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

Meetings and Miracles

May 22, 2013

So last friday was our meeting with the area presidency! It was kinda scary at first but ended up being really fun! They were all so nice and had cookies and mints out for us to eat. They basically asked us a ton of questions about the mission, the work ethic, and why everyone is less active and our finding is down. We came to the conclusion that since the mission changed to less active focus that's all missionaries have been doing because it's a lot easier to go to a less actives house than it is to try and meet someone new and introduce the church to them when they don't know anything about it. And now all the new missionaries have no idea how to go up and talk to people and it's scary so they don't do it. And everyone is less active mostly because the members aren't doing their part. Home teaching is the number one weakness of the philippines and the hand off of the investigators from the missionaries to the ward is just not working. So we gave some ideas and had a big discussion and then they said they're going to present those things to the 12! crazy huh? I didn't say my suggestion about the 6 week thing because I think the problem is more in the ward and not so much how many times the investigator comes to church. Sister Walker suggested that the stake presidents start being accountable for recent converts and reporting their progress to the area presidency that way they will care more. Genius! and they loved it. So we'll see what happens. 

Anyway, DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA. That's all we ever talk about! Seriously. We have this one companionship that is especially having a hard time and they keep texting us and calling us and asking for our help. We already went on exchanges with them, but i guess now the real problems are coming out. Of course its all a lack of communication and love but we gave them some advice and she texted us saying they are working on it. Their zone leaders called and were like, "help! we don't know how to deal with all this girl stuff!" hahaha. and then another sister called us last night cause she just wanted to talk. Our roommate, sister erasmo up and decided she was done and went home today. She's been in the mission 2 months. But no matter what we said or how we encouraged her, she made up her mind! her companion totally suffered for it cause they didn't work for 5 days and when they did work she refused to teach. That sucks. But now she's gone and her companion sister millamina is our companion-so we are a trisome! and i'm not sure how that's gonna be. But sister millamina is super duper nice and going home next transfer so way experienced. Hopefully it will just be tons of fun!

Anyway, we went on exchanges in my old area in malanday and it was really fun to see all the people that i love there! They were having a primary activity at the church and when we walked by everyone came rushing out to give us hugs and asked us a million questions. They were all like, "ARE YOU BACK??!!" hahaha so excited. So that was super fun! i miss all of them and that whole area so much! In another exchange I was paired up with sister porter from Utah and she's only 3 weeks in the mission. We had an amazing day and a really cool miracle happen!! She's totally struggling with tagalog of course but i found out that she's not teaching any part of the lesson, only saying her testimony! So i really pushed her and we practiced teaching and some things she could say and she loved it! She stuttered and spoke really really slow, but at the end of the day, she was like, missionary work is actually fun now that i get to be a part of it! It was so cute.

So this was the miracle-we were walking in this neighborhood pretty late, it was like eight o clock at night and really dark and we were looking for this house that they had tracted the other day. As we're walking this little girl walks by and gives us this big smile like she knows us. I was like, "is she a member or do you know her?" and sister porter was like "no i've never seen her before" and then we just kept going and we found the house but they weren't home. So since we still had some time left we stopped and oym'ed this lady just standing in the street and that same little girl walks by and stops and just watches us. Then she leaves to buy something and on her way back stops and is like waiting for us. so i started talking to her and asked her where her house was and if we could share, cause i was like there has to be a reason why she keeps coming back and back. So she said we could share but they didn't have any light or candles in their house. So i was like, "that's ok we have a flashlight on our cell phone" i found out later that sister porter was really scared and thinking, what is sister garcia doing? It's so late and dark" but for some reason i wasn't scared at all! and so we go to her house and her older sister answers the door out of the pitch black all mean looking and smoking a cigarette and goes, "what do you want?" so i just now start to be like, "oh crap what are we doing here" and then suddenly her whole countenance changes. she drops the cigarette and smiles and goes, "Mormons?? come in!"

