He Doesn't Know What He Doesn't Know

NOVEMBER 24, 2013

Sooooooooo, remember Jovan? The 11 year old who cant read? Well this week we got to the root of why he is so slow and difficult to teach. He only speaks Ilocano. Yeah. That was a bit of a shocker. Sister Abelhouzen and I literally sat after his lesson for a good five minutes just saying "He speaks Ilocano" over and over to each other. The reason he does not progress is because he cannot understand what in the world we are saying to him! And now, thinking about it, he is one of the most polite and patient little boys for sitting in lessons for as long as he has, listening to two white girls who are not speaking his language. Awesome. So now that we have that problem figured out, we can figure out how to really help him. I just cant believe we didn't figure this out before now! How in the world?! Not even Sister Sese knew that. Glory on high. Jovan speaks ILOCANO!!!!

Miracle moments from this week: A sister who was baptized at the beginning of this year who stopped going to church the Sunday after she received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, who then got baptized into the Born Again church, came back to church for the first time yesterday. And it was seriously like she had never left. All the branch members welcomed her with open arms and she was talking to everyone and it was just one of the best things ever. I really hope and pray that she comes to church again next Sunday. She is so sweet and I think really needs the kind of support, spiritual and temporal, that the branch can offer her.

The Vigan Sky. Look at that sky!!! That is what it is like every night here. All that smoke in the air makes for good sunsets. Or maybe clown pants. 

We also went finding out in an area that I had never been to before and it is basically and entire Brgy of less actives. We went out there with a list of people to find and we found two families and one random woman who was not even on our list. We walked out of a lesson and she saw us down the road and started waving and saying "I'm a member too sisters!" Her name is Valen and she is the neighborhood bookie, which she knows is bad, but she was just so nice, we asked if we could teach her right then and she was like "sure! Is right here okay?" So we basically taught her on the side of the road, gave her a Book of Mormon and told her we would come back. She was just so excited to see us, it was nice after having this one guy keep saying "Gabi na" or basically "its late" when we were trying to set up a return appointment. Also, his reason for not coming to church was "wala na" or "nothing." So we will have to hit that one up with some more inspired questions later. But the main point is Valen, and how she is adorable.

ALSO, we have this daughter of a less active who has a baptismal goal date and she is just so solid. We went over and she had read the Book of Mormon, she read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet we left and had prayed about them both and was like "yeah, they are true" No one ever reads between lessons! No one ever reads the pamphlet! And Eloysa did! Squee! We also had a break through with an investigator we have had for a long time, the Plan of Salvation was just the hook we needed. Oh the work is just plugging along. I am giving it all up to the fact that now that Sister Abelhouzen and I are not so rocking at Tagalog we really need to focus on simplicity and making our purpose clear. The How To Begin Teaching bullet points are real y'all. I have a testimony that they work.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Now That I Know What It Is Like To Be The Prettiest Girl In The Room, I Hate It.

NOVEMBER 17, 2013

So basically now that it is just me and another Americana, we get a lot of attention from the men here. Not my fave. Maraming wolf whistles and "hey sexy" and "you are so pretty" yelled at us. I mean, the ego boost is nice, since I mostly feel and look like a sweaty horse all the time, but now we are just super self conscious about weather people want to listen to us because we are American, or because of what we have to teach them. Its a tough balance to strike. Ill keep you posted.

So this week we taught Darryl, the good friend of Melchor Santiago our RC, and they were two power-house lessons. In the first, it was two hours long and the poor nanays who were fellowshipping with us left and went to sit in the air con car for a second. It probs didnt help that the lesson was in English, but you know, you roll with what works. So he is just questioning if he still wants to get baptized, so we went though all the baptismal interview questions with him and he answered them all beautifully and we testified and he testified and we all felt the Spirit, but at the end of the lesson he still said he was not sure. So we went back and we couldnt teach him because there was no woman present and that broke my heart. Then we went back again and taught him about faith and asked him to pray to know if the gospel and the church are true with us and we knelt down and he prayed and the Spirit was so strong that he said after he was done that he felt as though someone was rubbing his back. OH MY GOSH. The Spirit guys, the Spirit. But even after that experience he is still hesitant to turn his back on the Catholic church even though he comes to the LDS church every Sunday and reads the Book of Mormon for comfort in times of trial. Glory on high! This man is so prepared and I think that Satan is just trying to hold him back because he knows how much Darryl could do for this Branch. Blerg. Stop it Satan. Just stop.

So Jovan is still learning slowly. He still does not know how to read. But we taught him when his mom was just in the other room, not in the lesson with us and he focused so much more because she was not there to hide behind or to feed him all the answers. I think we got through a little bit about what repentance is, so that is good. But literally, every time we ask him a question he pauses and says "si Jesus Christ" and we are like, "...Yeah, thats great, but what is repentance?" by the end of the lesson his answer was "magsorry, magembrace and si Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ" Not totally the whole point, but I will take it! We will get there si Jesus Christ, slowly, but surely, we will get that child ready for baptism!

Cool story, have I told you about Jojo Real? He is the investigator who talks like a preacher who was not progressing at all? Yeah, Sis Abelhouzen and I went to go visit him after getting punted about four times in Cabaroan, we just kept walking by his house and I was like "not yet. Not yet" but then we kept walking by and I kept thinking about him and I was like "alright Spirit, please bless my companion as we try and rock this" So we go in and start to do the follow ups, we pray and before Jojo can get his groove on I ask "what do you think our purpose is, coming to teach you?" and he answered that it was just to talk about Christ, because he likes to talk about Christ and I was like "Yeah, but our main purpose is to get you prepared for baptism so that you can become a member of this church. We testify of Christ, but our main purpose is to help you start on the path that can lead you to live with Heavenly Father again and that starts with baptism." BOOM, what the what? It just like, poured out of my mouth and it shut him up for a little bit, which was a small miracle. He started to ask some more questions and we just kind of flowed into the Restoration and Jojo is so similar to Joseph Smith, we told him that and his story and challenged him to really pray to know about this message and he said he would. I am just happy that he knows what our real purpose is now. We will see what happens.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Oh You Know Ma English Is Going Out Tha Doo When I Write Attackted

NOVEMBER 10, 2013

So that wasn't me who said that, but Sister Keith did and I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. She wrote it on a Teaching Record and it was just hilarious. So enjoy.

