tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33551758953578711872024-03-12T17:27:38.189-07:00Kenna in Quezon City"I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy."
Alma 29:9Mekennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12172513905024616835noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-32837295282920878642015-08-06T12:54:00.000-07:002015-08-06T12:54:13.436-07:00April 7, 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Whenever someone transfers from the ward... they get egg'd and flour'd. Me and Elder Madrid were the targets and bishop joined in for fun.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">My baby girl is gonna be a momma</span></div>
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Me and Sister Strickland switched clothes and hair-do and EVERYONE noticed. XD Best last Sunday ever.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">The wedding/baptism day <333 :))) Such a great day.</span></div>
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<br />Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-26274931158299857572015-08-06T08:36:00.000-07:002015-08-06T08:36:10.296-07:00March 30, 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Nooooooooooo. I'm a grandmother (again). <div>
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I'm so proud of Sister Strickland. She's training right after we finish her training this week. But at the same time, I'm heart broken. I'm gonna miss her a ton and I'm leaving my absolute favorite area after just 2 transfers. Wherever I'm going will be my last area so I'm sort of nervous. It's ok I guess... we had a really good week.</div>
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Tuesday was zone interviews and it was a little different this time. We each had a 20 minute interview where we taught President Bertin the restoration. Then instead of having a day's worth of workshops while waiting for everyone else to finish being interviewed, we had a regular district meeting and went right out to work. We actually got picked to work with Sister Bertin so she took us out to lunch and worked with us in our area. It was a really fun day. Our investigators were a little intimidated by her presence and felt it necessary to speak all the English they could. It was really cute, she carries a very sweet spirit with her and I think the people felt it. </div>
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Our highlight was probably yesterday. Sister Strickland and I both had special fasts that our baptisms planned for the end of the week will go through and for a few other purposes. Heavenly Father really came through after that. Julie passed her baptismal interview after finishing our lessons in just 6 or 7 visits. She's got a solid testimony and her brother is coming right along behind her.<br /></div>
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That afternoon we tracted into this lady who was just as sweet as could be. She invited us in to listen and it turns out she has always wanted to listen to the missionaries because she is friends with the member next door, she was just too shy to ask about it. She said she envies their family unity in going to church together every Sunday and broke down a little bit about how she longs to have that kind of feeling in her family. So after that lesson we had a lesson with the member next door about missionary work and the atonement. We talked about how experiencing its blessings will help us have the desire to share with others so she could help the sister next door. She then shared her testimony of the atonement and how she knows it's a real thing. She recounted the experience of how her second pregnancy almost killed her, but she knew she wouldn't die because during the time her blood pressure dropped and they thought she was dying, she had a dream, or more like a vision, that her family was in the temple dressed in white being sealed. The spirit was so strong! I felt like she taught us more than we taught her. </div>
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Our last appointment though was the best and the blessings of our special fast continued. We went to the house of this man we taught one time off the street who came to church once but hasn't come since. I almost couldn't remember their house until I saw his girlfriend standing outside smiling at us. She welcomed us into this tiny little room (with room for not much else than a bed and a few chairs) in what seemed like a community house. Brother Ronilo was eating dinner with his friend. He was so embarrassed and said he didn't invite us over to teach him because of the size of his living quarters but we reassured him it couldn't matter less. He talked about how he felt filthy, unworthy, and wondered why he should believe in God or that he loves him when there is so much pain and suffering in his life. So I asked if we could start with a prayer and he was pleasantly surprised. The spirit was already strong and when the lesson started I really felt the spirit guiding us. We shared from Ether 12 about how hope comes from faith in God and becomes an anchor for us in life and how missionaries are one way that God provides to show his love for his children and help them gain faith in him. He invited us back for Thursday and on the way out, his girlfriend grabbed me by the arm and said, "Don't give up on him. In all our years together, this is the first time he's ever opened up about this." She shed a few tears and we didn't know what to say. So we waited. After a moment, she asked, "Can you come back tomorrow while he's at work? I feel like you could really help me too." And then I felt prompted to hug her and when I did, she held on tightly and cried in my arms. Heavenly Father is good and he really does love his children. I love the moments I get to be the instrument in showing God's love to them.</div>
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As President Monson said, "Heavenly Father loves you -- each of you. That love NEVER changes." I testify that that is true. </div>
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Love, </div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Fairview zone</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">While everyone else is bowling...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Batasan 2nd ward missionaries!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Some random guy off the street bought us snacks because it was hot out side and we had walked a lot. Faith in humanity restored!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Taco salad anyone?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Our friend in the ward made us our own basket of sticky rice! It's the best... we finished it by the next day</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3e4Wu7hyphenhyphen46rDHhjHZ_NJFhROzUMK6LruVRLhr3B-wtbIq8Xu-cSXwFzol-03Kvq3AtqDzdAmiBSKiQghDuL_lr1ig5BhHmK6q1HkDqkNo5Lae4Yq02PZG2l1IaeDH61B5Pp_V852tUY/s1600/IMG_2304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3e4Wu7hyphenhyphen46rDHhjHZ_NJFhROzUMK6LruVRLhr3B-wtbIq8Xu-cSXwFzol-03Kvq3AtqDzdAmiBSKiQghDuL_lr1ig5BhHmK6q1HkDqkNo5Lae4Yq02PZG2l1IaeDH61B5Pp_V852tUY/s640/IMG_2304.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;"> She's not allowed to go in our apartment so we brought the table out, heheh.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Sister Strickland's reaction to the phone call last night saying she will train</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX0XlHgApnw0iQvQA3x2gOYuy-2rgt7iuaAIVAVqfhjzbx8fVIhTHQPEOO0UxXEXX4LwZJECVDenXUeWrXMv69UmhyXlG7z0dSzMPlzJpDGcAqvNALti4wgFEmZeHgCv4XMo7v_RdBxp8/s1600/IMG_2320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX0XlHgApnw0iQvQA3x2gOYuy-2rgt7iuaAIVAVqfhjzbx8fVIhTHQPEOO0UxXEXX4LwZJECVDenXUeWrXMv69UmhyXlG7z0dSzMPlzJpDGcAqvNALti4wgFEmZeHgCv4XMo7v_RdBxp8/s640/IMG_2320.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">One of the BEST dinners I've ever had -- shrimp sinigang (sour brothy soup with okra, eggplant, different vegetables) and fried fish.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Dessert was also delicious. Ube buko pie (layers of thick sliced coconut and the purple potato-stuff spread on it.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">The 3 in the middle are Charlie, Julie and Claire. Julie, the little one (21 years old, believe it or not) is being baptized on Saturday.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Another really delicious dinner we had -- stuffed fish, lumpia shanghai, and eggplant with shrimp paste</span></div>
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<br />Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-17776593979531836582015-08-06T07:54:00.001-07:002015-08-06T08:15:56.313-07:00March 24, 2015<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">I thought the feet were cute. :)</span></td></tr>
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Here we are again!</div>
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This week was the best! I got to feed a newborn puppy, eat the smallest banana in the world, and we finally had our baptism! I'll recap it quickly:</div>
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We started out with 2 baptismal interviews, the first was Sister Yolly. Right before we went to her interview I told Sister Strickland, "Hey, you know what would be funny? If she and her husband weren't married, like what happened with Brother Carlo and Sister Shara." We laughed too quickly. As we started filling out her baptismal record with her, she told us a different last name. As luck would have it, she's not married to Brother Bernie. In fact, he's still married to someone else but they've been separated 18 years. He and Yolly have been together for 9 years and have a child together so we asked the elders what to do. We wanted to cry... It didn't make sense because Brother Bernie was baptized last year while they were living together AND was ordained to the priesthood, so now we're questioning the elders who baptized him. How was he baptized without fixing their law of chastity problem? Thankfully, we found out all they have to do is get a certificate of no marriage which is a legal document that shows he is still married and can't marry Yolly but they have been togehter for long enough that she can be baptized. Divorce here is really expensive so nobody does it. On a happier note, she has been praying and asking the Lord to make her happy in life as a way of her knowing the church is true. She received an answer alright. She just found out she's pregnant and most likely with twins. She's practically beaming now when we see her. God works in mysterious ways!</div>
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We also had an activity -- a family home evening for investigators. We taught them how to hold family home evening, how to teach their children, about the eternal family unit and gave them a church tour. We placed the baptismal service directly after so that they would be able to witness one and see how it was done. It was a huge success! We taught Julie, our investigator, right before we went to the ward FHE and her brother who we had never before met told us he wanted to come. We were excited and taught him before the activity. After we finished the lesson, he read the whole pamphlet, started the Book of Mormon and came to church the next day with his sisters. I'm SO glad we bumped into Claire one day on the street, she saying she was a member and didn't know where to go to church. The result has been the unification of she and her two siblings as they progress toward baptism. At the baptism, Bryan bore such a sweet testimony about how he knew he had been forgiven of his sins and how he would not ever be returning to them.</div>
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Milanie... we miss her. She was a week away from baptism when she got a job. Now instead of teaching her laws and ordinances we're trying to maintain her testimony. Because of her job she stopped progressing completely. She works from 9PM to 6AM and she stopped reading the scriptures and coming to church. When we went there last night she hardly smiled, just kind of stared at the ground. I don't know what she's going through in her life, but the Lord does. So Sister Strickland and I decided to go over there without any plans. We decided to teach about how the Lord takes care of us no matter what but most especially when we are obedient. We talked about how much He loves her and wants to give her what's best. We asked her to pray about what to do at the end and when we looked up, there were tears in her eyes. I knew at that moment that the Lord was confirming what we had told her was true. It was amazing. This work is the best. I love these people. I love the way that I see Heavenly Father work through me. And...</div>
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I LOVE being a missionary. Have I ever mentioned that? </div>
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Love, </div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Singing at the baptism</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Bryan the day before his baptism</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">My kuto!!! I'll always cherish and treasure this in my journal. (Lice. Actual size.)</span></div>
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I had to take a picture here, this dog reminds me of Poppy. She's spoiled and eats better food than I do. She does the same begging thing as Poppy as well. Her name is Penny, pretty close.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Feeding a newborn puppy :')) It was literally only hours old and its mother was attacking it so we had to bottle feed it. We came there intending to teach a less active but they were busy with the birthing dog, lol.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">This is the smallest banana I've ever seen, the length of my pinky finger and soooo gooood.</span></div>
