Phalling up the hill in the Philippines

This week was pretty good….more successful than last week definitely. Really up and down though. We had either 5 lessons a day or 0.

In other news, one of the highlights last week was when Sister Smith and I found a SUSHI place. Yes, I ate sushi last week and it was delicious. We discovered this pocket of tourist places that we didn't know was in our area.

Anyway, yesterday we taught this man that Sister Smith and her old companion had taught two times, but it was about 2 months ago. We finally taught him again. He has been reading the Book of Mormon ever since them. He's in Omni. And he said this, "Hmm... it seems to me that the way to return to our Lord is through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Wow! Golden! He is really smart and understands a lot of things. He was asking us all these questions about what tribe Lehi is from and all the stuff like that. Hopefully his family doesn't present a problem. Every single one of them is a different religion. His daughter is a Baptist missionary and she always tries to preach to us. He’s only available on Sundays because of his crazy work schedule and we've gone every Sunday since them. Hopefully we can start teaching him regularly. We need to get him a baptismal date ASAP!

News from Brother R from San Fernando: HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!

Remember when he said, “It takes a lot of work to be holy.” He's also the one where when we were describing the terrestrial kingdom said, "ay! pupunta ako doon!" "I'm going there!" haha. I'm so proud of him!

More good news! We had a returned less active family at church again yesterday. They’ve now come to church 4 times in a row. Hooray!

Last week, we were walking and then we saw this herd of children emerge from the forest with sugar cane in hand. So, we went on a little quest for sugar cane. We trampled down the side of this mountain and started to look for it (turns out neither of us are really sure what it looks like)... we were giving up, and then I spotted something on the ground. Sugar cane! It was delicious.

The sugar cane left some weird wood stuff in my mouth. It just grows naturally. It has all these awful prickles though so it's hard to get. Oh that reminds me, last week I was walking and I accidentally knocked over someone’s planted cactus. So I picked it up without thinking. Yes, that took a while to remove all the prickles.

We recently found out though that they did a study of where all the beggars in downtown Baguio are from... turns out most of them are from Gabriela Silang... that's our area, haha. It’s pretty gross there…just full of these giant trash river/waterfall things.

Last week, we accidently stumbled on a wake. That makes the second dead guy I’ve seen in the Philippines.

Here’s a pretty funny story. Lately, my companion has been waking up in the middle of the night and starting to pray out loud. It’s even in Tagalog. I then get confused and think it's companionship morning prayers so I just join in with an amen. Then we sit there and think... "Why did we just pray...."

I just asked my companion for ideas of funny stories to tell you. Here's her response: "You fall almost every day. That’s pretty funny." yeah, sometimes I think I’m more athletic than I am. I tried to run backwards up a hill the other day, totally biffed it.

[Here’s a non-mission related, funny string of emails]

[Did Mom mention that I'm the new Bishop?]

WHAT???????? I don't believe you. You're joking.

[You're not the first person to be surprised.]

Are you telling the truth?? Mom, please verify this. I can't tell if you're joking or not!

[This is your mother, yes, yes it is true! What do you think?]

Is this an early April’s fools day joke?

When were you sustained? Yesterday?

Wow! Look at you! Tom Mortell. Bishop Mortell. Weird. Wow. I would love to have a bishop like dad!

You will do great. I'm so proud of you!

Hey. You knew last week! Why didn't you tell me? I'm clear over here in the Philippines!

Have a great week!

 

 

 [Pictures from Baguio from conference with Elder Arden]

 [The Baguio Zone]

 

 [Pictures from San Fernando--Ally with a very special family. The sister was baptized]

 [Christmas for the three Americans in San Fernando]

 

 

Phun Times in the Philippines

It’s getting warmer in Baguio. We’ve had another disappointing week with no investigators at church. We had a couple random less actives, but no investigators. My companion is good and we're getting along really well. We made some goals to improve. So hopefully things will go better next week!

