03/02/2015

I'm sooo white...

Ever had soda out of a plastic bag?

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.

Successful first week of the transfer! 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...

Haircuts!

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!

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.
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. 

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. 

Yeah that's it, and here's a pic of the bishop's little girl. Love you all!

Sister Wilson

THIS is how you do transfer announcements!

Trunky service project - helping decorate the church for the ward valentine's party... and then them making us stay for it! >.<

02/24/2015

This was taken from the same balcony. It's stunning at night. You can see everything!

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. :'(

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

Anong araw ba ito? P-day ulit?

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. 

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.

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. 

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. :) 

Love,

Sister Wilson

P.S. THANK YOU ALL for keeping my Post Card Wall of Fame alive and well! 

02/16/15

Every dang day is an adventure out here...

I'll start out with the spiritual side of things. 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. 

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! 

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.

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. 

Heavenly Father really likes to keep my mission interesting. Mabuti n'lang.  Love you all.

Sister Wilson

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.

02/09/2015

(Insert clever greeting here)

Hi everyone! 

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.

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.

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!

Ayo-ayo! (Hehe, Visaya na naman ako eh!)

Sister Wilson
P.S. Sorry, more pics next week.

02/03/2015

*Lets out a deep breath...*

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...

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

Love, 

Sister Wilson

01/18/2015

Napakagandang hapon!

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. 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. 

(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!) 

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. 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!

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.

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.

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.

Sister Wilson

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! ;)

01/12/2015

I found this hilarious. They passed by a goat farm and started recreating the front of the restoration pamphlet.

Exchanges!

The best zone EVER.  :)

Us and Takder, who was baptized last weekend!

Our last coordination meeting... :'( Those were so fun.

Our dunkin' donuts run afterward! :D We found one by our house!

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. 

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.

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...

Sister Wilson

Attached: Malolos 2nd ward missionaries at bishop's house for dinner last night