Not yet Phluent in Tagalog, but improving!

I spoke in church yesterday. My topic was "heeding the promptings of the spirit.” People couldn't stop raving about my Tagalog. That’s new!

[I received a facebook message from a member of Ally’s ward: “sis mortell gud mrng.your daughter was a speaker yesterday sunday and you know what.. she speak in tagalog fluently. wow i was so amazed!”]

[We told Ally what she had said and here’s Ally’s response] She’s exaggerating. Definitely not fluent yet though. That’s sweet of her. My Tagalog has improved SO much the past two transfers. I know that the Lord has blessed me with the gift of tongues in some instances and He has also motivated me and helped me work hard so that I can learn Tagalog.

Anyways, this week was kind of a rollercoaster as far as the work goes. But first and foremost, OUR INVESTIGATOR PASSED HIS BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW! His baptism is next Saturday. I am so so so excited for them. I love their family with all my heart and I just want them to be sealed in the temple. His wife is a member and she is totally active and strong now and they have the best family ever. He has been investigating the church since June. I have seen him progress soo much since we've been teaching him so it's really amazing. It’s amazing to see the gospel strengthening their family. Their family is strong and awesome now and they are the kindest people in the whole world. haha, I learned that his wife is 2 months older than me while filling out the baptismal record. Crazy!

Here’s the weirdest thing that happened to me this week. We were walking through one of the barangays and we see this giant group of kind of creepy men (they're everywhere here!). Anyways, they were yelling at us and saying things like usual, then I started to listen and they were saying "ay, you like this! paniki!" then I remembered paniki.... bat! That’s right. They were roasting a GIANT bat on a grill thing and a baby bat too and were going to eat it. So I asked them if I could take a picture and they said yes. They were just having a hay day freaking out the Americanas with the bat. It smelled super weird.

I had one of the saddest experiences of my mission this week. Did I tell you about our investigator that was super interested but also easily confused with a ton of questions? We went to teach her a couple days ago and I could just tell something was off. Before we started to teach she started to tell us about how she had a giant argument with her husband. He said you have already been baptized in the Catholic Church and we are Catholic. It turned into a big thing and she decided she would stop listening to us even though she thinks it might be true. She says she wanted her family to be united. (You have to understand how rare this is here. Here, if people don't like us, they just avoid us. No one ever tells us to our face). I just tried to look her straight in the eyes and testify. It literally was breaking my heart because I could just see her rejecting the gospel. I could just feel her basically throwing away her chance to go to the celestial kingdom. We testified pretty powerfully then I asked if I could just say a prayer before we left because she wouldn't let us teach her. After the prayer I looked up and my companion's eyes were watery and she had tears streaming down her face. We were all so sad for her. It was so painful to watch her throw away that opportunity especially because we knew there was nothing we could do about it.

Yesterday we were having a pretty rough day. We only had 4 hours of proselyting because we had church and mcm. In those 4 hours, we had SIX return appointments. We didn't know how we were going to get to everyone. Then, literally every single person punted us. They either weren't there or said they were busy or whatever. I was so sad because we really needed to teach all of them. Anyway, then one of the members told us that he had a referral for us. It was his nephew. Also, another member came with us because he is cousins with the wife. We taught the restoration and I’m not sure, but they may be a golden family! Hooray!! They were super receptive and the husband is really really interested in the Book of Mormon. I really hope they can progress. Lately we’ve been having a big problem because we can't teach men with no other women there. So it means that we usually try and teach women. Then it turns out that the wives are interested and their husbands don't like it. That has happened so much recently! So we are so glad that the husband is interested! In the Philippines, pretty much what the husband wants goes.

Remember our investigator whose girlfriend is a member? He really wants to be baptized. Anyway, last week his step dad AND his brother died. Separate instances. So he is pretty shaky right now. Luckily he's still really interested and progressing. I feel so bad for him. His brother was trying to get him to go somewhere with him on his motorcycle. He said no. Then his brother went to the Shell station to get gas and then he got drunk and drove his motorcycle back and crashed it and died. Apparently his body was pretty mangled and destroyed. By the way, they don't have 911 or anything like that here. So, someone saw the crash and ran up to our investigator’s house to go get him. So he ran down and had to see his dead brother in the road. We seriously feel so bad for him. But we are so happy that he wasn't on the motorcycle with him.

