Thank you thank you thank you for your gift.! SO, every single night since Dec 16 carolers come and sing and then if we give them candy or a peso they sing this song in response. Sometimes they get very insistent if we don't open our door... we've spent 100 pesos already giving out candy!
I haven't gotten my packages yet, but it’s probably b/c it was a day off for the office elders and we all played basketball and volleyball. I'm sure I’ll get them tonight at our Christmas conference dinner.
this will be quick.
merry Christmas I love you and thank you so much for all you've done. I am looking forward to the phone call this week! 30 minutes only! so get ready!!!
I don't even remembered what happened last week.
oh! brother Agujar and his family came to church. Mildred talked in church. President Malit came to our sacrament meeting and nothing was prepared and Sister Brinton ended up playing prelude for 40 minutes. terrible!
oh, Mildred made us little Christmas cards, adorable. handmade. she taught us how to make chicken adobe. be excited ! I’ll cook for you all when I get home. and, she is also helping prepare the food for our conference so her and her boys got to come to Tacloban and stay at the mission home and have lots of fun here. they were so excited. President Malit just loves Mildred too and he is doing all her can to help her. . . she did give up her job and everything for the truth! Her two boys want to go on missions and even wrote in their little baptism journals about it. Her little one, JV. wrote his feelings after he was baptized " During my baptism I feel nervous. But when Elder Daniels put me into the water when I said Amen, I felt something inside my bones. It the holy ghost. that get into my body and my mom said yes it is the holy ghost you received." SO cute. She said she asked them first what they felt cause she didn't want them to copy her... and then he said that and they all had the same feelings!
Okay. No time now. I love you all. Life is wonderful here and I am happy and healthy and doing good. Love you all, sister blonquist
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
December 13th
Hello family and friends,
December 13th over here in Tacloban City. So yesterday December 12 marked my one year of going through the temple. What a great year its been too. Well, actually yesterday, hah, i spent the day in bed dying of some sort of plague. But i am okay now, no worries. I woke up around 3 am and new i was sick. I was in the bathroom most of the night throwing up and ..more. haha. Well, it was a better sunday than most b/c we were having our district conference far away in tanauan and so none of our investigators were coming to church. So, we weren't stressed about people coming to church or teaching or anything so it was a better day than most to be ill in bed. I got a text around 8:30 from president malit asking me to sing in the general session of district conference! I had to decline, clearly, cause i was in my bed, sick. He would ask me right before the district meeting starts....makes me nervous for Christmas conference next week. :)
Basta, today is Pday and we are in tacloban for support. I still am not feeling good (about 50%) but we just keep pluggin along. The ZLs came over yesterday and gave me a nice blessing. Sister Brinton got to spend the whole day studying and I got to study a bit too adn then we had a good companionship study. I decided there is purpose in all things. Even though I was in a lot of pain and really sick, for some specific reasons i think sister brinton and i needed yesterday. Anyways, on of the things i studied was from Alma 5. A great chapter about change of heart and a true conversion. I know i've asked in my previous emails, but i really would love to get everyone's Conversion Story. So if you haven't sent that to me--mom, dad, aaron, andru, jarrett, katie, kerry, cousins, aunts, grandmas, everyone else...... that is what i want for christmas! :)
Well, while i was reading alma 5 the spirit was so strong. I love it when the spirit teaches me things and i know that these words were written for me. Verses 10-13 i really loved. HOW are we all saved?? I've asked this question a lot this past week as we've been teaching new investigators. I often hear, through prayer, church, service, keeping the commandments...We are taught in alma 5 about this change of heart. We will be saved when we are truly converted. Because when we are truly converted we are faithful until the end (vs 13). This whole chapter asks questions that really make you think about your own life and that is one way we are trained when we teach about the gospel--ask inspired questions. I love this chapter! Basta, in our area in dagami there at one time was 200+ members and when the daniels were here there were about 40 people at church ( we now have 60-70s)...clearly a lot of inactive as well. SO verse 37 really stood out to me as well. " ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is STILL calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice." And then, verse 33, : Behold he sendeth and invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extedned towards them, and he saith, : Repent, and I will receive you."
I know this is true.! The gospel is so simple. IT is us as humans that make it more difficult. Jesus Christ our savior atoned for us, ALL of us. He invites ALL of us to repent, right now, today and come back to him. He promises us that he will receive us no matter what we have done or what we think we can't do..! All things are possible through Jesus Christ. I have to tell myself that every day. All things are possible through Jesus Christ. Please, please, don't every forget this.
Yesterday as well while i was sick in bed my wonderful comp, Sister Brinton was reading from the Liahona, January 2010. The story is short and sweet and called, "I will be found of you." In Jeremiah 29: 12-14 it says, Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and i will hearken unto you. and ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And i will be found of you, saith the lord....."
The man continues on and says that he was reminded of when he and his wife would play hide and go seek with their children. He said that they would always make themselves easy to find when it was their turn to hide sometimes leaving a foot in plain view or making noises, or hiding in the same spot over and over. He said that they wanted their children to search for them, but they also wanted their kids to find them. THe looked forward to the hugs and kisses and the joyful giggles of triumph. . He related it to teh Savior and I really felt like i could relate to this as well. Heavenly father wants us to search for him, but he also wants us to find him--he knows how happy we will be when we do. He does not try to trick us! He does allll he can to help us know where and how to search..He gives us teh scriptures and prophets and temples, and listens to our prayers, and blesses us with the holy ghost!
It was a wonderful story from the liahona and one i really appreciated. I remember lots of times playing sardines or hide and seek when i was younger so this story made things a lot clearer to me.
In other news, we had great lessons this week and there seemed to be a theme of teaching how baby baptism is not from god. We taught a lot from Moroni 8 this week and how children are innocent.
Are investigators are doing well and we are too! I also asked our investigators this week what gift are we going to give our Savior for Christmas??? I ask the same question to everyone at home! :)
Please remember, remember, that anything is possible through jesus christ!
Please remember, remember that I love all of you and i pray for you, by name, daily.
Please remember, remember that the Lords arms of mercy are extended to you and all he asks is that we repent, and he will receive us!
Please remember, remember, " I will be found of you, saith the Lord." Please let us continue our search every day to find Him! He does not trick us. He helps us. Come unto Christ! We can do it. :)
I love you all. I love Christmas time and I miss you all, but I am happy here! Thank you for your prayers, support, and concern.
Love, your missionary,
Sister B.
Thank you louann mallory for your conversion story! My comp and I loved reading it.
December 13th over here in Tacloban City. So yesterday December 12 marked my one year of going through the temple. What a great year its been too. Well, actually yesterday, hah, i spent the day in bed dying of some sort of plague. But i am okay now, no worries. I woke up around 3 am and new i was sick. I was in the bathroom most of the night throwing up and ..more. haha. Well, it was a better sunday than most b/c we were having our district conference far away in tanauan and so none of our investigators were coming to church. So, we weren't stressed about people coming to church or teaching or anything so it was a better day than most to be ill in bed. I got a text around 8:30 from president malit asking me to sing in the general session of district conference! I had to decline, clearly, cause i was in my bed, sick. He would ask me right before the district meeting starts....makes me nervous for Christmas conference next week. :)
Basta, today is Pday and we are in tacloban for support. I still am not feeling good (about 50%) but we just keep pluggin along. The ZLs came over yesterday and gave me a nice blessing. Sister Brinton got to spend the whole day studying and I got to study a bit too adn then we had a good companionship study. I decided there is purpose in all things. Even though I was in a lot of pain and really sick, for some specific reasons i think sister brinton and i needed yesterday. Anyways, on of the things i studied was from Alma 5. A great chapter about change of heart and a true conversion. I know i've asked in my previous emails, but i really would love to get everyone's Conversion Story. So if you haven't sent that to me--mom, dad, aaron, andru, jarrett, katie, kerry, cousins, aunts, grandmas, everyone else...... that is what i want for christmas! :)
Well, while i was reading alma 5 the spirit was so strong. I love it when the spirit teaches me things and i know that these words were written for me. Verses 10-13 i really loved. HOW are we all saved?? I've asked this question a lot this past week as we've been teaching new investigators. I often hear, through prayer, church, service, keeping the commandments...We are taught in alma 5 about this change of heart. We will be saved when we are truly converted. Because when we are truly converted we are faithful until the end (vs 13). This whole chapter asks questions that really make you think about your own life and that is one way we are trained when we teach about the gospel--ask inspired questions. I love this chapter! Basta, in our area in dagami there at one time was 200+ members and when the daniels were here there were about 40 people at church ( we now have 60-70s)...clearly a lot of inactive as well. SO verse 37 really stood out to me as well. " ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is STILL calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice." And then, verse 33, : Behold he sendeth and invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extedned towards them, and he saith, : Repent, and I will receive you."
I know this is true.! The gospel is so simple. IT is us as humans that make it more difficult. Jesus Christ our savior atoned for us, ALL of us. He invites ALL of us to repent, right now, today and come back to him. He promises us that he will receive us no matter what we have done or what we think we can't do..! All things are possible through Jesus Christ. I have to tell myself that every day. All things are possible through Jesus Christ. Please, please, don't every forget this.
Yesterday as well while i was sick in bed my wonderful comp, Sister Brinton was reading from the Liahona, January 2010. The story is short and sweet and called, "I will be found of you." In Jeremiah 29: 12-14 it says, Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and i will hearken unto you. and ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And i will be found of you, saith the lord....."
The man continues on and says that he was reminded of when he and his wife would play hide and go seek with their children. He said that they would always make themselves easy to find when it was their turn to hide sometimes leaving a foot in plain view or making noises, or hiding in the same spot over and over. He said that they wanted their children to search for them, but they also wanted their kids to find them. THe looked forward to the hugs and kisses and the joyful giggles of triumph. . He related it to teh Savior and I really felt like i could relate to this as well. Heavenly father wants us to search for him, but he also wants us to find him--he knows how happy we will be when we do. He does not try to trick us! He does allll he can to help us know where and how to search..He gives us teh scriptures and prophets and temples, and listens to our prayers, and blesses us with the holy ghost!
It was a wonderful story from the liahona and one i really appreciated. I remember lots of times playing sardines or hide and seek when i was younger so this story made things a lot clearer to me.
In other news, we had great lessons this week and there seemed to be a theme of teaching how baby baptism is not from god. We taught a lot from Moroni 8 this week and how children are innocent.
Are investigators are doing well and we are too! I also asked our investigators this week what gift are we going to give our Savior for Christmas??? I ask the same question to everyone at home! :)
Please remember, remember, that anything is possible through jesus christ!
Please remember, remember that I love all of you and i pray for you, by name, daily.
Please remember, remember that the Lords arms of mercy are extended to you and all he asks is that we repent, and he will receive us!
Please remember, remember, " I will be found of you, saith the Lord." Please let us continue our search every day to find Him! He does not trick us. He helps us. Come unto Christ! We can do it. :)
I love you all. I love Christmas time and I miss you all, but I am happy here! Thank you for your prayers, support, and concern.
Love, your missionary,
Sister B.
Thank you louann mallory for your conversion story! My comp and I loved reading it.
December 6th
Hey Family,
So this week flew itself by?! Is that happening on the other side of the world too?? So this week we finally were able to move into our little house in Dagami. I'm not sure if I made that clear before, but for the past month we've been living in Tanauan with the Sisters there and commuting to Dagami b/c the Daniels (senior couple) lived in the house there. They went home this week though so we got to move in. We love our little house! It is so much better to live in our area too. We were able to really work hard this week and get a lot accomplished. It felt good.
We enjoyed fasting this week and realizing how aware God is of his children. We had 9 of our investigators come to church and the less actives we've been working with! One less active, Brother Mollana , is an RM and has been home for one year. He was the 2nd counselor, but has been inactive since he got home from his mission.... And he would always hide when we would come to his house cause he was ashamed. Well, he came to church last week b/c his sister got baptized and we met him and became fast friends with him. We put him in charge of the games for the branch activity and then we had him work with us this week. He is awesome. He came to church again on Sunday and will be working with us this week. We have been praying for members to work with us and to reactivate the priesthood in our little branch b/c it is reallly lacking. We have maybe 5 priesthood holders. That will be our focus this week as well.
My comp got a package with the General Conference Ensign which has been fun to read! MOM and DAD; when are you going to go on a mission??
Also, I really loved the Prophets words to the Relief Society about not judging. I believe his words with all my heart.
Other updates... we are both sick this week, but still pluggin along. We made Christmas cards and hope to get them to America around christmas.... sorry I've been slacking at writing people back; I've been extremely busy.
Things we are really praying for:
Spiritual environment to teach lessons in
Members to work with us
Strive with unwearyingness
Reactivate priesthood holders
We also got a new Branch President today. I think he will be good. He is new to the ward and just married a girl from the branch in the Cebu temple a couple months ago.
Sidenote. I am really grateful for the priesthood and that I have always had it near me when I needed it.
So, this is quick this week, but I want to invite everyone to again, send me their conversion story! That would be the best Christmas present ever.
WEll, life is wonderful here!
i love you all and pray for you daily!
love, your missionary,
Sister B.
other things:
Pomegranate lemonade crystal light packs
Hot cocoa mix
Christmas music (Mormon Tabernacle Choir?)
So this week flew itself by?! Is that happening on the other side of the world too?? So this week we finally were able to move into our little house in Dagami. I'm not sure if I made that clear before, but for the past month we've been living in Tanauan with the Sisters there and commuting to Dagami b/c the Daniels (senior couple) lived in the house there. They went home this week though so we got to move in. We love our little house! It is so much better to live in our area too. We were able to really work hard this week and get a lot accomplished. It felt good.
We enjoyed fasting this week and realizing how aware God is of his children. We had 9 of our investigators come to church and the less actives we've been working with! One less active, Brother Mollana , is an RM and has been home for one year. He was the 2nd counselor, but has been inactive since he got home from his mission.... And he would always hide when we would come to his house cause he was ashamed. Well, he came to church last week b/c his sister got baptized and we met him and became fast friends with him. We put him in charge of the games for the branch activity and then we had him work with us this week. He is awesome. He came to church again on Sunday and will be working with us this week. We have been praying for members to work with us and to reactivate the priesthood in our little branch b/c it is reallly lacking. We have maybe 5 priesthood holders. That will be our focus this week as well.
My comp got a package with the General Conference Ensign which has been fun to read! MOM and DAD; when are you going to go on a mission??
Also, I really loved the Prophets words to the Relief Society about not judging. I believe his words with all my heart.
Other updates... we are both sick this week, but still pluggin along. We made Christmas cards and hope to get them to America around christmas.... sorry I've been slacking at writing people back; I've been extremely busy.
Things we are really praying for:
Spiritual environment to teach lessons in
Members to work with us
Strive with unwearyingness
Reactivate priesthood holders
We also got a new Branch President today. I think he will be good. He is new to the ward and just married a girl from the branch in the Cebu temple a couple months ago.
Sidenote. I am really grateful for the priesthood and that I have always had it near me when I needed it.
So, this is quick this week, but I want to invite everyone to again, send me their conversion story! That would be the best Christmas present ever.
WEll, life is wonderful here!
i love you all and pray for you daily!
love, your missionary,
Sister B.
other things:
Pomegranate lemonade crystal light packs
Hot cocoa mix
Christmas music (Mormon Tabernacle Choir?)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
11.29.10
Hi Family!
It sounds like thanksgiving was awesome. WE had our own little thanksgiving feast at about 9:30pm after work and planning, etc. We had chicken and mashed potatoes (not like URS's. at all. ) , carrotts with butter/cinnamon, a LOT of bread ( I was in charge of that), and andddd thats all. OH, and this crazy intense/ dense cookie concoction that I couldn't eat b/c it was too sweet so I just ate more bread and mashed potatoes..figures. :)
Well, this week was awesome. We had district meeting and President Malit showed up. Which just made me realize even more so how much God is aware of me. I had been feeling like I hadn’t seen my mission president for a while and I had missed him--his guidance and counsel and advice... He's incredible. His training and insights turned out to be an exact answer to some of my questions and concerns I had prayed about earlier that morning. Amazing.
