July 19th, 2010

Hello Family and Friends!

I can't believe its July 19th! Have so much fun at the reunion family!

Well, its been an incredible week here. Truly. We worked hard and taught some great people. We had 11 investigators come to church yesterday! 11! The Tizon family and Josephin corpin and her daughter judith, as well as lady lucas and jenette sumayan and her daughter lara mae are all scheduled to be baptized on august 7th! What a great day that will be! These people have been prepared and they are progressing and learning so much as they read the scriptures, attend church, and read the Book of Mormon. We had a great FHE at the tizon house and a lot of people came. Sister Dustin and I had quite a lot of fun this week teaching lessons and enjoying our life here. We also had a great zone conference this week!! It was in Tacloban so we traveled on Thursday and spent the night there. It was combine--5 zones, because Elder Teh of the seventy came!!! So we were told that we all needed to prepare to speak b/c he would choose 3 people to talk..our ZL told us the topic was The Book of Mormon, but then when we got to Tacloban they told us it was on finding people to teach, teaching with The Book of Mormon and comp unity... So it was a long day of travel and we had to do weekly planning so at 10pm I'm frantically trying to prep anything..but i wasn't too worried b/c 5 zones there was no way i would get picked right? Well, zone conference is going well and Elder Teh was incredible. We all got to meet him and his wife before it started as well. He laughed when i said i was from Chicago and said the weather is the same here as there. SO true! Well, after Elder Teh trained us, they then announced the next speaker-- Sister Blonquist! And "she her topic will be teaching with the spirit." ..UMMMMMM, that was not a topic i had prepped!!! So I grab my preach my gospel and my scriptures and head to the pulpit. And I just start talking. I remember starting a sentence and not knowing where i was going with it....but i was completely calm and fine and just kept going. The spirit totally and completely guided every word i said. I actually think it was one of the best talks I've ever given! And I can't even remember what i said! Haha, but I felt good and give all credit to my Heavenly Father. He totally and completely helped me and I was able to say what I needed and what was right. (this was all in English by the way--our ZC are in English...but i can't wait for this to happen to me in Cebuano someday too...)

Anyways, i remember stating that the Holy Ghost is not just 'the spirit' but a member of the godhead! A god! That can and must be with us every single day, lesson , etc. How amazing it is that a god is our companion every second. Anyways, it turned out well and I was happy and I knew I said whatever Heavenly Father needed me to say--even though I don't remember most of it! It was neat to learn from the things coming out of my mouth---that was something my mission prep teacher, Brother Bott, said would happen when you teach with the spirit.

It was a really neat experience that I have never really felt before. Elder Teh said, "good job! and thank you!"... and then guess what his next training was on---how the Holy Ghost is a member of the god head and how profound that is! Cool eh! ? It was a great zone conference and i learned a lot. I also got my two small packages urs and noel, so thanks for those!!

Also, yesterday we had a Book of Mormon fireside. President Malit has specifically asked us to do those so we did yesterday. I actually had no voice--a bit sick-- but no worries. So we had some Book of Mormon movies--seminary ones i think-- and then some spiritual thoughts and then two object lessons. It turned out so good! We had a lot of Less actives and tons of investigators there! Tons! Our branch president announced we are going to do them every Sunday night from now on! It was also really great b/c there are these two young men (15 and 20) that we met through the Swiss kid, victor (his dad yelled at us for talking to him..awkward) anyways, these two guys have come to some activities and they were there. they always say we don't want to be a member we just want to know what you are about. Well! David was in tears and said that he has all these questions and wants us to teach him! He felt the spirit so strong and he and Michael also want to be in our play! He wants us to teach him every Wednesday now.

