Letter 59: It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Happy Monday Family and Friends, 

(but for most of you. . .it's still Sunday!) 

Another week has come and by here on Guimaras. It went by really fast because on Wednesday were told something very interesting by President Aquino, "Today, do not think about missionary work!" and thus entered in the CHRISTMAS PARTY. It was mostly a trunkie for all the missionaries going home tomorrow. hahaha. But it was way fun. 

Sisters Aquino, Quent, Smith, kag Scicluna

It started out with each Zone with a play/skit/presentation. It was pretty great (The all Elders district from Kalibo totally won. they were absolutely hilarious) We put on "Elder Krueger's Christmas" our ZL was a disobedient missionary, visited by his "dead companion" and they visited Companion Past, Present, and Future. (by Future meaning Future Eternal companion.) the idea being, "The harder and more diligent you are on your mission, the cuter your future eternal companion" Thus, our Sabad (bad) elder had to change his ways, because his Future EC was not cute. 

My favorite part was when they visited the past and we found out why our mean Elder was mean: The Dear John. We used the name of an Elder who used to be Krueger's comp (Elder Rios) Pulled a "Best two years," type of deal. The best part was Elder Rios's reaction, because we didn't inform him. hahaha. 

His reaction  (Far Right)

Played games, Sung 12 Days of Christmas, had a Gift Exchange (got a cute little souvenir. a little house and stuff in a glass Cheez wiz jar. haha) Ate dinner (did not touch the blood pudding.) Some Missionaries sang, and then we watched the David Archuleta Music and the Spoken Word. (SAW DAD FIVE TIMES.) Sister Quent and I were like, "*sigh* Way better live!" The office elders played with glowsticks and fire for us. 

Slept over at the Sister's apartment in Oton, and then went home exhausted. Hahaha. Too much fun. :) :)

After that. . Went back to work! 

Edmar agreed to be baptized on the 25th (WHITE CHRISTMAS) even if Nanay and everyone else has to wait till January. I loved it, Nanay was like, "do it! You be the example!" and a few seconds later she finally said, 'Ok." with a smile on her face. 

Seriously. LOVE that family. They Came to church even though it rained (that's 2 weeks in a row. WOAH.) and Edmar caught the chicken pox.  Seriously. I love this family so much! I'm going to do my best to come back to this place :) 

Lost a dear friend of over a year this week. Payong. (aka. Umbrella) hahaha. fixed it with staples and ducttape over the past 3 months. . but it just finally died. Over 1 year later (that is so IMPRESSIVE. umbrella's last, like. . .3 to 6 months here) I bought a new one, it's one made specifically for keeping out the SUN. forgot to take a picture. It's really girly, I almost can't believe I bought it really. . .

Payong Ko

Remember how I talked about how strong Alma is and therefore trials will be coming?? Yep. they've been coming. It just stresses Sister Glori and I out. AS IN. Goodness. But let's ignore that and move onto happier things. 

Like a picture of a service project! Loving the Yellow Mormon Helping Hands Vests :)

Service

Anyway. I love you all, 
The church is the MOST true thing you'll ever encounter here on the Earth. 
Christmas is almost here :)

Can I say again how much I love you all for your support? Love Love Love you all. (but not you Elders that read this. haha. I just appreciate your friendship. haha)

Sister Smith

Letter 58: Don't Worry, I'm Totally Fine

Maayong Aga sa akon Panimalay kag mga Abyan, 

First things first, I did in fact survive my first Super Typhoon (I've been through over 20 or so normal just rainy typhoons, but it's the windy super typhoons. . .those are the ones that make international news) 

We got a call from the ZLs on Wednesday (during exchanges with my favorite Australian! Sister Scicluna) And were told to "Be Prepared" have enough drinking water for a week, have enough water stocked up for taking showers if our running water doesn't work for a few days, have completed 72 hour kits and everything. Because this New Super Typhoon was supposed to be faster than Yolanda was last year, and was supposed to go over the exact same path or just hit Japan instead. And if it was too hit us, it would hit on Sunday, or maybe Saturday. (According to the area presidency)

It's interesting all the different information that goes out. We were told "it's coming tomorrow, on Thursday" by people listening to the Radio. Others said, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, maybe even Monday. But the most interesting thing I really learned about people this week is how they react to such news. For me, it felt like there was something kinda evil in the air, a feeling that's really hard to explain. . that feeling you get when you know something bad is gonna happen, bala? Anyway, you could tell some where feeling that too. But then there were others, who were treating everything so lightly, like it wouldn't be a problem at all. 

