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

Phertile Lizards and Phaithful Members

Hello! Right now I am emailing from my favorite place in the Philippines... the city of the pines, the only place with pine trees…..BAGUIO! And I just ate some calamari, root beer, and sweet potato fries. Life is pretty good! There’s no way that there is root beer or sweet potato fries in Agoo. haha.

I just love Baguio. There is a huge mall named “SM” and it is such a great place. It’s awesome! Obviously it's missing a lot of stores that I love, but the mall is way bigger and way nicer than the Boise mall. I love that we can go to Baguio on p day if we want. It takes about an hour and a half.

My hair is falling out as usual, but not as rapidly as it has at other times in my mission. I'm excited to get some decent shampoo and conditioner in Baguio.

Here's a funny story. Last Monday, I walked into the place to pay our electric bill. The guy there said "ay, Mormons. One time I watched a movie about a Mormon. Kolipoki!' then Sister D says, "Hey! that's her uncle!” That was pretty funny.

We had a pretty good week. The work is going well. We are still struggling to get people to church. People in Agoo are so kind, but also no one can afford money to come to church. We also had interviews with President Balledos. They just popped in at all the missionaries’ apartments. It was a little weird talking to him while he sat at my desk. Anyway, we don't use the two upstairs rooms because of the rat problem, but I cleaned them in case president went in there. In the process of my cleaning, I found several lizard eggs. They looked like very large mints. Several of them had already hatched...

Here's a funny little thing. Yesterday during sacrament meeting, the counselor gets up and announces that we will be pleased to witness the primary program. Then the primary president freaks out and says, "It's been moved to the 9th". haha. So then there was a whole lot of scrambling and finger pointing and embarrassment for about 5 minutes and then the bishopric ended up all speaking on the spot. We had primary program practice after church and I ended up playing the piano for them. The branch mission leader wanted me to be in MCM but then the primary people needed me to play the piano... everyone just fighting over Sister Mortell! haha. But I just saw into my future as a primary pianist.

Our investigators are doing fine. We have 9 IBDs. (That’s really good). Sadly, most of them are not coming to church!! Only one comes on a regular basis. So that has been very frustrating. We don't really know what to do. I guess if we're doing everything we can, there's not really anything we can do about it. Our one investigator is doing well. We are seeing some major progress in him. He likes to give us percentages to tell us where he is. Last week, he believed that the truth was 50% Mormon, 50% Catholic. Now we've moved to 60% Mormon and 40% Catholic. So that was a big success this week. He loves the Book of Mormon so much and knows it's true. He’s just having a hard time leaving the Catholic Church. He is scheduled for baptism November 22. Happy birthday mom! And then we have a whole slew of people that are supposed to be baptized December 13.

We are working very hard and everything is going well. The only thing I’ve been struggling with lately is feeling disappointed. I feel like we're running around every day trying to do everything we can and there's not a whole lot of progress. We are just teaching the same people over and over again. But, I am very happy and training is going well and everything is great!

Also, weird! I just saw someone wearing a Boise State shirt. I am so sad that BSU beat BYU.

Also, here's a sweet little thing. There is this couple in our ward and they do about 90% of the work in the branch. They are so devoted. They are awesome. They were supposed to go abroad (That is a very big deal here because the people that are able to go abroad have a dramatically better life. They can all earn money for their families and stuff). But they decided not to because they knew that the church needed them here. I think their devotion is very admirable.

Love you! Have a great week!

Running with Sister D

 



 

 

 

 

Another Phamiliar Week in the Philippines

This week was pretty much the same as last week. Wake up, go on a run with Sister D, eat breakfast (very delicious thanks to my jam, peanut butter, honey and bacon bits.Thanks!), get ready, study, eat lunch, go teach people, come home, plan, chat, go to bed. We had a good week though. We had lots of lessons. We worked really hard and we got the standard of excellence again. Sadly, we're having a hard time getting people to church. Everyone has been so busy for the past month harvesting rice. It is everywhere. Pretty much all men, women, and children are always in the field gathering the rice and putting it in the machine thing and then laying it on the ground to dry. There is drying rice everywhere (sidewalks, roads, basketball courts). People just drive right over it.

Anyway, the H family is doing great. [The family with the returning less-active father and his recently baptized wife and son] Brother H told us that when the missionaries knocked on his door they were holding a restoration pamphlet. He saw the picture of Jesus holding the sheep and he remembered about the story of the 99 and the one sheep that was lost. Right when he saw that he realized that he was the lost sheep and he decided to come back to church. Then 2 ½ months later he had overcome his Word of Wisdom problems and his wife and son were baptized. Now they are happy in the church. Their son is singing in the primary program and hopefully they'll have callings soon. Just shows that Heavenly Father has actually prepared people to accept the gospel (or to accept it again).

