Most Recent Letter

Hey Mom!


Thanks for the email! I can't believe its already been a week either, time is going by way fast! it's almost August!! thanks for answering all my questions and more. i'm floored by how successful your bakery is doing, you are so awesome! Sister Drio says she'll come work at your bakery if you want because she used to work at a bakery. hahaha, everyone thinks its so cool when i tell them my mom has a bakery :) i miss your cooking SOOOO MUCH! when i come home i'm just going to eat everything in sight and die. ok? ok. oh man i can't believe elena is so close to having her baby and i agree, an induction is probably better than completely natural! she's lucky in a way. wow i knew this day would come, but i can't believe it's actually like tomorrow or something! glad to hear you're still garage saleing! Your emails always make me laugh.

Yeah, laundry takes forever! The most frustrating thing is that sometimes it rains and the wind is really strong and my clean clothes fall on the dirty ground and i have to wash them all over again. I haven't received the other package yet, but maybe tomorrow. I'm planning on going to the store today and getting those ingredients to make some of the recipes you sent me. I can't wait! My roommates always act really nervous when i cook like they think i have no clue what i'm doing. When it comes to philipino food, that's usually true. but they have no idea that i used to cook ALL the time in college and when it comes to following a recipe i'm a pro! :) hahaha,. that's the problem, they all cook without recipes and i have no clue how to do that! 
You are so lucky you get to go to Oklahoma and see Nat! She said that Maddie says my name and knows that I'm on a mission in the philippines. That's so cute! 

I know I'm supposed to be here but its weird how time just goes on and things change while you're gone. Transfer day is August 9th! So i might be getting a new companion and a new area or everything could stay the same, no idea yet. But i'm excited to find out. Tagalog is getting a bit easier every day and i'm still studying it a lot but i don't feel so nervous when i speak anymore or like i have to think super hard about what i'm going to say. i know that the spirit is helping me a lot. thank you for all your prayers. 
The most exciting part of missionary work is when we find people that are ready to hear the gospel. or when someone you've been teaching forever FINALLY comes to sacrament meeting. but the most disappointing part is when they don't progress or we never follow up. a lot of times i want to go visit someone we met the other day who seemed really excited about our message but my comp. says no, they're not ready. Sometimes i want to be a trainer so i can reach my full potential as a missionary. I can see myself changing into someone who is more patient and sensitive. I'm trying not to change a lot but i can see the mission changing me. I know i still have so much further to go, especially with being more humble and submissive, but the only reason i want more power is so i can serve God better and be more effective. So i don't know if that's bad. 
I’m so grateful for the gospel and that we can repent and be better and better. i miss ya'll so much and love hearing from you! keep telling me everything!!


Love,

Age

Latest Letter from the Philippines

Hey Mom!


This kid the other day told me "pangit naman ang salita mo" which means, the way you talk is really ugly. haha that pretty much made me never want to speak tagalog again but i just laughed about it and now my comp reminds me about it every day. 


I can't believe Elena is going to have a baby! i think about it all the time. Yeah it rains every day here but no flooding yet. Last night there was the LOUDEST thunder storm! It seriously sounded like someone was blowing up our building and my bones were rattling. it was crazy and scary but also kinda fun! I love the rain cause it comes down super hard and cools everything off. It’s better than the blasting heat. Usually its hot all day and then rains sometime during the day super hard for like 2 or 3 hours. 


I totally know the scared to be successful feeling as you well know! it's scary to be doing so well cause you know that a trial is probably coming or something. but just enjoy it while it lasts! cause its true, a trial probably is coming haha and you're going to wish you were back to being successful again. is that pessimisstic or what? lol that's just how i look at missionary work cause its so up and down. its kinda scary when I’m super happy and feeling proud of myself cause i feel like any minute i'm going to mess up super bad in tagalog and be back to ground zero again.


Transfer day is in 2 and a half weeks-2nd week of august i think! I'm ready for a change but my comp requested to president sperry that we stay together one more transfer cause she’s loving it. I am fine with that but i think after one more transfer I really need an American companion haha! You can ask me more questions! Sometimes I'm not sure what to write, so much goes on in a week and i forget to tell you a lot of stuff.
anyway, love you so much! 


Love, Age

Cool Mission Experiences

Hey Mom!

How are things? I think the culture here is making me tougher. I don't see how I could ever get offended again with the things people have told me to my face like it's perfectly fine haha. I just have to smile and laugh or whatever and it's all good.

Also THANK YOU for the second package! I got it two days ago and desperately needed the face lotion and LOVED the candy and pictures! I've been showing our family picture to everyone we teach and the other missionaries and they all think you are my sister because you look so young! Also i think i ate two snickers and 1 fast break and 2 butterfingers in one sitting for dinner one night. I miss candy so much and never get sweet stuff! plus we didn't have any food..haha so thank you thank you!!!

Do you think when you have time you could email me some easy recipes that involve just a few ingredients and don't need an oven? We have a stove, so anything like that.

The work here is great! We actually had some awesome miracles lately! We we just waking down the street and i smiled at this lady pushing a stroller and she said, excuse me where is your church and when is the service? so we talked to her and found out that her brother joined the church in japan and she's been wanting to be a member for a long time. she's seen us around but has been too shy until now to say anything! it was so cool! so we set up a time to meet with her. then the next day we were walking down the street and this guy yells out, hey how can i be mormon? when can i be baptized? so we talked to him and he had all these questions and we set up a time to meet with him. THEN we were walking home and there is this family in the front of our neighborhood that we always say hi to and the dad is super nice and treated us to jollibee one time at the mall. and so we were just doing the normal routine and saying, good afternoon to them when the dad comes running out of the house and says sisters! we want to know about your religion! we're neighbors and we see you all the time, but we don't know what you do! will you please come in and tell us all about it?! we kinda hesitated because it's not technically our area and then he said, just for ten or 15 minutes!? please?! so by then we were like, ok we have to! i mean he's practically begging to be taught the gospel! so we went in and taught the first lesson to him and his 19 year old nephew and it went great! he received everything so well and had a TON of questions so we are going to keep teaching him. I can't believe how blessed we have been it is just miracle after miracle. i know that God is placing the people in our path that are ready to hear the gospel. i have a real testimony that being an example and being kind is a HUGE part of missionary work. if we didn't greet everyone and smile at everyone everywhere we went they wouldn't feel comfortable coming up to us or asking us about our religion. I know the church is true and the Lord's hand is in our work. I love you so much and miss you tons! Keep praying for me to learn tagalog!

Love, Age

More Pictures from The Philippines

Adrienne sent us a few more pictures from the Philippines. It looks so green there!

 The beautiful Philippines!

Elder Christensen (district leader in the MTC), Elder Corpuz (my friend that is leaving this week!), me, and sister Drio on transfer day.