By the way, Guimaras is small island, but it's Mountainous, so normally, if there are windy typhoons, Guimaras isn't that affected because of the mountainous terrain and it doesn't really even flood either. So last year, when Estancia (a place in Northern Iloilo) was completely destroyed by Yolanda, Guimaras was left fairly unharmed. 

So Thursday, nothing happened. Same with Friday. Then we were told it could possibly come Saturday around 6. Never did. We were told to be home by 5 or 6 (before dark) on Sunday. 

But the Baguio never came. Some rain did, but not a lot.

Currently (according to my companion's sister) it's up on Luzon. Down here, it's just cloudy. The Sun peaks through the grey every once in a while too, and some rain comes down every once in a while too.  

It seems rather anti-climatic, (So I didn't really actually experience a super typhoon. go figure.) but I've learned a few things. 

1) You can't trust all information. Just like Prophets, there are false prophets, and then there are 15 true blue, called of God, Set Apart as Prophets Seers and Revelators, holding the Priesthood authority and keys, and they make up the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. They are the ones who say what Christ and Heavenly Father want said. I sustain them and know them to be called of God. They are the ones we should listen too when information is distorted. I didn't listen to any of the news from people on the streets. The Area Presidency was right. The storm came on Sunday, like they said it would. (even if it went more north than expected)

2) Always Be Prepared. Even though the Baguio (storm) didn't actually come, I'm thankful we were prepared. Imagine what would have happened if we hadn't! That's one of the   things that makes me sad, is this week I saw people who didn't listen to council, who just brushed it off as another calamity that wouldn't affect us because we're on "Guimaras." It makes me sad, because in this time, before the Coming of Christ, these storms will continue, and then one day, the people of Guimaras won't be so lucky. 

But despite the bad weather, Nanay Emma came to church! She's overcoming the things that keep her from church. Over the past few months, I've really seen their family change. Sister Scicluna mentioned it when she visited them with me during exchanges, she noticed that their house almost feels like the house of a member. It's the house of a family starting to keep the commandments of God, and can tell something is changing for the better there. Nanay wants to read so bad, but her youngest daughter broke her reading glasses forever ago. I've been watching the Pharmacy for months, waiting for their cheap pairs of reading glasses (for a buck fifty) to come in. They finally did I got her some for an early Christmas present. I probably won't be here when they get baptized. (transfers are the 18th by the way) But I'm so glad I've been able to teach them. :) They've become my Family here on Guimaras <3

I love you all, 
Have a great week, 

Sister Smith 

Lovely view from outside our front gate

How do you get a kid to stop crying? take pictures of him, he'll pose for you!

Angelo

Exchanges!

The Guimaras Zone!

Ps. hit 1 year in the Philippines on Wednesday! how cool is that?

Letter 57: Thanksgiving in the Philippines

Dearest Family and Friends, 

I must say, I have a lot of things to be thankful for :D especially the 3 other Americans that only live the room over or a 3 minute tricycle drive away. Because we all got together and celebrated Thanksgiving :D

The Pinay and the Australian,
and they're first American Thanksgiving

Of course our Turkey was Chicken, and the stuffing was a little burnt, and the gravy was sausage gravy (which is supposed to go on Biscuits for Biscuits and Gravy for Breakfast) BUT There were mashed potatoes and APPLE PIE (because the Elders live in the Couple's house, and they have an OVEN.) and Hypocritical eggs(they would be deviled eggs, but the paprika, which is what makes deviled eggs look devilish, was on the inside. so it was hidden and hypocritical. haha) it was a good day :) While it rained. :) (literally like. . all day it just steadily rained. Signal One Typhoon and we still go outside.)

