Tatay Eddie

Hello family! It’s been a great, sweaty week!! It's hard to believe that we are heading in to the last week of transfers.  Life goes fast, I am pretty sure mission life goes faster. 

Our zone won the recent clean apartment contest and this morning we went to the beach with President and Sister Bliesner and the AP’s.  We played a good game of beach volleyball that lasted about 20 minutes and then we all began to die of heat stroke.  There is just something different about the beach when you are wearing jeans and a t-shirt and are fully aware that there is no chance of entering the beautiful blue water.  One day . . . . .  But it was fun to breathe in the fresh ocean air; the air at the beach just smells and feels different. It’s cleaner.

Last week I mentioned that we spent the day in Naga trying to get the loose ends tied up in order for our cute elderly couple to get married.  Tatay Eddie is our investigator and he is 68 years old.  His soon to be 65 year old bride is the pioneer in Goa, and they are just darling!  Tatay was a tricycle driver when he was younger. He is a simple man. Some elders in our district were telling us about their Investigator who has read the Book of Mormon entirely in Taglog and is working on it in English now.  At each of their meetings he asks very deep doctrinal questions, but he will not pray.  I was thinking about the conversion of this man and how it will never take place, regardless of how intellectual he is because he will not commune with God.  He is looking at the gospel without spiritual eyes and therefore the gospel is just an analytical exercise for him.  Tatay Eddie tells us in each lesson how grateful he is for us because if we weren’t here he wouldn’t know the gospel.  He wouldn’t know he was supposed to be baptized and he wouldn’t know about the priesthood.  He has never argued with us about commitments or praying; he just humbly follows.  He doesn’t ask us deep questions but he sees the truth.  He is willing and wanting to believe in this message and his conversion has taken place quickly for him.  Our district leader told us yesterday after his interview that he had a strong testimony of the Prophet Joseph.  I realized that our conversion takes place only when we invite the spirit in, especially through prayer.  He passed his interview and he will be married and baptized on the same day – April 27th! The gospel is for all, both old and young, male and female, but it depends on us and whether we are willing to let it into our lives. 

President Packer once said, “We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see.” 

This is how Tatay Eddie is.  At first I was worried he was only obedient because he didn’t know any better or because Nanay wanted him to get baptized. But over the last few weeks I have come to realize that he is converted because he can see.  He is willing to see and willing to let the light of the gospel into his life.

We had Family Home Evening at Crisanto’s last night for his birthday! His wish was that he will go on a mission this year!!! That’s my wish for him to.  I hope and pray that through the next months he will only continue to grow in the gospel.

Well Conference was amazing and there was so much to learn.  I am in the process of spending all of my extra money printing talks because I can’t wait for the Liahona edition to come out haha. I loved Elder Holland’s talk!!! He is a very powerful speaker and I liked that he said the only thing God has ever had to work with are people that are imperfect and we need to be patient with ourselves and others because God is patient with us.  I also liked Elder Christoffersons message about alleviating people’s burdens.

I just read Meg and Spencer’s letters. They sound great! It is good to get that first week out of the way - it is rough! It generally takes about 7-8 months for missionaries in the Philippines to feel comfortable with the language - even with studying every day.  I don’t know about Spanish.  By months 4 or 5 it started to feel okay-ish. But, there is so much to learn when you are memorizing the dictionary haha. It sounds like there is a giant army of sisters hitting every mission this spring. Ours is next week!

I am excited to hear about Will’s call. He is such a good kid; focused and driven. He will be a good missionary.  

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! Maybe we will send some of this blistering heat your way.

Love from the pines,

Sister Meish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Heat is Here

Kumusta po kayo! Sobrang maiint dito! Grabi naman pero okay lang kasi mahal ko talaga and pilipinas! Hi fam! It has been another great week full of the ups and downs of mission life. I know that it was conference weekend for you all and I hope it was wonderful. We get to watch the broadcast’s this coming weekend and I am anticipating it very much. Conference is wonderful always but on the mission it is an extra dose of specia. It is over the last 10 months that I have truly gained a testimony of how significant it is that we have a living prophet on the earth today. How grateful I am that I was not born during the darkness and confusion the world faced prior to the Restoration. I thank God for a living prophet on the earth today.