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Editor's Note: I'd asked Kenna to send more pictures of all the things she wants to remember, and all the things that if she relayed the information to you, you would never believe. This is her reply:</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">The problem with taking pictures is... it's difficult for me as a foreigner because 1. it seems rude to photograph the squatter areas, 2. we aren't allowed to use cameras in proselyting, and 3. it makes me seem rich and people will want to mug me. So I don't take as much as I want to, but I have some this week you'll like!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">My companion stole this sweet shot of Ira's uncle tying up her hair before he baptized her. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">My new favorite dessert - biko!!! Coconut sticky rice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;"> Bryan's baptism, as well as Julie</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Claire and some ward missionaries who always come with us to teaching appointments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">STREET FOOD!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">In case you all were wondering... these are the sisters who added you on Facebook. :)</span></div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-12471997592769765632015-03-19T22:15:00.002-07:002015-03-19T22:38:45.188-07:00A Request from Kenna....to everyone!<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Hello! This is a shout-out to all those who love me and want me to be happy in life. Will you pleeeease take a few minutes to send me through email your MP3 files of church music so I can put it on my USB and have something to listen to in my apartment? Me and my companion are going crazy without music. It has to be an arrangement of a church hymn but it can be anything. Instrumental, vocal, I don't care. Just send it as an attachment. Thanks, love you all!</span><br />
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-69465460005375502482015-03-19T22:13:00.002-07:002015-03-19T22:35:41.469-07:00March 16, 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Maayong araw..<br />
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">This week has been really great for finding people. One of our less-active families just lost their baby to health complications which has really stirred in them the desire to attend church again. The father of the baby is not a member and was very interested when we shared our first message with him last Tuesday. Their whole family showed up at church yesterday and they got a lot of support from the ward. The relief society presidency also introduced us to a recently widowed woman with two young children. Her husband died in January and it felt so good to be able to give her comfort through a short and simple message about the plan of salvation. It broke my heart to see people grieving so much but I can feel Heavenly Father's love for them as we teach them. </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; outline: 0px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">Unfortunately, our baptism had to be pushed back because our candidate suddenly got caught up in her new job. It was really hard to see that her spark and excitement was gone when we came back yesterday because she hadn't had time to read the Book of Mormon or come to church. Overall she just seemed different. You can tell when people are reading and when they're turning their hearts towards worldly things. The discouragement is hard to handle but we taught her about fasting and how she can make a good decision with the Lord's help through this divine means. </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; outline: 0px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">I'm also grateful for the priesthood! Bryan, who will be baptized <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1443453466" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Saturday</span></span>, has been a long time investigator who has had a problem with social drinking. He was too embarrassed to decline when offered alcohol so we suggested a while back that he receive a priesthood blessing from the elders. They gave him one and ever since he's had no problems with the word of wisdom. He said he's found it helpful when he brings the Book of Mormon to work and reads it in his down time. I'm so excited for him! Anyway, that's it this week. Short on time. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black;">Lahat ng aking pagmamahal,<br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; outline: 0px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">Sister Wilson</span></span></div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-36881489142193660992015-03-19T21:13:00.002-07:002015-03-19T21:21:36.778-07:0001/26/2015<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">I like this picture because inside the tricycle, we noticed that little sign down at the bottom... it means, "Strive to observe... Not allowed to fart here" </span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15tzv06NgR9wvV7Vhmij6EHjIQHSxCGC7SxVEQS3eDiOhZyLCUCAiWF9sgc4lx9ddmC1RABu3r-87Jnry1Q7rEeD7Ed7fGEA6JbRqsXqLQlACeGg2FoU4lcy5EGveYdxf2AIxGxqw4HQ/s1600/Picture+005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15tzv06NgR9wvV7Vhmij6EHjIQHSxCGC7SxVEQS3eDiOhZyLCUCAiWF9sgc4lx9ddmC1RABu3r-87Jnry1Q7rEeD7Ed7fGEA6JbRqsXqLQlACeGg2FoU4lcy5EGveYdxf2AIxGxqw4HQ/s1600/Picture+005.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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She's crazy.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">This was our family home evening last night. I'm in disbelief that we fit so many people in this itty bitty living space with so few chairs. There are several people here you can't even see because they're hidden from view</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Hello,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Is everyone still alive? All is quiet on the western front... Believe it or not, I still care about the boring details of everyone's lives. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">We've had tons of success this week in our area. President Bertin has made fantastic goals for the mission this year and to help, he has made giant maps of our areas for each apartment and given us stickers to mark each member with a number according to the CMIS as well as investigators so we can see the location of our members, investigators and less actives. This will help in planning, fellowshipping and tracting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">This ward is the most hardworking and best fellowshipping ward I've ever been in. They're giving us at least 5 referrals per week so baptizing is going to be a ton easier. This week was the highest number of lessons I've ever taught in 1 week and I can see how the members really and truly make the difference. Each day we have 2 or 3 sisters working with us and friendships are forming quickly with our investigators. Along with the help of the ward, I know these great things are happening because of our commitment to be exactly obedient. We have been practicing it each day and I don't even have to think about teaching anymore, it just comes. The spirit literally drops thoughts into my brain and I finally understand the feeling of being "simply an instrument." It's a miracle and I'm amazed. President Bertin always promises us, "If you're being exactly obedient, you have the right to expect miracles." We've been teaching like mad and we've found 14 new less active members this week. I know it's inspired that we have been assigned in this ward because the sisters told us, "We've been waiting for sisters to come here so we could visit the people with the missionaries. Before, we were never allowed to work with missionaries because we only had elders." There is a cesspool of less active members in our farthest area who have been overlooked for the longest time. Now that we've found them we're going to work on them. A good number of them even showed up at church yesterday, and one of them has, since our lesson, begun the process of becoming worthy to be endowed. I'm so excited for her. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Pope Francis came and visited the Philippines this past week and it's really putting a cramp in our style. "I <3 Pope Francis" t-shirts and mugs and banners and his red carpet event that everyone was watching on TV has caused a revival of Catholic pride in the hearts of the people. We've had to make a special focus on priesthood and prophets in our lessons because people really don't understand how prophets are called by revelation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">My daughter ate balut from a street vendor the other night! I'm so proud of her. She did it in 2 big bites and didn't say anything about it except, "I'm sorry little bird, don't tell your mum!" Haha, she's fearless. We were walking down the street the other day and this guy has a gigantic snake wrapped around his body and he asks us if we want to hold it. She immediately held out her arms to take it and says, "Oh yeahhh, she's a beautyy!" as it hisses emphatically in our direction. It's been super fun being her comp, you don't have to worry about safety when you're always with a rugby player. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Sa aking pag-aaral sa linggo na ito, mas napansin ko kung gaano kahalaga ang pagbabayad-sala ni Jesucristo. Buhay talaga po siya at nakakita ko na kung ang mga tao ay tatanggapin ang sakripisyo niya para sa kanila, mas magiging matatag sila sa simbahan at sa pananampalataya nila. Anuman ang mga problema natin sa buhay (sa pamilya man o hindi), lahat ay pwedeng maging maayos sa pamamagitan niya. Mahal ko kayong lahat. Paki isipin po ninyo ang kahalagaan ng pagbabayad-sala sa buhay ninyo at gamitin ninyo siya. Alam ko na babasbasan niya kayo. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Sister Wilson</span></div>
Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-71483400843595882892015-03-10T19:04:00.002-07:002015-03-19T22:19:10.979-07:0003/09/2015<div class="adn ads" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 8px;">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">Nagkakaroon kami ng tagumpay! </span></span></span></div>
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The work continues to roll forward in our ward. At the start of the week we had a CSP and enjoyed being able to serve Bishop Espinoza. I really love the people I serve with. They all set really good examples and make me want to be better. For our service project we shoveled cement into bags and carried it a distance in the heat of the afternoon. Things like these usually make me become selfish because all I can think about is how hot it is and how tired I am. But this time I saw it with different eyes. Some of the other missionaries and I likened it unto taking up our cross and following the Savior. As we began the project, the by-standers were skeptical that a bunch of American white kids could take on such a task. They kept asking questions if we could really do it. Other people had different responses. Some even stopped along our path and showed concern by taking our bag of cement mix and carrying it the rest of the way for us. I watched as elders supported each other and would take two bags if one was tiring out. It reminded us missionaries of how Christ lightens our load and carries us under our load when we struggle, and how he does it for us daily. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: black; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"> I have seen that come true as I continue to adjust to changing circumstances in missionary life. W</span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">e, in turn, must do the same for others in our lives. But I know he loves us and wants to help us do this for others. We are never alone!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">Sister Strickland and I both felt a brief absence of the Holy Ghost in our teaching together so we read chapter 4 in our companion study in Preach My Gospel. We determined that our prayers were pretty weak and we've been striving to pray more fervently and specifically. The next day's teaching was immensely better. We even had a sweet older lady pull us into her house off the street wanting to "hear more of the word of God" and struggling as a single mother. You can see immediate blessings when you pray with faith! We also gained the full trust of an investigator who has been ready for baptism since last month (but is waiting for her marriage license). We knew it when she opened up to us over dinner about how her fiancee has a mental disorder and was institutionalized 3 times for suicide attempts. And when she came into his life, he was able to function normally again. Then was when he realized Heavenly Father had answered his prayer and that was when he started bringing Shara to church. Now she's being baptized and they have a goal to be sealed in the temple. We were so touched by their story and the way that our father cares for his children. </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">Sister Strickland is starting to really contribute good ideas to our lesson plans and I feel like she's not dependent on me anymore. The only thing we've struggled with this week is her taking control in lessons and not being afraid to be bold. We talked about it in companionship inventory and she's starting out small with extending firmer commitments. Other than that, she's great. She feels like my sister and we have a ton of fun together.