There Is Never A Time Where There Is Not An Ant On My Body

JANUARY 19, 2014

Yeah, basically. This is my life. Bugs everywhere. There are always random ants crawling around my desk and I have no idea where they come from or why they are there. I think they just live in the walls. They definitely have a nice little home inside the mechanics of my refrigerator, so why not on my desk and on my arm?

So I am guessing you are all dying to hear what happened with the random American man. Well, it was a bit of a roller-coaster, but the short of the long is that Nanay will not be baptized. It was such a hard decision to make--what missionary wants to say no to a baptism? But Sister Abelhouzen and I prayed about it and talked about it, and Nanay just was not ready. Baptism is not something to be entered into lightly, it is a huge commitment to the Lord and requires not just a desire to do good, but a burning, unwavering conviction to always have Christ's name on our heart, in our mind and in everything that we do. We explained this to Mr. American and he didnt understand at first, who really would, but once we really explained and assured him that this is not the last opportunity Nanay will have to be baptized, he began to understand. It was amazing to see how much people trust us. We are 19 and 21 and people trust us to make decisions for people's eternal salvation. They trust us to do what the Lord wants and to help people who are so close to them. I was really amazed at that this week. People really are putting so much in the hands of the very young, but with the power and spirit of the Lord, we can do it.

In other news, one of our new investigators deffs has a crush on Sis A and myself....not awesome. We got done teaching him and I thought he was just going to walk us to his gate, but he ended up walking with us all the way to our next appointment. Not exactly pwede....and on the way we encountered his uncle who kept asking us if we had boyfriends and if it was okay for us to court while we are on our missions. Haan brother. No way. But he kept being like, yeah you can and we just kind of walked away. Then brother investigator asked us if we like Filipino guys. Sis A had the great wisdom to just say, no, we have boyfriends. He also seemed worried about the man that we went to teach next and was being a little protective and was like, do you know this guy? And we just said nope, and went into his house anyway. Little does homeboy know how many strange people we meet and teach every day. Plan of action: always bring a Nanay to teach with us. ALWAYS. No one can have a crush when Nanay is Nanay-ing.

But the family that we went to teach right after that was elect. Seriously. There are like seven of them and at the end, when we asked the daughter who was most interested to pray, she just did it! And she prayed in the right way! Without us having to tell her how. She just listened to how we did it at the beginning, then copied us. Nailed it sister!

Other miracles of the week: a LA who has had three strokes is talking to us now! Before, he couldnt talk, but now we can hear and understand him! And he talked to us in English. Power of prayer! Crazy Emma who runs around naked has a real testimony of the prophet. If you just listen to her, she sounds active, but something is still off. I think there is something deeper going on there, but she does have a strong testimony, which I count as a miracle. Sandrei, wife of Melchor Santiago, is getting baptized in February! Jojo Real came to a baptism! He missed the actual baptism, but listened to the testimonies and stayed for the area broadcast after. He was not at church because his mom is in the hospital, but he is coming along, slowly but surely.

I just love this work! For reals, it is real work and I see miracles every day.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

I Don't Know About You, But I Taught Thiiiiiirrrrrrrttttttty Thrrrrrrreeeeeee!!!!!

JANUARY 12, 2014

Lessons this week. Yeah. We taught thirty three lessons this week. And one day I was sick and had to go home (dont worry, I am fine now) and did not teach as many lessons that day as we had planned or could have. Yeah so basically we killed it this week and made up for the week of eternal punting. Wooo! Can you say 'hasten the work?' because I can.

Also, something that just happened. We were in this pizza place (dont say anything about Italy Katie, I dont want to hear it) and this huge white guy walks in and we are staring at him because he is A: huge and B: white and C: WHITE AND HUGE. We are eyeballing him for a second and he comes up to us and says "Hello Sisters, my name is Brother Richard and I am from Salt Lake and I am hoping to get my mother and father in law baptized while I am here, and Sister Bettilyon, they live in your area and they are former investigators who had a baptismal date in December who couldnt get baptized because they never came to church. But me and my Filipino wife are here for two weeks and we would love for you to come and teach them and get them baptized thanks." Okay, so it didnt all come out like that at once, but that is the general gist of the story and I was trying really hard to contain my excitement, but I couldnt really because I have been trying to teach his family for five months and they have always ran away or been busy or there was no adult there for us to teach the kids with. Holy freaking crap freak! This man and his family had literally just landed and what are the chances of us meeting them right when they get here and them being here for two weeks and being related to the Cabes?!?!?!?!?!?!? Okay Heavenly Father, lets do this!