We are in Naga City today trying to help one of our investigators get married. We spent the morning waiting in the filipino version of the dmv(but worse) trying to get a marriage license.  I also needed new shoes ALREADY! Mine have holes; but like dad said last week.... I think God prefers worn out shoes on missionaries.  We just wear rubber shoes here because it rains so much and we are mostly walking on muddy dirt roads.  The biggest size they have is (thank goodness) perfect for me.  It is so hot here; I cannot believe it.  This is my first summer in the pines and oh man - the heat is hot. 

 

Because of the heat, we have language study each day after lunch to take a small break from. I sit on our small couch made of bamboo with the electric fan exactly 12 inches away from my face, reading Tagalog out loud and writing and rewriting vocab words to practice. During my afternoon cram session there is a chorus of tinkeling bells out side my window. These bells are from the ice candy sellers. Ice candy is essentially a homemade otter pop. These sellers walk around the streets of Goa selling candy to overheated people. It is a sound that I want to remember.

Crisanto was called into the Young Men’s presidency yesterday. For the first time he bore his testimony during sacrament meeting yesterday and once again got teary eyed. He spoke about how some of his friends tease him now for not drinking and for going to church every Sunday but that he doesn’t mind because he knows this is the truth. I am so proud of Crisanto. He is such a strong person with unflinching faith. I was reminded yesterday as Crisanto stood and received his first calling and then bore his first testimony of my own conversion, the many “first”moments that have year after year added to my conversion. These moments are seemingly small but quite significant; little things that over time have made me into.... me. It has been such a special experience to watch these “first” experiences unroll for brother cris.

I have been studying in Helaman 5 this week and the word REMEMBER stuck out significantly to me. What we chose to remember and prioritize in our lives shapes us as individuals. Frequently we hear from our less actives and investigators that they were going to pray or go to church but they were busy. It occurred to me this week that in order to truly remember our savior properly we have to consciously and consistently prioritize Him and His gospel. I am grateful for this small chunk of time in my life that I have to focus entirely on the savior and his work. It is truly a blessing to be uplifted by these people and their wonderful courage and faith.

The kids here are my favorite. It is summer vacation right now and the blue sky is scattered with kites made out of sticks and plastic grocery bags tied to tin cans. All of the children run through the streets with their kites trailing behind. They are the kite runners of the Philippines.

 

I met one of the new American sisters that just came 4 weeks ago and she knows Nathaniel. She said to tell him hi. Her name is sister Horst! She is so cute and it was so fun to laugh about the learning curve of the first few weeks in the field.  I loved being able to relate to everything she is going through right now; having a comp from a different culture and just not having a clue what is going on ever.

Well I love you all – I hope Meg and Speen are doing great. You are in my prayers! Owey, stop growing! Bug – I have a picture of our family in my scriptures and all the elders want to date you. Also some of the kids went through my picture album trying to guess of the 2 of us which one was me haha! Love ya twin.

Love from the Pines,

 Sister Meish 

Holy Week

4-1-13

Hi family. So..... I have been really, really sick this week. They think I drank something in the water.  I can’t keep anything down and I have lost another 10 lbs. President said they are going to send me to Manila for hospital work if it doesn’t get better in the next few days.

 

April fooooollllls~!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha just kidding. I am doing great - we had such a good week.

We had interviews with President this week which was great.  We get 15 American sisters here in three weeks!! In my interview, we discussed the miracles that I have witnessed over the last 6 weeks.  

I can’t believe that Speen leaves today! So his visa came through? How exciting that you get to talk to him. It was great for me to be able to talk on the phone before heading out to the craziest adventure ever.  I just read their last letters. I am so proud of them. My heart aches for them as well because the first 2 weeks are the hardest part of the mission. But they will do so great. Have you heard from Meg yet? Did Adelide get off okay?

Happy Easter! Like all holidays, Easter took on a more significant meaning to me this year because there were no plastic eggs, no candy but we taught about the atonement and we taught about the plan of salvation that God has given to us. This easter has taken on deeper significance to me as I have been able to tell a 27 year old boy that he has the chance to see his father again. This gospel is perfect and wonderful and I am grateful for it in every way.

 

 

 

This week was Holy Week -The Philippines is a Christian country, the majority of the population is Catholic – the “easter” celebrations were a little different than our traditional rabbit and eggs. Actually there was very little celebration on Sunday but Good Friday is the big holiday. Goa was a ghost town; everything was closed down. A lot of people were dressed in black and I guess there is a tradition that no water spouts are to be used on Good Friday, especially close to 3pm because that is the time Christ died. On Friday night there were luminaries everywhere and there was a contest to see who could construct the most elaborate shrine for Christ. There were some pretty impressive models - except for the fact that we know we should not worship false idols. On Friday Morning Sister Abarabar and I were walking in the town Centro and heard extremely loud music. It was a procession reenacting Christ’s walk to Calvary. There was a man portraying Christ and carrying a cross and the where whipping him and shouting at him. The feeling was dark and disturbing. It is interesting that the focus is on the death of Christ when we are so grateful that he overcame death for us all. Anyway it was a sight to see.