And guess who is trinatraining an Americana for real this transfer?! Yup. Me. And Sister Keith. So in all of Vigan--we have 12 missionaries--there are only two Filipinos. No joke. And ten of us have been out for six months or less. And all of us are training except the companionships with Filipinos. We may be having some struggs in the near future. But my new companion Sister Abelhouzen is a gem. Seriously I love this girl. When I opened my letter with the name of my companion I was like "well she is American" then I met her and I was like, "eh, we can do this" So now I am leading in all things, and it is a little scary, but I already feel the Lord helping me. It was like I all of a sudden understood Tagalog and am able to speak it pretty well too. I really have no other explanation other than the power of the Spirit. This work is real. rul rul.

So this week was really strange because we went up to Laoag for most of the week, then have had shorter proselyting days because of travel, weekly plainning--I survived--and Sunday. But before we went up to Laoag Sister Keith and I worked in each other's areas for the day and in Sister Keith's area we met the creepiest old Jo. His name is Roger and oh my gosh. When we met him I could feel the Spirit leave. So he is this middle aged guy from NY who, by the sounds of it, is just living off his family's money and is in the Philippines to trap some poor, yet attractive, Filipino into marriage. He has lived here for five years and does not speak a drop of Tagalog--his phrasing. He had these creepy blue eyes that popped out of his head, a fanny pack and the littlest twelve year old feet. I really cant even tell you how gross he was, but he was gross.

In other news, thing really are just quite spectacular in Vigan, I dont have any crazy stories to tell this week other than creepy Roger. I speak a lot of Tagalog now...I am leading lessons and planning and life...I have not even felt the effects of Typhoon Yolanda...my new apartment is infested with ants...but I do have a flush toilet now and a shower, but I think I really prefer a bucket shower. Look at me, going native.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

TYPHOON HAIYAN

On Friday NOV 8, 2013 one of the largest storms EVER recorded came ashore in the central Philippines. Locally they are calling the storm Yolanda. Internationally it is being called Tyhoon Haiyan. You've all read and seen the reports of incredible destruction and despair. Here is a link Ryan sent me to a Deseret News/KSL story about some sister missionaries in the area hardest hit:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865590735/Surviving-the-typhoon-A-story-of-fear-faith-and-what-it-means-to-be-prepared.html?pg=1

Early the next day, NOV 9, I received this email:

Greetings,

We would like to let you know that the typhoon Haiyan(locally known as Yolanda) did not affect any of the areas in the Philippines Laoag Mission.

All the missionaries here are safe. Thank you for your love and support.

Sincerely,

Philippines Laoag Mission

Fortunately, Megan was well out of harm's way! Here is what she had to say about it on NOV 10, 2013:
Oh man, like all of my emails today are about the Typhoon. Yeah, we did not even experience a drop of rain or anything. But there are a lot of people who are effected by the storm, but I think I probably know less than you do because we can't watch the news or read newspapers. So yeah. But I have definitely felt the love.

Look Out World! I'm Trinatraining!

Sunday, NOV 3, 2013

Yup, my 12 week training is done and now I get to have my very own trainee. Heaven help that poor sister. Joke lang. We will do just fine. I just hate not knowing who she is, not knowing where she is from and most importantly NOT KNOWING IF SHE SPEAKS TAGALOG. Yeah, that would be my biggest worry. I am okay in the language, like I can manage, and on exchanges the other day my Sister Training Leader said that I should be fluent by the end of November--lets all hope for that--but I dont feel 100% sure of myself if I have to do the bulk of the language-ing. Ya know? We will just Tim Gunn it and make it work.

This week feels a little bit like a dream because everything was so crazy because of transfers and we had to be locked in on Thursday because of another storm, then on Saturday we moved apartments and on Tuesday we were at the hospital with Sister Sese's distant relatives and everything just was crazy this week.

So Tuesday, we went to the hospital, again. Sister Sese's brother in law's cousin was in the hospital there (we all know I know how random family relations work) and he asked Sis Sese and I to drop by and arrange for the cousin to have a priesthood blessing and Elder Crandal and Elder Mabunga showed up, but forgot oil, so they had to go back to their apt and look for some, could not find any, so they had to go to the store, buy, consecrate then come back and give the blessing. The whole process took about an hour and Sis Se and I just sat in the creepy hospital with the poor old nanay who had staples in her neck and sang Christmas songs. It sounds like a strange day, but really, it is kind of just how things go here in Vigan.

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Jarmillios and she is just a delight. And a great boost to my confidence level as far as speaking and teaching go. She also had some great insights on how to handle Jojo--preachy guy who gives us bananas--because he is just NOT progressing. He does not remember anything we have taught him and I think he just sees our visits as an opportunity for him to preach to us about Jesus and show how much he knows. Not really the point. So I will be going back with my fresh new companion and see what happens. I think we are going to really ask what he thinks our purpose is and hit him hard with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and emphasize baptism.

Saturday we had to move. It was a monkey show. I hate moving and I hate waking up in the morning, thinking it is going to be a normal day, then realizing that, no, you have to pack up all your crap, clean an apartment, move your stuff into that smaller apartment that you just cleaned, organize, clean some more, make food, then wake up at 6:30 the next day. Luckily the Elders helped and things went as well as could be expected. I just hate hate hate moving. Did I mention that I hate it?

Church was sweet, everyone was saying goodbye to Sister Sese and Kenfield and taking pictures and it is cute to see how loved they are. I am just so scattered right now with everything happening and training and moving, but next week I will have a new companion to tell you about. Lets all hope she is a Filipina. Kay? Thanks.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Just Take A Right At The Dancing Tatay

Ahhhh.  .  .

