So I'm pretty much in denial that I only have 6 months left. . . . I feel like I just got here!
So Stephen Ferrera was baptized on Saturday! Honestly, I'm so relieved because there's been some strife between the wards here about ward boundaries. . . It's hard to follow some Church policies when things are rather casual here. But that's why missionaries are here to help establish the Church. :) Stephen was supposed to be taught by the other ward, but things didn't work out that way. But now his records are in the the ward and everything is fine. :)
I still think I want to continue with Psychology. Why? I see so many mentally challenged people here. There is practically no help here for the mentally insane--- they have to go to Manila. A lady I knew had a stressful event happen in her life that triggered a psycho-attack. She received a blessing from the elders and we visited her the next day. She was singing non-stop as we talked with her. I didn't know what to do!
We had an awesome experience finding this past week. We a met a lady named Irene and she is sooo prepared to hear the gospel! Her husband died 40 days ago and a member of the Church has been her biggest help during his sickness and death. We just barely had our second lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation. When we spoke about temples and eternal families, she got chills! She read the two pamphlets we left her and has already started the Book of Mormon! And she knows English. :) I'll keep you updated on her!
Sorry, it's short this week, but I love you all!!!
P.S. I'm going to Tacloban this week for a MISSION CSP and CONFERENCE! Super stoked.
P.S. How old is Tyrel? is he the 2nd youngest? That's sooooo coool!
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Day 362 Allen, Philippines "What desirest thou?"
What happened this week. . . . .. um, I went to a fiesta! The Catholics celebrate their saints on Fiesta Days, but the members here just use the day off to spend with family and eat tons of food and go swimming. I still don't understand sweet spaghetti. Or their fruit salad: carrots, onions, apples, green mangoes, with vinegar and sugar. It's really good though.
We did a combined district CSP at a local elementary school. It's vacation right now so there weren't any kids. We swept and burned the leaves covering the pathways and grass. Man, the school is so cool! It's on hillside going into the jungle. THere are giant trees and cool gardens and stuff. NINDOT! (cool!) Hopefully, the teachers there will be more comfortable talking with the missionaries since they've seen us in normal clothes and helping them prepare for back to school. We were invited by the principal. :)
Sister Mier and I had a cool conversation about desire and how it is necessary if we are ever going to accomplish anything in this life. I studied about how we all generally have good desires and hopes and dreams for the future. But, there are good desires, and then there are better and best desires. We must learn to align our desires with what our Father desires for us. When we keep His commandments and serve Him, it is not enough to just have good behavior. We must have good natures.
So Stephen Ferrera is going to be baptized this coming Saturday! He is 16, but he has a really strong desire to serve a mission. He's really active with all the activities and hopefully he'll be a strong addition to the ward.
Speaking of strong additions to the ward, we have a new RM! Bishop's son (Ailyn's brother); Alvin Oldem. He's super on the ball about helping the missionaries. He's already been set apart as the Ward Mission Leader. He was a zone leader for more than half of his mission so he knows what he is doing. The ward really needs him because our recently returned priest (who is our only priest) just left for Manila to find work.
I miss working with senior couple missionaries. They are such a help to the mission! We worked with them a lot in Cebu mission, but there aren't any here. I really encourage all the couples considering whether or not to serve to take this opportunity to be more actively involved in the Lord's work. It's amazing!!
Last night i read through the destruction that happened in the Americas at the time of the death of the Savior. I had a few hours to read and ponder since we went home a little early (Sister Mier wasn't feeling well. :/) Ever since the typhoon, it's been more difficult emotionally to read and try to understand really what that must have been like. That destruction was real. It really happened. And then to have 3 days of darkness after all that. And THEN to hear the voice of the Savior! What a contrast! Christ truly is the light and life of the world! He sustains life. We are completely dependent upon Him. The world looks so much more fragile to me after seeing so much destruction. Everything we have is temporary and of little eternal significance, other than who are and who we are becoming. Remember what truly matters most!!!