Crazy events of the week:
-We were in an intense lesson with Mildred the night before she was supposed to get baptized....I am in the middle of an intense convo when a LIZARD landed on my arm! No prob. Ignored it and kept talking. (I gave my comp the look--we'll laugh about this later.)
--Did I ever mention how we killed this massive spider the size of my hand?? NOT exaggerating. And it had a sack of eggs on its back.
--Oh, did I also ever mention that there really ARE FLYING cockroaches in the Philippines. I don't think I ever really believed that, until we moved to Tanauan and there are tons and I get to kill them all.
--Borja family: The mom is a member, less active. Her oldest daughter JUST turned 16 yesterday. Her youngest is 4 months old. She has a lot of kids in between that. Maybe 8? Well her oldest daughter went to manila when she was 13 I think to work. She came home pregnant a couple months ago and now lives at home with her 2 month old child. (She was 15 when she had him...).So Sister Borja does laundry and works Sundays so she can't come to church. Her daughter with the baby also works with her. I don't know what Sister borja's husband does--i don't think much. Basta. They have a 10 year old daughter Mhenjie. She's is adorable and I love her. Unfortunately, she doesn't get to go to school b/c she takes care of the two newborns while her sister and mom are working. She also takes care of the 2 year old and 4 year old and 6 year old. SHE's 10!
We want her to come to church so she can get baptized ,etc. And we are teaching her mom (to reactivate her) and her oldest sister so she can be baptized too. Well, the other day we went to their house for an apt with the now 16 yr old daughter, but she was at work with the mom. It was just little 10 year old Mhenjie and the two newborns and then the three little ones-2yrs , 4, 6.
We are teaching Mhenjie and she is listening and so smart! She knows all about baptism and has been reading the Book of Mormon. (sidenote. This family is super super super poor. )
1. Her little sister wakes up ( the 4month old.) So she goes and gets her. The baby pees all over Mhenjie. (pretty normal, no big deal.) The 2 year old gets someones clothes and cleans up the mess.
2. The 2 year old finds an old rice sack and starts playing in it.
3. The 4 year old boy and the 6 year old are blowing bubbles and being cute and loud and funny.
4. We are teaching and paying close attention to Mhenjie.
5. The newest newborn is still sleeping on the bed.
6. We hear crying and whimpering and look up and see that the 4 year old is now IN the rice sack and his 6 year old brother has hold of the top so he can't breathe or get out.
7. We start yelling at him to stop! He won't.
8. The 4 year old is having a panic attack.
9. Mhenjie can't get up to stop it b/c she has the older newborn crying now.
10. My comp and I jump up and I literally have to pull his hands off the rice sack and get his brother out.
11. The 4 year old is crying. the 6 year old is laughing. Mhenjie, the 10 year old is holding the newborn and rushed into the area where they have knives and starts HIDING the knives.
12. I go to the younger newborn b/c it is now awake and choking on it's spit up.
13. My comp goes to where Mhenjie and the knives are b/c the 4 year old is trying to attack the 6 year old.
14. Mhenjie hides the knives in the ceiling while holding the newborn..
15. The 4 year old climbs on the table with a stick and starts hitting the ceiling until the knives fall down.
16. The 6 year old runs to hide.
17. I am holding the newest newborn b/c he's crying and spitting up.
18. My comp is trying to keep the boys separated.
19. The 4 year old has a knife and is coming after the 6 year old.
20. Babies are crying.
21. I take the knife from the 4 year old and grab him and pick him up and hold him ( I gave Mhenjie the newest newborn) She is holding two newborns...
22. I let the 4 year old cry on my shoulder and tell him I know how scared he was and his brother shouldn't have done that.
23. I am yelling to his brother to say sorry and to promise to never do it again.
We were teaching on Repentance, so we tried to apply it to their every day life.
This all happened in about 3 minutes. WE stayed until the two brothers had calmed down enough and Mhenjie could get the babies to lie down. we prayed reallllllly hard that the two brothers would not hurt each other and that they wouldn't find the knives I hid as we left.....
Yeah. In other news. I had interviews with President Malit on friday and it was wonderful.
Mildred and her two boys were interviewed on Saturday and we had a very busy day planned. There inteviews went well. Her oldest was sick and got a preisthood blessing.
Later that night we got a text from a member that Mildred was not doing well and had no money to get to church the next day...her baptism day.
We saw her that night and talked to her and everything worked out , but she continues to have financial problems and stress and two little boys who need school supplies and hair cuts and money for exams and food.
I love Mildred! They were all baptized on Sunday and were very happy. I'll send pictures soon.
Today is the going away party for the Daniels (our Senior Couple and Branch President). Stress with that too, but hopefully it will be okay!
I was also wondering/hoping if you all could write me your conversion story. I would love to hear when you knew the church was true. Salamat!
Okay here are list of things I would love :
CREST WHITE STRIPS!
quotes--from apostles/prophets/good inspiring ones, etc.
pedometer--we walk a lot. how expensive are they? any cheap ones ? It would be really fun to know how far we walk...b/c we walk and we walk and we walk..like the pioneer children...:)
stationary
small pictures/paintings of the Savior to give away/pass along cards.
thick/stylish belts/ black/brown
trail mix
pretzels.
face wash. biore. same as last time.
WELL. Love you all!
The church is true and it was a great week!
Love, your missionary,
Sister Blonquist
It sounds like thanksgiving was awesome. WE had our own little thanksgiving feast at about 9:30pm after work and planning, etc. We had chicken and mashed potatoes (not like URS's. at all. ) , carrotts with butter/cinnamon, a LOT of bread ( I was in charge of that), and andddd thats all. OH, and this crazy intense/ dense cookie concoction that I couldn't eat b/c it was too sweet so I just ate more bread and mashed potatoes..figures. :)
Well, this week was awesome. We had district meeting and President Malit showed up. Which just made me realize even more so how much God is aware of me. I had been feeling like I hadn’t seen my mission president for a while and I had missed him--his guidance and counsel and advice... He's incredible. His training and insights turned out to be an exact answer to some of my questions and concerns I had prayed about earlier that morning. Amazing.
Crazy events of the week:
-We were in an intense lesson with Mildred the night before she was supposed to get baptized....I am in the middle of an intense convo when a LIZARD landed on my arm! No prob. Ignored it and kept talking. (I gave my comp the look--we'll laugh about this later.)
--Did I ever mention how we killed this massive spider the size of my hand?? NOT exaggerating. And it had a sack of eggs on its back.
--Oh, did I also ever mention that there really ARE FLYING cockroaches in the Philippines. I don't think I ever really believed that, until we moved to Tanauan and there are tons and I get to kill them all.
--Borja family: The mom is a member, less active. Her oldest daughter JUST turned 16 yesterday. Her youngest is 4 months old. She has a lot of kids in between that. Maybe 8? Well her oldest daughter went to manila when she was 13 I think to work. She came home pregnant a couple months ago and now lives at home with her 2 month old child. (She was 15 when she had him...).So Sister Borja does laundry and works Sundays so she can't come to church. Her daughter with the baby also works with her. I don't know what Sister borja's husband does--i don't think much. Basta. They have a 10 year old daughter Mhenjie. She's is adorable and I love her. Unfortunately, she doesn't get to go to school b/c she takes care of the two newborns while her sister and mom are working. She also takes care of the 2 year old and 4 year old and 6 year old. SHE's 10!
We want her to come to church so she can get baptized ,etc. And we are teaching her mom (to reactivate her) and her oldest sister so she can be baptized too. Well, the other day we went to their house for an apt with the now 16 yr old daughter, but she was at work with the mom. It was just little 10 year old Mhenjie and the two newborns and then the three little ones-2yrs , 4, 6.
We are teaching Mhenjie and she is listening and so smart! She knows all about baptism and has been reading the Book of Mormon. (sidenote. This family is super super super poor. )
1. Her little sister wakes up ( the 4month old.) So she goes and gets her. The baby pees all over Mhenjie. (pretty normal, no big deal.) The 2 year old gets someones clothes and cleans up the mess.
2. The 2 year old finds an old rice sack and starts playing in it.
3. The 4 year old boy and the 6 year old are blowing bubbles and being cute and loud and funny.
4. We are teaching and paying close attention to Mhenjie.
5. The newest newborn is still sleeping on the bed.
6. We hear crying and whimpering and look up and see that the 4 year old is now IN the rice sack and his 6 year old brother has hold of the top so he can't breathe or get out.
7. We start yelling at him to stop! He won't.
8. The 4 year old is having a panic attack.
9. Mhenjie can't get up to stop it b/c she has the older newborn crying now.
10. My comp and I jump up and I literally have to pull his hands off the rice sack and get his brother out.
11. The 4 year old is crying. the 6 year old is laughing. Mhenjie, the 10 year old is holding the newborn and rushed into the area where they have knives and starts HIDING the knives.
12. I go to the younger newborn b/c it is now awake and choking on it's spit up.
13. My comp goes to where Mhenjie and the knives are b/c the 4 year old is trying to attack the 6 year old.
14. Mhenjie hides the knives in the ceiling while holding the newborn..
15. The 4 year old climbs on the table with a stick and starts hitting the ceiling until the knives fall down.
16. The 6 year old runs to hide.
17. I am holding the newest newborn b/c he's crying and spitting up.
18. My comp is trying to keep the boys separated.
19. The 4 year old has a knife and is coming after the 6 year old.
20. Babies are crying.
21. I take the knife from the 4 year old and grab him and pick him up and hold him ( I gave Mhenjie the newest newborn) She is holding two newborns...
22. I let the 4 year old cry on my shoulder and tell him I know how scared he was and his brother shouldn't have done that.
23. I am yelling to his brother to say sorry and to promise to never do it again.
We were teaching on Repentance, so we tried to apply it to their every day life.
This all happened in about 3 minutes. WE stayed until the two brothers had calmed down enough and Mhenjie could get the babies to lie down. we prayed reallllllly hard that the two brothers would not hurt each other and that they wouldn't find the knives I hid as we left.....
Yeah. In other news. I had interviews with President Malit on friday and it was wonderful.
Mildred and her two boys were interviewed on Saturday and we had a very busy day planned. There inteviews went well. Her oldest was sick and got a preisthood blessing.
Later that night we got a text from a member that Mildred was not doing well and had no money to get to church the next day...her baptism day.
We saw her that night and talked to her and everything worked out , but she continues to have financial problems and stress and two little boys who need school supplies and hair cuts and money for exams and food.
I love Mildred! They were all baptized on Sunday and were very happy. I'll send pictures soon.
Today is the going away party for the Daniels (our Senior Couple and Branch President). Stress with that too, but hopefully it will be okay!
I was also wondering/hoping if you all could write me your conversion story. I would love to hear when you knew the church was true. Salamat!
Okay here are list of things I would love :
CREST WHITE STRIPS!
quotes--from apostles/prophets/good inspiring ones, etc.
pedometer--we walk a lot. how expensive are they? any cheap ones ? It would be really fun to know how far we walk...b/c we walk and we walk and we walk..like the pioneer children...:)
stationary
small pictures/paintings of the Savior to give away/pass along cards.
thick/stylish belts/ black/brown
trail mix
pretzels.
face wash. biore. same as last time.
WELL. Love you all!
The church is true and it was a great week!
Love, your missionary,
Sister Blonquist
11.22.10
Hello My favorite Family and Friends,
WOW, its Thanksgiving time! SO, no there is no Thanksgiving here in the Philippines..obviously...it’s an American Holiday, but we plan to have a feast anyways. It'll be fun to see what we can come up with. :) Well, first off some things to make more clear...I realized after my last email I wrote that the Daniels had served a 22year mission....thats not true. I meant 22 MONTH mission. . And I also wrote that I was reading the Book of Mormon for the 2nd time....I meant the 2nd time since the MTC. Haha, anyways, those are the small corrections.
Well, this week was wonderful. I had a great birthday weekend. Everything I wanted for my bday happened--- two baptisms, lessons taught completely by the spirit, got to sleep in until 6am, got to eat at Shakeys, was a stressfree Pday, and had a really fun Family Home Evening! We had a good object lesson and played some hilarious games. I can't wait to come home and make you all play them. Tuesday, I got all the mail and packages for my bday so that was fun too. Thank you for the cards/ packages Mom and Dad!
It really was probably the best bday of any missionary of a mission.
Well, this week we taught Mildred. She is doing wonderfully! I love her so much. Tuesday we taught about service and Sabbath day and the 10 commandments. She texted us later and said she wanted to talk to just us about honoring our parents...So Friday we went back. We wanted to teach about Tithing and Word of Wisdom and so when we started she said, Yes, I know all about that I read about it last night.”....So she taught us all she knew and was totally willing to pay tithing and stop drinking coffee. We were blown away at how willing she was. But her faith is so strong and she has no problems following the commandments because she knows they are from God. Well, at the end we asked if she had any questions or wanted to talk about anything..and she did. She told us about some very serious issues with her father. Because of these issues, she can't be a part of her family. All three of us were crying. I'm not sure why some people on this earth seem to be dealt with alll the trials. She asked us if she still had to honor her father....I told her I couldn't tell her what to do, only God could, and then we turned to proverbs 3:4-5. I told her a new life was waiting for her when she gets baptized, and that the members were her family. She told us we were her sisters and how much she appreciated us. I love her so much and we both told her how much we admired her. Please keep her in your prayers. Her two boys are getting baptized too, and they asked her the other night if she was ever going to get married again...she said no b/c what if her new husband hit her too ....Then they said no, you need to marry a member of the church and he will love God and won't do that.... We all thought that was cute! Sister Brinton and I left trying to think of ANY single adult guy she could date.....haha.
Oh. On sunday Mildred came to church and paid her tithing.
She's incredible.
We visited a recent covert yesterday. practically in the rice fields. No problem...except if had rained all day and continued to rain throughout our lesson and after. We walked through lots of mud...slippery mud. AND. I fell. Mud caked alll over me. Completely drenched. we sang hymns and played the gratitude game all the long walk home. :) We sure felt like missionaries.
Well, the church is true and we are happy and loving our lives as the Lord's missionaries. Sister Brinton is doing well and is wonderful and picking up the language!
I'll be thinking of all of you and all that I am grateful for especially this week.
Have a blast at the museum!
love you all,
sister blonquist
WOW, its Thanksgiving time! SO, no there is no Thanksgiving here in the Philippines..obviously...it’s an American Holiday, but we plan to have a feast anyways. It'll be fun to see what we can come up with. :) Well, first off some things to make more clear...I realized after my last email I wrote that the Daniels had served a 22year mission....thats not true. I meant 22 MONTH mission. . And I also wrote that I was reading the Book of Mormon for the 2nd time....I meant the 2nd time since the MTC. Haha, anyways, those are the small corrections.
Well, this week was wonderful. I had a great birthday weekend. Everything I wanted for my bday happened--- two baptisms, lessons taught completely by the spirit, got to sleep in until 6am, got to eat at Shakeys, was a stressfree Pday, and had a really fun Family Home Evening! We had a good object lesson and played some hilarious games. I can't wait to come home and make you all play them. Tuesday, I got all the mail and packages for my bday so that was fun too. Thank you for the cards/ packages Mom and Dad!
It really was probably the best bday of any missionary of a mission.
Well, this week we taught Mildred. She is doing wonderfully! I love her so much. Tuesday we taught about service and Sabbath day and the 10 commandments. She texted us later and said she wanted to talk to just us about honoring our parents...So Friday we went back. We wanted to teach about Tithing and Word of Wisdom and so when we started she said, Yes, I know all about that I read about it last night.”....So she taught us all she knew and was totally willing to pay tithing and stop drinking coffee. We were blown away at how willing she was. But her faith is so strong and she has no problems following the commandments because she knows they are from God. Well, at the end we asked if she had any questions or wanted to talk about anything..and she did. She told us about some very serious issues with her father. Because of these issues, she can't be a part of her family. All three of us were crying. I'm not sure why some people on this earth seem to be dealt with alll the trials. She asked us if she still had to honor her father....I told her I couldn't tell her what to do, only God could, and then we turned to proverbs 3:4-5. I told her a new life was waiting for her when she gets baptized, and that the members were her family. She told us we were her sisters and how much she appreciated us. I love her so much and we both told her how much we admired her. Please keep her in your prayers. Her two boys are getting baptized too, and they asked her the other night if she was ever going to get married again...she said no b/c what if her new husband hit her too ....Then they said no, you need to marry a member of the church and he will love God and won't do that.... We all thought that was cute! Sister Brinton and I left trying to think of ANY single adult guy she could date.....haha.
