"We Walked, And Walked, And.. Waaalked!"

8-1-16 (Monday)
O man, all kinds of things happened today! While emailing I found out all kinds of stuff! First! George got baptized! :D He was able to get permission and was baptized! I am just so dang proud of him! I can’t wait to talk to him after my mission and see what he’s like as a member. (: Second! J and J have gone to church twice now! I am so incredibly happy that they are finally moving forward! And last.. But definitely not least.. I received an email from Brayden telling me that Sadie is pregnant! WHAAAT!? Woo Baby! (Haa! Literally! ;D) I’m so excited for them, especially Sadie! I just know how much she loves kids! But as fun and exciting this all is.. I don’t know how I feel about it. But I think I’m leaning on the side that I’m bummed I’m going to miss out on all this. It’s my ONLY sibling’s FIRST kid. It’s my parent’s FIRST grand baby. It’s my FIRST pumungkin.. I won’t get to see the baby as a cute little newborn. It’ll be about 7 months old when I get home. 

** When I told her the baby will only be around 2 months old when she returns, she was very happy and excited. She misunderstood the due date.**

Sisters Alinton, Quijada, Latorre, ako, Diaz

Also..! We went to Urdaneta today for P-Day so I could get a new journal and ended up going to the mission office too. So I got to say goodbye to Sister Latorre (my Nanay [mother]), Sister Bomediano (my ate [sister]), Elder Smith (my Tatay [father]), Sister Ortega (my Kabahay/trisome companion for a few days), and Elder Cochrane (who I think is a total winner inside and out. (;) before they all head home tomorrow. And actually.. Seeing them all getting ready to go home made me a little envious for a minute. I guess I can’t wait to be in their shoes and say I successfully served a full 18-month mission. That truly will be a great day. (:

8-2-16 (Tuesday)
Sister Diaz and I contacted a referral today from a little girl we OYMd a while ago. And dang! Because we asked a random girl about her family and what her parents’ names were.. We’re now teaching a family with 3 kids that live close to the church; AND the parents are actually married! Oh man, I truly hope we will be able to help this family come unto Christ together and understand that they can be with their little baby girl/sister again after this life. I’m excited to see how things work out for them. (: 

But honestly.. The best part of today was when Sister Diaz and I were walking down the highway street thing and this guy across the street just starts yelling “Sisters! Sisters! Come here!” And at first I was a little weirded out. So was Sister Diaz.. And he obviously realized he was kind of making us wonder what was going on because he’s like “Wait! No! Sisters!” and tells us he's a member! Haha! I don’t know why, but I found that absolutely hilarious! I guess that was his best and quickest way to prove that we could trust him. ;D So we crossed the road to talk to him and he introduced us to his inactive friend that sadly lives in a different zone and gave us a referral. Oh man, the people you meet in the Philippines and the ways you meet them. (;

Elder DaBell, Sisters Latorre, Quijada, ako.

8-3-16 (Wednesday)
Since mom and dad are on trek this week, Sister Diaz and I wanted to join them so we sang as we walked and walked and walked and.. waaalked! Oh my heck we walked a ton today! But I’m not complaining because I like the exercise. It’s funny.. I have two thoughts about walking everywhere. First is “Yeaaah baby! I want to lose weight!” But the second is “Yeaaah! I’ll save money so I can buy better food!” Haha, I would (; Anyway!

We walked all day because Sister Diaz and I are trying to contact referrals that don’t seem to exist. But while looking for them we wanted to find new investigators but man.. It really was a struggle. We did end up finding the brother-in-law of a referral we were trying to contact so it all worked out because he’s awesome. I’m really excited to teach him and his wife together. He was just a lot of fun to talk to and made me feel comfortable so I was able to really pay attention to the Spirit and ask lots of inspired questions. We’ll just have to see what happens! Hopefully his wife is as open and friendly to us as he is. (:

8-5-16 (Friday)
Today was great! Even though Sister Diaz and I don’t have very many lessons a day, I’m still happy. I’m happy because I know how hard we worked and I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do too. I’m still a little embarrassed to send in our stats on Sunday, but I shouldn’t be. We’re working hard! We are doing everything we can to find new investigators and so far we’re doing pretty good at that. 

Here's a pretty rainbow just for your liking. (; 

We’ve found 14 new investigators so far this week which consists of 3 different families! Scoooorree! :D Hopefully all our time finding this week will pay off in the coming weeks. (: but man, I really did just have a great time talking to people today. I hope when we go back to them they’ll let us actually teach them. 

