Phix your hair!

Things are pretty good here. Can't believe I've been on my mission for a year. That's crazy! It feels like I was just barely laying out all my clothes on the ping pong table getting them ready to pack. I’ll be home at the end of January but I’m trying not to think about it so I can be focused. It’s weird to think about. I've turned pretty awkward here. Wonder how that transition is going to be.

One of the members that we are close with had her baby. I can't wait to see him tomorrow. The best part is his name-- ready? Ishmael Zoram. Yes, straight out of the Book of Mormon. Her other child is named Zion. They are very poor. I feel bad for them. They had to walk to the hospital! She had to walk to the hospital while she was starting to go into labor. Apparently the hospital was super overcrowded and she was in labor for a long time so they kicked her out of the room so they could use it for other people. She had to have her baby and recover in the hallway. When we went to their house to teach some of their family members, who are our investigators, we overheard them talking about what they were going to eat for dinner. They were trying to scrounge up some rice... no main dish. Then we asked them about it and she just said "yeah, I'm really hungry." I almost cried. I'm trying to think of what I can do for them... Sister T and I are going to buy the baby an outfit later today so that the baby will have something ok to wear.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a stake relief society activity (right during prime proselyting time).  It turned out to be a 3 hour discussion on modesty and how to properly wear garments. I’m not exaggerating. They didn't say anything you aren't allowed to say outside of the temple. There were investigators there! Also, they said, "and missionaries, we know you have to walk a lot, but can you just comb your hair? You still have to look presentable!" ok... thank you for that. I'll try to work on my hair as I'm climbing up hundreds of steps in a tropical storm... haha.

We had a ward FHE. It was very fun. One of our investigators came! Did I tell you about her last week? She’s the investigator that kind of creeps us out that has a ton of problems? She came with her old helper guy and the guy that is boarding at her house. I think she had a good time. She didn't come to church because apparently her son who is a preacher was giving a sermon so she had to attend that. Also, a member informed us that she used to own a bar with prostitutes. She was like in charge of them and the whole barangay calls her "mama." She is quite the character. I'll let you know how it goes.

We were tracting the other day. We knocked on this house and this guy came out and was holding a half-dead chicken upside down. He had just apparently beaten it to death. We tried to give him a pamphlet but he said he was too busy beating his chicken.

Last week, we were teaching one of our less-active families. They said their 14-year-old was at a birthday party. Our lesson was on the Word of Wisdom. I was teaching and then I just hear a really loud knock/beating on the door. Their son comes in just staggering around. Immediately his parents start asking him what he drank. That was super awkward! Apparently, that's the first time he ever drank and it happened to be while the missionaries were at his house teaching the Word of Wisdom. So sad...he's 14! Anyway, then his dad looks at us and says---"OK, let's continue."

We taught Sister M last night. We are really struggling with what to do with her. She is not progressing at all anymore. We watched the restoration with her. We bore our testimonies and the spirit was really strong. I hope that she recognized it. But, some good news…Sister H is down from 5 cigarettes a day to one.

We have whole parts of our mission that aren’t open for missionaries yet. Hopefully more areas will be open soon.

I’ve got to go. Love you! Have a great week!

Brother Damaso and his son

Tri-zone conference. I said, "Hey, let's take a picture with both of you kissing my cheeks." Sister Ackerman refused. 

 On the way to one of our investigator's house in Bua, Tuding

Candles and Phlashlights

Right now it is the middle of typhoon season. We had a couple of typhoons last week. They were both just signal 2 though. If it's signal 3, we have to stay inside. It's cold and rainy here. We had really crazy wind and heavy rain and the power was out a lot.

We had to teach quite a few lessons using flashlights and candles inside people’s houses. Also, walking outside on the street in the pitch dark is terrifying. We kept thinking someone was going to come and murder us and no one would see. It was ok though. Turns out I’m still alive! We got home one night and the lights were out. Sister T and I walked in the door and began to pray and all of a sudden we could hear people walking around upstairs. We convinced ourselves it was the neighbors next door... started to pray again then it got really loud the noises upstairs. So, we ran out of the house and called the district leader. Sister T says, "Elder C, I think there's someone in our house." Then, we saw a light coming down the stairs. We both screamed and ran away. Elder C was freaking out "What happened? What happened??? Sister T!?" Luckily, I looked back and saw that the legs coming down the stairs were white. Upon closer examination, we realized it was Sister Jackson. Apparently, they came home early because she was sick. haha.