It has been such a great week. Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts in my behalf. Balaquid is really doing well and we are working hard and looking forward to lots of baptisms coming up.

love you all and miss you too,

sister b

July 12th Letter

Hello Everyone,

This week flew by! It was such a great week and we are teaching lots of people and staying busy. I am still having trouble with the language, and probably had the worst week yet, but I know Heavenly Father is aware of me. On Sunday we had 12 investigators come to church. 12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even tell you how excited we were. Josephine Corpin, Jenette Sumayon, Eugene and Ging ging Tizon to name a few. We have been teaching jospehine and jenette for months and they would never ever come to church. I think we might have let out a yelp of joy when we saw jospehine come in. It was a great Sunday. Primary lesson was fun and sacrament meeting was really good. Sister Dustin and I were ecstatic (Sp?). Anyways, the Spirit was really strong and we loved it. Sister Dustin suggested on Saturday night that we fast for our investigators...so we did. ..and then Sunday 12 came to church! The lord recognizes our hard work, our sacrifices, and the righteous desires of our hearts. I think I'm beginning to feel/see what it meant in my mission call letter that i would experience more joy than ever before... What a day!

Well, we woke up at 5am today to do laundry and clean our house....Elder Teh of the 70 i think is coming to take a tour of the mission. I'm tired. ! This week we have zone conference in Tacloban on Friday so we'll leave at 4am for that. We also are doing our play which is coming along and going to be soooo incredible! I am praying I won't be transferred!

Well, time is short. I have so much to say and no time to do so! Life is wonderful here and the weather is changing to more overcast and rainy...which i love! We are teaching so really amazing investigators and we are searching and teaching the less actives. It is a very fun adventure everyday. I love the people here and i am learning what it truly means to serve, and to love.

As I was reflecting on my struggles this week with the languages... i had a deep realization that I'm not learning this for me. I am learning these languages because i love these people. So when I get frustrated or overwhelmed I just have to remember, this language learning process isn't for me, its for them. I know God sent me here for a specific purpose. I know he knows each of us and he is mindful of alllll of his children. We are put into each others lives for a reason and we are together to help each other grow and return to live with Him. I am here to help these people know their maker. So with this knowledge I move forward in faith to learn this language. Its hard! But he never said it would be easy, he only said it would be worth it! I got a taste of that on Sunday.

We are teaching a great family--Tizon family. Please pray for them. He was a preacher/missionary for years. They are awesome. And please pray for jospehine Corpin! Her husband isn't interested so she is kinda solo on this one.

Well, the church is true!

I love you all!

love,

sister b.

Chickens in the MEeting House July 5th

Wow, another great week has passed by! I can't believe its July now! I hope everyone had a great July 4th! I made 'mango float' for our comp celebration. It was marasa (delicious)...its layers of graham crackers, cream of sorts, and mangas. yum.

WEll, we seriously had a great week of work. We were blessed to teach lots of lessons and meet lots of people. We are so excited about the work in our area and sister dustin and i are doing well. We decided that the time is now to unite our branch (balaquid saints go to special sacrament and capucgayan go to a meeting house) and in september the chapel building will be built and all the saints will go there...so we decided for the grand opening event that we would direct a PLAY/talent show. WE couldn't think of a title yet---elder webb came up with "chickens in the meetinghouse" bahahaha --cause there were tons of chickens at our district meeting running around--and it sounds like a cheesy/funny mormon movie, doesn't it?? bahah, but you all should also be thinking of a title. We also had, " more than men." but that seemed too much like "mormon" and we started chanting the girls camp song...mormon mormon mormon mormon, i know a mormon boy...etc. it was funny.

We are so excited and the story is based off of alma 17-22, 26. . . missionary work, of course. :) We are also going to tie in modern day missionary work and basically serving God and our brothers and sisters. Its going ot be incredible! Also, each auxillary will be in charge of a 'commercial' between scenes and they will perform some type of awesome talent. Our branch presidency wants to do "thriller" i think. bahaha. its going ot be so good . Members, non-members, and investigators are all involved. So we have this epic event and play we are in charge of, plus all of our normal responsiblities and teaching and proselyting. WE are keeping busy!

I love Sister Dustin and I am learning so much from her. She is an incredible missionary! She was fluent in the language and training after just four months! I have lots to learn and its exciting.

We have a joint Zone Conference in tacloban in a few weeks and an area 70 is coming.

WE are teaching some great investigators and they are progressing and keeping their commitments. Its so fun to see!

ALso, Raymond passed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday. I was so proud of him! He also always comes with us to teach lessons and its so good. He is the best. Abigail also continues to come to church and brings friends. The work is moving forward here...thank you for all of your prayers!

