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
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
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.