Mashed Potatoes and Hypocritical Eggs.

Things are going well :) Alma came to church a second time in row :D and she didn't even have money for Sud-an (stuff that goes on top of rice), but she came to church anyway. She also asked for a priesthood blessing from our Branch President to overcome her Smoking Addiction and to help her health problems. We asked the member that lives just around the corner to accompany us last night to her lesson, and goodness, she is such a good fellow shipper! Right now things are going so well with her. That means trials are ahead (of course) But it's so good to see someone who is already strong. and when trials come, Christ will be there to support.

Nanay Emma committed to pay Tithing immediately. Talk About FAITH. 

Now just to get her to church. *sigh* 

Got a text Saturday Night around 9 (didnt' read it until 10) "Hey Sis Smith, ths is Anthy cn u tlk tmrrow for 5th snday? kthnx." 

My reaction was "Grrr" because I talked last time, so it should have been Anyone but me. . .but I was grateful for it. Basically it was "Do Your Home and Visiting Teaching. Less-Active members don't need Missionary friends. They need Member Friends." talked for a good 15 minutes too. (longest sacrament meeting talk I've ever given in my life. whoa.) Sister Glori says that I chastise people too nicely, and that it defeats the purpose. hahaha. But at least I wasn't Elder Walmer, who never received the text and got 25 minutes of prep time (sacrament time and my talk time. haha)

Ano pa?? (what else) umm.. indi ko sure kon ano dapat sulaton ko subong, . . basi magilonggo lang ako tungod kasadya siya. . . hmm..  (umm.. I'm not sure what I should write right now. . . maybe I'll just ilonggo because it's fun. . . .) 

um... Missionary culture note? Sister Quent and I realized that there hasn't been a new American Sister in this mission since we got here. So in April, there won't be anymore left! 

umm... Zone meeting is tomorrow. But there isn't any MLC this month because the Christmas party is next week. sooo.. we get to make up our Trainings all by ourselves! wahoo. yah. whoopdeedoo. 

Love you all,
The Gospel's true.

Love, 
Sister Smith

Early Christmas from the Relief Society! Thank you!

Baby looking Cool :D

Week 56: Things are happening

Dearest Family and Friends, 

This week was crazy. As in. What Happened?

This is what happened: So last week we Found Alma. (she's totally awesome by the way. I love her) This week we got very punted by Alma. hahaha. Eventually we were able to teach her Saturday night, (along with her son, Albert and her niece, Beverly). Reviewed Lesson 1, and Gave her a Book of Mormon (which she was so happy to get!). She then BEAT US to church on Sunday! (She got there at 8:40. We got there 8:50) Albert looked just absolutely happy after YM/YW :) Now that we know she gets home at 5 (not at 2 like we thought) the punting will be considerably less of an issue :)

Nanay Emma didn't make it to church. *sigh* 

Met and Taught the Australian whose house I've been walking past on a weekly basis. Let me just say, I now know why I serve in the Philippines. I am generally a mild mannered person who doesn't do well with people with tempers. Filipinos don't really have tempers, Which is nice when you're teaching them about the Book of Mormon and when they don't want to accept it along with the Bible, at least they're polite about it. Goodness, this Australian wasn't very nice about it! (But at least it strengthened my testimony of about everything in the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and The Book of Mormon is the Word of God!)

It's crazy how people are taught by the Spirit, but then Satan just comes in. Erluz has been having a lot of doubts these past weeks, and when Sister Glori met her she was like, "Why do you keep visiting her? She's not progressing at all!" but then Wednesday came by, and Erluz said, "Sisters, I've been doing a lot of thinking, about how I've had kulang (umm.. something missing) in church, following God's commandments. You two come here and teach and help me understand, but I haven't been doing my part." So we asked her, "So what are you going to do?" "Go to Church! obviously!" 

But then she doesn't come to church. *sigh* 

But that's why we're patient with people. Patience really is something I've come to appreciate here. learning to be patient with Myself, Companions, Investigators, Members, EVERYONE. It's so important that we are patient. 