Remember when I told you about the prospector from Toy Story that came to our ward? He came again yesterday. Apparently he lives in our ward boundaries. Anyway, he sat down right behind me before sacrament meeting started and kept talking to me really loudly. Apparently he's from Idaho and is moving back with his Filipina wife. Anyway, he was so mean yesterday! He was saying stuff like (all two rows of Filipinos could hear everything he said). "Isn’t Filipino food disgusting? Adobo is only good the first time you have it. This stuff here is just crap! Even the American restaurants here are gross. When I order a burrito, I want something more than beans! Don’t you just miss goin’ down to Arbys and gettin’ yerself a big ol reuben? and Chicago Connection pizza?" it was awful. He was being so so rude and condescending while all of the Filipinos are just quietly bowing their heads and taking it. So, I defended Filipino food and the Philippines a lot. I didn't agree with that gross guy at all. I think I won over all of their hearts. No wonder people hate Americans! It’s because Americans just come to the Philippines if they are missionaries or they are old gross guys that come here to get a wife. 

 

I have this weird problem where even when I see white people I start speaking Tagalog to them. My English is definitely getting worse. I used to think it was super annoying when I would read that on people’s blogs, but it's actually true.

Lately I’ve taken to cooking Filipino food at home. I made some delicious fish the other day (served whole of course). Sister T is a pro at fish since she's from a tiny island. So she teaches me how to make it delicious. Also, one of our less active members, made us this delicious crab stuff with coconut milk. We are going to try and make it this week.

It was funny earlier at our zone activity. We had a talent show. All the elders from New Zealand and Fiji and Samoa are doing all the awesome things like haka and whatnot…just super manly. Then a group of white elders got up there and sang a hymn. Quite the difference haha!! Our apartment made "awards" for everyone and announced it like an award show. i.e. best dressed, most likely to whatever... they were pretty funny. It was a big hit. Then we played volleyball barefoot in the rain.

Our investigators are ok. They are very slowly progressing. Brother D is doing great. He gets to church 30 minutes early and is super devoted. We are slowly still working on his family. I don't think they're going to come around any time soon, but I’m pretty sure they will in the future. We found 2 different people this week that seemed really great. They were both very interested in finding the truth and they really understood our message. I’ll let you know on any progress with them.

Ok..It’s time for me to go. Love all of you! Have a great week.

Having dinner with the Celeste family.

[Thank you to Sister Celeste for these pictures and for being so kind.]

 

 

From Sister Celeste--"The sisters are on their way to teach a discussion. I was so busy taking photos of the lovely flower, 'Midnight Queen.' I had to stop the Sisters and tell them all about this unusual flower...It only blooms at night and it has a sweet smell. When the flower fully blooms, it is bigger than your face."

 

Phunky Things

My housemate, Sister J is home from the hospital but has been at home for the whole week. She had amoebiasis.  I stayed home with her a few times. Sometimes I get really tired and I just think "dang, I wish I could just rest for a couple hours." So I was looking forward to staying with her. It wasn't fun though. Sooo boring! I was very antsy and ended up reading all of The Pearl of Great Price and cleaning the whole house. Then yesterday we were about to go out to proselyte and Sister J’s companion just flops on the table and sighs and looks like she's about to cry because she's stuck there. I said jokingly, “You can go work in my area with my companion and I’ll stay here." So she jumped on that and I stayed home yesterday. Sister J and I ended up just talking about the 2nd coming and the gathering of Israel and the establishment of Zion for about 6 hours. We’ve also started a no English policy. Pretty hard! I can say what I need, but I’m much better at telling stories in English.

 

This week I went with Sister C in her area while my companion stayed with Sister J. I was having culture shock all over again. Their area is so gross. I’m so thankful for my area. Their area is pretty much slums. I saw so many kids just pull down their pants and go to the bathroom right there in the path where people walk (#1 AND #2). Also, everyone in their area hangs skulls of animals (pig, caribou) by their door. Also sometimes they hang a slab of pig fat that just collects flies and smells awful. And the whole area is only stairs. I was gasping for air because of all the stairs and when I inhaled, air that reeked of sewage and piggeries just filled my lungs. So gross! I was relieved when finally I smelled some dried fish (which smells awful).

