Thanksgiving Pheast and Musical Phireside

We are planning to have a Thanksgiving feast. We are going to have a Thanksgiving lunch with the other sisters. On the list is mashed potatoes and gravy, chicken, corn, stuffing (from my package). We were also thinking about doing some sort of yam type of thing because they have this stuff called kamote here and I think it's the same as yams. We don't have an oven, but we do have a toaster oven and a stove, so hopefully we can make it work.

This week I banged my head on a water pump. Yes, it bled. I had this big cut on my forehead. Haha. I looked like Harry Potter. As much as I love Harry Potter, I do not want to be him. Actually... I take that back. I wouldn't mind being Harry Potter.  It is mostly healed now though. I don't think there are any vitamins or anything to put on it in Agoo, so I've been putting sunscreen on it. I don’t think it will scar. Literally everyone asked what happened to me. We were teaching this one lady and then she interrupts in the middle of the lesson and says in English (haha this is the first time anyone has spoken to me in English in Agoo) "What happened to your face?" I explained then she said, "Oh, so it seems you were very what's that called? Clumsy. You were very clumsy at that time." haha.

Yesterday at church I just watched a mom pick the lice out of her kid’s hair for the whole Sacrament meeting. I was afraid one was going to make the leap into my hair.

We had a musical fireside with the other branches on Saturday. The missionaries were in charge. Sister S and I made this nice little arrangement of “Count Your Many Blessings.” We were so proud of ourselves. The second verse was staccato. It sounded so great in the practice. Then we got to the actual performance and apparently everyone thought the staccato was funny. We were standing there in front, like right in front of where the people presiding sit. The stake president had one of the elder’s bottoms in his face, so during the staccato part he just starts to smack it to the beat of the music. Haha, all the elders lost it and our song was destroyed. Things we learned from this experience…Don't Do Staccato in the Philippines!

Our Sacrament meeting attendance was about 30 yesterday and about half of them were missionaries and investigators. I taught gospel principles yesterday... Second coming. It turns out that's a little hard to teach to a giant group of investigators. I’m glad that's not in the missionary lessons. It went well though. Everyone was complaining because the gospel principles class was way bigger than the gospel doctrine class... and we have this big beautiful chapel but it is so empty... really sad. The other branches are doing much better than ours.

Our investigator with the next baptismal date came to church as usual. He is still struggling. He wants to be baptized but is still attached to the Catholic Church. He has been praying to gain a testimony. His concern goes back to apostasy and Christ establishing His church. We’ll work on it. We are trying to not get frustrated with our investigators. We are just going to do some finding so that we can find some people that will actually progress.

When our investigators don’t come to church, they always have an excuse. Excuses, Excuses. Filipinos are the kings of excuses. But there's a motto here that is very true. "kung gusto mo, maraming paraan. kung ayaw mo, maraming dahilan." "If you want something, there's lot of ways. If you don't want it, there's lots of excuses."

Also, I’m not being trunky... but do you think we can make stuffing when I get home? I kind of miss snow. I miss seasons. Do you think there will still be snow when I get home? I also miss being cold. The only time I’ve been cold since being in Agoo was when I randomly got a fever and then took a shower and it was freezing. I've probably gotten sick the most in Agoo compared to my other areas.

Ok, looks like my time is up. I will talk to you next week. Good luck out there! Have a great Thanksgiving! Eat some turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie for me.

Make sure to bring me a coat and some real shoes to the airport because I’m going to hop off in my crocs and short sleeves. Well, on that trunky note, have a great week! love you!

 

One of our shortcuts

Doing some service in Agoo

 

 

Phood for Thought

I have good news!! Our mission president extended our internet time. We now have 20 more minutes to email! And he made p-day 2 hours longer. Everyone is pretty happy around here.