All the Sistah's in our Apartment

Melchor's Baptism

Sis SeSe's Massive Spider Bite

Megan's Heat Rash + Multiple Mosquito Bites

The Worst of Megan's Heat Rash. Yikes!!

Melchor's Baptism (He's on the left)

Vigan Environs

Sis. Sese and I walked, straight, for an hour and a half the other day. And we were fasting. Awesome. But you would think "sisters, you should have been talking to people and trying to make contacts" and you would be right. Except for the fact that there were rice fields on our left and on our right and only mga baka to buoy us up. So yeah. That was awesome. But as we were mostly done with our long walk back towards some semblance of civilization, we came to a street where we had made contact with a referral about three weeks ago. So since we were just trudging along, we went to see if he was home and if we could teach him. He was, but there were no sisters so we set up a return appointment. But the best part of that story is how we recognized the street we turned down one night three weeks ago: you just hang a left at the Dancing Tatay. Yes. The old man who is the land lord, and is not totally there if you know what I mean, just stands on the side of the road dancing and waving money around. True story.

Next story. Tuesday night Sis Se and I were on our way to see if an appointment we had scheduled for later in the week was available, just because we were in the area. As we are walking up to the house, it is about 7:30 so it is pretty dark, I remember that there is a monkey chained to the tree that is right by their gate, so as we walk in, I look into the tree and see Mr. Monkey creepily hiding in the crook of the trunk. So we talk with the woman, she was not available, and as we are walking towards the gate, I have the thought "you cant trust a monkey..." and sure enough, just as we approach the tree, Mr. Monkey lunges out at us, to the extent of his chain and scares the living day lights out of me and Sis Se. You know how easily I startle, even when I am expecting it. I am just glad that he didnt throw any poop. Monkeys do that right? You cant ever, EVER trust a monkey.

Megan in the tourist-ie part of Vigan with Elder Randall looking like Bigfoot!

In another lesson on Saturday, the worst thing in the world happened. My water bottle opened in my bag. I think I almost cried. There was a lot of "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Please Heavenly Father nonononononononono!!!!!!!!!" Dont worry though, the damage was really minimal, my camera is in a water-proof case, my scriptures were mostly saved by my case (thanks to the Barnes ladies) but my poor little planner was pretty damaged even though it is in a cool little case too. And to all you former/current missionaries, you know how devastating that 

 is. The planner is EVERYTHING. So I get to have a slightly damp, ripped and bled through planner for the next four weeks. But the scrips and camera are okay, everything is mostly fine.

Miracle of the week. Benedict Dupay (less active) came to church!!!! In the last lesson I had with him and his wife together, he would not look at us, he would not talk to us, he was 100% unresponsive and it was just breaking all of our hearts. But, we went to go visit him and Alysa (wife) in the hospital because Alysa is having a sensitive pregnancy, and there was just something different about him. He was smiling, and he was interactive when we shared our spiritual thought with them, and, I dont know, they just had a different feel about them. Because before, Alysa was thinking of moving out, and Benedict was just like "okay, thats fine" but now, OH! They just look so happy. They only came for the last 15 minutes of Sacrament, but I dont even care, I am taking it!

The miracles are right, and big and bright *clap clap clap* deep in the heart of Vigan!

Its not a perfect fit, but you will deal.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

The Itchy Adventures Of Sister Rash and Sister Spider-bite

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

So about a week ago, Sis Se and I came home from teaching and we get inside and, of course, kneel down to pray, and as soon as I kneel down the backs of my knees are on fire with itchy-ness. So I just try and focus on the prayer that Sis Se is giving, but really my mind is counting the seconds until I can stand up and itch the crap out of the back of my legs. Sis Se says 'amen' and I rocket off the ground and go over to the mirror to see what in the heck is going on down there. The backs of my knees are just all puffy and itchy and bumpy and gross. So I just say "Ewww! What is it?! Ewww! It itches!!!" Oh, it itched like you would not believe. Plus, I have developed a nice bit of heat rash that has spread all up my calves. So I am just walking around, looking like a diseased freak, all I want to do in lessons is itch my legs. Just itch and itch and itch.

So I don't know what the back of my knees is all about, and it took a good week and a half to figure out that my heat rash was indeed heat rash. But now, a jar of itch cream (that turned all my rings brown because it had sulfur in it) and some prickly heat powder later, it all seems to be clearing up. My legs still look gross, but I dont want to chop them off anymore. So yeah!

But Sis Se got bitten by a spider while we were riding in a tricie to District Meeting two weeks ago, and at first I thought she was fine, she was tearing up a little because of the pain, but as we walked into DM, she was saying she was fine, no she did not want a blessing and she is not the kind of person who likes to be fawned over when she is injured, so I just go about the normal thing, but during Elder Mabunga's training, I look over and she is fanning herself like there is no tomorrow, and she is crying and there is even a little snot dribbling out of her nose. I see all this and I just think "good gracious woman, how are you such a mess?!" Turns out that spider bite did a number on her. The place where the spider bit her swelled up to the size of a baseball and was all hard and hot and itchy and gross. But we got her some meds, and she is also healed up nicely. Needless to say, there were many a Spider Woman joke made in her honor.

Other cool thing this week, we got two new sisters in Vigan. A huge help for the work here, our area is just too big to handle, and even with the two new sisters, it is still a little big. But we are making it work, even though the six of us are crammed into the same small apartment and things are getting a little tight if you know what I mean. But it is only for one more week, then they move into their own apt and we have all our space back.

