Phaithful Phamilies

 

[We were able to skype with Ally on Christmas. It was awesome!]

I'm so glad I got to talk to you last week. It was so great! For Christmas, we got little hand towels with our names on them from Pres and Sis Balledos. They're cute.

 

 

We taught Sister R again a couple days ago. Guess what? She read the ENTIRE book of First Nephi. And she said that her family is lots of different religions, but she knows that this is true. She said she prayed about the Book of Mormon and she knows it is true. We were asking her about what she read in First Nephi and she told us about Lehi and Nephi and all that. The only problem is we can't get her to come to church. She said she would come but didn't. She’s worried that her baby will cry. We kept trying to tell her that so many people have crying babies, but she still didn't come... But we are very excited about the progress she is making!

Everyone else is good. We have a baptismal date figured out (Jan 25) for one of our other investigators. He seems very excited and he claims to have been living the word of wisdom. We are teaching law of chastity tonight. Got to memorize all those words in Tagalog haha. One of our other investigators has been reading the Book of Mormon and he keeps saying he knows it's true. Then he also keeps saying that all religions are true.... he says yes this is true and that is true. We taught the restoration and apostasy and all that again.... so I don't know. We also had a really good lesson with another investigator last week. The G family is doing well.

Lately people keep asking us if we are rich. One of our investigators just constantly talks about how poor he is and how rich we are. Kids are constantly just running up to us asking for money. It's sad. We are definitely very blessed to have been born in America. It's weird here because I think in America and other parts of the world, Filipinos are kind of looked down on because they are all working abroad. Here, only the wealthier Filipinos can work abroad. The others don't have enough money to go to another country. It's just amazing that those who work abroad are the wealthy people here. It just makes me sad because of all the problems with poverty here. Filipinos think all Americans are rich. And comparatively, they are. Even a really poor American would be sort of well off here. It's just totally different.

A lesson that I have been learning recently is that sometimes when things are hard and we pray for everything to be ok, Heavenly Father usually doesn't take away the problem right away. In fact, often he makes it harder. But if we rely on Him, He'll always give us the strength to overcome it. Here's a story to illustrate it: On Saturday, our entire mission was doing a fast for the success of the Baguio mission in 2014. It started after lunch on Saturday and ended with lunch on Sunday. Saturday was SO hot and we were getting punted like crazy so basically we spent most of the day walking. We needed to go visit a less active member that lives in the one junglish part of our area. To get there, you have to walk on this super slippery trail uphill for quite a while. We just sat down on a bench before we started and I just thought "I am so thirsty. There is no way I can even walk there to go to this person." But then I said a prayer that I would be able to do it and be happy about it. Then we were walking on a trail and we saw a member who lives by the less active member carrying all this stuff. She said they were getting kicked out of their house because apparently a politician bought it or something. So they had to move. So we volunteered ourselves to help her. So we walked back and forth along that trail for a couple hours carrying boxes and furniture and other things from their house. Somehow, once I got started I wasn't thirsty anymore and I had more energy to do it. We were able to do it quickly and we weren't tired or thirsty anymore. Later that night, I was so thirsty, but while we were helping we were able to do it. So I realized that Heavenly Father will always help us through our challenges if we ask for his help. It will still be really hard, but He will give us the strength we need to do it.

As Kolipoki said, “Sometimes God calms the storm and sometimes He calms his child.”

There are some really faithful families in this ward. Our laundry lady and her husband are a very faithful family. Her husband has at least five callings. Also, he rides his bike 20 miles to work every day. Another faithful sister is stake primary president, seminary teacher, relief society first counselor, and family history specialist. Her husband is YM president as well as a bunch of other callings too.

This apartment has a shower but no hot water. We have to flush the toilet with a bucket. Last P [preparation] day, I scrubbed the entire bathroom for about an hour. I finally got it clean. By the time I finished, I had to shower because I was drenched in sweat and my knuckles were bloody from scrubbing. Haha.

Ok, I need to go. Out of time! I love you all very much and thank you for all of you support and advice and everything always. Have a great week!

 

 

 

Pheliz Navidad

Oh no! I just realized I forgot my planner. That has everything I was going to tell you and my grocery list! Dang. Anyway, we had a mission Christmas party/conference last week. Some people from Utah that are the medical advisor for Philippines came and talked to us. President Balledos spoke too and he was so sweet. He is so humble and willing to learn. He just could not stop praising these people. He just respected them so much and was so humble. He was also very sweet because he told us that we probably miss our homes but he said he misses his home too but he and Sister Balledos are trying their best to help us. And he just talked about how much he loves us. He is so kind.