 

I worked as a farmer this week. Our landlady is quite fond of us and has adopted us as her grandchildren. She has ownership of rice fields so on Saturday we went and worked in her rice fields and harvested rice. It was so fun – the enjoyment however was probably due to the fact that we only worked for 1 hour. I have gained such great respect for these bikolano people who work so hard in the heat of the day. The workers around us attempted to teach us the correct technique while also reminding us repeatedly to not cut our hands off. They would yell “kamay mo, kamay mo!” or “your hand, your hand,” each time we took a swing with our sickle and then would just laugh at our poor technique. I was thinking how these workers labor diligently during every step of the work - the planting and the harvesting. If the diligence only lasted through the planting their efforts would be wasted and nothing would be harvested. These farmers place the seeds in perfectly straight rows one at a time throughout miles of fields. Then when the crop is golden brown they go through the rows and rows harvesting each piece. The process is whole and complete. I read in a talk a while back the advice to “become a whole person.” I think like these rice fields we have to have diligence in each phase of our lives. As we take great care to place each seed perfectly in place, giving our attention to the things that matter most we are able to harvest a wonderful crop.

Elder Holland said Don’t you quit.  You keep walking. You keep trying.  There is help and happiness ahead.  Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven.  But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.”

I know that when the blazing sun beats down on those rice workers they keep working and the blessings of the harvest do come. When the blazing sun beats down on us in the trials of our lives I am so grateful to know that ultimately because of the gospel we can truly all become whole and perfect even as our Savior, Jesus Christ. What a glorious blessing that is!

It seems that the small instances in my life contribute little by little to making me more whole as a person. Jesril passed the Sacrament yesterday in church.  Sister Abrabar and I laughed and laughed as we tried to chase a large vicious bee out of our small bedroom (we have both had to work at our relationship but it is in a very good place now). My little baby brothers missionary letters sound like they come from a mature adult.  I feel the spirit so strong as I sit alone at my termite eaten study table and read the Living Christ. Each day I wake up and do sit ups on a small yellow yoga mat and am grateful for a healthy, strong body.  Crisanto bore his testimony last night to another investigator; promising that his confusion went away when he prayed for understanding.  These are some snippets from my “Holy Week” that have helped make me a little more whole.  I hope all is going well for you! I hope Meg survived the first week in the field! I know she is probably killing it.  Tell them both to go get em.

I received the book from Steve this week with the stories of our ancestors. I have loved reading them (like speen) before I go to bed. It makes me so proud of my heritage and their stories give me strength and increase my faith.

Mahal na Mahal ko kayo!

Sister Meish

 

 

 

Showers are Over-rated

Hello Family,

Cate - great job with YW Basketball and maintaining the heritage of winning the region championship!

Last week I attended my first Filipino wedding and it did not disappoint.  One of our Investigators married a member in our ward. Because he is an investigator we needed to give them support and were able to attend their wedding. The wedding was at the chapel and the Stake President married them.  The bride is 7 months pregnant with twins so her tummy was quite large but she still looked beautiful in her dress.  The Filipino tradition for the attire of the men in the wedding party is to wear the color of the wedding underneath and then a long sleeved shear white shirt on top.  The Girls in the wedding party all wear bright gold. The ceremony was simple and nice.  After the wedding, we were able to attend a reception at the brides’ parents’ home.  There were 5 long tables filled with all kinds of Filipino foods and never ending platters of rice! I have never seen so much rice.  There is a tradition here that the couple dances in the middle and people come to them and pin money onto their clothing.  The combination of the brides large tummy and the money draped awkwardly on the two of them resulted in a funny waddle dance.  But now they are married and are one step closer to being a family based on covenants. Yay!

