Week 24 in the Philippines Laoag Mission: Taytay Roman's baptism

TRUNKATED VERSION (full letter follows trunkated verstion):

August 15, 2016

Hello Sam Sparks, this is America! I mean... lets just go to the email... So as it turns out the movie Pacific Rim is actually true. Giant monsters are rising out of the sea and asking for directions to Tokyo. We usually just give them a pamphlet, give a quick lesson -their busy monsters and they are on a schedule so we have to respect their time restraints- and then just send them in the right direction. We've met a lot of very nice sea monsters that way, though one tried to take a bite out of Sister Hermosa but i scared it off by opening my umbrella at it so we are good.

At Taytay Roman's Baptism

    Besides romping sea monsters and giant robots we have had a very successful week. Tatay Roman was baptized by his son Jason- a Return Missionary- and it was truly the most amazing experience of my life. Last week we had the fast and testimony meeting -where everyone gets up if they want and bears their testimony after sacrament meeting- and the spirit was sooo strong and it has carried over this whole week. Tatay was baptized along with a member who had just turned 8 by the name of Charity. When Roman showed up he had gotten a haircut, and shaved and was just grinning from ear to ear. After the baptism he kept saying "Sobrang masaya po ako." (I am soooo happy) over and over and just smiling and hugging himself and his wife. They are very excited to go to the temple in a year from now and Sister Hermosa (since she is from Manila) will be there- the lucky duck... I simply cannot describe how extremely happy I am to have been able to witness his baptism. After the service Roman approached me and told me that he had been taking the missionary lessons on and off since November of 2000. That's a long time. But he has been truly converted. When he was interviewed the Elder who did the interview pulled Sister Hermosa and I aside and told us he had only ever seen one other investigator as converted to the Lord as Tatay and that he was excited to see what he would do. Now, that sounds like i'm bragging, and I want to make sure ya'll know that i am not. I can barely get a sentence out in Tagalog and Tatay speaks a mix of tagalog and ilocano so i honestly can't understand him half the time and he has no idea what I say either. It's not me who baptizes and it's not me who converts. I am lucky enough to have the Holy Ghost with me as I teach and he was ready to hear and receive the words at this time. It's like how a hammer isn't the one who builds a home, but the one who uses it. I am but a tool in the Lord's hands and hopefully I live up to be useful to Him.

        We also have an official house cat. But here the sound of rain isn't just the rain hitting the tin roof, it's also  the sound of a bunch of wild cats suddenly wanting to be house cats... so we will see. Scaredy Pants, the cat is actually the bravest of the lot and will just kinda lounge about the house while we update our area book. You've got to keep a good eye on her because otherwise she'll get into the garbage and other such shenanigans so... yeah. Cats!

    We also had our Zone Activity today, which was suuuper fun. Yesterday I was feeling a little down but that is why God arranged for the ZC today. So a ZC is where all the missionaries gather together on a p-day (prep day) and either go to a museum or a tourist spot or something but since there isn't much to do in Laoag we just met at the church and played games and ate. It was so fun it was kinda ridiculous.

    You may be wondering about my foot. It's fine. It looks gross in the picture, but the skin has completely healed over and it's just a little flaky so we are all good. I'm supposed to go back in next week to have a follow up apt, so we will see what the dr says then but it doesn't hurt any more and it's alllll good.

From the Sister who may be getting transferred

Sister Eldredge

FULL LETTER:

August 15, 2016

Hello Sam Sparks, this is America! I mean... lets just go to the email... So as it turns out the movie Pacific Rim is actually true. Giant monsters are rising out of the sea and asking for directions to Tokyo. We usually just give them a pamphlet, give a quick lesson -their busy monsters and they are on a schedule so we have to respect their time restraints- and then just send them in the right direction. We've met a lot of very nice sea monsters that way, though one tried to take a bite out of Sister Hermosa but i scared it off by opening my umbrella at it so we are good.

