No Electricity But Still Having Fun

Hey!

So our electricity has been out for two days now! it's hard cause we can't cook or use our electric fans so it's been really hot and dark! But we got some candles and have been doing it 1800's style (they didn't have electricity back then right? i forgot everything) and last night sister oliphant was walking up the stairs holding a candle and was like, "i feel like belle right now from beauty and the beast." lol and then sister millamina shined our flashlight on our chandelier thingy and it made our whole house look like a disco room. So we had a dance party where i was the one dancing. because sister oliphant was the singer, sister millamina was the lights and sister walker was the audience (she didn't wanna dance!) of course i loved the attention and we were all laughing and having so much fun. All the branch members feel sorry for us for having no electricity but it hasn't been too bad! it's getting fixed right now though so that's good!

Anyway, we went on exchanges with the sisters in pangarap and there are 3 americans and 1 filipina. two of the americans are trainees and brand new! so that was fun! plus i got to see sister jones again which we always have a blast. i went with the trainees and i felt like i had really made a difference for them which made me so happy. sister miner

said that i had changed her whole perspective on missionary work and in the middle of our day together she was like, "are missions fun?"  I feel so bad for her because she's struggling so much and her trainer is filipina and they have a lot of language barriers but at the same time i can totally relate because i've been there!

I told her that she's lucky cause there are two other americans in the house who understand her. my first area was me and 3 filipinas! haha, But then sister chamberlain (sister jone's trainee) and i worked together and i found out her language study was not effective at all...she's been here for 7 weeks and still struggling making sentences so we went over that and then had SUCH a great day finding people and teaching. I have so much fun on exchanges because for some reason everything works out. we find, we teach effectively, and miracles ALWAYS happen! i don't know why it doesn't happen in our own area, but it always happens on exchanges and I love it. I think that the exchanges have been like a breath of fresh air. I love working with these new missionaries who are just so excited to be out here and it makes me feel like i can do anything and everything and there's no limit! Sometimes working with my companion can be really stressful and sometimes i really wish i could work alone or have a junior companion again. So ya, that's my struggle right now, but we're working things out and both trying to be more humble and focus on the people and trying to be more positive.

I have no idea how long i'll be the sister trainer leader but i'm guessing till the end of my mission...we'll see. i really like it, it's just hard for our area because we are gone two days out of the week. sister millamina went to the MRC to get her x ray today and i told her to pick up my package from Rudy and she was like, "ok no problem!" so hopefully it's still there!

Anyway, i want to hear all about your business and how much fun ya'll are having! send me some pics too if you get the chance! i miss ya'll!

Love, Age

Sharing her "talents"

June 10, 2013

           Thanks for the email, it was so good to hear from ya'll once again! Ya, it might be a while till I get that package cause the MTC is by the temple and I'm not sure when we're going there next, probably in
July. So we'll see, I really want to get it!  Thanks for checking up on that for me and everything!        It's only hard not to get trunky cause i live with two sisters that are so close to ending their missions. Sister Millamina is counting down the days and i swear every personal study just happens to be about eternal marriage or parenting. hahaha. we always end up talking about it and it's not good. but we are still working really hard and being really obedient so we're not really that trunky. The family that we're teaching is still doing great. They're supposed to get baptized on July 8 but they didn't go to church on Sunday even though they said they would. :( but everytime we teach them they listen so well and just get it. Yesterday we taught these people lesson one and they refused to pray about Joseph Smith saying that it wasn't right to ask God who was right and who wasn't because we should just respect other people's beliefs and stuff. We were like, ya, but if God knows everything and will answer your prayer, why NOT ask him? It was so frustrating cause i felt like we explained everything so clearly and they were still like, why do we need to believe in just one church? anyway, I guess they just aren't ready yet. They seemed like they really didn't want us to come back. :( All the Book of Mormons we give out are in Tagalog and the pamphlets too. Most people know some conversational english, but not like the deep religious language. so we hardly ever use english when we talk to people. The plan with my clothes...hmmm i will leave most of them here honestly. You would be embarrassed to see some of the things I wear because they are all faded with holes and pen stains, etc. Not good. But there might be a couple things that I'll bring home and everything is cheaper here so I'm planning on maybe buying a few cute things here before I come home...it's just hard to find my size. lol. souvenirs...well i have an earring addiction. i have bought earrings in every area and a lot of really cool ones that I can't wear here cause they're too dangly. but i'm excited to wear them when I get home. There aren't a ton of fun things besides earrings that I would actually use when I get home...but it's nice to have an american companion cause I don't feel bad spending money on stuff other than groceries. are there any kind of souvenirs that you guys want? Anyway, everything else is going great. we are doing a little workshop on tuesday for our whole zone about multi-tasking which I'm really excited about. I think everyone could be so much more efficient and effective if they just knew how to multi-task better! Relief society was so funny yesterday cause it was about marriage and all the women were like standing up and commenting and it was getting really heated. They're all dropping their husbands names and stuff and this one lady was like, "I get so bored with my husband cause I start fights with him and he doesn't say anything back! I want a good fight! He just starts kneeling down and praying and then I'm left with all the guilt. I feel like a horrible person!" ahahaha! it was so funny and all the women were standing up and saying what they thought and I was cracking up! I realized how much I love these people and how I've just come to love their culture and language. They are so much fun and so passionate.      Another funny story is that every Sat we have dinner at the Patriarch's home and if there is a new person they make them do a talent. So back 7 weeks ago when it was my first time I flared my nostrils and they loved it. But this last week sister oliphant was new and it somehow turned into a whole talent show. so everyone was going around and sister oliphant twisted her tongue and sister walker did a basketball trick and debbie did some really good acting and sistermillamina sang and i was like oh man..what am i going to do? so sister walker's like "you're a really good belly dancer!" cause we had just been joking around the other night about dancing and I was practicing and so of course everyone is like, "ya! belly dance!" oh man i was so red and I had to do it cause they wouldn't stop teasing me so as soon as i stood up patriarch walks into the room. So ya. I belly danced. in front of a patriarch and his family. i probably should've been struck by lightning huh? lol so embarrassing and i was blushing, but you know me. crowd pleaser...anyway, it's been a great week and I have a feeling this transfer's going to be a great one. I miss you all so much and love you!                                                                                                                                                                                               Love, Age