Turns out she was taught 5 years ago and the missionaries just up and left all of a sudden. She has a book of mormon and has gone to church 2 times before! She was so excited to listen to us and wouldn't take her eyes off us the whole lesson. It was like she was hungry for the gospel. In the middle of the lesson I asked the little girl if she had come up to us cause she remembered being taught by the missionaries before and she said, "no i don't remember that". crazy huh? Afterwards me and sister porter were like, that little girl had to have been led by the spirit cause if she hadn't kept coming up to us, even though she had nothing to say,  we never would have talked to her. and i'm glad i didn't feel scared cause we were able to find her and her whole family who are so excited to be taught again. That's definitely the greatest feeling ever when you can look back and see how the Lord worked through you and others to find someone special. And it was so great to feel like I really helped sister porter and made a little bit of a difference for her mission. I think it was nice for her to get some perspective on things since i can totally relate with how hard the first couple months are.

Anyway, my overall point is there is nothing i love more than feeling like I'm being effective. And nothing I hate more than feeling ineffective. But anyway, the package thing sounds awesome! i'm not in malolos anymore though, I'm in Montania, Montalban. and the work in OUR area is also progressing and very exciting! We planned a huge open house chapel tour for next month and our branch president couldn't be more excited about it. I can't wait-i really think a lot of people will come. We are handing out invitations left and right. 

Anyway, i am super busy and tired, but not stressed. I feel like I'm fulfilling everything that the Lord wants me to do to the best of my ability and in the process, slowly growing and learning a lot. The other day sister millamina walked in the room while I was praying out loud in me and sister walker's companionship prayer and afterward she's like, "sister garcia, i seriously thought a filipina was praying and i was shocked when i saw it was you" I was so happy! I've been wanting to hear that my whole mission cause usually people tell me my tagalog is good but i still sound like a foreigner. I tried to be humble about it but the truth is i'm really proud of myself. and grateful for the gift of tongues :).

I love this work and I love life. I don't want the mission to end but I can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for me! I love you guys so much and can't wait for next pday to hear from ya'll again!!

                    Love, Age 

Adrienne is an AP!

April 29, 2013

Hey Mom!

So here is the news!! I went to transfer meeting and the rumors were flying like crazy. Everyone was like, why are you here? your a trainer and trainers don't go to transfer meeting in the middle of their training. And then I saw sister walker with her trainee and we talked and we were both like, oh man, what's going to happen? I really didn't want to split up with sister Baile, but I had a feeling we would. So then transfers started and me and Sister Jones got to catch up before that which was SUPER fun! She's a trainer now for an american sister yay! so anyway they did the transfers and they call sister walker and then the ap goes, "and her new companion is sister Garcia." so i hugged sister baile and then I went over and hugged sister walker and we sat by each other and the ap continues, "so they are our new Sister Trainer Leaders which means they are AP/Zone leader/district leader for the sisters and will be going on 2 exchanges per week with each sister companionship". oh my.

So ya, me and sister walker are the new traveling sisters and the first at that because our mission is finally getting a lot of sisters. It is kinda overwhelming. and you should have seen the reaction of all the elders. we walk into the mail room and they're all like, " oh make way for the aps!" "look at the Sister AP's" and then later we asked the zone leaders if we could go to macdonald's  and he was like, "do what you want, you're an AP, i can't give you permission, i'm under you" haha we got such a hard time from them but I just laughed about it.

So I don't really feel qualified to go to every area and train sisters twice a week, but at the same time I'm really excited to get to know all of them better and just do what I can. I think it'll be an awesome experience and I feel grateful that President Sperry trusts us this much. We unfortunately don't have a car so we're going to have to commute to every area and be waking up super early in the morning and then spending the night in the other areas, cause they have to be 24 hours. we are just going to go on splits probs cause exchanges is too hard without a car. sister walker is super stressed and not sleeping at night, but i think it will be a fun experience! of course we're going to sister jones' area first! :)

Anyway, that's the big news. we still have our own area here in Montalban. The most gorgeous area in the entire mission. We're surrounded by mountains and it's cool! still hot, but much cooler than malolos. and it's started to rain almost every day which is so nice! it is definitely province and there are palm trees everywhere. so fun! the people and the branch is also SO nice! the branch president already met with us and he's 28. he's really supportive and excited about missionary work and he said the branch is close to becoming a ward. I introduced myself and bore my testimony and everyone was so sweet and coming up to me afterwards. I think I'm really going to love it here! we are a little short on investigators but i think it has a lot of potential.