Like for example: Joan. Joan is a member on our Branch Presidency's 15 Names. (most the 15 names live in my area, actually) and for 5 months I've walked by her house, she was very rarely home, and if she was home she was too busy to let us in. Then one day Sister Fabella and I saw her on the road, we talked a bit, and she made the comment along the lines of "Maybe it's getting to be time for me to come back." We dont' teach her. We stop by (Sister Glori and I) to visit her Active neighbor (Bico) to try and get some referrals. Bico wasn't home, but Joan was. Shared 3 Nephi 13:31-33 (one of my favorites, by the way) and. . . she didn't come to church. But YESTERDAY. Yesterday Nanay Bico picked Joan up, and they came to church. Joan came to church for the first time in 2 years! 

Been walking by her house for 5 months, stopping by, trying to catch her. Patience really pays off. Charity and Love are so important. "People won't care how much you know until they know how much you care." as my ZL liked to say. 

Anyway. I love you all. (A LOT! I miss you too!)

Have a great week!

-Sister Smith

 "Corn Bread"

Julie's bread-shop labeled this as "Corn Bread." I saw the label and got SUPER excited (I mean, Thanksgiving is coming up, and then cornbread just sounds super yummy.) but then I saw the actual bread. . . Well, I got a good laugh.

Sister Mango

Hey, look what I bought for $1.07! (And we now know why Sister Hallet calls me Sister Mango. haha)

Letter 55: Finding is FUN!

Dearest Family and Friends, 

So Sad News: Our Couple Missionaries went home. Definitely missing the Taylors. They really inspired me, and I must say, I do want to serve a couples' mission in the future! 

So Cool News: Because the Taylors have moved out, their house is EMPTY. And there are two new inhabitants thereof. The Zone Leaders! So Elder Walmer and Elder Krueger will be joining us in the Branch. 

And since they're here, they needed somewhere to work. So we gave them half of our area, and we took part of the other sister's area. (mostly, the city part of this very small town place) which means we have lots of new houses to visit, and people to share the gospel with! 

Splits with Elder Del Mundo

Our Traveling Assistants came and worked with us. Pretty much got scolded for going into the bukid everyday (not that we had a choice before. just saying) and were told to stay closer to the city. Now we can be in the city. YAY for following revelation?

We had a lot of cool experiences with finding new investigators. One woman, Alma, was SO SO prepared. Definitely a Referral from Heavenly Father. :) We walked down a street, and got rejected a lot. And when we came to the intersection, we were like, "alright. Do we just go right and try somewhere else or do we keep going forward?" The member with us told us she thought we could try a few more houses down the road. Found Alma, Painting her nails :) we joked with her, found out she took the lessons about a year and a half ago or so. Lost her house in that massive typhoon, and then lost contact with the missionaries. Used a deep Ilonggo word I didn't understand that I later learned meant "Immersion." She was totally supposed to get baptized, but just lost contact with the church and everything. We pulled out the Restoration Pamphlet and Sister Glori told her that we had the same message to share that she'd heard before, and she just broke out into tears! 

She then committed herself to get work off on Sunday and Come to Church.

We were an answer to her prayers, and she was an answer to ours. :) Heavenly Father is such a great Dad, isn't he? :)  

Got a cold on Friday. Stayed home on Saturday and slept. (did the cool 1 Missionary and a Member in Each area, and Sister Quent and I stayed home) Coughed through Sunday. (took Cough medicine. I promise) 

to Quote Sister Scicluna, "Sister Smith, does your body know what an immune system is?"

But I'm ok now :) as always. 

The Church is true!

I love you all, 
Sister Smith

ps. Sister Quent and Sister Scicluna found the POST OFFICE. I can send mail again. YAY! 

pps. Sorry. No pictures. I'm convinced this computerhan has viruses. the connection is better. . . but I'm gonna have to go back to the old shop. 

ppps. Woah, did everyone just decide to get engaged an married last week? That's the news I got from everyone! How crazy! (Congrats to everyone :D)

Letter 54: Hellos are Fun!

Dearest Family and Friends, 

Say Hello to my New Companion! Sister Glori!