    Besides romping sea monsters and giant robots we have had a very successful week. Tatay Roman was baptized by his son Jason- a Return Missionary- and it was truly the most amazing experience of my life. Last week we had the fast and testimony meeting -where everyone gets up if they want and bears their testimony after sacrament meeting- and the spirit was sooo strong and it has carried over this whole week. Tatay was baptized along with a member who had just turned 8 by the name of Charity. When Roman showed up he had gotten a haircut, and shaved and was just grinning from ear to ear. After the baptism he kept saying "Sobrang masaya po ako." (I am soooo happy) over and over and just smiling and hugging himself and his wife. They are very excited to go to the temple in a year from now and Sister Hermosa (since she is from Manila) will be there- the lucky duck... I simply cannot describe how extremely happy I am to have been able to witness his baptism. After the service Roman approached me and told me that he had been taking the missionary lessons on and off since November of 2000. That's a long time. But he has been truly converted. When he was interviewed the Elder who did the interview pulled Sister Hermosa and I aside and told us he had only ever seen one other investigator as converted to the Lord as Tatay and that he was excited to see what he would do. Now, that sounds like i'm bragging, and I want to make sure ya'll know that i am not. I can barely get a sentence out in Tagalog and Tatay speaks a mix of tagalog and ilocano so i honestly can't understand him half the time and he has no idea what I say either. It's not me who baptizes and it's not me who converts. I am lucky enough to have the Holy Ghost with me as I teach and he was ready to hear and receive the words at this time. It's like how a hammer isn't the one who builds a home, but the one who uses it. I am but a tool in the Lord's hands and hopefully I live up to be useful to Him.

    Next on the venue is Kevin. He is living with Nanay Myrna and her grandson Gello (sorry I haven't gotten a picture of them yet) a Recent Convert. He approached US and asked to be taught because he recognized that the Gospel would fill a hole in his life. So cool. Anyways his birth grandfather has been sick in the hospital and he is the only relative so he spends his weeks at school and his weekends in Laoag taking care of his grandfather and tries to go to the church in Laoag. So he hasn't been able to attend every week like he would like to.  You should just hear him pray. Man, I wish I had the spirit like this kid does. We hope to get him baptized this upcoming Saturday but it all depends on his grandfather who we 1) want to get better 2) want him to attend the service. So we are trying to contact the Elders in that area to go and give him a blessing if Kevin would like and just working on situating that all out. Scheduling is hard. I don't like it. (read the previous sentence like a child 'i downt wike et') But hopefully we will get this all worked out and when the Grandpa is blessed he will recover and it'll all be hunky dory. Sana, (hopefully) we will get to teach Kevin's birth grandpa too...

    Then there is Franklee and Rica... Their parents don't want them to be married as Franklee doesn't have the best job and their son has lung problems and financial crap. I personally don't get why the parents don't just support their kids but hey, i'm bias towards the wedding and i'm not a parent so i have no 'basis for comparison' (if you don't get that movie quote i might cry... the full quote is: "That's not fair!!" 'you say that so often, i wonder where you get your basis for comparison.') But so far they are praying about it and hopefully they will either come to a decision and be married anyways without parents consent or Franklee will get a better job or the parents will change their minds. So far i'm praying for the last two.

    We have had two of our investigators move out of town (Kimberly and Maan) which is suuuuuper sad but hopefully we will get their contact info there and the missionaries in that area will be able to get a hold of them. SPEAKING of investigators we got a text from the office elders that a guy had requested for a Book of Mormon from the online website and we were to go and meet with him. Turns out he is a pastor for a church in one of our further brgys. He was sooooo cool. He says he wants to study our church so that when members of his congregation ask him about other churches he can give them correct information and that they won't base their religious beliefs off hearsay. I'm looking forward to meeting with him and helping him out. He may not take the actual lessons but it's all about helping understanding. (Please read Our Search For Happiness for the best non religious explanation of our church) I may try to order one for him....

    One of the best friends of one of the RC in the area, by name of Cezlee, has been really amazing lately. She comes to church and bears her testimony and knows all the primary songs (she is 7) and she has simply MARKED UP her scriptures like CRAZY. Hopefully we will be able to meet up with her and her mom and teach them as a family.

    We also have an official house cat. But here the sound of rain isn't just the rain hitting the tin roof, it's also  the sound of a bunch of wild cats suddenly wanting to be house cats... so we will see. Scaredy Pants, the cat is actually the bravest of the lot and will just kinda lounge about the house while we update our area book. You've got to keep a good eye on her because otherwise she'll get into the garbage and other such shenanigans so... yeah. Cats!

    We also had our Zone Activity today, which was suuuper fun. Yesterday I was feeling a little down but that is why God arranged for the ZC today. So a ZC is where all the missionaries gather together on a p-day (prep day) and either go to a museum or a tourist spot or something but since there isn't much to do in Laoag we just met at the church and played games and ate. It was so fun it was kinda ridiculous.