We came to Baguio for p-day. The big, fancy mall is decked out for Christmas! I just ate a quesadilla and French fries. I plan on buying some peanut butter later. We can buy some things in Agoo. I think my problem is that nothing is really appetizing so I don't buy a lot. For example, when I was assigned in Baguio, my groceries every week usually cost about 800 Philippine pesos [$18.24]. In Agoo they cost about 200 pesos [$4.45].

Yesterday we completely ran out of food. I guess we didn't buy enough food last p-day. We found a cup of noodles for breakfast and I had this weird soup stuff from a packet for lunch... we were so hungry yesterday. Good thing we're in Baguio today so that will not be happening next week! Here is our lunch plan for next week (we have all the Baguio goods to make it happen): sinigang, sopas, (those are both Filipino things), tacos, fajitas, and chicken and mashed potatoes. So things will be ok. :)

We don't really eat dinner. Dinner time is set in our schedule for 9:30. We just have snacks or something if we're hungry. It’s been like that my whole mission. Yesterday I was very hungry and the talks were in Ilocano at church so I couldn't understand, so I thought about where my first meal will be when I come home. Weirdly, Jimmy Johns was the top of my list. I would just like a sandwich. haha.

There are 3 branches in Agoo. They should actually really just combine them together so they can be stronger. Our attendance is only about 40 people. Quite a few people in our branch have to walk to church. I play the piano a lot in my branch.

Here’s the bad news. Our investigator will not be baptized on November 22. He's not ready yet. Now it's set for December 13. This time it is for sure. One of our other investigators really wants to be baptized but he is still just working on some things.

Here are some fun little tidbits. One of our investigators sells ice cream on his bike. He plays songs through the loud speaker thing (like the ice cream man). One of his songs is "I know that my Redeemer Lives" the efy version. haha. It’s the best!  Also, they are building another house next to ours. I looked out there a couple days ago and saw them slit the throat of a duck and then drip its blood onto all the corners of the foundation. It was creepy! Apparently it's a Filipino tradition.

Also, I have been in the Philippines for well over a year now, and I still have culture shock sometimes. We taught this lady last week. Everything was so dirty. There were 5 of them living in this little house thing. The "house" is not even the size of the mudroom and it only has 2 walls made of tarps. The other 2 walls are open. Their pigs next to them have nicer living conditions. It was really sad. Maybe they'll accept the gospel.

Here's a spiritual thought. There is member in our branch who is very active and awesome. She’s a return missionary. In relief society we were talking about being fully converted. She mentioned that there is a difference between being fully active in the church and being fully active in the gospel. I never really thought about it like that before, but she is very right. If we are active in the church but not the gospel, it will get us nowhere. We need to make sure that we are actively applying the principles of the gospel and the Atonement constantly in our lives. Fulfilling our calling and doing our visiting teaching and baking things for the ward party will not benefit us one bit unless our heart is in the right place and unless we are truly converted to the gospel.

I am very sad to leave my mission soon, but the other day I was showering and almost gagging because it smelled so bad and I just thought to myself "hmm... i would enjoy a decent shower." So I’m also excited to come home.

 

 

Pharewells and No Phine!

Is anyone there? Or are you all sleeping? It’s ok if you are, you're probably tired. It’s normal that people forget about missionaries when they've been gone for 15 months.... haha just joking!

Haha, ok. False alarm. I already told Sister D that my family had forgotten about me. I guess I’ll tell her false alarm. [We didn’t forget about her!]

I didn't get transferred, but Sister D [from MTC group] did. We were all so surprised. She’s going home next transfer, so now that I think about it, it might have been hard to be with her when she goes home. I miss her lots though. Other news... Sister T [long time companion in Baguio from Kiribati] and Sister LT [trainer from the Philippines] are both home now. I got to talk to both of them before they left. I’m going to miss Sister T a lot! I love her so much!

This week I taught the young women how to play the piano at their mutual. I also accompanied the primary in their program on Sunday. It went well.... well actually it was a little chaotic, but the kids were so cute so it's all ok. Our recently baptized family was very cute on Sunday... all three of them had a little part in the primary program. They wanted a family because the song was "Family Prayer" so they chose the H family!