So this week, Sis Se and I taught a family that I have not been able to meet yet, they live in this little raised bamboo shack behind a nice house that is off the national high way. It was an amazing lesson, I was using all sorts of great Tagalog, and the Spirit was so there, and this sister who used to run and hide when the missionaries came by came into the lesson half way through and just sat and listened, then at the end she was like "sure sisters, I'll pray" it. Was. Awesome. Sis Se and I also looked exactly like the picture on page 60 of the September Liahona. We were even teaching a 21 year old woman and her three children. Oh Vogue, photo shop my life!

ALSO Melchor Santiago's baptism was on Saturday. He is going straight to the Celestial Kingdom I am sure. He is just so solid. He has never fallen through on a commitment, he is on time to church every week (Filipino standard time is worse than Deon Standard Time.) and he even brings his friend Darryl (who also has a baptismal date) and they are seriously golden. Melchor's wife even said at the baptismal service that she wants to be baptized, but she can never come to church because their baby has been so sick. But I am confidant that family is Temple bound. Slowly, but surely. So during Melchor's testimony, a cat got into the chapel (oh the Philippines) and was meowing and trying to jump out of closed windows and being all kinds of distracting, but you could tell that Melchor just could not even hear it, he was so intent on sharing his beliefs. It was amazing.

Last, I cleaned the dirtiest apt on Saturday. It is the one the new sisters will be moving into, and it is a nice apt, but the woman who lived there just does not know how to clean like a real person. I cleaned the bathroom and I was trying so hard not to gag/die while doing so. I think I killed 50 spiders and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, and the floor still looked like it had dirt on it. But it smelled clean and looked a bettilyon times better than when I started. So that is a plus. I did feel super accomplished after I was done, and was dripping sweat. I didn't know I could sweat that much. It was really impressive.

Well, sure love yall!

Sis Bet

Guess Who Has Two Thumbs And Is Training An Americana?

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Ope, not this sister. That is for sure. But really, it was a big possibility that I could have been training at the end of six weeks instead of the usual twelve weeks. It happened to my trainer and Sis Keith's trainer and, as you know Sis Sese is Filipino, but Sis Kenfield is totally as American as they get, and she really does not speak Tagalog very well at all. So when our phone started ringing on Thursday morning, my entire body started to shake and I couldn't feel my arms anymore. But good news is that we are all staying for one more transfer dito sa Vigan and are getting two more sisters! So exciting because we seriously have too much to handle with the four of us right now. Our area is so big, and there is just not enough time to visit all the people who need us. Buuuuut, President told Sis Keith and I that we will for sure be training next transfer. So hopefully I will be fluent by then...so yeah! Maybe Vigan will become a Stake soon after all. It would be so cool for the members to finally have a patriarch. My blessing has brought me so much insight for my life, it just breaks my heart knowing these people don't even have the opportunity to receive one.

Also, don't worry. We survived the Super Typhoon. Yes. That is what they called it. A Super Typhoon. We stayed inside all day, which was disappointing, especially since we had planned thirteen lessons that morning to potentially teach that day. But the wind was so bad and the rain. Oh my goodness. THE RAIN. It was like Niagara Falls outside our door. I really cant even describe how hard it was raining. I am pretty sure if I stepped out in it, the force of it would have knocked me over. But we were safe and dry inside, even when the wind blew open our door and scared the living day lights out of us all. The power also went out for a while, but we just sat, ate cereal, sang hymns in Tagalog, read old issues of the Ensign, did laundry and watched the storm.

We also had Zone Conference this week, so we got to go up to Laoag and I got to see some of my lovely batch mates. Everyone is doing well, Elder Payne had a guy get stabbed outside his apartment his first day. So that is a thing. Apparently he is in a really dangerous area and they sent him there because he looks all big and tough, but the joke is on them, he is the biggest teddy-bear you have ever met. But so far, nothing scary has happened to them directly, just...around them...needless to say, I pray for him and his companion nightly. Also, apparently Elder Moyle's area is haunted. That is a legit thing here, like, evil spirits and stuff. So I pray for him too. It makes me happy to be in Vigan, or "the paradise of the Laoag Mission" I'm going to enjoy every moment.

We also have another baptism for this coming week! His name is Melchor Santiago, and he is so golden. He was the first person I invited to be baptized, and preparing him has been such a delight. He really understands the message and just wants to follow Christ and share his message with everyone. We have been teaching him and his friend Daryl at the same time, and Daryl is also pretty golden. He has come to church twice in a row now, and my heart just bursts with joy every time I see the two of them. We committed Daryl to live the Word of Wisdom a week ago, and he is a big coffee drinker, but he accepted our invitation, and has been trying so hard to quit. I think it is so amazing when people are so willing to do hard things and follow the commandments because they feel the truth of our message.

Other heart warming moment! John relieved the priesthood last Sunday and has passed the sacrament two weeks in a row. Oh! That young man! I see a future missionary. I just hope and pray that the ward will nourish him and Jaydel so they can grow to be strong priesthood holders. Something that this area desperately needs.

Mahal Ko Kayo!

Sis Bet

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Bananas Dittlily Dee....

So this week is just going to be an excerpt from my journal, because it just kind of exemplifies my experiences this week. So you won't know who all the people are/places, but just roll with it, sige?

Look! Megan can ride an elephant side saddle :)

10 September 2013

"So today. I am cold--never thought I would say that in the Philippines--I am tired, I am wet. Just...oh...today. So we headed out at one, as usual, and I think "I should probably put on my rubber shoes" But I look at the sky, its a little dark, but not too ominous. So I go out in my canvas Keens. Sis Se and I teach two lessons in Poblacion, then start walking towards Cabaroan when it starts to get darker and darker. We go to Brother Rea's house--he was not there--so we tried to find Jovan--Sister Gemma's son--he was not home from school yet. We knew our other lesson was not going to be home until 4:30 and it was only 4, so we went to the Rapacon's to try and teach Tatay--he was just about to start cooking--so we couldn't teach him. Sister Marryanne saw us and took pity and told us that we could come and teach her, so we go inside, then Brother Carlos came home and we were able to do a lesson that was mostly practice for Brother Melchor's lesson tomorrow, which will be a great lesson thanks to Brother Carlos.

