New Comp

Hello hello to my long lost family!

Shoot, so these past few days have flown by. So let me give you the lowdown. Transfer day…on our way to Quezon City, I go, you know, I’m pretty much cool with anything (after last time, I can take it. Ha), just don’t give me a foreigner. Reason being, all of the foreigners are now younger than I am in the mission, meaning, they don’t know much Tagalog. Patay. That was my only request. Haha, as irony has it, of course, I got a foreigner. And I’m LOVING it! Haha. But for reals. My new comp is Sis. Shumway, from Cedar Hills, Utah. Typical Mormon girl; we’re pretty much just twins here. And can I just say, I did not realize the whirlwind of culture I’d been living with for the past 3 months until this moment of fresh air. I finally have someone who knows what I’m talking about when it comes to pop culture or nuanced jokes. The other day she said, “um, I’ve just been turned into a cow…can I go home?” I’ll give 10 pesos to whoever can name that movie first. My bet is on Tyler. Anyway, I busted up laughing. It’s just so great to have someone who thinks like you. Even just in broad ways. We’re definitely not similar, but at least we have a few things in common that helps. And she’s actually pretty good at Tagalog. And it’s crazy too because being with another foreigner, it makes me realize I actually know more than I think. And if I don’t know it, I’m not afraid to ask. Like the jeepney driver from last night…”brother, what does ‘maghahain’ mean?”. Haha. It’s been a good few days.

So not many updates for you. Transfer meeting was hilarious. Sis Lorente and Sister Losefa are together, which makes me so happy for them… two of my very favorite people. Sister Lorente said I have a Morong accent to my Tagalong. I just started laughing. Manifestations I’ve actually been here longer than I think. Elder Gallacher and Elder Fackrell are together. You’d have to know them, but haven’t laughed so hard in my life. 

 

This week we've been finding new investigators. We've pretty much narrowed down the less actives in our area to the ones with potential to progress and the ones who hate our guts. Ha. We ended up running into a man who is a welder for construction at the MTC. He’s been working there for a while now, and when he found out we were Mormons, he was super excited. He loves the temple! He doesn’t even know what it really is, but he still loves it. He said, he always has the best feelings there and his favorite is angel Moroni. "yung tao na nakatrumpet siya". He mentioned it like 5 times. Haha. Too cute. He’s had great experiences there where the spirit has touched his heart and by the end of the lesson, he was so excited, he just wanted to be the one to pray. Then he gave us the name and address of his wife so we can go to their house to teach them. The Lord has his ways of softening people’s hearts before we even get to them. Astounds me every time. 

That's about all for this week. I'm pretty much dying of heat...but for reals.  Get this. I usually drink about 3 liters of water before we leave the house, about 1 liter or more during the day (it's too heavy to carry more) and then about 2 more when we get home...I'm STILL dehydrated.  I'm seriously swimming in a pool of sweat.  Much love to you all and I'll talk to you soon! Have a fantastic week!!

  

Transfers...Staying in Morong

Transfer announcements this morning. I'm staying!!! Yay! Not so much a fan of the whole adjusting thing, but my companion is going. Dare I say it, I'm going to miss her.  Haha, seems to be how the Lord works in my life. I've noticed a pattern here in the mission...I get a new challenge, and it lasts just long enough for me to learn, grow, and then appreciate it. Then I don't have regrets. That's how it was with my last area, and again how it is with my comp now. I got enough time to really appreciate her and our time together.  Haha. I feel like a whole new person from when I first got here.

Shoot, where to start. I feel like I have a pile of stories from the past 3 weeks. We finally made it home around 10:45. Talk about the longest day of my life. I still just shake my head and laugh thinking about it.

