Week 55 in the Philippines Laoag Mission. Transfers and Harvests.

Well, it's from Santo Domingo to Vigan! I'm a little worried about the travel as it's so far! Last time I was transferred it was a 3 hour bus ride alone and now it’s a 10 minute bus ride with my companion who is going to the same area I am. Yup, we got pulled out! Actually we are swapping with a sister in Vigan; she will get our old area… which means she gets our baptism this Saturday! Hopefully we will be able to come back up to Santo Domingo for the baptism but that is all on President Andrada.

Nothing much happened this week besides me giving a talk at a funeral, doing a CSP, and getting pulled out.

In Filipino culture they do funerals kind of like how Americans do weddings; way big and over the top with lots of unnecessary pomp and frill. But that’s the culture. The viewing is about a month or two weeks long at their home, and outside they burn a giant log constantly, and play poker. Inside they sit and stare at the casket and talk with each other and eat food. Normally the service is given at the home but this funeral was at the church… but the power was out! From Vigan to Sinait no power! So it was a little hot and it didn’t help that I had a cough and had lost my voice. Luckily though we got a car battery hooked up to an amp so I could use the microphone. Filipinos are ingenious!  It was actually rather funny as I actually used more Tagalog than the Filipina who spoke before me. I started my talk out with a scripture from the Bible, which I read in English. The crowd looked a little bored like oh-boy-this-whole-talk-is-gonna-be-in-english-and-we-don’t-speak-english but then I started speaking in Tagalog about the Atonement of Christ and how we need to use our agency to be exalted. That is a novel thought for Catholics (they were 97% non-members) who believe you just have to be baptized as a baby to be saved. I had fun, and from their faces and how they talked to me afterwards I had an effect on them. We had a TON of return appointments and it was an incredible finding opportunity.  

We also talked to a semi-drunk school teacher who thought it would be marvelous to have us teach a Gospel Doctrines class in the school (it would be non-denominational, so no talk of Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon) which was awesome. We wanted to try and find families by teaching the 9-16 year old kids… but we got transferred so that will be up to Sister Tomepeao and sister Pangilinan… the new sisters here. It was rather funny as this school teacher, who is on the board, had been taught by some elders in Manila a few years ago and is almost done with the book of Alma! But he was rather drunk and asked if I had a boyfriend so we left after we got the school appointment. I mean, he is probably older than my dad, and is trying to woo me with mangos. “I’ll bring you 6 mangos, girl!” that was random, but we know he will be sober at the school. We will talk to the new sisters about making sure they speak to the principal of the school about the class and just avoid the Mr. mango guy.

Harvesting Corn

The CSP (Community Service Project) was great! We were about to meet basically all of the Gonda's neighbors as they worked in the field and we helped dry the corn.  So  what we ended up doing was taking the corn they picked and laying it out to dry. We thought we would also be helping around the house cooking and doing laundry with the girls but they were quite insistent that they could do it. I think we 'found' about the whole sito (a subdivision of the community group called a barangay.) We just forgot to count them in our weekly report! whoops! It was honestly so much fun and everyone was teasing me that i was going to get a tan (which i think would be fabulous) but no matter what I'm going to be white any way. Then we went out to our furthest area and worked hard the rest of the day! it was great! We were a little tired by the end of the day but it was a good tired, not the why-did-we-do-that-im-so-exhausted kind of tired.

It's such a bummer that we are leaving Santo Domingo as we were so sure we were going to have somewhere around 6 baptisms here! But it will be a blessing for the incoming sisters. At least I can say I left my area better than I found it! Now I just got to do that with my new area in Vigan!

From the sister who travels a lot,

Sister Eldredge

Week 54: A Pen

So this last Monday (March 13th) was MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) and then this Tuesday was Zone Conference so I'm actually emailing on Wednesday… so lots of emails! Yay!! We’re doing our best to shorten our lessons (less chatting and more teaching) which is actually difficult as Ilicono’s in general are long winded. They’ll talk to the wind if they have to but they have to talk!! That being said we are also focusing on those that will be baptized this month (Zeus) and those who will hopefully be baptized (Channel, Jasmine, Denver, Angelo Gabriel, Iris and Nicole) next month. We are just waiting on church attendance and parent’s permission for some. We got to work with members this last week as we picked up some members from their house and took them to their neighbor's house to teach them. It was awesome as we were extending an invitation to be baptized she hesitated, and without having to ask the members jumped right in and talked about their own conversion and how it took a while and several ‘goal dates’ from the missionaries but that they understood that baptism was the end goal. Would they be baptized or not? So they took it seriously and that is why they read the Book of Mormon and went to church and prayed about it. It was so powerful, yet the investigator still felt nervous-which is natural. The culture is ‘born a catholic die a catholic’ even if you don’t go to church or live what you believe you gotta at least die a catholic.

