The Most Tired I Have Ever Been In My Entire Life

JUL 20, 2014

Me and my yams - Ya gotta love the district. haha!

So remember how last week I emailed  you from Laoag? Well the very next day, I got to travel back up to dear ole Sta Te. We took a bus from Laoag to Magapit, then we had to wait in Magapit for the other missionaries from our Zone who were coming up on the bus right after us (they had to take the next one because all our luggage would not fit #missionaryproblems) so we waited in Magapit for like two or three hours, THEN we took a multi-cab to Gonzaga, they shot right past Sta Te on the Superhighway and then we had to go back to Sta Te so the cab driver could FINALLY drop me and my companion off at our house. Then still we had to go to the market to buy food, then we studied and planned for the next day because I told Sister Malobago that I could not go out and work because I was so tired. I think that is the best nights sleep I have gotten yet on my mission.

So on Saturday we had a branch FHE, my very first ever in my whole mission, and guess who cooked all the food and was at the church all day preparing to cook the food? None other than our favorite tatay, Tatay Fred. 

This is tatay fred and his apo and his daughter 

Yes. He is not even a member yet and he spent all day and night at the church helping to prepare for the event. One of the elders came in and was like "why isnt Tatay Fred baptized yet?" I looked at him and was like "I ask myself that question every day" But really, this week was a great week for tatay. He came to church (of course) then we had a lesson with him about the Kingdoms of Glory and we really stressed the need to pray to know about all the things that we teach him and he was like "yeah, and you need to pray about Joseph Smith, and I did and I know he is a true prophet" WHAT?! Yes! Those words coming out of his mouth are what I have been praying for for weeks! Oh, such a great brake through. He always believed, but to really know, you need to pray and he finally prayed!

Other awesome thing from this week, Marites Tayan came to church again and she brought her daughter named...MEGAN. She is named after Megan Fox (a detail I try to forget) but we committed her to bring her and she did! She even played nicely with the kids in primary and did not cry when her mom left the room to go to the Gospel Essentials class. Nailed it. The next step will be to get her to wear a skirt to church.

We also met a really great new investigator. She is the friend of a recent convert and when we went to go teach her she was really prepared and smart. She is Catholic and is really knowledgeable about doctrine-ie things, but she is really receptive. We taught about the Great Apostasy and she was like "Oh, I didnt know that the Apostles died and that that meant the authority of God was no longer on the earth." Yeah girl, now you know! She is crazy busy though because she watches the kid of the people who are paying her to go to school and she is going to school full time, but I am really excited about her.

So Sister Malobago is way different from my other companions. She is the first convert companion I have had and she is 34 years old and for 10 years before her mission she was less active. She came back to church and almost immediately started to put in her papers. She has only been out for 5 months and she just came from an apartment where she lived with Sister Keith. Haha! She is the only member in her family and her story is cray. There is no room or time here, but dont worry, its in the brain bank. Many good things yet to come.

Their house is that tarp covered shack behind us, but they are so sweet and happy! Those are not all their kids, some random Barangay Brats always show up when there is a white person around. haha!

Me and Sister Deyro. Everyone would ask if she was Chinese, so we took this picture as the Chinese and the American, but switched.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

The Mission Really Does Change People

JUL 14, 2014

I think I might like pineapple. I know. Stop the presses. We had a lunch with some of the Branch Missionaries and there was all this pineapple (tis the season) and I ate like two big rings. And they were delicious. Its a big step.

So I just dropped off Sister Deyro. She is going home now. That is crazy. But what has been more crazy was how I got back to Laoag. So there we were, Sta Te, we left church an hour early so we could get into van going to Magapit junction where we were going to catch a bus that would take us to Laoag. But we got to Magapit just after the bus left, but they told us that there would be another one at 3...3:30...4...5...7...no buses. At about 7 we got into a van going to Clavaria where we were going to wait for another bus. We got to Clavaria at about 8:30 and met a group of women who had been waiting since 5 for a bus. No bus. So we wait for another two hours for a bus that came at 10 pm with no extra seats. Standing room only. So we got on that, stood for a while, then this blessed woman from Laoag ward 4 hooked us up with some stools to sit on and we made it to Laoag at about 1 in the morning. And all of this was interspersed with texts from President, the Assistants, our Zone Leaders, the other missionaries in the various stop overs that we had. All in all it was a very exciting trip, but now Elder Reber and Sister Deyro have been successfully dropped off to return back to their families and I get to pick up my new companions Sister Molobago. She is mejo bago (kind of new) and I hope she doesnt mind me making that joke with her name for the next week as I introduce her to our investigators. She is Filipino and is pretty fresh out of training. Its gonna be a good next transfer, I can just feel it!

So the peeps came to church! Fred is still faithful, but we have kind of hit a wall with teaching him. He already considers himself a member, so I think that has cut him off from really accepting the new things we are trying to teach him because he thinks he knows it already. But he really doesnt. We taught a really good lesson about the Spirit World and we asked him at the end what the Spirit World was and he started talking about how you need to pray to receive repentance. That is true, but that is not what we are talking about. I think the big problem with that is when we commit him to pray to know about what we teach, he is just like "I already know its true" that is great, but you also need to pray about it. No matter how we explain it to him, he just misunderstands. I know that he will make it, but our last few lessons with him have been really frustrating. I still love him but, ugh! Just pray man! It will all make sense if you just pray about it!

The super great family that I told you about? The referral of Fred? Well the dad came to church! We saw him all over the way this week and he came to church and it was so great. The Elders Quorum really stepped up and fellowshipped and I cant wait for his family to come too.