LOVE ALL!!! Good luck at Graduation Moo! Have a good last week of school Alex and Jared! And a good last week of your mission, Ashley!!
We did a combined district CSP at a local elementary school. It's vacation right now so there weren't any kids. We swept and burned the leaves covering the pathways and grass. Man, the school is so cool! It's on hillside going into the jungle. THere are giant trees and cool gardens and stuff. NINDOT! (cool!) Hopefully, the teachers there will be more comfortable talking with the missionaries since they've seen us in normal clothes and helping them prepare for back to school. We were invited by the principal. :)
Sister Mier and I had a cool conversation about desire and how it is necessary if we are ever going to accomplish anything in this life. I studied about how we all generally have good desires and hopes and dreams for the future. But, there are good desires, and then there are better and best desires. We must learn to align our desires with what our Father desires for us. When we keep His commandments and serve Him, it is not enough to just have good behavior. We must have good natures.
So Stephen Ferrera is going to be baptized this coming Saturday! He is 16, but he has a really strong desire to serve a mission. He's really active with all the activities and hopefully he'll be a strong addition to the ward.
Speaking of strong additions to the ward, we have a new RM! Bishop's son (Ailyn's brother); Alvin Oldem. He's super on the ball about helping the missionaries. He's already been set apart as the Ward Mission Leader. He was a zone leader for more than half of his mission so he knows what he is doing. The ward really needs him because our recently returned priest (who is our only priest) just left for Manila to find work.
I miss working with senior couple missionaries. They are such a help to the mission! We worked with them a lot in Cebu mission, but there aren't any here. I really encourage all the couples considering whether or not to serve to take this opportunity to be more actively involved in the Lord's work. It's amazing!!
Last night i read through the destruction that happened in the Americas at the time of the death of the Savior. I had a few hours to read and ponder since we went home a little early (Sister Mier wasn't feeling well. :/) Ever since the typhoon, it's been more difficult emotionally to read and try to understand really what that must have been like. That destruction was real. It really happened. And then to have 3 days of darkness after all that. And THEN to hear the voice of the Savior! What a contrast! Christ truly is the light and life of the world! He sustains life. We are completely dependent upon Him. The world looks so much more fragile to me after seeing so much destruction. Everything we have is temporary and of little eternal significance, other than who are and who we are becoming. Remember what truly matters most!!!
LOVE ALL!!! Good luck at Graduation Moo! Have a good last week of school Alex and Jared! And a good last week of your mission, Ashley!!
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Day 355 Allen, Philippines Taga Utah. . or is it yuta?
So after I Facetimed you all last week, I went downstairs and popped my head in on a Skype session with a missionary serving in Ogden who is from Allen. He gave me a bunch of referrals from his family. He had skyped his relatives and asked them if they wanted to be together for all eternity and if they would listen to the missionaries. This missionary's cousin did the same thing. So now we're working with a bunch of part-member families! We first contacted the grandpa and at first he was super hard-hearted, but once we mentioned his family, he softened a bit and even agreed to let us come back again and again to teach him. I take for granted how blessed we are to know the plan of salvation. Many people think death is the end. "Wara na"---there's nothing more. But we have the hope that we can live again and rise above the troubles of this mortal experience.
We've also been working with another referral from a member in our bishopric. His name is Stephen. He's been playing basketball at the church since he was a little kid, but no one invited him to come inside until now. He has a desire to serve a mission already! He's scheduled to be baptized on May 31st. :) He's awesome and texts us questions about his reading, which is surprising for a 16 year old.