We also had a great lesson with Anna Marie, who lives in Magsingal- a neighboring town.  We talked about the Gospel of Christ (faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) and she just started crying, hugging her Book of Mormon to her chest and said; “It's true.” She all but whispered it, but it was so powerful. She reads from her Book of Mormon everyday, she hasn’t gotten far because she likes memorizing the scripture and quoting them to her children- three kids under the age of 7. If she can read every day- and get a spiritual experience from it- even with little kids, we can too.

We taught Denver, Jasmine and Chanell this last week too, or more like we went to their house (a good 1.5 hour walk) and only Jasmine was there. They have been investigating for several years now but their father has yet to give permission. But they can still go to church, I love meeting with these kids because their testimony is so strong! They can call down miracles and I know they will- that is why I'm so confident they will be able to be baptized this upcoming April. Not to mention us doing a ‘mock baptism interview’ with Jasmin was more her teaching us than me teaching her! It's almost like a flash back for when I would teach Gwyneth back in Batac!!

I also got to see Elunard get some ‘aha!’ moments when w e taught him this week. I have to say I am soooo grateful to have been able to meet with Elder David A Bednar (one of the 12 apostles) and to listen to him talk about agency. It's all about letting people know our purpose is to INVITE. I am not a police officer here to drag people to the baptismal font! (Not that I ever was.) I'm here basically handing out invitations to God’s Kingdom. Like I said a few months ago, I'm offering free tickets to something better than Disneyland and people think it's more fun to do facebook or work than prepare and accept that. Priorities. If you don’t have 5 minutes a day to read God’s word then you are more busy than He designed you to be. He made an entire day for rest!

This Friday-Saturday (12pm Friday – 12pm Saturday) we were on exchanges and I was with my ex-STL Sister Corpuz. We got to meet with all of our progressing Investigators and she pointed out that how I teach is by using parables that apply to everyday life.

example

we are all pens. and the spirit ink.

We’ve got to keep the ink filled up and get refills so that God can make art and poetry and inspire others. it's not us that does it. God writes and the spirit comes out, but we are necessary too- if the pen breaks that's a big mess! keep yourself together and worthy and clean (if you are gross He may not want to pick you up until you are clean) so God can pick you up.

It was a fun realization. And now the best part… I GOT TO GO BACK TO BATAC!!

It was only for a few hours but because the MLC was this Monday and then Zone conference on Tuesday that meant I would have to take a 3 hour bus drive up to Laopag, have the meeting, go back down to Vigan to sleep, the BACK up to Laoag for the conference… so we asked if we could just sleep in Batac and Prez said yes!! We got permission to use their phone number so we could find them and then spent about an hour trying to find them… The area boundaries changed since I left and they were in an area I had never been to! It was exhausting and somewhat embarrassing to realize I am not as smart (geographically speaking) as I thought. But we did run into a few members on our mad search for the Batac trysome. Which was awesome, and an additional bonus I did not expect.

The actual Zone Conference was beautiful and so inspiring. This whole cycle I've  been thinking about my duties as a leader and what is expected of me (we got no handbooks besides the one everyone has) and this conference was everything I needed to hear. We talked about obedience and what it means to be a real leader. We are all leaders and whether we have a calling or not is up to the Lord and doesn’t mean someone is better than someone else.

From the sister who writes too much

Sister Eldredge

Week 53: I'm Here To Teach and That's What I'm Going to Do!