Then we had a great big fancy meal including lechon baboy (whole roast pig). One of the APs asked who was adventurous enough to try the brain. I volunteered. It was pretty mushy. And then the best thing ever happened…Pres. Balledos let us watch a MOVIE. A real movie! Not a church movie. A real one! We Are Marshall. It was a delightful, inspiring football movie with Matthew McConaughey and Jack from LOST. It was so wonderful. We also had a gift exchange and performed our Christmas presentation. The 3 wise men [the three American sisters] did a bang up job.

Sister Ackerman and I get along great and are having a lot of fun. We are also learning so much from each other. Sis. Ackerman is great. We understand each other and help each other when we're having a hard time. The language is still a bit rough, but I'm really glad we're companions. I am learning Tagalog much quicker than I did my first 12 weeks. Sometimes it's a little rough though... we can't fully understand some things people tell us, especially when they're trying to be discreet or imply things. For example, we are still not sure if a less active invited us to her house for Christmas or not, haha. We're hoping her son who is active will remind us. If he doesn't we'll just show up. Apparently that's how it works here on Christmas. Everyone just has a whole ton of food and you just go visit everyone. We have a few invites for Christmas, but we're hoping to score more.

Caroling here is so different. It is every single night and people just go to someone’s house and start to sing outside. Then they sing until the person comes out and gives them money and then they leave. People ask us about caroling in America and they can't believe it when we say that it's free.

On Christmas day we have some sort of zone training/meeting in the morning. There might be an uprising from the missionaries if our zone leader makes us do a role play on Christmas. Then after that, we are invited to Sis Salvatera's sometime during the day, also we need to stop by and see some other people.

You would not believe how well some people treat us. The kids just run up to us and shake our hands and pretty much everyone greets us "magandang hapon po, sisters." We went to the birthday party of this baby of a less active family. They sat us inside the house (everyone else was outside). When we got there, they went and stole the table from outside (took it away from all these really old ladies), dismantled the table to fit it in through the door, set it up, and gave us the hughest plates of spaghetti and pansit and a giant slab of birthday cake and this Filipino jello stuff (all on the same plate). Then they just talked about how much they love missionaries and how nice we are for like an hour. People love us. One of the members that always works with us said we are her new best friends, she made us cards, she went to an SA conference in Vigan and brought us back key chain souvenirs and she asked us if she could call us "atae" (a term for older sister) after our missions. She is the sweetest!

Generally, I am feeling pretty good about the way things are going. In my new area we get around by walking. We can walk our whole area if we want because it's so small. Sometimes we take a trike if we're in a hurry or if it's raining really hard. The ward members love us and I like being in Sevilla B better. All the members are pretty much in our area so we are able to develop better relationships with them. I am so glad I'm companions with Sis Ackerman because we love each other a lot and are always there for each other. The language is getting better. When one of the members works with us she just says "bawal english." bawal means forbidden. So we learn a ton of Tagalog like that. Sometimes church is difficult to follow—too many languages...English, Tagalog, Ilocano.

Basically we just got punted the entire day yesterday. We only taught one lesson (to a recent convert), everyone else couldn't because they weren't there or were hiding or busy or something. But it's ok. We found a maybe golden investigator last week. Actually we found her before that but we taught her again last week. Last time we gave her a Book of Mormon, then this time we taught the restoration and when we got to the first vision she just said, "oh yeah, and then Joseph went into a forest by his house and prayed and God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared". So she read the introduction and into 1 Nephi 1. She also said that she has been investigating lots of other churches but that none of them feel right. So I hope things work out with her! She’s also the kindest person ever.

There’s a very popular church here. All I know about them is they hate Mormons and they keep telling us our pictures of Jesus aren't accurate (don't know why that matters too much) and they go to church like every day and have an even stricter "word of wisdom " than us and they are apparently dunked under the water repeatedly until they "see the face of God" to be baptized.

 

I hear New Year’s is just as crazy as Christmas and that's why we have curfew at 7 for December 24, 25, 31 and January 1. Oh no, the ward members found out where we live and they are planning to bring us a banana cue and camote cue on Christmas (fried banana and fried sweet potato with this delicious brown sugar stuff) after our curfew. That's pretty against the rules, but it's not our fault! We just won't let them inside.