Anyway, our week was really slow. We had a couple good lessons with people...had a powerful lesson with the less active member who doesn't like Mormons (she even once tricked the missionaries into drinking coffee then called them hypocrites to their face). One of our investigators finally accepted a baptismal invitation (no date yet). We had a good lesson with our new investigator, but then she didn't come to church. Hopefully we can help her progress. She really wants to know the truth but she says she's always busy so she can't come to church... the usual excuses.

Last Monday, I got my haircut…just a couple inches. The Filipino men were absolutely intrigued with my eyes and hair and skin and the fact that I could speak Tagalog. Literally there were 5 guys huddled around me while I got my haircut asking me all kinds of questions. The man who cut my hair asked me where I was from, then asked me if I knew Lady Gaga or had met her, then asked me if I believed she was the Anti-Christ. Haha

I almost died last week. I am not exaggerating at all. We decided we wanted to go find where the Iglesia church is by our house. We’ve only seen the signs, but never actually seen the church. So we dart down this little path by a cliff thing. I’m confidently walking in front of my companion. All of a sudden, this GIANT black fluffy dog charges at us. It is snarling and sprinting straight towards us. It was probably more the size of a small bear than a dog. Not kidding! We’ve named it the BDB (Bear Dog Beast). Anyways, I dart behind this little wall and it just flies past me towards my companion. So I am sort of crouching behind this wall thing that there is exactly only room for one person back there because it is right by the cliff. My companion is slowly backing away and the dog is going crazy. We both went into survival mode. We had our bags off and I was ready to bash it in the head with my Book of Mormon. The dog totally had me trapped behind the wall. Sister Smith and I tried to devise a plan with our eyes. She was trying to climb up this wall thing. haha. Finally this woman came out and called it off and we had time to run away. Right when I came out from my hiding place though, it charged again. So I just yelled at it and acted like I was going to come at it and it ran away. It was probably one of the most terrifying experiences of my whole mission.

We think an Iglesia member probably saw us coming and set it on us. They hate Mormons. They apparently talk directly about us in their churches. This Iglesia girl randomly invited us to church the other day. We said no and she was just begging us, "Please!  Please! Just once! Just come and see!" yeah...I don't think so...

On Saturday, we were teaching our recent convert. Then all of her family who is LDS wanted us to stay and eat some food because it was someone's birthday. So, they load our plates up with pansit and cake. Then they pause over the dinugohan (blood dish) and say, "Oh, you Americans won't want that." For some reason, I then decided that I wanted to win these people over. I was even cracking all of my best Ilocano jokes (which are very very limited). So I say, "Of course I do! Dinugohan is delicious! Dish me up some!" So this man (his name is Toots. Awesome, right? Make sure to tell Jack) loads my plate up with blood. Soo much! Heaps! I start to eat it... it's really cold and the meat inside the blood was unidentifiable. There was for sure goat, liver, and something else that I don't know and the blood was so grainy. So I had to force myself to eat all of it. I was mixing it with my pansit and swallowing as quickly as possible. Meanwhile I was saying a prayer to help me not gag. After that we had to go proselyte to our most hilly place with all of the stairs. Thought I was going to throw up the whole time.

I know a tiny but of Ilocano…iwan ti quarta (I have no money), agkaragdag tayo (let's pray), basit lang (just a little bit). Things like that.

I just went to this really cool place right before this. It’s called Minesview. There’s an awesome view and then you can dress up in these Igorot costumes. I look awesome! They tried to just give me this dumb little flower thing to hold at Minesview. I said, "Excuse me, but could I please have the spear and shied?" much better!

Yesterday at church was ridiculous. The third hour was combined and the lesson was on the priesthood. The bishop says, "Oh, well there is this crazy group of women in Salt Lake that are demanding the priesthood.... what has the world come to..." then it turns into this giant bash of American women! All the Filipinas are like, "Oh, we know our place. Those American women are just so demanding and rude and all this stuff... meanwhile this man next to me keeps saying in my ear, "Stand up! Defend your culture! Don’t let them treat you like that!" Everyone was freaking out. Then the super strict stake presidency member (the one that makes us address the Deacon’s president as "president") is saying all this crazy stuff. Like this, "YOU CANNOT GET TO THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM WITHOUT YOUR BISHOP!" (Say that in your head with a Filipino accent. Way funnier). Then he says, "And you missionaries! I don't care how good you are! You don't have the authority to baptize without the bishop!" it was so crazy. Then one of the sisters makes this joke about how the husbands hold the keys, but the wives turn the keys. Everyone laughed at the comic relief, and then the guy just freaked out and gave us this other big lecture. I was trying not to laugh the whole time. Imagine everyone yelling at each other during church, but amp it up about 10 times, and add all of the miscommunications coming from Filipinos trying to speak in English…pretty funny stuff!