One of our other investigators is doing pretty well. He knows our church is true but is still having a hard time leaving his traditions and whatnot in the Catholic Church.

We're thinking about buying a pig and roasting it (the missionaries in our ward and the ward mission leader and some ward missionaries). Haha. For some reason, everyone is just insisting that one of the American Elders buys it. The members keep saying, "It's very cheap in your money, Elder. One pig can feed many people." they even started a chant of "baboy! baboy! baboy!" that means pig. It was pretty funny. Hopefully he comes through. I think it is about 100 dollars.

I almost died this morning because this man driving this creepy looking old jeepney thing was wearing this awful mask that looked like the joker mixed with a werewolf. Then he just looked at me and said "Hi sister!"

My companion is a gem! The rats sure have been acting up upstairs. They are quite the racket. It’s like they’re putting on a dance festival.

Ok, my time is up. Love you!

 

 

Delicious food in Baguio.

 

Birds Phlying in my room

We watched conference this week. Probably my favorite talk in the whole conference was the one by that guy from Ukraine [Elder Jörg Klebingat]. I also really loved Elder Bednar's talk. I wish we had more investigators there to hear it. I was going to ask you what’s going on in the world because it seemed like conference had a huge amount of talks about following the prophet. Also, Elder Andersen's talk was interesting. Sister J and I have been trying to figure out what is going on in the world based on the subjects of conference talks.

This week was good. We had a great week. We now have 7 ibds [investigator’s with baptism dates]. We found this giant family that might be kind of golden. There are so many people living there and they really want to be baptized. Hopefully things work out there. We’ve just taught them twice, but we have only been able to teach a couple of the family members because everyone is always at work and stuff. But their dad wants the whole family to be baptized. I’m not really sure…because he hasn't really read the Book of Mormon yet so I don't know how he has a testimony or why he wants to get baptized. We’ll see how things go there. They said they were going to come to church, but they didn't.

Anyway, the work is going pretty good here. Last week we reached the standard of excellence in every category and we have the 7 investigators with baptism dates. (Sorry, I know that these statistics aren't interesting if you're not a missionary). Our next baptism is set for November 8. There are still a lot of obstacles with some of these investigators ... including getting them married and living the Word of Wisdom.

Here are a couple of weird stories. A couple of days ago, I had just stepped out of the shower and I was walking into the room to change. I was only wearing my towel. When I walked in the door, I found 3 birds flying around the room! I screamed at the top of my lungs, slammed the door shut (almost losing my towel in the process). Then 3 other missionaries all came running. My companion got the birds out of the room (I have no idea how, I was too busy hiding in a different room). So good thing my companion is awesome.

Here’s another weird story for the week. So here's some background to the story. Besides our apartment, there are 4 other sisters in Agoo. They were on exchanges so the whole apartment was Americans. Anyway, at about 11:15 at night one night last week, I’m sleeping and then I hear all these people yelling my name out the window. I go outside in my nightgown and I see the 4 sisters and their district leader and his companion. I’m hoping the elders didn't notice I was in my nightgown. So, I let all the sisters in and they tell me this story of how they are locked out and they tried everything they could to get in. They and their district leader and everyone had used everything from bobby pins to spatulas to knives to credit cards to get into their apartment. No luck. In the process of them trying to break in, somehow the neighbors got really freaked out. haha, It's this sweet little Filipino family and then this herd of 4 Americans sisters and 2 Samoan elders trying to break into the sisters’ apartment. Then the apartment neighbors called their friends to come rescue them. So all these people apparently showed up on a trike…with two men standing on the back holding swords and other weapons. hahah. So then the missionaries do their best to explain the situation and then the barangay police got involved. haha, it was just a mess apparently. So finally they come over to our apartment so they can sleep. So I gave them some food because they hadn't eaten in a few hours. I gave them all some clothes to sleep in. Then we shoved my bed next to my companion’s bed and I slept with my companion and two sisters slept in my bed and one sister slept on the couch and another sister slept on the floor in a bed made out of my clothes. The funniest thing about all of this is that my companion just slept through all of it. She just rolled over and put her pillow over her head. She said she woke up for a second when I was upstairs getting everyone clothes. Only one of the sisters was downstairs and my companion just asks "Where's Sister Mortell?" "She's upstairs" then she just goes back to sleep. haha, She doesn't even care that there are like 10 million people in our apartment. So I hardly slept that night because things were pretty crowded. A locksmith came in the morning, so all is well now.

 

Have a good week. Love you.

 

We just thought it was funny to put that picture of me looking so mad with that little poster.