The food Sister J was given in the hospital was disgusting. I brought her some American jello. She loved it. I took my other thing of jello to an FHE with the Alcantara family. They loved it too. They were very surprised because they thought it was the Filipino version (which is flavorless and hard in my opinion).

Our investigators are doing ok. The H family is still progressing. We taught the D family a great lesson on Thursday. The lesson was on temples and family history work. Sister D was really interested, but she was still trying to hide it. She was very surprised that hope isn't lost for people who didn't hear the gospel and about how we can be together with our families and all that. It was a really good lesson. I was very happy with it. We just have to find a way to get her to read the Book of Mormon but she doesn't want to because she keeps telling us "I'm catholic." Also, Brother D got the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday.

We have an elder in our ward that just got done being an assistant to the president. He is whipping those elders (including the zone leaders) into shape. It's pretty funny to watch. He didn't approve of the backpacks two elders were using so he bought them new bags. Also, here's just a funny thing. It says in the missionary handbook to only fast for 24 hours. Two sisters I know didn't have time to close their fast because they had appointments and meetings. So they fasted for like 28 hours or something. They lived with a Sister Training Leader. When she found out she just said, "You two are so disobedient." haha, reminds me of that comment when that lady told that elder "Jesus is disappointed in your haircut."

I wish I would have studied the gospel more before my mission. Good thing I realize how important it is now! I keep seeing how important those little things are on my mission. When I get home I'm going to make myself continue to study the gospel and have family prayer and FHE and whatnot.

Love you and have a great week.

 Our fourth of July pancake feast.

 

Some of the Services offered at the hospital.

 

Hospital food

 

[Thanks to Sister Jackson for the pictures]

 

Phourth of July in the Philippines

Guess where I am? Haha, Pacdal C still with Sister Tune. Thought for sure I would be transferred. Even went to a few "farewell Sister Mortell dinners" with my favorite members. That's awkward, still here. Anyway, I'm happy I didn't get transferred. I love this area. I was ready to be done with the hills though. Oh well. Baguio is certainly taking a toll on my legs. I'm really happy to still be here. I love Pacdal ward.

On the fourth of July, I wore a patriotic outfit, had pancakes for breakfast, had a real hamburger and fries for lunch, and wished each person we taught "Happy Independence Day." Everyone thought that was pretty funny. I had a good Fourth of July. I love the Philippines, but I'm also very proud to be an American. We have a great country!

I just got an email saying that Bro. R (in San Fernando) is a ward missionary and received the Melchezidek priesthood. He's awesome!

Brother D is doing so well. He will get the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday. He is sharing the gospel with people and we were able to teach his mom yesterday! (She lives in the house right next to him. They've got a compound type of situation going on there. Filipinos usually live with or next to all of their family.) She's the hard-core born a Catholic-I’ll die a Catholic type, but at least we have a return appointment with her. Brother D was straight up teaching his mom about the Book of Mormon and bearing testimony. He's awesome! We are also making great strides with his wife. She used to basically refuse to talk to us, but last week we dropped by and chatted with her for like 30 minutes! Also his mom one time screamed at two missionaries and told them they were going to hell. She's still a tiny bit hostile, but we committed her to read the pamphlet and pray about it!

Here's a funny story. A few days ago we were talking to this lady on the street. We were trying to teach her the gospel but she was just talking our ear off. Anyway, in the midst of her talking, I see this tall lanky guy dart across the street in front of all these cars. The cars all slam on their brakes. The guy is just doing all these weird movements... he was kind of jerking and twitching. Then he comes over by us and starts to talk to the wall. He also kept doing this high pitched terrifying laugh. I looked at him closer... he was wearing a blue jumpsuit that said "MED1" on the back. Think he must have escaped from a mental hospital or something. We thought we lost him and then we went down this street and he was right there. He started coming towards us so we had to go hide in a store. Finally he went away. So that's creepy!

I have some good news. I thought all was lost, but after months of anticipation, the long-awaited package has arrived. It was beaten up, had several rips, and when the zone leader handed it to me it had candy falling out, but Gr. Tell's package finally came! So happy! The package was obviously opened and then re-taped, but I don't think anything was taken because there is some money in some Easter eggs still haha.