The Philippines is actually a really sad country. Sometimes I just feel so sad for the people around me. There are so many broken families because the dads are alcoholics and there is so much sad stuff everywhere. On my mission I have definitely seen probably the saddest things I’ve ever seen in my life. I have also seen the happiest though. I love being a missionary. I am so glad to be here even though I have to see really sad and really hard things all the time.

[We asked Ally some random questions.]

1. What is the bathroom situation? No toilet paper in public places, but you can buy it at stores for your apartment. Fun fact: before I became companions with an American, I just used a ladle. I’m fine either way, it doesn’t really matter. When we are proselyting we go at the church if it's open or at the shell gas station (squatty potty!)

2. What's your favorite Filipino food? GRAHAM CAKE. pronounced gray-ham. haha. Also adobo, sisig, banana q, pretty much anything with pineapple, also buko (coconut) shakes, and spicy peanuts from the peanut man and also mang inasal (the restaurant)

3. What is your bed like? foam mattress

4. How does the laundry lady wash your clothes? hand wash, hangs them up.

5. What’s the weather like now? It's been pretty hot here. But it's actually not too bad. I don't really notice it that much anymore.

Another fun fact: I met someone whose name is "elldyesse". Yes that's right "LDS"! Awesome!

It's just a different world here. I have to do gross things all the time and I don't really care anymore. Everything is just different! Anyway, you'll be happy to know that I got a shirt and a couple of skirts that actually fit me. I got them from ukay ukay last week (term for like a thrift store just on the street). We decided that they were selling all of the clothes that didn't sell at goodwill in the 90s. They’ve finally made it to the Philippines! Also, Sister Dial insisted on giving me one of her shirts because she's sick of seeing my too big clothes.

I'm really glad I’m on a mission. I feel like it's turning me into a better person (I still have a really long ways to go)... but I feel really glad. I seriously think everyone needs to go on a mission.

Ok, time to go. Love you all very much! Thanks for everything and have a wonderful week!

[No new pictures this week, so here are some old ones.]

Phamilies can be together Phorever

I had a pretty good week. It was stake conference and it was pretty good. They spoke 90% in English which I don't understand because only about 5% of the people really understand... but it was good. There are actually Tagalog translations for almost everything, just not general conference, until it's in the magazines and they have it in Tagalog.

Our referral, the woman with the Dr. Seuss name, came to stake conference and told us she wants to come back to church and she wants to be reminded about our religion and what she needs to do. She is the nicest human ever and she gave us pancakes and is going to make adobo next time.

Our investigator with the next baptism date is really good! I love him and his wife and their baby so much. They are the most perfect family ever. I just want them to be sealed in the temple and be happy forever. His wife was so sweet when we taught him about priesthood. She just said that she was so happy that she was going to have a priesthood holder in her home because her dad was never worthy so they always had to go to the bishop. They are so adorable and their baby is the cutest baby in the entire world.

Our other referral didn’t come to church... but we taught her and her husband. They are also a perfect little family. We are trying to figure out why they didn't get baptized. They told us they knew the Book of Mormon is true and she told us this story about God answering her prayers through a dream that Joseph was a true prophet. They are super willing to listen and are so sweet. So that's convenient that they already believe in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith!

A member worked with us for one lesson last night. We were teaching the man who had been very active in the church but was now inactive. We taught about the atonement then asked the member to share his testimony. He had basically been sleeping the whole lesson and then for some reason he just taught the entire gospel of Jesus Christ (scripture included) and then kept emphasizing how he could be sealed to his wife (nodding with his head to the woman in the kitchen who is actually the woman he's living with. His wife died after they were sealed in the temple and she wasn't worthy and it's a big sore spot with him!) So that was rough...

We had this super intense lesson with one of our investigators… just trying to get to the bottom of his concerns, testifying our guts out. Then at the end I asked if he had any more questions and he just says, "No, but I do have a joke." I asked what and he said "mahirap magiging banal! (It’s hard to become holy!) You have to attend 3 hours of church and read the Book of Mormon and be taught by the missionaries and you always have to pray and you have to attend your priesthood classes and Bible study!" I almost burst out laughing. The way he said it was so funny, but he's willing to do what it takes, he just doesn't necessarily like it. haha.

Anyway, last week my companion tried to ask a member if she was baptized in the sea (dagat). She actually said "were you baptized in the dugo (blood)" so that's awkward. We all had a good laugh at that.