But as we were walking back towards bayan [people] this guy [from another religon] started walking with us as he was walking to church which was fine! I thought he was nice at first but I slowly started to realize how good Stan is at his job. This guy would ask questions about the Doctrine of Christ and they were simple enough for us to answer but then he just would laugh at our testimonies. It was really hard to see how lost and confused he is. He truly thinks he has the truth.. But he doesn’t! But honestly the hardest thing for me to listen to was how he believes that we’re only God’s children when we accept Christ. It was really hard for me to hear that he thinks God only claims select people.  That really hurt to know people that believe in God believe that He loves people differently. I promise you.. God loves us all perfectly and evenly no matter what we do or believe. We are ALL Gods children and He loves us infinitely!

8-6-16 (Saturday)
Today was pretty great! Work today was very fulfilling AND fun! I had a lot of fun walking and talking with Sister Diaz today. I like listening to her stories and getting to know her better. Language study was very enjoyable for me today because it was mostly me helping Sister Diaz with English instead of her helping me with Tagalog. It was nice being the teacher today. (: Maybe I can come back after my mission and be an English teacher. (; Nahh.. Dad would kill me! And.. we all know how much I love English.. And teachers.. And school. ;D 

Here's a Jeepny for mom.
Sorry I couldn't find one that was
 actually decorated all cool.
But when I can take a picture of a cool one I will! (: 

We also taught K today and I was all excited for our lesson till I found out Sister A doesn’t want to sign the parental consent form anymore. WHHYY!? K’s baptism was supposed to be on Saturday. Hopefully tomorrow when K’s mom comes to visit her she’ll sign the consent form so K’s grandma won’t have to. I’m sure everything will work out the way it’s supposed to though. I just hope that means it will work out the way I want it too. (:

A is K’s grandma that she has lived with for 7 years. Even though A is more of a mother to K than her real mom, she still wants K’s mom to give her permission. (Hopefully she will, but she very possibly could say no because we’ve never met her and don’t have a relationship with her to help her feel comfortable about all this.)

ALSO! I want you to know that you don’t know what craving something means until you crave a nice big juicy steak while living in the Philippines. Oh my word.. What I would give for some real meat right now! Hahahah! ;D I’m not sure if this is considered a first world problem because that’s what I’m used to, or if this is a legit third world problem.. HAHA!

8-7-16 (Sunday)
Sister Diaz and I also taught the D family again and this time two more of their kids were there. All I can say is I have never met a family so accepting of the Spirit and things we teach them. They asked all kinds of questions about how exactly we believe in God. We testified that God is our Father, Jesus Christ is His Son and our Brother, and the Holy Ghost is how we feel God’s love and come to know the truth. They liked our answer and then proceeded to act all giddy and said.. “We know it’s true. We prayed and it just felt right.” I kid you not, I have never felt a sense of happiness that sincere before. I truly believe that they really do want this gospel in their lives. Sister D’s only worry/concern is she wants her whole family to join the church. She doesn’t want different religions in her family. So.. hopefully all of her kids will be as accepting as her and her husband. (:

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. (;

Answers to Questions

7-18-16 (Monday)
Today was such a good day! I thoroughly enjoyed everything today. P-Day was really fun and relaxing which made me ready and excited to do the work! ;D I enjoyed Brayden and Sadie’s email. It was nice to hear from Sadie in Brayden’s email. 

But anyway.. I was asked if we should call out repentance to our friends that aren’t always making the right choices. I understand this question. Like.. Is it really our place to call out repentance unto our friends? I think the answer is yes. Even if we have to nonchalantly tell them to get their act together. The best way to teach repentance is to simply testify and share the blessings received because of obedience. Then testify that they can have those blessings too if they do the same. I hope that was good advice.. 

But what was interesting was I was able to help answer this question by the things I learned from Sister Diaz last week. She really is the best! Our companionship unity is insane! Because we are both very comfortable with one another, we open up about our thoughts and struggles. And because of that.. we can both help each other. It’s just been great spending the last couple weeks with her. It’s like we’re best buds. :) But man, I am just so grateful for how easy it’s been to get along with every single one of my companions. Life is such a party and I love it! :) 

7-19-16 (Tuesday)
Honestly.. Nothing really note worthy happened today. But it was still a fun day! I really like Sister Diaz. Just being around her makes me want to be a better person. She just has life figured out. Even though she’s a lot more mellow than I am, we still have a lot of fun together. It’s the best when I can get her into a silly joking mood so we can mess around with each other. :) 


Anyway.. We went to go teach the Llamira family this evening and they were all working together trying to finish this big school art project thing for their youngest son Jesse. Which is so cute that they were all working together to help little Jesse. But.. I then realized they were all stressed because the sun was going down and they have zero electricity in their house. That just hit me hard in the heart. Then later 16-year old Jason asked me when I go back home if I’d take him with me. I realize he was just “joking” with me, but these people here don’t realize how good it is to live in the Philippines. 

