Mother's Day Mail Pictures!

Pineapple!

First Filipino apartment (on the far left) in a very nice area!  Elder's apartment second to the right.

First companion, Sister Surio, outside first apartment.  Whatta beauty!

Kenna has issued a challenge to anyone who would like to accept it.  Figure out what these sticky bugs are?  Google bugs...?  Leave comments so we can figure this out for her -- thanks!  :D

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all the wonderful mothers I know had a great day full of food, flowers and primary kids serenading them! I love you all. I was so excited to be able to skype with my family today! It was the highlight of the 3 months I've had so far! As far as my week, it was pretty average. We're having a hard time getting people to keep their commitments so we have very few people actually progressing. It's impossible for them to gain testimonies without acting on the commitments we extend. We've been a little bit frustrated but discouragement is the opposite of hope and faith. 

I had to speak in church yesterday. It was pretty scary. It felt like a really irrelevant subject (missionary work) to speak on on Mother's Day... slightly awkward but that's what the bishop asked for. Then right before the meeting he wanted me to change my subject. It was a day full of highs and lows. The brother that we baptized on Saturday didn't come to churchSunday to be confirmed because he got the flu. However, we had another investigator come to church. Then she got in trouble with her boss for leaving the house because she's a nanny. (The boss is a less active member.) So she asked us to drop her. It was so sad because she's so prepared. Then we got excited all over again because a person we contacted on the street came to church. And then... he got offended faster than I've ever seen. He said it was because a girl he sees every day never talks to him on the street and then suddenly she talked to him at church and "she's not a good example." Talk about an emotional roller coaster. The people we taught voice lessons to attended church as well and stayed for all 3 hours! They really enjoyed church and the performance was beautiful. We sent them home with BoMs. After we sent them home, a less active invited all the missionaries over for an FHE, (high) and then we had to cancel and give impropmtu talks at a funeral for someone none of us knew (low). Crazy day. By the way, don't try making brownies in a rice cooker. Sounds good in theory but it's a bad idea. 

Sister Surio and I were asked to perform a song for a mission wide conference by President Sperry. I'm so excited! We've become the well-known dynamic duo! A member of the 70 will be there and it will be the last gathering with President Sperry as our mission president. He will be released in June. :( At least he gets to see all of his missionaries together one more time right before he goes, and the mission is once again thriving and very obedient. He did an amazing job of turning it around and making a bad situation good. He finally trusts all of us again after the bad batch. 

Our zone has started a "Biggest Loser" contest for this transfer because we're sick of being fat, haha. Seriously though, eating rice and carbohydrates on carbohydrates takes a toll on your stomach and on your health. We're gonna change our lives! It's gonna be great. Now to figure out what we're going to eat instead... 

I can't believe I've been out for 3 months now. I hope to continue hearing from people! I miss everyone like crazy. Can someone tell me what we eat in America on a daily basis? Because I really don't remember anymore. I love you! 

Sister Wilson

ETA: From a later email same evening:

AHH! Something I forgot to tell you. The missionaries in the Philippines are known as "Joes." I don't know why. But they always say "Hey Joe! Wazzup! Where ya goin! Whatcha name!" when they see American missionaries. And then again with the "You guys eat a lot of bread right?" Haha! Fun fact.

Pictures!

"Katniss, there is no District 12." LIES! I found it. ;)

After playing in the rain.

First Transfer

Well, I'm half way through my training! Crazy how time flies. I'm almost a real missionary, haha! This week has been interesting... Last P-day we found out that our neighboring house has like 3 white people living there so we're really excited to talk to them. The neighborhood we live in has a lot of English speakers and we have appointments to go and teach them soon - hallelujah! I'm so excited. 

Last week we taught Dianne, one of our investigators with a b-date and she's so excited about the gospel that she brought over MORE family members so we taught the first lesson for the 3rd time, and they also accepted a b-date. When we left their house, it started raining really really hard and we got stranded under a fishball tent. We waited for 20 minutes for the rain to stop but it didn't so we ran to a member's house. Then all the frogs came out... which was super hilarious because Sister Surio is terrified of frogs. She was squealing the whole way there. Good times. :) When we got to the member's house she insisted on feeding us dinner. Her little girl is on a "diet" so she hands her a plate of food and says, "Here, this is all you get because you are fat." On the plate it was cheese bread, noodles, rice, etc. And she kept adding to the plate and saying, "Ok, now that's all you get." It cracked us up. 

Wednesday was wonderful because we ran into the bishop and he started talking to this family. He had the elders with him and since it's not their area they couldn't go in and teach them. Once we got there, we were all invited in to share. It was an incredible lesson! The dad said he was pure (another world religion) and not looking to change. Then his countenance changed. He said when we all bore our testimonies he got goosebumps. When we handed his wife the Book of Mormon, she held it like it was gold in her hands. The next day we found out that the family was a referral from bishop's wife but he didn't even know, he just felt like we should talk to them. Amazing! Bishop's wife says she's been reading and the father has been talking about changing religions. 

It was a sad week for families. One of our less active families has split up. The mom and dad were never actually married, as is common in the Philippines, so it's easier for them to just pack up and go. We were also teaching a 16 and 11 year old who were brothers. The older one moved to Cebu and the younger one moved to Cavite. They have different dads so they had to separate. They never made it to baptism. They were progressing hugely for a while but then it died. We were pretty heartbroken. 

So Sister Surio and I had a lice scare this week. Haha! She has a lice come and she thought she had lice eggs in her hair. We bought lice shampoo really dang fast and got rid of it... not sure if she actually had lice but with all the kids we see every day it's totally possible. The same day we had another service project, street sweeping (which is desperately needed) and then we had to run home to change for a wedding for our ward member. After that we had to run to our chapel to teach our music class. They're gonna be singing in sacrament this weekend, the same meeting I have to speak in (yikes!!). After the class, Sister Surio and I lingered for a few minutes to talk to a ward member who is a surgeon. He talked about his life as a doctor because she and I are both studying the body in school. It was amazing. We learned so much. Then we had an FHE in the elder's area with a less active. It was a crazy day. 

Kind of a random week but I'm learning a ton and growing every day. I'm so sad to see my friends go with this transfer. I don't like transfers... two of our sisters were pulled out. I guess that's all this time. I love you! Yes, you! ;)

Love,

Sister Wilson