a brand new missionary.)  President Ostler called me on Wednesday night to train a new missionary! So this Wednesday, I will officially have an Anak! (Anak literally means child but means I will have my own “Greenie” from the MTC.) I am SO excited!! When my

trainer, Sister Parina left me, it was so stressful and I felt so overwhelmed, but I can now see clearly that Heavenly Father was having me lead the area for these 2 weeks to prepare me to train! Heavenly

Father always knows what He is doing even we can't understand. One of the highlights of this week was our lesson with Sonia. She is a Less Active that we talked about in Branch Council that I didn’t know

lived in my area. We visited her last night, and it was such a sweet experience.  We connected really quickly and she told us all about her children and her life.  Then she opened up to us about what she has

been struggling with and how badly she just wants for her family to be sealed in the temple. She was speaking so quickly in Tagalog, I couldn't understand everything she was saying, but as she began to

cry, to my surprise, I began to cry with her. I was filled with an indescribable connection and love and care for her. Being a missionary is so rewarding in lessons like that. The Holy Ghost is so powerful

and I feel so lucky to be blessed with love for the people in my area. She committed to come back to church, so keep Sonia in your prayers! The internet is really horrible today so this is going to be short.

Just know that I LOVE being a missionary!! I am ridiculously happy and everyday I feel like there are not enough hours in the day to teach everyone and visit all of the amazing people here!!

I am so thankful for a Heavenly Father who is always near us and is always playing an active part in our lives. It is so true that what seems to be detours and disappointments are truly just His path

for us back to Him.  He has a perfect plan for each of us! Also keep my anak in your prayers!! I will pick her up from the airport on Wednesday (: Woo!

I LOVE YOU!! Thank you for ALL of the birthday emails! I'm sorry in advance for those that I don't get to reply to.

xoxoxo

Sister Lockwood