Sister - What Did We Just Eat?

 

Well it has been a good week! We are always busy that is for sure.  When rice fields are ready to be harvested they turn yellow so in this part of the world we change the scriptures and say “the field is yellow all ready to harvest.”  We are teaching or studying all hours of the day, but it feels good to lay down at night knowing I gave it my all.

So the big news of the week was Quentin L. Cook visited our mission and on Saturday we all gathered in a big stake center chapel in one of the bigger cities in our mission and he and some of the 70’s spoke to us.  Dad, there was a couple from NZ (I know you don’t know the entire country) but their last name was Ardern.  I am assuming they have had a great deal to do with church work and so maybe you heard of them while you were there.  The meeting was wonderful! When we walked in to the chapel hundreds of missionary eyes turned to us.  I guess that’s what I get for being the only American sister but I could feel the sweat on my face as I tried to act normal and smile.  It is just weird always having everyone looking at me.  I get so self conscious even though I know everyone is nice and they are just curious.  Still it is a lot of attention and sometimes I wish I would blend in just for a moment.  I took a picture of a lone palm tree standing in the middle of a rice field.  This is how I feel.  Tall and different among the small rice plants.  But we are taught “dare to stand alone.” I was called to serve here even though I am so different than everyone and its okay to be different.  I can have courage haha.  Anyway it was fun to be around so many missionaries – it was a fun energy that I really loved about at the MTC. 

 

This week I have been thinking bout 10 cents. One dime.  What could I do with one dime in America?  Not very much, I couldn’t really buy anything with it on its own. A dime is just a small coin that usually gets put into our cup holders or change holders or wallets and we say we will use our change but most of the time it sits there and is never used.  In fact if there was a dime on the ground I would maybe vacuum it up instead of bend down to pick it up. The point is - Ten cents, one dime, has always been a pretty insignificant item to me.  But here its different, here I could do so much with one dime.  There is a grandmother (we call all the grandma’s Nanay) named Nanay Mancin.  She is so small and spindly with long black hair.  She has to lean on things when she walks and is very hunched over making her already small frame appear even smaller.  Nanay Mancin has a strong testimony; she told us that these last years of her life have been the best. Even though she is old, they have been the best because she has had the church and she knows her savior Jesus Christ.  As strong as Nanay is she can rarely come to church because she cannot afford to pay for the travel.  The fare for her travel, one way, is 8 pesos.  8 pesos equates to about 10 cents.  So with all of those dimes I left sitting in my dresser drawer I could pay for Nanay to come to church over and over again. 

I guess this week I have really realized how much we have.  Most of our branch members walk to church each week, even though it is very far and they have small children.  In many cases it is either go to church or eat; yet so many choose church.  But like Nanay Mancin they say that they have the best life because they have the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They are right that is all they really need, we are so blessed. 

 In other news, Rona’s baptism is this Saturday!!! I am so excited for her.  She told me yesterday that she wants to serve a mission – this step really is only the beginning for her. (she is the little girl in a red shirt in the picture) 

 

Fun facts: We had apartment check this week (the zone leaders come make sure we haven’t destroyed our house).  House cleaning is similar to what I am used to from home….. Sweeping, mopping, putting away my things oh yeahhh….. and scrubbing geko poop off the walls.  We have gekos that live in our house and they don’t bug us or anything but they poop all over our walls.  Second fun fact and also the title of this email: we were eating the other night, rice (of course) with this meat and sauce on top.  The meat wasn’t very good but I was a good girl and kept eating.  As I was eating I noticed that the texture was kind of funny but I kept going.  As we were leaving I turned to sister cabanag and asked, “sister what did we just eat.”  She smiled a little nervously and replied, “liver stew.”  Oh goody.  So now I have officially eaten the liver of a pig.  Lovely.  Haha. And third fun fact everyone rides around on these things called tricies aka a motorcycle with a side car attached.  They cram like 20 people on to one.  It is insane!