Honestly, people here are so incredibly kind, generous, loving, and just happy. Filipinos are the happiest and friendliest people on the planet earth. People don’t realize how good they have it even if they don’t have the same living style or amount of money we do in America. It’s honestly insane how everyone wants what they don’t have. People here would like to have the money/life style I have in America, but I would like to have the kind, friendly hangout on bamboo benches life style. Let’s just say I am truly learning to be happy and content with the things I do have. We can’t always have what we want. I just wish people here could realize how happy their lives are even if they don’t have a lot of money.

7-20-16 (Wednesday)
Oh man, today was great! I just thoroughly enjoyed work today. I’m telling you man, there’s nothing better than working hard all day and being able to actually teach lots of lessons. I’m just in such a happy mood when I actually get to sit down with people and testify to them that God loves them, and share with them some of the evidence that proves God is our perfectly loving Father in Heaven. 

In one of our lessons today we were teaching about the Book of Mormon and that we can pray to know the truth. And while Sister Diaz was talking about how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon into English.. I realized that if uneducated Joseph Smith can understand and translate Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyrian, and Arabic into English.. we can read the Book of Mormon in our own language and understand it. If I, miss-wandering-mind, can read the Book of Mormon and understand it.. so can everyone else! If God is all powerful, so are His holy words. 

I know the Book of Mormon truly is the word of God and brings nothing but hope, comfort, and understanding into our lives if we simply read it! Search, ponder, and pray! These truly are the things that we must do! I’m telling you.. The Book of Mormon can change your life in ways you couldn’t even imagine! And I don’t want to hear anyone say “But I’m perfectly happy and I don’t read the Book of Mormon.” NO! You are NOT perfectly happy! I promise you there is a sense of happiness that comes into our lives only through reading the Book of Mormon daily. Because as we read the Book of Mormon we gain a better understanding of the Atonement of Christ, and there’s nothing more glorious in life than gaining better knowledge and understanding of the most selfless and sacred act ever done in the history of ever. 

And.. on a lighter note, I saw a goat today that was literally creepy to look at. I’m not joking, its head and neck was pure black and its body and legs were pure white. I’ve never seen anything like it before. And! I saw the biggest snails ever! They were as big as my hands! I didn’t know snails that big really existed! 

And.. I also ate a shrimp today as long as my hand and couldn’t help but think how jealous my dad would be. ;)

7-21-16 (Thursday)
Sister Standage and Sister Sanico, our STLs came to have personal study, language study, lunch, and weekly planning with us today. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed having them here, but it’s the second week in a row people have been coming to have weekly planning with Sister Diaz and I. There’s nothing wrong with them coming but it makes me wonder if Sister Diaz and I are doing something wrong with how we plan or work in our area. 

Anyway.. while we were teaching the Castro and Pablo family, sister Diaz and I felt prompted to change the lesson and talk about the responsibility we have to always set a good example for our families. We read Mosiah 4:14-15 and it just hit me how grateful I truly am for my parents. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be nearly the person I am today. I love my parents so dang much! I hope they know that! 

Also.. while talking to Patrick Castro today after our lesson, I found out his major in college is culinary arts and got so excited! Then I asked if his school teaches food science and he said “Yes”! Oh, I got even more excited! I want to study here in the Philippines, I really do. I honestly don’t want to leave here after my mission. I’m constantly thinking of ways I can come back here after I go home. Maybe I really can go to school here for a year or something. Sorry dad.. But I could stay here forever. ;) Sorry, but I absolutely love life in the Philippines! Aayaw ko umuwi, talaga. ;) [I do not want to go home, really]

7-22-16 (Friday)
So yesterday Elder Lind and Elder Raymundo brought me two packages. One from mom and dad that says I can’t open till August. So I will open it on August 11 because I think it’s to celebrate being halfway done with my mission. :) And the second package was from Aguilar with all the important things I left.. Like my stinkin’ pillow! How I forgot that I do not know. But! I do know that last night I had the best sleep ever! Two weeks without a pillow was a century too long. ;D haha, joke lang! It actually wasn’t that bad. Dad taught me how to rough things out. ;) 

Anyway.. Today while teaching a family, Sister Diaz and I kept asking them inspired questions because we both felt like we were kind of losing them. We were right.. I don’t even remember what I asked Tatay, but it got him to talk and he told us he has no plans to be baptized into our church and likes being Pentecostal because it’s the closest church to their house. He just “likes us to come over so his kids can listen to the words of God”. I’m glad he finally opened up, but I’m pretty bummed with what he had to say. I had so many things I wanted to say to him and testify about, but I didn’t know how to in Tagalog! I tried so hard to have strong enough faith to be able to express the feelings of my heart! I’m sure the Spirit made up for my weakness in Tagalog, but it was still a little frustrating for me. I just wish I could get over this language barrier already. But I am grateful that at least I can now understand Tagalog pretty well. I guess I should just be grateful I was able to understand Tatay well enough to help Sister Diaz deal with our situation. Then again.. Maybe it’s a good thing I couldn’t say whatever I wanted because I had a lot of ways to prove Tatay wrong. ;) So I stuck to my testimony of prayer and let him know I received an answer that I know he could receive too if he were to sincerely try. And I testified that I had no doubt that my answer was “yes this church is true and brings nothing but happiness” to the point I left everything for 18 months so he could have the same happiness I have that all came and started with a sincere prayer. I know this church is true. I will never ever deny that!