Oh. On sunday Mildred came to church and paid her tithing.
She's incredible.
We visited a recent covert yesterday. practically in the rice fields. No problem...except if had rained all day and continued to rain throughout our lesson and after. We walked through lots of mud...slippery mud. AND. I fell. Mud caked alll over me. Completely drenched. we sang hymns and played the gratitude game all the long walk home. :) We sure felt like missionaries.
Well, the church is true and we are happy and loving our lives as the Lord's missionaries. Sister Brinton is doing well and is wonderful and picking up the language!
I'll be thinking of all of you and all that I am grateful for especially this week.
Have a blast at the museum!
love you all,
sister blonquist
Monday, November 15, 2010
Birthday and Miracles!! 11.15.10
Hello Family!
What a great week it has been! Thanks for all your birthday wishes, it has been a great day! I'm feeling pretty lucky that I got to have my birthday on a pday and we got to go to tacloban and eat at my favorite Shakeys restaurant and i get to read your emails and we have an epic family home even later tonight with tons of people from the ward...so its been a great day! Thank you so much for your love, prayer, support, and birthday wishes.
This week was really great and Sister Brinton is awesome. We have such a blast together and she is doing really well with the language. We are learning waray together and it is fun. and hard. but really good. It's a different process than the seven month struggle with Cebuano--I've promised myself that that would not happen again and I realize now that i went through that so that my 'anak' or trainee would not have to. We have a lot of fun trying to figure out what is going on every day! Please keep praying for us! Life is wonderful though, so no worries.
Mildred.
So Mildred and her two boys came to church last week. Sister Brinton and I taught her on Tuesday and it was a great lesson. She told us she was cooking and trying to sell food daily and she had some other ideas for work. She seemed at peace and she seemed happy about her life and her decision to go to church. It was the first lesson she did not start bawling. We all felt good and happy.
On Friday we went back. Elder and Sister Daniels were with us. ( we had updated them about tuesday and said she seemed really good and didn't cry and all seemed well....) Wellllll, we taught the lesson on Sacrament and why it was important and the blessings from the sacrament and going to church. I asked her what she was feeling/ thinking and she broke down. Completely started crying and said she could not do it and she would not be going to church and she listed all these things why and that it was too hard and there was no other way and her youngest boy was always looking in the rice bin and asking her what they were going to do when it ran out...... We all just sat there (i'm the only one that can understand her..) and she just let it all out. (So when we had told the Daniels she was good...yeah, that changed!)... Anyways, as she was talking i was pleading and asking heavenly Father what else he wanted me to tell her! What more could i say, what verse could i read to comfort her and help her right then. . . I ended up telling her to pray very specifically and then open the book of mormon and start reading and she would find her answer... I gave her mosiah 4 to read for an assignment. She did not commit to coming to church.
We had to meet the Zone Leaders at the church to interview our investigator for baptism...OH BY THE WAY WE HAD TWO BAPTISMS ON SATURDAY!!!!! BLANCA AND CHARMAIN. !
Anyways, I felt a heavy burden/ responsibility that i have never felt before.... IT was hard and i was stressed when the elders came and told them a little bit about it. I didn't know the direction i needed to go for her. And i was the only one communicating to her/ with her...
Anyways, Saturday after the baptism we brough mildred's boys home and they got out and i had the distinct impression to get out and go find mildred and how she was doing. So sister brinton and i got dropped off and we went to talk to her. Nothing had changed. She said she didn't want handouts of help from her family b/c she wanted to work for her kids, etc. Everything was really hard and she then said that she had to work the next day b/c she had to watch her cousins rice...there was no way she was going to church, but her boys would be there. . . All of the sudden i said to her, " Mildred. You pray tonight and ask God if it is okay for you to work tomorrow... And I promise you he will say no. " "And when he says no , pray again and ask him what you need to do..and then open the book of mormon and find your answer. Will you pray and ask him if its okay for you to work???"
She said yeah..... we left and we were sad , realizing satan was getting a hold of her again and she was digressing. Sad.
That night we prayed specifically in our comp prayer that she would come to church even though there seemed that there was no way for her to come.
I prayed that night saying that we needed a miracle and mildred needed to go to church. I wanted mildred at church the next day and i had promised her and told her very specific blessings and i needed Heavenly Father to back up these very specific blessings! SO.
Sunday.
We are waiting in the chapel before sacrament starts and I SEE HER AND HER TWO BOYS through the window walking into church. I stood up and got my comp and we went and greeted her and gave her a big hug. She started crying and explained what happened:
Saturday night after we left she said she prayed and asked God to give her a sign to know if she should go to work on Sunday. She then said her alarm went off at 3am when she was supposed to get up for work and SHE. COULD. NOT. MOVE. A LIMB ON HER BODY. She could not get out of bed. She said she cried and prayed , lying in bed and knew that this was her sign from God saying it was not okay to go to work and she needed to go to church! She went to sleep and woke up with the sun and then she could move and get up and her and her boys came to church!!!
MIRACLE.
She lady has gone through so much!!!!!! Heavenly Father Answers prayers. She still has day to day struggles but He is building her faith, and mine. As his missionary and his instrument I just say what he wants me to say and he truly does do the rest. I felt overwhelmed, a bit frustrated, and scared for my investigator, but through faith all things are possible. Reminded me of Moroni 7:33. We literally can do all things through our Savior. He has not forgotten us! Do not forget him. He will never give up on us/ he will never let us down....we can not let him down either. I know this is where I am supposed to be right now. Every day is an adventure and I wish I had more time to tell you all about it, but Mildred's story was pretty incredible.
I love you all and I'm doing well. Thank you for your love and support! I need it.
Today I finished the Book of Mormon for the 2nd Time and it was a nice birthday present to myself. I love that book and i know that miracles come from reading it. If you have not read it today, please read it and lose yourselves in its pages. It is a powerful book and truly from our Creator.
Hope everyone is doing well! Love your emails and letters! Thanks so much!
Love, your missionary,
Sister B.
What a great week it has been! Thanks for all your birthday wishes, it has been a great day! I'm feeling pretty lucky that I got to have my birthday on a pday and we got to go to tacloban and eat at my favorite Shakeys restaurant and i get to read your emails and we have an epic family home even later tonight with tons of people from the ward...so its been a great day! Thank you so much for your love, prayer, support, and birthday wishes.
This week was really great and Sister Brinton is awesome. We have such a blast together and she is doing really well with the language. We are learning waray together and it is fun. and hard. but really good. It's a different process than the seven month struggle with Cebuano--I've promised myself that that would not happen again and I realize now that i went through that so that my 'anak' or trainee would not have to. We have a lot of fun trying to figure out what is going on every day! Please keep praying for us! Life is wonderful though, so no worries.
Mildred.
So Mildred and her two boys came to church last week. Sister Brinton and I taught her on Tuesday and it was a great lesson. She told us she was cooking and trying to sell food daily and she had some other ideas for work. She seemed at peace and she seemed happy about her life and her decision to go to church. It was the first lesson she did not start bawling. We all felt good and happy.
On Friday we went back. Elder and Sister Daniels were with us. ( we had updated them about tuesday and said she seemed really good and didn't cry and all seemed well....) Wellllll, we taught the lesson on Sacrament and why it was important and the blessings from the sacrament and going to church. I asked her what she was feeling/ thinking and she broke down. Completely started crying and said she could not do it and she would not be going to church and she listed all these things why and that it was too hard and there was no other way and her youngest boy was always looking in the rice bin and asking her what they were going to do when it ran out...... We all just sat there (i'm the only one that can understand her..) and she just let it all out. (So when we had told the Daniels she was good...yeah, that changed!)... Anyways, as she was talking i was pleading and asking heavenly Father what else he wanted me to tell her! What more could i say, what verse could i read to comfort her and help her right then. . . I ended up telling her to pray very specifically and then open the book of mormon and start reading and she would find her answer... I gave her mosiah 4 to read for an assignment. She did not commit to coming to church.
We had to meet the Zone Leaders at the church to interview our investigator for baptism...OH BY THE WAY WE HAD TWO BAPTISMS ON SATURDAY!!!!! BLANCA AND CHARMAIN. !
Anyways, I felt a heavy burden/ responsibility that i have never felt before.... IT was hard and i was stressed when the elders came and told them a little bit about it. I didn't know the direction i needed to go for her. And i was the only one communicating to her/ with her...
Anyways, Saturday after the baptism we brough mildred's boys home and they got out and i had the distinct impression to get out and go find mildred and how she was doing. So sister brinton and i got dropped off and we went to talk to her. Nothing had changed. She said she didn't want handouts of help from her family b/c she wanted to work for her kids, etc. Everything was really hard and she then said that she had to work the next day b/c she had to watch her cousins rice...there was no way she was going to church, but her boys would be there. . . All of the sudden i said to her, " Mildred. You pray tonight and ask God if it is okay for you to work tomorrow... And I promise you he will say no. " "And when he says no , pray again and ask him what you need to do..and then open the book of mormon and find your answer. Will you pray and ask him if its okay for you to work???"
She said yeah..... we left and we were sad , realizing satan was getting a hold of her again and she was digressing. Sad.
That night we prayed specifically in our comp prayer that she would come to church even though there seemed that there was no way for her to come.
I prayed that night saying that we needed a miracle and mildred needed to go to church. I wanted mildred at church the next day and i had promised her and told her very specific blessings and i needed Heavenly Father to back up these very specific blessings! SO.
Sunday.
We are waiting in the chapel before sacrament starts and I SEE HER AND HER TWO BOYS through the window walking into church. I stood up and got my comp and we went and greeted her and gave her a big hug. She started crying and explained what happened:
Saturday night after we left she said she prayed and asked God to give her a sign to know if she should go to work on Sunday. She then said her alarm went off at 3am when she was supposed to get up for work and SHE. COULD. NOT. MOVE. A LIMB ON HER BODY. She could not get out of bed. She said she cried and prayed , lying in bed and knew that this was her sign from God saying it was not okay to go to work and she needed to go to church! She went to sleep and woke up with the sun and then she could move and get up and her and her boys came to church!!!
MIRACLE.
She lady has gone through so much!!!!!! Heavenly Father Answers prayers. She still has day to day struggles but He is building her faith, and mine. As his missionary and his instrument I just say what he wants me to say and he truly does do the rest. I felt overwhelmed, a bit frustrated, and scared for my investigator, but through faith all things are possible. Reminded me of Moroni 7:33. We literally can do all things through our Savior. He has not forgotten us! Do not forget him. He will never give up on us/ he will never let us down....we can not let him down either. I know this is where I am supposed to be right now. Every day is an adventure and I wish I had more time to tell you all about it, but Mildred's story was pretty incredible.
I love you all and I'm doing well. Thank you for your love and support! I need it.
Today I finished the Book of Mormon for the 2nd Time and it was a nice birthday present to myself. I love that book and i know that miracles come from reading it. If you have not read it today, please read it and lose yourselves in its pages. It is a powerful book and truly from our Creator.
Hope everyone is doing well! Love your emails and letters! Thanks so much!
Love, your missionary,
Sister B.
11.08.10
Hello Family,
Wow. This week has sure been full of fun experiences! I'll try and answer all the questions I got this past week.
Sister Brinton is awesome. We became fast friends. We live with Sister Farnworth and sister Schnieder, but only until December 1 when the Senior Couple, The Daniels go home after a 22 year mission. We will be moving into their little house in Dagami which will be very nice b/c the travel is pretty unpredictable. This week was great. Sister Brinton is a quick learner and doing really really well. We have a lot of fun together. Reopening this area definitely has it's challenges and we are trying to get the ward mission process going again, pec and mcm, etc. Everyone is really realizing the blessing of having missionaries back in their ward so they are trying to be helpful. On Sunday we got 35 referrals! So this week will be busy contacting them. We do have some investigators actually. The Daniels have been doing the best they can to teach some people, so we have taken over what they started. We actually have TWO baptisms this Saturday!!! One is a girl who her family all thought she was a member, but I guess the record was wrong and she got baptized when she was 6--obviously does not count...so she has to get baptized again. The other is a legit investigator that started coming to church 3 weeks ago but only got two of the lessons...we've been teaching her a lot and making sure she feels ready and not rushed, but she said she is okay with her decision to get baptized on Saturday. WE still have to teach her about word of wisdom, law of chastity, tithing and prep her for her interview, get her interviewed..etc. But she was committed to Nov. 13 and she wants to get baptized then so thats what we are doing! Its awesome. She is 16 years old and her family listened at first to the Daniels, but haven't been at any other lesson. Blanca is her name...She had a rough week last week and kept saying that she needed more info before she could get baptized, but she feels more comfortable now. She has received persecution from friends and she said her grades have gone down...weird. Anyways, we spent a long time with her on saturday answering all of her questions and texted her saturday night to remind her to read and pray. We saw her at church and taught her more about the sacrament. She texted us this morning and said God answered her prayer and her friends apoligized to her for making fun of her. Cool , eh??
Mildred-- Mildred is a single mom with two boys. 8 and 9 . She has worked sooo hard to build her own house and live on her own. The Daniels have been trying to get her to come to church since the beginning of october but the ONLY day she can work is market day, sunday, so she could not. We taught her twice this week and they were good lessons. Her life is sooo tough its unbelievable. She said she talked to her boys and asked them if it was okay if she didn't go to work, and they said mom but then we won't ahve any rice .....She started crying and said she didn't care if she starved but her boys were just little and they need food....Ohhhhh kay, so what is a missionary to do??? I promised her in the name of Jesus Christ that if she went to church this sunday and put her trust in God FIRST, he would then provide a way for them to have rice. I read 3 Nephi 13:31-34..... (I seriously was asking her to starve her children!?!?!? ) Ah, it was tough. But, after a while, the scripture really hit her and she said, okay. We fasted and prayed for her this week. I prayed and pleaded and explained to heavenly father that I had promised her blessings as his missionary and if she took this huge leap of faith and trusted him first, pleaseee provide a way....
Sunday morning rolls around...and mildred and her two little boys come to church!!!! I almost started crying. She told me she cried the whole way to church not knowing how she was going to feed her boys this week.... Me too.
I guess the Daniels have been talking to a member in a different baraguy about getting her a different job buying and selling certain items, but they were told to wait two weeks before she could be trained...But last night they got a text saying she could start her training today!! MIRACLE! Please keep her in your prayers.
We have other investigators that are great and a lot of new investigators we found contacting.
WE had some funny experiences this week.
Yesterday a brand new investigator was saying the closing prayer and i thought she said jesus christ , amen...so i said AMEN really loud!!! And she was not done....(and then i said oh! dili pa..) Which means, oh not yet! embarrassing. After the pray i looked at sister brinton and said we'll laugh about that later...
Tuesday we saw a tricycle/motor crash. The two men went flying. We ran to see if they needed help. Started hauling cement bags out of the trailor while the whole town stared at us...cool.
Epic adventures going from baraguy to baraguy...our area IS HUMUNGUS.
Sunday i scheduled 6 appointments not realizing we would need to each lunch, especially cause we had been fasting....
so my poor comp was starving and weak alll day long..plus still tired from jet lag.! I felt so bad! What does she think of her trainer?!
We seriously are having a blast together though! Lots and lots and lots to do, but we are just doing the best we can.
Waray waray is hard. Last night i struggled really bad and plus we were exhausted and hadn't eaten. Learning new things every day thought!!! I always tell sister brinton that we are in this together and its true. Haha. We are doing great but definitely could use alll the prayers in the world! there's always new challenges that come up, but that's mission life/ life in general!
