Cockroaches

Well, I actually don't have anything on cockroaches, other than the fact that they hid under the outside portion of the church ceiling to hide from the rain. They were huge, (at least a couple inches long). 

It is definitely the rainy season right now. We got drenched on the way to our Branch Mission Leader's home for our missionary coordination meeting on Friday, and ended up cutting off some branches of his tree after because the wind and rain was so bad that his tree was banging against some of his porch roof and breaking it. Penang (the Island across the water) got it really bad, and you can check out videos of the Penang Flood if you want (our member showed us some pictures).

Catherine is doing well, and is progressing well. We have had a member at every single lesson that we have taught her (probably not that impressive to missionaries serving in the US but we are very grateful that it has happened that way). We taught her about praying every day, reading the scriptures every day, and keeping the Sabbath day Holy. We also taught her about the Word of Wisdom (which was very helpful to have a member present for as they know which teas you can and cannot drink). We taught her other things as well. In one more lesson, she will have been taught everything that she needs to know for her baptism and confirmation interview (which will be one week from today).

We taught her yesterday about Keeping the Law of Chastity, and about the 10 commandments. She had come to church for the first time that day, and we asked her about her experience. She said it was good, but that there were a few things that seemed strange at first (such as singing the hynms) that she got used to by the end. During church, our Sunday school teacher went into a meeting with Elder Florence, our branch President, and one of our other investigators, and I was told to start Sunday school. I did, and the Sunday school teacher never actually showed up, so I taught the whole thing. Lesson 34 in the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Manual, and reviewing the previous lesson. 

Catherine says that she has been facing a lot of opposition. And a lot of her friends have expressed open opposition and disapproval to her decision to be baptized. It seems hard for her, but she expresses a surprising amount of faith. It was really helpful in our last lesson to have a member share his experience about how his family and friends rejected his joining of the church, but how they now (after 7 years) are slowly starting to come back.

We have had a mission wide study of Humility recently, and I was able to feel a lot of peace through my study. I have found that being real, and being thankful for the things that I have been given, has brought me a lot of peace in my life. I feel more aware of what is going on around me, but I feel like my faith is growing despite the imperfections I see in myself and the world around me.