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