But while we were teaching the Rapacons, it started to POUR rain outside. Like. Really come down. But our lesson was over, so we had to go to our next lesson. The Rapacons begged us to stay, but missionaries go out rain or shine, right? Plus, if it is raining this hard, people are more likely to let us in. In my mind, I wanted to stay at the Rapacon's, but I knew we had to go out. So we did.

We walked through ankle deep water almost the entire way from Cabaroan to Riverside. When we were walking past the cemetery Sis Se said "gross! Dead people water!" and I was like "gross! Why did you have to point that out?!" but really, we both loved walking in the rain. So we get to Riverside--it is still POURING like there is no tomorrow--and we get punted yet again because we couldn't teach the kids (Ada and Charles) because their Gma was asleep. So back to Cabaroan. Dead people water. Etc.

We get back and are finally able to go inside someone's house. We got inside to teach Jojo and Sonya Real. The first time I taught Jojo, he was so animated and talked so fast, I could not understand a single word that he said. But he asked a lot of good questions and he is really smart. So I left the lesson feeling excited, but Sis Se made him sound like a pastor who was just trying to talk us into a corner. So I went into THIS lesson a bit on my guard.

But it turns out I was totally right the first time, he is just curious and is searching so desperately for the truth and when he hears it, he just gets excited. So we talked about the Priesthood, the Holy Ghost, baptism and the God Head. He asked so many great questions and at the end of the lesson he gave us two giant bunches of bananas.

We are leaving his house and it is still raining, but not nearly as hard, and walk and walk and walk until we find a tricie to take us to the church because there was a going away party for Miko Reupta because he goes into the MTC on Friday. So we get there, dirty, tired, and so so so wet and it turns out I am giving an inspirational thought about missionary work and oh, yeah, all the sisters are singing a song. In front of basically the entire branch. Greaaaaaaat. So did that, then it was too late for us to stay and eat with everyone, but it was a good thing that we left the church when we did because we stepped into our apartment at exactly 8 pm and got a call from President and his first question was "Sisters, where are you?" "Home President!" Phew. Nailed it. Good day."

Yeah, so that was basically my week. Missionary work is hard, but the rewards are often bananas. Especially when your investigator is a produce distributor.

Mahal,

Sis Bet

Yeah, I glow in the dark compared to all these Filipinos! This was at a ward FHE activity at a recent convert's house, I tried to explain Scatergories, didn't work out. and just riding that elephant side saddle like I ride a tricie. Like a boss. PS: a trice is a motorcycle with a covered side car, and when the four sisters need to go places together, we fit four of us on one, so three inside and one riding outside behind the driver, side saddle. My favorite spot is outside because it is nice and breezy. They need to have a show called Pimp My Tricie, Ill send a picture next week, because these things are the best. Just you wait.

Ipinapapray, Trinanslate and Pagpabaptize

Yes, those are all Tagalog-ized English words that are used on the reg reg by members of the branch. I have to try really hard every time they say them, not to laugh out loud.

A moment of business to those who this would effect: if you have the desire to send me a package, please only use the LBC service I told you about earlier or USPS. Apparently FedEx and UPS and other shippers require a large amount of money for the mission home to pick them up, and that will come out of my support money, so that is hindi pwede. So just so you are aware.

Note from Deon: "Here's what Megan previously wrote: Some order of business: I talked to the Office Elders and according to them the best way to send letters is still DearElder. FedEx is a bust, so don't use them. The USPS is still good and if you want to send packages use this place called LBC. Apparently they send packages of any size or weight around the world for only $55. They told me there is one is SLC, but I am not 100% positive. I'll leave that to yall." Here's a link you can checkout http://corpsrv.teamlbc.com.ph/lbcexpressweb/ph/courier.aspx.

I have not sent a package yet, but I will try the LBC option and let you know how it goes :)

In other news: I had another baptism this week! Her name is Gemma De La Cruz (yes, I know, Gemma. I loved it. Note from Deon: Gemma is one of Megan's favorite names and one of her favorite fictional characters from the series "A Great and Terrible Beauty") and she has been taught by the missionaries for almost a year, and she finally was baptized. I think she looks a lot like Mamma D, except for the fact that D is not a Filipino and has all her teeth, her bionic titanium tooth aside of course. But anyway, Gemma is super sweet. We went and talked to her about doing service the other day, and she told us a story about how she had bought some medicine for one of her neighbors who could not afford it. Yeah, Gemma is a wash woman and her husband is a fieldworker, so its not like they are rolling in it either, but she wanted to do the Christlike thing and help in the way that she could. So golden. 

Baptism! Gemma De La Cruz, Sis Bet, Sis Sese

Another baptism! John and Jaydel

Gemma is also neighbors with the Rapacon family, and they are, like, the most solid family in the ward. They work with the sisters every Sunday, and it is my favorite. We get to ride around in their family tricycle, which we call "The Basket", and oh my land. When Marryanne Rapacon cooks? It is so masarap. I could eat for days. I am trying to get her to teach me her ways, but there is just never enough time! Also, sister Rapacon reminds me a lot of aunt Marianne because Sis R is also a stay at home mom, is stinking adorable, and helps to manage her husband's business (distributing Pepsi products, they are really well off, we call their house the Pepsi Castle). Sis R also comes up to about my shoulder when she has her three inch heels on. So they have that going for them too.

The Basket. Yeah, we fit up to 10 people on that bad boy on the reg reg. A little scooter fits a family of four here, plus their groceries. NBD.