The church is true , so what else matters!?!?! Loving life here! Hope all is well!
didn't have a chance to write any letters these past two weeks but thanks to:
Jeff Gardner
Lindz Andersen
Haylee Griffin
Mossy Mags
Mama Nat Nat--when do you enter teh MTC!! she's going to the marshall islands?!?!?
Love you all lots!
your missionary,
sister blonquist
p.s. urs for christmas--eye drops for allergies. did i ever tell you my eyes swelled up realyl bad for like two days??? like they did when i was in 7th grade... dresses./bright skirts! i have lots of dark colors. ...have you seen the new guidelines for sister missionaries! way cute!! small flashlight would be good. tissues. . . thats alll! love you !!!
Wow. This week has sure been full of fun experiences! I'll try and answer all the questions I got this past week.
Sister Brinton is awesome. We became fast friends. We live with Sister Farnworth and sister Schnieder, but only until December 1 when the Senior Couple, The Daniels go home after a 22 year mission. We will be moving into their little house in Dagami which will be very nice b/c the travel is pretty unpredictable. This week was great. Sister Brinton is a quick learner and doing really really well. We have a lot of fun together. Reopening this area definitely has it's challenges and we are trying to get the ward mission process going again, pec and mcm, etc. Everyone is really realizing the blessing of having missionaries back in their ward so they are trying to be helpful. On Sunday we got 35 referrals! So this week will be busy contacting them. We do have some investigators actually. The Daniels have been doing the best they can to teach some people, so we have taken over what they started. We actually have TWO baptisms this Saturday!!! One is a girl who her family all thought she was a member, but I guess the record was wrong and she got baptized when she was 6--obviously does not count...so she has to get baptized again. The other is a legit investigator that started coming to church 3 weeks ago but only got two of the lessons...we've been teaching her a lot and making sure she feels ready and not rushed, but she said she is okay with her decision to get baptized on Saturday. WE still have to teach her about word of wisdom, law of chastity, tithing and prep her for her interview, get her interviewed..etc. But she was committed to Nov. 13 and she wants to get baptized then so thats what we are doing! Its awesome. She is 16 years old and her family listened at first to the Daniels, but haven't been at any other lesson. Blanca is her name...She had a rough week last week and kept saying that she needed more info before she could get baptized, but she feels more comfortable now. She has received persecution from friends and she said her grades have gone down...weird. Anyways, we spent a long time with her on saturday answering all of her questions and texted her saturday night to remind her to read and pray. We saw her at church and taught her more about the sacrament. She texted us this morning and said God answered her prayer and her friends apoligized to her for making fun of her. Cool , eh??
Mildred-- Mildred is a single mom with two boys. 8 and 9 . She has worked sooo hard to build her own house and live on her own. The Daniels have been trying to get her to come to church since the beginning of october but the ONLY day she can work is market day, sunday, so she could not. We taught her twice this week and they were good lessons. Her life is sooo tough its unbelievable. She said she talked to her boys and asked them if it was okay if she didn't go to work, and they said mom but then we won't ahve any rice .....She started crying and said she didn't care if she starved but her boys were just little and they need food....Ohhhhh kay, so what is a missionary to do??? I promised her in the name of Jesus Christ that if she went to church this sunday and put her trust in God FIRST, he would then provide a way for them to have rice. I read 3 Nephi 13:31-34..... (I seriously was asking her to starve her children!?!?!? ) Ah, it was tough. But, after a while, the scripture really hit her and she said, okay. We fasted and prayed for her this week. I prayed and pleaded and explained to heavenly father that I had promised her blessings as his missionary and if she took this huge leap of faith and trusted him first, pleaseee provide a way....
Sunday morning rolls around...and mildred and her two little boys come to church!!!! I almost started crying. She told me she cried the whole way to church not knowing how she was going to feed her boys this week.... Me too.
I guess the Daniels have been talking to a member in a different baraguy about getting her a different job buying and selling certain items, but they were told to wait two weeks before she could be trained...But last night they got a text saying she could start her training today!! MIRACLE! Please keep her in your prayers.
We have other investigators that are great and a lot of new investigators we found contacting.
WE had some funny experiences this week.
Yesterday a brand new investigator was saying the closing prayer and i thought she said jesus christ , amen...so i said AMEN really loud!!! And she was not done....(and then i said oh! dili pa..) Which means, oh not yet! embarrassing. After the pray i looked at sister brinton and said we'll laugh about that later...
Tuesday we saw a tricycle/motor crash. The two men went flying. We ran to see if they needed help. Started hauling cement bags out of the trailor while the whole town stared at us...cool.
Epic adventures going from baraguy to baraguy...our area IS HUMUNGUS.
Sunday i scheduled 6 appointments not realizing we would need to each lunch, especially cause we had been fasting....
so my poor comp was starving and weak alll day long..plus still tired from jet lag.! I felt so bad! What does she think of her trainer?!
We seriously are having a blast together though! Lots and lots and lots to do, but we are just doing the best we can.
Waray waray is hard. Last night i struggled really bad and plus we were exhausted and hadn't eaten. Learning new things every day thought!!! I always tell sister brinton that we are in this together and its true. Haha. We are doing great but definitely could use alll the prayers in the world! there's always new challenges that come up, but that's mission life/ life in general!
The church is true , so what else matters!?!?! Loving life here! Hope all is well!
didn't have a chance to write any letters these past two weeks but thanks to:
Jeff Gardner
Lindz Andersen
Haylee Griffin
Mossy Mags
Mama Nat Nat--when do you enter teh MTC!! she's going to the marshall islands?!?!?
Love you all lots!
your missionary,
sister blonquist
p.s. urs for christmas--eye drops for allergies. did i ever tell you my eyes swelled up realyl bad for like two days??? like they did when i was in 7th grade... dresses./bright skirts! i have lots of dark colors. ...have you seen the new guidelines for sister missionaries! way cute!! small flashlight would be good. tissues. . . thats alll! love you !!!
Monday, November 1, 2010
11.1.10 TRANSFER!
Hey Family,
WELL. This week has been eventful to say the LEAST. DRUM ROLLLLLL PLEASE!
I GOT TRANSFERRED. The APs called at 9"30 wed morning and said that i was being transferred. My first thought was okay, i'll get everything together and leave tomorrow afternoon, plenty of time.... But then he said Sister Blonquist and Sister Dustin you BOTH have to be here in Tacloban tomorrow morning by 10am because you are BOTH training.
SO. I got transferred. AND I'm TRAINING. Sister Lemmon=you are a lola now!! Congrats. :)
SOO . That meant that we had to leave balaquid by the 2pm bus. So two hours to pack everything write good bye letters and say goodbye. STRESSFUL. I didnt get to say goodbye to a lot of people, but luckily i had written letters last transfer thinking i was leaving so i had some prepared. Yes, transferring and training.....couldn't believe it!
So we get to tacloban and we meet the foreign sister, Sister Brinton..she is from Gilbert, AZ. Shes awesome. But we still don't know who is training her and who is trainging the filipina missionary coming in the next day. I did get to stay with my batch, sister farnworth so that was sooooooo good to see her after 7 months! this keyboard is really weird.
WELL, Thursday morning we took all the trainers and trainees to mccarther park and announced who was with who and took pictures. I am with Sister Brinton!! We also got our new area......drum roll again....................
WARAY WARAY SPEAKING.
DAGAMI, TOLOSA ZONE.
SO.
I GOT TRANSFERRED.
I AM TRAINING.
I AM IN A NEW AREA WHERE NO MISSIONARIES HAVE BEEN FOR 6 MONTHS...RE-OPENING THE AREA.
I AM SPEAKING WARAY WARAY H.
LOTS OF NEW THINGSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!
its been awesome though and i really love it. heavenly father is so aware of what we need. we actually get to LIVE with sister farnworth and her comp, sister schnieder who i know from the mtc this whole month until the senior couple who live in dagami ..he\s the branch president there, move out of their little house cause they are going home.
this keyboard is crazy.
so friday we went around and met some members.
saturday was an epic adventure of finding where our lesson was and finding people. . . they all speak waray, i do not. . . it was fun. we also did not have an area book or know how far things were. a jeepney, a 45min put put ride later we found the house.... 60 pesos later... and then back to our apt on a tric, 100 pesos later. our apt is pretty far away from our area so thats a little hard , but we are making it work. the daniels are awesome and said they will give us a ride home at night.
so we are re opening this area for missionary work. ! sunday was wonderful! they have a beautiful chapel AND A PIANO! there attendance is usually 40, but it was 64 on sunday! 2 investigators came to church. we got a lot of refferals and the people are so nice!
this key board is stressing me out so i am not able to write all the funny things that happened..but there were a lot!! today was our first pday and we went to tacloban. Oh yeah, we are by tacloban so that is way different than what i am used to! we ate at my favorite restaraunt, shakeys! we shopped at robinsons and got delicious food..no sister lemmon i did not cry in the chip aisle this time... there were lots of missionaries there to get support, and then none was available. .. hopefully tomorrow.
elder webb and elder evans are my zone leaders so thats awesome..e webb was my district leader on biliran for 6 months so we are bffs. oh sister lemmon, elder peterson is now zone leader in biliran! he was really excited.
sister dustin training the filipina sister who seems very nice.
My new comp is awesome. And she is doing great with cebuano so now we both will learn waray together! I seriously am so happy. We have lots of fun and funny adventures together...i wonder if she thinks i know what i'm doing.. new area to me, new area to missionary work, new language, new everything! but its fun and we are trying to organize our lives.
THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS. I NEED THEM!
LOVE,
YOUR MISSIONARY, SISTER B. ! !! !
WELL. This week has been eventful to say the LEAST. DRUM ROLLLLLL PLEASE!
I GOT TRANSFERRED. The APs called at 9"30 wed morning and said that i was being transferred. My first thought was okay, i'll get everything together and leave tomorrow afternoon, plenty of time.... But then he said Sister Blonquist and Sister Dustin you BOTH have to be here in Tacloban tomorrow morning by 10am because you are BOTH training.
SO. I got transferred. AND I'm TRAINING. Sister Lemmon=you are a lola now!! Congrats. :)
SOO . That meant that we had to leave balaquid by the 2pm bus. So two hours to pack everything write good bye letters and say goodbye. STRESSFUL. I didnt get to say goodbye to a lot of people, but luckily i had written letters last transfer thinking i was leaving so i had some prepared. Yes, transferring and training.....couldn't believe it!
So we get to tacloban and we meet the foreign sister, Sister Brinton..she is from Gilbert, AZ. Shes awesome. But we still don't know who is training her and who is trainging the filipina missionary coming in the next day. I did get to stay with my batch, sister farnworth so that was sooooooo good to see her after 7 months! this keyboard is really weird.
WELL, Thursday morning we took all the trainers and trainees to mccarther park and announced who was with who and took pictures. I am with Sister Brinton!! We also got our new area......drum roll again....................
WARAY WARAY SPEAKING.
DAGAMI, TOLOSA ZONE.
SO.
I GOT TRANSFERRED.
I AM TRAINING.
I AM IN A NEW AREA WHERE NO MISSIONARIES HAVE BEEN FOR 6 MONTHS...RE-OPENING THE AREA.
I AM SPEAKING WARAY WARAY H.
LOTS OF NEW THINGSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!
its been awesome though and i really love it. heavenly father is so aware of what we need. we actually get to LIVE with sister farnworth and her comp, sister schnieder who i know from the mtc this whole month until the senior couple who live in dagami ..he\s the branch president there, move out of their little house cause they are going home.
this keyboard is crazy.
so friday we went around and met some members.
saturday was an epic adventure of finding where our lesson was and finding people. . . they all speak waray, i do not. . . it was fun. we also did not have an area book or know how far things were. a jeepney, a 45min put put ride later we found the house.... 60 pesos later... and then back to our apt on a tric, 100 pesos later. our apt is pretty far away from our area so thats a little hard , but we are making it work. the daniels are awesome and said they will give us a ride home at night.
so we are re opening this area for missionary work. ! sunday was wonderful! they have a beautiful chapel AND A PIANO! there attendance is usually 40, but it was 64 on sunday! 2 investigators came to church. we got a lot of refferals and the people are so nice!
this key board is stressing me out so i am not able to write all the funny things that happened..but there were a lot!! today was our first pday and we went to tacloban. Oh yeah, we are by tacloban so that is way different than what i am used to! we ate at my favorite restaraunt, shakeys! we shopped at robinsons and got delicious food..no sister lemmon i did not cry in the chip aisle this time... there were lots of missionaries there to get support, and then none was available. .. hopefully tomorrow.
elder webb and elder evans are my zone leaders so thats awesome..e webb was my district leader on biliran for 6 months so we are bffs. oh sister lemmon, elder peterson is now zone leader in biliran! he was really excited.
sister dustin training the filipina sister who seems very nice.
My new comp is awesome. And she is doing great with cebuano so now we both will learn waray together! I seriously am so happy. We have lots of fun and funny adventures together...i wonder if she thinks i know what i'm doing.. new area to me, new area to missionary work, new language, new everything! but its fun and we are trying to organize our lives.
THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS. I NEED THEM!
LOVE,
YOUR MISSIONARY, SISTER B. ! !! !
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
The Good, the bad & the Ugly 10.26
Hi FAM! Urs asked me last week to tell all; the good the bad and the ugly...Well, there just IS NOT enough time to explain the things I wish to tell all of you and I'm sure my emails barely ever make sense anyways, but I will try to give a quick overview of this weeks good bad and ugly.
Good:
JR was baptized on October 23 IN THE NEW CHAPEL!!!!!!!!! The elders also had two people get baptized and then a little 8 year old member. Sister Dustin and I sang "Whenever I Touch a Velvet Rose.." I forgot the name. Anyways, I can not express how wonderful it was! Everyone was sitting down and there were fans and no confusion and no one fell in the ocean or slipped on a rock and it was just sooo much better. We actually arrived early to the church to make sure everything was going smoothly and I literally took off my shoes and walked slowly around, room by room. It was a spiritual experience for me--I was on very sacrad ground. It truly is a house of the Lord and I have so much respect and gratitude for church buildings than ever before.
Sunday! This was the first time we all went to church in the new chapel. EVERYONE was there at 8:30! Actually Marcela and Gloria (President Malit's neices) came up (driven by the APs) and they gave us a ride. They even brought us Dunkin Donuts from Tacloban!! It was A GREAT start to a great day!!! President asked us to be in Primary the first hour and so we walked in and alll the kids were sitting quietly and ready to go. We started exactly at 9am. That has NEVER happened. There was a buzz and excitement in all the people. It was the best Sunday I've ever experienced.
The Andrino family promised us they would finally come to church--John Rey and Maricel are the couple we've been working with for a while to save up money. --John Rey hasn't been to Church since he was baptized years ago... Anyways, when Sister Dustin and I saw him...my eyes filled with tears and Sister Dustin literally lost it and started crying. I can't explain the prayers and pleading and fasting and lessons all for that couple. It was so wonderful to see them in Church.
Everything was organized and ready to go. Sacrament meeting was wonderful and we could actually hear the speakers and hear the words of the sacrament prayer and I wasn't sweating profusely all over. We could actually sit by our investigators too! IT was amazing!
More good: I'm memorizing scriptures and realizing how beneficial it is to have the words of God in your head all the time.
other good: we ate a really good lunch at a members house yesterday--sort of a farewell dinner for some elders going home.
The bad:
It was election so Mikel and David did not come to church.
Ryan won't show up for his lessons.
a group of kids going by on a Jeepney threw a rock at my face--it hurt.
Conchetta and Pedro have a word of wisdom problem but keep telling us they don't. We taught a lesson on lying and how liars are thrust down to hell....it was bold...but bold with the spirit! :)
The Ugly:
The couple we are working with to save up money so she can get baptized and they can go to the temple ...had a rough week. THEY DID GO TO CHURCH which was wonderful, but earlier in the week he got drunk every day and it got really bad that she said she was leaving him. Anyways, to spare all the ugly details, that night I walked home and burst into tears. It was terrible situation. I was devasted. They were progressing sooo much and then satan started realizing that they were doing what was right and really hit John Rey with temptation. . .Well, the next day we were able to teach them and the lesson was one of the best lessons we've taught; about agency. It flowed really well and was guided by the spirit. She doesn't want to leave him, but she can't be with him if he keeps drinking! Its not safe. After the lesson the rest of the week seemed to go better for them and they both came to church. We teach them tonight....Today was the day she said she was going to leave, but we've been praying and fasting that things will improve. John Rey and Maricel Andrino are their names if you want to keep them in your prayers...