 

So dad asked about what my daily schedule is…. And to sum it up…Busy.  We have a goal to teach 5 lessons a day, which doesn’t always happen because I am in training still and so we have 4 hours of studying.  But we are able to teach at least 3 everyday many times 5.  So wake up around 6:15 and then I work out.  7am is eating usually oatmeal or banana’s (I eat these now because they are the cheapest fruit) and then into the bucket showering.  8 am is personal study from scriptures or PMG or other religious stuff. 9-11am is companionship study where we practice teaching, role play, read from PMG – they have this whole 12 week training program now that tells us exactly what to study and what I should be doing in every lesson. I am leading lessons already…. This is preemptive and isn’t on the schedule for a little while but sister Cabanag thinks it is a good idea.  Mostly my thoughts about it are: I want to throw up.  After Comp study we usually go to 1 or 2 lessons before lunch.  Then back to the apartment for lunch and language study.  Then we go out to teach for the rest of the night.  Usually we get back around 8 or 8:30 and have dinner, plan for the next day, bucket shower once again, I write in my journal and passout!  Our “bedtime” is 10:30 I am lucky if I can stay awake that long.  I am always so tired.  But that is pretty much my day every day.  It is fun I really love it here! So often I find myself walking out of a really good lesson and the sun will be setting and the sky is beautiful and there are palm trees everywhere and I can’t believe I am actually here.  I am a missionary.  I live here.  I am so lucky.

My mission president is really wonderful.  He and sister Bliesner are humble and kind.  They are the kind of people that don’t have a lot of “stuff” in their life.  They are simple and good.  I have heard a few missionaries refer to him as “strict” as I have been here longer I have interpreted this into “blunt.” He just expects us to work hard and obey the rules and he is not afraid to call you out when you have fallen a little below this standard.  Sister Bliesner is happy but not over-zealous.  She is sweet but has a very ‘real’ sense about her; she is not phoney or fake. She has an honesty that many women can’t attain due to the comparisons that are a problem for us females. sister bliesner isn’t trying to win any contests or be this or that.  She is just kind and loving and dedicated to the Lord.  

You are all the best and I am so grateful for such a wonderful family.  D&C 128 talks about welding together families and I have such a strong testimony of making our families part of our foundations.  It is through the turning of hearts of the fathers to their children that we better understand and carry out the plan of God.  I love getting your emails every week so thanks for taking the time to write. 

I love it here and the language is still such a barrier because I can't get to know anyone and I never know what anyone is talking about but its okay.  I know God will help me over time, so for now I am trying to remain hopeful.  Hope school is going well for everyone!

I love you and miss you and pray for you daily!

Mahal ko kayo,

Sister Meish

If You Can't Tell, I am That Blonde Girl

Well, I have not thrown up yet, I have not had to eat dog yet and I am not sick of rice yet so all is well! But some days I really do feel like I am camping.  haha.  

Wow - thank you for all of the support and love! Everyone is so nice about emailing and supporting me. It is definitely felt even half way across the world! Mom, I got your letters this week talking about your trip to Peru! It was so fun to read about your experiences and it brought back many good memories from our trip.  Parts of it definitely sound like Naga.  The mission is a rollercoaster of ups and downs and so many different emotions.  It is maybe the definition of hard meaning endurance is required, focus is required and all of your mental, emotional and spiritual strength is tested.  It has been a good week though.  Honestly, I am glad the first week is over, that may have been one of the most difficult weeks of the mission; mostly because it was so much to take in at a very fast pace.  I am far from “the comfort zone” but it things are starting to look familiar.

We had zone conference this week and it was with 4 zones because the area president, Elder Teh was there to visit.  He was a very good speaker and both he and his wife were inspiring.  He talked about not getting into that “easy current;” the current of being a good missionary and not excelling to be a great missionary.  When we first arrived to the chapel sister Cabanag had to go to the bathroom and so we walked in and it was the watering-hole for sister missionaries.  There were around 20 tiny Filipino sisters crammed into this one bathroom all shouting in Tagalog.  So there I was standing in the center of them all not having a clue what was going on or what anyone was saying when I caught my reflection in the mirror.  I am not sure you will be able to pick out which one is me but try your best.  I don’t realize how different I am else until I see us in a mirror. 

We have been super busy this week and are so exhausted when we get home we don’t have the energy to make dinner so we have been living off of PB&J sandwiches. I guess it was a nice break from rice but mostly it was easy and filling.  I told Sister C that this was the full American experience because this was my meal of choice in America.  The food isn’t bad – I really haven’t had to eat anything too weird yet.  Mostly noodles and rice and I guess the grossest thing is that all of the meat still has all of the bones so you have to chew slowly – I just try not to think about it too much.  They have this sticky rice stuff that they wrap up in these cute leaf packages…. They are fun to eat but I like the taste of normal rice better.  Also they have all these little bakery things everywhere and all of the bread tastes like angel food cake with different spices and toppings.