We also have an adorable recent convert family in the ward, the Ridaos. Let me just tell you a little story that happenedSaturday: Sis Se and I just kept getting punted and punted from house to house where people were either not home, or they were busy or whatever. So we went to one of our investigator's homes and she was busy doing laundry so we are walking back out when we see sister Ridao talking to two women sitting outside the local sari-sari shop that we had walked passed on our way to our investigator, and the moment sis Ridao sees us, she pulls out two chairs and says "sisters! Sit!" Then she looks at her friends and says "makinig! makinig!" or "listen! Listen!" So Sis Se and I just plop on down and teach an impromptu lesson one. THEN after the lesson was over, sis Ridao took us over to a group of houses and was just introducing us to relative after relative and telling us that we just had to come back and teach them. We met, like, seven new people that we can go back and teach in about 20 minutes. It was insane. Especially since we taught the Ridaos about the importance of member missionary work just a few days before. She really took that lesson to heart. AND there is a ward FHE activity at their house tonight as well. They are just jumping in with both feet. Don't worry, I'll take some pictures.

Love,

Sis Bet              

Megan on game day. Go Utes!!

  

Oh, So By Toilet You Just Mean The Floor.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013

YES. That is right. I peed in/on my first real Mag-CR. Ya jealous? I have not really said this yet, but Sister Sese's and my area is really nice. Like all our homes have tile or cement floors and they all have furniture. But I went on exchanges this week a little ways north of Vigan to Sto. Domingo, and that is more of a rural area. So I am out with Sister Cabato, and a fellowshipper from her branch, Carmine. So about half way through our visiting appointments, Carmine says that she needs to pee and I am like, |shoot. Me too." So we get to this families house and Carmine starts poking around for their CR and opens a door and is like, "Oh, I found it" goes in does her business and comes out. So I go over and look in the room. Yeah, it is just a floor. I kind of look at Carmine and she just says "just use the water bucket to wash it out side" because there is a little slant to said floor and a little gap in the wall to the outside. So I go in, lift up my skirt and think "it is a good thing I camp." So that happened. And will probably happen again and again. Go Philippines.

Other things that happened this week: we had our first baptism! It was for two young boys named John and Jahydel. They are 12 and 10 respectively and they are so cute. They dont have any contact with their parents and their caretaker is paralyzed and I just so hope that the Church can be a place for them to find people who will love and take care of them. Like the other week, Jahydel did not come to church because he didnt have anything nice to wear. He does his own laundry and here that means squatting over a bucket of soapy water for three hours, and he is only ten years old. My heart broke a little when he told us that.

A little more on exchanges. I went to Sto. Domingo with Sister Cabato and her companion, whose name I do not know how to spell, came to Vigan. It was strange being in their apartment because the two other sister's who usually live there were in Laoag, so it was just the two of us. It was really quiet. But Sister Cabato was really nice and she gave me a nice pep talk during language study, which was something I really needed this week. Sister Keith and I have really hit a wall this week on language study. We both just feel like we are plateauing instead of moving forward and it doesnt help that Sister Sese, our one native, prefers to speak English (people mistake her for American all the time, I think she comes from a pretty well off family in Manila), and Sister Keith's companion, Sister Kenfield, has been here longer than all of us, but speaks the language about as well as me and Sister Keith and Sister Kenfield is now training her second missionary. So she should be better, but she really just has no desire to buckle down and work. Frustrating to say the least. I have hope for better language study this week though. Sister Keith and I have some plans up our sleeve.

So yesterday was my first fast Sunday in the field and I was really nervous. At home I am not the best faster and here, you are working all day, in the heat, teaching lessons etc. So I prayed and prayed all day that I would be able to have the strength to do all the things we had to do and that I would be able to understand and contribute to the lessons with Sister Sese, and ya know, at the end of the day, I was not dead. During the day, I was hungry, but my stomach was not as vocal as it usually is AND I was able to understand the basic concept of what people said and was able to talk coherently as well. So the power of prayer is neat.

Yesterday we also got to teach a bunch of little kids, like six or seven of them, it was awesome. We taught them about the Savior and about prayer and they were really sharp. We would teach them something and then ask them what they should do, like "should you pray every day?" and they would all answer "wen Sister! Wen!" (wen is Ilocano for yes) and they all said that they would pray and read the Book of Mormon for the next time we came. Then one of them gave the closing prayer, she said she was thankful for the missionaries, Jesus and food. Oh children. Adorable.

This week we also ate at a member's house. Sister Mary Ann (she really reminds me of aunt Marianne) and Oh. My. Gosh. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Her food is so good. She is going to teach me. So much yay.

Love,

Sis Bet

NOTE FROM DEON; No pictures this week :( Megan was in a different place and the internet service was very, very slow. More next time!

Do You Want Ants? Because This Is How You Get Ants!

AUGUST 25, 2013

Me looking like a rock star in my Filipino mumu cooking spam with a head lamp because the light in our back dungeon, where the stove is, was broken. My life rocks.

So there is this most delicious roll place that is really close to our house called Durong's and it is freaking fantastic. So the sisters and I of course stop there often to get a big bag of rolls for about 50 cents. You have to love the Philippines. But one day last week, we got a big bag, set it on our kitchen table, and not five minutes later, the entire bag was crawling with ants! You don't have to love the Philippines. So we dumped all the rolls into a plastic container and made sure to toast the rolls before we ate them. Yes, we still ate them. They are too good to waste!

I gave my first baptismal invitation sa Tagalog yesterday. Right before the lesson started, I asked Sister Sese what the last half of it was in Tagalog (because we had planned to invite this brother in our planning and I was nervous that I would forget the wording) so when the time came, I would be able to do it right. So I invite him to be baptized, I was shaking so hard, and before I could even finish the invitation all the way, he just said "Yes!" it was so cool. Then two of the brothers from the branch that we had brought with us gave brother Melchor's (the one who said yes to baptism) baby a blessing. The poor little thing is less than three months old and has had to be in the hospital for almost a month because it had permanent brain damage. It was so cute, but he just lies in his mothers arms and looks around with these blank eyes. It broke my heart. But the power of the Priesthood is real, so hopefully a miracle will happen. I know Melchor has the faith for one.