We started teaching Daddy Bob about temples--he's 85 and can't walk and has to drink coffee (prescribed by doctor) because his body will go into shock if he doesn't...Anyways, he needs to walk and he needs to stop drinking coffee if he wants to go to the temple. He told us that he does want to go and so we are focusing on what is the next step for him. I really love being with him. He cracks me up , but I also love discussing the gospel with him. He always asks us why he is still alive and we flat out told him its because he is supposed to go to the temple. cool, eh?

Little daniela is doing good, though she had a fever this week. Her family and extended family is inactive but her grandpa let us teach him and we also taught her uncles. They have been in active forever. But they are going to come back, i know it. I seriously love that family.

If my email/responses are shorter these days its cause i'm only emailing for 30 minutes now...but keep emailing me i love it and i print out the emails i don't have time to read here. Thanks for all of your love and support; i need it!


MAtt morgan--what is your address? are you married now?
blake stratton and alaina williams--what are your address now!? I want to write you.
cousins--are you still alive?
jarrett--email me back
family--i love you and have fun at the reunion!
biancs aka--sister hernandez- how is temple square?
mossy aka hermana sigler--thanks for the letters! /package

the church is true! The truth has been restored on the earth and we have a living prophet today! We got the ensign and i love love reading it. God's church is on the earth and his plan for each of us is perfect. We are a part of each other's lives for a reason--so how can we help one another and bring eachother unto christ even more?!?!

I love my life and i love all of you. Thank you for your support and prayers .
love,
Sister B!

june 28th NEW COMP!

Hello everyone,

Life continues to be wonderful here in Balaquid. I have a new companion--Sister Dustin most recently from, Ceder City Utah. Yes, she is the blog josh found and we all looked at before i left on the mission. :) She is really wonderful and exactly what I needed and balaquid needs. We are really excited for our work here. She trained my batch--companion from the mtc--sister Farnworth. She is aewsome and we have big plans for our time here! We seriously are very excited.

This past week was great. I got to be with sister lemmon in Tacloban (which feels like forever ago now) and it was a great time. WE ate food--chips and salsa--i started crying when i found the chip aisle at the grocery store in tacloban--embarrassing... Anyways, and had a great few last days together! I love her and will be forever grateful she was my trainer.

On thursday i went ot transfer meeting and got my new companion sister dustin! She has only had one area and really misses it, but we have lots to do and its going to be a great time for us here.

Saturday and Sunday we taught some great lesson and got some new investigators. Five investigators came to church :) and Raymond's little brother did too. Raymond has been coming to lessons with us now which is wonderful. We have a great week planned with a lot of members coming ot each lesson so it is going to awesome!

I lovve being here and doing this work. I definitely know that God loves us and is aware of what we need and who we need in our lives. HE has a plan and purpose for each of us and when we pray and know him, we will know his will as well. Putting him first is most important for our happiness and our existence. I know that .

Sister dustin and I were also talking about how the root of all unhappiness is Selfish ness. I've been pondering that as of late as well. What can i do to be less selfish; to serve more, better, to sacrifice more and better.

Anyways, i hope you all have a magnificent 4th of July!

Happy birthday samuel and biancs!

Much Love,
Sister B !

June 21st

Maayong Hapon!!!!!!!

I can't believe June is coming to an end. I can't believe my time with my first companion and trainer, Sister Lemmon, is coming to an end! The life of a missionary is so interesting!