    You may be wondering about my foot. It's fine. It looks gross in the picture, but the skin has completely healed over and it's just a little flaky so we are all good. I'm supposed to go back in next week to have a follow up apt, so we will see what the dr says then but it doesn't hurt any more and it's alllll good.

From the Sister who may be getting transferred

Sister Eldredge

Week 23 in the Philippines Laoag Mission: Back On My Feet?

When You Forget Your Name Badge

8/7/2016

Kamusta mga tao!

    So this week started out limping and finished walking, and for that i'm grateful. The pictures of my feet look really bad and gross and scary but that was last week and i haven't taken a picture of what my toes look like now, which is nearly entirely healed over and it doesn't hurt to walk anymore, which is cool. So what happened was I have been treating my foot for athletes foot and it had mostly gone away when one night, last Sunday, it started hurting so bad I didn't fall asleep until 2:30am. The next morning the three biggest toes had swollen and were covered in yellow puss. Literally overnight. So I texted Sister Andrada, the registered nurse, like a good little girl and had to go to the hospital to get the puss removed. Just thinking about that makes my foot hurt... but anyways the doctors removed the infected bit (which I could've done at home in all honesty) and was told to keep it bandaged and dry until I came back the next week. So I'll be going back AGAIN later today to see what they say. Last week we also got sized for our slacks so we are one step closer to getting PANTS!! I may cry.

    Speaking of crying I got a package from home!! it had Harry Potter candies, music, John Bytheway CD's (that i finished listening to within the first 5 days of getting it) and sooo much more. It was the BEST! Especially after such a long and exhausting day. That day I had walked way more than usual, as I needed to buy groceries, and go to the doctor to have my foot looked at and I was exhausted from not sleeping enough and all that jazz so it was literally heaven-sent that I got the packages when I did. Did I mention we got a mosquito net? Sister Hermosa and I have rearranged the room so that we can both be under it and we just lay their looking at all the mosquitoes that are trying to get in and thank our lucky stars.

Hugging My Mosquito Net.

    But not much really happened this week due to being confined to the house... agian... Technically we weren't 'confined' but i can't wear shoes and i cant get my foot wet so when it rains we are stuck. It rained all day sunday and i wrapped my foot in a plastic bag and taped it on to get to church, and even that didn't work entirely. OH! did I ever tell you about Kevin? He is the grandson of a Recent Convert, well he is kinda adopted in. His dad is Italian and he's never met him, and his mom lives in Manila for work so we was living with his grandfather in a neighboring town but goes to Sarrat for school and Nanay Myrna saw him and at first she thought he was her grandson who lives in Oxford, UK so she called him over got to know him and invited him to live with her during the school year so he wouldn't have to commute over an hour from school and home. He hasn't been able to come to church the last few weeks as he has been taking care of his grandfather who is in the hospital, but boy should you hear him pray. He has attended church in the past with his friend Gello who is also a RC, so we don't worry about him, we are just praying for him and his grandfather.

    We also were invited over for dinner at a member's home: The Ver's. They like us to come over with the Zone Leader's every Saturday. We had fried tilapia and Elder Daclag convinced Elder Motley that 'true' Filipinos eat fish bones. So Poor Elder Motley believed him and we were all rolling. Whenever Elder Motley was distracted (Elder Daclag would point something out and Elder Motley would turn to look) Elder Daclag would put fish bones on my plate so it looked like he was eating them. Eventually Sister Hermosa told Elder Motley to look up 2 Nephi 9:34 which is about how those who lie never prosper. We were laughing soo hard when he realized he had been taken for a ride.

    So due to continual rain, a bandaged foot and ravenous avocados we didn't get much proselyting done. In fact we all but used up our travel money for trycee's and jeepnee's the first few days as we would just trycee from appointment to appointment. However we have three really magaling (awesome) investigators and a baptism this week! Yup, happy birthday Tesha tomorrow we will be baptizing Tatay Roman. Yesterday after his baptism was announced we had sooo many members get up and bear their testimony of missionary work, and their love for Tatay Roman and how they know that the gospel will bless him and his family. Then, the show stopper, his son Romel got up and bore his testimony. Romel baptized Mery Rose back in April but he very rarely sits in with us in the lessons with Tatay so I wasn't sure what he thought of his father getting baptized. But he bore the most heartfelt testimony about prayer and i was bawling. He talked about how he has been praying for his father to be baptized for over a year now and how grateful he is for 'the missionaries' to have never given up hope on Tatay. It was truly an amazing end to the week and I wish every Sunday was like that.