Everything is going ok here in Agoo. We experienced some more disappointment with only one investigator coming to church yesterday. We have some serious chastising to do tomorrow. Haha. This week I realized what an easy and carefree life I’ve had. We found out some things about some of our investigators... I’ll probably just tell you some more about that when I get home. One of our investigators who blew us off a few weeks ago called us and we went over and taught her. We had a good lesson with her and she was super emotional and promised to come to church and live the Word of Wisdom and everything. Then, she didn't show up at church. That was pretty heart breaking. So, basically to sum up the week... there are lots of problems with our investigators and whatever but we have been doing our best. So I’m pretty content even though it's hard for me to watch these people not accept the truth. We’re not giving up, we’re working on them. One of our investigators with a baptism date is doing well though.

We have to go to the dentist after this. My companion has a toothache and has to get her tooth pulled because root canals are very expensive here. That’s sad.

Today this angry little man from the barangay got mad at us for putting our trash in a place we weren't supposed to (we didn't know any better). Luckily I convinced him to not give us a 500 peso fine. [about $11.00]

Here’s what I’ve noticed about Christmas in the Philippines. You just have a lot of food-- pansit and spaghetti. Also you go and visit all your friends. People are just popping in each other’s houses giving food and whatnot. There are lots of decorations...made out of who knows what. They can make some pretty cool things out of recycled things like bottles and straws and other trash. Also, the decorations and music start in September. They always say that it’s ok when the "ber" months start.

I feel like the things I say are just the same every week. I’m happy, missionary work is awesome, the gospel is true. That is pretty much the sum of my life. I’m excited to see all of you and to start school but I’m also really sad to stop being a missionary.

Sorry I’m out of time. To quickly answer your questions—

 

I am feeling good, tired, and happy. The weather is hot! The funniest thing this week was the little angry man. The yuckiest thing was the same old usual stuff. The most spiritual thing was when we taught this guy named Brother R. He was having a lot of problems. The spirit was very strong in that lesson. The spirit told me to use a certain scripture and then it turned out it was the perfect scripture for him. It just shows that we should just be instruments for Heavenly Father to help these people.

Love you! Have a good week.

 

 People have skulls of pigs and various animals hanging outside of their houses.

 

 Baguio

 

 Three American MTC Friends.

 

 

 

 

Mom, Don't Phreak Out!

We have been trying to teach the Filipinas in our house the concept of trick or treating. We said "yeah, everyone has free candy for the children except for the occasional grumpy old people that turn out their lights." haha, I’ll just leave it at that. We explained it pretty thoroughly. It involved a demonstration. The only celebration of Halloween I saw here was everyone going to the cemetery, more drunk people than usual, a couple scary masks and everyone puts candles outside of their house. We were having dinner at a member’s house though on Halloween. For a Young Woman activity, they went "trick or treating." It was cute. They dressed up and went to a few members houses who had prepared little treats. Too bad only one young woman showed up. haha So, it was just her and two leaders. Also, the dinner we ate was pretty good…sisig (made of pigs ears). It is supposed to have this uncooked egg on top too but then she looked at me and the other American and realized we probably wouldn't like that so she cooked it.

We had a couple creepy things happen to us this week. Mom, don't freak out. I’m very safe. We were walking out of a lesson one night this week and we were about to go home. Our investigator asked us if we wanted him to walk us out to the highway but we were like “oh, no, we'll be fine! Don’t worry about us." Then we started walking and saw this very small woman. She was way shorter and skinner than Maddy. I accidentally shined my flashlight on her face. Her face was horrifying! Her teeth were black and brown and yellow and her face looked so old, but her body looked like she was about 11. Then she kept talking to us and saying things like "it's late, you should go home." or "Mormons!" so I just thought "oh that’s a pretty creepy looking lady." But I just kept walking normally. Then my companion turns to me and says "she's creepy. Hurry up!" I said "No, she's really small. She can't do anything." My companion starts jogging to get away from the lady. I’m just casually walking. All of a sudden, I hear the lady come at us! She just starts to sprint towards me. So I take off sprinting too and so does my companion. So we just sprint sooo fast out to the highway. Then we couldn't find a trike so we sprinted down the highway a little bit. Luckily we were much faster than her. When we got on a trike we saw her emerge onto the highway and start to look for us. SO CREEPY!