7-23-16 (Saturday)
Today was fun and went by really fast. While working in the afternoon I saw a street sign that says “Bryant St.” so of course I had to take a picture to send to Elder [Bryant] Gardner; he’ll love it. :) 

Then Sister Diaz and I went to the church for the other sister’s fireside they asked us to sing at. It was great! I thoroughly enjoyed the testimonies after we watched “Finding Faith in Christ.” They had 4 boys bare their testimony: one preparing for a mission, a return missionary, a recent convert, then Elder Cochrane as a current missionary. It was so powerful hearing their testimonies all coming from different points in life come together and testify that Jesus is the Christ! There’s nothing more powerful than hearing a sincere testimony. I’m telling you. Nothing. 

And then after the fireside, Sister Diaz and I taught Kat and her Grandma Adelina that was just great! Nanay Adelina asked lots of questions about who we believe in. We ended up having to explain we just worship Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Not Mary, Saint Joseph, or Pope Francis. But that we do have a living prophet today. She seemed to really like our answers and was grateful we answered her questions. But the best part was when I got to bare my testimony in English. :D They always tell me to speak English because they understand it better than my Tagalog, but I usually stick to Tagalog because that’s what I was called to preach the gospel in. But.. I finally just bore my testimony in English and loved every second of it! There’s nothing better than being able to actually express the feelings in your heart. It was good to finally get some of those feelings out. I felt like a new woman coming out of that lesson. ;)

Kat, the one in the pink, is our investigator
that will be baptized when her mom
will sign the parental consent. (:

7-24-16 (Sunday)
Honestly nothing happened today. I mean it was a good happy day, but the most exciting part was when I ate the grilled cheese sandwich I made. :D

A didn’t come to church today and don’t know why.. That’s kind of a bummer considering her baptism is supposed to be on Saturday. Hopefully she has a good excuse for missing church so she can still be baptized at the Stake baptism. I was really excited to go to that and have A see all the other people making the same righteous decision with her. But I guess if all else fails, it could be a good thing so we can teach her some of the lessons more clearly and help her be even more aware of what she will be committing to once she is baptized. 

Also.. I want everyone in the whole world know how much I absolutely HATE ants! Holy freak, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! I hate it so much! I honestly like spiders more than them now.. Haa! The things you learn in the Philippines! ;)

Work in a Bigger Area

7-11-16 (Monday)
I didn’t realize that it was 7/11 today till I just wrote the date down. Freak yo, I missed out on free Slurpee day! :) Anyway.. I did know it was July 11! I just didn’t realize it was 7/11. ;) 

The sacred Grove. (;

But! Today was my 8 month mark. I honestly cannot believe it. Next month I’m half way done.. If my second half of my mission goes by this fast I won’t like that.. I love it here so much! Time is going by so fast! Even though I still really struggle with the language and wishing I could be lazy for an hour or so every day, I love being a missionary! 

I also love our Branch President here! Oh man, he is awesome! I barely know him but I want to constantly be around him. I just want to hear all the counsel and advice he has to offer. He makes me think of my dad. I’m just so excited to go home and have real gospel conversations with him and learn about everything he has to offer.. which I know is a lot! :)

Also! My district is a total party! I don’t know most of them, but I felt so welcomed and happy to be around them. They’re a lot of fun! I’m also really happy Elder Raguin is my Zone Leader again. He’s the best! :) And.. Elder Kloepfer is in my district. We met a couple years ago at AFY in Idaho. Haha, what a crazy world. We randomly met one day while camping and we see each other again in the Philippines. It was a lot of fun talking about people we both know and life back at home! It was great till it made me miss being able to drink real milk and eat real cheese! ;D

7-13-16 (Wednesday)
Today was quite the party! We had Zone Interviews with President Deyro. Woo baby! And because our Zone is pretty close to Urdaneta we got to go to the mission office which is always fun. :) And even though I already had my interview with President last week, I got to visit with him again for a couple minutes because he didn’t want the rest of the Zone wondering why he didn’t interview me. I was pretty glad I ended up getting to visit with him again because ever since our interview last week I’ve been trying to live a better life and constantly repent of my short comings so I can have and feel the Spirit more abundantly all day – everyday. Then after interviews and getting our flew [?!] shots, we got to eat lunch at McDo before coming home. It’s nice to eat American food every once’n –a –while, even if it’s McDonald’s. ;) 