Working with sister walker has been an adjustment for both of us because we are both used to being the trainer/senior and we are both far into the missions. it's nice because i don't have to explain every little thing to her, but its also weird because we teach differently and have different stlyes/ideas. but we are adjusting and helping each other out. sister walker's confidence is seriously lacking, even though she's good, so i just feel like i have to constantly encourage her and tell her she's doing good. 

But we really have to be unified and on the same page because otherwise the other sisters will notice it. and I want to be a really good example for them and really help them out. I'm not sure exactly what we're looking for when we go on exchanges with them, but I think we are just going to try to help them with whatever they need, aka DRAMA. but i told sis. walker we should do something fun/creative for them like buy them matching headbands or something cheesy just so they know we love them. Man, i sound like a RS president.

So sister baile is in novaliches and companions with the trainee of sister walker and another sister that's a lil older in the mission-so they are a trisome. i saw her at temple tour and she seemed really happy-i knew she would cause she's so positive, i miss her though. 

I've really learned out here to be more Christlike and it's the best feeling. I know that the Lord is in this work and helping me everyday. Sometimes we underestimate ourselves, but he's always there to remind us of our potential. I think we just need to rely on Him and give Him the credit when we improve. Even though I'm proud of how far I've come on my mission, I know that I couldn't have done anything without Him. my weaknesses have turned into strengths through the courage and love he's given me when I was feeling scared or apathetic. He loves us and hears our prayers. I love you!!! 

Love, Age

Transfer Day is Coming Up!

Email is my favorite part of pday!! I read all the emails first, and then I try to reply to all of them. So Mother's Day I can call all of ya'll! yay! But I will call you and skype with you first and then Elena and Natalie. so yes, that will be your sunday and my monday i'm pretty sure. we'll figure it out as it gets closer. I can't wait to talk to you though!  This weekend was great cause it was conference! and Sister Baile's birthday! she's 26 now and we had so much fun celebrating. I made lunch-your polynesian chicken recipe- and the other sisters made a mango float-amazing! and then we sang to her and us and the elders all went around and said things we liked about her. She was so touched and cried. so cute.

Conference was awesome and I loved Elder Perry's talk the best. So bold! they all seemed to be about obedience and family huh? I am so proud of ya'll for doing family history work! that is so awesome! i really want to get more into that when I get home. 

I can't believe how fast this transfer has gone by, transfer day is next week! and sister nobleza is going home :( i'm going to miss her SOO much! She's so fun. But i'm excited for this next transfer. One of the AP's called me randomly last night and told me that President Sperry chose me to be one of the representatives of our whole mission at a council with the area presidency of the whole Philippines. And I have to be ready to talk about and answer their questions about Finding. i'm so nervous. And finding people is one of my weaknesses! AH! The Ap was like, "ya...so start studying." oh man. So that's may 17th and who knows what's going to happen, I'm still not really sure. But I'm thinking we're maybe having a mission tour or something.

So we have a baptism this saturday! Brother Alberto who has been investigating for almost 3 years now. He's the guy that sells Balut at night and has 9 kids. I'm really excited for him because he's wanted this for a long time. He's living the gospel and has changed so much because of it. I am just disappointed because our ward leaders are pretty judgemental and not excited about this baptism.  Ugh...this ward is tough! But I'm learning patience and compromise and a lot of trust in the Lord.  Anyway, I love you so much have a great week !!!

Love, Age