    From the sister who is almost back on her feet

Sister Eldredge

P.S.  we got a new cat. i've named it lucifer. it's white with red eyes and likes to pee on stuff and i'm trying to evict lucifer and keep salem. Salem and Lucifer are both tom cats so they fight and freaking lucifer took a chunk out of salem's face and i'm going to whack him with a broom next time i see him. Also i looked up salem in the bible dictionary and it means peace. that is cool, but i need salem to whup lucifer's butt. so that is fun.

Week 22 in the Philippines Laoag Mission: Baptisms, Dengue Fever, a Typhoon & Avacados

August 1, 2016

So this has been a fun week of movies, 10 baptisms, new scriptures, dengue running rampant in the streets, starving missionaries, typhoons, and aggressive avocados. So first with what you are probably most concerned about. The avocados here have mutated so they now have a circulatory, nervous and digestive system. They have as many teeth as three sharks "That's over forty eight hundred teeth!" (Name that movie) But if you keep some chips handy you can scare them off when they swarm.  I'm kidding, its just getting to that time of the season when you've got to both watch the skies and watch your step, but this time for avocados and not mangoes.

    So lets start from the beginning, and I swear we will get around to the starvation, dengue and typhoon bit later. Last Monday we got to participate in the farewell party of our Branch Presidant's wife who is going to Norway for 3 months to visit family after the death of her mother. We taught about how God is aware of all His children no mater where we go. Eventually the conversation turned to Jonah and how he tried to run away from God. I was trying to say "Sobrang pasaway si Jonah." Which translates to 'Jonah was very disobedient.' but I swapped out ;'pasaway' with 'masipag' which means hard working. Needless to say the family was slightly confused until my companion translated what she thought I was trying to say. So language mishaps! they still happen, they just take me three days to realize that I said the wrong thing!! That was fun. I also got some new scriptures- I might have mentioned them last week- and i've finally finished making the cases for them. Its ridiculous how excited I am for these mini scriptures....

    This Wednesday I got to work in Laoag with our STL (Sister Training Leader) in her proceliting area. It was a little confusing as I don't know who are the members and who are investigators and who we have never talked to before but it was fun. Some of the memebrs had some fun teasing the newbie. But several of the memebrs and a few investigators as weel were very sick with the mosquito sickness dengue so we had a lot of fun calling elders and ward memebers to give blessings. The power of the priesthood is real, and it can be simply words of comfort from your loving God in heaven but it can also be powerful healing.  So no im not sick and no I did not get bit by mosquitoes the whole time I was around those with dengue.

    This Friday we had a branch movie night, which was super fun but also super rushed. We have been talking about it for a few weeks and I wanted to talk to Barangy captains about announcing the movie night and putting up posters around town and handing out flyers but as our branch president wanted to to it this Friday we settled for passing out flyers. Mostly members came, but it was a good turn out and I want to try having another movie night son, the only thing is the only church movie with Tagalog subtitles is the Restoration which is only 20 minutes long... not much of a movie night... So we are working and talking about other branch activities we can put together.

    Saturday! This Saturday we had a Stake Baptism. That means all the baptisms that were going to go down in the stake were all baptized together. It was super fun. There are wards or branches (depending upon their size, wards are bigger than branches) which are grouped together in Stakes so this was a baptism for nearly every ward in the stake, 10 total! Our Branch got the baptism of Don Don, who was taught by the Elders in our area. Don Don is 'missionary famous' meaning all the missionaries in the stake know about him. He has been investigating the church for 18 weeks (three transfer cycles) and is quite hysterical. When asked about tithing he would very enthusiastically put up both hands and wiggle his 10 fingers to signify 10%. He isn't very talkative but he is, as I said, hysterical. When he got in the water he immediately leaned back to go under before Elder Motley had a chance to say the necessary words! It was quite funny and then for his actual baptism he had to be submerged 4 times as he kept sticking his feet up in the air! (In our church we believe in complete submersion to symbolized the burring of past life and the renewal of life, the resurrection, so its necessary for the entire body and clothes of those being baptized to be completely submerged) It was quite fun and once they finally got it right he was ready to go again! haha Then he hugged Elder Motley and was all gungho to get out of the water. We, Sister Hermosa and I, were able to take some Less actives and some Investigators to the baptism and they very much enjoyed it. They were just excited in general to go to Laoag and see all the other members. One of our investigators hadn't quite realized that it was a world wide church, and told me that it now made sense that I was a foreigner.