Also, I'm pretty sure I could do camping no problem now. But, let's not get crazy here. I still don't think I would be totally willing to use an outhouse in the Lamar valley in Yellowstone. I would be more willing to go find a bush though. I don't think I'll ever get over my phobia of port-a-potties ever since trek 2007. I just barely got over my fear of using restrooms at people’s houses a few weeks ago. Before then, I had only used the bathroom at one person’s house. I have come to realize that it may just be a little squat bowl thing that you flush with water, but they are always so clean! I've never been in a dirty bathroom here. People here are usually very clean...even if their floor is dirt they sweep out all the bugs and dust and everything is nice and in order.

Have a great week! Love you all!

 Tri-Zone Conference--Baguio, Agoo, La Trinidad

 

 Baguio Zone

 

 

 Sister Mortell and Sister Tune

The Phruits of our Labors

Good news first. Brother D is now a baptized and confirmed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! I am so happy for him. His baptism went really well. Brother P, his fellowshipper, baptized him. There was also a primary kid being baptized at the same time. Brother D gave a nice testimony about how he came to know that this was the truth because of the Book of Mormon, and about the light that is now in his life. He wants his family to be baptized so badly. He also really wants to share the gospel. He was a little disappointed when he learned that he could not serve a full-time mission because he is too old and he has a family. I want his family to be baptized so they can all go to the temple. We are working on them. His 14-yr-old son came to his baptism and he has also come to church a couple times now. I bet he will probably get baptized. I just want it to be the rest of his family too.

Our area is actually doing really well right now. We have 3 more Investigators with Baptismal Dates… Sister M and the H family. The H family are a less-active family we have been visiting twice a week since I got here. The dad and daughter are now mostly reactivated and the daughter's husband and older brother now have baptismal dates.

We had an interesting experience last week. We were finding people to teach and we went up to this group of people. Before we had even introduced ourselves they ushered us inside their patio thing and told us to sit down. There were 9 people there. We found out that half of them were Iglesia Ni Cristo and half of them were Catholic. So we started to teach them... man! They are all bible bashers! And bible bashers from 2 separate religions (who also happen to hate each other). It was so hectic. They were just pulling all these random things out and trying to trip us up... didn't work. And they had so many questions. Sister Tune and I both ended up answering questions at the same time. I was in charge of the left half and she had the right half. Probably the worst lesson of my mission!  If we didn't answer their questions fast enough they would hit my leg and ask me again. Their concerns consisted of the usual things like priesthood authority and the Godhead, but also stupid things like this "why do all your churches have basketball courts! Churches should not be a place of fun. They are for worshiping God." …stupidest concern ever haha. But, the good news is... we found out from our bishop that that's not even our area. The bishops had been fighting over whose ward that barangay was in and we had been proselyting there. It’s in Sister J’s area. haha, they have an appointment with 9 bible bashers Wednesday morning at 11.

I'm almost for sure getting transferred on Friday. I’ve been in this area for 3 transfers so more likely than not I will be transferred because it's pretty rare for someone to stay in an area for 4 transfers. I'm a little sad because I really love this area. Oh well. I'll let you know next Monday what happens. I have to go on exchanges on Wednesday in a different area. Not too happy about it because I have a line of dinner appointments with my favorite members every day this week.

 

I'm great. Love you and I hope you have a great week!

 

 

Phellowshipping, Phaith and Un-Philtered Water

Good news! Brother D passed his baptismal interview! He's getting baptized on Saturday at 5:00. He is super ready and excited and has a great testimony. We gave him a conference edition of the Liahona. He loves it and takes it with him always. He understands everything so well and says he is very committed to leaving behind all his Word of Wisdom problems and not going back to them. I just really want his family to get baptized. Hopefully they will start listening more to us. Luckily we found him the perfect fellowshipper. They both had a ton of Word of Wisdom problems in the past, comparable jobs, they were both the first baptized in their family and they live by each other. It’s perfect.

