Spanish is Gone

What?!? I cannot believe you are in Washington DC right now!!! Ah, I just love that place. Maybe once I save up a bit I'll move back out there. Ha, Maybe.  . And Chanae's story is HILARIOUS!!! Bahahahaha! Oh my goodness, all too familiar with such mistakes. I seriously laughed out loud when I read that.  I'm sure Ryan's getting some extra protection too. Send them all his way....we're safe enough here. I still don't have a camera yet, but it should be coming this Saturday so I'll start taking pictures ASAP. P.S. I heard that USU beat the U? is that true??

So updates for this week!! Honestly, I'm sitting here trying to think of everything. Straight up, it was a rough week. This area is unlike anything I've ever seen. I know it will progress, it's just the test to keep the diligence and hope up. We had some great moments though this week.... Our investigator got an answer to his prayer about Joseph Smith so that was so happy. Haha, the best part is that Sister Madelo was not a fan of this investigator because he was in it more for an intellectual standpoint, out of curiousity more than anything. Now he gets it though. And of course we're super excited for him. Our less actives are still about the same. The hardest part of this area is being able to go to people consistently. Even if you set an appointment, they might be there, but they might not. You just never know. So it makes it hard to see progress because it's like you're starting from square one every time you go back... a wee frustrating. So we just  punted a million times and then go to the next one, the next one, the next one, etc. Shoot, I'm still trying to figure it all out. God is a smart man. He keeps me in my areas for so long because he knows I'm practically useless when I'm still pretty new. Haha. 

The branch is doing well. Quite a few false doctrines flying around every Sunday. Some make me laugh, but some are just straight up, Where is this coming from?? False doctrine from RS yesterday was God made us all different so that we could compete with each other and through that improve. Ha, huh? 

Other highlights from the week.. We had our zone activity just earlier. Haha, we did a picture scavenger hunt. I'm not going to lie, I actually kind of like being in isolation in Mindoro because it just makes us all close because, well, you have no one else. Super fun. All the Elders came up from Sablayan too, so I got to see some of the pictures that Lynn took out there. Holy hannah, it's absolutely beautiful. I sometimes forget I'm actually in the Philippines. 

Random question, What is the Spanish for "to ask". Honest to goodness, I have been racking my brains for a week now. We were trying to figure out how to pray in Spanish...hahaha, as in wala. Nada. Nothing. I can't remember a thing. It's hilarious. But good thing I'm remembering all this new Tagalog I'm learning here. That's the most important, di ba? :) 

That's all for this week. Totally lame, but I got nothing good to report. I'll keep better track next week. Love you all and I'll talk to you soon! General Conference is coming up soon! Ha, I heard it's in Tagalog here. I'm sincerely hoping that's just a rumor. It's so deep, the Philippinos sometimes don't understand the translation. Mahal ko kayo!! Ingat lagi!

Jeyar working on Mission Papers!!!

Hello my dearest family!!!                                   

Oh man, let me just tell you how sad I am I missed out on wood day....Not. Ha. But I love that you got to meet Sis. Losefa's parents!! Seriously love that girl. PS, sounds likes the world is in chaos. Is that anywhere near to where Ryan is?? And congratulations to Kalli!!! Holy flip, I can't believe it. People my age have babies...the thought blows my mind. Haha, but so happy for them of course!!

So good news, the lice is gone! They have shampoo here that's pretty much like dumping permetherine on your head. Haha, smelly, but affective. About the Mangyans, sometimes they have on pants, but lots of times just a loin cloth. I haven't seen any topless women though, thank heavens. Ha, it'd make me think I'd been transferred to Africa or something...poor Ryan. Other questions...no, we most definitely do not cover all of San Jose. There's 4 companionships here to cover it. Our area is only in Brgy. Pag-Asa, and Caminawit. Caminawit is the area with all the drunk sailors and drug addicts. There's a port there so they can smuggle things really easy. 

Bahaha, speaking of drunk guys. There's this guy that was following us on his bike and he kept trying to talk to us. Totally drunk, it's 2 PM ps. We just didn't give him the time of day. Then about 2 days later, we're teaching a lesson and the door is open, and what do you know, Brother Fernando walks up and starts going, "Sisters, come teach me. I need help. I want to change. I just live behind the house here"....totally drunk. As in plastered. I told him, brother, we're not coming to your house if you're drunk. Stop drinking. And he goes, I promise, on Tuesday I won't drink. Will you come visit me? Ha, we'll see brother. I feel so bad for him. It's usually the drunks and the addicts that are the ones that want to change, but they just don't know how. Hence the excess in the vices department. I'd say about 60% of converts that are now strong members were once a drug addict or an alcoholic. So crazy. I have no idea how many people are in the town and there's about 800 members on the roll....about 140 that come to church. Most off and on. About 50% are offended members. I think I've decided the 2 hardest doctrines of the gospel for people to grasp and fully understand are agency and forgiveness. Honest to goodness though, I am just meant to teach Less Actives for my mission. Our area holds about 60% of the less actives in the Branch. Shoot, I have been so flippin' bold in this area. It's like you have to be, or nothing just gets through. 