    So about the starving missionaries and typhoon. The Elders have not found out how to limit how much they eat so by the end of the weak they mostly just have potatoes and, if they are lucky, rice. They also have some problems with their water system so every now and then the water does not work at their house and have to borrow their neighbor's pump as they don't have one. So we have gotten into a habit of gathering extra canned goods for them as they not only have larger apeties but further areas so more of their money goes towards travel expenses. Typhoons. Typhoons are basically just like any other storm. Ours is a level 2 typhoon so its about the strength of a tropical storm and will last from yesterday (Sunday) to this Wednesday. The largest and worse part of the storm was yesterday. The wind was so powerful it would push water through the window edges and was really fun to watch from our second story windows. I personally am loving the storm so far as it makes the weather so cool. I was actually cold yesterday! who would have thought I would look forward to goosebumps?

    We have a new cat! While I may sound like a crazy cat lady I am seriously hoarding all the wild cats I can. While I don't touch them (they wouldn't let me anyways- they are wild.) I do like seeing them around the house as the more cats the less rats, right? The older cats by name are: Grumpy Gills ( a cat with coloration on his face to make him look like he has angry gird eyebrows) Scare D. Pants (a cat with really wide eyes that always looks surprised) and Baby Cakes, (a grey cat that is small, yet an adult) The new cat is Salem, he is all black and has pale green eyes. He sounds like a cow when he meows but the poor thing is scared of storms and is a very good ratter so he is my favorite. During the typhoon I opened some windows and he came into the laundry room and just cried. If you've ever heard a cat cry its the strangest thing. If you haven't then take the nearest cat to you and dump it in a bucket of water, it'll probably cry. (I DO NOT suggest that as it is rude to the poor cat) But Salem was hiding in the laundry room -an annex to the house so technically its still outside- so I purred until he stopped crying. (if you roll your R's over and over it sounds like a cat purring, that is what I did.) Its dumb but it made me feel like I was helping God by caring for all of his creations, even when its cats that sound like cows.

    Coming up in the future is... The baptism for Tatay Roman!!! He is progressing beautifully and will be ready for baptism by the 9th. (Happy Birthday Tesha!) And he will be baptized along with the primary president's daughter as that is her 8th birthday. The 10th will be the wedding of Franklee and Rica, but as Franklee has not come to church in over a month we have decided to postpone his actual baptism as we want to make sure he understands just how vital coming to church is. Coming to church is just about counting heads and being considered 'active' a bag of sand could be put in church every day and attend all the necessary classes but obviously it wound contribute or learn anything. So don't be a bag of sand. Church, and all the classes that go with it, are for a reason. Its so we have opportunity to help one another through bearing testimony, shared experiences and have unity with our faith. Trees don't grow one in the middle of the field. They grow best in forests, where they have the support and nutrients of those around them ans the previous generations of trees before them. Don't think that you have to 'get through' church. If you keep up that attitude you are no better than that bag of sand. Then after, once church is out, its still Sunday! Sunday is meant to be a delight so what do you do on Sunday? What do you do that is special and sacred for just Sundays? Sing songs, pray, make meals together, do something as a family.If you are living away from family then make one! That doesn't mean get married, that means find a group of friends and spend time uplifting one another. Play games and spend time with one another, away from electronic distractions and you will find joy. The steps are

1) a choice. Once you decide upon how you want to live and keep the Sabbath will begin you on your journey.

2) eventually the choice will become a habit

3) the habit will become a tradition

4) and the tradition will become a culture.

From the sister who is doing her best to keep her feet dry,

Sister Eldredge

Week 21 In The Philippines Laoag Mission

Because the power was out all the town was out.  The kids and adults were all out in the streets playing games.  These are my neighbors who are playing "steal the bacon".  

July 25, 2016

Hello! Me again! Well obviously its me, but regardless....

This has been a pretty amazing week, but at the same time the LONGEST week of my mission so far. We didn't get as many lessons taught as I would have liked due to having to go back to the hospital to have my foot looked at (for the athletes foot) and after sitting in the waiting room and then randomly asking for a blood and other samples I was told that I was as healthy as a horse but would still feel tired until this Saturday as my body was still recovering. That's not exactly what I wanted to hear, but then again I'm always hoping to hear the words "do you want free chocolate?" or "Here is a free AC unit!" So I'm not surprised at not hearing what I want to hear! haha. But while I was sitting in the waiting room I was staring at the welcome mat that had some water stains. I eventually realized that it had the exact same shape as the profile of Christ in a drawing I did a while ago! So I was impressed to pray and just be grateful for what I have instead of wishing for what I don't have: free chocolate, air con, or total strength back. I know that the more we trust in God the more we will be able to have the strength we need to face the requirements for the day. That also applies for stress, stress is a form of fear, and fear cannot reside in a place where faith is. That is not to say that people who struggle with stress are faithless, just that we all need reminders to trust in the Lord. yes this life is incredibly stressful but if it wasn't hard we wouldn't grow much and that would defeat the point of life!