We have been teaching a woman by the name of Karin for several weeks now. She is a young 23 year old mother of three and her husband’s job is driving a large truck filled with sand that they gathered from the river by their home.  The only chair in the house is a bench. This is where we sit to teach while Karin rocks her baby in a hammock type cradle.  They live by a river that reminds me of our camping trips with Dan and Jana. Sometimes we teach on the rocks by the side of the river.  From the very first time we taught Karin she has absorbed the gospel like a sponge.  We left a pamphlet after the first lesson and she read and reread the pamphlet until we gave her a book of Mormon. She has come to church for the past few weeks and I know that it takes a great deal of effort to save up for the tricy ride to the chapel because they don’t live close. 

President Ezra Taft Benson said, “The Lord works from the inside out.  The world works from the outside in.  The world would take people out of the slums.  Christ takes the slums out of people and then they take themselves out of the slums.  The world would mold men by changing their environment.  Christ changes men, who then change their environment.  The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.” 

This quote describes what the gospel does for us all.  It heals us.  The man from Galilee makes us better.  Regardless of our situation, there is always a balm of Gilead available to us because of Jesus Christ and his eternal gospel.

This sweet woman has very little in terms of the world; she comes to church in pants and washes her children in the river, but she has faith.  She believes. She is willing to see the light and that is something more valuable than items in designer stores or high end homes.  I marvel at her faith and I marvel at her goodness.  I know that the gospel will not change their living condition. But the changes in this woman and her family are there.  Through prayer their family has changed because they have invited the spirit into their decisions.  Through reading the Book of Mormon in their home, their home is now filled with the word of God.  The gospel changes us, Christ changes us.  He heals us.

I am ever grateful for the everlasting gospel.  I don’t know why I was born where I was or into the situation I was but it makes me want to work that much harder because I have been given much. I feel like I must give.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and I am grateful to spread his message of peace and joy. 

Jesrell received the priesthood yesterday. I am so proud of their family.  I know that their mom could not be happier as she watches her family come together in the gospel! After church we taught them the family proclamation and Crisanto said he is determined to start having FHE.  Hopefully one day their dad will join the rest of the family... alll in good time.

Today for P-day we went to one of the 3 fast food restaurants in town and I had adobo pork and rice and halo halo - my favorite! We like to go eat at this little mom and pop cantina but they were all out of food when we got there so we had to resort to fast food at another place - but it was still yummy.  

We have apartment checks this week so we scrubbed all morning because, as predicted, there was no water by afternoon.  So much for taking a shower.

Well fam, I love you, I love this work, I love the gospel and I love the Philippines. 

Mahal na mahal kop o kayo- I love you in tagalong. Padaba ko kamo – I love you in Bikol.

Sister Meish

 

 

 

 

Jesrell

Pamilya ko! Kumusta po kayo dyan! Sobrang maiinit dito! Summer na! HAPPY BIRTHDAY sa papangs ko!

Happy Birthday dad! I love you and am so grateful for you in my life.  I hope you have a great birthday and eat delicious sugar because it is your b-day and you deserve it!

Well it was a wonderful week! Jesrell did it! He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This was a huge success. Jes’ brother Crisanto that was baptized 2 weeks ago was able to baptize him - so neat. This was so special for both of them. I got so teary eyed as I watched them both stand in white in that water! What incredible changes they have made in their lives.  He was in a white shirt and neck tie yesterday at church. I can’t believe the changes from that first Sunday - such incredible miracles.  On Friday night we went to their house to teach and make sure Jes was ready to go for the next day.  At the end of the lesson we asked him to bear his testimony.  Jes is a pretty shy and not a kid prone to use lavish language. His testimony was simple and he plainly said, “I know the church is true.” He then stumbled for a moment and responded again, “I can’t really explain it but I know in my heart and my feelings that it is true.” 

I was thinking how our conversion is not something that we can easily put into words.  In the Emma Smith movie the character that plays Emma says, “sometimes you know things with your heart that you don’t know with your head.” Commonly my spiritual experiences and my conversion is something I have a difficult time explaining in Tagalog or English.  I think this is because we are converted with our spirits not just our intellect. 

We were taking pictures before the baptism and I told Crisanto and Jes to stand together.  As I looked at the small screen on my camera and saw these two brothers standing in white I was so overcome with happiness and warmth.  Then again, as they were standing together in the font and Cris raised his hand above his little brother and said the words, “….bilang inatasan ni Jesucristo binibinyagan kita sa pangalan ng Ama, at ng anak and ng Espiritu Santo. Amen.” Joy filled my heart – a feeling that is full and real, not temporary or fading.  Like Jesrell, it was a feeling that I can’t really explain – it is something that I can feel in my heart. 