So here’s my story for the week…. we had a baptism last week. Yay! Tatay Augusto. He's 49 and the only member in his family who is not a member. Until now that is :) He’s been an investigator for almost 5 years now and just hasn’t felt ready. So when I first got here, he had a baptism date but it wasn’t going to go through. Not ready yet. So we just started to probe as to why he didn’t feel ready and he was way open with us, which was great because then we were able to solve the problem. And I just said, “We want you to feel like you’re ready, so we’re not setting a date for you. Pray about it and next time we come back, you can let us know if you feel like you’re ready to set a date.” So he set his own date, last Saturday. Much more effective that way. We were so nervous about it though. So many prayers trying to figure out if we should continue with the baptism or not. In the end, we felt ok about it. The baptism was awesome and he was way happy. Then yesterday we visited them, for the first time after his baptism, and there is a new spirit about him and especially a new spirit in their house. It’s almost tangible the difference we felt.  I wish I could adequately describe it. We followed up with him on how he felt after his confirmation and he said, “It was like my mind was opened.” So I asked him what he meant by that, and he said, as soon as they gave him the blessing, he all of a sudden he felt so much lighter and he could remember everything we taught to him. He said it was like it just clicked, like everything made so much more sense now. As my little 8 year old self, I don’t remember much about what it felt like. Pretty much don’t remember anything. The water was cold. That’s about all I got. But it was so cool to hear the power there is in the gift of the Holy Ghost. It’s real. You can feel the difference, even just as a bystander in their house. He’s so excited about the priesthood and excited to start preparing to bless the sacrament and go to the temple. And of course, we’re excited too :)

 

Also, can you even believe it, but it’s almost Mother’s Day. Yeah, I still feel like I just got into the MTC. But for calls, what will work best for you? I know you have farewell’s coming up, but I’m no sure when. I can call anytime here on Sunday and up til noon on Monday, whatever that makes it for you over there. The phone number is different from last time, so I’ll figure out what it is and send it in next week’s email. I’m thinking maybe the easiest is just what we did last time. Monday morning here, so like afternoon for you there. Is that right? Anyhow, let me know. So excited to hear you all over there! :)

New Address

This is a new address for the mission:

Sister Candace Weller

Philippines Quezon City Mission

Aurora Blvd. Cor. JP Rizal Street

Project 4, Cubao

Quezon City 1109, MM, Philippines

Temple Adventure Day

Bahahahaha! So first of all, let me just tell you about this day!! Oh my goodness, this is one of those Nauvoo adventure days where you sink to the ground outside the car rental because you're just so exhausted, but at the same time you can't help but laugh because you know you'll remember it for the rest of your life. Haha, for reals.

 So this is how it went. Got up at 5, left at 6 am for Quezon City to go to the temple. But our session wasn't til 10. We had to go early because we had a doctor’s appointment for my comp. Went to the doctor, got the cockroach out of her ear that had died in there (disgusting, right!), got to the temple around 8:30 to wait and found out, it's not just 1/2 of our mission there, but also half of Manilla Mission AND Quezon City North Mission. The earliest session they could get us in was noon. Ha. First moment. So the temple is of course in the middle of this ritzy area so no internet shops and nothing else close so what do we do, so we wait. And I think the entire MTC was there. SO MANY MISSIONARIES. For reals though, and so many people I met in the MTC from other missions. Absolutely insane. Found out I no longer know how to socialize. That was discouraging.  Finally got into the temple, (ay, salamat!). It was a breath of fresh air I've been dying for for the past 3 1/2 months. Got out around 2:30.     

 Then went to the mall to run some errands. But no worries, had to walk there, so that took forever. And note, we're with a group of 12 missionaries where neither of the DLs want to take charge. Patay. We eat lunch, buy our things, get out of there around 5:30.  We can't figure out how to get home, because well you see, it's not any of our areas and we're in the dead center of QC with a million jeepneys going a million different directions. We finally figure that out, get to the right place and EVERY jeepney is full for the next 1 1/2 hours. Haha, you think I'm kidding? I'm not! So about 30 minutes ago, we finally flagged down a taxi that would take us across the river. Shoved 8 of us into one taxi, Elder Alverez lost his camera, my companion is mad at all of us and started crying (still not sure what exactly happened there) and it is now 8 o'clock PM, we're still stuck in the middle of the city and hopefully can figure out the right jeepney to take home. Bahahahaha.