Well this week is transfer week. We have no idea what is going to happen. The people in Balaquid are rooting for me to break the record of longest missionary in Balaquid--9 months is the record--we'll see. I'll be happy either way.
Sorry I didn't email yesterday. There were no buses because of election so we couldn't go to Naval until today.
Well, there was also a lot of hilarious things that happened this week, but no time to tell you all about it! Life is wonderful here. There are many ups and downs that happen every hour--its insane. Kiera, I can totally relate to your experience with Ali. I feel that pain almost daily. Its' really really hard. Life of a missionary! Not only do other people's choices really affect you, you also have to deal with your own personal issues of trying to be a better person--its seriously is a refiners fire! But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
I love you so much and pray for you daily!
Love , sister b.
Good:
JR was baptized on October 23 IN THE NEW CHAPEL!!!!!!!!! The elders also had two people get baptized and then a little 8 year old member. Sister Dustin and I sang "Whenever I Touch a Velvet Rose.." I forgot the name. Anyways, I can not express how wonderful it was! Everyone was sitting down and there were fans and no confusion and no one fell in the ocean or slipped on a rock and it was just sooo much better. We actually arrived early to the church to make sure everything was going smoothly and I literally took off my shoes and walked slowly around, room by room. It was a spiritual experience for me--I was on very sacrad ground. It truly is a house of the Lord and I have so much respect and gratitude for church buildings than ever before.
Sunday! This was the first time we all went to church in the new chapel. EVERYONE was there at 8:30! Actually Marcela and Gloria (President Malit's neices) came up (driven by the APs) and they gave us a ride. They even brought us Dunkin Donuts from Tacloban!! It was A GREAT start to a great day!!! President asked us to be in Primary the first hour and so we walked in and alll the kids were sitting quietly and ready to go. We started exactly at 9am. That has NEVER happened. There was a buzz and excitement in all the people. It was the best Sunday I've ever experienced.
The Andrino family promised us they would finally come to church--John Rey and Maricel are the couple we've been working with for a while to save up money. --John Rey hasn't been to Church since he was baptized years ago... Anyways, when Sister Dustin and I saw him...my eyes filled with tears and Sister Dustin literally lost it and started crying. I can't explain the prayers and pleading and fasting and lessons all for that couple. It was so wonderful to see them in Church.
Everything was organized and ready to go. Sacrament meeting was wonderful and we could actually hear the speakers and hear the words of the sacrament prayer and I wasn't sweating profusely all over. We could actually sit by our investigators too! IT was amazing!
More good: I'm memorizing scriptures and realizing how beneficial it is to have the words of God in your head all the time.
other good: we ate a really good lunch at a members house yesterday--sort of a farewell dinner for some elders going home.
The bad:
It was election so Mikel and David did not come to church.
Ryan won't show up for his lessons.
a group of kids going by on a Jeepney threw a rock at my face--it hurt.
Conchetta and Pedro have a word of wisdom problem but keep telling us they don't. We taught a lesson on lying and how liars are thrust down to hell....it was bold...but bold with the spirit! :)
The Ugly:
The couple we are working with to save up money so she can get baptized and they can go to the temple ...had a rough week. THEY DID GO TO CHURCH which was wonderful, but earlier in the week he got drunk every day and it got really bad that she said she was leaving him. Anyways, to spare all the ugly details, that night I walked home and burst into tears. It was terrible situation. I was devasted. They were progressing sooo much and then satan started realizing that they were doing what was right and really hit John Rey with temptation. . .Well, the next day we were able to teach them and the lesson was one of the best lessons we've taught; about agency. It flowed really well and was guided by the spirit. She doesn't want to leave him, but she can't be with him if he keeps drinking! Its not safe. After the lesson the rest of the week seemed to go better for them and they both came to church. We teach them tonight....Today was the day she said she was going to leave, but we've been praying and fasting that things will improve. John Rey and Maricel Andrino are their names if you want to keep them in your prayers...
Well this week is transfer week. We have no idea what is going to happen. The people in Balaquid are rooting for me to break the record of longest missionary in Balaquid--9 months is the record--we'll see. I'll be happy either way.
Sorry I didn't email yesterday. There were no buses because of election so we couldn't go to Naval until today.
Well, there was also a lot of hilarious things that happened this week, but no time to tell you all about it! Life is wonderful here. There are many ups and downs that happen every hour--its insane. Kiera, I can totally relate to your experience with Ali. I feel that pain almost daily. Its' really really hard. Life of a missionary! Not only do other people's choices really affect you, you also have to deal with your own personal issues of trying to be a better person--its seriously is a refiners fire! But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
I love you so much and pray for you daily!
Love , sister b.
10.18.10
Hey my favorite people,
So, my comp and i are really trying to get out of this weird 'funk' we are feeling from the people...WE are not in a weird funk, we are doing great--but we kinda don't feel like people really love us anymore. Hah.. Kinda like they are just sick of us. Anyways, we have decided in order to really apply the trainings and follow the counsel of our mission president that "Charity never faileth," we have got to show these people that we love them more. We've decided that one of the ways to do this is be more real and allow them to really get to know us. One way we are doing this is by making sure we share personal experiences in every lesson anddd... we want to show them pictures of our families and our lives. Well, turns out, I did not bring any pictures, so if you all could send (snail mail) some pictures to me that would be appreciated. I would love your pictures from the family reunion, family picture maybe from kiera's wedding (most recent) and also if you can some pictures from me in africa and fiji. We want to share our lives with the people more so that we become more real to them. Anyways, that would be very much appreciated. SALAMAT!
This week went by so fast! October 28 is transfer day..next week! We got a phone call from our branch president that our baptism this upcoming saturday can be in the new church building!!! I really hope that goes through!
We were finally able to watch conference on saturday and sunday. It was incredible. It made me miss temple square a lot. I loved Elder Hollands talk so much. I felt like he talked a lot about gratitude as well as president monson. I love that theme and we had actually just taught a lesson to renato about gratitude and writing out our blessings. We committed him and us to write out 100 things we are grateful for. LEts see...we also had a great lessons with david and mikel this week. We are going to show them some of general conference b/c david said, "i want to see the prophet." As we teach them more and more i see them recognizing truths and becoming stronger and stronger.
We also taught jaime jr. andrino this week. He seemed different and he told us he quit school. We taught him the plan of salvation and about repentance and the atonement. I know he felt the spirit. At the end of the lesson we asked him what he needs to do and one of the things he said was that he really needs to figure out how to get back to school. He was so humble--its kinda of rare to see that with him... We also committed him to coming to church and watch general conference. He said he was shy/embarressed...the last time he came to church was for the district conference in naval back in july..and the time before that was when he was 12....anyways, we show up to church on sunday and he was there sitting in the back by himself. We sat by him. We also heard from someone else that he had done something terrible and that is why he quit school and was hiding in his house all day long... Poor kid. He is different and we know now its because of sin. I hope and pray he will realize that the things we are telling him are the answers he's looking for. He is just drowning and we are doing everything we can to save him. Maybe now he is humbled and will really start to repent and change.
WEll, lets see. urs had some questions for me:
How are you doing? i'm great!
How do you feel about your language? i need a lot of help!
The new church building? hopefully we'll go to church there this week!
How the new members doing? the members are okay. actually a few families seem to be struggling; financially especially, and with other issues. YOu could pray for mollare family and tizon family.
Has monsoon season hit yet? yes. I love monsoon season!!! It rains all the time. and the lightning storms are incredible! actually we were teaching little conchetta and pedro in their little hut and a HUGE storm hit. BAD. one for the books. and they were so scared. they started doing these weird pray/ chants and throwing salt out the window and they also put a machete in the ground right outside their door? A huge lightning strike hit somewhere close and scared us all and then sister d and i started laughing cause we had both been so scared....but they were NOT laughing so we stopped. We would sometimes wonder what all the people living in the little huts would do during such scary storms. And now we know!
Do they have Thanksgiving over there? ummm i doubt they have thanksgiving here b/c that is an american holiday, right? the pilgrims/ the indians.... i don't think they really have halloween either but we saw decorations in the grocery store so that was kind of fun.
What are all my neices and nephews being for halloween!?
Did the clothes fit? YES the clothes fit and i love them. thank you so much! Did you hear there are new guide lines for sister missionaries! Biancs wrote me and was so excited and i just saw the pictures on the branch bulletin board. THey are SOOO MUCH BETTER! haha. and the shoes are great, don't worry. I 'll just make sure to wear them for more formal meetings like zone conference and not during monsoon season cause they are suede. haha.
I love you all. I pray for you all. I could really use prayers with understanding the people here. I really want to improve my every day conversations. The tagalog/cebuano/waray words and sent structure mix has been really tough for me. but i am happy and not letting it get me down. i'm done stressing constantly about it. just trying to be better!
i love you all so much. thanks for your prayers and support.
love,
sister b.
So, my comp and i are really trying to get out of this weird 'funk' we are feeling from the people...WE are not in a weird funk, we are doing great--but we kinda don't feel like people really love us anymore. Hah.. Kinda like they are just sick of us. Anyways, we have decided in order to really apply the trainings and follow the counsel of our mission president that "Charity never faileth," we have got to show these people that we love them more. We've decided that one of the ways to do this is be more real and allow them to really get to know us. One way we are doing this is by making sure we share personal experiences in every lesson anddd... we want to show them pictures of our families and our lives. Well, turns out, I did not bring any pictures, so if you all could send (snail mail) some pictures to me that would be appreciated. I would love your pictures from the family reunion, family picture maybe from kiera's wedding (most recent) and also if you can some pictures from me in africa and fiji. We want to share our lives with the people more so that we become more real to them. Anyways, that would be very much appreciated. SALAMAT!
This week went by so fast! October 28 is transfer day..next week! We got a phone call from our branch president that our baptism this upcoming saturday can be in the new church building!!! I really hope that goes through!
We were finally able to watch conference on saturday and sunday. It was incredible. It made me miss temple square a lot. I loved Elder Hollands talk so much. I felt like he talked a lot about gratitude as well as president monson. I love that theme and we had actually just taught a lesson to renato about gratitude and writing out our blessings. We committed him and us to write out 100 things we are grateful for. LEts see...we also had a great lessons with david and mikel this week. We are going to show them some of general conference b/c david said, "i want to see the prophet." As we teach them more and more i see them recognizing truths and becoming stronger and stronger.
We also taught jaime jr. andrino this week. He seemed different and he told us he quit school. We taught him the plan of salvation and about repentance and the atonement. I know he felt the spirit. At the end of the lesson we asked him what he needs to do and one of the things he said was that he really needs to figure out how to get back to school. He was so humble--its kinda of rare to see that with him... We also committed him to coming to church and watch general conference. He said he was shy/embarressed...the last time he came to church was for the district conference in naval back in july..and the time before that was when he was 12....anyways, we show up to church on sunday and he was there sitting in the back by himself. We sat by him. We also heard from someone else that he had done something terrible and that is why he quit school and was hiding in his house all day long... Poor kid. He is different and we know now its because of sin. I hope and pray he will realize that the things we are telling him are the answers he's looking for. He is just drowning and we are doing everything we can to save him. Maybe now he is humbled and will really start to repent and change.
WEll, lets see. urs had some questions for me:
How are you doing? i'm great!
How do you feel about your language? i need a lot of help!
The new church building? hopefully we'll go to church there this week!
How the new members doing? the members are okay. actually a few families seem to be struggling; financially especially, and with other issues. YOu could pray for mollare family and tizon family.
Has monsoon season hit yet? yes. I love monsoon season!!! It rains all the time. and the lightning storms are incredible! actually we were teaching little conchetta and pedro in their little hut and a HUGE storm hit. BAD. one for the books. and they were so scared. they started doing these weird pray/ chants and throwing salt out the window and they also put a machete in the ground right outside their door? A huge lightning strike hit somewhere close and scared us all and then sister d and i started laughing cause we had both been so scared....but they were NOT laughing so we stopped. We would sometimes wonder what all the people living in the little huts would do during such scary storms. And now we know!
Do they have Thanksgiving over there? ummm i doubt they have thanksgiving here b/c that is an american holiday, right? the pilgrims/ the indians.... i don't think they really have halloween either but we saw decorations in the grocery store so that was kind of fun.
What are all my neices and nephews being for halloween!?
Did the clothes fit? YES the clothes fit and i love them. thank you so much! Did you hear there are new guide lines for sister missionaries! Biancs wrote me and was so excited and i just saw the pictures on the branch bulletin board. THey are SOOO MUCH BETTER! haha. and the shoes are great, don't worry. I 'll just make sure to wear them for more formal meetings like zone conference and not during monsoon season cause they are suede. haha.
I love you all. I pray for you all. I could really use prayers with understanding the people here. I really want to improve my every day conversations. The tagalog/cebuano/waray words and sent structure mix has been really tough for me. but i am happy and not letting it get me down. i'm done stressing constantly about it. just trying to be better!
i love you all so much. thanks for your prayers and support.
love,
sister b.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
10.11.10
Hello Family!
Wow, I just love you all so much! Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers. A lot happened this week. My companion and I were both really feeling Satan working on us individually and on our companionship--how annoying he can be! We talked it through, and talked through it again. We then got a text saying we had to go to a leadership training thursday and friday which meant leave wednesday afternoon. I'll be honest, it was an answer to my prayer. It was a weird couple days of knowing satan was trying to get me down, but then after praying for help/ change in our routine we got a text that we needed to go to the leadership training. So that was neat. And it was indeed...exactly what we needed. Haha, well first we got off the van waaay past where we were supposed to so we ended up walking for an hour at night, pitch black. It was hilarious. We felt like such missionaries singing hymns the whole way!
The leadership trainings were wonderful. There is such support when you see other missionaries and the spirit is so strong. We also got to be in small workshops and do role plays and work with president malit. It seriously was exactly what we needed. Heavenly Father is so aware of his missionaries; it amazes me every day.
Sister Dustin and I have been analyzing after each lesson trying to see if we are applying the trainings to its fullest. We are doing better and better. We're kind of experiencing a low with the progression of our investigators, so we keep having to ask ourselves if we are really applying alll the trainings. One thing Elder Teh asked us to do back in July is make sure that the Spirit is our senior companion. So sister dustin and I have literally tried to leave a space for the spirit while we teach--at least for a visual reminder--is that weird? haha.
Pedro, Conchetta, JR all came to church--and sister lemmon guess who else came?!?!?! RAYMOND'S MOM!!! Cecilia has been joining in on our lessons with pedro and conchetta these past few weeks and sister mollare has talked to her lots and she's been reading the pamphlets. It was incredible that she came to church. I am really excited for her. Raymond however, did not come...he worked up in the bukid.
I've realized a couple things this week:
We have to REMEMBER. We sin b/c we forget our savior. We have to Remember Him. Just like it says in the sacrament prayer and all throughout helaman. Remember, REmember.
Also, there are so many mysteries of God. So much for all of us to learn. But if we get frustrated or offended or scared or give up---we harden our hearts-- we will not receive all that he wants us to learn. Alma 12:10-11...... I want to receive the greater portion of the word! Don't we all?? If we harden our hearts we will only receive the lesser portion of the word.."until they know nothing concerning his mysteries!" Our purpose is to learn and grow here on earth and become like him...we can not harden our hearts.
This can be related to pride, selfishness, the natural man...
I'm learning so much and realizing how much i am the natural man and how much the natural man is an enemy to god! I don't want to be his enemy. I just want to be his instrument! Oh the things learned on the mission. :)
Anyways, I am doing well. My health is fine. I gained weight, bahah, but I am good. I am happy and I love my companion and I am excited b/c we get to watch conference this sunday! That will be amazing!