We did do a bit of finding this week though.  Got in the door of about half, then only about 1/2 of those even listened. Ouch. It's a pretty rough area.  But we had one really great find! Brother Flor. He's in his 60s, has a disability, lives in one of the biggest houses in our area. He doesn't have a religion because he's tried so many and he said he has never felt that any of them ring true. He can't feel anything, so he's never joined any of them. We were just walking by the house and the gate was open. We saw him sitting on the porch and just waved and he waved us in. Sweet. He told us he feels like it's a sign because with us he feels different. Oh, the church is so true. He's gone this week, but I'll for sure keep you updated.

So my companion, Sister Madelo was in Tandang Sora for her last area so this week I got the updates about everyone there back in my first area.   You wanna hear the happiest thing ever!! You remember Jeyar? When Sister Madelo left he was working on his mission papers! Oh my goodness, so stinking happy I couldn't stop smiling. I miss all those people there. Sister Madelo and I served in all the same areas. Ha. Her first was Morong 2, then Tandang Sora 1, my first was Tandang Sora that got split, and then Morong 1 and 2 for one transfer. Now we're here together. So crazy. 

Also.... I registered to vote! Which means I need some serious updates so I don't end up being one of those dumb voters who just pick a name. Ha, which is probably what I'll end up doing. Maybe the spirit will guide :) Whit, I know you just rolled your eyes. Haha. Alvarez and I had a 30 minutes conversation of Harry Potter Trivia...Ha, so incredibly enjoyable. But we forgot, what are the names of Neville's parents?? We couldn't remember. Anywho, I think that's all for now! Hope you have a fantastic week! Mahal na mahal ko kayo! 

Lice !?!

Kumusta na kayong lahat!!!!! 

Bahaha, I love that you were praying I'd go here. And that you jumped up at 11:45! Haha, that's impressive mom! Almost didn't think that was possible.  So here's the low down... I'm in the San Jose branch. There is a branch in Calintaan, but it's pretty far from us. There is pretty much no English here. It's actually a huge problem here because all of the teaching manuals are in English. Patay. So pretty much no one knows what's going on. Ha. Good thing we have 8 missionaries in one branch. Yikes. It's basically just a small bayan, beach and a ton of rice fields. Blows my mind to think that they manage all that land by hand. There's a bunch of Mangyans that walk around...they're from a tribal group in the mountains that come down to the town center to beg for money and sell some of their goods. So crazy to think those isolated groups of people truly do exist. They can understand a little of Tagalog, but they definitely don't speak it. Every week after church we go to the Whitings house (they're the couple missionaries here) and have lunch with all of us missionaries. So much fun! Makes it actually feel like Sunday with a wee bit of family bonding. This week I got to watch the sunset on the beach while we talked to a LA while he was cleaning his boat. Shoot, absolutely beautiful!! Too bad my camera is still in Manilla. Ha. Oh yeah, and I have lice. Just as a fun side note. NOT! Found it this week but I think I got it from Morong. It was going around the primary right before I left. It's pretty common here. but don't you worry, these Philippinos know how it de-kuto my head so it's gone....almost :) Worst nightmare come true, no joke. I was a rough adjustment this week just trying to get familiar with all the people...half my head and heart are still stuck in Morong. But I got over it pretty quickly. I'm here now and ready to go. There's a lot of work to do here. 

 About Christmas for kids don’t worry about it. Still haven't gotten the package you sent the beginning of last month. And probably won't til about general conference. So no worries. These people are so happy anyway, they don't need that kind of stuff. And LOVE that the Aggies won!!! I found out yesterday and honestly jumped up and down. I know we're horrible at football, so I just gotta celebrate any moment I can. Especially since I'm surrounded by BYZoo fans.......uuuu. Haha

So just a few things from this week.....So my companion, Sister Madelo, is so funny. She's so great to me...helps me wash my clothes, cleans the house with me, picks out my lice (hahaha, oh my goodness....), and we get along really well. She doesn't trust people very quickly, but I think because we were kabahay in Morong, it's helped a ton. Already know each  other's habits, likes, dislikes, a little background, etc. Anyway, this is the landmark thing, she is sarcastic!!! What?!? Honestly the first philippino I know who really knows sarcasm. Honestly caught me off guard for the first bit because I'm just not used to it anymore! I'm going to get walked over by everyone when I get home. Haha, So funny. We've had a good time though.

Just a cool story from this week. So there's a less active family here where Tatay doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon or in Joseph smith. I kind of had an idea, but didn't really know the whole story. So we go there on Saturday, and we had no plan for what we were going to teach. Just TMN...it means, teach to meet needs. So we get there and this thought pops in...Jacob 4:4-5. Huh? That's random. So we start teaching, figure all this out, and what do you know, get to the point where Jacob 4 is perfect! So we just talked about how the Bible is different...it's different people, stories, etc, but the message is the same. And he got it. He finally understood! Just one of those moments where I'm always so glad for the help of the spirit and revelation. It seriously happens all the time and we don't even recognize it I think.