Angelica also came to church again! Roland is still working on Sunday, but that will change. I just know this next transfer is going to be a harvest. Big things. Big things. I know the paragraph about Fred makes this week sound like a bad one, but it really wasnt, we met a lot of new people and a lot of people came to church. Sister Deyro asked what I would describe my mission as if I only had three words and those three words have kind of become my mantra these last two transfers. Its a process. And it is. But its a delightful process.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

The Windows Of Heaven Opened

JULY 6, 2014

Okay, so basically the best thing ever happened this week. I go FIVE packages. Yes. FIVE. It was exactly like the scriptures say, there was almost not enough room to hold the blessings. But we managed and I just want to shout out and thank all those involved, Big D, Pops, Ry, Becks, Teb, Mol, Dellers, Gma, The Barnes clan, Pagels Bagels and Lana. So yeah, thanks for being awesome guys.

Nailed it yall, well done. and maraming, maraming salamat!

In other news, there was a little bit of a slump in sacrament attendance this week. Dont worry, Tatay Fred is as faithful as ever and is now going to all three meetings, but Angelica and her husband and Marites did not come! Even though they all said that they would for sure be there. It was so disappointing. All through sacrament meeting I kept glancing out the window at the gate, just waiting for them to round the corner and walk into church. Boo you Satan. Keep your gubby mitts off them they are MINE! It is especially disappointing because we had an amazing lesson with Marites on Saturday night. We were planning to teach her about faith, so we go in and we ask her about her reading assignment--Alma 32--and she basically taught herself the lesson. It was incredible. When we first started teaching her, it was really hard for her to understand the scriptures, but now she is just flying through them. We ended up adding on the lesson about repentance and she just understood everything. Then, she didn't come to church. Blerg. I am just so sad. But we have a Family Home Evening set up with her later tonight, so we will get to the bottom of all this nonsense.

So we also met two really awesome families this week. The first is a referral of Tatay Fred (uh yeah, he is just that awesome) and we went on Wednesday afternoon and met Reggie's kids and holy moly they are smart little suckers. We set up a return appointment and when we went back, the mom was waiting for us and she said "the kids said you were coming so I didnt go out" Uh, go kids! Then when we started the lesson, the oldest son, Richie, totally remembered how to pray and was super involved in the whole lesson. We set up a return appointment so that we can also teach Reggie, but man, they are going to get baptized, I just know it! The other family we met are former investigators, the daughter has come to church for two weeks in a row and we got to teach her and her mom yesterday. Another return appointment for the whole family. Baptize the world!

It is kind of strange because this week is Sister Deyro's last week, it is even stranger to think that my last week in the field is only six months away. Gulp. Lets not think about that. More stories next week when I can tell you who my new companion is!

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Put A Bird On It

JUNE 29, 2014

So this morning, after we were done cleaning, I was eating breakfast and Sister Deyro was doing the dishes, a BIRD flew into our house. This is the second time this has happened, and the first time, the bird few in for a little bit, then found his way out quickly. But this dumb bird had to fly around for 45 minutes before our land lord could even catch him to throw him back outside. I tried not to laugh too hard at the absurdness of the situation, since dear brother Domin was trying so hard to catch the little fellow. He was running around out house with our broom in one hand and a giant decorative fork in the other trying to coral the bird. In the end, man prevailed and only a few feathers were lost.

Church was epic this week. We had three investigators come to church, and they all stayed for all three hours. Of course, the ever faithful Tatay Fred was there, but we also had two new sisters come. Angelica is a former investigator who we have been teaching, she and her husband are very interested and he was also going to come to church this week, but he got called into work early on Sunday morning. However, Angelica still came by herself even though she had a baby and a young, rowdy son to take care of. Super star. Then Marites also came to church, her two year old daughter is named Megan and is the first Megan I have ever met in the Philippines. Turns out Marites is Angelica's aunt even though they are not that far apart in age. So that was great for them to be able to sit together in classes and talk about what they did not understand and just generally share the experience of the first time at church together. They even sat, of their own choice, at the front for the combined Relief Society and Elders Quorum meeting. I am through the roof.

Something kinda sad. We did not have any new investigators this week. That is the first time that has happened to me while I have been on my mission. We usually find about ten new people a week, but this week, wala. As in talaga. It was a sad moment to write that big zero on the key indicators list. Its all good though, we have a new area that has been added to our current area that we will be exploring this week, and we have some referrals that we need to contact this week as well. Big things are in the works here. On the other hand, we had 16 recent convert or less active lessons this week. We have a lot of recent converts here, also a lot of less actives, what else is new.

We did also have a woman straight up say to us "ayaw ko ng Mormons" or "I dont like Mormons" thanks lady, God loves you too.

Went on exchanges this week, and sorry Italy, I did not get to go on exchanges in a place like Pisa, but I did get to walk the beloved streets of Gonzaga again. And I got to have the amazing experience of teaching a truly changed man. He is the uncle of a returned less active and when I was serving in Gonzaga, he was a drunk. His brother died suddenly, and they had the funeral at the church and he collapsed during the service because he was drunk/dehydrated from drinking so much. He was always nice, but Sister Morris told me that he used to debate with the missionaries and prove the Book of Mormon wrong. NOW, he has come to church 8 times, cut down the booze and is one of the happiest people I have met, so curious, so willing to learn and even though I taught him Obey and Honor the Law (one of the silliest lessons in Preach My Gospel) I just felt blessed to be able to teach him. The Atonement really does change lives and people. It has surely changed me and Brother Louie.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Have Bodies of Flesh and Rocks

JUNE 22, 2014

So in Tagalog, the word for bones is buto and the word for rocks is bato. So as you may imagine, I still get those mixed up sometimes even though I have been out for about a YEAR (holy shoot yall, when did that happen?). So this week I have definitely testified to people that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have bodies of flesh and rocks. Thank goodness for companions.