Patience
Frame 1: It's so nice to be well and out of the hospital.
Frame 2:  OUCH!
Frame 3:  You have athlete's foot!
Frame 4:  I'm NOT praying for patience anymore...

    That leads me to this week. It's not about what I want and it's not about me. It's about the people. Of course I know that before, but like a sunset every now and then the clouds align in just the right way to make way for something bigger. I hope that makes sense... What I mean is we know that the sun sets every day, it's kind of obvious, but sometimes we take the time to watch it go and glory in its parting. That almost sound poetic, i'm rather proud of myself. The more I get to know the people in the Sarrat area the more I love missionary work. I'm not here to just teach lessons and learn a language. reciting memorized lines of perfect and grammatically correct sentences. It's not about me. It's about if we have the spirit with us as we teach, find, and greet the people around us. I'm not just here to invite others to come unto Christ, i'm here to invite them to want to and to help them feel His love in all times in all things and in all places.

A Sarrat Sunset

    So the week began slow, having to rest for a few more hours than I would have liked but in those moments I was able to meditate (as I couldn't get myself to sleep) and read the few Liahona's that I hadn't gotten to yet. I was also able to write a few letters that had been nagging me in the back of my mind. I think the Lord was trying to get me to do that.

    I think my favorite thing that we did this week was helping Nanay Modesta. She is 80+ and Iv'e been meeting with her since I first arrived in the mission field as she is the guardian of one of the recent converts in the area. She was shoveling a pile of dirt in her driveway to try and clear it out of the path, as the recent rains and children playing on it had slowly pushed it into the road. The shovel she was using, the wooden handle part ha broken, so it was like using a garden spade to move a mountain. We approached and offered to help, and after a bit of reassuring and taking the spade from her we began working, we borrowed a real shovel from her neighbor and took turns with the shovel and spade and quickly moved the pile into a more manageable shape. I was sweating so hard sweat was dripping off me at a rather impressive rate. (If I have not mentioned it before the people here enjoy pointing out my nose. My nose flips up while theirs is more flat on their face.) So it was funny as the sweat dripped off the tip of my nose the children that had gathered to watch all laughed, saying that my Pinocchio nose was crying. Did I mention that we also had no power in the whole town due to some electrical lines being checked and ensured that they were safe? It was the best day ever.

    Next week will be so fun and I can't wait! We are going to have a Zone baptism (where all the baptisms in the Zone are arranged for the same day place and time and all the missionaries and members come to support all the new converts) this Saturday and this Friday we are having a branch movie night! We are going to make a bunch of flyers and pass them around the town and invite people for movies and popcorn. The movies we will show will be The restoration and Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration, both of which have Tagalog subtitles.

    Sorry for how short this letter is but that basically sums up my week...

From the sister who is fully healed and working on getting screens on her windows to keep the stray cats, mice, bugs, and mosquitoes out,

Sister Eldredge

P.S.  I FORGOT TO SAY:  My branch just got back from a three day temple trip (12 hours drive down and up so two days just for travel) and I gave some money to my branch president and he got me baby scriptures! They are soo tiny and sooo cute and they will be perfect for proselyting as now I won't have to try and hide my name from the investigators and they will be lighter to carry. All my study and notes will go in the bigger ones but these will be my carry around ones

P.P.S.  I also forgot to say:  Roman is doing great! He has even asked us to move his baptism up from August 20th to the 9th. A young girl in the ward is turning 8 that day and will be baptized with him on her birthday! Franklee and Rica are amazing as always but they are struggling to come to church, every time Franklee gets time off work there is something that calls him away: a death in the family, a storm that knocked down a tree that he wanted to clear away as he had the day off work and such. We will continue to emphasize the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy but so far if this continues he will have to be baptized on a different day, though his wedding is still a go!

A HUGE spider, the size of my face.  It's non-venomous and etas bugs and mice so I named it squishy and it is my squishy and he shall be mine.  