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">Yesterday was a fantastic <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1764536452" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span>. We just barely got a less-active couple to return to church the previous <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1764536453" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> and the bishop had them give talks yesterday. They chose to speak on faith. We visited them after church and they explained to us how they were embarrassed that they kept telling us they were "not ready to return to church yet." They said that it made them think when even after they told us they didn't want to come back to church, we kept coming to their house and teaching them. We asked them how they felt after deciding to be active again and the husband said, "I came out of church just feeling happy. I don't know why. It just feels good and my worries are gone." And then his wife added, "I don't know why he was happy either, but since he was happy I was happy too. And we're so grateful you reminded us how to be happy again." This was probably one of the most joyful experiences of my mission. I felt like Heavenly Father really used me as a tool and the people responded. In addition to that, someone that we OYM'd on the street and taught a short 15 minute lesson a month ago showed up to church yesterday with his family. His wife told us that he never goes to church because he feels hopeless about life and bitter towards God for how he has ended up. But he remembered our invitation to him and the promised blessings that he would receive and he came. The wife said she has always wanted to attend a Mormon church because she has a lot of friends that are missionaries serving in Isabella. It was completely unexpected that they were there and they told us they would be back next week. And the last one we didn't expect was a teenager we had taught <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1764536454" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> night. We thought she was the daughter of a less-active. The mother wasn't home so we just taught her thinking she was also a member. She seemed completely uninterested and we didn't really think about her again. The next day, this couple I just told you about, showed up at church with her saying that she isn't actually a member of their family, she is part of a protection program. She is in hiding after being abused by her mother since childhood and raped by her step-father a year ago. I was completely shocked. They said she was happier than they've seen her before and that our visit did her good, she is just afraid of people. I know it's not a coincidence that we found and taught her.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">The promise in Preach My Gospel from the First Presidency is making more and more sense that as we do this work, greater happiness awaits than we have ever experienced. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">Sister Wilson</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">P.S. Pictured is Sister Yolly who is being baptized </span></span></span></div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-67915541248099648232015-03-10T19:03:00.001-07:002015-03-19T22:10:32.489-07:0003/02/2015<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">I'm sooo white...</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdxPEavJQH8aue7UxJD5nxF7LYLkHmb8DTl2OcEPemeMtTrp2y5PFBR6JGKaVw7hmv99elLfnoHGX6Slz4LGQVri0XAD1aKlU1K8OlSNTv3rifouL2PyhvVbCiHunjuWA0LMGM1gKiq5Y/s1600/Picture+108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdxPEavJQH8aue7UxJD5nxF7LYLkHmb8DTl2OcEPemeMtTrp2y5PFBR6JGKaVw7hmv99elLfnoHGX6Slz4LGQVri0XAD1aKlU1K8OlSNTv3rifouL2PyhvVbCiHunjuWA0LMGM1gKiq5Y/s1600/Picture+108.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZcxCXFPd2DAzdvU9SfFFCkIGkVv8-nVqg8hyphenhyphenYqdLe6VOtvlskWiP0WCBpRCL4UjKxZQwTIahmrkmhZJxI0S7SNNvbg2qdBZuMQ9Cn72wzyjkBxy1vir0N6Re4dvkW4MoQrcP3hy6q_c/s1600/Picture+109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZcxCXFPd2DAzdvU9SfFFCkIGkVv8-nVqg8hyphenhyphenYqdLe6VOtvlskWiP0WCBpRCL4UjKxZQwTIahmrkmhZJxI0S7SNNvbg2qdBZuMQ9Cn72wzyjkBxy1vir0N6Re4dvkW4MoQrcP3hy6q_c/s1600/Picture+109.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ever had soda out of a plastic bag?</td></tr>
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Ang isda ay kumakalabukab sa kanyang pinagkakalabukan. Hindi kakalabukab kung hindi pakakalabukabin. << Pretty cool tongue twister I learned this the other day about a fish.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Successful first week of the transfer!</span> All except for the fact that Heavenly Father felt like one day switching on the "SUMMER" switch... It's here, and it's sooooo hottttt. Every morning I have to read the "Diligence" section in Preach My Gospel under Christlike attributes to keep me going. The hot makes me soo lazy. Anyway...</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haircuts!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOadrvbtKVYtQ0ilcib0A7qLrRW-M3UmQwvQsWZJXGJ0NKemV2pcKiH-Z5mH-IgS14uDQqwR0aGKUZhWH-5kGqgoW3CbY_ru7jWLDay_C60uRkMJ_S7GHlXE4zX2oeCUZ9_DFa6tLxuaI/s1600/Picture+006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOadrvbtKVYtQ0ilcib0A7qLrRW-M3UmQwvQsWZJXGJ0NKemV2pcKiH-Z5mH-IgS14uDQqwR0aGKUZhWH-5kGqgoW3CbY_ru7jWLDay_C60uRkMJ_S7GHlXE4zX2oeCUZ9_DFa6tLxuaI/s1600/Picture+006.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">This is my FAVORITE bathroom yet... It's literally just putting water down a hole. 2 weeks ago, the drain started flooding sewage so we had to bring a laundry bucket into the bathroom and stand in it over the drain, and then pour the bucket into the toilet so that the spewage wouldn't come up on us as we were showering. It's thankfully fixed now, and the toilet now at least has... a seat. Woo!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">We recently got a less-active couple back out to church for the first time in years. They are part of the 15 focus families of our ward. I don't think it would have happened without the diligent fast that Sister Strickland and I had in their behalf. They were offended by someone in the ward so we've just been working on getting ward members out with us to show our love for them and it worked. They said after church yesterday that they really felt the testimonies and the spirit confirming to them that they need to come back. That was probably the greatest success of the week. Other than that we've been punted a whole lot. It's kinda hard but we're doing our best, and I can see that the Lord is still putting us where we need to be at the time we should be there. On Friday we were punted from 4 appointments in a row, but along the way we were called out by several people asking where the church was and what time the meeting starts on Sunday, they having been less-active for ages simply because they didn't know where or when church was. Also had several people come to us with questions about the church off the street. Pretty cool to see how we're placed in the right situations when we're doing what we're supposed to.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><span style="color: black;">Our baptismal candidates are all doing extremely well. We have 4 working to be baptized in the next 2-3 weeks. Their testimonies are solid, they are coming to church, no issues to work out, it's simply a matter of working lessons into their schedules. I'm so beyond excited to see these people be baptized. Each one of them have told us stories of how they have received blessings since they accepted the invitation to prepare for baptism. One of them, sister Milanie, said she was offered the opportunity to work abroad at the end of the year. Another had a similar experience. It's amazing to see how the Lord blesses these people as they seek to draw nearer to Him. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><span style="color: black;">We ate our first (and last) fried chicken head the other day. Skill, eyeballs, brain and all. Of all parts of the chicken that are available to eat, I just don't understand why the head appeals. It was ok with the vinegar you dip it in, but the bones weren't quite soft enough for my taste. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><span style="color: black;">Yeah that's it, and here's a pic of the bishop's little girl. Love you all!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><span style="color: black;">Sister Wilson</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">THIS is how you do transfer announcements!<br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Trunky service project - helping decorate the church for the ward valentine's party... and then them making us stay for it! >.<</span></td></tr>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-33494950554672619842015-03-10T19:01:00.003-07:002015-03-19T21:44:44.034-07:0002/24/2015<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjieO-WfeD0YuNnn8_WbnZIwlyJKSlFm8DqdRtqG-H67lsfOgginf_vEUIHEtdtBlpiXBHs_-RElmynXDdajSvxDJpsOBSTtG9kauBMwSAVlmNDGTEn0iwY6zr8B9ScY2T2p5QsDrwELv8/s1600/Picture+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjieO-WfeD0YuNnn8_WbnZIwlyJKSlFm8DqdRtqG-H67lsfOgginf_vEUIHEtdtBlpiXBHs_-RElmynXDdajSvxDJpsOBSTtG9kauBMwSAVlmNDGTEn0iwY6zr8B9ScY2T2p5QsDrwELv8/s1600/Picture+004.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">This was taken from the same balcony. It's stunning at night. You can see everything!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">This is the most recent pic of me after district meeting yesterday... I had 2 inches cut off my hair after I got rid of my lice because the shampoo killed the ends of my hair. :'(<br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">If you can see on the left over that hill, that's Manila in the distance where the MTC and the temple is. Probably where they shot the Amazing Race</span></td></tr>
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Anong araw ba ito? P-day ulit?<br />
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Parang nandito ako kahapon lang. Ang bilis ng panahon. Well it's been another wonderful week in the rolling (cement) hills of Batasan! We're loving the enthusiasm that the ward continues to show for the work. We had two really great events that had amazing results this past week. The first one was a one-day mission where the ward split up into groups and each group took a missionary. Every group went around and visited 4 or 5 of the focus families and some investigators and invited them to the missionary fireside and shared a short message. The reaction to the ward members was honestly a lot better than their reaction when we come and visit them. The average sacrament attendance almost broke the record the next day. We nearly couldn't fit everyone in the investigator class. </div>
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That Sunday we held a missionary fireside. Sister Strickland and I were assigned by bishop to give the main event of the fireside, and President Bertin was in attendance (which means I went pure Tagalog in the workshop, hehe). We discussed the use among members of Preach My Gospel. The elders talked about the work of salvation videos and the ward missionaries gave fellowshipping workshops. It was an enormous success! The bishop afterward distributed a free copy of the manual to each member in attendance.</div>
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The ward is also doing incredibly with referrals. We received one last week of the neighbor of a sister in our ward. The referral given to us is undoubtedly prepared. In our first lesson, she explained to us that she had given birth to 16 children in the course of her life, and 8 of them died in their younger years while they lived in the province. The 8 living children and she live in a 10 x 10 room and there's hardly room to sit when we teach them but she's so patient and grateful for what she does have. She also just became a widow last year and moved here to Manila because it's cheaper to make a living. She was more than eager to hear the plan of salvation and came to church with us on Sunday. As we sat in sacrament meeting, I could just see the peace come over her in her face. She's on date for baptism in March. </div>
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I LOVE THIS CHURCH. It is true. The Savior is the head and this is his work! I apologize for the lack of pictures. Since I transferred here we've found that none of the internet shops will upload photos or they will only upload 1 or 2 the entire 2 hours. We'll look for another place. I'm also sorry if people don't get responses or answers to their questions. Please forgive me! The internet is so... slow. You have no idea. I still love you regardless. :) </div>
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Love,</div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
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P.S. THANK YOU ALL for keeping my Post Card Wall of Fame alive and well! </div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-50005888526885424442015-03-10T19:00:00.002-07:002015-03-19T22:40:28.689-07:0002/16/15<div class="adn ads" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 8px;">