So Tatay Fred is still doing well, he is struggling to understand the doctrine, it is like when we teach him, we are talking about the Restoration and prophets and he is thinking about Adam and Eve. We are not really sure what is up with that, but I know that when he starts to read the Book of Mormon everyday and start praying more regularly, he will start to really get it. But he did come to church yesterday and he has been following the Word of Wisdom for about two weeks! He has gone from smoking a pack of cigarettes a day to only smoking three. He no longer drinks alcohol and is just drinking warm milk in the morning! It has been really cool to see the change this has had in his family. His son, who was a recent convert verging on less activity started to come back to church and we are going to start teaching some more of his family and friends! Man, I love this tatay.

We have also been meeting a lot of really prepared people this week. We had six people really commit to come to church, but then Satan thought it would be a fun idea to plan a parade on Sunday morning, the participation in which was required for all school kids. BLERG. So of course, our little congregation of 120 dropped to 68 and only two of our investigators came to church, one of which took a fair amount of convincing to get into the tricie to go to the chapel. Get behind us Satan. Next week we are going to have ALL THE INVESTIGATORS! All I tell you!

Stubborn Catholic nanays are still being stubborn and Catholic. But one less active former Catholic nanay who started going back to the Catholic church has really been warming up to us. I think she is close to coming to church. More to come.

All in all, it was a really good week, in spite of the Satan parade on Sunday.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

You Know Its Hot When You Break Into A Sweat Clipping Your Finger Nails

JUNE 15, 2014

Yeah, that happened this morning. Grabe. Right now, I really just break into a sweat no matter what kind of activity I am doing.

So Tatay Fred Milanes, the man we met when he was drunk? Well he came to church again and this week was District Conference, so that meant that he had to go all the way to Gonzaga to go to church. And you know what he did? Went to Gonzaga and was on time and stayed for the entire morning session. Sis Deyro and I went to pick up and elderly recent convert and when we were riding in the trike back to the jeep terminal, I saw Tatay Fred standing on the side of the high way watching for a jeep to take him to Gonzaga AND he was waiting with his recent convert son who has kind of gone a little less active. Oh my can I just express how much love I have for this man?! I have taught prepared people before, but something feels different about Tatay Fred, he is just so willing to do all the things we ask of him and he is reading the Book of Mormon and he is already uniting his family in the gospel even before he is a member and good golly gosh wow this man!

This week we also got to go to Laoag to listen to Elder Ardern from the area presidency speak. His training was so good. He just kind of started talking and went where the Spirit took him. We seriously talked about everything from how to help our investigators feel the Spirit to marriage advice to how we develop talents to what the Beatitudes mean. That man is called of God, fo real. So we went for that awesome training AND I got to see all the people. Sis Keith is now near Laoag, so she is way far from me now :(. But I got to see Sis Abelhouzen, she is looking so good and is now in Cagayan as well. Sis Sese was there and Sis Kenfield and it was so good to see all of them. I squealed more than one time.

Other awesome thing from District Conference, we sustained and set apart EIGHT new Melchizedek priesthood holders and THREE of them are from the Sta Teresita branch and ALL of them are preparing for missions and TWO of them are recent converts that live in my area. When they all stood up, I could almost not contain my joy, but I did because we were in a room of, like 300 people and that would have been awkward. But, really people, this is HUGE. This district is growing by leaps and bounds. Last march they set apart another three priesthood holders and there are just more to come! Its gonna be a Stake soon. Maybe next year. So awesome.

Last, one of the awesome priesthood recent converts mentioned above has this aunt that is quite possibly the most busy person I have ever met, next to Deon Bettilyon, but I have seen this woman sit down maybe twice ever. We always try to teach her, but she is always like "sorry, busy" so this last wee we were just standing and talking to her, then we started teaching about the Sabbath Day and then we shared a scripture and testified and ended in a prayer and while it was all happening, I was like "of course, if we are going to teach Evelyn we just have to stand." So we did and it was awesome. It is going to be hard, but I think she has a lot of potential too.

Also, its my freaking BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! Thanks in advance to all the happy birthday emails I have not yet read. Love yall too!

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Riker Zyke, Kurt Axel and Wrecker Flynn

JUNE 8, 2014

These are all names of babies that I have met in each of my areas. Its like their mothers want them to rebel and start a garage band. Apparently the generation of Filipino babies being born right now is the generation of two names. Random fun Filipino fact for ya'll.

So this week we had an unexpected-awesome-surprise-yeah! The father of one of our recent converts came to church! I will explain why this is so amazing: the first time we met this man he was drunk and he asked us to come visit him. We set up a return appointment thinking there is no way he will remember. He remembered. And every time we saw him he was like "sisters, why didnt you come visit me?" ummm...because you are kind of creepy? Well he digs wells for a living and he was working on the well outside the church this week, so we saw him a lot and he kept asking us to go visit him, so we did finally and it was like, what the what?! Before we could teach him, we needed to find an adult female to fellowship, then it was raining so we couldnt teach him at his house because there is no where to sit inside and it was raining so outside was not an option, so we ended up teaching him at the house of another recent convert who is also his neighbor and through all this fiasco, he was very patiently, sweetly waiting for us to be able to teach him. THEN before we even start the lesson, he was like "Im going to come to church tomorrow." Sige tatay. AND THEN at the end of the lesson he said a kneeling prayer and it was so good. And guess what, on Sunday, he came to church. In a white shirt. And he was going to leave after sacrament, but we convinced him to stay for the gospel essentials class. We could not go to class with him because it was so full (#servinginstate) but the Elders said that he answered a lot of questions and said that he was going to come back again next week. Can you say GOLDEN?! I can. Golden. So freaking excited!