Due to some problems in companionships in the Districts in Allen and Lavezares, the ZLs came and did a combined training for the districts here. Of course they spoke about unity in our companionships, but they focused on how to the use the Atonement to change. No matter what happens, it's so important to realize that Satan desires to destroy our relationships and isolate us.While we are trying to build up Zion, Satan would seek to pull apart any unity. To try to combat that, we are implementing something that Cebu Mission does: Shining Moments. Each night, each companion tells each other something well they did that day. I've been doing this since i've returned to Tacloban since my companions have been reassigned in Cebu/Cebu East missions. It really helps at the end of a stressful day.
We started teaching a couple who are 7th Day Adventists. I was grateful to see another religion that actually requires something of their members: they go to church all day on Saturday, pay tithing and fast offerings, read the Bible daily, etc. It also built my testimony of the Book of Mormon---how crucial it is to our religion. It is the keystone. It is what makes us unique and set apart from the world. Without it, our understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ would crumble.
Random: When people ask me where I'm from, I say i'm from Utah, which in the language translates to I'm from the earth/ground. I get funny looks sometimes. . haha.
Oh and I sort of tried balut this week. We accidentally bought a 19-day egg instead of a 15-day egg so we didn't eat the bird part, just the egg and whites. Feathers aren't terribly appetizing. . .My stomach wasn't so happy the next morning. . . I like the yolk part though. It has a softer and lighter flavor than normal eggs.
In sharing the gospel, you can't just immediately bring up the subject, obviously. In my mission we call it BRT. Build a Relationship of Trust. Then we ask them the "questions of the soul" (see Preach My Gospel, the chapter about the Book of Mormon for sample questions) based on clues we see about them. Maybe invite them to a place where there would be more church related stuff to talk about, like a ward activity or mention the temple being build in Payson. Try and get a feel of what aspect of the gospel would most appeal to them. Share experiences in your life so it doesn't come off as pushy. But most of all, just seek the guidance of the Spirit to know what to say and how to act. Let me know how things go! :)
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
We've also been working with another referral from a member in our bishopric. His name is Stephen. He's been playing basketball at the church since he was a little kid, but no one invited him to come inside until now. He has a desire to serve a mission already! He's scheduled to be baptized on May 31st. :) He's awesome and texts us questions about his reading, which is surprising for a 16 year old.
Due to some problems in companionships in the Districts in Allen and Lavezares, the ZLs came and did a combined training for the districts here. Of course they spoke about unity in our companionships, but they focused on how to the use the Atonement to change. No matter what happens, it's so important to realize that Satan desires to destroy our relationships and isolate us.While we are trying to build up Zion, Satan would seek to pull apart any unity. To try to combat that, we are implementing something that Cebu Mission does: Shining Moments. Each night, each companion tells each other something well they did that day. I've been doing this since i've returned to Tacloban since my companions have been reassigned in Cebu/Cebu East missions. It really helps at the end of a stressful day.
We started teaching a couple who are 7th Day Adventists. I was grateful to see another religion that actually requires something of their members: they go to church all day on Saturday, pay tithing and fast offerings, read the Bible daily, etc. It also built my testimony of the Book of Mormon---how crucial it is to our religion. It is the keystone. It is what makes us unique and set apart from the world. Without it, our understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ would crumble.
Random: When people ask me where I'm from, I say i'm from Utah, which in the language translates to I'm from the earth/ground. I get funny looks sometimes. . haha.
Oh and I sort of tried balut this week. We accidentally bought a 19-day egg instead of a 15-day egg so we didn't eat the bird part, just the egg and whites. Feathers aren't terribly appetizing. . .My stomach wasn't so happy the next morning. . . I like the yolk part though. It has a softer and lighter flavor than normal eggs.