I didn't say anything. I didn't want to throw myself into that big mess!

I just got an update on my investigator in San Fernando that is getting baptized soon. His family is coming to his baptism! They are driving from Baguio to go to it. They used to hate us and not want him to get baptized. Hooray! It sounds like he's very excited for his baptism.

Some interesting people sightings:

Yesterday at church there was a man from Pocatello who graduated from IF high school who owned a business in Boise. He looks like the prospector from toy story. That was weird. I don't know why Pocatello was there. But like every other old white man in the Philippines, he was with a young gorgeous Filipina.

I have found the Filipino version of Uncle Bob. Brother O….he's older, healthy (he even runs marathons), he's a very deep thinker, and he says the same things that Uncle Bob would say. They kind of even look similar. Bad news though, the Jehovah witness missionaries have been teaching him. Someone might want to check up on Uncle Bob...

Anyway, have a great week. Thank you. Love you all too. Thanks for everything! Make sure to have family scripture study and family home evening! (Sorry... I’m such a missionary...)

Happy St. Paddy's Day Phrom the Philippines

I am so happy right now because a sweet member from San Fernando just emailed me. She told me Brother R is doing so well. His testimony is so strong. She asked him if he was going to be baptized on April 5. He said, "Of course, for Sister Mortell". Haha, he is so funny. She said he also prayed for me in his prayer and he was really sad I got transferred. He said, "What is that? We were very close and then she just got transferred." I love that sweet old man and I am so proud of him. I am so excited. She also said that he said I was the only one that helped him be desirous to be baptized. That makes me so happy! Hooray! I really wish I could be there for his baptism.

Well, one of our investigators and her family already moved back to San Fernando. We found them last night with all their stuff outside of their boarding house. We literally helped them load all of their belongings into the back of a taxi. It took less than 1 minute. So hopefully Sevilla B can teach them. After they left I just almost started to cry. I can't imagine living like that. They have a 10 year old kid and they can't even stay there until he finishes school because they have nowhere to stay. They are going to live with their family in San Fernando. I know all of them because I taught them in San Fernando.

Also, sometimes I forget I’m in a 3rd world country and that this is actually a really sad and poor place. Then things happen that just jolt me back into that reality... like all these little 5 year old beggar kids that won't leave us alone, or the man I just saw that his face and body were entirely burned and he only had slits for eyes begging for money on the street. That’s super sad.

On a more positive note, we found this awesome new investigator last night. We were trying to teach these other people, but they were hiding from us. We asked their neighbor if we could share a message with her and she said yes. We taught her the restoration and then she said a beautiful closing prayer thanking God for sending these two people to teach her even though she couldn't go to church that day. She even started to cry and just said how much our message touched her. So hopefully we'll be able to teach her a lot and help her progress!

Our other investigators are doing pretty well…progressing at their own pace. One of them didn’t come to church. One of our other investigators always reads the Book of Mormon but we couldn't teach him because his mom was in the hospital last week. We got a referral from a member. She actually seems really promising. She was busy on Sunday but she really wants to come to church. Our other investigator is good. She's 16 so we have to get permission before we extend a baptismal date though, because she's a minor.

The ward here is good. In this ward, I don't play the piano; almost everyone wears white shirts and ties. However, I definitely miss the Sevilla ward. The people in the Sevilla ward are so sincere and helpful. I just wasn't quite ready to be transferred.

We proselyted in this area last week that is straight up mansions…complete with guards. Also, every Sunday this lady that owns a chain of jewelry stores and a hotel invites us to her penthouse for lunch. Things sure are different here!