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Every dang day is an adventure out here...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">I'll start out with the spiritual side of things. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">The other day I was trying to figure out how to become a better gospel teacher because I've felt my skills slipping a little bit. So I read in Preach My Gospel in one of the study and application sections. It asked the question, "How well are you doing in fulfilling your responsibility to love and serve those among whom you labor?" And it had a scripture next to it: 1 Thessalonians 2:8-9, 20 Which is the apostle Paul describing the joy of missionary work, "So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us... for ye were our glory and joy." I really thought about how I could impart of my soul to our investigators and how to show to them and to God that they are our joy and glory. I then proceeded to write down the names of the top 5 we have who need the most help and I'm praying about each of their names specifically and what we can do to help them. Now, me and my companion are making a plan to do these things to help them. I really feel more guided by the spirit and I feel like I received a direct answer to my prayer. We are now making very specific plans for each person we teach and the spirit is much stronger when we do. It brought the Holy Ghost back to our teaching. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">I can feel his influence stronger as well. For example, last night we were about to head home when a name was dropped inside my head I hadn't thought about for a month. We went and visited this brother immediately and found that he's not only trying to read the Book of Mormon, he's living the word of wisdom for the first time of his own free will and he expressed the desire to be baptized. He explained that he feels clarity for the first time in his life. And to make it even better, we figured out that his real concern was not having a fellowshipper. And it just so happens that that night when he was put into our thoughts, we had a brother his same age working with us who is more than ready to be friends with him. So cool! </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;"><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">On Valentine's Day, I hit my 1 year mark. Holy ANTI-TRUNKY feelings! I was reading my journal entry from my setting apart and I can see how every gift that was given to me by the stake president has been fulfilled or is currently being fulfilled. I'm so grateful for the priesthood and the spiritual gifts I was given because of it. It grows my faith that Heavenly Father remembers and fulfills his promises when we are faithful.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">So last Tuesday afternoon as we were waiting for our worker to come meet up with us, I noticed a crazy man walking down the street babbling gibberish to himself. I didn't think much of it except, "Woah. He's crazy." Then I noticed him again about 30 seconds later standing a safe distance from us. We took a few steps to see what he was up to and he followed each step we took. I started walking in circles and he even followed that. So we went in the gas station to get away and he waited outside, sucking on the rosary cross in his mouth and having a full-on conversation with himself. When our worker showed up, she had the security guard escort us into a tricycle and when we got in, this crazy man went in a full-on sprint to chase the tricycle. We finally got away and about 10 minutes later he shows up again (no idea how he caught up so soon) and then just walks away never to be seen again, staring at us as he goes. I think he was possessed or something. We were, at the time, OYMing a guy who started conversation with us about church and religion. He told us he would be glad to have a discussion with us so we went into his house. I thought he meant that he wanted to share with us, but no... he had different plans. He walked out with a briefcase that had all kinds of locks on it and pulls out a large book. He hands it to us and it's just full of numbers, or "codes." Then when we look up again he's wearing a purple and yellow cloak with the same codes on it. He goes on to explain that it was "the language of God" that one cannot understand without writing their own "book of codes." God gave him the name "Excavius" and he goes and does demonstrations in the Muslim area of the country. My poor companion, having little Tagalog in her, had no idea what was going on and I was trying to push us out before we got initiated or had to be killed for knowing too much or something, haha. I couldn't bear to stay any longer without losing it so I told him we also have a book that doesn't require any codes and tells us how to live in peace. I gave him a Book of Mormon and then we high tailed it out of there and about busted a gut laughing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">Heavenly Father really likes to keep my mission interesting. Mabuti n'lang. Love you all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">Sister Wilson</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">P.S. Please enjoy this picture of an itty bitty frog I caught last week. It took half an hour to upload so you'd better enjoy it cuz it's all you're getting.</span></span></div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-78399196634900904242015-03-10T18:59:00.002-07:002015-03-19T22:41:59.783-07:0002/09/2015<div class="adn ads" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 8px;">
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Hi everyone! </div>
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We just came from our epic p-day adventure straight to the computer shop for emails... so my brain is a little bit fried. We went to Wawa Dam today! (Pardon my French.) It's in the Montalban zone here in our mission, about an hour drive from our area, and it ranks in the top 5 most beautiful places I've ever seen! We packed the 22 missionaries of our zone into one jeep, hiked up a mountain and ate lunch on floating bamboo huts near the waterfall and played games. Sister Strickland and I made the desserts - mango float, fruit skewers and banana pie, and the other sisters made our ulam (spicy coconut pork). BYOR - bring your own rice, hehe. It was like a different world up there -- quiet and serene, no garbage, minimal bad smells, cool breeze. I hope I get to serve in that zone. The mountains were huge and everything was super green.</div>
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I really enjoyed last Sunday. President Beck (general young men's president, I think?) came and did a fireside for the Fairview stake youth. We got to come as well and he talked about how we can make the sacrament a more spiritual experience and always remember the Savior even when we're not at church. He had the youth come up and participate, sharing how they would remember the Savior in their lives. I'm amazed at the youth of this generation! They are SO strong. Even as a full-time missionary the fireside topic was a great reminder. I really tried to apply it yesterday in sacrament and it made a great difference in the spirit I felt. The words of the hymns that I've heard hundreds of times growing up became real and touching to me and hit me with great force, and the atonement of Jesus Christ felt much more personal. When I take the sacrament, I feel like it's the Savior's way of telling me that he loves me and knows that I'm not perfect, but that because of this ordinance, I can come a tiny bit closer to being such because of Him.</div>
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Since I have a little more time to write this week, I can tell you a bit more about our area. We were supposed to have a baptism this upcoming Saturday for our investigator, Sister Shara. She's golden -- she grew up Catholic, went to a Christian school, but never felt much when she prayed. When the first missionaries showed up and taught her to pray, she knew this was it. We had planned her baptism for the 14th, and when we went over to talk to her about the baptismal interview questions... whoops! She's a live-in with a less-active member. We knew they were dating but didn't realize they were living together until that moment. Her conversion has simultaneously been a re-activation of Brother Carlo, double win! So we're waiting for their cenomar to process and hopefully she will be baptized AND married on the 28th. We are also planning 3 more baptisms for that same day. Sister Yollie is the wife of a recent convert who has been waiting for his wife to become interested because he wants her to join the church from her own desire, not just because of him. We've been teaching her and at first she was super hesitant. In fact, I'd go as far to say that it was uncomfortable in our lessons. Now, thanks to her wonderful fellow shippers, she is coming to church and wants to be baptized as soon as possible. I'll save Manilyn and Milanie's stories for another day. As for others, the members told us yesterday about a less-active member who says she's not Mormon anymore and joined another church. We went over there and unfortunately, she wasn't home. But two of her kids were and also some of their cousins. There wasn't an 18 year old present so we weren't able to teach them, but we did bear a quite lengthy testimony about the restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon. I could see their expressions change from being resistant and (can't remember the English word) matigas as the spirit worked on them. I find that almost all the time, people who are less-active or who have left the church have completely forgotten the significance of the restoration or what it even is. When we re-teach it, it's so clear that they never have objections. All they have left is their agency which we hope they will use to act on OUR message. The church is true!</div>
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Ayo-ayo! (Hehe, Visaya na naman ako eh!)</div>
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Sister Wilson<br />
P.S. Sorry, more pics next week.</div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-46412598686814144262015-03-10T18:58:00.000-07:002015-03-19T21:28:02.962-07:0002/03/2015<div class="h7 " style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; max-width: 100000px; outline: none; padding-bottom: 0px;" tabindex="-1">
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*Lets out a deep breath...*<br />
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I've gained an unshakable testimony this week of obedience being the key to joy and success as a missionary. After having been a little bit lax due to the number of activities from this week, we stopped practicing exact obedience for a few days and it really affected us pretty hard. But I'll get back to that...</div>
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Tuesday was our zone conference which was spiritually filling as usual. The workshops were centered on becoming a PMG scholar, exact obedience (coincidence? nope...), and mastering the mission language which will all lead us to baptizing twice per transfer. We had a testimony meeting at the end and when I bore mine, it was probably the easiest it has ever been for me to state the simple truths I have come to know to be true, such as how much I KNOW the Lord loves each of his children. It was in that moment that I realized how much I've learned and grown. I could literally feel the spirit thick in the air as I spoke, as if the holy ghost were repeating back to me that yes, I really do know those things. </div>
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The next day we had STL exchanges, and it just so happened to be that I got to go with my mission mother, Nanay Surio! It was so much fun to be with her again and to teach with her again after having been trained by her. It was good that she was there... because that day as I was brushing my hair, I noticed a bug in my brush, and she confirmed it as... LICE. Yep. To my wearied dismay, I had a headful of them. We spent about an hour picking all of them out (there were about 14 big ones) and I couldn't focus on anything that day. Let's just say I'll NEVER buy a hairbrush at a wet market ever again. Sadly I let it affect me too much and we didn't get out on time so we didn't enjoy the blessings of a successful day's work. We were punted most of that blistering hot day.</div>
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Aaaand the next day got even worse. In the morning, me and Sister Strickland dropped off our bedding to get it de-liced. The walk was a bit far so we got home late. It caused us to start studies late, shower late, and leave late. We again were sent away from appointments and didn't feel the closeness of the spirit nor its guidance. Later that night we were supposed to have a family home evening but nobody had texted us directions by the start time, so we headed to our next appointment which we had scheduled a week prior. Everyone started replying at once as soon as we arrived outside our next appointment, insisting we come back and "stop by" the first appointment. So we gave in and when we got to the meeting place to meet up with the elders, they had started up conversation with a tall Nigerian man. I didn't really question it at first. Then we started the hike to our appointment (which we weren't informed that we would have to do). The terrain was crazy! It was probably a 20 minute foresty expedition of hanging bridges, rivers, slippery rocks and hills in the black of night in a place where there were no houses. Then we noticed this strange foreign man was following us. 2 of the elders stopped him and stalled him so the other elders could walk us to this little bamboo house village where we found the family after a long hike and a few slides into the mud. The other elders then called us to tell us to stay inside because they suspected this man was looking for us sisters. By this time the other group was calling and asking where we were, having prepared all our favorite foods in large quantities. We had to tell them we wouldn't be coming. After an excruciating wait, the elders came back and said the man admitted he was just hungry and homeless. So they fed him and we didn't see him again. After we came back, the gate to our subdivision was locked so we had to go turn around and spend a ton of money to travel around and go in through the other side. We also forgot our bedding and ended up sleeping without any. </div>