It’s amazing how we found him. The missionaries before me found him. His niece was a member, but she moved to America. Her name was on an old list of records called AUNs (address unknown. Somehow the church in the Philippines got rid of all the records of people that the wards didn't know in the 90s. Now they decided to find them all again so Manila sent them back to us. It's a huge mess, but because of it we found him!) The missionaries before me taught him twice, and then couldn't teach him again because he was never home and they couldn't find him. Then I taught him twice with Sister Smith, and then he disappeared again. Then he really started to progress and come to church and stuff last transfer.

Sister M has been out of town, so we haven't been able to teach her. Our other investigators are doing ok.... Brother D is the star right now! haha We were so scared... we were going over the baptism interview questions with him. We asked if he had committed any serious crimes. He gave a hesitant vague answer. Then he said, "Well... I’m not sure, but I think it's pretty common for men..." then we found out that he had gotten into a couple of fistfights when he was young. Good thing that's not a crime here. We really hope his family will come to the baptism.

We had a funny experience last week. We were trying to teach some less actives members. We went to their house and they told us to come. We walked in and who was already there? The Jehovah witness missionaries….awkward.... they told us to sit down and wait until they finished. We just told them we would come back. We felt like that would be stirring up a pot of trouble if we stayed. When we were coming back we met them on the street. They were condescending to us. They gave us a magazine thing which we took and then we gave them a pamphlet but they tried to refuse it. haha, but Sister T just said, "No, this is kind of like a trade. We'll take yours and you take ours." They were so nice to us when we were there in the less active member’s house, just going on and on about how great it is that I can speak Tagalog. Then their claws came out on the street... I read their magazine. They believe in some weird stuff… just doesn't sound right. I’m glad I belong to the true church... oh yeah, and the less active they were teaching told us she was just listening to be nice. And then she came to church on Sunday! And she brought her nonmember husband. First time she's come in about 6 months. Also, the L family finally came to church!

Jehovah’s Witnesse are one of the more popular religions (Catholic is by far #1, also lots of Iglesia ni Cristo, and Baptist). Oh creepy... we were walking home the other night and heard this awful terrible chanting noise…Chanting and wailing and all sorts of creepy stuff. Where was it coming from? The Iglesia church. Apparently that’s what they do in their services.

Last week we were trying to buy load at a tindahan. [Huh? Here’s Ally’s explanation: haha. To send a text or call, you pay money and get what is called load on your phone, instead of having a phone plan. And a tindahan is a little store. People have them connected to the front of their house to earn a little income. They usually have snacks, load, soft drinks, beer, cigarettes, and things like that. There is a tindahan about every 10 feet in the Philippines. It's awful though because when less actives or investigators have a tindahan they use that as their excuse for why they can't come to church…"I can't leave the tindahan!"] We started to talk to the owner. She told us that she used to be a Mormon but then she stopped coming to church when she moved to Baguio because her husband was dying of a stroke. She also told us that she is dying of cancer. She hardly has any hair because of the chemo…so sad. She is so nice. So we taught her and are going to go back this week. She is now an active Catholic. She belongs to some Catholic senior citizen club thing and she told us that they always tell her to pray because they love her prayers (she said it was because the Mormons taught her to pray from her heart).

We had a tri-zone conference last week. I always feel so motivated after those. I wish they could be more often. Baguio zone has turned around its stats so much. We used to be dead last in mission. Then over the past 2 or 3 transfers we have improved a lot and now are #2. Our mission president basically took everyone from San Fernando and transferred them to Baguio. I’ve had the same people in my zone pretty much my whole mission.

The focus of the conference was increasing your faith. You have to have faith that Heavenly Father will help you, faith that our message is true, faith in our investigators, etc. We have been working on setting goals with faith and then working hard to achieve them. That’s how Sister T and I improved our area I think. Also, we really focused on working with members which helped a ton. Now we visit all the members in our area for about 30 minutes once a week. We have found it extremely helpful.

Transfers are July 4. I’m pretty sure I’m getting transferred. I’ll really miss the people in this area though. I hate to say it, but I think it has become my favorite area. Either that or it might be a tie with Sevilla B. When I got here this was by far my least favorite. Oh well. At least I’ll be ending with Brother D’s baptism.

I wrote all of you a letter today. It was during language study though, so I had to write it in Tagalog then I translated it into English. It was actually a very useful language learning activity! I’ll start taking more pictures. I just hate looking like a tourist. I saw this giant bald white guy taking all these pictures of jeepnies the other day…pretty hard not to laugh at him.