Week 20 in the Philippines Loaog Mission: Another Week of Rest

A "Get-Well" Lei from my Zone Leaders.  The Elder in the picture on the Lei is one of my Zone Leaders.

July 17, 2016

Well it looks like I have survived another week! haha i'm kidding. This week has been much of the same, being stuck in the house. It was quite funny because as soon as I stepped foot into our house after being released from the hospital my left foot started acting up. i did not have a day between getting released and my foot getting bad. It is true when they say once you have finished done trial you begin another! Apparently I have athlete's foot and because I have not taken care of it it has gotten pretty bad so we went tot the hospital to have it checked out and I was told shoes are bawal (not allowed), and to keep the foot covered in ointment and to give it plenty of air. Needless to say it has been another week in the house. We went out to teach on a few occasions and My health is improving so it was not extrenious.

So a basic wrap up of the last few weeks:

Our main focus in teaching is on three of our investigators: Roman, Franklee and Kimberly.

   Tatay Roman is 50+ and his entire family are active members. We had hoped to have had his baptism this last Saturday but he had some things he needs to work out first before he is ready for baptism, namely his addiction to alcohol. He quit cold turkey after receiving a blessing several months ago and he is aware of the temptations. The coolest thing is that he knows what he wants to do to prepare for his baptisms and is willing to truly repent and come clean. He will be baptized, I have absolutely no doubt about it, it only depends on the when. Our goal as of now is August 20th.

    Next, Kimberly. We hope to have her baptized next month and she is simply golden. She is 18 with a now 2 month old baby named Dimple and she began reading the book of Mormon from the beginning without being invited to do so and always has questions or insights about reading assignments. I am only concerned that she doesn't come to church. I think that she is scared to come, but once we put some effort into helping her have fellowshipers she will feel more confidant in coming and knowing that she will have help at church with her adorable baby.

    Finally Franklee and his wife Rica. They are going to have a three way celebration on the 10th of august. Their baby's 1st birthday, their wedding and Franklee's baptism. Its not a Saturday like baptisms usually are but it is an awesome day. Its been about 6 weeks since we last went over the Baptismal Interview Questions with him so it is understandable that he is a little rusty but I have never seen this amount of conviction. As he is again struggling with his addiction to cigarettes he asked for a priesthood blessing and has been doing great since! He is a true miracle; no matter the obstacles no matter the drawbacks or bumps in the road he has been converted since we began teaching. In all honesty I think he was converted before we began teaching him!

    While teaching our one of the recent converts in the area, Nanay Myrna my mom away from home, we met her grandson Kevin who was a previous investigator. Iv'e taught him before but there was something different about him this time. He was receptive and discussed how some things were not going right in his life and he knew that by attending church he would be able to receive the guidance he needed to get his life back on course. When he attended church this last Sunday we asked how he felt about the service. He talked about how he felt so much lighter, like a burden had been taken from him. I am excited to extend a baptismal goal date to him next lesson and to help him begin to progress towards reviving the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it will truly bless his life.

    Personally, I am feeling great! I'm still easily tired and my foot itches like I stepped in a fire ant mound but its healing and I will be able to really start teaching again. Mainly what I have learned from being cooped up in the house for 9 days was patience and the importance of repentance. If we compare my athlete's foot to sin, we get a sort of analogy for life: If I had been...

1) Aware of my problem and

2) Had the courage to admit that I needed help and that I could not do it on my own

    I would not have been confined to the house for as long as I have been. Its a terrible analogy but that is the analogy I've got. Putting off repentance is like getting stabbed and then convincing yourself that you can just YouTube how to stitch it up. No, don't do that; that's dumb. Take your problem to someone who has the ability and the authority to help and you will be healed! Its literally that simple. Doctors don't get mad at patients for being sick and bishops don't get mad at people for their mistakes. We all mess up and we all need the help, so just get the help and start getting better!

    I did get a blessing from the Zone Leader's in our area and while I did not receive a miraculous healing like I had hoped I did receive what I needed. I was told to be patient and to be at peace. (One of the reasons I was sick these last weeks is due to stress.) So I'm working on new ways to de-stress as well as staying healthy. After the blessing the Elder's joked that I should give them athlete's foot so they could have a turn resting! It was quite funny.