Making Dudol from Sugar Cane and Crushed Rice

  Alright so this week was… fast!! As it is probably very well known I am very good at misplacing things. I hadn’t seen the expensive music speaker that I use for two days so I asked around (I asked my companion and our landlady) and none of them had seen it. I mentioned that the usb playing my music had all my pictures from my mission and then kept looking. After about 10 minutes I found it where I had been looking for the last two days (somehow it magically reappeared once I complained) and so I went to tell my companion and Sister Carms- the landlady and she had gone to the police to find it!!! I had to call her and tell her I was so sorry that she had gone through so much fuss- within the short time span she had gone to 4 different houses asking all the people who had been around the house lately if they had entered our apartment and taken anything! (Our apartment‘s front door broke so we have not been locking the doors because if we do we won’t be able to get back in) so it was a highly plausible thought that it had been stolen. To make up for the stress we went to the Vigan zoo today. I got to battle a raptor, sister Bustarde was flirted at by a peacock, and sister Carms went on a trip in the yellow submarine.  All in all it was an average day in Vigan. Also… idk why but all the foreigners I see are either missionaries or 60+. I have only seen 2 who did not have grey hair and i'm not so sure if that was natural or not… I don’t get it.

Anyways, work this week was nuts. Isn’t it always nuts? It's just a matter of trying to keep up with everyone. We got a referral from one of our members (how incredible is that?) and actually the person they referred to us has been going to church for several months and has only just lately expressed a desire to be baptized!! We both thought he was a member!! Wow man, and our lesson with him was a bit hekkledy-peggledy. It was Sunday night and we had gone to their house twice but they were not home so after working for several hours and texting them we went home. Then 5 minutes later they showed up at our door asking to be taught! Yeah, that’s crazy. But we walked with them to sister Carm’s house and taught them there. It's just fun to say here in Sto. Domingo the investigators find you!! Haha. We think that Zeus, the referral that came to our door, will be ready for baptism this month which is amazing!

Also I think have found out the foolproof steps to become less active in your faith!

1)      Stop reading your scriptures

2)      Don’t pray, and if you do just say the same thing over again… He should hear you better if you just repeat yourself right?

3)      Why bother going to church? All the people there are not perfect! Not even the missionaries! (GASP)

This list reminds me of the ‘101 ways to be completely miserable’ by John Bytheway that I read in jr high and my teachers pulled me aside and asked me if I was depressed. That was fun… anyways this is honestly the one quick ticket to lose faith and even question if you ever had a testimony in the first place!!  Honestly, I think if everyone- no matter what faith- would just read, pray (like the heart wrenching or at least reflective prayers) and regularly attend church the world would INSTANTLY become a better place. But… that little devil on your shoulder gets the best of you. Kick him off! You don’t need him weighing you down!! Geez.

Missionaries seem so scared to drop investigators. Idk why, because when we dropped one of our investigators this week (like a sit down you-haven't-been-reading-so-or-going-to-church-so-we-are-not-teaching-you-anymore lesson) and honestly she so understood. She promised to start reading and so we told her we would come back in four weeks, if she had not read and prayed to know what we had taught was true then we would not come back. It’s harsh but at least she knows just how important our time is. I’ve only got 6 more months and Im not going to spend it sitting chatting, I’m here to teach and that is what I’m going to do.

From the dino but kicking, and ice cream addicted missionary,

Sister Eldredge

(IDK= I don’t know) so if you don’t know what idk is idk either hahaha

Sister Carms gave us sticky rice.  It's cooked in a bamboo stick and then you whack it really hard to open it!

Week 52: Bernne-Lynn & Enard's Baptism

Baptism of Bernne-Lynn and Enard

Week 51: Meeting an Apostle of the Lord

I live with an American. Yeah, she was born and raised in the Philippines but she is more American than me. Today in our groceries we bought root beer and vanilla ice-cream. We are sort of spoiled… but she buys a small root beer every day (or every week) and doesn’t eat rice in the morning like me. People always joke that we were swapped at birth and that she is actually an American and I’m actually a Filipino. If that is true then I’m one white Filipino… so much for my dreams of getting tan…