In other, also awesome news, the adorable Balta family who was like "re-activate, just add contact with members and missionaries" well her husband is not a member and we just gave him a baptismal date this week with his son and they came to church by themselves this week. To frame this better, this man looks scary and mean, but is really just shy and nice. He came to church, didnt know anyone or anything that was going on, then we taught him once and he said that he has already been reading the Book of Mormon, then he came to church with his two young kids and his less active step daughter alone because his wife was sick and was, like, all kinds of awesome. Where did he come from?!

Teaching 33 lessons this week was awesome and we realized how awesome our investigators really are. We have so many people who are just so prepared and ready to follow commitments and be baptized and are just good people that its just so incredible.

So I spoke in church yesterday, my Tagalog was pretty good, so they told me, so that is a victory. But while I was talking, I look into the congregation and I see none other than JOJO REAL sitting there with his wife. I may or may not have lost my train of thought for a second I was so excited. He looked a little upset the whole time, but the fact that he came to church at all is a little miracle and I am taking it.

Also, Eloysa is back, we didnt get to talk to her much and she didnt come to church, but she is back home and that means we can teach her again! All good things this week!

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

Nanay, Merienda Does Not Qualify As An Emergency

JANUARY 5, 2014

So it is in the middle of weekly planning and we get this text from a nanay who lives in our area and her text read something like this "my children, please please please come now I have an emergency please please hurry something something something in Tagalog that I dont understand but I know is about babysitting kids blah blah" and I am like, "nanay, we are sorry, but we cant babysit your kids for you, but how else can we help" and she keeps texting, "please please please come now come now I am waiting please come now" so we go into panic/problem fixing mode and go text the Branch Pres and his wife and go to our land lady (RC) and ask if she can go to nanay's and help. Much to our disappointment, she is really lethargic about doing anything and is like "oh poor me, I cant, do I have to?" so I am all "okay, laters nanay, we have things to fix" and we end up calling the President Barrientos, and turns out there was a house fire behind our house, so while all of this is happening, there are fire trucks, fire men (who are just regular dudes in regular clothing that just happen to drive a giant, red, tank esque truck) and news people and yeah. So we talk to Pres. B and he says to go to nanay's and see what is going on because this entire time she is sending us text after text after text all very desperate and hurry hurry hurry. So we pack up, head out, walk 10 feet from our house and get a text from nanay that says "I made merienda for you, please come so I can go babysit my grand kids" in English. So a merienda is a snack. Yeah. All this for a snack. Filipinos take snack time too seriously.

So in other news, I hit six months this week, what the holy cow really?! I cant even believe it. Next thing you know I am going to be half way through, then I will be home and it all is happening so fast. Too fast. And happy New Year! My new years resolution is to learn Tagalog and Ilocano. Kaya ko iyan!

In other other news, Sis. A and I went on exchanges this week and learned so much about how we can improve our work. Like, we came back together and were like "BAPTIZE ALL THE PEEPS!" so this week should be exciting because we are implementing a lot of changes and pushing for fellow shippers and families and getting people to actually take some time to listen.

Holy, wait a second, Jojo Real, the Baptist preacher guy? Yeah, while I was on exchanges, Sis. A and Sis. Roselle invited him to be baptized and HE SAID YES. And his entire family. I came home, heard the news and almost died of excitement. This man has been so tough, we have taught him the restoration and invited him to pray for months and to no avail, but Sis. R was going to be a preacher too before she converted and she was just the push he needed to accept. We went to get him and his family to church yesterday and he was not there, so we are not totally out of the woods yet, but his family is so ready, he might be the last one to prepare, but oh my gosh I cant even really tell you all my emotions or details about this but just trust me that it is awessssssooooooommmmmmeeeee!