But once we got home, we had personal and language study, which was awesome today! During personal study I just studied my purpose as a missionary and man..! That got me so excited to go out and talk to everyone I saw! It just helped me have a clearer vision of what I should be doing as a servant of the Lord. But of course the day I have the best studies ever is the day we don’t have any lessons.. haha. ;D 

Para sa inyoooooo! (; [For you]

So after studies Sister Diaz, Sister Alinton, Sister Quijada and I all went to go see this house that’s for rent because our contract is up for our house at the end of the month. So once we were able to have someone show us the house the other sisters really liked it so they had the finance Elder, Elder Raymundo, come look at it. Elder Raymundo and Elder Dixon didn’t really like it; which made me happy because I didn’t really like it either. But then we ended up spending the rest of the day looking for a house or apartment to rent.. We weren’t having very much luck finding anything big enough or safe enough, but I had a ton of fun so it’s all good with me that we didn’t have much success! ;D We did meet this one guy though trying to OYM [Open Your Mouth] and ask for help and he ended up driving his motorcycle around and taking us, as we followed him in the car, to all the places for rent he could think of. He was seriously the nicest/coolest guy I have ever met! I hope we can find him again so we can teach him. :)

7-14-16 (Thursday)
This morning sister Deyro surprised Sister Diaz and I by joining us in personal study, companionship study, lunch, and weekly planning. At first I wanted to die. Haha, I was so uncomfortable! I didn’t want her to see and know about all my flaws and weaknesses, but once I humbled myself.. I realized it was a complete answer to Sister Diaz and I’s prayers. We have both been worried about how to take care of our area because neither of us really know what we’re doing. Sister Diaz is leading the area and doing a great job, but I keep wishing we could see our investigators more often throughout the week. But me coming from Aguilar.. I don’t know how to work in a big area. So we both were praying very diligently to know how to better our work in the area and how to plan better during weekly planning. And our prayers were answered by Sister Deyro helping us not only plan better, but to have better lessons with inspired questions and commitments. 

Sister Deyro also helped me realize I need to pray more specifically. When I ask for something, I need to ask for something very specific. Not something general like “please help us to find elect investigators” or “please help me with learning Tagalog.” I should ask for specific things like “please help us find a family with 5 kids that lives close to the church.” Or “please help me to understand and know when to use an object focus or actor focus verb in Tagalog.” I’m excited to see the miracles from my more specific prayers. Hopefully I’ll receive more specific answers. :) 

But also! In our nightly prayer tonight, Sister Diaz thanked Heavenly Father for the opportunity we have to talk with Him. That really struck me. I don’t think I have ever once thanked Heavenly Father for prayer.. I have completely overlooked how grateful I am for prayer. It’s something I use every single day multiple times a day, but have never expressed my gratitude to Heavenly Father for the opportunity I ALWAYS have to literally talk with Him. We ALL have the opportunity to literally talk to God. Just ponder that for a while and think of how wonderful that truly is. :) Needless to say, I learned a lot about prayer today and I LOVE IT! :)

7-15-16 (Friday)
Even though work this week has been pretty challenging for Sister Diaz and I, I still love every day! But work today was pretty rough.. People here are either too busy, ayaw [unwilling], or drunk. We really want to find new investigators because none of the ones we have are really progressing. So we spent a lot of time today trying to find, so we walked around quite a bit. Which is fine because I like when we walk a lot; because I like the exercise and it always helps me get to know my companion better. Like today, Sister Diaz told me all about her boyfriend and their story. And oh my word, it is the cutest! It honestly made me jealous, like.. I hope I can find a boy as sweet and fun as Jaco. :D It just was so fun having Sister Diaz open up to me about him! She is so cute! I loved it. And I love them. ;) I feel like Sister Diaz and I are best friends now. :) 

And at the end of the day, we had a dinner appointment at the Fabea’s and it was a total party! They all like to speak English so I was able to talk more than usual. They also showed me their 2 pet monkeys, 2 turtles, 2 crocodiles, and 5 million cats. It’s like they own a mini zoo! ;D But the best part was getting to see their baby pigs that were born yesterday! Oh my word! They are so freaking cute! I about died! I wanted to hold one so bad, but they were dirty.. But they were still so dang cute! :)