From the sister who is tired of resting and ready to work

Sister Eldredge

My Hospital Room Last Week

Week 19 in the Philippines Loaog Mission: My Hospital Stay

     

July 10, 2016     

     Yes i am in a hospital, no I don't need to go home, and yes I am just fine. No it's not from mosquito or from diet or from anything. I have kept my hands clean and I basically swim in hand-sanitizer every day and I wear shoes, an all those prevention things. I got a virus, and while the hospital is unsure which virus it is I am feeling 90% better but that may be because I am on medication. I am being released today and will be resting the rest of this upcoming week. Right now I am emailing off my mission president's wife's phone. Did I ever mention that she was a nurse? So don't worry about me I am completely fine and am just a little home sick, but being sick does that to a person. I don't want to go home and will be back to full strength and working full hours by next Wednesday. I feel fine, just tired all the time. 

     So this week has been interesting.  Sister Hermosa and I were quite ready to hit the ground running and do our best to not only live up to the mission standard of excellence but our personal goal in finding was to find 40 new investigators. We started the week out right on track and every day we doubled our total lessons and although we were behind in out goals for finding we were setting aside time specifically for finding as well as speaking and teaching everyone that would listen to us! I think that we were very well on our way to fulfilling our goals. But life never works out the way you want it to. It may be becaus I keep praying for opportunities to be more patient. So I became a patient. How much more patient can a person be than when your very title is 'patient?' Haha

     Apparently I have some sort of virus, but I'm feeling fine now. It's been interesting, annoying and amazing all at once. Being confined to a hospital is interesting as you are still set apart as a missionary so you still cannot watch movies or tv or anything like that so it's mostly just reading "Jesus The Christ", sleeping, drinking water, and sleeping again... But you are still set apart as a missionary and you constantly worry about your investigators and who will sit with them at church, and who will help them with rides, or who will greet them...Of course being stuck in one room from Friday to Monday can be frustrating and annoying; I like to think of myself as an independent person and don't like having people waiting on me or doing things for me. I seem to have the mentality of "I have to do it for you" and have never taken well to having others help me. But this is what happens when you ask to be blessed with patience. It's been amazing as I got to see the reaction of the mission and the Sarrat Branch. We received the Branch President, his family, our Branch Counselor and his family and several of the youth of the branch came to visit. Their concern, their kindness and their generosity has truly touched me. I am also extremely grateful for President Andrada and Sister Andrada coming to visit so many times despite how busy they are with the transfers, general mission business, and the new trainees, and those going home all flooding the mission home and mission office. They are truly amazing and I thank Heavenly Father every day for their guidance and care and to bless their family.  

     This week has been fun, for the few days we were actually out working as missionarries. I got to experience  Filipino 'cheese cake' which is litterally just a muffin that tastes like cheese. Not at all what I was expecting, but at the same time who knows what I was expecting. I really ought to not expect anything when trying a new food as that will lesson the confusion but you can;t help but have expectations when trying something. Speaking of food, last Monday was the 4th of July and my companion made me American Pancakes for breakfast!! She is so sweet, and she has been so patient as I've been out of commission this whole week. 

     While we were out working Wednesday we were teaching our youngest recent convert, Mary Rose, and when we asked if she was excited for school the next day (school was out due to a religious holiday) she responded that school was canceled because there was a typhoon on its way! I got excited and looked up to the sky only to see that there wasn't a single cloud in sight. Needless to say the typhoon missed the Philippines in general and we just got some light rain instead. It was simply funny how she was talking about a huge storm while the sky was clear. 

     Our progressing investogator, Roman, asked us this last Thursday to push his baptism back again and we have been praying to know what his concern is, as this is the second time that he has asked us to push his baptism back. This Sunday he did not attend church and arrived back at his house late at night stone drunk. I have to say that I'm not even mad, I'm only sad that we did not see the signs that he was struggling with this addiction again. I hope that when we get back to Sarrat, once I'm discharged, to be able to help him see that he can always bounce back and that he has an incredible support system through the branch and his family. We texted his son, the branch mission leader, and suggested he give his father a blessing. Hopefully he accepted and can see how loved he is. 

     Then there is Kenneth, Lorenzo's best friend. Even though Lorenzo did not make it to church- despite having gotten the day off from work and working with his boss to not work on Sundays- Kenneth was willing to walk to church, which is a good half hour walk one way! Our wonderful Second Counselor was able to intercept Kenneth and bring him and his friend Lennox to church and give them a ride back. I am excited to hopefully begin teaching Lennox again, who was taking lessons back in May but stopped for one reason or another.

    Sorry this is such a short letter, but not much happens when you are stuck in a hospital for several days. 

From the sister who is still recovering but is feeling much better,

Sister Eldredge