WEll, this week has been incredible! We taught some great lessons and we have some awesome new investigators. But first, I need to express my gratitude for the priesthood and for the tender mercies and love from our FAther in Heaven! I hope everyone had a great father's day yesterday! It is not really celebrated here at all, but since I had to talk in church I made sure to mention it and I decided to talk about the priesthood especially because of the special day. I am so incredibly grateful that the priesthood is on the earth and that I have had incredible examples in my life of men who honor their priesthood. The priesthood is the power and authority of God! How incredible is that!? God's church would not be complete without...it would not be God's church! I really feel like being here on the mission I have gained a deeper understanding of the priesthood and what it means to honor it. As of late of have witnessed very specific miracles from the priesthood and I know that each day there are many tender mercies and guidance because the priesthood is on the earth. For those of you who have asked, little Daniela is doing great and her leg is healing. She received a preisthood blessing and her family is truly trying to show their faith. It's been a unique, special experience to be a part of. There was also another incident here with my very favorite Nanay, and then everything went exactly according to the preisthood blessing she received. Sister Lemmon and I also had an opportunity to teach a lesson on eternal marriage and I studied a lot about the priesthood and the sacred ordinances we through the power of the priesthood. I know God's power is on the earth today and He has not left us alone! He truly does know each of His children. He truly wants us to be happy now in this life and return to Him. He is a perfect God and so His church is perfect and has perfect order and perfect power. It is not a place of confusion or disorder. He has a perfect plan and a perfect power that has been restored to the earth. There is no doubt in my mind as I have felt this power throughout my life, and especially as of late, i've been blessed with sacred experiences and impressions that have testified of this truth. The priesthood is real and it is essential to God's true church. Thank you to all worthy priesthood holders! ! ! !

This week has also been INCREDIBLE BECAUSE RAYMOND WAS BAPTIZED!!!! This was something we weren't sure if it was possible, but everything came together kind of last minute and it was the best day of my mission thus far. Raymond, the 17 year old kid that we have been teaching since before i got here. He was supposed to get baptized april 30, but then his parents wouldn't let him go to church and then other things happened,etc. But he was baptized and it was so wonderful! We really prayed this week to see if we felt like he was ready and sister lemmon and i both got very clear answers that he was and we should let him know that if he felt ready, he could get baptized on Saturday. I will never forget his face when we told him he could get baptized this saturday! He was so happy, but trying to act all tough, like a cool 17 year old! HAH! Love that kid. I am really glad we waited until June as well. I really feel like it gave him time to understand this convenant, build a relationship of trust with him and especially with his family, and really help him understand the gospel. He is my favorite person here and we are great friends! WE did a CSP at his house as well and the members and us have really been able to get to know his family and they love us now too! I know that through his faith and example his family will follow and become members. He is the best.

WEll, the baptism was in the ocean and right behind our special sacrament. I can't wait to send you all pictures of that! We literally had to hike down the mountain (STEEP) to get to the ocean. A LOT more difficult that anticipated. A LOT. And we were in skirts and poor sister lemmon and her sprained ankle. Don't worry, instead of helping us down the cliff, our District Leader started snapping pictures of our epic struggle. :)

It was such a great day!
WE then went and had a grand lunch to celebrate nanay helen's grandson's 2nd bday as well as a goodbye to sister lemmon. We ate quite a lot. yumm.

WE spent saturday visiting all the less actives and teaching them and finding people sister lemmon really wanted to come to church for her last sunday. WE fasted . They came.

Sister lemmon gave an incredible talk in sacrament meeting about how important the sacrament was, the holy ghost, and CHarity. It was amazing. She was embarrassed cause she cried a little bit, but it was perfect for these people. And me. Love my trainer! I spoke on the priesthood like i mentioned previously. WE also sang, Because I have been Given Much. Great sabbath day!

OH , we went and said goodbye to some members for sister lemmon and i got to try some stilts (i'm really bad) and drive a pot-pot (po-po) and i was pretty good at it...though it was harder than it looks!

BAsta, Life is wonderful here! Sister lemmon and i head out to TAcloban tomorrow! Then she will go back to america (weird) and I will HOPEFULLY not get transferred, and come back to Balaquid with a new companion! Pray for me and my new comp! :)

This week was truly full of miracles and tender mercies. I am loving this mission life.

I love my savior and I know he atoned for our sins, weaknesses, pains, and infirmities. Heavenly Father knows each of us. I encourage all reading this to not just believe in Christ, but to BELIEVE CHrist when he says he atoned for your sins and loves you.

Thank you for your faith, encouragement, letters, emails, prayers and example. I am so grateful I get to wake up every day and do the Lord's work. I know I am where I am supposed to be and Heavenly Father is guiding me each day. This is the time for us to prepare to meet our maker. The church is true, so what else matters!? Trust in God.

Much love to you all,
Your favorite :) Sister B.