This week was also really good because we had zone conference. Elder Ardern came. He’s a general authority. I learned a ton. He talked a lot about how you are in control of your own mission, even if your companion is being disobedient. He talked about setting a good example and listening to the spirit. He said that if we do everything we can then Heavenly Father will know the intent of our hearts. I’ve really been trying to apply the things he talked about.

Random facts:

We don’t have a laundry person here. We take our clothes to a laundry shop and hand wash garments.

Mail takes longer to get here.

Yesterday we did run into this man who is the leader of this church called the Church of Baguio... they only have 130 members and they have some very strange ideas. He just kept trying to argue with us.

We randomly had to go to San Fernando last week. Sister Smith had to sign something for her visa.  They called us at 12:30 and said, "um, you need to be at the office by 3..." so we took a two hour bus ride, were there for literally 5 minutes and then came back. Now that I’ve been in Baguio, San Fernando is way hot! I stepped off the bus and the humidity just hit me.

I didn't even know it was St. Patrick’s Day until I saw some other missionaries at bowling.

 

Love you all very much.

 

[No pictures from Baguio, but here are some pictures from December in San Fernando.]

 

 [Every Christmas, each missionary makes a photo of 3 words that have meaning to them. This is Ally's "Three Word" poster.]

 

Phood Choices....Bats or Burritos?

Last week we actually had a decent amount of work. My companion says it's the most amount of lessons she's had in a week her entire mission. We taught a lot of people. We taught less active members, plus we did a ton of finding and taught new investigators. There’s really only one investigator that was here previously that we still teach... I’m feeling better about things in Baguio than I did at first. Although, Sunday was very frustrating because we worked so hard last week and then no one came to church…Not one investigator and not one less active member.

However, I thought you might be interested to know that the relief society in this ward has a table display. Complete with a doily. That certainly wasn't the case in Sevilla.. haha.

Bad news about our investigators with a baptismal date! They were kicked out of their apartment because they hadn't paid... they didn't have any food or any place to stay. They asked us for money or if they could stay with us. We told them that was against the rules. Luckily they were able to stay with some family for a couple of days. We then did some service and helped them find a place to stay. It was the cheapest place we could find, but it is still expensive for them... it's an awful place, way worse than their previous house. They decided they are going to stay there in the mean time and probably going to move to San Fernando in about a month when their kid finishes school. So looks like Sevilla b can teach them.

Last week we visited Sister L. it was amazing. We asked her if she had prayed about Joseph Smith. At first she just kind of mumbled something under her breath. So I asked her if she had asked God if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. She paused for a long time and then just nodded. She said "Totoo daw siya" which means "he said he was true." I was astounded! No one ever recognizes answers that clearly. She told us that she had a baptismal date with born again but she wasn't going to continue. She wants to get baptized. Unfortunately, Satan just swooped right in there... she is going home this week for like 5 months. She said this was the last time we could teach her. We felt every possible missionary emotion during that lesson. Then as we were leaving a dog tried to bite me and luckily only got my skirt.

Also, did I tell you Elder Rivera and Elder Eagar (from my MTC group) used to be in this area? I sleep in Elder Eager's bed! Weird.

Remember how I said Baguio is so much cleaner? I think it's only my area. My area has mansions in it. Sister M’s area has canals of open sewage. They come back from work smelling disgusting. I guess Heavenly Father knew I wouldn't be able to handle that.

My companion and I are getting along great. She’s funny and we have a good time. We’ve been helping each other with the Tagalog (she's better at the accent since her mom is a Filipina, I’m better at other stuff because I've been here longer). We’re getting along well!

Love you all very much and thanks for everything! Thanks for the updates on current events. I literally know nothing about the real world.

Have a great week!

 P-day in Baguio. [Notice the sign on the wall.]

 

 

Don’t worry, I didn’t eat the bat. The bat smelled disgusting. It had an awful smell. Bats are super unsafe to eat. Even most Filipinos are repulsed if I tell them I saw some guys cooking a bat. I do hear they sell dog in the streets in Candon, though. That was illegal in San Fernando.