So Mac, the random guy that we found? Well he is basically great, but he is going back to Manila this week and we wont be able to teach him, but we watched the Restoration video with him and boy is that stuff powerful. He is just so willing to listen and read and learn. Great first steps. I hope the missionaries in Manila find him fast. Hello referral!

We taught a lesson to this less active couple who are just less active because Tatay cant come to church because he has had three strokes and cant really walk, it is so sad because you can just see how helpless he feels and Nanay works so hard to take care of them and they just love each other and The Lord and it is just really sweet and sad at the same time. But we taught them a lesson and asked them how we can help them and they asked us to come an keep trying to teach their less active grand son and as Nanay was saying the closing prayer, she and Tatay just started to break down and sob and you could just feel how earnest they were in pleading with The Lord for help. Tatay couldnt stop sobbing and, my heart just broke for him. But the beautiful thing is, is that Christ knows exactly what they need, what they feel and the prayers of earnest and obedient people are so powerful.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

The Week Of The Eternal Punting

DECEMBER 29, 2013

Glory on high. Seriously. There was one day this week that we did not teach any lessons. Zero lessons. ZERO! It was a bummer, but it was really okay because we got to take Melinda--our investigator whose family is just prime--to a baptism for this family in Vigan 2 that is about the most adorable thing you have ever seen in your life. And after the baptism Melinda was talking about how much she wants to get baptized now, but how it will be more wonderful if her family gets baptized at the same time. We have tried extending a baptismal date to her husband, but he said that he does not know enough yet, so we are just going to keep teaching him and if they keep coming to church and reading and praying, they will just do all the good things! ALL THE GOOD THINGS! Seriously though, this family is so sweet. I love all of them. They came to the Branch Christmas party and Melinda and her hub Bobby played this game where you have to keep this really tiny lime balanced on their forehead while you dance and oh my gosh I thought I was going to die of cuteness. They are just, I cant even put it into words, but they just love each other and are friggin adorbs all the days.

Oh yeah, I also got to talk to yall this week, that was basically the best hour or so of my life! Even Josh! And Gma! And Callie! And all the peeps! Sorry I talked so much, I realized this week that there was so much that I wanted to ask YOU about, but I forgot because I was just too busy telling yall cool things about the Philippines. But just knowing you were on the other side listening was seriously the best feeling every. You just sounded so close. Ugh. Miss you. All of you.

Moving on because I cant really dwell on that, after talking to yall, we went out and taught this less active family that is so ready to come back. The only real reason they were not coming to church is because they dont know people there. But they came to the Christmas party, and had to leave early because of some child having some issue like children do, but they came to church and wanted to meet Pres. Corpuz and everyone and are coming next week and hopefully the hubs will come too because he is not a member--yet...

Did I tell you about the American that we met? The one that Sis. A kept trying to speak Tagalog to? Well his wife is the cutest thing. She is 24 and we just dropped by her house and talked to her for, like, 30 minutes about life and the Philippines and kids and stuff. And at the end of our conversation we--of course--asked if she had read the Book of Mormon we left her and she said yes! I was so surprised because she told us that she was so busy with the holiday that she probably would not have any time to read until after, but she made time! And that means she read right after we visited her last week probably because she liked the verse we read with her. Book of Mormon, rocking the socks off the Catholics.

We also met this guy named Mac last night on a whim, so random it had to be the Spirit, but he speaks amazing English, was studying to be a priest, but is now going to be a dentist and we shared the whole of Lesson 1 with him and he asked us to come back tonight and teach him some more. I am so excited. More to come. The only bummer is that he goes back to Manila this week. Oh well, more referrals for other missionaries.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

CHRISTMAS 2013 PHOTOS

Everyone has a picture with a tiger, right?? Just a little frightening!!

Outside the Mission Home - Megan and her companion, Sis A.

Mission Zone Conference
Megan is wearing a special Filipino dress made for her by the ward Relief Society President

That Nanay Looks Grumpy, Let's Go Say Kumusta

DECEMBER 22, 2013

So all the old ladies here look really upset, up until the moment you say hi to them. Then they get their big toothless grins going and it is about the most adorable thing you have ever seen.

