Arjyn's Baptism

Check out my new hat. (; 

7-25-16 (Monday)
We didn’t have power at all last night or this morning so I didn’t sleep the best because it’s so stinkin’ hot here! I just wanted my fan to work so bad.. (; And because our fans didn’t work there was no noise to block out all the stupid roosters from roostering all night. Haha! ;D

Pero! Sister Diaz and I gave the workshop at our District Meeting that went super well. Our workshop was about trying to help us as missionaries realize and understand what it’s like to be an investigator. So we had them do different things blind folded and had to trust what we told them to do so they could have Eternal Life (or in other words leche flan. (;) We tried to teach our District the importance of helping investigators feel comfortable while we help them change the way they live their lives. Then we played basketball for a while before we emailed. It was fun. (:

Nanay Biado (:

We also were able to teach and talk with Sister Argine about why she didn’t come to church and it was because she couldn’t get a trike and didn’t have load to help her get one. And our District Leader said her excuse is valid so she can still have her baptismal interview on Wednesday! Oh my word, I am so happy! She is so ready to be baptized! She truly understands what we teach her and even understands the promised blessings we give her. She’s such a golden investigator. I’m so excited for her! (:

7-26-16 (Tuesday)
So this morning during personal studies I saw a giant spider on our floor and just about died! I just stared wide eyed for a second, but when my brain registered everything I jumped up onto my chair. What’s nice though is Sister Diaz was more freaked out than I was. (HAA! Success!) She freaked the crap out and jumped on our desks and ran over to be close to me. It was hilarious! It was exactly like on “She’s the Man”. No joke! But once I realized how funny everything was I had to take pictures and record it. (; Luckily Sister Quijada is the man and was brave enough to drop the hammer ;D She’s literally my hero. Because if she didn’t kill it, I would have had to, which would probably make that experience less funny for me. (;

The first spider of the week.. 

After all that happened, we all went to this house we have been trying to see, because our contract is up for the house we live in now, and long story short.. Elder Lind liked it enough and so we are now moving on Friday! Woo baby! I’m actually super excited for that because I need some real exercise in my life again. (; That and the house is literally a mansion! Its huge! It might be close to the same size as our house in Tooele. 

And as for work today.. we taught Argine again and she is all ready to go for her interview tomorrow! I am absolutely stoked! She is so ready. (:

7-27-16 (Wednesday)

The dead first spider of the week

Today was packed with all kinds of stuff. (:  First! I found out Argine is actually spelled Arjyn.. Haha, my bad. (; But I found that out while filling out her baptism and confirmation record so with that said.. SHE PASSED HER BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW! AHH! I’m so happy! I’m so excited we get to go to the stake baptism and have that experience seeing so many people come together for such a great cause (: Arjyn truly is an answer to my prayers. I set a goal to have at least one baptism a transfer. I pray all the time for the help to achieve that goal and I cannot deny the Lord’s hand in helping me achieve it this transfer. Arjyn was literally just placed in our hands. She came to church with her boyfriend Ryan, who is a recent convert, the week before I got to Binalonan. Then she came again for my first Sunday here. I asked Sister Diaz if she’s taught her before and she said no. So I jumped all over that opportunity and here we are.. just waiting for Saturday so she can be baptized! (: It only took her four weeks to be ready for baptism, which is the quickest a person can qualify for baptism here in the Urdaneta Mission. So all-in-all, Arjyn was a complete blessing in my life. (: When we set righteous goals and do everything we can to accomplish them, Christ helps us and makes up for our short comings. God truly hears our prayers and knows the righteous desires of our hearts. 

Old house

But after Arjyn’s interview, Sister Diaz and I had to come home and figure out a way to get into the house because we locked the only set of keys inside.. After trying everything we could possibly think of about 3 times, we got in by sliding a picture of the Manila temple in the door and somehow did something to the doorknob thing and we accomplished the task in under 30 minutes! I felt pretty successful, not going to lie. It only took 30 minutes AND we didn’t have to break anything. (; 

And then later this evening Sister Diaz and I had our Branch Fireside that was so fun! We watched the Restoration video and had Elder Cochrane give a talk and man, I just felt so happy there. I didn’t receive any kind of revelation or special insights, but I know that when the topic of the Restoration comes up.. I will NEVER deny the truthfulness of it and that Joseph Smith saw and talked with Jesus Christ and God the Eternal Father.  I know with all my heart that Joseph Smith was a key instrument in bringing back Christ’s church here on Earth. 

Old house

7-28-16 (Thursday)
I’m not really sure what to say about today. It was a good fun day, but nothing really happened. We had weekly planning this morning and we all know how much I adore weekly planning. (; But even if it’s not my favorite thing to do, I’m excited for next week. Sister Diaz and I are going to find tons of new investigators and hopefully they will be families. We are determined to help this area be more progressive. (: 

Anyway.. we went to Binmonton today to teach some recent converts and that’s always my favorite because we have to ride a trike up a mountain for about 30 minutes. No joke, there’s nothing I love more than that. I LOVE riding in trikes! (: 

New house

After we got done in Binmonton we came home so we could pack up our stuff/the house. Blah.. no one likes moving.. OR packing.. But the other Sisters are so excited to live in our new house so it makes all this packing more enjoyable for me. It’s fun to be around them when they’re all giddy and excited. (:

7-29-16 (Friday)
Today was literally the most exhausting day of my mission thus far. Oh my word.. I never want to move again! I mean today was a ton of fun and I liked being able to lift heavy things, but man.., My body is dead. I also learned today that I don’t like fancy houses. It makes it really hard to set up things the way you want. That.. And.. This house isn’t nearly as big as I thought it was. It’s still super big for a house here, but it’s not like the houses at home.