Also, good news! Our ward finally got home teachers! Before my mission I thought home teaching and visiting teaching were kind of silly. It is not! It is a huge deal. After my mission I’m going to take visiting teaching so seriously!

It is hot... it was less hot for a couple weeks but now it seems really hot. Yesterday I was having some serious problems because I couldn't get my face dry with my hanky because it was so wet! Also, that's probably TMI [too much information]. Looks like I’ve been in the Philippines too long! That's because I told you about my sweat and people here love talking about sweat, bowel movements, and the like.

I've been running every morning. Also, I borrowed Sister Dial’s fitbit one day. I walked 11 miles in one day. We are on the weirdest eating schedule here. I eat some toast or cereal for breakfast, a GIANT lunch, and then get fed a bunch of coke and crackers or cookies or pastries or whatever while we're teaching, and then usually a tiny or nonexistent dinner.

Thank you and I love you so much. Have a wonderful week!

 

We have to double stack our chairs so they won't break! haha. I guess that's what happens when there are 4 Americans in one apartment.

[We just received some really old pictures from Ally.]

 

Phirst Phebruary in the Philippines

We just got back from a delightful activity at the mission home. We played some games on the beach including military crawls and potato sack races. Then we had a competition to cook a delicious meal. It was pretty tasty. Also, I peeked into their bedroom. It's very clean with a queen sized bed in case you wanted to know.

Let me tell you one weird experience from this week. We were going to teach a less active member. So, we walk in and there is just the oldest, grumpiest, scariest lady sitting in the middle of the room. She also has this weird cigarette stub in her mouth that I'm really confused about because it wasn't lit. Anyway, I walk in and stick out my hand and introduce myself and she refuses to shake my hand and just says, "Just sit down." So we sit down and our friend turns off the TV and the old lady freaks out and starts to yell at our friend in Ilocano. Then Sister Bircher tried to ask her what her name was and she said "I already told the missionaries my name" and we said, "We have never met you" and she said, "The other missionaries ..." and refused to say her name. Then our friend told us it was her mom and what her name was. Then we were about to start the lesson so we asked if we could turn off the TV and she just looks at us with an evil look in her eye and says "Ayaw" then translates it into English "I do not like" then our friend tried to make her leave and she started to yell in Ilocano and then she just looks at us and says to us in Tagalog, "I ask your forgiveness" something like that and it was super hateful. Then she just mockingly gets on the ground and starts to kneel before us like mocking us and "asking our forgiveness" because we asked to turn off the TV. Our friend kept apologizing to us and trying to force her to go away but she refused so we taught the lesson with that scary woman staring at us the entire time. As we were saying goodbye, we tried to shake her hand and she refused and just glared at us. Our friend just kept apologizing over and over.

We’ve been teaching another lady. Our lesson yesterday was the most exhausting lesson ever. This lady has a really strong desire to learn and to understand our message but she gets confused SO easily. It also doesn't help that she mainly speaks Ilocano and not very much Tagalog. We taught the Book of Mormon so simply and here were the things she was confused about: she thought Joseph Smith was in the Book of Mormon then he slept for thousands of years and an angel named Moroni came and woke him up and then he got the Book of Mormon, she thought the Book of Mormon was a summary of a bible, and then she thought the Book of Mormon prophets were the same ones from the bible just with different names. She just takes what we say and gives it this weird connection in her head. Oh, and we said that Joseph dug up the plates from a hill and she kept saying "oh Mount Sinai! with Moses." So she was super hard to teach but she is super eager... she went and got a notebook and was taking notes as we were speaking!

Oh, here's a good story. A few weeks ago someone from the mission office called us and said there was a less active member in our area that no one knew about. We tried to contact her 10 billion times but she was never home (we finally found her house after a big ordeal). Oh, and we thought we’d been given a fake name because her name sounds like it is from Dr. Seuss. So we finally contacted her on Saturday. Coincidentally, she lives in the nicest house besides the mission home or the Dinkel’s house that I’ve ever been in in the Philippines. Anyway, we had a really good lesson with her and she said she was baptized in the 70s, then she went inactive because she went to work abroad in China so she stopped going to church in the early 80s. She said lately she had been thinking she was going to come back to church. So luckily we found her! Hopefully she will come back after 30 years of inactivity!