Love you lots and I will talk to you in a couple days!

Phun Ward Christmas party

I’m late emailing because our zone leader had us practice for our Christmas presentation tomorrow. The 3 American sisters have been cast as the 3 Wise men. We had to practice our 5 seconds on stage in which we walk in and give baby Jesus some gold. We have a Christmas party/conference for 4 zones. It's at Sevilla. It lasts from 9-5! We also have a zone something on Christmas morning here.

I ate blood yesterday at a member’s house. It was pork with thick sauce made from blood…Pretty tasty actually.

Right now we have 3 IBDs. They all have baptismal dates at beginning of January but they all also have word of wisdom problems so we have to move some of their dates. We have a whole ton of other investigators too and less actives and recent converts. There is pretty much always someone for us to teach.

Our Tagalog is definitely improving. Luckily we have a ward missionary with us about half the time so they can help us if we don’t understand. This one girl LOVES us. She is so sweet and helpful and she even drew us little pictures of ourselves.

Anyway, there was a ward Christmas party last week and it was so fun! Sister Ackerman and I helped decorate. We made some awesome decorations, considering our only tools were things we rummaged up at the church. Ward parties here are so different. There were a whole ton of games, in which the adults get right in there and are totally involved. The adults are running around and screaming and joking around with each other. It’s hilarious. Then the missionaries had to perform a song. We did a lively adaption of "Carol of the Bells." we pretended to have bells and just used our mouths. I was the conductor. It was pretty funny and we think we won over a big chunk of the ward with it.

We had a mini disaster when the ward found out all of our first names and wouldn't stop calling us by them haha.

I have to tell you about the proudest moment of my mission so far (ok, joke-lang). But, so you know how Samoans and Polynesians are all about family and their own people and whatever? I've been accepted by the Samoans. Direct quote "We love you like our own blood, Sister Mortell" Haha.

"Lang" means "only" kind of. So joke-lang is like just joking, but it's way more catchy, so I think I’m going to continue saying it even after my mission.

What else has been going on? We're just super busy all the time teaching lessons and whatnot. Good news, we have a dinner appointment tonight with Sister Salvatera. We found a very nice lady yesterday to teach. She seems really interested. She accepted a soft baptismal invitation. Did you know we're supposed to extend baptismal invitations on the first lesson? It actually works pretty well! Oh, Brother G was wearing a tie yesterday and white shirt and he has his hair cut nice and he just listens intently with his little family. So sweet! The first time we met him he had crazy hair and an earring and was wearing a bandana over his face. We are very proud of him!

Bye love you lots and Maligayang Pasko! (Merry Christmas)

 

 Sister G's baptism

 

 

 Hanging out at the Salvatera's home

 

This tree is decorated with hundreds of tiny boxes tied together.

Let Phreedom Ring.....3 Americans together!

Hello family! Yes, I am transferred. Guess where I got transferred and who my new companion is????       ACKERMAN IN SEVILLA

Yes, that's right. I'm back with my MTC companion. And I'm still in the Sevilla ward but Sevilla B, instead of Sevilla C now. So now, Sister Ackerman, Sister Dial and I all live together now. [MTC roommates] We can't believe it! We’re pretty sure two American MTC companions have never been put together immediately after their training in the whole history of missionary work.

Everyone in the Sevilla ward thinks it's the funniest joke ever to pretend they don't know me now and ask me what my last ward was like and stuff. Bishop even made me bear my testimony and give a short talk yesterday in church because I was a "new" missionary. haha. Sister D’s companion is a Filipina who hardly understands English. So all 3 of us are going to learn Tagalog really fast because Sister A and I don't have a Filipina to rely on and Sister D has to use it to communicate. The apartment is fine. It’s new, but lots of problems--fridge doesn't seal, and is leaking water; sink is broken so we do our dishes outside in a bucket Filipino style. But it's not really a big deal.

A couple days ago, we were walking and we see a dog in the middle of the road. Sister A says, "That dog is probably going to hit by a car if it doesn't move." Approximately 10 seconds later, when we were pretty close to the dog, it got nailed by a car. So probably like 20 people witnessed this dog dying in the middle of the road. It was so sad and so gross and we just closed our eyes and walked right past it. It had a huge puddle of blood by its head and was floundering around while dying. So sad and gross!