ALSO, I got my bday package at the leadership training!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW SALAMAT!!! NEw clothes! I love them all and especially the colors! Thank you so much. I sent you a letter today mom and dad--thank you! Loved it alll.
Biancs--got your letter! SAlamat! SO good to hear from you. Are you going to chicago next summer?
Happy Birthday to Maya on oct . 14! When are you getting baptized??
Life is good. Don't worry about me! Just keep praying praying praying..thats all i need! And you could send some pics of the family reunion if you wanted...
Love you all lots,
Sister B.
Wow, I just love you all so much! Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers. A lot happened this week. My companion and I were both really feeling Satan working on us individually and on our companionship--how annoying he can be! We talked it through, and talked through it again. We then got a text saying we had to go to a leadership training thursday and friday which meant leave wednesday afternoon. I'll be honest, it was an answer to my prayer. It was a weird couple days of knowing satan was trying to get me down, but then after praying for help/ change in our routine we got a text that we needed to go to the leadership training. So that was neat. And it was indeed...exactly what we needed. Haha, well first we got off the van waaay past where we were supposed to so we ended up walking for an hour at night, pitch black. It was hilarious. We felt like such missionaries singing hymns the whole way!
The leadership trainings were wonderful. There is such support when you see other missionaries and the spirit is so strong. We also got to be in small workshops and do role plays and work with president malit. It seriously was exactly what we needed. Heavenly Father is so aware of his missionaries; it amazes me every day.
Sister Dustin and I have been analyzing after each lesson trying to see if we are applying the trainings to its fullest. We are doing better and better. We're kind of experiencing a low with the progression of our investigators, so we keep having to ask ourselves if we are really applying alll the trainings. One thing Elder Teh asked us to do back in July is make sure that the Spirit is our senior companion. So sister dustin and I have literally tried to leave a space for the spirit while we teach--at least for a visual reminder--is that weird? haha.
Pedro, Conchetta, JR all came to church--and sister lemmon guess who else came?!?!?! RAYMOND'S MOM!!! Cecilia has been joining in on our lessons with pedro and conchetta these past few weeks and sister mollare has talked to her lots and she's been reading the pamphlets. It was incredible that she came to church. I am really excited for her. Raymond however, did not come...he worked up in the bukid.
I've realized a couple things this week:
We have to REMEMBER. We sin b/c we forget our savior. We have to Remember Him. Just like it says in the sacrament prayer and all throughout helaman. Remember, REmember.
Also, there are so many mysteries of God. So much for all of us to learn. But if we get frustrated or offended or scared or give up---we harden our hearts-- we will not receive all that he wants us to learn. Alma 12:10-11...... I want to receive the greater portion of the word! Don't we all?? If we harden our hearts we will only receive the lesser portion of the word.."until they know nothing concerning his mysteries!" Our purpose is to learn and grow here on earth and become like him...we can not harden our hearts.
This can be related to pride, selfishness, the natural man...
I'm learning so much and realizing how much i am the natural man and how much the natural man is an enemy to god! I don't want to be his enemy. I just want to be his instrument! Oh the things learned on the mission. :)
Anyways, I am doing well. My health is fine. I gained weight, bahah, but I am good. I am happy and I love my companion and I am excited b/c we get to watch conference this sunday! That will be amazing!
ALSO, I got my bday package at the leadership training!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW SALAMAT!!! NEw clothes! I love them all and especially the colors! Thank you so much. I sent you a letter today mom and dad--thank you! Loved it alll.
Biancs--got your letter! SAlamat! SO good to hear from you. Are you going to chicago next summer?
Happy Birthday to Maya on oct . 14! When are you getting baptized??
Life is good. Don't worry about me! Just keep praying praying praying..thats all i need! And you could send some pics of the family reunion if you wanted...
Love you all lots,
Sister B.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
10.4.10
Hello Family!
This week flew itself by! Tuesday was probably my highlight of the week. I have been praying for a way to discern the needs of the people and help them--especially since my actual speaking skills is not wonderful, i wanted to find ways to serve. WEll, tuesday we had an appointment with John Rey and Maricel. John Rey is very inactive and Maricel is his "wife" (not yet married) and has been an investigator for over a year. She can't get baptized until they get married....now she is pregnant and they are not really too focused on getting married anymore b/c they are worried about money for the baby..Anyways, we've been teaching them all about how they need to save up for their marriage, so she can get baptized , and then they can go to the temple. This has been our theme with them and we actually even made them an awesome "piggy bank" for this purpose and we decorated it and gave it to them last week. It was a fun lesson and we committed them to start saving. WEll, i've been praying specifically for them to follow this commitment ,etc as well as looking for ways to serve them. Tuesday came. WE had an appointment with them at 6 and walked over there and saw a huge pile of lumber blocking the path. John REy was hauling it with someone else and we asked him if we could help. He said "puede!" (you can!) Which was was awesome b/c they never let us realy do any physical labor here! SO, i began hauling lumber and it was dirty and rainy and AWESOME and I felt like i was actually doing something to help him. We hauled lumber for 30 minutes and everyone, everyone was commenting and watching, "Sister, it's dirty! you'll get dirty.! Sister its raining! you're getting wet! Sister its heavy!!! " etc. But it was awesome and I've really missed helping people with physical labor. I LOVED IT. (i'm sure urs and noel are thinking, umm what?? ...haha) Anyways, we went into their little house and john rey came right in and we had a great lesson. He really opened up and thanked us and went on and on about how much he appreciated our help and how because we helped him he was able to get it all done and he couldn't have done it without us. He then went on and on about his life and said that he promised that he would return to church in a few weeks when the church was done and that he was working hard to save so maricel could get baptized and they could get married and go to the temple! He said that! I checked the little piggy bank we made and it didn't have any money in it, but they said wait wait!! They had created another one out of bamboo with just one opening so they could only put the money in it and not be tempted to take it out! Haha. The one we gave them, the top you screwed off and on. I could not believe my eyes and ears. They are both progressing and praying and reading and they both have the same goal and i know that through that small act of service we truly gained his respect and he really is trying to be better and keep his promises he's made to us and maricel. IT was a great night!!!
Brother Pedro came to church--with his crutches!
Randy, rowena, ryan did not. :(
How was conference?!?! I really hope i get to watch it next week!
Life is wonderful here. Thank you for all of your prayers, i truly need it.
Also, I was able to give my mission president the names of Janiel, bill, and the triplets to put on the prayer roll of the Cebu/ Manila temples. It's good to hear janiel's progress. I've been praying for her and her family very specifically.
There was more i wanted to say, but i'm out of time, per usual.
I love you all so much and pray for you each individually. Happy birthday Jordan, on sunday!
Love, Sister B.
This week flew itself by! Tuesday was probably my highlight of the week. I have been praying for a way to discern the needs of the people and help them--especially since my actual speaking skills is not wonderful, i wanted to find ways to serve. WEll, tuesday we had an appointment with John Rey and Maricel. John Rey is very inactive and Maricel is his "wife" (not yet married) and has been an investigator for over a year. She can't get baptized until they get married....now she is pregnant and they are not really too focused on getting married anymore b/c they are worried about money for the baby..Anyways, we've been teaching them all about how they need to save up for their marriage, so she can get baptized , and then they can go to the temple. This has been our theme with them and we actually even made them an awesome "piggy bank" for this purpose and we decorated it and gave it to them last week. It was a fun lesson and we committed them to start saving. WEll, i've been praying specifically for them to follow this commitment ,etc as well as looking for ways to serve them. Tuesday came. WE had an appointment with them at 6 and walked over there and saw a huge pile of lumber blocking the path. John REy was hauling it with someone else and we asked him if we could help. He said "puede!" (you can!) Which was was awesome b/c they never let us realy do any physical labor here! SO, i began hauling lumber and it was dirty and rainy and AWESOME and I felt like i was actually doing something to help him. We hauled lumber for 30 minutes and everyone, everyone was commenting and watching, "Sister, it's dirty! you'll get dirty.! Sister its raining! you're getting wet! Sister its heavy!!! " etc. But it was awesome and I've really missed helping people with physical labor. I LOVED IT. (i'm sure urs and noel are thinking, umm what?? ...haha) Anyways, we went into their little house and john rey came right in and we had a great lesson. He really opened up and thanked us and went on and on about how much he appreciated our help and how because we helped him he was able to get it all done and he couldn't have done it without us. He then went on and on about his life and said that he promised that he would return to church in a few weeks when the church was done and that he was working hard to save so maricel could get baptized and they could get married and go to the temple! He said that! I checked the little piggy bank we made and it didn't have any money in it, but they said wait wait!! They had created another one out of bamboo with just one opening so they could only put the money in it and not be tempted to take it out! Haha. The one we gave them, the top you screwed off and on. I could not believe my eyes and ears. They are both progressing and praying and reading and they both have the same goal and i know that through that small act of service we truly gained his respect and he really is trying to be better and keep his promises he's made to us and maricel. IT was a great night!!!
Brother Pedro came to church--with his crutches!
Randy, rowena, ryan did not. :(
How was conference?!?! I really hope i get to watch it next week!
Life is wonderful here. Thank you for all of your prayers, i truly need it.
Also, I was able to give my mission president the names of Janiel, bill, and the triplets to put on the prayer roll of the Cebu/ Manila temples. It's good to hear janiel's progress. I've been praying for her and her family very specifically.
There was more i wanted to say, but i'm out of time, per usual.
I love you all so much and pray for you each individually. Happy birthday Jordan, on sunday!
Love, Sister B.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sept. 27th
Hi Family,
Well, last Saturday was the brown out and we found out that Renato (supposed to be prepping for his mission) drank and that our little investigators, 12 years old, also drank with him. WHAT. But we had to leave for Zone conference last Monday so we weren't able to talk to them. It was probably a good thing cause we just did not know what to say. Also, last Monday I saw Elder Tenney for the first time since we got here to the Philippines! He's my batch from the MTC! Wow, love that kid. We all went to the bbq-han and ate dinner. He told me some devastating news about an elder from our batch that went home. He served in Cebu and I had just sent him a letter last month and gotten a letter from him the month before. I was shocked. I did not sleep well that night. That was the first time I cried myself to sleep on the mission. I can't express how much I love that elder. I can't talk about it anymore....Please continue to pray for all the missionaries; health, strength, courage, never to give up, to be worthy, and exactly obediant, etc...and for the youth preparing to go on missions--that they will choose the right so that they will be worthy to serve!!!
Zone conference was wonderful, as always, Sister Dustin and I sang, I Need Thee Every Hour. It was good. I have not talked about Sister Dustin very much?! I LOVE HER SO MUCH AND WE HAVE A BLAST TOGETHER. Just in case I haven't said that before. I am learning so much from her, and a lot about me and how I can be better, just from being with her. She's an incredbile missionary.
Well, this week our appointments fell through which turned out perfect so we could go and talk to Renato. He has been lying to us for a long while now and it was time to be done with that. He can't pretend he is ready to serve a mission and then go drink/smoke...His life is rough; he's all alone supporting himself, etc...Anyways, it was quiet and no one disturbed the lesson--first time everrrrrr. We started it by Sister D and I singing, I Stand All Amazed. He just started crying. We prayed and let him talk--and he told us everything-- and we shared all about repentance and God's love, etc. The Spirit was really strong. He said he'd been fasting for two days and he just felt this horrible heavy burden and he had so many sins.... he has a long road ahead of him, but he can do it and we are here in Balaquid for him! During sacrament meeting yesterday he got up and left b/c he was crying...poor kid. But he is learning step by step about the Atonement. It's hard, but possible.
Our investigator, Ryan came to church for the first time!! And our new investigator Conchetta came again--we had crutches made for her husband, Pedro--he can not walk anymore--but he fell on the way to Church and was hurt so he could not come. He went back home and fixed what was wrong with the crutches so next time he could come. Randy and Rowena did not come b/c they were shy b/c they had no shoes for Church. We went to go share with them in the afternoon but they weren't there. :( They were so excited to go to Church, but I guess when they saw Brother Eugene all dressed up to walk to Church with them, they got really shy. :(
We taught Pedro and Conchetta about the Word of Wisdom yesterday. we were teaching Raymond and we saw her take a drink of tuba (alcohol) so we decided to teach that. They know its wrong and she said she was sorry she had had one glass...she didn' t realize that one glass was wrong. They are getting baptized Oct 23.
The Church building looks beautiful and we are supposed to have our cultural event October 8 and start going there for church 0ct 10, but we got word today they might need more time....ughhhh. haha.
Well, life is good. Ups and down, per usual, but we are happy and working hard.
Marilee--- we are praying for your family and especialy for Janiel and Tiffany. thank you for keeping me updated. I can't visit the other website so I appreciate all your updates. I also received the package from you!!!! That was a great surprise. Thanks so much.
Becca--I received your three letters!!!!!!!! I was so thrilled. thrilled.
Natalie--I got your letter!!! I have three letters for you but there are no stamps on this island!!!!
Nana--I got your letter and picture of you when you left on your mission. loved it! thank you!
OH I ALMOST FORGOT! On the way to zone conference we took a van and this tall black guy gets in....I immediately asked him where he was from--guess what--CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO WAY. His name is Maurice Carney and I gave him your email address, Kiera!!! He lives south side of Chicago, 61st street but is a fireman in Lincoln Park. He is awesome. Seriously. He just got married to a Filipino. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and Message of Restoration on the 1.5 hour van ride to Zone Conference. We gave him pamphlets and a family proclamation. He is really open minded and curious. I hope he emails you! If not, you should see if he has a facebook. :)
Well love you all,
sister b.
Well, last Saturday was the brown out and we found out that Renato (supposed to be prepping for his mission) drank and that our little investigators, 12 years old, also drank with him. WHAT. But we had to leave for Zone conference last Monday so we weren't able to talk to them. It was probably a good thing cause we just did not know what to say. Also, last Monday I saw Elder Tenney for the first time since we got here to the Philippines! He's my batch from the MTC! Wow, love that kid. We all went to the bbq-han and ate dinner. He told me some devastating news about an elder from our batch that went home. He served in Cebu and I had just sent him a letter last month and gotten a letter from him the month before. I was shocked. I did not sleep well that night. That was the first time I cried myself to sleep on the mission. I can't express how much I love that elder. I can't talk about it anymore....Please continue to pray for all the missionaries; health, strength, courage, never to give up, to be worthy, and exactly obediant, etc...and for the youth preparing to go on missions--that they will choose the right so that they will be worthy to serve!!!
Zone conference was wonderful, as always, Sister Dustin and I sang, I Need Thee Every Hour. It was good. I have not talked about Sister Dustin very much?! I LOVE HER SO MUCH AND WE HAVE A BLAST TOGETHER. Just in case I haven't said that before. I am learning so much from her, and a lot about me and how I can be better, just from being with her. She's an incredbile missionary.
Well, this week our appointments fell through which turned out perfect so we could go and talk to Renato. He has been lying to us for a long while now and it was time to be done with that. He can't pretend he is ready to serve a mission and then go drink/smoke...His life is rough; he's all alone supporting himself, etc...Anyways, it was quiet and no one disturbed the lesson--first time everrrrrr. We started it by Sister D and I singing, I Stand All Amazed. He just started crying. We prayed and let him talk--and he told us everything-- and we shared all about repentance and God's love, etc. The Spirit was really strong. He said he'd been fasting for two days and he just felt this horrible heavy burden and he had so many sins.... he has a long road ahead of him, but he can do it and we are here in Balaquid for him! During sacrament meeting yesterday he got up and left b/c he was crying...poor kid. But he is learning step by step about the Atonement. It's hard, but possible.
Our investigator, Ryan came to church for the first time!! And our new investigator Conchetta came again--we had crutches made for her husband, Pedro--he can not walk anymore--but he fell on the way to Church and was hurt so he could not come. He went back home and fixed what was wrong with the crutches so next time he could come. Randy and Rowena did not come b/c they were shy b/c they had no shoes for Church. We went to go share with them in the afternoon but they weren't there. :( They were so excited to go to Church, but I guess when they saw Brother Eugene all dressed up to walk to Church with them, they got really shy. :(
We taught Pedro and Conchetta about the Word of Wisdom yesterday. we were teaching Raymond and we saw her take a drink of tuba (alcohol) so we decided to teach that. They know its wrong and she said she was sorry she had had one glass...she didn' t realize that one glass was wrong. They are getting baptized Oct 23.