            So the reason I emailed on Tuesday is not because I’m pasaway (disobedient) but because when you are an STL and you have an all day meeting on Monday and you have to travel Sunday night and Monday night (3 hours both ways) … except we missed our stop so we accidentally ended up in Vigan at 9pm… with no transportation… but we caught a trycee that was willing to go back to Sto. Domingo. At first I was thinking “well we wanted to come to vigan for p-day anyways so I guess we will just stay at one of the sister’s apartments tonight…” It was a rather funny experience, and I’m just glad when I was riding on my own my first week here that I didn’t miss my stop! So that means we got to have our p-day on valentine's! Idk how your valentine's day went but for us sister Bustarde got a cold and passed out as soon as we had done our shopping and emailing. So vigan will just be next week I guess! Haha But we got to meet with our progressing investigators. (So my first week here- the 6th- I said we had like 5 baptisms coming up this week… no they just had not updated their four month calendar of who they had extended Baptismal Goal Date’s to… so yeah) The Gona family is amazing. The two older brothers remind me of characters out of the novel I was writing before my mission (and that I will resume when I get home) so that means they are a bit of jokesters. The ages go like this: Berny-lynn (18) Elunard (17) Eiyahn (15) and Enard (10) We know that the oldest and the youngest will be ready by the 25th of this month but the middle boys will need more time. That’s not a bad thing its just too bad they weren’t all ready at the same time. (Their parents are members but the father is Less Active).  

            I’m still trying to adjust to the new area;  I’m meeting people who I know their nicknames (sprite) but not their names (Espirita.) Luckily I can still pass off as new and I’m slowly making a branch pedigree chart by writing down everyone’s names and who is related to whom. But i'm slooooowly getting my bearings. Because i'm an STL that means I will be doing exchanges 3x a cycle. (a cycle is 6 weeks) an ‘exchange’ is when we basically just exchange companions for a day and we work in each other’s areas for a day. I will be traveling to Vigan and Sinait then in my 5th week of being here I will lead the area with sister corpus… yes I am the STL for my old STL!! She thinks that is just hysterical. However being in a leadership position means hearing about all the problems. I hope I can simply encourage and show how to be a successful missionary. So long as my Zone knows sister Bustarde and I care for them then they will take our advice to heart- hopefully!

            Another job of an STL is giving trainings in our Zone Training Meeting once a month. This month I talked about Christlike attributes and… personally I had a great time preparing and giving the training/ speech but I feel like the audience –my zone- was slightly comatose… I’ll see what I can do to be more interactive next time. They say “you tell me  and i'll forget, you teach me and I’ll remember, you show me and I’ll never forget.” So let's hope this works out.

            Now for David A Bednar: we traveled by about 7am and arrived about 11am in Laoag. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then ran to the chapel. We were told to be there by 12:30 but we are glad we showed up so early so we could get good seats. It wasn’t some long talk he had prepared like a mini General conference, it was “I gave you reading assignments, what did you learn?” “What did you learn that was not said?” it was incredible, because it was all just the spirit and all that we learned was from God! I want to incorporate that type of teaching in my missionary work, especially the agency on asking questions. He always would say ‘may I ask you a question?” and “If you don’t want to answer this that is ok.” He was very much about ‘you have agency and I will not force you to interact.’ Which is funny as before the conference a sister sat down in front of me and begged me that if she got called on that I would save her and speak up.  You know I have no problem talking. The  best part afterwards was when David Bednar shook my hand and thanked me for the comments and questions I posed during the conference, and then Elder Smoots (of the 70) and his wife wanted to know how to pronounce my name! My thing is though when Elder Bednar thanked me I totally froze and was speechless. I didn’t say ‘thank you’ back to him or accept the thanks he gave me! Dang it!!

            In closing we had 11 investigators show up to church today and 6 LA’s. One of our investigators Im not sure why he came but it may be because he thinks sister Bustarde and i are pretty but he participated well in the classes so I hope that i'm wrong. I did not get to mention that Kim Umawid, Natally Batulayan and Ethan Repolosa got baptized in Batac the last two weeks! I'm so proud of them and I wish I had pictured but I’ve got nothing… (speaking of nothing my old usb got a virus and i have lost all of my old pictures!! Everything. It sucks but now i'm sending all of my pictures home and that way i'll have a back up I guess.) Next week I’ll have pictures of Berny-lyyne’s and Enard’s baptism and coming soon is Eythan and Elunard!

From the sister who is 2 weeks behind in her journaling because she reads too many liahonas,

Sister Eldredge

Mom:  Did you find your name tag in time to meet Elder Bednar?