In sharing the gospel, you can't just immediately bring up the subject, obviously. In my mission we call it BRT. Build a Relationship of Trust. Then we ask them the "questions of the soul" (see Preach My Gospel, the chapter about the Book of Mormon for sample questions) based on clues we see about them. Maybe invite them to a place where there would be more church related stuff to talk about, like a ward activity or mention the temple being build in Payson. Try and get a feel of what aspect of the gospel would most appeal to them. Share experiences in your life so it doesn't come off as pushy. But most of all, just seek the guidance of the Spirit to know what to say and how to act. Let me know how things go! :)
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
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| stake conference at catarman |
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| the spider was HUGE. like palm-of-your-hand big |
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| and i ate part of the balut. i didn't eat the bird part, haha. it already had feathers. |
Monday, May 12, 2014
Day 348 Allen, Philippines Mother's Day
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Monday, May 5, 2014
Day 341 Allen, Philippines 11 months na ko. . .
I finally got to see the whole Tacloban Mission!!! We all came together for Mission Tour—this was the first time since we separated in Manila that I’ve seen a lot of the missionaries. We’ve all been separated in our reassignments or I’ve been up in the middle of nowhere in Catarman Zone. President Nielsen (Area President) spoke with President Andaya and their wives for the last time. They are all leaving this year. L We stayed the night in Tacloban. . . .next to my old apartment!!! I didn’t get to see my apartment at all, but the other sisters were telling me it’s completely rebuilt and renovated!! There aren’t any sisters in Tacloban zone yet, but there are elders.
The Conference was about how the typhoon wasn’t a punishment for the wicked but rather a manifestation of God’s power. Because of all the pain and hardship, people have the opportunity to experience the healing and saving power of the Atonement that they couldn’t in any other way. Also, there is physical and spiritual in the stakes of Zion. So true! I have never had such a strong testimony in the organization of the church until now. This church is so inspired! Sister Nielsen talked about finding the “holiness in everyday life” based on a book she read as a young mother. No matter the chaos around us, if we change our perspective we can see it as God does.
Thanks for the birthday package!!! It was the best package ever! I made the mistake of opening it during our 6 hour van ride back to Allen from Tacloban. . .. I yelled YUUSSSSS! Or NO WAY! Every two seconds or so as I pulled everything out of the box. I shared the candy with the other 11 missionaries in the van so they wouldn’t all hate me haha. Don’t worry about sending me another journal. This new one should last me the rest of my mission. J
Can I just say that I love America? I love the established Church. That’s all.
Oh guess what? I finally sent the letters! I persuaded the office elders while I was in Tacloban to send them for me since there’s no postage for months up in Northern Samar.
We didn't work a whole lot this week because we had Mission Tour, then ZTM and a baptismal interview for a part member family. Transfer calls are this Thursday! We haven't been able to go back to the Mayor because he's been in Manila, but he texts us back and stuff. Soon!!
I had an awesome personal study about our Heavenly Father. It opened my mind a little bit about how real He really is. I read from the teachings of Brigham Young:
“He has passed the ordeals we are now passing through; he has received an experience, has suffered and enjoyed, and knows all that we know regarding the toils, sufferings, life and death of this mortality, for he has passed through the whole of it and has received his crown and exaltation and holds the keys and power of this kingdom.” –Brigham Young
Often, we just focus on Jesus Christ but fail to realize how our Father in Heaven knows us perfectly because he is a Man of Holiness. He is a human being who is now perfected and glorified. The more we understand who our Father is, the more we can see our potential and the actuality of us becoming perfected and glorified through His Son, Jesus Christ. God is so real! He lives! God would not send us to experience something that He would not be willing to do or has not already passed through. His plan is perfect.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! :D :D :D
P.S. oh we went to Cabacungan again earlier today. #sunburnedagainbutawesomeselfies
The Conference was about how the typhoon wasn’t a punishment for the wicked but rather a manifestation of God’s power. Because of all the pain and hardship, people have the opportunity to experience the healing and saving power of the Atonement that they couldn’t in any other way. Also, there is physical and spiritual in the stakes of Zion. So true! I have never had such a strong testimony in the organization of the church until now. This church is so inspired! Sister Nielsen talked about finding the “holiness in everyday life” based on a book she read as a young mother. No matter the chaos around us, if we change our perspective we can see it as God does.