 [A couple of pictures from the early days in the mission]

 

 

 

Baguio is Phancy

Greetings from the land of Dr. Pepper, burritos, and pine trees! Baguio is more like America than the Philippines. It is crazy here. I literally just ate a delicious burrito and I’m going to get an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen after this. Anyway, I think I’m having culture shock again. Things here are so clean and nice... we have actual mansions in our area. Good news though, I just ate lunch with Sister Ackerman!

Baguio definitely has its perks. However, the missionary work here is way way harder. We hardly have any people to teach. We’re thinking we might even have to resort to tracting. Definitely never done that before! Weirdly, our only ibd [investigator with a baptism date] is the sister and brother-in-law of our investigator’s girlfriend from San Fernando. Looks like I was just meant to reactivate/convert their family!

My new companion is Sister Smith. She's half Scottish and half Filipino but she's from Salt Lake. We're getting along well. Missionary work just seems to be different here... it's a little hard because I always try to work really hard and be obedient. But for the most part it's good. My companion is funny and we get along well.

It’s freezing here. I’ve been permanently cold. My body adjusted to the hot weather in San Fernando and now I’m so cold. They have cheap sweaters all over the place here and President Balledos bought us all blankets so I’m ok at night. It probably won't rain seriously for another few months. My apartment is ok... definitely nicer in Sevilla. It has hot water, but the water pressure is really low so basically I take a bucket shower with cold water and stand under the small stream of hot water to keep warm haha. And our apartment has mice... but it's not that bad. There are 4 people in my apartment. One is Sister Dial's trainer from Kiribati. Sister Ackerman is in same zone but not same ward. My area is called Pacdal C. Our barangays are Hillside, Scout Barrio, Teachers Camp, Santa Escolastica, Green Water, Gabriela Silang... and some others I forgot. My apartment is in Hillside barangay. We are right next to the Iglesia ni Cristo church. Guess what? There usually are addresses here though! I think we have an exact address, I just don't know what it is.

The ward is good. They started on time and I didn't have to play the piano. However, most of the testimony meeting was missionaries because no one else was going up... things are just so different here. It is so weird though. It’s way more in English and they're really really strict about a lot of things. The ward is strict about things like you are only allowed to hand in your tithing inside of this one room and you have to hand it directly to bishop. Also, they made this big deal about addressing the deacon's quorum president as "president." so that's interesting... also; there are 10 missionaries in the ward. We’re the only sisters. Things are way different with Elders! Way different! Almost everyone speaks pretty much fluent English.

I miss a lot of the Sevilla ward members. Sister Kasan wrote me a song before I left…like a legit song on the guitar. I have a video of it... also we received a cute little going away present from some others.

I'm trying really hard to not let my Tagalog slip. I'm happy though. Baguio is really pretty and I’m sure I’ll get used to things more. We just need to find a way to find more people to teach. Finding has never been my strong suit because in Sevilla B we wouldn't find people very often because we already had too many people to teach haha. I guess there are some things I need to learn here though.

We've already visited most of the members in our area and taught them about missionary work and asked for referrals... we got a couple... that's basically what we've been doing ever since I got here. We need to find a way to motivate the members more.

I am having some culture shock. San Fernando is really poor and really hot but it is so great! Here it is cool and pretty and clean. One of our only people is receptive because she's actually from San Fernando! haha. I loved my old area so much. Baguio is so beautiful, but it's going to take some getting used to. We even ride in taxis which are like legitimate cars... weird.

Whenever I tell anyone here my last area was San Fernando they all just say, "Oh it's hot there and life's hard there. You’re much better off here..." oh well. I’m sure I’ll learn to love it here as much as I loved San Fernando. The burrito is definitely helping with that haha.

Baguio is really hilly. We only have one little tiny area that is kind of flat. Literally, Baguio is built on a mountain. Nowhere is flat. We just have to climb all these stairs and hills all the time. My legs are getting a little sore already! It will be impossible to run in the morning because there's no way I’m doing all those hills. Also everyone here just has HUGE calves from the hills. So that'll be fun. I’m loving the fitbit…walked 10 miles on Saturday.