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The day after all this, we pledged to be obedient to everything, with exactness, and to make up to the sister whose dinner we missed. Even those small things affected our work and our guidance drastically. I can testify that obedience is all we need to have in this life. I physically felt myself choke on words in lessons those days we slacked in time management. The difference it made in the next day of teaching was like night and day. Sometimes I feel like the Brother of Jared. The Lord wants me to be obedient and do things for myself, and I'm here saying, "Um... here's a few rocks." But that's enough for Him, all he needs is something to work with. At the last day, I want to be able to say to the Lord that even though I'm not much, at least I was obedient. We've been through the refiner's fire lately and I've learned from the sisters around me. Sister Strickland was the example of laughing at difficult situations and being happy even when it's hard. Sister Surio reminded me that sometimes our confidence comes from the wrong places. Our confidence should come purely from our ability to stand in the presence of God without sin. It's very true that the mission is the school for eternity and I'm so grateful for experiences like these, even if it means an itchy head or a muddy skirt. </div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-31777815320123545702015-03-10T18:49:00.000-07:002015-03-19T21:05:38.856-07:0001/18/2015<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Napakagandang hapon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">I'm finally in my 3rd area and I'm absolutely loving it! This week started out pretty crazy. After I met my trainee and we had our meeting at the chapel, the office elders handed me an empty area book, a cell phone with no numbers in it, a few packages of pamphlets and dropped the two of us off at our new (and very empty) apartment in uncharted territory. First missionaries to work in the area, and first to live in the house. I don't think I've ever prayed so hard my whole mission. </span><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">So we said a prayer, unpacked our study materials and went out to proselyte with what little daylight we had left. We ended up teaching a mother and daughter we contacted on the street and I encouraged my companion to extend her first baptismal date, which she did! We came back to that apartment that night, happy that we had done what we knew how to do and having given the day our best effort, and the blessings immediately followed. The elders showed up a little bit after that with an area book with updated teaching records of those people who were once their investigators and those peoples' current phone numbers. They volunteered their help the next day to take us around the area and they also gave us the number of ward members who wanted to show us around. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">(Side note to my family: My area is only like 1/4 squatters, calm down. I wish more of it were that way because those people are the best!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">My new companion is Sister Strickland from New Zealand -- I get to train a foreigner! She is basically the dream companion and her accent is the greatest. </span><span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Aside from the language, is pre-trained. Even though the language for now is a challenge for her, she doesn't let it keep her from fulfilling her purpose. She still talks to everyone at every chance she gets, smiles always and makes everyone she meets laugh. She doesn't beat herself up over her weaknesses but smiles and enjoys being new and can laugh at her mistakes. And the best part is... she sings! We're a dynamic duo, woo!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Yesterday at church, we received the warmest welcome from the ward I've had my whole mission. They were so excited to receive sister missionaries in their ward. There are now 6 missionaries in Batasan 2nd, 4 elders and 2 sisters. It seems like every sister in the ward wants to work with us and we have at least 2 workers scheduled for every day this week. The ward is really supportive and not just in words, but also in their actions. We've had dinners provided for us almost every night and we have already had 3 productive meetings - 1 with the bishop, 1 with the ward mission leader and ward missionaries, and 1 with the ward council. They have a great vision and a great plan of attack to help their ward split. They told us after church that there was a different spirit there having sisters in the ward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">As for our work, we have 4 investigators on date for baptism, 2 of which we did on our own and 2 of which were taught by the elders. Sister Melanie is one that we found - she came to church yesterday because her uncle kept pushing her to come with him. She finally went and she said she felt good there. We got her number and visited her after our meetings. She was pretty quiet at first, but as we did the how to begin teaching she really opened up to us. She told us that she has never understood the gospel growing up as a Catholic and was really happy that we were there. Sister Strickland and I felt the prompting at the same time to extend a baptismal date and she accepted it happily. This area is my first area that has truly poor people. Because of their circumstances, they are a lot more humble and receptive to our message. It wasn't fun, however, getting caught in the rain last night in that area, for reasons you don't want to know.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">That's all I have to say, but I'm really happy where I am right now. Things are going great and I can feel that we will be having a lot of success here in the Batasan 2 ward. Love ya'll.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Sister Wilson</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">P.S. Yesterday we actually experienced truly cold weather. There was a brisk, cold rain with heavy wind. We drank hot chocolate and wore coats. The cold makes my bones ache now. I'm not sure I can ever go back home after this. Sorry! ;)</span></div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-13462857918654459872015-03-10T18:47:00.001-07:002015-03-19T21:04:38.609-07:0001/12/2015<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2jeYPaGTLGC6nvP11ZU5N9TERasA9e4TElgsA3vsJExgt9sMxiB-XjIJctwA4cm9H6szVfweSeE6NhdYbX4k0M0RGablafSJYqlpgyrd-soulshD1MlwQFOdGPXf40Lqdmi0sHskPWY/s1600/698.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2jeYPaGTLGC6nvP11ZU5N9TERasA9e4TElgsA3vsJExgt9sMxiB-XjIJctwA4cm9H6szVfweSeE6NhdYbX4k0M0RGablafSJYqlpgyrd-soulshD1MlwQFOdGPXf40Lqdmi0sHskPWY/s1600/698.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">I found this hilarious. They passed by a goat farm and started recreating the front of the restoration pamphlet.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exchanges! </td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv78-3yYXEk4ZRw46rWTftw0jU4fjk-aXNLlZ1fqPyAzJy9JxCLvSd7_UHpW6746LTzZimm75_Xv6onKrgOKF-_f-1KyBkF-4NJvzq5WRtOx7QsmgxpJFxHBQXP8_vpgujIa08JCMt9y8/s1600/P1065348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv78-3yYXEk4ZRw46rWTftw0jU4fjk-aXNLlZ1fqPyAzJy9JxCLvSd7_UHpW6746LTzZimm75_Xv6onKrgOKF-_f-1KyBkF-4NJvzq5WRtOx7QsmgxpJFxHBQXP8_vpgujIa08JCMt9y8/s1600/P1065348.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8msPH6v8ghxQGRt6gz_LxuSbZgxdP3TJR-a3fd2aiukfBYMTRP-DzqdUGZ-6ilHkPLTOT0xxfq7ErJwLzidnzKQKbariM8d48EBeWFIAdYl9m0qlDMTHRcDF15doPaMyuAvFlq45dmEw/s1600/P1125423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8msPH6v8ghxQGRt6gz_LxuSbZgxdP3TJR-a3fd2aiukfBYMTRP-DzqdUGZ-6ilHkPLTOT0xxfq7ErJwLzidnzKQKbariM8d48EBeWFIAdYl9m0qlDMTHRcDF15doPaMyuAvFlq45dmEw/s1600/P1125423.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The best zone EVER. :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Us and Takder, who was baptized last weekend!<br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Our last coordination meeting... :'( Those were so fun.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Our dunkin' donuts run afterward! :D We found one by our house!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">After 1 birthday, 2 apartments, 2 different leadership callings, 3 holidays, 3 companions, 4 different elders in the ward, 5 house mates, 6 months, many disappointments and countless miracles, I'm leaving Malolos. It's been absolutely wonderful. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">I feel like I've grown up as a missionary in this area. The ward and the people I've taught have become so dear to me. I feel like we have really gained their trust. When I came here, the members were very cold to us. Now it's very different. People are (literally) leading their friends to us by the hand and asking us to teach them right then and there. Last Sunday we had 5 members approach us after our meetings and give us referrals. It will be hard to say goodbye here after 6 months and all I've experienced. They never told me in my call letter that I'd have to leave home more than once! But I'm also grateful to start again and meet new people. I'm also grateful that I've been able to fulfill my purpose by leaving this ward much better than I've found it. My favorite experience was completing two different part-member families through baptism and seeing a handful of less-actives regain their faith in Jesus Christ. There are also 3 investigators that are ready to be harvested in the next 2 or 3 weeks. They are so obviously prepared by the Lord that I'm overjoyed that we have found them.</span><br />
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I'm transferring to... drum roll please... Fairview! I will be opening the Batasan Hills 2 C area with my trainee, who I will meet tomorrow. It's literally an open area, as in nobody has ever worked there before. I will be the first, I'm sweating bullets. I will definitely be learning and growing a lot because all I have to go off of is the ward members. I also have no house mates to help me, we are alone. The area is affectionately known as... Bundok ng Basura... meaning mountain of garbage... because there are literally 3 enormous mountains made up of garbage. It's famous. And the place wreaks. Most of my area is squatters so it will definitely be a different experience. I'm trying to be excited. I don't have that much time to write but that's my update for now. I love you all as much as flies love basura. <33 Pray for me please...</div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
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Attached: Malolos 2nd ward missionaries at bishop's house for dinner last night</div>
Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-43364447856906184952015-03-10T18:46:00.001-07:002015-03-10T18:46:12.129-07:0001/05/2015<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Inaku, I have another child.</span><br />
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Woooo, I'm training again! Not sure what's gonna happen yet but I got the email. I'll send more update next TUESDAY because it's transfer week. (That's for you, mom.)</div>
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I'm feeling terribly lazy so I'm just gonna paste an excerpt from my letter to President Bertin. (See below)</div>
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I have a cold and I want to go home so this is all for this week. </div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
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<span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">... Our baptismal candidate was out of town this week so we had to push the baptism back to this weekend. Takder has grown up in the church but his parents are sort of less active. They told him that when he came of age to be baptized, they would let him decide if he had the desire or not to be baptized. If not, they would wait until he wanted to be baptized and then have the missionaries teach him. Takder is only 11 right now, and it started being a social desire because he was the only boy going into young men's without being baptized. As we've taught him the gospel, his enthusiasm for it has skyrocketed. He tells us every visit how neat he thinks the Book of Mormon is and how much he loves the stories. I'm hoping and praying that he will remember his feelings right now and stay active despite what his parents may do or say.</span><br style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; outline: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">Because of the holidays our investigators and less actives have been largely unavailable, and not reading or praying. Without the constant strengthening from the missionary lessons and the nourishment from The Book of Mormon/prayer, their testimonies have dimmed. We're working right now to build it back up. As one of our very most progressing said, "My faith is back down to 0. I'm back to square 1." But it also builds my testimony because it shows how much of a difference it makes when people feel the Holy Ghost on a weekly basis.</span></div>
Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-72404228339822707832015-03-10T18:44:00.001-07:002015-03-10T18:44:29.487-07:0001/01/2015<div class="adn ads" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 8px;">
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!<div>
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My first email of 2015! I really have high hopes for the work this year. It's taken a pretty rough start because New Years is even more important here than Christmas. Nobody has been home, everyone is busy, no members can work with us, it's been pretty hard. We've been contacting on the streets like fiends hoping to teach someone, anyone. We actually found some wonderful people last Sunday while trying to grow our area by working in our farthest places. We don't usually go there because it's so far but we gave it a full day last Sunday. We found tons of new investigators. I really experienced the power of the Holy Ghost working through me in a bunch of these lessons so I know they're people the Lord wants us to be teaching. Brother Amos was a referral that we contacted and he has a big family - very kind people. So I was shocked when the lesson began and he began firing off attack after attack without allowing us to respond. I said a prayer in my heart and began to speak despite his talking. I don't even remember what I said, and I didn't even really know what I was saying at that moment but whatever it was, it worked. We pulled out and taught doctrine using his own bible and he allowed me to respond to his anti-Mormon slander about prophets. His response a few minutes later was a humbled, "Ok. I can accept that." I got chills because I was being spoon fed what to say by the Holy Ghost. Little did I realize that it wasn't Amos who needed to hear the message but his 30 year old son silently listening on the sidelines. After his father left the room he told us how many religions he had experimented with and how he wanted to know more about the prophet. I love the gospel! Sometimes it feels like an emotional workout in this work. It's a fact to me now that even when I feel like my emotional energy is drained to the dregs and I feel like I have nothing more to give, the Lord upholds me. </div>