7-16-16 (Saturday)
Today was awesome! We actually had lots of lessons today and I loved every second of it! We have two investigators that can be baptized on the 30th if we can finish teaching them all the lessons this week. I really hope we can do it, because it’s my goal to have a baptism every transfer. Kat and Argin are both so ready to be baptized! It’s just hard to teach them a lot because of how big our area is and how spread out our investigators are. But I know we can do it! This will just be a good test to see how good Sister Diaz and I are at planning and using our time. ;) 

I don’t really have much more to say.. I’m just so tired and want to actually go to sleep on time. ;) It’s honestly a lot of hard work writing in my stinkin’ journal every single night. I mean, I’m 100% grateful I do..! But it’s hard work. ;)

7-17-16 (Sunday)
Today during studies I learned that I need to have better confidence in myself. It’s not like I have self pity or compare myself to others, I just think they’re great at what they do so I’m perfectly content sitting back at letting them continue doing the things they’re good at. (I just re-read that sentence and I realized even though I’m writing in English I use “at” instead of “and”, Woo! my mind is naturally thinking in Tagalog!) :)

I saw this and DIED! ;D

Anyway.. In sacrament meeting these two little girls that are like 2, were running around with a bag of chips about the size of Red Hot Cheetos. One girl grabbed the bag out of the other girl’s hands and that girl obviously didn’t like that, so she grabbed it back and straight up Hulk smashed the other girl in the face with the bag of chips. Oh my word I DIED! Words cannot describe how dang funny it was! And what makes it that much better is the girl that did the hulk smash is fatter than I am, (I’m not joking, the poor two year old has kankles..) so I understand her reaction perfectly. ;D

Binalonan 2 Area

7-4-16 (Monday)
Well.. P-Day was a lot of fun! Sister Alpino and I actually finished shopping pretty early so we got home early enough to play basketball! Woo baby! It was fun playing basketball with all of the Tebag boys, even though no one would really defend me. ;) I just wanted to play a real game of basketball, but I guess it’s a good thing all of the boys are gentlemen.. 

After playing basketball for a little while, Sister Alpino and I went home to get ready to work. And while we were getting cleaned up the AP’s called.. “Sister Fivas, President Deyro has received revelation that you are needed in Binalonan 2 area. You will finish the training of Sister Diaz. We will pick you up tomorrow morning at 7:00.” My heart broke.. I don’t want to leave Aguilar one bit! I LOVE IT HERE! I was so excited to finally have a companion for more than one transfer.. Haha, JOOOKE! I’ve literally had a different companion every transfer my entire mission and I’ve been part of two emergency transfers.. Is something wrong with me? ;) 

Tatay Cesar

Anyway.. It was really hard saying goodbye to G, J, M, and D. They mean the world to me. And apparently I mean a lot to them too.. They all wrote me notes, drew me pictures, and gave me special remembrances’.  I think it may be a good thing I’m transferred so we make sure those boys are converted to Christ, not me.. I don’t want to baptize missionary converts. But either way.. I really don’t want to leave. I love it here so much, the people here truly are the best! And I don’t want to have to get used to another companion. I want to stay with Sister Alpino.. At least I already know who Sister Diaz is because she’s batch with sister Alpino so I’ve met her at our different training meetings in Urdaneta. I still don’t want to leave though.

7-5-16 (Tuesday)
So.. I got 3 hours of sleep last night.. I’m so stinkin tired! The AP’s got to the house early so I didn’t have time to take a shower. Luckily I showered last night after basketball. ;) Anyway.. I’m in my second area now. I hate it. Not really, but I’m just so dang uncomfortable here. It felt like my first day in the mission field and I did not like that. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with the area.. I just don’t know it AND it’s huge! I went from 5 barangay [neighborhoods] to 13. It’s just different here so I’m uncomfortable. 

Sister Diaz

Sister Diaz is a total sweetheart! She’s really mellow and kind. She’s 21 and from Manila, so her first language is actually Tagalog. I think it’s going to be so helpful being the only foreigner in the house so I actually have to speak Tagalog. I hope that doesn’t make me frustrated though. Anyway, I really like Sister Diaz! The only thing that’s super awkward for me is that I have to train someone who just had a different trainer. I feel so scared because I have to help her become an awesome missionary but she is leading the area and pretty much training me because I just let her lead everything and do things her way.. It’s literally like I’m in my training again with my 3rd trainer. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel more comfortable and I’ll get over leaving Aguilar.