Anyway.. Because we moved today, had to pack yesterday, and had our branch fireside on Wednesday.. Sister Diaz and I haven’t been able to work as much as we would like.. And man.. I have truly realized, in an extra abundance, this week the happiness that comes from missionary work. I just always perk up when I’m out talking to people. I honestly love talking to people on the street because I actually know how to speak Tagalog while getting to know people.. so I am a lot more of my goofy self when I do OYM’s. But because of that.. I have realized how different Sister Diaz and I’s personalities are. She is a very mellow and proper girl.. so sometimes I feel uncomfortable being myself around her. I don’t know.. I guess I miss being around people with my same sense of humor and way of living. But the best part of today was when Arjyn texted us asking what the plan is for tomorrow because she is just so excited for her baptism! Oh man, I’m so happy she is so excited! Tomorrow is going to be great!

7-30-16 (Saturday)

Sister Diaz, Arjyn, Elder Rawlinson, ako

Let me just start off by saying ARJYN GOT BAPTIZED! :D Oh man, that was such a fun experience going to the Stake Baptism and seeing so many people all dressed in white. Seeing so many people walking around in all white must mean the temple will be built soon. (: Aaaana, totoo I yan! (: [I hope that’s true] But really though.. It was so exciting to be there for Arjyn’s baptism. When we went to go pick her up, so we could all go to Urdaneta together she was so pumped! Oh man, she was even more excited than I was! Which is a good thing, because that just shows how excited she is to walk in Christ’s footsteps. (: Kat also came to the baptism with Julie and Gina (two recent converts that work with us a lot) which was awesome because it made her that much more excited to be baptized. (: Hopefully she can get parental consent and be baptized August 13th. Other than that we didn’t really do anything super exciting. 

Kat, Feye, Arjyn, Sister Diaz, ako

But last night.. Oh my word! So! After nightly prayers I decided to run downstairs to get a drink real quick before I went to sleep. And as I was putting my water bottle back in the fridge I straight up saw the biggest spider I have EVER seen! I’m talking straight up tarantula! It was HUGE and its legs were thick! They weren’t little twig spider legs.. wait! I take that back.. They were twig legs! Like the dang spider had legs the thickness of a twig. No joke! And it was probably 6 inches from one leg to the other. Parang ito.. (Haha!) Oh my word.. I have never had goosebumps that bad before! Like.. The intenseness of this life threatening experience made my legs burn from the goosebumps. (; 

Here's the dead Satan spider.. His legs are all curled up..
 Sorry I'm not brave enough to stretch them out
 for a picture to show you how monstrous he was. (; 

After I realized this was real life I ran back upstairs to get back up, but Sister Diaz was asleep and the other Sisters had their door shut and I could hear they were praying. (This would happen) I didn’t want to disrupt anyone so I ran back downstairs and decided I would just spray it with permatox; because there was no way I could get close enough to smash it with a shoe. Plus! I don’t think we even have a shoe big enough to kill it! So after I ran around in the dark forever (because I don’t know where any of the light switches are yet) looking for the permatox. Once I finally found it, I went up to the door and sprayed the crap out of the spider but it started to run away/towards me so I ran away too! ;D I ran right back upstairs and jumped in my bed and tucked myself in so no spiders could get to me. (; 

Also.. Here's the two girls from my story
the other week about the chips. (; 

But then this morning I went to go look for the spider’s body and it was nowhere to be found! IT DIDN’T DIE! I’m telling you.. That thing was a monster! I straight up sprayed it with poison and it DID NOT DIE! 

7-31-16 (Sunday)
So! Today Arjyn was confirmed a member and received the gift of the Holy Ghost! What a great experience that was to witness. (: And then after her confirmation she bore her testimony and man.. She’s rock solid. I’m so excited to see what the future holds for her. (:

Also.. I found the Satan’s spider today! I sat down on one of our chairs and across the room under the other chair I saw a giant black ball thing and after I stared at it long enough I realized it was the spider and it was DEAD! Yeah baby! I actually did come out of the war with Satan as the champion! ;D 

Elder Baay (white), Sister Alinton (Yesterday),
 Sister Quijada (white), Sister Diaz,
 Elder Reyes (red), Elder Kloepfer (Navy blue?),
 Elder Rawlinson (Black)

But.. He’s still laying dead on the tile under the chair. None of us want to be the one to dispose of it. But it’s okay because I still need to take a picture of it! (; 

Anyway.. Tonight during nightly planning, Sister Diaz said my Tagalog was fluent in our lesson with Angela earlier today! I honestly had no idea! Oh man, that truly makes me sooo happy! I want to be able to speak fluently in Tagalog so bad. I know that day will come though. I just have to work hard and be patient. (:


 

Sister Diaz forgot her name tag that day.. So luckily I've done that before and learned from my mistake and now always carry my extra name tag in my bag.. So Sister Diaz became Sister Fivas #2 for a couple hours. (; I guess she really is my child. (;