Thanks for the birthday package!!! It was the best package ever! I made the mistake of opening it during our 6 hour van ride back to Allen from Tacloban. . .. I yelled YUUSSSSS! Or NO WAY! Every two seconds or so as I pulled everything out of the box. I shared the candy with the other 11 missionaries in the van so they wouldn’t all hate me haha. Don’t worry about sending me another journal. This new one should last me the rest of my mission. J
Can I just say that I love America? I love the established Church. That’s all.
Oh guess what? I finally sent the letters! I persuaded the office elders while I was in Tacloban to send them for me since there’s no postage for months up in Northern Samar.
We didn't work a whole lot this week because we had Mission Tour, then ZTM and a baptismal interview for a part member family. Transfer calls are this Thursday! We haven't been able to go back to the Mayor because he's been in Manila, but he texts us back and stuff. Soon!!
I had an awesome personal study about our Heavenly Father. It opened my mind a little bit about how real He really is. I read from the teachings of Brigham Young:
“He has passed the ordeals we are now passing through; he has received an experience, has suffered and enjoyed, and knows all that we know regarding the toils, sufferings, life and death of this mortality, for he has passed through the whole of it and has received his crown and exaltation and holds the keys and power of this kingdom.” –Brigham Young
Often, we just focus on Jesus Christ but fail to realize how our Father in Heaven knows us perfectly because he is a Man of Holiness. He is a human being who is now perfected and glorified. The more we understand who our Father is, the more we can see our potential and the actuality of us becoming perfected and glorified through His Son, Jesus Christ. God is so real! He lives! God would not send us to experience something that He would not be willing to do or has not already passed through. His plan is perfect.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! :D :D :D
P.S. oh we went to Cabacungan again earlier today. #sunburnedagainbutawesomeselfies
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| With Sis. Webber and my birthday package |
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Day 334 Allen, Philippines Blood tofu, jungle woman, and daily miracles :)
Soooo, If you were able to come pick me up in December by some miracle, you would have to schedule it right now and coordinate with the mission president and office to get permission and stuff. I’ve heard of people just being released through Skype by their stake president so they can do whatever after. But I’ve heard there’s tons of promo discount things for December for international flights.
I’ve decided that I write my letters quicker if I just use bullet points. So here we go:
-I forgot to mention I met the mayor last week. I was on exchanges with Sister Bingham and she was like who lives in that huge house? I told her it was the mayor and she said cool let’s go meet him! So we talked to the house help (practically all the rich people here have house help who do their laundry, cleaning, etc.) and they told us to just go upstairs. So we just waltzed right in to the mayor’s house!! He was drinking, though but we set up an appointment. Also, on Good Friday it turns out there was a murder at the Catholic church of some counselor of the mayor. Someone whacked him in the head from behind during their celebration procession. So maybe this will be a good time to teach him about the plan of salvation. And forgiveness.
-I ate a fish eyeball. We were eating at a member’s house for dinner one night. We had fried fish, a usual dish---with plenty of rice, of course. I heard a weird sucking noise and I looked over to see my companion sucking the eyeballs out of the fish’s eye socket! YUCKS! Then all the little kids looked at me like what’s your problem? And then they made me try it. . . It tasted like fish of course, but there was a weird hard thing in the middle. Well, I’m never doing that again. Cross that off my list.
-HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED! I promise your birthday thing is coming. . . soon. . .someday. . .eventually. . . If this island ever gets postage!!! Hahaha.
-Yay Alex and Jared for singing in church! Wish I could’ve heard it! You’ll have to sing it for me when I get back. J
-I learned something cool about babies and the resurrection. Joseph Smith taught that children who die will be resurrected as children and their mothers will have the opportunity of raising them so they can gain all the intelligence they need to inherit a kingdom of glory. Sweet! It’s amazing how perfectly fair God’s plan of happiness is.