I’m so grateful for the packages I received. Thank you so much! The clothes are perfect. I really appreciate it. Also, I’m glad I got snacks because they didn’t have any food at their apartment..only fried fish and canned meat, so I’ve been eating goldfish and jerky. Good thing today is P-day!

 

Have a wonderful week! Love you! Thanks again for the packages!

 

[Saying good bye to dear missionary friends in San Fernando.]

 [After much research, I think this is Ally's new apartment.

Photos Courtesy of the Dinkel's blog]

 [Scene outside the apartment.]

[School children across the street]

 

Phabulous Baptism

Brother S’s baptism was sooooo good! They were so happy. I felt so happy for them. He bore his testimony after and it was so sweet. He’s really shy, but it was so good. He talked about always feeling the Spirit when he reads the Book of Mormon. Then his wife, Sister J bore her testimony and she was crying saying how she knows families could be together forever. Right as she was saying that, their baby came running up the aisle yelling "mama, mama!" it was the cutest thing in the world.

I’m getting transferred and so is my companion. So that should be interesting for the new missionaries. We haven't had transfer awareness yet, but president called and said I have to show Sister Dial where all the people live so that she can then show the new missionaries. So I get to go on exchanges with Sister Dial for a day! Yay! I love her so much. I don't know where I’m going. I'm guessing Agoo. I tried so hard to get it out of the Assistants to the President last night at a dinner appointment but they wouldn't budge.

I kind of wish I could stay here one more transfer. I feel like we have been working so hard in this area and things are just starting to get moving. There are a lot of investigators and members I don't want to leave, but I feel confident about being transferred. I’m not really nervous. I just feel like we have worked so hard in this area and I don't want to leave it yet. But, I know that there will be great opportunities in my next area!

One of the members was so sad that we’re getting transferred. She wrote us a song on her guitar. Last night after our last mcm she just burst into tears and hugged me and hugged me and wouldn't let go. She’s so sweet!

 

I rode in an elevator for the first time in the Philippines! Our super nice investigators’ daughter was in the hospital because she was dehydrated. So they asked us to come to the hospital so we went there (the same one where I had to go at the beginning of my mission with my companion). Turns out only the emergency room part is sketchy! I felt like I was in America in the rest of it! Their room had a TV and computer! It was so nice. Their daughter is ok now. We just shared a message about faith. Then they gave us a little gift for coming (some gourmet Filipino treats) and told us how appreciative they were of us. The mom whispered in my ear as we were leaving, "Thanks so much. We really needed you here." Dang it! The next missionaries better baptize them!

 

One of our other investigators is doing so great. We taught him almost every day last week and he is progressing like crazy. He had a wonderful experience at the baptism. He had his baptismal interview yesterday... sadly we need to postpone his baptism. He was good on everything and really wants to be baptized but is still a little unsure about some things. I don't understand it because he knows the Book of Mormon is true. I know he'll be fine. I feel worried for the new missionaries though. He has every concern in the book. I’m going to have to write the new missionaries a novel on his concerns. Sweet moment from the other day… I literally had no idea what to say in the lesson the other day. I had no idea how to resolve his concerns. Then I just randomly opened my scriptures to a great verse for him about trusting in the Lord and He will extend his arm of mercy to you. It was perfectly what he needed in that moment. Then he just pulled out his little scripture marker which we had given him earlier and highlighted the verse. It was seriously the cutest thing ever.

My English has been going downhill lately... before my mission when I would read people's blogs about them forgetting English I would just think they were being dramatic... it's true! It’s harder for me to think of the words I’m trying to think of!

Terrifying moment of the week… I literally had to sprint away from GIANT geese things that were charging me! Charging! It was terrifying!

I love you very much and thank you for all that you do! Have a wonderful week and I’ll email you next week! My guess is in a computer shop in Agoo!

[No new pictures this week, so here are a few from a LONG time ago...the day they left the MTC and the day they arrived in the Philippines.]

 

 

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.]