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We also experienced how service softens peoples' hearts. We've been trying to teach an LA for 4 transfers and she wouldn't even talk to us. Yesterday she was outside washing her clothes and we just greeted her and dove right in to help her. She started talking to us and even joking with us. After we finished her laundry she told us we could come back on Sunday. It's amazing how the spirit can even work without words, just a Christlike gesture. It's so true that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.</div>
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Now I have to tell you about New Years! It was the craziest New Year celebration of my life. We had lunch as a whole stake - it was a boodle fight where you eat with your hands off of a banana leaf. They dished out like 20 full roasted chickens and 10 gigantic cakes, and of course... seemingly endless rice, no plates or utensils. It was hilariously gluttonous looking if you can picture this. The bishop grabbed my hand and slapped down a giant piece of cake in it and that's pretty much when our district stopped caring and ate like cave men. It then turned into a contest to see which of the foreigners would eat the salted eggs. They're these big purple eggs that have solidified by means of salt. I could hardly keep it down. Then our ward mission leader started wiping cake on peoples' faces and a food fight broke out because of the stake presidency and everyone got into it. </div>
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Later in the evening we had a <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1764536442" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">6 PM</span></span> curfew where we played cards and wrote letters for a few hours. We were sent home with a ton of biko which is a coconut stick rice and then our neighbors brought us over a full course meal including drinks, pork BBQ, fruit salad, and carbonara. When it got to <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1764536443" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">11 PM</span></span> things started getting crazy. The fireworks got stronger and music was blaring full blast from every house. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1764536444" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">11:50</span></span>, the entire country came out with blow horns, pots and pans, people got into their cars and turned on their car alarms and emergency blinkers, the music got louder and the fireworks just started ripping and roaring through the streets and in the sky. The sky lit up in every direction with flashes of light and color as far as the eye could see and the whole world got smoky. It gave me a brilliant headache but it was incredible. Sure beats beating the ball drop - more fun in the Philippines. Maligayang Bagong Taon!</div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
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P.S. I made a video that was too big to upload... sorry. Enjoy this picture of Filipino kids in a mall enjoying man made snow.</div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-17194058948394131212015-03-10T18:43:00.001-07:002015-03-19T20:23:47.007-07:0012/24/2014<div class="adn ads" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 8px;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My baby Christmas tree with my presents underneath.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homemade fudge. Cinnamon roll. Family traditions.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The two sisters I entered the MTC with.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who knew there were so many types of rice?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When we moved out of our old house.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15jNBm2flYRvcePEt7Z007PRWqctOVRwQlAONrDNvJkgDnbriM_vwbuDqMLD512HrlG1JHZEzbqvqAa82WNjpnSNi0DB_2XziBjkUfBrc_VWee_OrVaqnxuLAPh3NjTIl3-VmRHiViS0/s1600/Picture+157+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15jNBm2flYRvcePEt7Z007PRWqctOVRwQlAONrDNvJkgDnbriM_vwbuDqMLD512HrlG1JHZEzbqvqAa82WNjpnSNi0DB_2XziBjkUfBrc_VWee_OrVaqnxuLAPh3NjTIl3-VmRHiViS0/s1600/Picture+157+(1).jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before we moved all our stuff in. But it's a really nice apartment!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; text-align: start;"> My former companion/trainer Sister Surio after mission leadership conference</span></td></tr>
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Maligayang PASKO! (She says as sweat dribbles down her face...)</div>
The day they've all been waiting for since September 1st! It's sure been a different experience this year. Lots of vide-oke, fireworks, spaghetti, weird lantern lights and homeless kids singing for money. But more importantly I've been really touched by the emphasis on Jesus Christ in Christmas here in the Philippines. Much unlike home people are NOT quick to forget their Savior. I've seen such an outreach of kindness, love and generosity, especially from those who have nothing to give. I've seen a tremendous amount of gratitude for such simple things - sincere gratitude. I thought I would be homesick but the opposite has happened as I have gone around sharing my testimony of the Savior, that HE IS the gift! I think He has been the gift to me this year in more than one way. I've never felt so close to Him before or been able to so readily recognize his hand. Multiple times this month I have been attacked by members of other faiths for my belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God, divinely born to save us from sin. Once I was even told that I don't know that and that I cannot know for myself that that is true. But rather than this making me cry or get angry, all it has done is strengthen my testimony that if there IS anything I know, it's that. If that were not true, how would I still be here doing what I am doing? The fact that I've made it this far is evidence to me that He is very active and involved in all of our lives.</div>
Other than the scant number of appointments we've been able to get, it's been dinner and parties. Christmas is a really, really, really.... really big deal. Mission Christmas conference though was my favorite part. The morning half was spiritual and I got to see the MoTabs Christmas concert with Alfie Boe again so that was the highlight for me. We had a really nice lunch and then we had a talent show. It was the most bizarre thing to watch the other missionaries step away from being "Elder" or "Sister" for a moment and be themselves. There was dancing, hymns of Babylon, stand up comedy and so on. Our zone did a Filipino dance to "Pinoy Ako" which means "I'm Filipino" and for the last verse, only the foreigners danced to be ironic. It was very against my will but I ended up having fun. We had a gift exchange, caroling and games. President and Sister Bertin also gave us gifts. After the conference, we went directly to our ward Christmas party. They've been planning it for months. Our less-actives made a short return to church just long enough to know when the party was and then duck out. So disappointing. Oh well. They can enjoy the Terrestrial kingdom. The party was pretty different from what I'm used to. Tons of food... tons... but it wasn't formal at all. No decorations or even tables set up. No, all the time and energy was spent on... dance presentations. Each auxiliary prepared like a 10 minute dance presentation and they went all out! From the nursery to the bishopric. I was definitely not expecting it.</div>
Basta, Merry Christmas! Drink some eggnog for me... Because I don't like it anyway. Thank you to everyone who sent me mail and wrote me emails! I deeply appreciate everyone who thought of me. And to those who didn't... I still love you but pull yourself together. ;)</div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-59081883874786415532015-03-10T18:42:00.001-07:002015-03-10T18:42:00.311-07:0012/14/14<div class="adn ads" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 8px;">
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This week has been so hectic yet there's hardly anything noteworthy to report.<div>
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We weren't allowed to work on Monday because of the storm but it barely even rained. That was a bummer. We had a long list of referrals to contact that night as well so we had to bail on a bunch of appointments. Our loving zone leaders gave us our workshop topic that night, which means we had 2 hours to prepare it. We gave our workshop on virtue because there's been a question of why the numbers in the mission in both finding and teaching are so low. It was kind of awkward to give because I didn't feel like it was my place to teach about virtue but it ended up being a great workshop. We discussed the process of purifying our hearts and how to uproot the things which distract our thoughts and turn our desires against the work. Only with the help of the holy ghost could we have pulled that together in such a short time. After that, everyone was telling us it was exactly what they needed to hear. </div>
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That afternoon the zone leaders came to our apartment to fix a bunch of the problems that have existed for about a year. They knocked them all out in about 2 hours - the fridge, the toilet, the shower, the water filter... all of it became functional again. But that took away from work time. The next day we had STL training for Sister Andres at the mission home. It's probably the only place I've been so far where it's felt like Christmas! Sister Bertin asked me to stay an extra 10 minutes after the meeting to play the Christmas music she bought... that was my kulang. It feels like Christmas now. We only had time for one appointment and it was a dinner appointment with the members. We've had so many dinner appointments this week that I think we've taught more member lessons than anything else. They have been so generous to us and I'm so grateful. I haven't had to buy groceries for 2 weeks. This appointment was with an old couple. The wife had a stroke a while back and her husband dedicates all his time and energy to caring for her. She shared with us about how the atonement has helped her cope with the effects. I was so touched by the two of them that I couldn't bear to leave without cleaning up their kitchen for them. We had to leave immediately after to pack and leave for exchanges again. It was an absolute blast. I love going with the trainees. I can see drastic improvement from their first transfer of training until now. In this calling you really get the best of both worlds. You learn, you help others learn, you make really close friends and you get to watch them grow. I can't even explain the feeling. </div>
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Friday we found a new apartment! Our bishop pointed one out that is brand new and cheaper than the crappy one we've suffered in so they got us right out. We talked to the office about it and they came immediately. It all happened so fast that the zone and the office elders came over this morning to move us out. Yay! No more cockroach attacks! In fact, we even have a shower head now! And the toilet flushes. I'm in heaven. Pictures soon to come.</div>
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Sige, inubos ko ang lahat ng sasabihin ko. Basta, MALIGAYANG PASKO! Malapit na! Sana magkakaroon kayo ng maayos na holiday at paalala: si Jesucristo mismo ang regalo sa sanglibutan. Mahal na mahal ko kayo at pinagdarasal ko kayo tuwing araw. Ingat.</div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
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PS - this is the picture of the former mission president of Quezon City before it split into 2 missions. They visited Malolos the other month.</div>
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-29905125854089436592014-12-08T12:12:00.000-08:002014-12-08T12:12:30.255-08:00It's All Typhoon-y Again. 12/7/2014<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px; text-align: start;">Vegetable garden service project! Took forEVER..</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px; text-align: start;">Waiting for our new comps together</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px; text-align: start;">We found a Dairy Queen!!! But the sizes are ridiculously small... and it's just not the same... oh well.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px; text-align: start;">The kitchen... AFTER the cockroach rampage.</span></td></tr>
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Two Americans praying over their pizza in a Filipino restaurant.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px; text-align: start;">K: Mom, I bet you saw a lot of this on the Amazing Race, right? :) There's barbecue blood, chicken intestine, chicken skin, skewered hot dog and pork BBQ. You eat it dipped in vinegar, onion and garlic. Doesn't that just get your appetite going? ;)<br /><br />Mom: You're not seriously eating that, are you?<br /><br />K: Lol, no, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px; text-align: start;">I'm eating turon! It's a banana fried in a crunchy wrapper. I was just hoping you'd think I was eating that. ;)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px; text-align: start;">Hey everyone,</span></div>
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It's all typhone-y again. But you should be glad when you hear that because it means that I'm not sweating for a day or two. It still doesn't feel like Christmas, no matter how many lights are hung or how many Christmas songs I hear. I just can't really make the connection in my brain with hot weather and Christmas. It feels like I'm frozen in time in an eternal summer. </div>