Short little random things that happened this week: our investigator Lorna is really progressing, we taught the Restoration, and she was asking all these great questions about the priesthood and Christ establishing his church, then she fed us delicious lumpia, banana que and some rice ball thing that was covered in brown sugar and fried. Yes please. Then we went to our RC's house and the wife started to sing--she is really talkative and loud and funny and great--and her husband--who has maybe said two sentences to me in the five and a half months I have known him--just looked at her as she sang and there was just so much love in that stare. Dont you just love love? Then we taught this referral's mom and his sister in law--because he is never home--and I look at the sister in law and she just has this blank, confused look on her face and I ask "do you understand Tagalog?" and she just nods her head a little confusedly and I am thinking "Sister, its okay if you just understand Ilocano." So she just kind of stared at us as we taught her mother in law.

Remember the woman who ran after us asking for pamphlets who we thought was a goat? Well we went to teach her the other day and we showed up a little late at night and she was just getting back from her cousin's house and she was a little more scattered than usual, so we asked what was going on and she said "if I ask you a favor, will you do it for me?" we asked what the favor was, being a little hesitant, of course. Then she just asked us if we could pray for her cousin whose son just died and we were like "of course we can! We are missionaries, prayer is what we are good at!" So I said a prayer for her and she just held my hand after I was done and cried and was just so sweet. I dont know if she is interested or ready for the gospel, but I think we have just been put in her life right now for support. I dont know what Heavenly Father has planned for her, but I am glad to help.

That same night, our investigator's mom, who NEVER lets us try and teach her, opened up about how her sister's husband is dying and asked us to pray for him too. The sister and husband are both LDS. So that was awesome.

Our golden investigator Eloysa disappeared for her baptismal interview. I have no idea what happened. We taught a really awkward lesson about the sabbath day because she has been working on Sunday and her mom got really upset at us and two days later we go to get her for her interview and she is no where to be found. Her cousin called her and she said that she will just be baptized in January...not really how that works...So I dont know what is going on, but it sucks and I am really sad about it. She was so golden!

In other and the most exciting news other than the fact that I call home tomorrow. DARRYL TEXTED US LAST NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Remember Darryl? the most amazing investigator ever? Well he texted us last night and it was about the best thing I have ever seen. He has been in Manila and he comes back next week and he said we can go teach him. Heavenly Father really does answer prayers.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

This Is A Sight That Can't Be Unseen

DECEMBER 15, 2013

So today, like about an hour or so ago, the sisters and I were just getting home from the palangke, and PureGold (grocery store) where we had run into the other sisters who told us that President was coming at 10. We didn't know why, but we did know that none of us had showered yet and our apt was a mess because we hadn't cleaned yet either. Awesome. So we get home, we and all our groceries are crammed into one tricie and there is President's van sitting out side our apt. We tumble out of the tricie, looking pretty feral and notice that not only is is Sister and President Barrientos, but all of the Office Elders and the Assistants. So yeah. That was great. We hurry inside, because, lets face it, we are a little shamed, and I am the one saying the prayer and I am just laughing so hard that I cant even speak. Ugh. WHY?! Why did it have to be ALL the office elders?! Why did we have to look like crazy, unwashed, gypsy people? I mean really, why?

So that is my little story for now. In other news, Melchor was at church, Melinda and Danica were at church, Tatay (who always comes) was at church, Paolo was at church, two new investigators Catalina and Wilma were at chruch, Tintin was at church and Eloysa was at church. ALL THE PEOPLE! They all came to church and it was awesome. So freaking awesome. I am so freaking excited!!!! This week, our KIs were so bad, but we have so many people who are going to start progressing that it is hard to really care that we literally taught two lessons to investigators with a member present and only one RC or LA lesson. I just feel like this next transfer is going to be a big harvest. Yeah! Bringing souls to Christ.