Getting "trunky"?

June 4, 2013

So I got my first "trunky letter". that's what they call it here when you are close to going home cause they send you letters about your flight plans. I'll be coming home October 9 and flying into the Austin airport most likely. Crazy huh? I can't believe it's only 4 months. It makes me both happy and sad to think about it. It's scary to think about what's going to happen after the mission and how I'll never be a full time missionary in the philippines again. But it's also super happy to think about seeing ya'll and hanging out with ya'll and going back to normal life again. I know I'll probably face a lot of trials but at least I'm a little more ready for them because of all the things I've learned here and still have to learn.

So the drama with the other missionaries has settled down, haven't heard anything lately. We did exchanges in Novaliches and I got to see Sister Baile again. She gave me a huge hug and then goes, "AW I missed your voice so much!" hehe, she's so sweet! She wrote me this cute note about how she learned so much from me and wants to apply it with her trainee. Ya. She's already a trainer! She just finished her training. It's happening more and more in the mission because so many sisters are coming in, so the new ones are having to be trainers right off the bat! They called Sister Winger (my mtc companion) and Sister Nunez to be the two other sister trainer leaders so now the mission is split up into two areas and we will do exchanges in the west route and they will be in the east. So that will make it a little easier for me and Sister Walker.

Things in our area are going really good. Transfer day is tomorrow but we aren't transferring. Sister Millamina won't be part of our companionship anymore. She is getting a new companion tomorrow, who is

American! yay! Sister millamina was like, oh great me and three americans in one house. haha but she will love it. I'm excited.

The work here is going great! We have a chapel tour coming up that our whole branch is really excited about and hopefully a lot of people will come. We had three investigators come to church on Sunday!! And I

couldn't believe my eyes because the fellowshipping was incredible. The entire branch came up and talked to them and the young women took the daughter to their class and they were exchanging numbers by the end of church. Usually I have to BEG people to just say hi to my investigators at church, but this branch is different and our investigators said they had such a great time and would continue coming to church. Last night we extended a baptismal date and they said yes. July 8 they are supposed to get baptized! I'm so excited. There is a mom and she has 5 kids. A while back we oym'ed one of her kids and then started teaching just the mom. But little by little we've taught the kids too and last night they were all really excited and ran to get their books of mormon. :) The dad died two years ago but last night we taught the plan of salvation and how they can be with their dad again and we talked about the temple and they were all just so intent on what we were saying and the oldest daughter especially cannot wait to get baptized. It's a golden family. I can't believe it.

Then we had another miracle happen yesterday when we were looking for a referral. Turns out the guy's oldest sister is a member but lives far away and they are subscribed to the Liahona and read it sometimes but don't really know much about the church. We started teaching them last night and they had so many questions! The one guy was like I don't think any religion is right cause they all fight with each other and God wouldn't want that. So I just pray to God and repent when I mess up. They have SO many questions and I think they are so ready for the gospel. They said we could come back on Sunday so I'm really excited for that.

Sister Walker and I seem to finally be working well together. At first it was rough and especially because we were going on exchanges and didn't spend a ton of time in our area or together. and then when we actually were in our area people weren't progressing and sister walker wanted to spend 4 hours in the house studying when i just wanted to go out and get work done. But this week I've really tried to be more patient and just study with her because I know Sister Walker really wants to. So our time outside has been cut very short but at the same time I think we are experiencing these blessings and miracles because of our obedience and because of our fast last sunday to find more investigators. I don't feel effective sitting inside studying all day but at the same time I realized that if I don't do that, yes we'll be outside longer, but our time won't be as effective because we're not doing everything we can to be ready. Our lessons were more powerful, and our investigators much more interested and ready. I guess I just needed to learn patience and humility for the 31059840590457984th time.

Well, let me know everything that is going on with ya'll! I miss you so much and am totally feeling the love!!!

Love, Age