Also, yesterday, Sister A and I were trying to contact a referral and we had just climbed up this giant mountain that was also a construction site and then we almost were falling down the other side of the mountain to get to this little village thing where the people live. Then this crazy drunk man came up to us and we couldn't understand what he was saying because he was speaking Ilocano at first then he kept touching our arms and saying "sorry, ma'am" "Madam" "mother" and the member we were with was like "sister" and he just kept saying "right, sorry madam, ma'am, mother" haha I had to stop myself from laughing then luckily we escaped!

We are in the same area Sister A was in with Sister O. And it's actually pretty intimidating because Sister O is a fantastic missionary. Sometimes we can't fully understand people's concerns because of the language and sometimes we can't express ourselves as clearly as we would like. But it's all going to be ok. I'm not too worried. I just know we need to work hard!

We have a million investigators and less actives and recent converts in this area. It's the smallest and most densely populated area in the Sevilla ward. We only have about 2 barangays and in Sevilla c we had 10 plus. Anyway, my new area is more city. We only have one little part that has some jungle and rice fields and stuff. Our area is pretty densely populated and like 80% of the members live in our area (which is quite a change from the maybe 1% in Sevilla C area).

Also, Sister O and Sister A would frequently have 8 lessons a day (Sister LT and I had an average of 3 or 4). So we have a ton of work in this area. The reason Sevilla B has had so many baptisms is because missionaries have been in this area forever. Sis LT and I were basically the first missionaries in most of our area for like 4 years. And WAY more people live in this area. In Sevilla C, you would hike up a mountain and then get to a house finally then walk another 10 minutes and get to another one. In this area, the houses are all so squished in some parts that you just walk through like 5 people’s front yard (not really, but area in front of their house) to get to where you're going.

It's really good because we've been working with the ward members a lot. There's a family that has 3 girls (21, 20 and 18). One has her mission call; one is preparing, and the 18 year old wants to go on a mission too. So they've been working with us and I love them. The oldest one, Sister Kazelle, made us a ton of flash cards and has been helping us with our Tagalog.

 

The Sevilla ward members are great. For example, last week, between Monday and Thursday, we had 9 dinner appointments. They love to invite us for FHE [Family Home Evening]. Oh gosh, last week, I lost at a game at FHE, so Brother Arnold, a member of the bishopric, decided that I needed to sing “Joy to the World” in an opera voice. So now the whole Sevilla ward has been watching a video of that. haha.

Oh, and now there's a Sevilla D in our ward--So 8 missionaries for one ward.  And in our zone now, there are a ton of Americans. Out of the sisters, there are 10 Americans, 6 Filipinas, and 2 Samoans.

The other day, Sister A said, "We need to learn Tagalog really quick. What would Kolipoki do?" Then we remembered that he went and read the scriptures in Tongan and English for like 3 days on a little island and didn't eat. We realized that probably wasn't possible, but we've just been trying to trust the Lord. For my personal study yesterday, I was reading in The Book of Mormon and Nephi is talking about how he has weaknesses but he just trusts in the Lord. So I think that's what we're going to have to do, because it is really, really hard to not have a native Tagalog speaker with us. I actually feel pretty calm about it though, and I know that if we just work hard and try our best, Heavenly Father will help us.

Haha, by the way, a Samoan Elder in my district was going crazy because he found out I was related to Kolipoki. Ever since Sister D found that out from looking at my newsletters from the Groberg clan, she has been telling everyone.

It's not like your mission is just one big spiritual story after another. I think it's more like just working hard and feeling the spirit at a high level pretty much always. But it's not like there's these big, constant fantastic stories. It's hard to become a good missionary, but I'm definitely improving. I don't hate keeping the little mission rules that seem silly anymore. I've grown to love a lot of the people. I'm still having a hard time being an effective teacher because of the language. So I need to improve my Tagalog really fast, because we're just two Americans who've only been here for 3 months. Also, trikes are built only for Filipinos. We can't even fit so we have to sit one inside, one outside, just like every other companionship without a Filipino, haha.

Please thank everyone for the packages and dear elders. Dear elders are better than email because there’s never very much time to email.

Love you very much and talk to you soon!

 Zone Activity at a Botanical Garden

 

 

Thanksgiving Pheast in the Philippines

Hello family! Thanks for your emails. I love my stocking at home. So cute! I find out on Wednesday if I get transferred or not.