One of my housemates has amoebiasis. She got it from drinking unfiltered water. She will apparently start feeling better in about a week but the bacteria are always in her and she has to be very careful about what she eats now. She is pretty miserable and she hasn't worked in almost a week. It's also extremely contagious. We’re being very very careful though. We’re cleaning everything and not using anything she uses and we don't touch anything she's touched. She is the 3rd person in our zone to get it... don't worry I’m being very careful.

By the way, my face is a lot better and my hair is maybe very slightly better. I bought a face mask thing and some thickening shampoo and conditioner and a hair spa thing. Good thing I was in Baguio when this happened or I wouldn't be able to get anything. I have been eating avocados like crazy because they are in season. Delicious!

Thank you. Love you! You are the best and I appreciate everything so much. I hope you have a great week. I will take all of your health advice.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes Phoul Things Happen

Hello!

Have you ever heard of Unification religion? It was started by some guy in Korea? One of our investigators belongs to that church and she told us her church had something like Joseph Smith too. She's all about trying to unify everyone. She tells us her church strongly encourages interracial marriage in order to eliminate racial barriers. She also has some interesting views on the Atonement. We had such a powerful lesson with her about priesthood authority and families being together forever and temples. Her husband died a couple years ago and I think she was really touched by our lesson. We thought we had finally helped her to see the difference. Then she just said, "Oh yeah, that's basically what my church believes." We about screamed! She is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and praying... hopefully she'll be able to recognize answers to her prayers.

One of our favorite members (who always works with us and is the best) has a 6-year-old son who is in the hospital. He got mumps or something then some sort of parasite and pneumonia and a fever. He’s coming home today or tomorrow. Apparently he's just really weak and can't even walk because he hasn't eaten anything. I feel bad for them...I think everything is ok though.

I kind of had a gross week. I was walking to a member’s house and all of a sudden I felt something drop on my head and arm. I looked down and to my horror, saw bird poop! And not just from a sparrow... I was walking underneath a tree with chickens in it! So I quickly flicked it off my arm and then screamed at Sister Tune to get it out of my hair. She refused... finally I found my handkerchief in my bag and she wiped it off my head. It was so much! Not just a little. I quickly threw my handkerchief away. We walked to a member’s house, I told them, and they laughed and laughed and then provided me with a bucket of water and a bar of soap. So I washed my hair in front of their house while their neighbor just stared at me. The funny thing was I had already washed my hair twice that day. I forgot to wash the conditioner out in the morning haha so had to wash it again at lunch. Then I had to wash it again when I got home to make sure all the bird poop was out…probably not good for the hair fall situation.

Sadly, the bird poop incident wasn't the grossest thing that happened this week. Sewage backed up into our toilet. I think it's because we always flush toilet paper because that is disgusting if you don't. It was just straight up brown smelly water. Good thing it didn't overflow. I tried to plunge it a bit, but to no avail. I took a break from plunging to finish getting ready for church. I looked in the mirror and saw my sad thin hair and teeth and skin and the smell of sewage wafted over to me. I just about burst into tears. I just told myself to deal with it and grow up and I was ok. Luckily our care taker guy came home and I asked him to look at our toilet. He fixed it with all these really complicated tools and then told us that he will be our dad while we're here. haha. We’re lucky to have that crazy old man.

We visited Brother D yesterday. He’s doing really well. We asked him about his drinking and he said, "No problem. I’ve just been thinking about baptism." That's good to hear! He also had just learned about missionary work earlier at stake conference and was so excited to apply it. He referred us to his best friend. He’s the best.

Our stake conference yesterday was good. The stake president emphasized missionary work which was great. We also watched a broadcast for all of the Philippines. We heard from Elder Cook and that lady in the Young Women presidency…forgot her name and that general authority from the Philippines. I was very glad he was there. Brother D made a couple comments about how all the leaders of our church were Caucasian.

I eat way more fruit and vegetables here than I do at home. I eat meat pretty rarely here... I feel like I’m basically a vegetarian.

[From one of Allyson’s housemates: “Just take a cold shower in church clothes if you are wondering what life is like here in Baguio.]

Love you! Have a great week. Thanks for everything. You’re the best!