Sisters Diaz, Alinton, Quijada

7-6-16 (Wednesday)
Today was better for me. I’m still uncomfortable in lessons though because Sister Diaz and I do things differently in lessons. And.. It sucks having people talk about how I should be able to speak Tagalog. It kind of sucks replacing another American that goes home in like 3 transfers, because everyone compares my Tagalog with hers. It’s also hard here because people here speak Ilocano, but in Aguilar it’s Pangasinan. Nosebleed ako talaga! [?] Even though I’m not in the most comfortable situation I’ve ever been in, I’m still really genuinely happy. I miss Aguilar and everyone there so much, but at least I have a nice companion that is really sweet and patient with my crappy Tagalog and teaching skills. :) 

Sister Alinton, Sister Diaz

Also! In one of our lessons I asked the lady who the only perfect prophet was and she said “ako.” [me] AKO!? I was so caught off guard that I about died laughing! When I realized that was her legit answer I honestly didn’t know what to do. I was like “A prophet..You’re a prophet?” “Opo, ako.” [“Yes, I am.”] I had no idea how to handle the situation and neither did sister Diaz so I was just like “What about Jesus Christ?” and she’s all like “ahh, yeaaah, okay” kind of thing. I think she just didn’t understand me. But I’m not joking, I about died! It was so dang funny!

Sister Quijada, Sister Diaz

7-7-16 (Thursday)
Today was a pretty relaxing and chill day. It was kind of nice having weekly planning today because I got a couple extra hours to kind of sit down and relax. But in both of our lessons today I felt pretty awkward. Especially when we pulled up to this recent convert family and they all just stared at me like they hated me. I guess no one told them that Sister Stomberg got transferred, so when I showed up and told them I’m Sister Diaz’s new companion they all started to bawl! Honestly I was uncomfortable being there. They were all so heart broken that Sister Stromberg was transferred. No joke, for like 10 minutes I just sat on the floor while everyone cried because I wasn’t Sister Stromberg. It’s not like they were rude to me or anything, but I couldn’t help but think “It’s fine I don’t want to be here just as much as you want Sister Stromberg back. I’d rather be back in Aguilar too.” I mean once they all put themselves together they were really nice to me, but it made me feel a little uncomfortable. It was almost a feeling of “oh no, you’re not welcome here.” But on the Brightside, I now know how badly I want to be a good missionary so people will love me like they love Sister Stromberg. 

Maymay. She's the daughter of a recent convert.

Also.. I’m on exchanges with Sister Standage! We met in Urdaneta and Sister Standage and I came to her area in Villasis and Sister Diaz and Sister Sanico are in Binalonan. It’s kind of fun being with Sister Standage again. I’m actually excited to work with her again tomorrow. When we got to the apartment President Deyro was having interviews with the other sisters and actually ended up interviewing me. It was really fun to see and talk with him, but it made me a little uncomfortable.. Like I kind of wished he was my dad. It made me want a big bear hug from my dad and have him pump me up and tell me I can do this. ;) 

A members grandsons birthday..
I don't know people or their names yet.. sorry. Haha. 

7-8-16 (Friday)
Today was great! It was really nice spending the day with Sister Standage. It was just nice to have someone to talk to that I already know with all the changes I’ve had to make this week. It was nice to spend the day with someone familiar. But when I got back to Binalonan with Sister Diaz I was so excited to talk with her and see how her day was. When we got to the house I did the whole “sigh, it’s good to be home.” I liked that because even though I’m new here it actually felt like home when I came back. Maybe that’s a sign that I really am supposed to be here now. ;) 

It was also really fun and welcoming to have my Kabahay, Sister Alinton and Sister Quijada, tell me how much they missed me then started telling Sister Diaz and I about their day. It was just nice to come home and talk with my new friends like we have been buddies forever. :)

7-10-16 (Sunday)
Well.. I met the branch today! They made me bear my testimony in sacrament meeting and I was so uncomfortable doing that. I guess I just don’t want everyone to know how bad I really am at Tagalog. I mean it was fine, but I was pretty nervous. I don’t know why though.. We only had a whapping 55 people come to sacrament/church. Yikes! This branch needs some serious help reactivating the other 500 members. I’m excited to help reactivate these members though! This is a big part in why I wanted to serve a mission in the first place. I want so badly to help these people remember, and re-ignite the testimony they once had. I’ll do anything to help them re-find the happiness that comes from living the gospel and being worthy to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. I will truly do anything to help them come back to the church and to Christ.. 


But! On a lighter note, it rained super hard today so while proselyting we were just walking on the street but it was literally like walking down a creek that goes up to your calves. It was so dang fun! :)

My District

Six Months in the Field and Aguilar

These are our 4th of July outfits. ;D
(with Sister Miller and dad's package)

I'm honestly REALLY bummed I'm missing the 4th of July in Menan. It's honestly the first holiday I'm actually kind of missing. I have now realized the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I always thought it was St. Patrick's Day because of the cornbeef. (; 

6-27-16 (Monday)
I love P-days with all my heart, but they really are not relaxing at all. There’s just so much we have to do and by the time we get home from shopping we have to go out and work. We have no time to relax or time to clean the house. As fun as P-Days are, I just wish I could have had an hour to sit around and do nothing. ;) 

Also.. If you want to know what uncomfortable feels like.. try teaching two 18-year olds, a 19-year old, and a 20-year old the Law of Chastity. At first I really didn’t want to teach them, but luckily we’re all best buds so that made it a lot easier to teach a bunch of teenage boys my age to stop being dirties.