Also, we received another referral and the person that referred her to us literally knew nothing about her except that she was nice and her first name. She wasn't even sure if she was a member or not! So we had no one to teach so we went to contact her. She also lives in a really nice house. So we show up and she just says, "Oh, come in sisters." Turns out she used to investigate the church about 4 years ago. She just went and got her Book of Mormon which was right next to the TV and let us teach her. She reads the Book of Mormon sometimes and we had a really good lesson with her. We have less active members that we teach twice a week that have to go search for the Book of Mormon and finally find it in a random cupboard every visit. So, hopefully we'll be able to teach her! She super nice and also has perfect English! (We teach in Tagalog, but it's comforting to know that if there's the occasional word we don't know we can say it in English.)

Our investigator with the next baptismal date is good. His family is the cutest family in the entire world. I love them so much. He needs to come to church every week until his baptism because he needs 4 weeks in a row. He was 5 minutes late last Sunday and it was awful. We were so so worried he wouldn't come. But then he walked in with his wife and his baby and they were so cute and they even came to the gospel principles Sunday school class! (We’ve been trying to get him to come because usually he just goes to the gospel doctrine Sunday school class). He’s really excited for his baptism.

We teach less active members just as much as we teach investigators. The standard of excellence in our mission is 15 recent convert and less active member lessons a week (at least 10 less active lessons) and 10 investigator lessons each week. We were 1 lesson away in each category this week. We teach about 25 lessons a week usually. We need to figure out how to spread our lessons out... last week we either had 6 lessons a day or 2 or 3. Six lessons a day in 8 hours of proselyting means a whole ton of speed walking between appointments! We are really busy. There are recent converts we've been putting off for weeks because we never have time to go to them!

I feel like I'm in the groove of being a missionary. My Tagalog is okay, I don't have culture shock anymore, and I actually really like being a missionary now 90% of the time. Last night we were talking about how sometimes when we're at our apartment we forget we are in the Philippines because it's just Americans and our apartment is pretty nice. Then this morning, I had a rude awakening of where I actually was. I opened the cupboard under the sink to get some bleach and an overwhelming stench hit my nose. Upon further investigation, I discovered a halfway decaying dead lizard. So that's gross.

Here are a few random items.

1. I cannot believe JK Rowling would doubt herself. Hermione and Ron are the perfect couple.

2. I have lately taken up running in the morning with Sister Dial.

3. Everyone had school off for Chinese New Year. There were a few fireworks but that was pretty much it.

 

 

 

 

President Balledos, Sister Dial and her companion, Sister Dinkel, Ally and her companion

 

 
Love you! Have a wonderful week

Phlying through the Philippines on a Trike!

Last Monday I had a cool experience I would like to tell you about. We were trying to teach this recent convert at 6:30 but then we didn't think we had time, so we were just going to go to our dinner appointment at 7. Then our dinner appointment cancelled. Then we tried to teach one of our investigators with a baptismal date, but he wasn't home yet, so we just went to the recent convert’s house. The man her mom is living with answered the door and he usually just pushes us away and acts like he doesn't like us, but he let us in and told us to wait for our recent convert until she got back. We weren't going to go in, because we thought we would just try later, but for some reason we just went in and waited for her. Then we started talking to the man and he is telling us about his work and I asked him what his religion was and he said "Actually, I am a less active Latter-day Saint." Then this man just goes on this big thing about how he was sealed in the temple, but then something happened that made his wife unworthy and then his wife died and he was so sad she wasn't buried in her temple clothes. Then his kids started making all of these mistakes so none of them are worthy. Then he was unworthy so he told us how he knew he was unworthy so he just properly disposed of his garments. I have literally never seen so much pain in someone as they were talking. He just kept saying, "We were all sealed in the temple, imagine that." Then while we are sitting there, someone calls him on the phone and he answers. Then he proceeds to have a heated and super sad phone conversation with his son. He just kept saying "ano nang yari?! ano nang yari?! uminom ka ba?? nagdrug ka ba?" So from the conversation, we gathered that his son had drank, done drugs, slept with a girl, then passed out and called his dad to confess it all to him. So that was a little dramatic and awkward for us to listen to. Then his dad just kept saying on the phone "you should be going to seminary. You should be preparing for a mission and to get married in the temple." So then, he hangs up and literally was just the saddest human being I’ve ever seen and he starts to tell us about how he feels hopeless because of the choices of his family and how it kills him that he wasn't keeping his covenants and he really wants to come back to church but he thinks he has used up all of his chances. So we had a really good lesson with him and reminded him about the Atonement and told him that now was his chance to come back to church. It was so amazing that the one time he happens to let us in the gate is the time his son calls and he just is breaking down because his life is falling apart. So we told him that Heavenly Father wanted him to come back and that was why we were at his house when all of this was happening. He started to seem really comforted and agreed to let us teach him.