I also have my first baptism on Saturday. They are two young boys ages 10 (Jahydel) and 12 (John) and they are brothers and they are about the cutest little Filipino boys that I ever did see. Teaching them is hard because they are so young that they cant understand a lot of the gospel principles if we taught them how we teach older people, so we have to use creative ways of explanation which is hard when you don't speak the language. But its okay.

We had a zone conference on Tuesday last week where we had interviews with President Barrientos. He and Sister Barrientos are so dang adorable. Apparently they met while Sister was on her mission and he was the ward mission leader in the ward where she was serving. She also had a boyfriend at the time who was serving in her same mission. Gasp! But don't worry, they assured us that they didnt start courting until after she was done with her mission. I'm looking at you Doug and Deb.

Sister Sese, my comp (the brown one) and Sister Kieth (she was in my zone at the MTC) cooking Pancit for zone conference. so yummy.

Well, another week of an overwhelming mail box. Keep up the good work team!

Make good choices!

Love,

Sis Bet

I'm Sorry, This Is Not The Tagalog I Learned At The MTC. Could You Please Use VAOL?

Monday, AUG 19, 2013
I realize I should have updated the blog as soon as I knew Megan had arrived the Philippines safely. My apologies. Her journey from Provo to Laoag went about as well as could be expected. She did learn upon arrival at the SL airport (Monday morning, AUG 12) that the first flight of their journey, SLC to San Francisco, had been cancelled. About half of their travel group, including Megan, was rebooked on a SLC to Portland flight. The other half of their group had to return to the MTC. They ended up traveling the following day.

All of the travel rearrangements took quite a bit of time, so Meg did not have much time to talk with us from the SL airport. A kind woman at the airport actually lent Megan her cell phone to call us - big missionary lineup at the pay phones. Mark and I enjoyed a brief chat with her, then it was off to Portland. Oh, Meg & I also managed to sneak in a quick call to Callie. Callie was at work, and in the process of training a new rep, but had made arrangements to leave her desk briefly when Meg called in. Those two are good for each other - close cousins and friends and very supportive of each another!

Fortunately, Megan had a two-hour layover in Portland and let us know she would call us back from there. I borrowed one of the doctor's offices here at work to take Megan's second call. I didn't want to cry (again!) at my desk :) AND I managed to conference in the entire family: Deon, Mark, Ryan, Becky, Tyler, Molly and Megan. It was grand! Such an excellent conversation. It was so sweet to have everyone involved. We sent her off with lots of encouragement and lovin'.

Her journey then took her into the future.  .  . Portland to Tokyo to Manila. Overnight in Manila. Then on to Laoag where the time is 14 hrs ahead of Salt Lake time. I missed a call from her on Wednesday morning (AUG 14) letting me know she had arrived safely! So sad. I still can't discuss it without getting all choked up. I was so absolutely devastated at missing the call. 

That's the bad news. The good news is she got to call back on Thursday evening (AUG 15)! I think this must mean she has a kind and thoughtful mission president, or mission mom, OR both! Anyway, we got to speak for all of about 2 minutes. Karen Redford and I were minutes away from entering Little Cottonwood Canyon - on our way to hike Cecret Lake - and then not in cell service. It has made all the difference to me having been able to speak with her. She sounded great! Very upbeat. Her first area is Vigan (you can google it). She says her companion is "adorable" and so I should stop worrying. Her parting words were, "Don't worry Mom, Christmas is not that far away". Whatever.

I received the email below from Sis Bet last night, Sunday AUG 18 @ 11:20pm (SLC time). Ryan, Becky and I just happened to be Google Chatting when the email arrived. Becky actually exchanged a couple of quick emails with Megan in "real time". So interesting! Her mood is good and all is well :)

So, holy crap guys. I am in the Philippines. How on earth did that happen? It is crazy amazing. I am serving in the Vigan area and am, supposedly, the envy of everyone. Vigan is supposed to be the most beautiful and the members are amazing. I would not know about much of the beauty, since I have been stuck inside for the past three days thanks to endless rain. I think we have been in a monsoon. It was so cool. Both literally and metaphysically. So I have not yet had the opportunity to experience the extreme heat, but have had a great taste of the humidity. My hair is totes deffs an afro and I freaking love it.

My companion is named Sister Sese and she is from Manila, but is also fluent in English, so I totally scored on that front. She understands the people AND me. Woo! She is really nice and has been very patient with me in getting the hang of being in the field. I think she grew up in a super posh part of Manila, so the semi-primitive living conditions we have (though for most people here, we live in a really nice apartment) we are both trying to adjust. It is a good think I camp.

My first laundry day in Vigan

It's a Monsoon (in the original you can literally see the rain pouring down!)

               

So because of the rain, I have only had the opportunity to go out and teach one time, and that was on Sunday. But before I get to that, let me just tell you that I freaking spoke in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. What the freaking what? I thought I was just going to bear my testimony, which I have pretty much down thanks to the MTC, but nope. I was supposed to talk for 10 minutes about service. Not exactly in my Tagalog wheel house. So I got up there, I didn't even have my Tagalog scrips with me, so I had to share all my scriptures in English. But I got through. I did not speak for anywhere near 10 minutes, but I think I shared a message that people A: understood and B: felt the Spirit in. So that is okay. I think I just need to be more fearless when it comes to speaking in front of Ward Members. They will totally be willing to help me, right? I just have to remember how excited I am to teach our exchange students English, because that is how the people here will feel. So being more fearless is one of my goals.