-When I was riding to an appointment on a pedicab, a car pulled up beside us and a man rolled down the window to ask if he could take my picture. *Awkward*
-I almost ate blood tofu. We were at a BBQ thing and I saw what I thought was chocolate or something, but then my comp said, nope Sister Smith that is blood. I lost my appetite and didn’t buy anything.
-We had a weird CSP. . . We went out to Cabacungan, one of our farthest bukid areas to help find materials to build a meetinghouse thing for special sacraments. On our way there, I saw a lady in the bukid who had no shoes on and I was amazed. A true jungle woman! Well, we hiked for like 2 hours into the jungle with a bunch of kids to find the men who had left earlier that morning. I only had flipflops, haha. After only 10 minutes I just went barefoot because it was easier and hiked for about an hour that way. Who’s the jungle woman now??? Haha But then my foot started cramping and my DL traded me shoes. Once we found the man who was going to help us, he told us to come back next week instead. Soooooooooooooooooo we helped bring back a few logs, but that was the extent of our service.
-We had our General Apartment Cleaning Day. We rearranged our room and brought in a tiny end table to use as a mini desk so we don’t have to put all our stuff on our beds to study anymore! But now we have no gas so we've just been using a rice cooker to cook stuff for the past couple weeks.
-We have a new investigator named Elvie. She used to have a live-in partner who was an inactive LDS, but now they’re separated. Even though she’s SUPER Catholic with giant crosses and relics and saints everywhere, she is thirsty for something more in her life. Hopefully we’ll be able to help her recognize her answer as we teach her the Restoration J She was kinda defensive during our lesson about her religion, but we could tell that she was deeply interested and touched by our message. I think something clicked inside her.
-Alma 37:40 How often do we fail the miracles that happen “day by day?” This reminds me of a talk by Henry B. Eyring “O Remember, Remember.” We need to take time every single day to look for the hand of the Lord in our lives and remember Him. God is actively involved in our day to day lives---even minutely. I know we are never forgotten by our Father. Every good thing comes from Him.
I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Let me know what the plan is for Mother's Day. :) :) :)
p.s. they're playing Christmas music in this internet cafe!!!
I’ve decided that I write my letters quicker if I just use bullet points. So here we go:
-I forgot to mention I met the mayor last week. I was on exchanges with Sister Bingham and she was like who lives in that huge house? I told her it was the mayor and she said cool let’s go meet him! So we talked to the house help (practically all the rich people here have house help who do their laundry, cleaning, etc.) and they told us to just go upstairs. So we just waltzed right in to the mayor’s house!! He was drinking, though but we set up an appointment. Also, on Good Friday it turns out there was a murder at the Catholic church of some counselor of the mayor. Someone whacked him in the head from behind during their celebration procession. So maybe this will be a good time to teach him about the plan of salvation. And forgiveness.
-I ate a fish eyeball. We were eating at a member’s house for dinner one night. We had fried fish, a usual dish---with plenty of rice, of course. I heard a weird sucking noise and I looked over to see my companion sucking the eyeballs out of the fish’s eye socket! YUCKS! Then all the little kids looked at me like what’s your problem? And then they made me try it. . . It tasted like fish of course, but there was a weird hard thing in the middle. Well, I’m never doing that again. Cross that off my list.
-HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED! I promise your birthday thing is coming. . . soon. . .someday. . .eventually. . . If this island ever gets postage!!! Hahaha.
-Yay Alex and Jared for singing in church! Wish I could’ve heard it! You’ll have to sing it for me when I get back. J
-I learned something cool about babies and the resurrection. Joseph Smith taught that children who die will be resurrected as children and their mothers will have the opportunity of raising them so they can gain all the intelligence they need to inherit a kingdom of glory. Sweet! It’s amazing how perfectly fair God’s plan of happiness is.