We have been focusing more on finding this week because we are super sick of our dwindling pool of investigators who do not progress. We found a lot of potential investigators so we'll see how that goes. We have been having a big problem with getting punted all the time. A few days ago, we only had two lessons and the first one was at 6:30 and the next was at 7. That was super rough. Anyways, a lot of people came to church yesterday so that was good! Also, there is a less active member who is returning to church and she is dating this guy that wants to be baptized! They are so kind. They're living together, so we’ve just got to get them married then get him baptized and then they can live happily ever after!

We had to move one of our investigator’s baptismal date. He didn't come to church and then it turns out it was actually a blessing because he had been drinking coffee too and not telling us. He was so so so sad when we postponed it. But, he's good now and we're going to make sure he's ready.

Last night, the woman that cooks for the mission that has a son on a mission in Idaho Falls made the Sevilla ward missionaries a DELICIOUS feast. It was the best.

For some reason, the ward wants us to teach the youth how to be missionaries so they can go proselyting by themselves. We keep just saying to ourselves that it isn't the job of members to go proselyte. They need to do member missionary work and fellowshipping. We've been trying to get visiting and home teaching set up in this ward since we got here. We are just trying to work our guts out to build up the Sevilla ward. I’ve been told that the Sevilla ward is actually one of the, if not the most functioning ward in the mission.

I am really happy. I feel a lot better now in my mission than during my training. I had a hard time with being a missionary and the work and everything in my training. But now it is really good! I am working really hard and my Tagalog is getting much better because I now do so much of the talking... I am finding much more joy in being a missionary.

My new companion and I are getting along well. She's nice and we don't have any problems. We’re just trying to focus on the work and it's good!

[We commented to Ally that it seemed like less crazy stuff is happening to her.]

That either means I'm used to the crazy or it was too crazy for me to tell you about... haha, just joking...and I’ll use my judgment about what I share with you!

I love you all very much! Thank you for everything! You're the best and I appreciate all you do for me!

The best part of this picture is that Sister Dial is sitting on the back of the trike behind us taking a picture. And hopefully, you have learned by now that pretty much anything goes in the Philippines!

[A couple of older pictures of Ally]

Another Phun week in the Philippines

Hello! This week has been a crazy roller-coaster of a week. My new companion is Sister Bircher from South Jordan, Utah. She has been here one more transfer than me. She just finished training an American. She has been in Baguio her whole mission where they speak a whole lot of English, so she hasn’t had to speak much Tagalog. So I am leading the area and doing most of the talking. Sister Bircher is nice and we get along well. She likes Harry Potter and the “Sound of Music,” so I guess we're set. I feel like there's a hole in my heart though! I miss Sister Ackerman. Sister Ackermann is in Baguio now. She really wanted to go there so I’m happy for her. I can't believe how hard it is to lead the area. I just feel this weight on my shoulders for all of the people in my area. I know everything will be okay though. I know that I just need to work hard and strive to have the Spirit and everything will work out.

So, this week has also been crazy with the IBD (investigator with a baptismal date situation). Last week, Sister Ackerman and I had a GREAT lesson with one of our investigators. He told us that God had answered his prayers and he knew the Book of Mormon was true, he told us about the change he had felt in his life because he feels closer to God. So, we started to talk to him about baptism... he had a ton of concerns, but we did our best to address them. Sister Ackerman was just pulling scriptures out that fit perfectly and I could feel what I was supposed to say. Our Tagalog wasn't a problem and we were able to express ourselves. We committed him to prepare to be baptized on March 1. Then, the Bishop, Sister B and I had another good lesson with him. Once again, we felt the spirit helping us know what to say. Bishop was a good fellowshipper for him and he bore his strong testimony. But then after the lesson we made sure he was going to church tomorrow and he said no because he was busy. So I was pretty serious with him and told him that he needed to come and then Sister B told him to pray about it. So we weren't expecting him to come, but then he showed up at church!...except he ran away after sacrament meeting. I could see him heading out the door and I was sitting on the stand because I was playing piano. I had to speed walk and dodge through all these people and grab my companion to talk to him and get him to stay, but it was too late. We are just hoping and praying that everything will be fine and that we can continue and help him progress towards baptism.