The Church building looks beautiful and we are supposed to have our cultural event October 8 and start going there for church 0ct 10, but we got word today they might need more time....ughhhh. haha.
Well, life is good. Ups and down, per usual, but we are happy and working hard.
Marilee--- we are praying for your family and especialy for Janiel and Tiffany. thank you for keeping me updated. I can't visit the other website so I appreciate all your updates. I also received the package from you!!!! That was a great surprise. Thanks so much.
Becca--I received your three letters!!!!!!!! I was so thrilled. thrilled.
Natalie--I got your letter!!! I have three letters for you but there are no stamps on this island!!!!
Nana--I got your letter and picture of you when you left on your mission. loved it! thank you!
OH I ALMOST FORGOT! On the way to zone conference we took a van and this tall black guy gets in....I immediately asked him where he was from--guess what--CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO WAY. His name is Maurice Carney and I gave him your email address, Kiera!!! He lives south side of Chicago, 61st street but is a fireman in Lincoln Park. He is awesome. Seriously. He just got married to a Filipino. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and Message of Restoration on the 1.5 hour van ride to Zone Conference. We gave him pamphlets and a family proclamation. He is really open minded and curious. I hope he emails you! If not, you should see if he has a facebook. :)
Well love you all,
sister b.
September 20th
I'M STILL IN BALAQUID.
i did not get transferred! That will be a good 7 months here in this bukid, awesome place! That also means that i get to be here for the new chapel.........!!!!!!!!!!!! I get to go to church in a building and not a bamboo hut!!! I won't be dripping sweat and leaning my head to the side so it doesn't go in my eyeballs while i'm directing alll the music during church. AWESOME. I am so excited for these people.
This week was so stressful with transfers. Seriously. We were supposed to know tuesday . We didn't find out until wed afternoon. I literally wrote all my good bye letters. it was intense. BUT, i get to stay here with sister d until at least october 28th! So that is fun.
My comp from the mtc--sister jones is TRAINING! and sister farnworth got transferred to TAcloban, speaking waray, and elder webb my dl got transferred to talosa zone, as Zone leader. lots of changes.
WEll, zone conference is tomorrow and we are excited for that!
I reread the talk on patience by president uchtdorf. Love it so much.
I have never had to be patient like i have to be now so its been a great learning process for me.
WEll, this week was good. and hard. As most weeks go in the mission field. I'm actually very excited about some of our new investigators! BRother RAndy Abasas and his wife rowena and their little baby boy ramson--they are young couple and a referral from our Recent convert, brother eugene.
We are worried constantly about the youth in our area and the less actives. There was a brown out on saturday and it lasted a good part of the night. Everyone goes crazy here when the brown outs are like that. Our investigators and less actives were drinking right outside out house. ...and then none of them went to church. :(
OH, last week i forgot to mention about the monton family. they are a family we are really trying to focus on--three of their kids want to get baptized , but their parents won't let them. If you remember our investigators, mikel and david, mikel is their son. Anyways, they had a terrible huge inappropriate pic/calendar on their wall that was near pornographic and we could not stand it. we knew we had to do something. So last saturday we were teaching the kids and suggested they take it down and we would bring them a big picture of jesus christ. THEY TOOK IT DOWN RIGHT THEN, and we were a bit surprised and scared the parents would be mad.... BUt, the next day we came back with our big picture of jesus and put it up right then. Their parents weren't mad at all! And this past week we taught the mom and it was great to be in their home and see the big picture of christ. One step at a time with this family.......:)
well, my time is up.
i heard about janiel...any updates? my companion and i will keep her in our prayers.
Thank you for your love and support. I truly pray for each of you and i am so grateful for this time in my life to learn and grow from all of these experiences.
I know christ is my savior and he fulfilled his purpose on earth so that we could be happy in this life and return and live with him, forever.
I gave a talk in church yesterday on repentance. I have learned so much about daily repentance these past few months here in balaquid. Repentance is needed every single day. What a gift from our savior!
I love you all,
sister b.
i did not get transferred! That will be a good 7 months here in this bukid, awesome place! That also means that i get to be here for the new chapel.........!!!!!!!!!!!! I get to go to church in a building and not a bamboo hut!!! I won't be dripping sweat and leaning my head to the side so it doesn't go in my eyeballs while i'm directing alll the music during church. AWESOME. I am so excited for these people.
This week was so stressful with transfers. Seriously. We were supposed to know tuesday . We didn't find out until wed afternoon. I literally wrote all my good bye letters. it was intense. BUT, i get to stay here with sister d until at least october 28th! So that is fun.
My comp from the mtc--sister jones is TRAINING! and sister farnworth got transferred to TAcloban, speaking waray, and elder webb my dl got transferred to talosa zone, as Zone leader. lots of changes.
WEll, zone conference is tomorrow and we are excited for that!
I reread the talk on patience by president uchtdorf. Love it so much.
I have never had to be patient like i have to be now so its been a great learning process for me.
WEll, this week was good. and hard. As most weeks go in the mission field. I'm actually very excited about some of our new investigators! BRother RAndy Abasas and his wife rowena and their little baby boy ramson--they are young couple and a referral from our Recent convert, brother eugene.
We are worried constantly about the youth in our area and the less actives. There was a brown out on saturday and it lasted a good part of the night. Everyone goes crazy here when the brown outs are like that. Our investigators and less actives were drinking right outside out house. ...and then none of them went to church. :(
OH, last week i forgot to mention about the monton family. they are a family we are really trying to focus on--three of their kids want to get baptized , but their parents won't let them. If you remember our investigators, mikel and david, mikel is their son. Anyways, they had a terrible huge inappropriate pic/calendar on their wall that was near pornographic and we could not stand it. we knew we had to do something. So last saturday we were teaching the kids and suggested they take it down and we would bring them a big picture of jesus christ. THEY TOOK IT DOWN RIGHT THEN, and we were a bit surprised and scared the parents would be mad.... BUt, the next day we came back with our big picture of jesus and put it up right then. Their parents weren't mad at all! And this past week we taught the mom and it was great to be in their home and see the big picture of christ. One step at a time with this family.......:)
well, my time is up.
i heard about janiel...any updates? my companion and i will keep her in our prayers.
Thank you for your love and support. I truly pray for each of you and i am so grateful for this time in my life to learn and grow from all of these experiences.
I know christ is my savior and he fulfilled his purpose on earth so that we could be happy in this life and return and live with him, forever.
I gave a talk in church yesterday on repentance. I have learned so much about daily repentance these past few months here in balaquid. Repentance is needed every single day. What a gift from our savior!
I love you all,
sister b.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
September 13th
SO. We find out tomorrow if i get transferred. We know there are 3 new american sisters coming in so the chances of sister d training again is veryyyy high, which means i would be transferred. Its been driving us nuts that we don't know. So, stayed tuned for next week. . .
This past week were interviews with president. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! We laugh lots together but also can really talk about questions and concerns and the spirit is so strong. I feel his love and faith in my and it makes me want to be a better servant of the lord. Seriously, I walk into the room having concerns and i walk out with none, and knowing that i can do anything. Its an awesome feeling. He is truly inspired man. He told me to tell you, mom and dad, thanks for letting me come on a mission. :) I told him of my struggles with the language (again...) and he had lots of good things to say of course, but at the end he said,'' we will include you and your cebuano in our prayers." Which is incredible, because earlier that week, i had thought, "what if i asked president to pray for my cebuano? Could i ask him that? Is that weird...?" Anyways, i didn't ask him, but then at the end of the interview he said that...and then i told him that i had been thinking of asking him but had gotten shy or something and he said , i know, the spirit told me to tell you that. He then told me that a long time ago he asked for the gift of discernment and the lord blessed him with that. He said i can literally discern what people are thinking. HE's the best.
On the way to the interview i sat next to a girl on the bus and had this thought that i should talk to her. I was tired and just wanted to read my ensign. But then i remembered that all good thoughts are from god , and of course as his missionary i should talk to her. So i did. And it was so fun to talk in cebuano all by myself to her. Of course it was not perfect, and sometimes my cebuano was reallly bad, bahhaa, but it was so needed. I really needed that experience. I told president about that and how i felt like it was heavenly father's gift to me to show me that i could do this....president said of course! you had that experience because you have been praying. You have been praying for ways to improve your cebuano. Yes, indeed, i have. and i know all of you have too. so thank you.
Gihapon, we shared with sister jessa--finally, its been forever. And the lesson was amazing! She finally really opened up. And i was able to really share what i wanted to share and speak what i wanted to say. It was a good day for my language. I felt the prayers of my mission president and all of you.... and i so need them. So thank you!!!
WEll, time is up.
I love you all. i pray for you alll.
Life is beautiful and i love it. love my comp, love being a missionary, love the people.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!!
Happy birthday urs on sept 17!!!
i'll let you know if i get transferred or not! I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me!
love,
sister b.
This past week were interviews with president. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! We laugh lots together but also can really talk about questions and concerns and the spirit is so strong. I feel his love and faith in my and it makes me want to be a better servant of the lord. Seriously, I walk into the room having concerns and i walk out with none, and knowing that i can do anything. Its an awesome feeling. He is truly inspired man. He told me to tell you, mom and dad, thanks for letting me come on a mission. :) I told him of my struggles with the language (again...) and he had lots of good things to say of course, but at the end he said,'' we will include you and your cebuano in our prayers." Which is incredible, because earlier that week, i had thought, "what if i asked president to pray for my cebuano? Could i ask him that? Is that weird...?" Anyways, i didn't ask him, but then at the end of the interview he said that...and then i told him that i had been thinking of asking him but had gotten shy or something and he said , i know, the spirit told me to tell you that. He then told me that a long time ago he asked for the gift of discernment and the lord blessed him with that. He said i can literally discern what people are thinking. HE's the best.
On the way to the interview i sat next to a girl on the bus and had this thought that i should talk to her. I was tired and just wanted to read my ensign. But then i remembered that all good thoughts are from god , and of course as his missionary i should talk to her. So i did. And it was so fun to talk in cebuano all by myself to her. Of course it was not perfect, and sometimes my cebuano was reallly bad, bahhaa, but it was so needed. I really needed that experience. I told president about that and how i felt like it was heavenly father's gift to me to show me that i could do this....president said of course! you had that experience because you have been praying. You have been praying for ways to improve your cebuano. Yes, indeed, i have. and i know all of you have too. so thank you.
Gihapon, we shared with sister jessa--finally, its been forever. And the lesson was amazing! She finally really opened up. And i was able to really share what i wanted to share and speak what i wanted to say. It was a good day for my language. I felt the prayers of my mission president and all of you.... and i so need them. So thank you!!!
WEll, time is up.
I love you all. i pray for you alll.
Life is beautiful and i love it. love my comp, love being a missionary, love the people.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!!
Happy birthday urs on sept 17!!!
i'll let you know if i get transferred or not! I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me!
love,
sister b.
Monday, September 6, 2010
September 6, 2010
HI FAMILY!
This week was wonderful. Transfers are september 16 and we are not sure what is going to happen. we all have mixed feelings...i think there are some new american sisters coming in so they'll probably need sister d to train some of them...so i dunno! we have interviews tomorrow with president.
WEll, sister jenette and her daughter are getting baptized sept 25.
the new chapel should be done in a few weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been studying about overcoming the natural man through the spirit. something aaron emailed me about a while back. it led me to some neat scriptures: 1 nephi 21:16 and then zech 13:6. . . The savior's arms of mercy are always extended towards us. Alma 5:33! He always no matter what we've done or said or thought, wants us to come unto him. And he has not forgotten us--even if we have forgotten him. He will not let us down, even if we have let him down. We are literally engraven on the palms of his hands. very very literally. and those same palms are outstretched waiting for us to come unto him. it's an interesting visual--one i can't get out of my mind.
also, this thought process led me to matthew 26:40-41. He is talking to his disciples. He asked them could you not watch for one hour? (Could you not do the little things i've asked of you, while i was literally sweating drops of blood from every pore for your weaknesses, mistakes, and sins...) And then he says "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Sorry this is all paraphrased...i don't have my bible with me. But for me i realized Jesus Christ has asked us to do our part, because he did his, and because he wants us to return to him. But in verse 41, to me, he is saying i know you have good desires and you want to be better, but i understand that the natural man, we as humans, are weak.... In these two verses i see the justice and the mercy. both are prevelent, and thank goodness! So continue on with faith in our saviour. He understands completely!
WE watched the testaments last night for a fireside and even though i have seen that movie numerous times, last night heavenly father knew i needed to see it again. I was really touched by it , more than ever before. OUr heavenly father truly does know us and our saviour jesus christ has not forgotten us! One part at the end he comes and finds helam who is now blind...and he calls him by name and then heals him.
Just imagine our savior jesus christ coming to find just you and calling your first name so that he can heal you.
I promise in the name of jesus christ and as his missionary, he does, in fact do that for each of us. He knows you by name and his hands are outstretched to each of you so that he can heal you.
I challenge all of you and myself to get to know our savior better each day. To accept him and allow him to heal us. only he can.
i love you all.
i really do need your prayers and i am so grateful for them.
daghang salamat.
love,
sister b.
zach shrader--i got your wedding invitation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! congrats bud! miss you.
benasi--i got your wedding invitation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow, congrats!!!!! miss you also.
melissa rehon--i got your wedding invitation!! wow congratsssssssssssss.
thanks so much for remembering me and letting me know about your lives!
lessie--got your letter! thanks for the update. congrats to ryree!! lessie, i'll write you soon. i love you!!
natalie gardner--i need your address! i have two letters for you! happy belated bday!
and happy 90th bday to my nana!
and happy birthday to my cousin lindz on sept 9th!!!!!!!!! i just sent you a letter.
miss you all and love you more!
Pictures
So, these are small, but they are pictures Tori sent about a month ago. I can't seem to separate them into individual picture, but we wanted to make sure they were posted anyways. If you click on them you can make them bigger. Enjoy!
Monday, August 30, 2010
August 30, 2010
Hello Family,
We are back pluggin along in Balaquid. President Malit's neices came back with us on Thursday, but left this morning at 6am; thats the only time the APs could pick them up..poor elders, they only got one hour of sleep. Anyways, balaquid is wonderful it was nice to be 'home' again with our investigators, teaching lessons.
We've been trying to apply the trainings.
Focusing on the people and their concerns more than ever. Teaching lessons differently and addressing concerns first.Kneeling and asking the head of the house hold to pray---and not getting up until they do... teaching about prayer more than ever. Asking what people's expectations are from us--what do they want to learn, etc. Teaching about and from the book of mormon and reading with them. Committing people to baptism in the first lesson.
We have yet to do 'church tours' b/c we have a bamboo hut...uhh...and that would be slightly unproductive maybe...but we'll see.
We learned so much and it was an incredible three days filled with the spirit. i will have to write out a letter and mail it home.
Last week i did a role play as one of the less actives here--jaime, and i think i mentioned last time that i received revelation as to what he was feeling and how we can help him...well this week during some lessons and the small things he stated we realized that i was dead on during the role play--it was really powerful.
REnato is doing well. He is working with the elders and doesn't seem to be involved with any bawal things or smoking or anything. I'm not sure what happened two weeks ago!
Anyways, life is good in balaquid . we are teaching two older woman we are really excited about. they both committed to baptism. one of them, synida smokes and is trying to quit. they are both hilarious (they are sisters). Synida is lady lucas mom and sister leemmon and i taught her a while back.
anyways, i am out of time now.
love you all,
sister b.
We are back pluggin along in Balaquid. President Malit's neices came back with us on Thursday, but left this morning at 6am; thats the only time the APs could pick them up..poor elders, they only got one hour of sleep. Anyways, balaquid is wonderful it was nice to be 'home' again with our investigators, teaching lessons.
We've been trying to apply the trainings.