Mikella:  No i didn't, i got a rental for the face to  face  it's got someone else's name on it but with a sticker for my name. i'll have to give it back when my new one is made

That's Me Asking Elder Bednar a Question

Week 50: I've Lost My Identity, But I Know Who I Am

Homes and Rice Fields

This week I went from thinking I know everything to thinking I know nothing and back up to being pretty confident with my knowledge, to add to the fact that my new Zone Leader (the guy that is helping me and my companion Sister Bustarde take care of the missionaries in our area) is Batman. I thought he was Bruce Wayne but no he is batman. Then I took a turn for the crazy and became an interpreter for the day… or two. Then I lost my identity and found out who I am. That about sums up this week.

        So… Let’s start with last Tuesday. The brgys (or communities) here all have very confusing names like “Quimmarayan” and “Lusoc” and I have no idea who lives where but once we get into the lessons that is when I know what is going on. It’s pretty incredible but I basically always know what is being said in the lessons… unless they go off in Ilocano, and if I don't know what is going on then I just defer them to sister Bustarde! Hahaha she hates that but she loves it too. We have also started speaking English on even days and Tagalog on odd days (not in lessons) and she is very sneaky about it. I will forget its English and she will just go off in Tagalog and i'll respond in Tagalog until a few minutes later I catch on. It’s nice to finally understand what is going on (for the most part.)

        Batman, or Elder Jones, in all honesty when I first saw him- I didn’t like him. He just looked disobedient and he didn’t bother speaking in Tagalog, just straight English. So at first I was a bit of a jerk to him, but then I actually listened to him and it turns out he is one of the most obedient missionaries, he just lets everyone think he is disobedient.

        I ran into another elder who gave me the whole run down on how the ZL is Batman and how the AP (assistant to the president), Elder Ernest, is Superman. It makes sense but I don’t think I can explain it. However something stood out to me yesterday as we attended a Missionary Leadership Council (MLC) and I looked around I realized something about leadership. There are the people who are simply born to lead, like yours truly (I'm kidding!!), and then there are people who are put into leadership positions not because they are good at it but because it will make them better. For example. I would never get up early and cook food unless I knew I needed to do it for someone else. There are a lot of things, good things that I would not do if not for someone else. I honestly don’t know if I'm in a leadership position because it’s just what I was born to do or if I need to shape myself up, but I know that I will learn from it. And that what it’s all about *clap clap*

        In church I ran into a deaf young girl who was having a hard time expressing herself to the members and the members who were speaking very loud and slowly to her (like that will magically help her hear.. but they were trying which is what  matters) so I translated for her, however. I know ASL, American Sign Language, and she knows TSL, Tagalog Sign Language, so we kept getting confused. Their word for Jesus is different than our sign for Jesus and so we really just ended up passing notes. So I was a slight translator. I also translated some Tagalog words to English for my Filipina companion which both weirded us out.

Sister Bustarde: “What is Partake in Tagalog?”

Me: “Tumangap”

Sis B: “…”

Me: “Why do I know that and not you?”

I also lost my name badge on my first day in my new area. I have packed all my things up and unpacked them and tried it again… but nothing. I borrowed sister Bustarde’s extra name badge for a while and that really confused the members and the people we were teaching so I taped some lined paper on with my name written down and that was tacky fun. Elder David A Bednar (one of the modern 12 apostles) is coming to meet with us on Saturday and I have a tacky name badge. Yay… But I was able to get my name printed out so now it kinda looks official instead of tacky it's just strange. I’ve already ordered a new one but I’ll get it in March.

I'm very excited as I might see some of the YSA from Batac at the face to face with David A Bednar, and I know it's gonna be awesome. There will be an official Church Magazine Photographer so we were all told to ‘dress spic and span and smile and participate’ if we wanted to end up in next month’s Liahona. So you know this beautiful face is gonna be in a magazine! Hahaha

From the sister who is lost  (I have no idea where I am) but is found (I know who I am)

Sister Eldredge

My Nephew Has Arrived!! Born February 6 at 1:27 am.He's 9 pounds 13 ounces, William Michael Eldredge. One week old now! If any of you are familiar with Ranger's Apprentice then you know where the 1st name comes from. i'm so proud of my nerdy brother.

We have the same pictures on our scripture cases!