June 14, 2010

Malbalhus Ako pirmi! (I'm always sweaty)

Hello family and friends,

Its rainy outside so the internet cafe refuses to turn on the fans in here even though its still VERY INIT (HOT). Basta, life is good. This week was wonderful!

On Monday night we went and taught the Corpin and Cabia families and committed them for baptism. They said yes! It was a great lesson. I was actually really excited b/c Sister Josie was asking questions and I actually understood exactly what she was saying...like allll of what she was saying! So that was new for me. Haha! It always takes a long while for both families to gather and some of the people were not wanting to be there really, but when we got into the lesson they did too and it turned out really great. They wanted to go to church on Sunday, but the first time (and last prob) in history there was no church b/c of the CEBU TEMPLE DEDICATION!

The Philippines got there second temple! It’s in Cebu which is just the next island over (three of the elders from my MTC district are there) and so that is our temple district. Basta, Raymond came to that lesson as well. Our little recent convert Abigail is doing great and inviting her friends to church. Mona however is hiding from us so thats sad, pero we are teaching another family that lives next to her. Gingging and Eugene. Gingging said her husband went to church for years before but she doesn't know if he is baptized. She also said, “Sister I am going to come to church with you on Sunday”...um what?! We hadn't mentioned anything about it....we then had to explain there was no church b/c of the temple dedication! How random is that. Ever since I got here we could never get our investigators to church and now its alll being turned around and people we are just meeting are telling us they are going to come. Anyways, Sister Lemmon and I are excited because June 20 is going to be a great day. We are expecting that all of our investigators will be at church! It is also Sister Lemmon’s last Sunday and Father's day, right?!? (Happy Father's Day Dad! and Aaron and Andru and Luke and Josh! ) :)

Well, we had a great week of lessons and worked really hard to meet our goals of finding and contacting and getting new investigators. It was a great week and we were really blessed b/c on Saturday and Sunday we couldn't work in our area b/c we had to travel to Naval b/c on Sunday we were leaving at 5 am to get to Carigara to view the temple dedication via satellite... anyways, we were blessed this past week with a lot of oppotunities to teach and work even though we were two days short of a normal week.

OH! Update on Daniela.. we were really concerned about her leg and the faith of her family, pero we had a lot of oppotunity to visit her and we were praying for her and really doing alllll we could do for this family. WEll, Daniela was released from the hospital on Friday and home and her leg is in a cast. She still can't move at all, but the bones seem to be healing correctly now. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for little Daniela and her family! We are hoping and praying this trial with turn things around for this family that we love!

Well, the temple dedication was wonderful. We went to the 9am session and 12pm session. President Monson and President Eyring were in Cebu as well as Bishop Burton and Elder Oaks! The dedication ceromonies were awesome! I loved being able to view it. It was a really special time for all of the Philippines. Elder Oaks talked about the faith of the Filipino people and how the church has grown here since he was over the area six years ago. It was so neat! It made me so proud to know these people and to live here and be a part of this special experience.

WEll, life is great! This week is going to be quite special b/c its Sister Lemmon's last week in the field! She goes home next week and I get to accompany her to TAcloban (fun!).

Well, thank you so much for all of your prayers on my behalf and our investigators. We need it and we are so grateful for them. The languages are tough, but my attitude now is how fun it is to speak these languages. It really is and such a miracle that I can say anything at all! haha. Well, have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister B.

June

Hello family and friends!

ITs june now! Summa summa summa time para sa inyo! I bet all of your kids are so excited for summer. And the family reunion!

WEll, life here is going well. It's starting to get more rainy and the storms are awesome. Reminds me of Chicago summer storms, except for the huge ocean outside my window. Basta, this week has been great. WE started our week trying to figure out my allergic reaction on my foot and then when we thought that was under control my companion fell off the curb in naval and sprained her foot and then passed out. poor thing. So we both had foot issues this week--talk about companionship unity, eh? But , we keep pluggin along! Up and around and down the mountains and hills of balaquid. SIster lemmons been a real trooper and my foot seems to be okay na.

WE had another wonderful week of lessons, a few disappointments, delicious food, funny moments, good studies, an aewsome CSP, and a great sunday!