Well this is a hard task this mission.  People would explain this to me before I left and you cannot fully understand it until you experience it yourself.  The hardest part is the language – it is such a barrier.  Not only am I literally one foot above conversations but I feel worlds away.  It is a lonely place to be; on the outside of every conversation.  There are times that all I want is a hug from dad or to talk to mom because those are my usual means of comfort, but all I have is the Lord.  It is just me and Him in a city of strangers.  I think this loneliness is actually the intention of our Father in Heaven as painful as it can sometimes be for the recipients.  I think that it is through the loneliness that we learn to rely on the spirit.  It is during the heartache that we turn to the great shepherd and ask for his hand.  It is when I know I am going to have to speak in a lesson and my heart prays with all my might and faith that God will fill my mouth with words.  It is very humbling as well to be a missionary speaking a foreign language.  I feel like I am an okay teacher, in English.  I feel like I can put together analogies and complete thoughts, in English.  Every day I am faced with the frustration of mumbling and rambling on in incomplete sentences with incorrect pronouns and not being able to make much sense of anything because it is not in English.  I think this may be the Lord prompting me to lean on him and not my own understanding.  I am doing my best to keep my head up and have faith that it will come in time.  I know that we are refined through trial and I think I may have needed more refining that I realized.  I am doing my best to not zone out during lessons but to focus and try and follow what we are talking about.  It is difficult and exhausting but it helps and I am getting better at following.  I do better when we are in lessons because I know more words that are related to church stuff.  I wish I could fast forward time and already speak Tagalog but I know that this is part of the process and this is part of the experience.  So like we tell everyone we teach, I am trying to endure well with the promise of blessings around the corner.   

I had to speak in church yesterday… that was mortifying! I wrote my talk in English and then wrote as much in Tagalog as I could but mostly sister Cabanag had to help me translate it.  It went alright I guess… I survived haha! I talked about Faith – it is perfect that you have been thinking about that so much dad because guess what, me too! I talked about how faith in the scriptures is an action word and that we can believe in something but if we do not act then is it really faith or just a belief? I said that the members in Bicol have different trials of their Faith than where I am from.  (If there was an inactive family in SLC that could not come because they had no means of transportation we would just hop in our surburban and go get them.  But here, not having money for transportation is a real issue.  And we are living on a tiny tiny budget and so we can't pay for their transportation unfortunately.  I wish I had a car and I could go pick everyone up each Sunday. But this is their trial.) I also talked about why the Lord tries our faith, why believing isn’t enough.  I think for me the trial of my Faith has been on my mind so much because of the difficulty of my reality right now.  This is definitely a trial of my faith in many ways.  Do I really have faith that God will comfort me when I am sad; that he will help me learn this language. Will he really fill my mouth in the exact hour that I need His help? Essentially, do I really believe in all that I am teaching everyday? These are all questions that I have thought about – they are important questions, because if the answer to them is yes, that I can endure well and I can be a good missionary.  The faith required from all of us is faith that is strong enough to endure the trials we face, which is the whole point.  Our faith must be tried for us to know how strong it really is.  On Sunday I looked out into the congregation and saw at the 74 members that were able to come to our branch, including the 6 families that we worked with this week that are less active but that came to church, and our 4 investigators who are trusting complete strangers in coming to a church service.  I looked out at these individuals and saw the faith in their hearts. 

One of our investigators is a 16 year old girl named Rona.  She is darling and quiet but she is strong.  She is scheduled to be baptized on Sept.1^st.  Her mom and 3 little sisters are already members and their father passed away a few years ago.  When we taught them this last week we finished teaching about the restoration of the gospel.  It gets dark at 6:30 every night in the Philippines and we were visiting their home around that time.  Their home is a small two room, cement home with a few shelves for all of their books and clothes.  There is one bed and no furniture and no electricity. They have mats they lay on the floor each night to sleep.  As we all sat huddled together on the cement floor around a well loved hymn book lit by a flashlight and sang The Spirit of God, I was filled by that spirit of our almighty God.  As we left their home and walked back down the narrow path lit only by the stars I looked around at the fireflies dancing through the green plants that filled the wind with the smell of rice and I thought “this is why I wanted to come on a mission; because there are good people with strong faith that are waiting for the gospel.”  The Philippines has different rules for people before they are able to be baptized. They must go to church 4 times in a row, do a community service project and must have followed the WofW and Law of Chastity for 1 month.  This little Rona had an important band rehearsal on Sunday but yet she was still sitting on the hard chapel benches at 1pm when sacrament meeting began.  We are all tried and tested but if we can have faith like Rona, faith like the saints that traveled to Salt Lake and like so many of the members of our church, God will pour out his spirit to us. 