-When I was riding to an appointment on a pedicab, a car pulled up beside us and a man rolled down the window to ask if he could take my picture. *Awkward*
-I almost ate blood tofu. We were at a BBQ thing and I saw what I thought was chocolate or something, but then my comp said, nope Sister Smith that is blood. I lost my appetite and didn’t buy anything.
-We had a weird CSP. . . We went out to Cabacungan, one of our farthest bukid areas to help find materials to build a meetinghouse thing for special sacraments. On our way there, I saw a lady in the bukid who had no shoes on and I was amazed. A true jungle woman! Well, we hiked for like 2 hours into the jungle with a bunch of kids to find the men who had left earlier that morning. I only had flipflops, haha. After only 10 minutes I just went barefoot because it was easier and hiked for about an hour that way. Who’s the jungle woman now??? Haha But then my foot started cramping and my DL traded me shoes. Once we found the man who was going to help us, he told us to come back next week instead. Soooooooooooooooooo we helped bring back a few logs, but that was the extent of our service.
-We had our General Apartment Cleaning Day. We rearranged our room and brought in a tiny end table to use as a mini desk so we don’t have to put all our stuff on our beds to study anymore! But now we have no gas so we've just been using a rice cooker to cook stuff for the past couple weeks.
-We have a new investigator named Elvie. She used to have a live-in partner who was an inactive LDS, but now they’re separated. Even though she’s SUPER Catholic with giant crosses and relics and saints everywhere, she is thirsty for something more in her life. Hopefully we’ll be able to help her recognize her answer as we teach her the Restoration J She was kinda defensive during our lesson about her religion, but we could tell that she was deeply interested and touched by our message. I think something clicked inside her.
-Alma 37:40 How often do we fail the miracles that happen “day by day?” This reminds me of a talk by Henry B. Eyring “O Remember, Remember.” We need to take time every single day to look for the hand of the Lord in our lives and remember Him. God is actively involved in our day to day lives---even minutely. I know we are never forgotten by our Father. Every good thing comes from Him.
I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Let me know what the plan is for Mother's Day. :) :) :)
p.s. they're playing Christmas music in this internet cafe!!!
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Day 327 Allen, Philippines happy Easter!!!
This week was full of adventures---from giant spiders on my bed to speedwalking next to Catholic priests, trying to get home during Good Friday processions/parades. (There was only one street to get to our apartment, and it just so happened that the Catholics were parading around with their “saints’” caskets and stuff. . . We walked right by the priests! We ended up going a back way to our apartment, just to be safer. . . Bonfires with priests dancing around them with what look like KKK hats aren’t terribly comforting at night, haha. Our town is small so we didn’t see any reenactments of the crucifixion or anything super sketch.)
Well, there’s no time left so it’s time for bullet points:
-I wore a long sleeve sweater for the first time.
-I met an American WOMAN (it’s super rare to see anything but old men here) from the Peace Corps. It was actually a kind of wake up moment for me. The past couple weeks, I haven’t had much enthusiasm for finding until this day. We went out to eat after district meeting with a bunch of missionaries. One of them nudged another missionary to go talk to the American sitting in the same restaurant. They all joked and said no way. I didn’t really feel like that was the right attitude, and then I was able to see that attitude in myself. So as we got up to leave, I went to talk to her. Turns out she has a friend who served a mission too and I just happened to have English pass-along cards with me!
-Sister Mier was my hero and killed a HUGE UGLY GREEN EVIL SPIDER on my bed, right by my pillow! Yucks. . . I love having Filipina companions who kill stuff for me.
-Exchanges with Sister Bingham! :) She is super awesome at finding and was also reassigned in Cebu so she helped me regain what I had while I was in Cebu.
-Mormons here don’t do anything for Easter. We didn’t even sing a single Easter song. So Sister Simkins and I are planning to buy some eggs and decorate them with crayons then make our companions go on their first ever easter egg hunt! Whooo!