As for one of our other investigators with the next baptismal date, we have been having good lessons with him and we can really see him progressing. He is reading the Book of Mormon and True to the Faith and seems really excited for his baptism. He says he is living the word of wisdom. He missed church last week because he went home to see his extended family. We taught him about why it's important to come to church and told him he wouldn't be able to be baptized on that day if he didn't come to church this week. Sacrament meeting started and he still wasn't there. I just sat on the stand scanning over everyone just praying that he would come. He never showed up. His wife says he went home for the weekend and was supposed to come back before church, but he got back late and was at their house. So we are going to have to postpone his baptism. We are hoping it will be a good lesson for him to learn and that we will make sure he is really ready to be baptized. It has been discouraging lately because we have had a big problem with recent converts still having word of wisdom problems and starting to go inactive lately. Another sister’s recent convert told her, "It’s okay that I drink because abon camacho (my recent convert) drinks"... so we're going to have to figure that out. However, I'm happy to report that the G family (recent convert) is doing really well! They are so diligent and faithful :)

So we now have 4 Americans in one apartment. We can't believe it! Sister Dial is training an American from New Mexico and Sister D is doing a great job. Apparently next transfer, 15 people or something are coming and they are 100% foreigners. No Filipinos. We usually try to speak Tagalog in our apartment but it's hard. We are more diligent at speaking Tagalog outside of the apartment. Plus, if we didn't speak some English in the apartment, Sister D's trainee would have literally no idea what is going on. My companion told me that our apartment was the cleanest missionary apartment she had ever been in. I think I will take credit for that because my apartment was a mess when I got there! Straightened things right up!

Good news, the Dinkels had us over last night for some delicious casserole and salad and rolls and personal brownies for dessert! It was the best!...A little slice of America. The Dinkels are so great for the missionaries. And Sister Salvatera invited us over tonight for dinner.

Let me just tell you how flimsy things are in the Philippines. I broke a chair a few weeks ago in our apartment by leaning on it. Sister D broke one last night. I just leaned on the little place where they keep the keyboard in the internet cafe and it broke. I hope I’m not banned from the internet café!

[Here in the Vienna Woods Ward in Meridian, Idaho, we have a new missionary from the Philippines. He told us that he knows President Balledos and that he’s wonderful and really funny.] That's awesome there is a Filipino elder in our ward who knows President Balledos!

 

Thank you for the letters, packages and dearelders. It’s really hard to send letters because there is literally no time on p days, but I really appreciate all the letters and dearelders I receive.

 The Sisters of the Sevilla Ward at the Dinkel's home.

 Ally and her new companion at the internet cafe emailing home.

 

 

 

An older picture of Ally and her first companion with one of her favorite families.

Another Phantastic week in the Philippines

Let me just tell you two pretty typical things that happened yesterday at church. We watched one of our recent converts tinkle in the bushes next to the church then come and shake our hands. We then spread the urine germs to each member of our ward through handshakes. Also, after church we saw this mom helping a little boy pull down his pants so he could tinkle in the courtyard of the church that is inside the church.

Anyway, we have been very busy... we taught Relief Society/Elders Quorum the other day about rescuing less actives members and on Saturday we held a ward activity where we taught the ward how to be missionaries. We distributed copies of the Book of Mormon and asked them to each think of one person they could give it to. We also did workshops and role plays with them.

Our investigator that has the next baptismal date is good. He made these cute bracelets for us. His little family is so cute and nice. His wife is a member and he wants to become a member and be sealed to his family in the temple. Their baby is so so cute. We love him. Last time we taught one of our inactive members, he just told jokes and jokes and jokes. He said he just loves to make us laugh…too bad we could hardly teach him haha. He told Sister A that she needed to change her major because it wouldn't make her enough money. He recommends becoming a doctor. I told him my major was political science and he said "ah science, like the moon. Do you want to be an astronaut?" so that's that. Also, one of our other investigators came to church yesterday on his own which was awesome! He knows he needs to be baptized, he's just afraid. We taught him about kingdoms of glory last lesson and we said "terrestrial kingdom is for good people but they didn't accept the gospel" then he just does this comical gasp and this little evil laugh thing and says "I’m going there." What a character!