Here's creepy story #2. So, we were trying to find more less-active members in our area. One of the elders told us to go to this place that is technically in their area, but it is very close to our area. Basically, one big family lives there. They are literally all members. There are so many of them that the place is named after their family. It’s like a whole barangay. So we went there and started to look for members. We cross over the bridge into their territory and all of a sudden, everything just felt different. There were soo many people and they were all just staring at us…mostly me! This place is just like this little city. The houses are just built on top of each other. It’s weird because the rest of Agoo isn't like that. So anyway, we taught a few people there. One is actually the grandmother of one of our investigators. Turns out she's a member. Also, she doesn't speak Tagalog so that lesson was rough. There are probably about 100 members over there. Then we met this old guy that seems to kind of be the leader of the colony. He was sooo mad. He told us that all of them got offended because the church wouldn't pay for this operation his son needed on his arm. It’s this whole big giant story. He kept saying, "He is not a child of God. Who could do that! HINDI SIYA ANAK NG DIYOS." He was soo mad and this happened in the 80s. Anyway, we were just very creeped out over there because everyone is scary and it just has an awful feeling. So, we left. Then we mentioned to some investigators that we went there and they were like "Sisters!! You should never go there, especially at night." Turns out this family is well known here for being pretty violent and creepy. They always apparently have wars with each other. Yes, wars! And they fight with machetes. People in Agoo don’t have anything to do with them, and good news! They’re all members!

We were telling the elder that sent us there this story. And he's like "yeah, it's pretty creepy over there. That’s why I just went there once and never went back" ok... so it's too creepy for him so he just sends the sisters in his district. That’s cool....

As far as missionary work, things are going ok. Our investigators have soo many problems. I don't know why. Something that I have always struggled with on my mission is disappointment and rejection. I feel like I have been rejected soo many times whether it be people refusing to listen, people falling away from the church, or people choosing not to accept the gospel even after they have had spiritual experiences and I know that they have a testimony. I discovered that since this had happened so much, I was starting to lose my faith in people. But this transfer I have been trying to restore my faith in people and believe that things will work out. We have been working so hard to get these people baptized. We have been doing everything we can. I was thinking about this a lot and I got a letter from one of my old roommates from BYU last week. She just randomly wrote me and said a lot about how she wishes that on her mission she wouldn't have taken all of that upon herself. Her letter was great! So right now I feel kind of disappointed and really sad for some of these people because I really love them. But I know that I did everything I could, so I’m not disappointed in myself. (That's a quote from Preach My Gospel.)

On the plus side, a former investigator that we started teaching again came to church. Also, we started teaching one of our investigator’s older sister too. She is awesome and has a lot of potential. I’ll let you know how things go.

There was an area broadcast last night from Elder Oaks for the whole Philippines. It was pretty interesting. I’m not really sure if they do things like this for all countries, but it sounds like the church is pretty worried about the Philippines. In my opinion, that’s rightfully so. The Philippines has so many baptisms, but soooo many less actives. Here are some of the highlights of the broadcast-- return missionaries should not go abroad to support their family, don't get in debt; pay your tithing, save money. Don’t just moan about your poverty, get out and get a job. Go to school. Get a part-time job while you’re in school. Fathers should not rely on mothers to be the primary bread winners. Don’t postpone marriage. It was very interesting to me. All of these things are very Filipino. In Filipino culture it’s very normal to be super dependent on those around you. He said that he loves Filipino culture, but when Filipino culture conflicts with the gospel culture, we must change. The gospel culture should be more important in our lives and families than any culture of any country.

Photos from Baguio

 

 

 

Agoo