Sad part: Lorenz left for school. But we had lunch at his house the day before he left and it was great. We taught about family prayer with his mom and she is really opening up to us. We are still waiting to see if Lorenz will be able to come home for the weekends, but in the mean time we are going to try and teach just his parents tomorrow. It could be a struggle, but I have high hopes.

And have you ever tried to tell two old Catholic nanays that their baptisms are not valid? Maybe one of you does, shout out Italy, but I think the rest of you might not know how that goes. Its a bit rough. We have these two part member nanays who we are teaching and they have both been fighting accepting a baptismal date. This week we re-extended to them and it went well, but not the way we wanted. Each of them was like "I have already been baptized" and in my missionary life, that has always been a hard concern for me to explain. But as me and Sister Deyro testified and explained to them the necessity of God's true authority for baptism, I felt so guided by the Spirit in everything I said. They still did not accept the dates, but I know the Spirit was there in the lessons, and now it is up to them to accept and pray about it or not. I have high hopes.

Each week has good moments and bad moments, but the work rolls on! And side note, this week we get to go alllllllll the way to Laoag to hear Elder Ardern speak. He was the guy in General Conference with the SUUUUPER thick New Zealand accent. I am pretty stoked.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

So We Are Back To That

JUNE 1, 2014

Back to pumping water every day, twice a day. Yeah, so you know how our water was brown before? Last week it turned black and Sister Deyro and I went back to pumping and carrying in water for our showers. The water in our tap went back to clear-ish, but the smell is still really gross, so we are just going to be rocking it old school for at least two more transfers here in Sta Te. #servinginthephilippines. Dont worry though, we got a filter for our kitchen sink, but even the three tower filter cannot completely erase the smell of nasty from our water. But we are still alive, so I think our dishes will be fine, we will just keep buying drinking water.

So this week is sad, but good. Our golden investigator Lorenz is moving to Tugugerao for school. Tugugerao is in a different mission. Boo. We will refer the missionaries to him there, but we are really just praying that his schedule will allow him to come home on the weekends so he can be baptized here. The up side is that his mom is really warming up to us. She has gone from not sitting in on the lessons to being at every one and on Saturday night we were walking by their house and she shouted hi and waved at us! Such progress. Next step is church.

Also this week, we had interviews and training by President Barrientos and it was such an answer to prayers. He talked about how we have investigators who seems really golden in the first two lessons, then at lesson three they all of a sudden are not interested anymore. We have had that a lot in the past week or so and it had been really confusing and frustrating to me and Sister Deyro. I just sat and took so many notes. It was all amazing stuff and it really makes sense. In teaching the gospel to people, we ask them to change a lot about their lives in a very short amount of time, it is completely reasonable for them to back out after only a short while. But it is our responsibility as missionaries to reassure them that change wont happen all at once and that the changes they make will make them happier. So we went back and visited Angelica Yere and she said we can still come back and visit her, hooray for inspired teaching!

We also met a less active pioneer this week. She was one of the first members here in Sta Te and now she is less active. It breaks my heart. She told us all about why she stopped going to church--kind of a long story, we were there for an hour and a half--but she basically was offended. But she also told us how unhappy she is and that she knows it is because she is not going to church. She said that every time she goes by the chapel, she feels so happy and light inside and how she wants to come back, but that she has no one to go to church with. Her neighbors are all less active too. She said she would come to church, and she didnt, but I didnt really expect that change to happen that quickly. During that lesson though, I just felt how much God loves and misses sister Cayari and it made me love her and miss her too. I cant wait to go back and visit her

So there is this old tatay in our area that lives by a recent convert and every time we go he starts talking to me and is like "you are an American" and I am all "wen tatay." but the other day we were taking to him more and we ask him how old he is and he goes into this whole long thing about how he is still young and looking for a wife. No tatay, I will not be your next wife.

I have been learning a lot this week about the cost of our discipleship. As disciples of Christ, we have a lot of responsibilities. Callings, missionary work, tithing, service, following the commandments, sacrificing our will for God's and so much more. It all sounds really difficult, but the more I learn about how much it costs to be disciple of Christ, the more excited I get. I love that my life gets to be full of sacrifices for the Lord, and I love that making these sacrifices means that I have his promise of safety and happiness. The gospel is great isnt it?

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

There Is A First Time For Everything

May 25, 2014

So this week I had my first instance where I actually had to RUN away from dogs. There are dogs EVERYWHERE here, as in everywhere. None of them have been fixed, so they just keep going around making new barking, sad, starving, angry dogs. In my previous areas, we had dogs that would bark at us, but they were harmless or tied to a tree with a chain. But this week, we were walking away from an investigators house and everything is fine until we hear all this barking behind us and we turn around and a pack of dogs comes running out of this gate coming right for us. Sister Deyro and I look at each other and then just start running. We get to a patch on the dirt road where there are a bunch of stones and we pick them up to throw at the dogs. The good thing is, since the dogs here always have stones thrown at them, they see you bend over, and they usually start to back off. The funny part is, I picked up a little stone and just threw it as they ran back to their house, but Sister Deyro picked up this giant shot put sized rock and hurled it at them. Die laughing I did. She is itty bitty, and she chose the big rock. Maybe you had to be there.