Other cool story, so yesterday, we were going to pick up Catalina and Wilma and we were walking and walking and there were no tricies, so I just say "Heavenly Father, we really need a tricie right now" and you know what came around the corner and picked us up? A tricie. Then later that night, we were leaving a lesson and trying to get to the church so we could watch the Christmas Devotional and there were no tircies. So I tried it again. The first time I said it it didn't work, so I tried again and said "Heavenly Father, we really need a tricie so we can go to church and listen to the Prophet and feel the Spirit and listen to the MoTab, so could we please have a tricie." And you know what pulled up and picked us up? A tricie. The church is true, so no one panic.

We also had an amazing lesson with a member family who had not been paying their tithing, because, you know, they are poor and it is really hard to pay tithing. But we went in for a follow up lesson to check on them and 1. they are paying their tithing and 2. when we asked tatay what blessings he saw from paying his tithing, he said "nothing" and nanay (who is usually a little melancholy and does not participate) said "how could you say that? We can put our kids through school, we have not been sick, we are able to pay for our medication when we are sick and we always have food, how can you say we don't have any blessings from paying our tithing?" What the what?! Yeah nanay! You see those blessings! Then, we asked their two 20 something daughters if they were paying their tithing and they both said no, so Sister Abelhouzen told a cool story about a man and tithing that I dont have time to relate now, but it was super good, and at the end of the story the oldest daughter was crying and said that she would start paying her tithing. Oh man, the Spirit.

Oh also, our bathroom has been alternately filled with gross poop smelling water and poop smelling dirt (probably just poop) that has been coming up through our drains for about the last..oh...two and a half weeks. Our land lord keeps ignoring our texts but yesterday it just got too ridiculous to bare. So she finally sent her two sons to come fix the problem and, I kid you not, they went into that awful mess BAREFOOT. I was trying my best not to gag/die. I am pretty sure you could get a disease from just looking at that bathroom too closely, not to mention putting your poor little feet in it. Yikes. But hopefully the problem is now fixed. But oh man, that is just another sight that cannot be unseen.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

The District Makes Missionary Work Look So Majestic

DECEMBER 8, 2014

Not that missionary work is not majestic or the work of The Lord, but they just look so clean, put together and always have great music playing in the background. My background music is usually just goats, chickens and the odd gecko. Yes, geckos make noise. And yes, it is distracting.

So anyway, this week we gave one of our investigators a blessing and that was a bit of an adventure. She is the sister of Jojo--yeah, Jojo. So we make plans with her the night before that we would be there at 7 pm and we made plans with Brother Rapacon to come and we texted Tatay Rabang to come as well. So about 6:30 rolls around and nothing from Tatay since our text from the night before, so we go to his house, wala siya. So we go back to Bro. Rapacon's and wala siya. Talaga?! Come on! So we text the Elders in a bit of a panic and they--bless them--immediately responded with "dont worry, we got this, we are in a tricie." Oh those Elders, you gotta love them. So they show up, give her a blessing, which was in Tagalog, so I am not sure what exactly was said, but the Spirit was around, so that is a good sign. Then we taught her about the Priesthood and invited her to be baptized and she said yes! She and her three kids all came to church last Sunday and this Sunday and it is so awesome to see a FAMILY come to church. Now we just need to meet her husband.

Revelation from this week: Tatay Alejandro, our RC who is also 70+ super frail, can actually read the text of the Aklat Ni Mormon. I always thought it was too small for him, so Sis. Sese and I would write out verses for him really big, and then he would read them, but he was complaining the other day that he didnt have a book for himself and I asked if he could read and he was like "of course" So I gave him a book and he read aloud from it. What the what?! Jovan speaks Ilokano and Tatay can read. Oh the things you learn.

Also, Emma, one of our LAs who came to church a couple of Sundays ago? Yeah...so we went to teach her a lesson and it was super powerful and she was crying and saying that she knows she needs to come to church and how much she loves the gospel then at the end of the lesson, her friend from the Born Again church came by to pick her up for Bible study. Her friend saw us and immediately started to Bible bash and talk about how God is just one person instead of three separate beings so I volleyed back with some verses of my own and it was just terrible because this woman said that Emma is active in their Youth Ministry and is super involved in their church and blah blah blah. Then in a meeting with the Branch President we found out that Emma sometimes runs around her neighborhood in the nude. Yeah, so that is awesome.