Well thank you all for your prayers and love and support.  I love being here, especially when we are teaching.  But of course there are hard days and lonely moments and discouraging glimpses of how much I still do not know.  In these times I look at my picture of our family taped to my wall and think of the incredible support I have across the ocean.  So thank you.  I love you all very much and have gained a greater appreciation for our family and the way we were raised in the gospel during the last 2 weeks more than I have in my whole life.  Cate, hope soccer is going well.  Meg, I hope you are loving life living with your friends.  Speen, I hope you have already bought your UofU sweatshirt in anticipation of the upcoming football season.  Owen, I hope you are spending your last weeks of summer constantly in the pool and talking on your cellphone with Zack.  Mom, hang in there at the airport - you and me are Italy bound in 16.5 months. Also I think about the YW program a lot. Thanks for all you do for your YW, it is an important program. Knowing that you served a mission gives me strength everyday.  Dad, I miss our chats and your hugs but your letters and insight lift me higher on a day to day basis.  I hope your last few months at Emdeon are going okay.  December will be a good month for everyone – I am hoping I can actually speak a little bit by then.

Fun fact of the week…. I killed my first cockroach! Sick.  They invaded our house and they are so nasty but on Friday I squished my first one.  Go team.

Love you all,

Sister meish

p.s. thanks for the pics from the wedding! Weird I cant believe HH is married! It was fun to see everyone.  xoxo

Ligao

First Week

Well, today is my first p-day in the Philippines I can’t tell you how good it was to read your email. Thank you thank you for the emails dad! It has been a crazy week to say the least but I am alive and fairly well haha no, I am doing good! So first off I am so glad I was able to talk to you at the airport! I

Wow! This is a crazy adventure to say the least.  So last Wednesday we arrived in Manila and it was pouring rain! They were not lying when they said there is nothing like Filipino rain.  I said bye to sister J which was rough, I miss her a lot! But then we (Naga missionaries) crammed into a van and were dropped off at the airport hotel.   It was me and 5 elders – oh boy.  They were great but I was super nervous because the idea of being alone all day in a room by myself in this foreign land was not sounding very appealing.  But luckily all the missionaries leaving Naga to go home were there and there were 2sisters so I was able to stay with them. We got to the hotel around noon but because of the rain we had to stay inside all day.  It was a battle to not fall asleep, I was so turned around time wise but it was fun talking to the sisters about Naga.  The floods in Manila were crazy! I think they have stopped now and luckily that storm did not hit Naga.  Actually it has only rained once the whole time I have been here. 

The next day we had orientation with President and Sister Bliesner.   Then we met our trainers (aka new appendage for the next  3 months).   I have a wonderful new appendage! My companions name is Sister Cabanag.  She is Filipino and has been out for 10months and is from Cebu.  She is very patient with me and speaks really good English which is a blessing.  Mostly she talks to me in Tagalog and then waits for me to figure out what she is saying. I am grateful to her though, she pushes me and expects me to speak in every lessons multiple times.  It is scary – every time I have to speak my stomach drops - but I know this will help me learn quicker.   She really is so kind and positive and has a lot of faith in me so that helps.  Our area is called Ligao and is absolutely beautiful! There are tons of rice fields, jungles and it is right next to the volcano!

Our house is pretty nice and very safe! It is back behind this gate where there are 4 other homes so if anyone tried to break in people would see.  Both, The other sisters as well as the missionary couple live next to us. Our apartment is very hot all of the time but we have3 fans that we have going whenever we are in the house. There is a water filter and I have not gotten sick yet so that is such a blessing! There are a lot of spiders in all of the ceiling corners but they don’t bug us if we don’t bug them. It is funny how your standards of living change.  Also I am pretty sure who ever wrote the song “the ants go marching” lived in the Philippines.  Haha there are ants everywhere.  And they decided to make a nice little house in my clothes so last night we had to shake everything out and spray my shelf with rubbing alcohol so they would not come back.   I was laughing so hard the whole time.  Oh mission life, you are crazy! You can kind of see the toilet in the back ground of one of the pictures but there is no toilet seat and it doesn’t flush, you have to dump a bucket of water in to flush it.   And yes, that is the same bucket we use to shower.   We have a little spigot in our bathroom that we fill the bucket with and we just stand in the middle of the bathroom and pour really cold water on our heads.   The water takes my breath every time.  Sister Cabang laughed at me when I asked how to use the CR (bathroom) and to shower she always tells me that she is proud of me for adapting so well.  I am so grateful that I went to Peru and have seen severe poverty before because it has helped so much with the culture shock.  I really have not had a difficult time adapting to the culture it is pretty easy to love because the people are so kind and the area is so beautiful.  It is hot hot all the time and I am constantly sweaty just like everyone said I would.  