Of course as spiritual and wonderful as the baptism was there was not enough water in the font so the first time Jes went down he hit that water surface as hard as a wakeboarder doing a nose dive.  I also think Cris was nervous that he wouldn’t go all the way under so he used a little too much force. This in turn shocked Jesrell and his knees floated up. We were cracking up.   The second time was perfect and on Sunday he received the Holy Ghost - so it was a perfect package. 

 

We are not sure why but we haven’t had water for the past few days… luckily we order drinking water so we have been able to cook. But showering has been an interesting experience.  The water will come on for a few hours at a time so we have been saving up and use that to shower.  It is so hot outside now that showers are mandatory or we might scare off all of the people we are teaching. 

I am a Halo Halo addict. This is not a video game. Halo Halo is a dessert here and it is crushed ice (that is probably the reason I love it so much), and ice cream, and corn and beans, and this jello type stuff and banana’s. I know it sounds gross but I love it! I would eat it every day but then I would have no money - so I resist but it is delicious.

We are teaching a woman who has 5 boys…. We have started teaching the oldest 3 and yesterday they 9 year old came to church all by himself.  They live pretty far away and I couldn’t believe he traveled all that way.  He and I shared a bench in sacrament meeting and maybe because he is 9 and he has big brown eyes he reminded me of my baby brother way back in Salt Lake.  This hard working little kid was my Owen for the day.  Miss ya big O, thanks for the email!

One of our investigators gets married on Wednesday so we are attending the royal wedding! The wedding is going to be at the chapel and then they are having lunch after.  We are excited for them. The wife is a member and they have a set of twins on the way!

Anyway, mission life is so busy and I love every minute of it.  I love living in the Philippines, I love the people and the food and of course being able to wear my name tag everyday and spread the good news of the gospel.  I know this church is true and I am so grateful for the way it has shaped my life.  It is a miracle being able to watch other people learn the language of the gospel; the language that is spoken without words but with our hearts. 

I bought a replacement for the Jelly shoes that I lost in The Muddy all those years ago in Southern Utah!

Mahal na mahal ko po kayo!

Love from the Pines,

Sister Meish

 

P.S. The new batch of missionaries arrived... they have that wide eyed, deer in the headlights look.... I would pay so much money to be with Speen in his first week in the field.  

I haven’t met any of the new American Sisters yet; only elders. Our house has the only 4 sisters in our zone, so I probably won’t meet them until transfers.  Only 4 American sisters came in this time but there are 13 on the way for April. 

Thanks for sending me the pics from Kevin’s wedding.

 

 

 

 

Traveling Banana Bread Man

Dear Family!

What a week. It is the end of another transfer. The last transfer was 7 weeks instead of 6 because all the missionaries in the field had an extra 2 weeks added on to their missions. Even though there was an extra week, the time went quickly. It is hard to believe that I have already been in Goa for 7 weeks. But neither my companion nor I is being transferred from the area. We have a lot of progressing investigators right now so I think it will be helpful for us both to stay here and continue to work with them.

This week we had the baptism of Jelissa, Crisanto’s little sister! She is 11 years old and right around the time I got to Goa she told her mom she wanted to be baptized. This family has been so prepared. There is such a wonderful energy that comes from watching the spirit work with them and slowly change and unite their family. There is also another young man in that family, Jezrell, that I have talked about who is progressing toward baptism. The other night as we sat in the darkness under a banana leaf roof, with only a few candles glowing, I listened to the humble prayer that came from Jezrell’s heart. I was grateful in that dark night as I listened to the prayer of this 17 year old boy in a red t-shirt who no longer has an earring and no longer drinks, say a sincere prayer to a loving Heavenly Father. Yesterday their family arrived at church in a padyak and there was Jezrell wearing the white shirt we gave him. Our ward mission leader helped him tie his tie and I felt that sweet peace run through me. How grateful I am that the gospel is true.

Elder Cristofferson said, “The good will triumph because of Jesus Christ, whereas without him we would have no chance. We can feel peace and that peace is very sweet.”

In other news…. There is a man that has a traveling bread store attached to his motorcycle and he drives past our apartment some mornings at six o clock. We dash down the stairs to catch him and I have bought warm banana bread a few times this week. My favorite fruit here is mango; they have yellow mangos and green mangos. The green ones are kind of sour and we dip them in salt and they are so good. Of course, the yellow can’t be replaced, they are the original.

 

We have tried tracting a few times in some of the nicer areas. It is tough! Even though people are nice they usually say they are busy; but hey we are planting seeds one at a time and hoping to find some sincere seeker.