 OH MY HEAVENS, talk about a LONG day. So that's the reason you're just getting this email now. We just decided to find an email shop before we attempt to figure out how to get home. Seriously hilarious!! I just laughed and laughed because I know one day, we won't all be so irritated about this. We'll just remember this day and laugh at how incredibly insane it was. So yep, that's all for now. Pretty much out of time. Next week is transfers though so it'll be next Wednesday that I'll email. We'll find out if I’m transferring or not. Ha, get this. I actually don't want to transfer. I'm loving the area, the people. I'm content here, not to mention adjusted. I have/had a lot of stories for you, but next time na lang. Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

PS, that's crazy about Romney. I'm dying to see the news right now, for reals though. But I gotta admit,  I’m lovin' it that Mormonism is hitting the spotlight. :)  

Easter in the Philippines

Wowsa, lots of questions.  So we’ll start with Easter. Oh my goodness, do they have Easter here or what. Except for it’s not just Easter, it’s the entire holy week. The biggest day being Friday where everything is closed…as in, everything! And there’s plays and processions with the entire bayan walking/parading down the highway for miles with a ton of reboltos and statues of saints. Pretty crazy. Pretty much patay sa work. Ha. Definitely a religious holiday though. None of that Easter bunny stuff. Did notice David Archuleta in the choir actually. You pick up on those things when you’re in a country that seriously idolizes him.  There’s still toilet paper here. Just depends on if you want to buy it. Me, of course, would prefer to pay the 20 pesos.

Dina and Anthony’s baptism date is in May. Not for a while. But can I just say, Dina is incredible. You should just feel of her spirit. She has been preserved by Heavenly Father for right now. For reals though. Because of her life and background, she has never had the chance to be tainted by religion. That sounds bad, but here in the Philippines it ends up being a big problem with investigators because their perceptive lens is just too thick to break. Church meetings are of course in Tagalog. Not like the city. Most people here don’t understand English very well like they do in the city.  

So updates for the week. This week was good….holy week and religious holiday and Philippines….pretty much hard to be a missionary. But we made it through and things are still moving along here too. Conference was amazing. I got 2 themes out of it…family and being true disciples. Those were my two themes anyway. Oh yeah, and loved Elder Utchdorf’s, “Don’t judge me because I sin differently from you”. Classic, and all too true.  Also loved Rasbands, “if someone’s drowning, are you going to first ask them if they need help and wait for them to respond?”.  All too true.  I gotta be better at that. Just seeing the need (that’s my hardest part. You know I end up being oblivious and in my own world) and then acting.

 The person on highlight for this week is Sister Joseph. She’s one of my roommates and I just want to share her story with you. It’s pretty incredible. She’s from Pakistan; her family was baptized a year ago and she decided to serve a mission. She got her call to serve and her entrance date for the MTC was December. This is in September. On September 25, she got a call from the district president telling her they moved up her entrance date and they wanted her to be in the Philippines on Sept. 26. Yes, you read that correctly…the next day. So she called her job, she was the branch manager of a huge distribution company in Pakistan, quit her job. Called her family to let them know she had training that night. Went to the training, got home about 1 a.m. Had to leave the next morning to be in a city 2 hours away to get her paperwork and such ready. Still hasn’t seen her family at this point. Gets her paperwork, and everything figured out. They give her a little money to buy 1 skirt and 2 shirts for her mission because of course the clothes in Pakistan are way different. And they drive her straight to the airport. Luckily her family was there so she got to see them for 2 minutes before her flight left. Are you dying, because I was dying when I heard it. And you know what, she goes, it’s ok, it’s my call and if that’s what He wants, I’ll do it. Talk about faith. So crazy. And get this also, she has a fiance. Arranged marriages in Pakistan, right. They’ve been engaged for 5 years now. And he’s not a member. Remember her family are just recent converts. So she’s scared to go back because she has a fiance waiting for her that she has to marry, no choice, and he wants nothing to do with Mormonism. Oh my goodness.  And sometimes we think our problems are big. Reality check for me of how blessed I am. None of my so called problems are even close to that. So that’s the story for the week.  Mahal ko kayo and sana maganda ang spring ninyo doon….nakakasunog pa ako ditto. Haha. Love you all!! Bye!

PICTURES...Morong area

A tricycle loaded to capacity...a common sight in the Philippines.

A garden that the district planted for a sister in their area.

A

A tropical paradise that Candace's zone hiked to. She felt the temperature went up 20 degrees because she wanted to jump in so badly :)

Can't blame her...looks very beautiful and inviting.