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I don't have anything really news-y for you this week. I do have a new companion though, Sister Andres. She's 4 foot 10 so she looks more like my side-kick than my companion, hehe. She's from Isabella, pretty close by but they speak a different dialect so sometimes I have nosebleeds. She has a LOT of energy and is always bubbly and happy, loves to cook and clean, so we're set. I'm supposed to train her to be a sister training leader... but I still don't know what I'm doing myself. We'll see how it goes! And guess who I get to take on exchanges? Sister Gison! :) I get to see my child again! </div>
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Yesterday we really saw the blessings of fasting! The Suelen family whom we've been visiting for 7 months came to church for the first time <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1126786404" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Sunday</span></span>. And following them in through the door was an investigator we had taught for the first time the previous day. It was so unexpected but I was so happy and filled with the spirit that I bounced right up to the pulpit to bear my testimony. After the meeting, a visitor asked me if I was an albino Filipino. I guess Tagalog isn't really a problem anymore so that's a relief. </div>
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And the blessings continued after that. Brother Jeff, our ward mission leader, worked with us after church. Usually we don't work without breaking our fasts first but we decided we wanted the extra blessings so we stuck it out. I was glad because we visited Brother Butch (who is actually the uncle of my trainer, Sister Surio! SMALL WORLD!), who has been a drug addict his whole life. He always talks about how he and his sister see spirits and Satan talks to him and stuff. Pretty bizarre guy... the only reason we came back to him was because he told us he wants to erase his past through the church. Luckily Brother Jeff faced a ton of people like Butch on his mission so he was able to help us. We taught Butch about the power of the atonement and the power of prayer, he was really excited. He couldn't figure out why he felt good when we were there and then the feeling left with us. He was ecstatic to accept a baptismal date after we explained that he can have that feeling always through the gift of the holy ghost. He asked if he could be baptized <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1126786405" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Wednesday</span></span>, bless his heart. His 2 neighbors who sat in to listen also accepted dates on the first lesson. Then we visited Takder and he said that after he watched a scary movie, he couldn't sleep for 2 nights and then he remembered what we taught about prayer. So he prayed, fell asleep and had a dream that Jesus Christ was walking him through the blackness. I'm so amazed at how close that kid is to the spirit. His parents fed us dinner so we caved at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1126786406" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">7:30</span></span> and broke our fasts. Another blessing, it was delicious. ;) </div>
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This morning was an adventure! I accidentally forgot about some wet sheets from a month ago and spent hours cleaning all the black mold. We also went through 2 cans of Bigon exterminating our apartment. My new companion couldn't handle the filth so she opened up the cabinets and tried to clean it all out when an explosion of cockroaches erupted. It was so disgusting. Then the cabinet doors fell off and we were all freaking out and stomping all the cockroaches we could catch. If that wasn't fun enough, she cleaned the bathroom too and found that our non-flushing toilet is full of black water inside the tank and there are things living in it. I'm not sure what's in there but I'm not touching it.</div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
<br />Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-71131970189091324122014-12-05T11:40:00.001-08:002014-12-05T11:46:45.034-08:00December 1, 2014.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px; text-align: start;">The zone yesterday... mga chuploks!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px; text-align: start;">My beloved Fontamillas family... <3 Brother Jun is in blue and Sister Baby is in orange. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honest-to-goodness infographic posted in the Stake Center. ... Oh, the cultural differences!</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px;">Talagang malakas ang impluwensya ng espiritu sant sa buhay namin itong linggo. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">I successfully finished my transfer as a lone sister training leader and I must say, it was a blast. Sister Gison is transferring to Valenzuela in Metro Manila and I'm staying here and getting a sister training leader companion. I'll miss her like crazy! We've become so close and it's sad to see her go. But the neat thing is seeing her progress from her first day here in the field to where she is now. I can really see, even in her countenance, how Heavenly Father has helped her. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">I was strengthened in ways this transfer I didn't expect by all the wonderful sisters I got to go on exchanges with. This week I went with a brand new sister from Fiji. She just converted to the church a year ago and is the only member in her family. She and her testimony is amazing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Thanksgiving I didn't go hungry! The bishop had us over for dinner. It was Filipino food but I was grateful. I think this was probably one of the better Thanksgivings I've experienced because being out here has made me realize how much I really have to be thankful for. Truly, I don't think I've ever been more aware of my blessings in my whole life. I'm now looking forward to Christmas because it will truly be focused on the Savior. President Bertin is focusing our proselyting based on a recent video release of the church: "He is the Gift" (<a href="http://christmas.mormon.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Christmas.mormon.org</a>) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Brother Marvin is finally gaining back his faith in Christ. He invited us over for a family home evening with them where he prepared several object lessons on how hard it was for him to gain his faith back. One of them he had us pass a candle down a line of people in the dark with the fan going, symbolizing how many times his faith had died and how he felt lost and in the dark. But then he told us that over the process of us teaching him he has gotten back on the right track. They made a little stand for the candle with a picture of Jesus on it saying that he is now the foundation for their family and they thanked us for helping Marvin find his way back to Christ. They made us our favorite foods as a way of showing us their gratitude and as a "late Thanksgiving" for me. We were so touched. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;"><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2044485139" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> we worked with "the 3 Nephites" as we like to call them, 3 really tall almost missionaries leaving in January. They had some referrals for us so they took us to one of them, a former investigator who was going to be baptized last year but it was intervened by her mother. I felt prompted to ask the other 3 boys how they gained trust in God which ended up being perfect because one of them ended up being the only member of his family as well, against his mother's will. The girl got emotional and said she couldn't believe the perfect timing of our coming there because she said she was feeling depressed that her faith had died not being able to attend church. "She said it was exactly what she needed and hoped this time it would be the right time to be baptized.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">At transfer announcements yesterday, the zone leaders thought it would be funny to make me think I was getting pulled out of my area. It wasn't funny to me... but it made me realize how much I love everyone in Malolos. My first thoughts were, "What's going to happen to Marvin? Jun? Baby? Takder?..." etc. And after transfer announcements we held a surprise FHE with the Fontamillas family. Brother Jun shared his thoughts at the end which really gave us hope; he said how grateful he was that we had brought the gospel to his family. He said even though we don't see it, they were always fighting but it has stopped. Baby often reminds him, "Remember what teh sisters told us!" He also said he is developing a relationship with Heavenly Father and thanked us for our patience in the process. He knows he still has a long way to go, but as he put it, he intends to finish his journey through baptism. His remarks helped me understand that however small or slow the progress of investigators, it does make a difference! No efforts are wasted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">I love you all,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Sister Wilson</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms, sans-serif;">(P.S. - Here's a reminder to always use the toilet properly, brought to you by Malolos Stake restroom.)</span></div>
Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-22737998259358679902014-12-05T11:38:00.000-08:002014-12-05T11:41:04.417-08:00November 23, 2014. Happy Thanksgiving!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px;">Happy Thanksgiving!</span><br />
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Eat some turkey for me, will ya? I'll be celebrating Thanksgiving solo this year... with no food. I'll figure out soon how that works. I guess I could start with what I'm thankful for. First and foremost, I'm grateful for my wonderful family. I could not ask for a better family. They are supportive and loving... and hilarious! There's never a P-day that goes by that I'm not laughing hysterically to myself in the computer shop with everyone staring at me. I could definitely not do what I'm doing right now without their prayers and encouragement. Second of all, I'm grateful for my calling! It is absolutely incredible being a missionary. Words can't express in emails the things I feel and see every day in peoples' lives. Then I get here and sit down to write about it and forget most of it, so I apologize. Anyway, I'm so thankful to be a part of the most important work in the world that is so much bigger than myself. It has changed me in ways I never would have experienced otherwise. I'm thankful that my father in heaven allows me to be a part of the conversion process of his precious children and that I get to watch them grow. It builds my testimony daily. I'm grateful for my savior Jesus Christ and the atonement that makes it possible to return to him despite lifelong weakness and imperfection. I'm also soooo thankful for the good health I've had in the Philippines. I've dodged a lot of nasties and I haven't had lice yet, praise the Lord! </div>
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<span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">Sister Gison is one week away from finishing training and she is so ready. I have absolutely loved having her as my companion. Throughout her training I never really felt like she was new. She instantly caught on to teaching and study techniques. She has also taught me so much about patience and service. I've never heard her complain and she loves doing service for me and our house mates. She will do great things in her mission!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">On Saturday we decided we really needed to buckle down and find new investigators. We really sought to follow the spirit in our finding and it produced 7 new investigators in a day. I was thrilled. One of them we found as we were walking down the street - she was an old lady hauling home a rice cooker so we carried it for her. When we asked her if we could teach her, she was very happy to listen, telling us that something important to her is people who live their religion. She kept saying how service is something that defines a true follower of Christ and how she could tell from our actions that we were. Another lady we found did not trust us right off the bat. But we convinced her to let us in and within 5 minutes she was an open book. Sister Gison's theory is the ones whose trust we gain so fast are the ones the Lord has prepared for us. I liked that idea. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">One struggle we are having is our investigator Marvin who wants to be baptized. He has one problem (and it's kind of a big problem). He was reading in Alma 32 in the BOM and really related to Alma. </span><span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;"> </span><span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">The amazing thing is, I'm seeing the power of the Book of Mormon. I don't feel like we're doing anything. From what I can see, he reads it and the Holy Ghost does the work. We just invite him to act. It's incredible! </span><span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">But he said that he feels like he has lost his faith because he can't understand why God gave him an autistic son. It's his only child and it's really a burden on his family. They love him so much but they struggle with it at the same time. We have made some plans on how to respond to his concern but I'm worried it's between him and the Lord to sort out. His wife didn't know he ever felt this way for 11 years until he opened up to us and her at the same time so she was pretty broken-hearted. It's been weighing down on me and Sister Gison since that lesson... sobrang mabigat sa loob. We really want him to find the faith again in God to be baptized. Praying we will be inspired when we go back...</span></div>
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Fun cultural fact for you all: When the language barrier hits and you don't understand each other, it's called a nosebleed. Well, during an OYM we were talking to these people and they asked how I learned Tagalog. They said, "Akala naming nosebleed ka!" meaning they were afraid to talk to me because they thought they would have a nosebleed. Well that very instant, my nose started dripping blood for the first time since I left home. Heheheh. </div>