We also met an American retired Navy guy person who lives in our area. His name is Ron and his is super into family history. They always talk about finding people through talking about family history and I literally never thought that would be a real thing to happen, but hey, I guess you never know. He came outside and started talking and Sis. Abelhouzen says "ano ang pangalan brother?" and he just stares at her and I am all "Sister, he is American."

We also taught the lady who ran after us and sounded like a goat, she is pretty adorable and I think she might be interested. But we asked her to say a prayer at the end of our lesson and she said yes, but it was a silent prayer. So Sis. Abelhouzen and I kind of just sat in awkward silence for 5 minutes...nailed it.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet

I Think It Would Be Quicker To Just Burn It Down

DECEMBER 1, 2013

So we went to do service at this woman's house who is an investigator, but she is not totally there so she cant be baptized yet, but we went to her house to clean it and oh my gosh, it was like one of those homes on Hoarders except it was in the Philippines and it was way worse. I was rubber gloving it all the way. We just started a trash pile in front of her house and just started burning trash, clothes, everything because it was so bad. There were piles and piles of trash dirty clothes everywhere and it had all been there for so long that some of the trash had just settled into the dirt, like if you stuck a shovel into a "dirt patch" you would just unearth more unwashed clothes and trash. It was really sad and kind of scary. I think we will go back this week and next week and the week after until it is all cleaned up, but I really think burning down her house and building it back up and giving her a few new outfits would be faster. Sad as that is to say.

On Tuesday I had exchanges with Sister Tauti, she is just a polly gem. I freaking love that sister, it is always a party when she is around. But we went to Jojo, and it was a two hour lesson. Fa reals Jojo? Why? Every time? But anyway, we went over the Restoration...again...and he got really caught up on the part when Christ tells Joseph that none of the churches are true because he took this to mean that no churches are true, so he was like "so we dont have to go to church? Tama ba yung Sister?" No Jojo, not what we are saying. So then he started asking where the name of the true church was if we still needed to go to church. So I pointed at my name tag and was like "right here brother" which got a good laugh, then he got serious again and asked where it said it in the pamphlet, so I flipped it over and pointed to the stamp on the back of the pamphlet that says "Simbahan ni Jesu Cristo ng mga Banal sa mga Huling Araw" Which also got a laugh, but he still was not totally okay with the fact that I out witted his questions. Honestly man, do you think we would teach you about Joseph Smith then be all "naw, our church isnt the one they are talking about" I mean, at some point you have to put two and two together yourself. Oh, and he is really training to become a Born again pastor. Nailed it.

On the day that we did the service project, we also had a bit of an emotional set back. Darryl, the investigator who is so amazingly prepared for us? He texted us and said that he does not want to be baptized anymore. He says that Heavenly Father came to him in a dream and told him that it was not the right time. And the saddest part is that Sister Abelhouzen and I prayed about it, and we think he is right. So now, we are working on teaching the whole family instead of just Darryl and Melchor. The good thing is that Darryl said he will still read the Book of Mormon and that we still can visit him, so now the goal is the whole family. It will happen! Maybe not in my time in Vigan, but it will happen.

Also, Eloysa, our rescue baptism, is such a precious little gem. We had a lesson with her where it just felt like a break through. We left her last one feeling less than awesome even though it went okay, she was reading and praying, we didnt know what was wrong, so we went in this time and were like "we just need to get to know this girl" so we did and it was awesome, we all left smiling and feeling amazing. She is so excited for her baptism, and I think she will be a great foot hold into her less active dad, and her brother is interested, he just cant come to church because he has work every Sunday. Not insurmountable obstacles, kaya mo iyan!

We also had a lady run after us asking for a pamphlet. She was calling out to us, but she just kept saying "ma'am! ma'am!" and since it was night and we were talking both me and Sister Abelhouzen thought it was a goat, so we didnt stop until I turned around and saw this woman running after us. Once she got to us, she was so out of breath she couldnt talk. We gave her two pamphlets and said we will visit her this week. I will keep you posted.

Mahal Kita!

Sis Bet