Okay, onto the lesson teaching. Sister Sese and I got to teach two less active members about the Plan of Salvation. Sister Sese did 90% of the talking, but I was able to share a testimony and clarify some doctrine here and there, and she said that I did a really good job, and that I am good at forming sentences. I did okay in understanding what people said, but they are deffs not speaking the same Tagalog here as in the MTC. It is like, a hybrid between Tagalog and the local language they speak, which I don't know how to spell. Illocano or something like that. But yay on the understanding/speaking for me. One of the sisters that we taught is named Nanay (Mother) Dion. Yup. Mamma D. I about died. She is this old lady and when we went to teach her, I am pretty sure she was wearing Rachel's dead fish outfit from Cambodia. She was so cute, just sitting there, no bra on, listening to Sister Sese and I teach her about the Atonement. The other sister we taught is less active because her husband no longer likes the church because some members were gossiping about something he did. I am not sure on the details. But the sister prays all the time with her daughter, which shows because every time we prayed, the little girl came and sat down and folded her arms. Hopefully we will be able to teach her more and get her to come to church. I think her daughter would like primary a lot.

Some order of business: I talked to the Office Elders and according to them the best way to send letters is still DearElder. FedEx is a bust, so don't use them. The USPS is still good and if you want to send packages use this place called LBC. Apparently they send packages of any size or weight around the world for only $55. They told me there is one is SLC, but I am not 100% positive. I'll leave that to yall.

I once again felt the love when opening up my email. Holy cow guys! Thanks for all the letters! I don't know if I will have a lot of time to read/reply, but I am not going to tell you to stop sending them. Obviously.

Well, this is awesome. Hopefully next week I will have more stories and hopefully I am able to figure out pictures on this computer. Cross your fingers.

Mahal Tayo!

Sis Bet

I Have Flight Plans. It's Too Real!

WEEK 5 - PROVO MTC

I was lucky enough to read this email for the first time with Callie. And it's true - Callie does know how to correctly pronounce "aaawwwesomeeeeee". Next time you see her, ask her about it :)

So yeah, I have flight plans. We are going from SLC to SFO then to Tokyo and on to Manila. I am also the Travel Leader for all 15 missionaries going to Laoag. Probably because I am the oldest, I already act like a mom (Thanks Rach.) and have about as much flying experience as everyone else in my district combined. So there is that. But I am now realizing that holy-effing-geez I am leaving for the Philippines in nine days...I don't speak Tagalog. I may or may not be having minor panic attacks about it all on the daily, but I will pull through. I just need to get there and come to grips with the reality of my situation and I will be just fine. I think the anticipation of it all is what is giving me the most anxiety. Plus, if I have to worry about 14 other missionaries, I wont have time to worry about myself, right? But I do think it will be strange to be a missionary out in the real world instead of being a missionary, surrounded by thousands of other missionaries in the MTC world. It will also be strange being at the SL airport knowing that I am not just going to be back in a week or so. But hey, phone calls. Those get to happen.

 

I did not take notes on this week like I usually do, so this letter is mostly my stream of conciousnes (I don't think that is spelled right...) as I think of things to say/things I want to tell you. The most exciting part of my day is mail time, which happens after lunch/after dinner. And guess who got four packages this week? Yeah, this girl. Major, major shout outs to the parents. Pops rocked a 24 pack of Dr. Pepper in a two part mailing. I honestly wish you could have seen the look on Sister Smith's and my face when I opened up the package. I think it was better than Christmas. We were so excited that we basically ran back to the classroom where Sister Hagee and Sister Cooper were studying and when I told them what the package was Sister Hagee just stood up, threw her study note book on the ground and said "SHUT UP! NO WAY!" She is a HUGE Dr. Pepper addict. We spent a good ten minutes reveling in the idea of Personal Party Time with DP, then in the idea of Party P-Day, then of more PPT. I then let it slip to the Elders that I have DP and they were crazy jealous, trying to bribe me for a can. They were brutally rebuffed, until the second package came the next day and I graciously gave them each a slice of the proverbial pie. But not before they all had to write thank you notes to Pappa Bettilyon. Maybe Pop's will share them with you, because they are pretty hilarious. Elder Jones' is my favorite. THEN, I two packages from Mamma D. How did you even have the idea to send Mango and Sticky Rice to the MTC? I almost died. I also ate it in about 2.5 seconds. So good. Then you took the idea of the carpet picnic from last P-Day to a whole new level. The cream cheese did not survive, but the basil, cherries, rolls, tomatoes, pepperoni and cookies are all being enjoyed and shared.

Papa Bettilyon sent Dr. Pepper for Everyone! Priceless!

Megan's Entire District at the Provo Temple on AUG 4th

 

This week for Teaching Resource Center (TRC or where we go to teach people in Tagalog who are not our instructors) we got to Skype with real Filipenoes (also not spelled right). It was nerve racking at first, but I don't know what happened to me, but I put on those big headphones that made me feel like I worked for NASA and I just started speaking Tagalog. Sister Smith just kind of stared at me like "where on Earth is all this coming from" and I looked back like "I don't know, but its aaawwwesomeeeee!" (awesome being said in a sing song-ie way, Callie will know). In TRC the people are already members of the church, so it is less stressful, so it is less like a missionary lesson and more like Visiting Teaching, which is a nice break from the stress of preparing lessons. We got to teach a man named Nate who lives in Manila and then we taught Brother Nicholes' old companion who also lives in Manila. They were both super sweet and said that our Tagalog was really good for only five weeks. I feel like they lied, but I will take the compliment.

 

How did I almost forget! Sister Smith and I committed both of our investigators to baptism this week! That was awesome, but still strange because it is real, but not real at the same time. Any way, we finally followed our prompting to invite Nel (Brother Roxas) to be baptized and he said he talked to his wife about it and he said that he wants to be baptized. Now we get to start teaching him the Laws and Ordinances and the Commandments, which is a little stressful because I foresee some issues with the law of tithing in Nel's life. Oh well, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. Then in our lesson with Alex (Brother Nicholes) this week we invited him for the third time to be baptized and third time must be the charm because he also accepted! Sister Smith and I were so happy that our goal of "Do Not Hesitate" from last week paid off in baptismal commitments this week.

 

I cannot believe that next week is my last P-Day at the MTC. Holy cow. Thanks to everyone for the emails, DearElders, pictures, packages and prayers! I could not make it with out you!

 

Mahal kita!

 

Sis Bet