6-28-16 (Tuesday)
Oh my word, I had the time of my life today! Sister Alpino and I had exchanges today and I had so much fun with Sister Ngatai! It was just a ton of fun! I love Sister Alpino and all, but it was so nice to be with someone that has my same sense of humor. It was such a great day! 

Sister Ngatai

AND! In one of our lessons the lady we were teaching was just amazed at “how good I am at Tagalog.” All she could talk about was how good I am. Honestly, that made me feel so good. It really made me happy. I’m still really uncomfortable with Tagalog and know that I can’t speak super well yet, but she really helped boost my confidence. Today was simple yet crazy and I loved every second of it! :)

6-29-16 (Wednesday)
Sometimes days go by so fast and I wonder if that means we’re doing something wrong.. Haha. But really, missionary work has been so dang fun with Sister Alpino! Our investigators are so fun and I love teaching them because I’m not afraid to speak up in lessons since I’m comfortable around Sister Alpino. Like today with M.. I talked way more than Sister Alpino in our lesson and I felt the Spirit so strongly because I actually kept opening my mouth and it was constantly filled. We were teaching M about Eternal Marriage and the poor little guy just seems so scared to get married. I feel like he just needs some direction in his life. He’s literally the sweetest person I’ve ever met, I just want to see him cheer up about life. He deserves to be nothing but happy!

7-1-16 (Friday)
I have officially been in the mission field AND Aguilar for 6 months now! I honestly can’t believe I’ve been here that long. I’m also super happy I’ve been in my first area this long... It’s been really nice having some consistency in my life. ;) But even though today was great and we got to ride the bus to Mangatarem so we could get our support, G told us that his parents don’t want him to be baptized.. WHYYY!? First J now G.. The two most elect investigators anyone could ever have, now can’t be baptized because their parents and family don’t want them to be baptized. I am just heart broken!   

But on the bright side.. M only smoked once today, M is still living the Word of Wisdom, A and A read the Book of Mormon, P worked with us today, and it rained really hard so it wasn’t hot today. :)

Nanay Alejandra, Sister Miller, ako

7-3-16 (Sunday)
Oh man, today was full of all kinds of stuff! I loved every second of it! First! Sister Alpino and I went to sacrament meeting in Aguilar 1 branch because we had to go to Lingayen so Sister Alpino could get her patriarchal blessing. I LOVED going to their sacrament meeting! It was a million times more reverent and spiritual for me. I think it was a lot more spiritual for me because it wasn’t my sacrament meeting. I didn’t have to worry about my investigators and wonder if they were going to show up. I was able to focus 100% on the Atonement of Christ and reflect on the things I need to change and be better at. I loved it so much. It just hit me how wonderful of a gift the sacrament truly is. I couldn’t help but think and wonder “Is this true! Every single week, am I really cleansed perfectly again? If I worthily take the sacrament, am I really forgiven of my mistake and short coming from that week? Am I really ‘baptized’ again every week?” As I pondered that I felt an overwhelming sense of cleanliness in my heart. Then I couldn’t help but think “I really hope I die on a Sunday after church.” ;)

Then Sister Alpino and I went to the Stake Center in Lingayen to get her patriarchal blessing and.. we found out we were supposed to go to a different church building so we were 30 minutes late for her appointment. I felt bad for taking us to the wrong church, I just assumed it was the stake center. 

I found out M can draw so
I told him to draw me something..
This is what he decided to draw for me. (; 

But! Luckily it only took like 15 minutes to get her blessing so we were only about 20 minutes late to our church here in Aguilar. But we walk in and D FINALLY came to church! It only took 5 months but he finally came! I was so happy I just wanted to hug him! C also came to church for the first time in a couple months which was awesome! We ended up having 8 ISM’s again! WOO baby! The work here really is progressing. :) 

Also! I actually got cold today! Like.. Freezing! I even had goosebumps! I don’t know how that can happen when it’s like 85 degrees F! ;D 

M also drew me a cute rose because I found out he can draw and told him to draw something for me.. so he drew me a red rose. :) I’m going to have such a hard time saying goodbye to these boys when I get transferred! I love this area so dang much! 

 I let Sister Arquiola do my make up tonight for fun and that was a horrible idea. Now she wants me to wear makeup all the time. NOOO! I honestly think I look insane, but they all think I look like a babe. Even if it’s true… I hate wearing makeup and I’ll stick to my natural beauty for now. ;)