So this week we had a couple of set backs, we had two investigators with a lot of potential drop us through text. Boo. Mary Jane said her husband, who was less active Igelsia ni Cristo, decided that he wants to go back to church and does not want her to talk to us anymore. Then Angelica, she was a former investigator that we re-contacted on Tuesday, taught again on Thursday, extended and accepted a baptismal date and she said she would come to church on Sunday, then she texted us during church and said that she no longer wanted us to visit her. It is so heart breaking to meet these people, who have so much potential, to drop you. I think Angelica is just scared because we extended baptism so quickly. Even though you explain that coming to church does not mean you will be baptized immediately, a lot of people here think that going to church means you are a member. I think we might try and visit Angelica again this week and try to explain what we are really there for. To help her come unto Christ, not just to throw her into the baptismal font.

I had a realization this week about the organization of the Church. It really is like a family. We went to a recent convert's house to teach them, and as we started talking, she started telling us about this problem that they were having with their farm land. They rent the land and they have a little farm and some pigs. They had paid their rent, but the people they rent from said that they had added a payment of 6,000 pesos because of some maintenance work they had done. This family does not have 6,000 pesos. So we talk to her about it and Sister Deyro says that she should talk to President Tabulog, the Branch President, about her problem. Sister Cabudol just kind of looked at her and was like "he can help me?" we said yes, that if she has any kind of problem, she should talk to the Branch President because it is his job to help the members in Sta Teresita. We took her to President's house and they started talking and we left, so I dont know what happened there, but I think I realized, like Sister Cabudol, that once you become a member of the Church, you become a part of an international family. When you have a problem, you should tell your church leaders, because they have the authority from God to help you. This Church is so much more than just a church, it is a family and families help each other.

I think that is something I have slowly realized on my mission is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not just a church or a way you live your life on Sunday, it is everything. The more I have realized that, the more comfort I feel. I dont really have to worry about anything else in life except trying to live the gospel and keep my covenants, everything else will shake out in the end, because if I am being a valiant disciple of Christ, I may have trials, but I know I can make it through them because of his promised blessings. I just love Jesus.

Mahal Kita rin!

Sis Bet

How Do You Get German Measles in Filipino Philippines?

May 18, 2014

I dont really know, but I managed to do it. So, when I Skyped yall last week, apparently I already had German Measles. I had had a fever the last three days before that, but I felt better on Monday, Skyped and then felt awful immediately after, so perhaps that was a little tender mercy from the Lord. Dont worry, I am 100% better except for the gross colored rashes that are still on my legs, but Sister Barrientos says those will go away, and she is a registered nurse, so we can trust her. President Barrientos also says "dont worry, you will return to your normal color" and he is a man of God, so we can trust him too.

So since I was sick Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday, we did not get as much work done as we would have hoped, but its okay, it was still a good. We taught Lorenz and his parents and his parents accepted baptism! They also committed to come to church yesterday, but did not come. So that was a bummer, but I think they are close to progressing. Each time we go, Lorenz's mom looks happier to see us, and she is sitting in on lessons now, so that shows real progress. We taught about the Word of Wisdom, and Melvie (Lorenz's mom) was all over it. She looked at her husband and was like "alcohol and cigarettes are bawal, how interesting." Okay, so she didnt say, "how interesting" but that was the feeling of what she said. It was great though. We committed them to live the WOW and they accepted. I am excited to follow up on that. Yesterday was also Lorenz's third Sunday at church, which means he just has to come one more time and he can be baptized! We are not totally sure if he is converted yet, it seems more like the Gospel just makes sense in his head, it has not really entered into his heart yet, but at least it makes sense to him. We are going to start dropping by every day to check in, I think it will really help him.

So remember the Pajarillios? Nanay is the one who had the dream about working with the missionaries? Well they moved last week and their new house is freaking legit. So you walk from the high way, past these houses, then you go up this little path that leads into a coconut tree orchard? I dont know if you call those orchards, but any way, you go up there, wind around these little hills and valleys and you round a corner and there is their house, on an ISLAND in the middle of these fish ponds. To get to the house you have to walk across this little foot bridge made out of bamboo. Its like the Swiss Family Pajarillio up in there. They have these two bamboo hammocks that swing out over the water and I want to nap in those all the days. It is so cool though. Pictures to follow, I will steal Sis. Deyro's camera just for the occasion.

The work keeps plugging along here in Sta Te, and I think this next week has a lot of miracles coming. It will be nice to work for an entire week finally.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Mother's Day Skype

May 11, 2014

We had an absolutely marvelous 45-minute Skype session with Megan!! Ryan, Becky, Tyler, Molly and I were all in Berkeley. I very cleverly invited myself to California for Mother's Day :-) We skypted in Mark right away. And during the course of the conversation, for limited periods of time, we also chatted with Marlee Redford and most of the rest of the Pincock clan - all of whom were gathered at Doug's house for a Mother's Day Dinner. Callie & Megan got all teary (what else is new?). And Megan got to chat with Grandma Pincock, post hip-replacement surgery. Megan has been very concerned about Grandma, so it put her mind at ease to SEE and TALK with her Gma!!

Megan looked great!! She simply radiated with joy and enthusiasm, which is pretty remarkable because the next day she was diagnosed with German Measles. So interesting.

It was a great conversation. Everyone got to participate. Megan is having a terrific missionary experience!!

Can Sister Bettilyon Eat Three Halo-Halos In One Day?