345 stairs to the top to see a shrine...one of Candace's few workouts since arriving in the Philippines.  The other sister missionaries didn't want to go.  So yes,  Candace left the sisters behind and climbed with the Elders to the top.  I'm sure it felt incredible to just get the heart rate up :)

Happy Birthday

Hello my family! Oh man....this has been quite the week. I'm not sure where to start. Ha. So first of all,  just question/answer. LA stands for Less Active, although sometimes it could also have the dual meaning. I’ll get to our investigators in a second. And yes, it is SO stinking hot (I almost just said bloody. Haha.).

And thank you for the package!! Ha, but for reals though. Honestly made my day. I love the skirt. Actually wore it to district meeting earlier. Super cute and light. That's how we like to roll around here. We had a movie night with the Emma Smith movie. SO great. Like, a for reals movie night. Usually when you have a movie playing you're cooking, or cleaning, or updating the area book, writing letters.....but we just turned off the lights, huddled on the bed and enjoyed. So fabulous. Kind of missing my relaxation moments like that. Also, can I just tell you, I'm just so grateful for our family.  I'm most definitely spoiled. 

So my birthday was pretty good. Just worked, but we had some great things happen this week which I consider to be birthday presents for me.  We bought a cake and Sis Shoukat made a Pakistani snack for us. It was low key, but good. Just another day. There's pretty much no holidays in the mission. Not even Christmas. But there's plenty of those in the rest of your life to make up for it. SUPER excited for general conference. As in, you have no idea. I just need a boost. This week has been rough, kind of one of those roller coaster weeks. I pretty much feel like I'm dragging my companion around, and I'm just loosing steam. And also, it makes me ornery, which makes me not have the spirit. I feel like I've been fighting for a month now and I'm just about to break. Shoot, not good. Also, I've decided I really just don't like sisters. Ha. Doesn't that sound horrible?  Today we had a zone activity and I just hung out with the elders all day and it was so much more enjoyable. There's a reason I have the girl friends I do...they're not drama and wusses. And guys are just way more fun to hang out with. Just chill. Oh man, I need a patience pill or something. Do they make those??

So for my updates this week. So I'm gonna tell you about our investigators that I'm so super excited about! Sister Macaranas and I found them the last week of February and we've been working with them ever since. It's a family. They're young. Anthony is 24 and Dina is 18 and they have a baby that is 1 year old. Dina used to be a Muslim, but not really. Her dad was just a Muslim who had a ton of wives, so they didn't ever have any contact with him. Also, her mom left when she was little, so she honestly doesn't know her parents at all and hasn't had communication with them for years. When she was 14 she moved to Makati, up in Manila metro area to live with her uncle and finish high school. And while she was there, she met Bro Anthony. Through texting, but for reals. They started just texting randomly one day (that's super super common here) and then decided to meet. Dated for the next 6 months, got prego, and here we are 2 years later. Brother is from Cardona and only went to the first year high school, never graduated. But he's so hardworking and humble, it's crazy. Last Saturday they came with us to a service project for Sister Riza to plant a garden for her so she can have food (p.s. Her husband just left her last week, poor lady). And Bro Anthony basically planted the whole garden. So awesome. So the happy news for the week, Sis Dina got her answer to her prayer. We went to visit them and she was just so excited to tell us. "I prayed last night and I know what you're talking about. I felt it". You wouldn't believe how spiritual she is, even though she didn't even know who Jesus Christ was until she met brother. And yesterday, it just clicked for brother. It's taken a while; he has a strong catholic background. But it finally clicked for him that it's not about churches or religion, it's about the plan of God.  So they have a baptism date now!!! Yay!! Of course, gotta get married first, but no big deal. I'm so excited for them. They will be full and active members, I can just feel it. And they're so excited about the temple. I wish I could describe how happy it makes me. So that is my birthday present for the week. I feel pretty satisfied and a little overwhelmed with gratitude. The longer you're in the field, the more you start to realize you don't do anything. The Lord prepares them and the Spirit teaches them. Without that....nothing. 

 I can't think of anything else off the top of my head and I really want to send pictures so that's all for now I guess.  I love you all though and hope you have a fantastic week!!! Bye!