-During a lesson, I saw chicken caught and butchered right before my eyes! In a dirt floor house, chickens just live with the people, a man grabbed a chicken right in front of me. I’ll spare you the details, but a few minutes later, I see an old nanay plucking the feathers out in the kitchen. Whoah. Fresh chicken. The whole time, I was just like ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm k.
-oh yeah and we had 3 baptisms on Saturday! haha forgot the most important thing that happened!
How are my old piano students doing? Just curious about them. J
Also, can you DearElder me the talk about Joseph Smith’s experience with O God, Where is thy pavilion? I can’t remember who it is by. . .
Question: What keeps families apart if they aren’t sealed for eternity, even if they go to the same kingdom?
I love the 6th verse of Sweet is the Work! Read it! Or better yet, sing it! :D
Last thought: Alma 24:19 What would the world be like if everyone would rather DIE than commit sin? Can you even imagine? Satan would have zero, zip, WARAY power over anyone. I guess that’s what the Millennium will be like in some sense.
Do you know what Vine or Kakao Talk is? I’m thinking of using a member’s phone to call home for Mother’s Day and those applications are free! But transfer day is right before then, so I don’t know what time or anything yet. . .
Sorry this is so scrambled! But i love you alllllllll! :)
Well, there’s no time left so it’s time for bullet points:
-I wore a long sleeve sweater for the first time.
-I met an American WOMAN (it’s super rare to see anything but old men here) from the Peace Corps. It was actually a kind of wake up moment for me. The past couple weeks, I haven’t had much enthusiasm for finding until this day. We went out to eat after district meeting with a bunch of missionaries. One of them nudged another missionary to go talk to the American sitting in the same restaurant. They all joked and said no way. I didn’t really feel like that was the right attitude, and then I was able to see that attitude in myself. So as we got up to leave, I went to talk to her. Turns out she has a friend who served a mission too and I just happened to have English pass-along cards with me!
-Sister Mier was my hero and killed a HUGE UGLY GREEN EVIL SPIDER on my bed, right by my pillow! Yucks. . . I love having Filipina companions who kill stuff for me.
-Exchanges with Sister Bingham! :) She is super awesome at finding and was also reassigned in Cebu so she helped me regain what I had while I was in Cebu.
-Mormons here don’t do anything for Easter. We didn’t even sing a single Easter song. So Sister Simkins and I are planning to buy some eggs and decorate them with crayons then make our companions go on their first ever easter egg hunt! Whooo!
-During a lesson, I saw chicken caught and butchered right before my eyes! In a dirt floor house, chickens just live with the people, a man grabbed a chicken right in front of me. I’ll spare you the details, but a few minutes later, I see an old nanay plucking the feathers out in the kitchen. Whoah. Fresh chicken. The whole time, I was just like ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm k.
-oh yeah and we had 3 baptisms on Saturday! haha forgot the most important thing that happened!
How are my old piano students doing? Just curious about them. J
Also, can you DearElder me the talk about Joseph Smith’s experience with O God, Where is thy pavilion? I can’t remember who it is by. . .
Question: What keeps families apart if they aren’t sealed for eternity, even if they go to the same kingdom?
I love the 6th verse of Sweet is the Work! Read it! Or better yet, sing it! :D
Last thought: Alma 24:19 What would the world be like if everyone would rather DIE than commit sin? Can you even imagine? Satan would have zero, zip, WARAY power over anyone. I guess that’s what the Millennium will be like in some sense.
Do you know what Vine or Kakao Talk is? I’m thinking of using a member’s phone to call home for Mother’s Day and those applications are free! But transfer day is right before then, so I don’t know what time or anything yet. . .
Sorry this is so scrambled! But i love you alllllllll! :)
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| Sis Baylon, Sis Mier, Amanda, Sis Bingham, Sis Simpkins, Sis Cambell |
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| HUGE EVIL SPIDER on my bed. Compare to the size of the suitcase wheel! |
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