Thanksgiving was so so, so great. I loved it so much! We had a real American feast. And it was all delicious. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sobrang masarap [super delicious] yams, rolls with strawberry jam, gravy…And a ton of yummy pie and cheesecake. It was the best. It was so good. Filipinos don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but they liked the food. Most of them were extremely happy about the delicious feast.

The Dinkels hosted 37 missionaries for Thanksgiving!
 

Friday was a dream day! I got to spend almost a whole day at the beach with Sister Ackerman as my companion! We had to do a service project at a resort in San Juan which was right on the beach. We were supposed to be helping with a marathon thing. Our companions had to go to train the trainers meeting so I was with my first and favorite companion once again. And the guy in charge of it was so unorganized that we only ended up working for like 30 minutes but just hung out on the beach and played games and told stories from 8 in the morning until 6 at night. Hahaha. And we got two free meals. Best day of my mission... the day with no proselyting. Just kidding, just kidding. But seriously, it was the best. I collected some seashells and felt the South China Sea with my feet for the first time. Also, funny story… the guy in charge of it left us sitting in a picturesque bamboo hut on the beach at 9:30 and said he was going to go get us a merianda (snack). Then he came back at 12:45 with a new haircut! Haha, he did get us lunch though.

Sis Ackerman and I got back to San Fernando and we were waiting for our companions because they were in a lesson. We walked through the crazy Christmas celebrations at the plaza, got some yummy street pancakes and buko juice. We couldn't have imagined a couple months ago that the two of us would be free to roam through the Philippines by ourselves. [Editor's note: Sadly we don't have any pictures of this dream day, yet!]

Anyway, last night we found a SNAKE in our apartment…slithered in through the shower drain. It was pretty small, but nevertheless, it was a snake. Our landlady heard us screaming when Sister T was chasing me around with it and she came and got it and burned it.

We had an extremely slow week as far as missionary-work goes. Between weekly planning, Thanksgiving dinner, and the service project, we had two full days with no lessons, plus p-day. Good news though. Brother G quit smoking. Hasn't smoked in a week which is really really good! Manny is good. He's been reading the Book of Mormon. He also remembers so much and is so smart. Sadly he didn't come to church.

We had a really good lesson with the C family, which we are very happy about because we had been feeling like we were losing them. Their daughter was there (she is a member). She has a really strong testimony and they listen a lot to her. Brother C is ready to accept the gospel, but he wants to wait for his family. They are the family that we have been visiting the whole 12 weeks. They have been investigating the church for more than a year. Their daughter is in a different ward and is in her mid 20s. She has a super strong testimony and a million callings and basically holds that ward together.

Last night we visited the alley people again. I still can't believe how people live like that…it's not even meant for people to live there. Someone just found an open space between two buildings in an alley and stuck a tin roof on it and called it a boarding house. It’s very primitive and all of their water from dishes and showers and 50% likelihood bathroom just runs out in open gutters running through the "house." One of their kids is kind of interested in what we are teaching.

Last Monday was the most magical thing ever. We showed up at Sis Salvatera's for our weekly dinner appointment and we could hear Christmas music blasting from outside the gate. Then we enter and their house is decked out with a big Christmas tree, stockings, and light. Also, the plaza is crazy and it's right by our apartment. They have blocked off the roads and are selling all sorts of really cool stuff and they even have a Christmas carnival with Santa and performances and things. Also, the plaza is decked out in lights and all sorts of decorations. It’s actually pretty magical.

I really love everyone in the mission and most of the missionaries are really cool! I get along the best with Americans and Polynesians. There’s still a cultural barrier and difference in sense of humor between Americans and Filipinos that I’m trying to work on. It is sometimes hard to relate to them, so I’m working on that. I've been trying to notice what things Filipinos think are funny. Basically I’ve noticed that they like to say something that is illogical then laugh at it. Also, they love word humor. You wouldn't believe the number of jokes I hear about my name "Mortell... ooh tell more, Sister Mortell." or "Mortellity, immortel," or "is there a room at the Mortell?"

I can’t believe what a blessing my mission has been in my life. I have already learned so much. I have learned a lot about the Savior, and my testimony of the Book of Mormon has been greatly strengthened. I have learned so much from the people here, too. For example, some members who barely have enough money to meet the needs of their family insist on feeding the missionaries, because they know the Lord will bless them for helping His servants. They are so humble and generous and have so much faith.

Ally's apartment