Last week we taught 16 lessons.  Mostly we are teaching inactive members.  There is a real problem with people being baptized and then not coming to church.  There are various reasons for this though.  Some people just don’t care and do not want to come.  Others cannot afford to travel that far, many of our members have children and it is just too expensive for them to all come to church. Some families have to take turns and one child goes to church one week at a time.   One couple does not have a lock on their door of their home and so they cannot both be gone at the same time because they are worried their house will be broken into.  I have not seen their house but Sister Cabanag said it is a very nice bamboo home. Most of the homes here are dirt floors but they all sweep their floors so there are never any leaves or twigs. They make do with the best they can.

In my first lesson we visited a less active family.  We had to cross a large river and in order todo so we sat on a boat made out of bamboo strapped together and a patio chairs trapped on.  Then a teenage boy   pulled us across the way. When we got to the other side we followed a winding path through a jungle of vines and palm trees to a small bamboo home.  While we were walking back we (well I attracted a crowd of about 15 children who trailed behind us yelling “hello, what is your name?” that is all they know how to say.) We sat on a wooden bench and taught a lesson to a dad and his stubborn daughter. The chickens pecked the ground around my feet, the children sat behind starring wide eyed at this white tall stranger and Sister Juliet had tears streaming down her face.  Sister Juliet is very stubborn and will not come to church and apparently usually will not talk with the missionaries.   Today for some reason she talked with us and the spirit talked to her.  It was a great first lesson.

Well dad, you pretty much nailed it on the head in your last email.  This is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life!  Mostly the largest difficulty for me is the language.  I knew it would be difficult but no one can prepare you for the humbling experience I have begun.  The words patience, longsuffering and temperance do a pretty good job at summing up what my last 5 days have been.   It is scary to speak but I am doing my best.  It is also difficult feeling overwhelmingly on the outside of this world.  I do not know if I will ever be able to go to a zoo again without crying for the animals because I feel like a polar bear at the zoo.  I mostly have to smile and watch a world that I do not understand. I try to remind myself that it will come and that all things take time but it is difficult when the light at the end of the tunnel seems so far away.  Right now I am trying to foster the mind set of ‘fake it till you make it.’ The overwhelming feelings win out sometimes and all I can do is drop to my knees and beg my Lord and Savior to help me and lift me.   I know this is all part of the experience. Sister Cabang says she thinks I will have the language in about 3 or 4 months and that I am learning fast.  I had to bare my testimony yesterday in church and everyone said they could not believe I had only been here for 4 days.  I think they were just being nice, but all I can say is thank goodness for the gift of tongues!

I do love it here even though it is difficult.  I am the only American sister and will be until December.  Many of the children have never seen a white person.  What’s more American than baseball? I am I am I am! There are no white people here, just me.  And no blonde people here.  Just me. It is actually really funny to watch people’s faces as we go by.  Everyone just stares and then I greet them in Tagalog and their jaws drop. 

The sisters tell me I look like Barbie and that they want my hair.  Also everyone here is sooootiny!!! I am a giant – huge! Haha it is a sight. As difficult as it is a keep reminding myself of the answer I received to come on a mission.  I know this is where should be and am happy to do what I can to serve the Lord even though I am not very good atTagalog.  The field is white and ready to harvest and there are extremely faithful people here who are humbly giving all they have to the lord. 

Thank you so much for sending the granola bars in the MTC.  They have saved me! I eat oatmeal with brown sugar every breakfast and then rice rice, rice for every other meal! But the granola bars have been a comforting piece of home.  I am glad I brought pictures of home, everyone loves to see them. 

Sorry this is so long, but you know me….. I always want to share every part of everything with you! Thank you for the prayers.  They are so needed and very felt.  I miss you all but would not want to be anywhere else. 

Love you so much!

-Sister Meish

the pics are of the rain in manila, me washing my clothes in a bucket and our house. 