May 4, 2014 

Yes. Yes she can. So first off, halo-halo is a very Filipino desert that means mix-mix because they just put everything in there. The usual things include unflavored jelly in various colors, ube, bananas, camote, macaroni noodles, sago (like in bubble tea), beans, corn, sugar and apples and coconut. Then they put shaved ice on top, pour condensed milk over the whole thing and put a spoonful of caramel to top it all off. Then you mix-mix. It sounds mejo gross, but is really quite delicious and I definitely ate three in one day on Wednesday. I didn’t mean to, but it just sort of happened. Sis Deyro and I shared one in the morning when we were out working, then in the afternoon, we were waiting for an investigator and one of our members was selling, and she made us two more. Sis D is lactose intolerant, so she could not handle another dose, so….I definitely ate her share. I ain’t even mad.

Hilarious story for the week: we were out working, doing finding in our area since we inherited exactly zero current investigators when we found this nanay, she was nice, said that the missionaries had shared to her before in Sta Ana, so we sat down and started to teach her. It was going well, she was really knowledgeable about the Bible, and we were testifying of what was different about our church than in other churches (the God Head, Christ and Heavenly Father have bodies, we have the Priesthood etc) when out of nowhere she starts going off about how we need to be saved and how she prays that we can fix the error of our ways and is quoting all of these Bible verses and then she says “let me introduce myself to you, I am the pastor of the Born Again Chruch, let me help you be saved.” I just smiled at her and said we were happy to meet her, that God loved her and then we got up and left. Ambushed by the Born Again! It was so hilarious. I tried not to laugh too loudly as I walked away. As I was laughing, our fellowshipper said that she had heard stories from other missionaries about that woman and how she will let the missionaries teach her, but then will just flip the switch on them. Oh people, God just loves all of you. But a note is definitely going in the area book to save other missionaries from that unfortunate encounter.

In other news, we have this adorable investigator who is 11 and who looks exactly like Dora the Explorer. I am not even exaggerating. She and her little sister have come to church twice now and their uncle was a convert, but he died recently. We went to their lola to hopefully teach her and ended up meeting the little girls. The grandma does not like to listen to us, because every time she sees us, she thinks of her dead son. I keep praying that we can manage to teach her enough times to help her understand the Plan of Salvation so she won’t be so sad anymore. We have taught her twice, and every time, she just starts to cry. Last time I told her that her son is just waiting for her to accept the gospel so she can be sealed to him, we will hopefully teach her later today.

We also have had some great new people to teach, two in particular. Remy is a woman we met our first day here, and we set a return appointment and when we went to go visit her, we were there for two hours. She just immediately launched into her rags to riches life story and started asking all these questions about the church and what would happen to her if she were baptized and Sis D and I left feeling a little overwhelmed, but really excited. It was like Jeffry R. Holland said, everything she told us about her life, connected to the gospel and we could testify, then offer more. I am really excited to go back and teach her again. Then this other woman, Mariebell, we have taught her two times too and she also just has question after question. She is a little hard to teach, because she wont really let you answer before she asks another question. But I think we have a plan that will really work for her, so our teaching will be more effective.

We also had an investigator come to church on Sunday, his name is Lorenz and his family has been taught before and he told us that he believes the church is true and that he has prayed about it, and his aunt, who is a member, brought him to church on Sunday and when we taught him on Saturday, his dad asked us to come back next week, but later in the evening so that the whole family could be taught. Um, yeah, can do tatay! I am so excited about this area, I think there are a lot of people just waiting to be contacted converted. Its gonna be a transfer of miracles, I just know it!

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Zone Training Meeting (Elder Leifi sent these pictures) - Megan's camera is broken :-(

Spiders, Lizards, Cockroaches, Mice and Ants, Oh My!

April 27, 2014

Yes. So our new apartment in Sta Te is...nice. It really is nice, it just has not been really well taken care of for a while, so basically all the little critters that you dont want to see ever have made their homes in our walls and ceilings. I have gotten better at killing cockroaches now, but they still have the power of flight and make me squeal every time one rears its nasty little head. But I usually get the last laugh when they are squished under my stomping slippers. But then all the ants come to mourn his funeral. Its a constant battle, but me and Sister Deyro seem up to the task.

So Sister Deyro, she is great, she used to be and STL and these are her last two transfers, so she basically has the whole missionary business on lock down. I am really excited to learn a lot these next several weeks. She is from the Philippines, but she is one eights Chinese, and that one eighth is pretty strong, so everyone asks her if she is from China. Her favorite movie is National Treasure and Balto and she loves pizza. She is also an amazing cook, so that is awesome and not good at the same time. Dont worry, we walk a lot.

The reason we walk a lot is because neither of us knows anything about our area yet, but the branch is super fantastic. We have fellow shippers every single day, its incredible. There is this one family that is just the rock of the branch. Nanay Pajarillio is an RM from back in the 70s and she told us the other day that she has been having dreams for two years that she would be working all the time with the Sister missionaries. What the what?! Sister Deyro and I are the first Sisters in Sta Te ever. She told us that she and her family fasted and prayed about where they should live, because Nanay is from Tarlac and Tatay is from here, and the Spirit told them they needed to stay here. I know without a doubt it is because Heavenly Father needs her to build up the church here. We need her too. She has so many referrals prepared for us, I am just so excited to see the miracles start a flowen'!

There is this thing here called Lechon Manok, which is basically rotisserie chicken, and I knew about it before, you can buy it at a lot of different places, but I just never quite got around to it. We bought one this week and I was like "what have I been doing for the past nine months?!!?" It is so delicious, I am taking time to write about it. Its just that good. Dont worry, we are buying another one later this week. 

One other random cool thing: Do you remember the Corpuz family from Vigan? Maybe I didnt write about them, but Tatay Corpuz was the Branch Mission Leader and his son was the Branch President and their family was just super active and super awesome. Anyway, they have relatives who are RC/LAs here, and when we visited them yesterday, they said that Nanay and Tatay Corpuz are coming up for a vacation next week! I am so excited, I really hope I get to see them.