This week members came with us to lessons more than ever before! What a tender mercy. And we are continuing to teach the Corpin/Cabia family despite persecution. We are going again tonight and are hoping to commit them to baptism, however the last two times we have gone to do that something has occurred so we couldn't . . .Basta, our wonderful investigator, mona is going to work in manila--lame. she told us on tuesday that she is receiving persecution and doesn't want to continue, however then we had a great lesson and she felt okay about everything. DApos, we tried to visit her 3x and she literally hid from us. also, lame. we are not sure about that situation. I really loved mona.

I am beginning to pick up on more words and phrases daily and not just smile awkwardly when people talk to me, so thats been better...still not where i would like to be, but little by little , its coming..

NAnay helen taught sister lemmon and i how to make pansit and escabitchi (sweet and sour fish). Yes, be excited. IT's marasa.

This week was also wonderful b/c we really got to get back into our routine of studying . Its been fun to read the scriptures this week and get a deeper understanding for them as well as relate. I think missionary life is so funny. Ridiculous things happen all the time that you just have to laugh at and keep pluggin along. I seriously find it hilarious. I also was thinking about Nephi and samuel the lamanite recently. They too had ridiculous things happen to them even when they were being completely obedient and giving their all the lord. Yes , nephi's steel bow still broke when he needed it most and yes he had to figure out another way (a wooden bow /arrow) to get food. Yes samuel the lamanite was preaching the gospel and the people wouldn't listen so he literally had to climb a wall. Seriously, every day we have our own walls to climb (not to mention he still had arrows shot at him while he was on the wall...) and sometimes we have to start from scratch like nephi. . . even when we are doing everything right. SO, its okay! NEphi did it, samuel the lamanite did it, and so did many others before us. so , we too, keep pluggin along with a smile on our face.

sidenote: i sound like such a nerd. i promise i'm not a weirdo or anything, i'm still me....

Basta, our district actually has a 'nerd ' theme. Oh mom and dad, my DL did get the milk duds. and loved them. Anyways, my DL one day was making fun of all the missinaries who were "nerds" in the gospel. Then, literally the next day, he was giving a training and talking to us about how he they had had a teaching appointment and how excited he was for these people and he just went on and on about how he loved missionary work.. and then stopped dead in his words and said, "oh my gosh, i am a nerd!" SO, now our them is "Become a nerd" in the gospel and love missionary work and be the best missionary possible b/c you only have 18 months/ 2 years...so needless to say, we bought nerd glasses and wear them often. Cool ,eh?

That was a tangent! Sorry! SO, this past saturday we had an awesome CSP! (service project). IT was at raymonds house. (he was supposed to be baptized a while ago but couldn't b/c he couldn't got to church b/c of work in the bukid. Anyways, we got the foundation down. The foundatoin is rocks (big) and dirt. This means that we hauled dirt back and forth for 3 hours up and down the mountain. BIG, heavy bags of dirt. I tried carrying two bags (one on each shoulder) but i literally got yelled at and bernard took the bag off my shoulder halfway down the path. I was ticked. Anyways, it felt good to be doing some hard labor! It was hot and hard work, but awesome as well. Umm, my shoulders are really sore, but it was a great work out. We then had an awesome lunch, they all went back to haul more dirt for 2 more hours, but sister lemmon and i had appointments.

SUNDAY: we fasted...and we had 7 INVESTIGATORS COME TO CHURCH. SEVEN! AND, RAYMOND CAME! AFter 1.5months of not coming, he came. Wow, hwat a blessing. Sister lemmon and i also bore our testimonies. 3 of the Corpin and CAbia families came which is a realllly big deal. WE go teach them tonight as well.

WEll, life is wonderful. Thank you for all of your prayers and continual support. I appreciate it so much and need it. I hope you all are doing well. I pray for you and think of you often. I am loving my missionary life here in Balaquid.

Have a great week! Sigi!

nahigugma ko sa inyo,

Sister B.

p.s.--Hello to amelia smith! Thank you so much for your letter! I just got it last friday and i will make sure to write you asap!

BEnasi Luthi--got your letters this week!! SO good to hear from you!!! Say hi to david for me! AND, also, i couldn't read your address very clearly so write it on my blog would ya so i can write you back? or contact my sisters so they can get it to me. Miss ya man!