The peak of this Monsoon hit the day Meisha left for the Philippines

Life at the MTC

Meisha loved her MTC companion - Sister J - and the rest of her group.  She was the only sister missionary going to Naga. Two Elders were traveling with her to Naga and the other Sister Missionaries in her group were scattered around the 17 missions in the Philippines.  We got to talk to Meish for 2 hours while she waited for her flights in SLC and L.A. (Chris was tempted to fly to L.A. to say goodbye but refrained).  Meisha was distressed at parting ways with Sister Jacobson but excited to get going in Naga.    Onward. . . .

Off To The Philippines 

 Well, it is my last P-day at the MTC.  Weird.  I cant believe my 9 weeks is almost up.  It has flown by so fast and I have really loved every minute of it.  I know that it is time to go now though, we have been working hard for weeks in preparation for this part of our journey. We can only learn and do so much here in the mtc and now it is time to go out and begin the next part of my journey, the part that I came here to do.  I dont have any regrets about the MTC I think we worked hard and gave it our all.  I have learned so much about myself, the gospel and my relationship with my Father in Heaven over the past 8.5 weeks and I am so grateful every single day for the opportunity I have to be here.  I still have 5 days left though, five days to finish strong and work hard every minute.  I have thought about how in soccer when we would run sprints for conditioning.  The trick to getting a faster time was to sprint past the finish line.  If I began to slow up as the finish line got closer i wouldnt end as strong.  That is how I am going to try to look at these next 5 days.  I need to sprint all the way through my 9 week stay at the MTC and learn as much as I can so that the next leg of the adventure will be just as rewarding. 

We got our travel plans - did you get the letter I sent to you about them?  I am excited to talk to you! It will be so weird to have instant communication with anyone haha.  It will also be weird to once again be in the real world and not on planet MTC.  We fly into Hong Kong and then to Manila.  I will stay in Manila for one night and then fly to Naga the next day (or so I understand).  Our Branch president said we can listen to music on the flight which will be such a blessing so thanks in advanced dad for putting that all together for me!

This week has been great! Our teacher, who is also our hardest investegator shared with us his conversion story.  I didnt even know that he was a convert for many weeks but he has an incredible story.  He also said he was proud of us and had no reservations about sending us to the field! When brother Langer was 18, he began taking the missionary discussions because he had some LDS friends.  He, at the time, was a devout Catholic and really had no interest in  the church.  When he told his parents he was taking the missionary discussions they were livid.  They took away all of his money and phone and would no longer pay for his college tuition.  He had to move home because he could not support himself and when he decided he wanted to be baptized they kicked him out.  He moved in with a member friend until he was called to serve in the Manila Philppines mission.  His father wrote him 5 letters on his mission, 3 of them being very negative.  He now goes to BYU and supports himself completely.  His parents do not support him or any relation he has with the church.  He is 22 and has one of the most incredible testimonies I have ever heard.  Every time he bares his testimony mine is strengthened and It is so hard for me to understand how they do not see the light of christ in him when He is so strong and changes my life everyday.  But it is a strong example of how hard hearts can be.  It also makes me so grateful for the strength i have behind me and my choice to serve a mission.  I want to be a better missionary because of that, because so many have given up for me to be here.  Because I have been given much I must give and give and give. 

Well I hope everyone is feeling better (mom) and that everyone returned home safe and sound.  I am glad to hear you ate a TK for me haha! cant wait to hear about the peruvian adventures.  The rest of this week is teaching and then we have in-field oreintation on Friday, departing devotional on Sunday night and fly out Monday afternoon!!! Yay!!

I know that the time to prepare is over.  It is time for me to be bold and give everything I have both physically and spiritually to the Lord.  I feel as ready as I can be. I am nervous and excited but I know that the Lord will help me and strengthen me.  One thing I have learned is that there are no comfort zones on the mission.  When you start to feel better about something it changes and you have to learn all over again.  I know the next month of my life will hold more surprises than I can really even prepare for.  I know there will be very low days but that there will be wonderful moments and the overall picture will be incredible.  I am so excited to begin this work.  "shall we not go on in so great a cause?" All of the heart ache and stomach ache and heat ache that is headed my way is so worth it! I am humbled by the amount of trust the Lord has in me to be able to be a missionary in Naga.

Well I love you all! It is weird that i will hear your voices in just 6 days and the next email i write will be in a different country half way around the world!! Cant wait!

I love you and am so grateful for you and your many prayers! they are felt more than you know so thank you. 

Love,

your missionary - Sister meish