I am really excited about this area, and this branch is so strong. They are so excited to have Sisters finally. Opening an area is hard work, but I feel blessed that Heavenly Father thinks I am up for the challenge. I anticipate many splendid stories to follow.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

You Are Getting Transfered....To The Next Town Over

Sun, Apr 20, 2014 at 8:52 PM

So transfers happened and I am getting transferred to Sta. Teresita C. I will be opening and area with Sister Deyro, who was an STL [Sister Training Leader - similar to Zone Leader], but is stepping down to open an area with me. Holy wow. We will be the first sisters ever in Sta. Te and it will be the first time I will live with just my kasama. And it will also be the first time in nine months that I will not be living with Sister Keith. I half expected that we would be companions this transfer, but that seems not to be the case...yet.

The Elders will be taking over Sister Dollete's and my old area. Good luck to them, all our investigators are female. Ummm...sorry...all the husbands are farmers and never home. But maybe it will be good for the area because the Elders can talk to the husbands, man to man, ya know? Also, the ZLs [Zone Leader] are the ones who are transferring here, so we know it will be in good hands. And I will be close by if they have any questions.

One miracle of the week, Melchor Vallejo texted us on Tuesday and he said that he had stopped smoking! He said that he stopped because the people he works with started to fight with him when they would drink and smoke, so he decided to really stop now. Yay! It is a little sad because we have not seen him in a week and a half, and I wont be able to see him again, but I know that the Elders will take care of him. Once the harvest is over, they should be able to teach him again. He was just too prepared to disappear for too long.

Also, EmyRose's step father died, and she told us that she was talking to her mom the other night and she said that she wants to become a member. We went to visit her and we shared a message about the Plan of Salvation with her and she started to cry. My knowledge of the Gospel is such a source of comfort in my life, and I hope that it can become a comfort for Emy and her mom too.

It is hard writing about an area that I know I wont be in anymore. We found some great people this week, but I won't know what happens to them in the future. I love transfers because it means something new, but the thing I realized about serving a mission is that it is just a long series of good byes. When you leave home, then at every transfer, then again when you go home. The comforting thing is that they are only temporal good byes. Like Elder Uchtdorf said in Conference, our souls are made of the stuff of eternities. This life a blink of an eye, and we have to make the most of it, but we have the comfort that the next life will come and that we can all be together again.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

The Gapas is My Worst Enemy

Mon, Apr 14, 2014 at 12:11 AM

The most beautiful part of Gonzaga has now become our worst enemy. The
bukid. Or, the field. Everyone is harvesting because everyone is a
farmer in some aspect of their lives. Even the children are out in the
bukid all day helping to harvest rice and corn. So this means that we
have only taught about 2/3 of the lessons that we had hoped to this
week. Blerg. But that's okay. One must always have a positive attitude
in the Work of Salvation. No one wants to be saved by Marvin the
Robot. We are channeling the doors from the Heart of Gold instead. I
have no idea where that came from, but it just kind of came out. Wow
brain, you really are a steel trap of useless knowledge.

This is a picture I (Deon) found doing a google search of "gapas"
The caption said:"I saw two men and an old woman who do the harvest. They do it manually with their hands and the use of a rakem. The procedure is called gapas."

So the family I was so excited about last week? Well they are all now
in Tugegerao--if that is how you spell it--which is the closest large
city that happens to not be in the PLM boundaries, so that is a big
fat bummer. Hopefully they are just vacationing there and will come
back within the week. The good news on that front is that we did find
at least one new investigator through that family before they bounced.
No effort wasted!

We had a really great lesson with one of our investigators who has
some real potential this week. We are only able to teach her like,
once every two weeks, but every time we go, we leave and are like, "oh
my gosh, she is so prepared!" and she really is. We taught Maryjane
about the Plan of Salvation and she asked all these clarifying
questions about Pre-mortal Life and the Spirit World and the three
Kingdoms of Glory and the fact that she did that really shows that she
is paying attention, rare. So we teach her the entire Plan of
Salvation and then she launches into telling us all the problems in
her life with her husband and family and everything really. As she was
talking, she started to cry and she kept apologizing for getting
emotional, but she said that we are higit pa sa mga kaibigan niya, or
like, above her friends, so she feels like she can really talk to us.
We really don't know this woman very well, we have only taught her a
hand full of times, but despite that, she can really feel that we are
representatives of Jesus Christ. Even though we are two 20 something
girls, she can feel the love of Christ through us. Our conversation
with her was a really powerful witness to me of the mantle of being a
missionary.

Apparently they will be adding Elders and Sisters in each area,
meaning there will finally be Elders again in Gonzaga. It has been
many a moon since Gonzaga has had Elders. Everyone is really excited
about it, except that it means our tiny area may be cut. Hopefully
not, but I may not be here to worry about that any way. By next
Monday, I will know if I will be transferred. I don't think I am ready
to leave Gonzaga, but you never know with President Barrientos.


Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

I Ate Balut

Sun, Apr 6, 2014 at 10:49 PM

Yes, as a half way treat for myself, I finally ate Balut. It was not the horrific experience everyone seemed to make it out to be. It was cooked by one of our members, so it was really pretty good. The one thing was, I didnt really know how to eat it. Like, you peel it like a boiled egg, but then you have to drink the broth that is inside and the only thing everyone kept saying was "you have to eat the whole thing!" so once I figured out how to get to the point where I could eat it all, I just knocked it back and it tasted like a hard boiled egg with this oddly shaped hard part around the yolk. Omer could probably make Balut, as a fun food adventure for the Virgin townsfolk. Just take 14 day old fertilized duck eggs and boil them for about an hour. Then peel and enjoy. Dont forget to eat the whole thing.