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Also for those who are interested, I know these kids that were in this performance. It's really cool! <a href="https://www.lds.org/church/news/elder-oaks-visits-the-philippines-the-land-of-smiles-amid-trials?cid=HPWE110514461&lang=eng" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.lds.org/<wbr></wbr>church/news/elder-oaks-visits-<wbr></wbr>the-philippines-the-land-of-<wbr></wbr>smiles-amid-trials?cid=<wbr></wbr>HPWE110514461&lang=eng</a> </div>
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Enjoy the holiday. I love you all and am deeply thankful for all of you. Take care! Enjoy this picture from last Sunday. This is part of the Cristobal family.</div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-26308686330148303642014-12-05T11:31:00.002-08:002014-12-05T11:35:50.356-08:00November 17, 2014. Hump day, half way home...<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cutest primary kid ever.<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baliwag, P-day adventure.</td></tr>
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Hi, mga chuploks!</div>
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Today was a normal day in the Philippines. We went to Baliwag zone which is even more of a rural province than Malolos. Rolling hills of green and... beautifulness. We had these two Filipino women at a tourism office lead us through this rocky mountain of rivers and up a waterfall, which we scaled in our bare feet, which led to a huge cave surrounded in vines that you can swing on where we ate tropical fruits and played the ukelele. Hehe, it's true what they say... it's more fun in the Philippines.</div>
We had a baptism, hooray! Hershey and Kaycee Cristobal were baptized on Saturday. I was so sick that day, but I was able to get myself together enough to get to the church. They are so makulit. I'm broken so I don't really remember the English word... but that's how I would describe them because after the baptism when they were asked to share a message, they said, "Thank you sisters, we love you, amen." Oh well... I'd like to see anyone else try to teach 10 year olds church doctrine.</div>
I also had exchanges with another pair of sisters. One of them is brand new from America so I was really happy to go on exchanges with her. I remember how much exchanges helped me in my training. I can really sympathize with where she's at. Right now is the hardest part so I knew exactly how to conduct the exchange. I also witnessed her first street food. It was so fun, and relieving to chat with an American for a while!<br />
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I feel like we've hit a wall with a lot of our investigators and because every week we have to go on exchanges, we don't have much time left to help them work out their problems. But last night we had a good experience in proselyting. We were trying to contact a referral but nobody was home. So we walked the opposite direction and I had the very distinct impression to talk to a lady sitting on her front porch. She looked very emotionally weary. We talked to her for about 2 minutes and we asked if we could teach her. She thought for a minute and let us in. She opened right up to us and at the end of the lesson, she told us, "So many people come here telling me about religions and I never let them in. I don't know what's different about you two, why I let you in or why I feel so comfortable opening up to you. I really don't understand why I'm doing this, but you two are different." The spirit was really really strong. I'm really glad I was receptive to the spirit at that time.</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px;">So... yun lang. Sorry, wala na akong sabihin pero mahal ko kayo, siyempre! Ingat lagi!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16.3636360168457px;">Sister Wilson</span>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-19189952629084240392014-11-13T11:48:00.002-08:002014-11-13T11:48:55.149-08:00Mission Tour October 30, 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-49614739927551486492014-11-13T11:47:00.002-08:002014-11-13T11:50:34.341-08:00November 9, 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Nakakapagod ang linggo na ito... ano ang ginagawa ko dito?</span></div>
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I am so... tired... turns out being a leader is hard. Heheh, who would have guessed? I've been up at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1031526626" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">3 AM</span></span>more times this week than I would like to talk about. But being a sister training leader is so much fun! Last week I got to go to MLC (mission leadership council) and discuss the status of the mission. I also conducted my first exchanges this week with the sisters who live in my apartment. I've already learned a lot from each of them and it was neat to be able to see the progress of one sister who was a trainee when I got here to where she is now. I also gave my first workshop <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1031526627" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Saturday</span></span> at a multi-zone conference. Talk about sweaty palms... it was actually a blast though. I was given the topic of using our new OYM cards in finding. It was pretty nerve wracking having 46 missionaries, the APs, and President and Sister Bertin all staring at me with a pen in hand expecting to learn something. But I quickly said a prayer and just decided to enjoy it instead and it worked. :)</div>
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Another difficult thing about this calling is that I don't get a lot of time in my area. But despite the little time in our area, our investigators have progressed! I was so pleased to discover that they're all still remembering and keeping their commitments! Last night we visited the Fontamillas family (Baby and Jun) and taught them the plan of salvation. At the end, we asked them where they would like to end up after this life Then Brother Jun with a smile put his arm around his wife and his son and said, "We understand now sisters. How does baptism work in the church?" Good grief, it sent chills up my arms and neck and we gave them a baptismal date to which they replied with an enthusiastic "of course!" This is my first time finding, teaching AND baptizing a fully in-tact, fully functional and happy family and I am beyond excited! We also have a baptism <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1031526628" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Saturday</span></span> for the 10 year old twin girls we have been teaching. They both paid their tithing yesterday just because they wanted to after reading the tithing pamphlet! They've come so far - from not wanting to wear a skirt to church and not even really wanting to listen to where they are now. They wore matching dresses in the primary program yesterday... I was so proud! </div>
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Our recent convert, Carlota, has also grown so much since we baptized her in August. She said how before she became a member, money was always so tight and she was sad because she could never feed us (it's a Filipino custom for them to give you merienda (or snacks - AKA any food without rice) whenever you visit). She said since she started paying her tithing and fast offerings they have had extra to spare and now every time we've been back, she's had heaping plates of food ready for us when we got there. It's not so much the food that mekes me happy as much as it is the ability to see visually the fruits of someone being an honest full tithe payer. </div>
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In case you didn't hear, the church has released a video about the teple garment and the temple clothing. It's a perfect statement on what we use them for and it's perfectly said. You can find it on the church website or on YouTube. That's all the news I have for you this week. Please enjoy these pictures of MLC. ;)</div>
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Sister Wilson</div>
Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355175895357871187.post-26612187630191725962014-11-13T11:32:00.000-08:002014-11-13T11:50:57.311-08:00November 2, 2014<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMaEIUTPYu3pmGEneWDtVD-p__HAc7B3Cbo8i7bTUt1OvIjdDF7H_eLSLd7n8LpxcAI-SpoZcseSLMGPDBkoDke5Ir4qPunwGUkhkkjesOiMjJBYF5Gb8fWlUaxPcihAQlHRHKajcDH1s/s1600/Musical+number+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMaEIUTPYu3pmGEneWDtVD-p__HAc7B3Cbo8i7bTUt1OvIjdDF7H_eLSLd7n8LpxcAI-SpoZcseSLMGPDBkoDke5Ir4qPunwGUkhkkjesOiMjJBYF5Gb8fWlUaxPcihAQlHRHKajcDH1s/s640/Musical+number+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Choir, me, and the violinist practicing the night before at the mission home.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YIhJ-J4lm7sQ5yoFagO581Dkm7z2avPBFAqnBjEnsE8iSf0gRU0X-ZMtyxmCP5pX88DKRz27REK663H7GZZQM4j-XBvkosDgwASm0mtNaa1-4dUaD2OpMbmZRX7mQL7jPf6tyQNglcE/s1600/408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YIhJ-J4lm7sQ5yoFagO581Dkm7z2avPBFAqnBjEnsE8iSf0gRU0X-ZMtyxmCP5pX88DKRz27REK663H7GZZQM4j-XBvkosDgwASm0mtNaa1-4dUaD2OpMbmZRX7mQL7jPf6tyQNglcE/s640/408.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Three generation" picture. Kenna's trainer, Kenna, and Kenna's trainee. :)</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Magandang hapon ulit,</span><br />
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This week was so much fun. The musical number for mission tour that I was in charge of was a wonderful success. The spirit was sooo strong. (The picture attached is the choir, me, and the violinist practicing the night before at the mission home.) Elder Robbins from the quorum of the 70 came and spoke to us and we got to hear Elder Oaks give his area broadcast last night. I'm grateful for inspired men leading this church. He addressed a particular issue that is crippling the family unit in the Philippines - fathers are leaving to work over seas indefinitely in areas like Saudi Arabia. It's leading to marital problems, problems in raising children, and a dependency of the women on the income of the men. They speficially advised Filipinos not to leave their families despite the money circumstances. </div>
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Halloween was super lame sauce. I think I saw a paper sign in the window of the gas station that said "Happy Halloween" and a kid with a paper mask wandering down the street. Their holiday is All Soul's Day which is November 1 where they go to the cemetary to mourn over their deceased relatives and drink alcohol. So on that day, Sister Gison and I decided to use the pass-along card of the resurrected Christ and testify of the resurrection through his atonement to OYM people going to and coming from the cemeteries. It worked pretty well! We also experienced running out of money and scraping the fridge for food until it was completely empty so we just prayed that we would be able to get by until the next support period. And all of the sudden, people who we never expected were inviting us to stay for dinner and random tricycle drivers giving us free rides. The Lord is most definitely taking care of us. </div>
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I'm really dreading my first workshop on Saturday... by myself. Sisters never do it alone so everyone is joking that I'm the "Sister District Leader." Pfff,</div>
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Also attached is the "generation picture" of me, my momma and my daughter. Other than this there is nothing to report, not much time today.. I love you all! (If you want you can read what I wrote to the president: <span style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">I took up Elder Robbins' challenge to read 1 Nephi 1-5 to better understand h"ow revelation comes, and to figure out why the sons of Lehi took 3 trips back to Jerusalem. One insight I gained is that the first time they went, they relied on themselves. They cast lots and based their plan on a game of chance and went forth to Laban without a plan. The second time, Nephi was "led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand" what he should do. He trusted in God and was receptive enough to the spirit that he was able to hear the spirit tell him to kill Laban. If he had not allowed himself to be guided by the spirit of revelation, with his character, he would never have been able to kill Laban, nor would the thought have ever crossed his mind in the first place. And if he had not killed Laban he most likely would not have obtained the brass plates which revealed Lehi's genealogy. The plates would have never gone for to all of Lehi's seed or been a benefit to them as promised in 1 Nephi 5:18-22. Without the brass plates as it says in Alma 37:9, the Lamanites in 74 BC would not have repented which would have changed the course of history. Needless to say, personal revelation is essential!"</span></div>
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Sister Wilson<br />
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Edited to add, from a later email:<br />
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Mission conference went amazing! It was soooo fun to have all the musical missionaries in the mission home to spend the evening practicing and then sleeping in the mission home with all my closest friends. The song was GORGEOUS. Go to <a href="http://amywebbmusic.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">amywebbmusic.com</a> (I think that's the site) and search "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and listen to the mp3 of the arrangement. I forgot to record it -- sorry! I'll send pics that sister Bertin sent us from the mission home in a sec. :)<br />
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Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13418840323357192833noreply@blogger.com0