Focusing on the people and their concerns more than ever. Teaching lessons differently and addressing concerns first.Kneeling and asking the head of the house hold to pray---and not getting up until they do... teaching about prayer more than ever. Asking what people's expectations are from us--what do they want to learn, etc. Teaching about and from the book of mormon and reading with them. Committing people to baptism in the first lesson.
We have yet to do 'church tours' b/c we have a bamboo hut...uhh...and that would be slightly unproductive maybe...but we'll see.
We learned so much and it was an incredible three days filled with the spirit. i will have to write out a letter and mail it home.
Last week i did a role play as one of the less actives here--jaime, and i think i mentioned last time that i received revelation as to what he was feeling and how we can help him...well this week during some lessons and the small things he stated we realized that i was dead on during the role play--it was really powerful.
REnato is doing well. He is working with the elders and doesn't seem to be involved with any bawal things or smoking or anything. I'm not sure what happened two weeks ago!
Anyways, life is good in balaquid . we are teaching two older woman we are really excited about. they both committed to baptism. one of them, synida smokes and is trying to quit. they are both hilarious (they are sisters). Synida is lady lucas mom and sister leemmon and i taught her a while back.
anyways, i am out of time now.
love you all,
sister b.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
August 24, 2010 letter
hello family and friends!
i am in tacloban right now! what a week its been. WE had president malit's two neices live with us and it was pretty fun. It was a bit of an adjustment for them, but they liked it enough that they are coming back with us tomorrow too.
Well last week was actually full of some more tough moments wtih some of our less actives. Sister dustin and i fasted and just kept pouring out heart out in prayer. I actually had a realy interesting experience in one of the lessons with brother renato. He was acting really strange and we unfortunately thought we saw him smoking and it broke our hearts. he wouldn't look us in the eye or talk to us for three days. raymond wouldn't shake my hand when i saw him and would not look at me--he's been drinking and smoking. it was a a hard couple of days trying to figure out what was going on with our boys! then we had an intense lesson with brother renato. i had some scriptures i had prepared and studied earlier that day, btu he said he hadn't been smoking (we didn't full otu ask him, but he just told us this) and so i wasn't going to share my thoughts or scriptures...but then the spirit was almost forcing me and telling me i had to share these scriptures. it was like how i feel in testimony meeting when i know i should bear my testimony and then i talk myself out of it...my heart was pounding and i was almost over come with emotion.... it happened three different times. the spirit told me what i had to do so i did it. it was intense.
well, we got a text from the aps saying they were pickin us up to come to tacloban for a special Leadership training for three days! So thats where i have been. It was been the best three days. We have new curriculum that we've been trained on and the spirit has been so so strong during the trainings.. We've done a lot of role playing and our testimonies have grown a lot. I really love all the changes and different things they are trying to emphasize. I don't have time to explain it all now. I'll have to write a letter about it., but its wonderful. It was incredible too b/c sister dustin and i were role playing as the investigators that we actually have and it got really intense. we both received answers to prayers on how to help our investigators during the role play. It was awesome. I have loved these three days so much.
Anyways, that is why i didn't email on monday and we are emailing now. We had no pday on monday but got permission to email now and take our pday.
Well, life is good. i'll email again on monday.
I love this gospel so much. One thing president malit said that stood out to me today was many people think the choice is to repent or not repent and keep livign their lives....but we find in d and c 19:4 i believe....it is repent or we suffer.
Repentance is so important . Every day!! All of us need to repent, me especially. This new curricullum is a lot about following the spirit even more so than before . and so we talked about being worthy to have that spirit. We've had great experiences this week and a lot was learned. I love you all and i am doing well. Salamat kaayo for your love, prayers , and support. i sure need it! !
And soorry i have tried to send letter for the past 3 weeks, but there have been no stamps on biliran island...so monday i will try again. nana's card will be late maybe.
Love you all!!!
sister b
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Letter for the week of August 15th 2010
hi fam!
what a great week it's been.
Well, actually this week more than ever i've discovered how the mission is full of ups and downs and all arounds, but the ups make it all worth it and because i love my savior , and i love his children here, we keep moving forward.
Brother Renato is doing awesome! He is a miracle. He works with us daily, and yesterday he had an interview with the branch president and he received his mission papers to start on. I witnessed a miracle with him. I love it!
Unfortuneatley, it has been rough with Jaime this week. We showed up at his house to do a family home evening and he was drunk (he's 17) and spewing in the alley way. I was soo hurt. I really felt personally offended and a deep sorrow. Sister Dustin and I talked this week how we pray and pray for these people and we pray for love for them, like god has for them, and then when they disappoint us and use their agency to make wrong decisions, the pain is so real! I bet this is how our parents feel when they watch their children make decisions that maybe aren't the best. I seriously felt betrayed. We then proceeded to have the fhe and he came in and sat down and i couldn't look at him. I then did and shook my head and he got up and left and his mom asked where he was going and he said, "the sisters commanded me to leave.!" No one had seen me shake my head slightly at him...but he was right, i didn't want him there among all these kids drunk. It was a sad night for me. The next day he told us he was done with the church. We haven't seen him since. Since we've become friends i've really felt this special responsibility and connection with him and it was hard. BUT, we keep praying and since renato is doing well he will help to be a good example. We just keep having faith. I think of Alma the older having so much faith and praying for his son alma that an angel was sent to alma the younger and then his life was forever changed. I guess that means we all just continue on praying for those lost and struggling and pray that god will send them angels. I know he will. I've seen miracles happen in my life and especially since i've been on the mission and i know he is aware of all of his children. We must continue to push through the hard times and have faith in these people who are just not sure what to do. I know jaime is just crying out for help. and i know he is one of the reasons i am here in balaquid. please continue to pray for him/ us. Salamat.
this is embarrassing and i should know better, i knowwwwwwwwwww:
Well, i got sick a bit this week. i drank some water that wasn't filtered. i was so thirsty. turns out what everyone says about the water here is true. i was so terribly sick it was embarrassing...sprawled on my bed wimpering and pleading to heavenly father to take away my pain. it was sooooooo bad. but, it was interesting b/c while i was in my pain i kept thinking of my savior and the atonement. it was the only thing that got me through the night. i kept repeating, ''he knows my pain, he knows my pain.'' even though it was just one night of bad physical pain , my savior knew and i felt his presence. i also learned from my mistake. even though i was thirsty and the cold water looked good i probably shouldn't have had 4 glasses of it.. and i won't again. (promise, urs)
we taught david and micheal this week. they both want to be baptized by david said his parents witll not let him.
jenette got her cohabitation interview and will be baptized august 28 or aug 21.
we had a great branch conference. we sang in the choir.
life is beautiful and we are happy here! thank you for all of your prayers, i reallllllllllly need them.
president malits neices are coming to live with us for a week or two!!!!!!! are you shocked? we were. hahaha. they are meeting us here in naval in like 30 minutes. one is 13 and one is 18 and they live in america and are here on vacation and i guess they wanted a missionary life experience soooooooooooo they are coming and working / living with us for a bit! we ran out of water today....hope that is not frequent while they are here! haha.
please keep praying for my language ability....its not clicking yet. but it will! right?
love you all,
sister b.
aaron--wow, thanks so much for the email last week. i studied the 'two truths' and taught lessons on them. it really helped me learn what i need to do. thank you so much! i love you.
shoes--the elder here got shoes from the ap so he doesn't need any anymore thankssssssss anyways!
does rice make hair grow?? some one has got to look that up b/c my arm hair is growing like CRAZY. and sister dustin too. seriously , we have never ever ever been this hairy and we are like gorillas. seriously.
urs--sometime could you send me some dark brown flats...the same ones we both bought before i left. from walmart i think...
mom could you make me a list of sacrament songs? i am the chorister....
marilee/mom--could you send me an eye shadow brush/ applicator. just one. mine broke. thanks!
what a great week it's been.
Well, actually this week more than ever i've discovered how the mission is full of ups and downs and all arounds, but the ups make it all worth it and because i love my savior , and i love his children here, we keep moving forward.
Brother Renato is doing awesome! He is a miracle. He works with us daily, and yesterday he had an interview with the branch president and he received his mission papers to start on. I witnessed a miracle with him. I love it!
Unfortuneatley, it has been rough with Jaime this week. We showed up at his house to do a family home evening and he was drunk (he's 17) and spewing in the alley way. I was soo hurt. I really felt personally offended and a deep sorrow. Sister Dustin and I talked this week how we pray and pray for these people and we pray for love for them, like god has for them, and then when they disappoint us and use their agency to make wrong decisions, the pain is so real! I bet this is how our parents feel when they watch their children make decisions that maybe aren't the best. I seriously felt betrayed. We then proceeded to have the fhe and he came in and sat down and i couldn't look at him. I then did and shook my head and he got up and left and his mom asked where he was going and he said, "the sisters commanded me to leave.!" No one had seen me shake my head slightly at him...but he was right, i didn't want him there among all these kids drunk. It was a sad night for me. The next day he told us he was done with the church. We haven't seen him since. Since we've become friends i've really felt this special responsibility and connection with him and it was hard. BUT, we keep praying and since renato is doing well he will help to be a good example. We just keep having faith. I think of Alma the older having so much faith and praying for his son alma that an angel was sent to alma the younger and then his life was forever changed. I guess that means we all just continue on praying for those lost and struggling and pray that god will send them angels. I know he will. I've seen miracles happen in my life and especially since i've been on the mission and i know he is aware of all of his children. We must continue to push through the hard times and have faith in these people who are just not sure what to do. I know jaime is just crying out for help. and i know he is one of the reasons i am here in balaquid. please continue to pray for him/ us. Salamat.
this is embarrassing and i should know better, i knowwwwwwwwwww:
Well, i got sick a bit this week. i drank some water that wasn't filtered. i was so thirsty. turns out what everyone says about the water here is true. i was so terribly sick it was embarrassing...sprawled on my bed wimpering and pleading to heavenly father to take away my pain. it was sooooooo bad. but, it was interesting b/c while i was in my pain i kept thinking of my savior and the atonement. it was the only thing that got me through the night. i kept repeating, ''he knows my pain, he knows my pain.'' even though it was just one night of bad physical pain , my savior knew and i felt his presence. i also learned from my mistake. even though i was thirsty and the cold water looked good i probably shouldn't have had 4 glasses of it.. and i won't again. (promise, urs)
we taught david and micheal this week. they both want to be baptized by david said his parents witll not let him.
jenette got her cohabitation interview and will be baptized august 28 or aug 21.
we had a great branch conference. we sang in the choir.
life is beautiful and we are happy here! thank you for all of your prayers, i reallllllllllly need them.
president malits neices are coming to live with us for a week or two!!!!!!! are you shocked? we were. hahaha. they are meeting us here in naval in like 30 minutes. one is 13 and one is 18 and they live in america and are here on vacation and i guess they wanted a missionary life experience soooooooooooo they are coming and working / living with us for a bit! we ran out of water today....hope that is not frequent while they are here! haha.
please keep praying for my language ability....its not clicking yet. but it will! right?
love you all,
sister b.
aaron--wow, thanks so much for the email last week. i studied the 'two truths' and taught lessons on them. it really helped me learn what i need to do. thank you so much! i love you.
shoes--the elder here got shoes from the ap so he doesn't need any anymore thankssssssss anyways!
does rice make hair grow?? some one has got to look that up b/c my arm hair is growing like CRAZY. and sister dustin too. seriously , we have never ever ever been this hairy and we are like gorillas. seriously.
urs--sometime could you send me some dark brown flats...the same ones we both bought before i left. from walmart i think...
mom could you make me a list of sacrament songs? i am the chorister....
marilee/mom--could you send me an eye shadow brush/ applicator. just one. mine broke. thanks!
Monday, August 16, 2010
August 9th, 2010
Hello my favorite people--
What a great week it has been!
First to answer some questions for Kyle Woodbury: I am in Balaquid and we have a 'special sacrament' which means only sunday school and sacrament, but we are a part of Cabucgayan branch that has a meeting house in Cabucgayan. They have all three hours there. But, in September or October the CHAPEL will be completed in Cabucagayan...that is a big chapel built by the Church and we are sooo excited. We go to Church at the special sacrament and we are crammed in there. It is very hot with no electricity and plastic chairs and it is a small 'building' made from bamboo I believe with thatched roof. We had 83 people in attendance on Sunday and Cabucgayan had 55 I believe... once the chapel is done everyone is supposed to travel to Cabucgayan for church. It is going to be a hard struggle for the saints in Balaquid, but we'll do it...probably by walking at 6am. Balaquid is strong and I believe we are in the process of applying to become a branch. The people that have been here the longest are the Mollare family, Helen Carrol, Masuela family, Lanante, Mora. Our branch president is President Lan, but he is only 28 I believe. President Mollare was before him. The Mollare's got baptized in 1998. There is also a chapel being built in Biliran. The work is progressing so much on this little island!!!
AND this past Saturday we had 7 baptisms from Balaquid and 2 from Cabucgayan. Eugene Tizon, Gingging, and Marah Gene Tizon. Josephine and Judith Corpin, Lady Lucas, and Karla Sumayan. It was the best day of my mission. I can't even begin to express how wonderful it was! It has been incredible to be a part of these people's journey. Eugene was a preacher for 10 years for the wrong church!! And now he always says, "This is the way." In his testimony he said. "He felt the spirit the first time Sister Lemmon and Sister Blonquist sang at the beginning of the lesson. And he almost cried....but he didn't cause his little sons would have laughed at him! Haha. He now has the priesthood and knows the complete truth. It all really hit me when I saw him get baptized. His wife gave a great testimony about how they have changed for the better and she is so grateful to our Heavenly Father. She said, "Eugene stopped drinking and smoking right away after we taught them." It has blessed them all. We heard Eugene asking some investigators who came to the baptism "When are you getting baptized? You have to get married in the temple so your family can be together forever." WHAtt!!!?!? So awesome! Eugene also had a dream with us in it and he said, "There was a voice that said pay your tithing and he woke up and knew he had to."....on Sunday I saw them pay their first tithe.
Josephine testimony has grow so much as well. She was the first to get up and bear her testimony. She really has shocked me with her growth and understanding, especially in these past few weeks. I rememeber the first day Sister Lemmon and I contacted her! How far she has come! She said she wants a hymnbook for her family.
Lady Lucas wore a SKIRT to her baptism..one I'm sure she got from Josephine. She asked us the day before if she had to wear a skirt now...haha, and now she does. She is awesome.
Little Karla and Judith and Marah Gene just had the best time together. What an experience to share with one another. There were so many people there and so much support from the branch--it was an epic event!!! Sister Dustin and I sang "I Stand All Amazed." The elders sang a song too.
Oh yes, we now have 4 elders in Cabucgayan...that is 6 missionaries in our branch!!!!!!!!!! This area is growing!
Also, there are no more sisters in Naval. Elders now, so Sister Dustin and I are the only sisters on this island! Haha, and we are having a blast!
I love this work so much.
We are helping the youth a lot here as well. We both have a special love for them and there are a lot of less active and kids who aren't members that are at the time in their lives that they really need to know what direction to go.
This week seriously was the best. Sister Dustin and I are having so much fun and loving our lives every day. The Lord blesses us and we are witnessing miracles...REAL LIFE MIRACLES are happening.
OH I read a talk by President Uchtdorf about Patience...I think he gave it in the priesthood session of conference. It was remarkable. If you have a chance, go back and read it. It really helped me this week.
Well, the Church is true, so what else matters?! Keep pluggin along doing your best everyday, and I will too!
Love you all,
sister b
Kiera--What is that quote by Elder Holland on faith.. I really would love to get that from you.
Does anyone (guy) have durable, Sunday shoes that they don't wear? size 13? We have an elder here that has wore out his shoes bad and is wearing flip flops right now....literally wore them straight through..so if anyone has any they don't use...send them one shoe at a time this way! :) black...
Hannah Boice--I love you and pray for you daily.
Becca Hall-- I have not heard from you in a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time. and I miss you!
Kiera--can you fbook Natalie Gardner and tell her I sent a letter to the apt in Provo, but I don't even know if she lives there now! and what is her new address.
love youuuuuuuuuuu all!