In other news, none of our investigators or members are currently coming to church because it is harvest season. Ugh. We have had two weeks with zero investigators at church because they are all harvesting corn and rice.

However, it was fast Sunday yesterday and Sister Dollete and I started our fast Saturday afternoon so we wouldnt have to work all Sunday while fasting. One of the things we fasted for was to find families. We have been teaching a lot of really great, smart women, but we have not been able to teach their husbands, bummer. So we open our fast and go out to work and guess what we found? A family of four. Yes. Just like that. We have a nanay, a tatay, and two anak. We taught them a really quick lesson, because nanay said she just did not have any time, but she listened and they were all really intent, even tatay, which is AMAZING since most men here wont really sit to listen. And they are really close as a family too, their house was filled with pictures of their kids and the fact that tatay stayed to listen shows that they have a lot of unity as a family. I am so excited to go back and teach them again, I think they are really prepared by the Lord. Why else would we have found them so quickly?

General Conference: it kind of makes me home sick to see Temple Square and the Conference Center because I am like "man, that is my place! I can imagine the drive from Texas St to that very spot" and it is a strange feeling. I am going to try not to focus on that and just listen to the great messages. Oh how I love Conference.

We also had a great experience with one of our RCs, she just got confirmed on Sunday with Alexis, even though she was baptized in January (its a long story) and the Sunday before she got confirmed, she gave us two referrals! This week we went to go teach them, and we were sitting outside one of their houses, which is right along one of the main walk ways in Minanga and when we started the lesson, there were four people listening. Then we sang and prayed and there were seven people listening. Then we started sharing our message and there were ten people listening. Then we started talking more and there were fifteen people. Then we testified and closed because things were getting a little out of hand. Its like, come, listen to the white girl speak Tagalog, freak show, free of charge, you just have to accept our return appointment and take our pamphlet! All ages welcome! Family friendly!

I was reading in Ether 2 the other day and by the other day I mean yesterday, and I stumbled across this little gem. Ether 2:23 "...for ye shall not go by the light of fire." This is when Christ is telling the Brother of Jared that he will have to come up with a way to light the boats that he has made and that fire, will not be good enough. So I pondered this for a moment. They would not go by fire, and neither can we. Fire is always lauded as the most important discovery of man, it is what started everything, but we are not to go by the light of fire, or by the brilliance of the accomplishments of men. We are to be led through this life by the light of our faith, just like the Brother of Jared. Faith is what brings us through the difficulties of life and it is what brought the Brother of Jared to the promised land. I know that faith is real, and I can feel its light leading my life.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Sister Dollete Really Hates Cockroaches

Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 1:04 AM

So earlier today, while we were getting ready to go out, a cockroach made his way into our apartment. Sister Dollete saw him, screamed, then ran into our bedroom and locked the door. Me, Sister Keith and Sister Iremia tried to get the nasty guy out, but to no avail. We kept shouting his location to Sister Dollete who would shriek every once in a while in complete disgust. Then I went into our room to get something and Sister Keith said that the roach was headed to the bedroom and Sister Dollete screamed again and ran into the bathroom, which is inside our room, and locked the door again. At some point, Sister Iremia got him by the antenna and coaxed Sister Dollete out of the bathroom and started waiving it in her face. Die laughing I did.

Sister Dollette is hilarious. I think she had a headache, but this is what she did when we were accounting one night!

Alexis got baptized! It was a little touch and go for a second, but it all worked out. We had not been able to contact her all week and were really worried that she would not be at the church on time because we still needed to teach her one lesson (pray often and scripture study, both of which she does every day, but rules are rules) so it was about 30 minutes after the baptism was supposed to start and only two of the baptismal candidates were there, typical Filipino time, and in walks Alexis. Oh my gosh, it was like a literal weight had been taken off my chest. We took her into a room and taught her a five minute lesson, got her fitted into her baptismal clothes, took pictures and it was amazing. She was confirmed on Sunday and she is now the first member of The Church in Sta. Clara. In her confirmation blessing, it talked really specifically about her being a missionary, and I know that that is true. She is going to do a lot for The Church in her area and I pray that she gets to serve a mission some day. We just need to get her really involved at church. She has two really good friends who were at her baptism, one active member and one investigator, they were so cute helping her get ready after she was baptized, brushing her hair and running to the bathroom with her clean clothes. Missionary work y'all! Lets do it!

In other news, we have this one less active nanay who really likes to run away from us. Like she is 65 and she will literally RUN away from us. So we cornered her into a lesson with us (once you get her into a lesson, she is fine, but its the getting her there that is difficult) and we asked her to pray and usually we just ask her to pray, then bow our heads and are like "sige nanay, we will wait for you" and then after about 20 seconds of silence she will pray and she prays really well. But this time we bowed our heads, then about 30 seconds later, Sis. D says "nanay ran away" she had literally gotten up, while we were not looking to go find tatay to pray for her. Oh nanay. What are we going to do with you? Keep chasing you down with the Christlike love of  two missionaries.

We also had a RC who talked in a lesson for 46.20 minutes uninterrupted. His assignment was to read a conference talk we had given him, then share to us about it. We will not be doing that again. He just kept going and going and going. It was good-ish stuff (he has a hard time seeing the real application of the gospel in his life, but thats a different story for a different day) but basically it reinforced to me why we need to stop and ask questions for investigators to feel involved in lessons. No one likes to be talked at.

Well to close it is really hot here, but people are being baptized and its all okay.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Be