There are so many issues getting people to progress. Word of Wisdom is probably number one. Also, we have been having problems getting people to understand the Book of Mormon lately. It is difficult for them. They need to read the Book of Mormon so they know it's true. A lot of the people we teach don't have very much quality education. Most members that have been in the church for a long time read in English. Most investigators and recent converts read in Tagalog and sometimes Ilocano. Many people have to read Tagalog and English side by side to understand it.

One of our new convert families didn't come to church last Sunday and we were so worried about them. They said they didn't have enough money but then they were here yesterday so that was a relief.

Yesterday we worked with an awesome member. She was baptized a few years ago and she has the strongest testimony ever. She just ran us around to everyone yesterday just asking people if we could share our message with them like crazy. It was insane. We visited this less active who is actually pretty crazy and catholic now so we don't go to her very often... this member just got so intense and kept saying about the Book of Mormon "Sister! ITANONG SA DIYOS!" ("ask God! ask God!") I love this member. She's the best! Her kids all got baptized a few years ago then her husband got baptized a year ago then he died 3 months later of a brain tumor.

Divorce is super expensive in the Philippines, so lots of time people just separate and go find a new "spouse" and live in a totally family relationship but they just aren't married. One of the members had separated from her husband because he ran off and left her with their kids. Then she had 4 other kids with this other guy that she was in a totally committed relationship with, but then it turned out he was an alcoholic too. Then she met the missionaries and she couldn't get baptized because she was living with this guy. She needed his money to support her family, so all of her kids got baptized, she went to church every Sunday for 4 years and paid her tithing and then finally she got enough money to live on and support her family because her daughter went abroad. So after four years, she told her "husband" that she had found the truth and she ditched him and got baptized.

One of our less active members is the sweetest lady every. Her husband is abroad and she has two really cute kids. She's pretty poor (mice are always just running around her house). She doesn't come to church because apparently everyone thinks she had an affair. We believe her that she didn't. We really want to help her though because she is so sweet. Last week, we went to visit her and she had this giant thing of delicious pansit waiting for us. She always pulls out her two nice glass cups, fills them to the very top with RC Cola and then lets her kids drink whatever is left. She is so sweet so I really want her to come back to church.

Our schedules are pretty full. We usually teach at least 5 lessons a day.

We've been working a lot on our schmoozing skills (actually it's really just being friendly). I am playing with babies, making teenagers love me, kissing women on the cheek (that's common here), and the whole shebang. It has resulted in our fridge being constantly full of members' food and more referrals!

Don't worry, we’re not kissing any men although all the men would love it. Sister A and I are constantly getting yelled at from men on the street. Also, lots of men love to look directly into my eyes and then wink at me.

Haha, haha. anyways, I need to go! The snow sounds crazy. It’s hard for me to visualize... my body keeps thinking it is still July or August. Longest summer of my life...

 

I love you all very much and I love getting your emails and letters! Thanks for all the support and words of encouragement!

 

 Sister Dinkel had the sisters over for an impromptu cooking class.

  [These are some older pictures of Ally. There were many photos of Ally trying to get this fruit from the tree. It must really be delicious!]

It's 2014! (Two thousand Phourteen!)

Sister Ackerman and I have had a pretty busy week... Lots of recent convert and less active lessons. We met the standard of excellence for that last week--15 lessons. And the AP (Assistant to the President) called to congratulate us. So that was good. We seriously need to do some finding though. We need some more solid investigators. We haven't been able to teach Sister R this week. But yesterday we talked to her and set up an appointment and we had a ward member with us that calmed some of her worries. One of our other investigators keeps talking about how he has such a desire to know the truth and have the gospel help his family but he is unwilling to read the Book of Mormon and he only comes to church if we go pick him up. Last lesson, Sister Ackerman and I were just pouring our whole souls into this lesson... our Tagalog was actually going really well, we were asking great questions, we were in tune with the spirit, we were just testifying powerfully about how important it is to read the Book of Mormon. We spent like 30 or 40 min talking about how important it is to act and how God will answer him. Then at the end we tried to commit him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and he just said "pwede panalangin na lang, walang magbasa?" translation: "Can I just pray, and not read?" Oh man. That was soooo frustrating. But then in his closing prayer he asked Heavenly Father to give him a desire to read. So hopefully he starts reading soon.