Sister Glori Kag Sister Nitura

So this week was really weird. On Monday we went to an FHE in the other area (which is Bawal/Forbidden) but I had to go because we were in a trio. :) Tuesday I went out and worked with Sister Scicluna and Sister Quent. and then on Wednesday we made Sister Scicluna stay home because she's too sick to be an effective missionary. So I made a Plan of Salvation diagram thing! (I've just always used my companion's). I must say it's pretty cute. Kami ni Sister Quent did Sister Scicluna's laba (Sister Quent and I did Sister Scicluna's Laundry) while she slept. Doing your own laundry by hand is fine, but when you add even more clothes, your fingers take a beating (you basically get a rug burn.) But hey, Mosiah 3:17!

Didn't Transfer! (YAY YAY YAY) So Thursday I went up to Iloilo to get her and go to MLC (went by myself. That was WEIRD. The "Never be alone" rule doesn't apply when President just tells you to come by yourself. . .) 

She's from Cavite (Hey, that's where Dad's Cousin is! She recognized the name "President Tye"!)  And goes home the transfer before I do. She just barely got called to be an STL, and she'll be giving her first training tomorrow. (she's not very excited. Very nervous actually) Speaking of Training. . . I have NO IDEA what I'm training on tomorrow. *sigh* it was a weird MLC. 

Friday I was asked to CSP to do some brush lettering on a school wall. That was fun :)

Painting

Our District President moved to Cebu and the Second Counselor in Branch Presidency moved to Kalibo. The The Couple missionaries here will be leaving this week. :'( There will be a lot of rearranging within the next few weeks. Also, because the couple is leaving, our Zone Leaders will be moving into their house until the New Couple comes in January. Last night I made them an Area book for their Temporary area (of about 9 weeks.) It's mostly full of Less actives and Former investigators. We did rearranging on the area boundaries yesterday, and now we have more area to work in! It will be nice to have more members in the area! 

No one came to church. Try Six. We've decided on a cure for this. FASTING, PRAYER, PATIENCE, REFERRALS, and DILIGENCE. I'll let you know how it works. 

Anyway. Didn't work in my area that much because of everything that happened (haha, DL called, "Sister, What happened to our Key Indicators this week?" "Well Elder. . .") I'm gonna start working on my training for tomorrow. (still don't know what it will be. *sigh*) 

the Church is true! I love you all, 

And All is Well :)
Sister Smith 

Letter 53: Goodbyes are Never Easy

Dearest family and friends!

It's another week gone and done in the Philippines! it's crazy how time flies!

Big news: Sister Fabella went home. Sent her off in a taxi after a last breakfast at Macdo. (her favourite. and there are no Macdos on Guimaras. So it was fun taking her to one in the city before departing.)  

I really admire My lola. She really went the right way. NOT trunkie and working hard just as always.She's awesome, and I hope I'm like her in 6 months. (palangga ta ka sister! halong ka guid so imo bago nga kabuhi!) 

Returning with Honor

Hugs Goodbye

the next stage of Life. haha. 

whoops. I seem to have taken a bit too much time doing other things today. FIVE MINUTE LETTER START AND GO. 

Alright. umm... AH. New investigators are awesome! Eric and Jessa were a referal from the Elders on the end of the island. They are AMAZING. We've been teaching them for about 2 weeks and Jessa has already said yes to baptism and Eric says, "I'm catholic, but I'll support her." they are so awesome. (by the way. Eric is an ilonggo born and raised in Guam. so he's an american citizen who completely understand english (understands and speak ilonggo now too) and I probably understand more tagalog that he does!) The only problem is that they aren't marrried. . .and can't get married until Eric pays his Overstay Fee because his Visa ran out. *sigh* obstacles to come over. 

No one came to church. Is it just because I'm in this area? I can't decided. (this happened last time too.)

So I'm going to be in a Trio with Sister Quent and Sister Scicluna for the next Three days. FUN! Mostly just waiting to find out if I transfer and my area is whitewashed, or if I stay. That's life right now. 

Time's up! Sorry it's short!

I love you!
Sister Smith

In a Tricycle

Cool Tag Shot