So that's all for this week. Sounds like all the missionaries scattered to the four corners of the earth are still alive and kicking. Ha, oh those first few weeks.....Always to challenge. We'll pray for them :) Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Mindoro!!!

Holy flip my family, it has been quite the last 4 days!!! I feel like I have a million stories to tell you and I'm not quite sure where to start, so first off, I didn't get assigned to the city (thank heavens) but Morong's level of isolation is now a joke compared to this.....I'm in Mindoro!! That's right, I switched islands! Didn't think I'd be getting on a plane til I headed back to the good ol' U S of A, but I was wrong. Ha, I wish you could have seen my face at transfers. Remember my face when they called my name at that dumb beauty pageant?? Yeah, it was something like that. Haha. Absolutely shocked.

 But yeah, I'm in Mindoro now! Little tiny branch, pretty much in the middle of nothing, but bonus, there's a beach! So pretty. The best comparison I can come up with is that if Morong is like Kamas....small, but you can still get everything you need and if you need anything else, not too far to the city....Mindoro feels like I just got thrown into the middle of Wyoming. Haha, isolation for real. But no worries, I’m in isolation with fun people! Sister Shumway is here, one of my old companions, Alvarez from Morong, Elder Quinton from my MTC district, Sister Madelo, my old kabahay who is now my new companion, and a ton of others that served in Morong including Lynn who apparently is supposed to be my sidekick for my entire mission. Haha. So I'm super excited! It seems like it's going to be a fun zone and there's a lot of work to do here. I've decided I'm not meant to be a baptizing missionary, but a reactivate-the-less-actives missionary. No joke. It's what happened in Morong...got the LAs coming, just started getting investigators (which ps are all getting baptized this month) and bam, transferred to a new area with a bajillion less actives all over again. Shoot, guess that's just my calling here. I feel like I have a million stories to tell you that have happened in the past few days, but I'll just give you a list of highlights so we can talk about Elder Bednar!

Here's the list:

-Got my camera fixed (yay!), waited in rush hour traffic for 2 hours just to pick it up, then lost it, then found it again. They're sending it down this week.

-Had to pack my 3 pieces of luggage into 1 suitcase that could only be 40 pounds. Bahaha, talk about a joke. I left so many important things that I didn't even realize til I got here. 

-Worked in the city for a couple days. Worst. Ever. So glad I'm in the province still. It's so dirty and noisy and stinky and busy and all cement and did I mention noisy? Hate it. Thank you province. 

-Everyone here is shocked I can speak Tagalog. Hahaha, it's hilarious. I'm the 2nd white sister to actually come to Mindoro so I think they just assume. 

Ok, now we're going to talk about Bednar. Shoot, it was so awesome. Not what I expected at all. I'm not going to be able to put even 1/10 in here, but I'll just touch on some of my favorites. First of all, he is BOLD. Shoot, as in super bold. He just says it how it is, no apologies. And Iove it. Surprised me at first though. We talked about D&C 88:122 for the first hour or so and being agents not actors and learning by faith. Then for the last part, it was just a question and answer session. Favorite part by far. One of my favorite questions was, "what does it feel like to be an apostle of the Lord". And he goes, well this has 2 parts to it. The first is that it is crushingly overwhelming. He said, right when he was going to get sustained, he was back in the conference center behind where the choir is and everything and Elder Holland was back there pacing back and forth. He was the first speaker of the session. And then he said, he just heard his name, "Dave, Dave", and Elder Holland came up and just gave him a huge hug. He said they both just had tears in their eyes. And Bednar asked him, Does it get any easier? and Holland said, I've heard after 22 years it does, but from my experience, it just gets worse. And he said, it has. If you understand your responsibility and the trust that the Lord has given you to fulfill this calling, it is overwhelming because the more you learn the more accountable you are. Then he said, if you feel more confident as a 20 month missionary than you did as a 10 month mission, you're doing something wrong and you're relying too much on the arm of flesh. You should be more overwhelmed now than you felt as a new missionary. I loved that he said that because it is SO true! It's what I said with your worst enemy on the mission being yourself...You know the gospel and the responsibilities you hold and it is honestly crushingly overwhelming to think of everything you know you should do but just feel you can’t. I can't even imagine what it would feel like to be an apostle. Talk about refiner's first 24/7. The second part though was he said it was a privilege. "I get to do what every worthy priesthood holder wishes he could do....bear witness of Jesus Christ and his gospel". Shoot, it was so awesome. There were a lot of other good things, but some other time. Can't type it all here. But one cool thing, at the end they all bore their testimonies...Elder and Sister Ardern, Callister, Sister Bednar and then Elder Bednar. There was honestly a noticeable difference in all of their testimonies and the testimony of Elder Bednar, a tangible, physical difference. Shoot, it's hard to describe, but it was incredible. Way awesome. 

So that's the news so far! I don't really know what else to update you on because I'm still trying to figure it all out myself. Haha. But that' missionary life. I got the letters from Chanae and Tate and sounds like they're doing great. Super excited for them. They're going to love it. And thank you, thank you for the presidential update! I've been dying over here. Ha. Love you all and I'll talk to you next week! Magingat kayo!