So let me just take a moment to tell you some more about this other sweet man that we teach in front of his house. He refuses to get a chair, just does the Filipino squat the whole time and his pregnant goat is always right next to him too. He's less active, but he LOVES the church. He always tells us about the missionary that converted him "Si joy enriques, taga cebu! ay, maraming missionaries pumunta sa akin." translation: "Joy Enriques, from cebu. Many missionaries come to me." Then he starts to name the missionaries. It is sooo sweet and funny. Anyway, on Saturday, I was a little annoyed because all these people kept making fun of me and kept complaining that we didn't know very much Ilocano. I just told sister Ackerman, "Why can't anyone ever just say 'oh thanks Sister Mortell. Thanks for being here and trying your best.’" Then the next day during sacrament meeting, this sweet man got up to bear his testimony. He started by talking about Joy Enriques and the missionaries and then he started to get a little tear and said he is so thankful for the missionaries that always teach him "Si Ackerman, Si Mortell." It made me smile because someone was grateful for us. Touched my heart. Then he randomly told the entire ward that we always come to his house to eat which is a flat-out lie. haha. I have not once eaten at his house. Then the ENTIRE ward started to crack up and look at "Si Ackerman, Si Mortell" and the ward was laughing and joking with us so much that he could hardly regain control of them so he could finish his testimony.

For my personal study this morning, I reread "Of Regrets and Resolutions" by President Uchtdorf. I would recommend that you reread it too. Good things to think about. [http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng]

My Tagalog has improved a lot. I can now basically understand everything that people say most of the time. However, everyone speaks Ilocano. A lot of people don't know Tagalog super well, so it's hard for us to communicate because we're both trying to communicate in our second language. Ilocano sounds so hard. It doesn't even sound like words. Yesterday we were with a member and we were trying to teach this lady and we just heard a man's voice from inside the house say something in Ilocano. The member told us he said "Oh looks like the Americans are here again." haha. Yeah, they just continued to hide from us.

I wish you could see my tan lines. I have a tan line from my shirt, and a tan line across my chest where my bag goes and a watch tan line. It is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. Also, I stopped taking my vitamins for about a week because I didn't think it was necessary then my hair started to fall out. So I got right back on those vitamins very quickly. I can't figure out what nutrients I’m missing! I eat vegetables and fruit every single day. Don’t worry! I always drink filtered water except when people give us unfiltered water.

New Years was good. We had about 5 dinner appointments throughout the day... and then one of our dinner appointments got interrupted because their neighbor came and told us we had to come to their house and eat when we were finished eating there. Haha then people gave us all of the leftovers. We ended up having 4 giant bowls full of spaghetti, endless macaroni salad, endless rice pudding stuff (bico), and a whole ton of pansit. Then after our curfew a recent convert delivered a whole bunch of more food to us. And the fireworks were pretty loud. I woke up right at midnight because all the fireworks went off but then I just went right back to sleep because I was so tired. I was at this less actives house and they have this GIANT gun that they used to shoot fireworks off from on top of their roof. I am not kidding that it was probably at least 15 feet long. They took a picture of me holding it and put it on facebook apparently.

You would just not believe how many people greet us/yell things at us as we walk. Most people are very friendly. Literally, everyone on the street says hi, the kids always just run up to us to shake our hands. There is also this crazy homeless lady that won't stop touching our bottoms. We also got spit on the other day from a car... that was a first. But for the most part people are very, very friendly towards us and they love us. They are so surprised that we know Tagalog. Their favorite joke is when we greet them we say "magandang hapon" (good afternoon) and they say "maganda ka sa hapon" (you are beautiful in the afternoon). They don't think we understand... but we do. haha.

We gave our Christmas decorations to one of the ward members. She loved it and I’m glad she has some cute Christmas decorations now.

Love you very much! Have a wonderful week! Also, I really like getting dear elders... so you should write me some.

[To send dear elders, go to dearelder.com. Ally is in the Philippines Baguio mission. It’s free!]

The "bell choir" rehearsing for their performance at the ward Christmas party. Ally was the conductor. No actual bells were used. They made the sounds with their mouths, but the movements look pretty legit!

 New Year's Day at the Dinkels.