Week 49: Transfered from Batac to Santa Domingo, and a New Companion Sister Bustarde

So I have gone there and almost back again this week. However that is the last story I want to share for this week.  First I would like to talk about how Batac will soon have three new members: Kim U, Natally B and Ethan R. Sadly they are all rather young but their testimonies are very matured Kim and Natally will be baptized on the 11th and Ethan on the 18th… the catch is I will not be there! I have officially left my home in Batac and am now currently in Santa Domingo. It was literally only yesterday where I was sitting in the Domingo’s home and now I’m in a town with their name! Crazy stuff. It was rather heartbreaking leaving Batac. Kim kept asking me if I would be able to return for her baptism and some members cried and I cried and then I had to travel Monday morning so I couldn’t meet with any of them to say goodbye! So I might as well tell you about the ‘there and back again’ hobbit reference.

I took a bus headed to Vigan- on my own gosh that was scary- and got dropped off on the side of the highway. At first I was a little panicked about where to go and what to do until I turned around and realized the bus had literally dropped me off AT the church. Then My new companion came and picked me up and… guesses what?!? They had been told I was coming tomorrow!!! I could have stayed in Batac an extra day and… the past is past. I only cried a little about that, but we are good. Then we got back on the bus and started heading back the way I just came!! I was so confused.  Sister Bustarde (my new companion) and Sister Duddly (her old companion) Hopped back on a bus and I knew Dudly was going home and I know that the mission home is in San Nick… which is past my old area Batac so for a moment I thought we were going all the way back to Batac and then to San Nick and I was both excited and my wallet was hurting a little at the thought. But we stopped after 30 min and picked up another missionary who will be staying with us until tomorrow so we will be a trysome for now I guess!!!

About Batac:

Ed is progressing incredibly and he accepted the baptismal goal date of April 8 and is excited as ever to attend church and even beats us there every week. The Ward is just stoked to have him and he is progressing with incredible speed as he reads the Book of Mormon on his own and has questions to ensure that he caught the gist or even good questions on specific points!

Nanay Salbation Espiritu passed away Saturday 5:30 pm just after some members came and visited her. She always told us she was 96, but we found out that she is actually 80+ she liked pulling our legs on that one! Hahaha The Espiritu’s are receiving incredible support from the ward and Edgar Sr is sloooowly progressing towards activity, and we are just thrilled that he is trying.

A young man, Giovanni, who was on and off less active has officially become fully active in church and even bore his testimony this last Sunday!  It was 100% Ilocano so I have no idea what he said but he did have a giant smile on his face and I felt the spirit.

I saw an Articuno this week. It was only a baby one though so it was only about the size of my face and a gorgeous sky blue. Yes pokemons exist and they are living wild and free in the Philippines. I tried to catch it on camera even if I forgot all my poke balls but it's so fast I only caught the memory of getting to see a legendary classic pokemon. In all actuality it was a wild bird that looks a hecka lot like an articuno but its fun to pretend.

About Santo Domingo:

We will have 1 baptism on the 11th, 3 on the 18th and I think one more the week after here. I'm going to do my best to get to know these people and the area and how to get around. This is a ‘group’ which is… ok so there are ‘groups’ (anywhere from 3-80 people) then ‘branch’ (80-100) and then there are wards (100+) This is still considered a group but has gotten up to the ward numbers, they just lack priesthood to enable them to make that step. So I guess my goal here is to help gather the priesthood! Activate less actives and find people who are ready to convert! Obviously I’m going to talk to everyone still.

About me:

I have said on and off about my emotions and how at times I even consider that I might have depression. I have been speaking to myself positively for several weeks and praying with only gratitude for my blessings and asking to bless my investigators. I’ve been trying to turn outward and not focus so much on myself. I also talked to my mission president about it and we had a great talk and honestly as soon as I stepped out of his office I feel like I have lost a thousand pounds.  I feel like I can take on ANYTHING. And I know that is cliché but that is exactly how I feel; which is a good thing as I have just become the STL of Santo Domingo! Sister Bustarde and I are the new STL’s and i'm glad i'm not going to be the only one doing this!  But you know even if it was just me with the assignment of STL I’ll always have the Lord.

To make my week even better my older brother and my sister in law just had their first baby. And i'm just giving a quick shout out to them and how much I love them and their new baby boy, William Michael .