I read Speen’s blog.  He kills me! I wish I was in his district in the field. He is so funny! I got an email from Meg. I wonder how much time they have on the computer. She must be a speedster at the emailing thing. I barely had time to write you guys.

 

I think about them a lot and it is interesting how I gain strength from my siblings that are miles and miles away.

Things are great I love you all and am so grateful for you and your support.

Hope all is well in SLC, Provo, and the Dominican.

Love from the Pines,

Sister Meish

 

Jelissa

Happy March! Ito ang akin kalahati! Ano ba iyan! We are heading into Filipino summer… it has been hot, hot, hot this week and I have a feeling the heat is only going to rise from here. Although it was so hot this week it has poured rain today and that was probably a blessing and reminder to us from the heavens. For our district activity we went to the BEACH! There is a beach in the Elders area so we took 1 rugby ball, a cake we made for our district leader’s birthday, 12 cups of rice, chicken (went on top of the rice) and 8 flip flop wearing missionaries. We all piled into a tricey and headed toward the waves. I thought about those summer trips to Newport when we were younger and would visit the beach and on Sunday and would “only get our feet wet, we promise!” Of course we generally ended up soaking wet from head to toe. Since it is against the rules to go swimming, we really only did get our feet wet but the desire to jump in was still there. The water was really warm! The experience of diving into the ocean water in west coast California is more like my shower experience each morning - as I gasp at the freezing water. The experience of feeling the ocean water in Tigaon city is similar to the temperature of our swimming pool!

 

On Saturday we had another family home evening. The ward missionaries have become FHE addicts and we are running out of lesson plan ideas. I ordered a group of movies about the doctrine and covenants and one of the movies was the story of John Moyle - only a stone cutter. I know it is one of mom’s favorite and it is quite inspirational. We watched that for our lesson and I was so inspired by the dedication to the Lord of this simple man who faced so many difficulties. After his accident he was determined to walk the 22 miles to Salt Lake when his wife told him he was only a stone cutter and there were plenty of people to take his place. He replied to his wife that even though he was only a stone cutter it was his calling and therefore he would continue to serve.

One of the families that attended the FHE was the Enciso Couple. Brother Enciso is the 2^nd counselor in the bishopric and Sister Enciso is the Relief Society president. They recently opened a small food stand on the side of the highway. They are not open on Sundays and so Saturday is an important business day to make up for what they won’t sell on Sunday. Although they would have many customers on Saturday night - they close shop to attend the FHE because of their simple dedication to God’s work. There are days out here when I feel that my efforts are insignificant. I feel that my Tagalog could be better, that people don’t want to listen, or that I am running in circles not making a difference. The examples of a humble stonecutter and an elderly Filipino couple remind me that there is power in one person’s sincere effort. Even though I am only one missionary - this is my calling and therefore I continue forward.

Jesrell and Jelissa passed their baptismal interviews! Yay! Their baptism is on Saturday. Earlier this week we were invited to their home for a small birthday party. They live in a small bamboo home with dirt floors and some sleep on the floor while some sleep in hammocks above. The mom had to work late. When we got there we started washing dishes and cutting onions, and boiling water to make spaghetti. As I held a flashlight overhead for Jezrell to wash the pan with a basin of water, I had the most nostalgic feeling of early trips to Lake Powell. As the night was ending the nanay (or mom) told us she had saved two days of work money to buy the cake. On Saturday we bought the same cake for the elder in our district. It wasn’t a big deal for us but for this family that cake resembles two full work days. I continue to be amazed by people here. They are so happy and loving in spite of the challenges in their lives. We bought a necktie and white shirt to give to Jezrell for his baptism. I can’t wait!

Story of the week: On Sunday a little boy was following me around at church. He was from the other ward so he hadn’t seen the white missionary before. As I was talking to his parents he kept pushing all my freckles on my arm like buttons. Then I felt a sudden tug on my hair and he had yanked out a strand of my hair. Apparently the novelty of freckles/moles and the white hair were more than he could resist.

Thanks for maintaining all the blogs.  I love reading about Speen and Meg. It is good there are only elders in Spencer’s district so that the Hermanas are not subjected to the Elder stuff we had to endureJ. Meg’s hair is so cute. With that cut she is a sister mish for sure now haha.

Well love you all! Keep on Keepin’ on. We are doing great here in the bastion of Bikol.

Love from the Pines,

Sister Meish