Language mishap, crashing parties and an escaped rat...

October 27. 2013

gabay na bakla!! lolz a missionary said that once.... should be gabay na bakal.... one means metal... one means gay...  and no, it wasn't me :)

This week in meycauayan!!! we caught a rat. but it got away!!!! curses. it left hair and blood in the trap... we'll get him this week.  

Nothing else that happened is nearly as exciting as that... jk jk. 

We're teaching this man named nick!! he's super old. he's been taught off and on by the missionaries since... 2005? yata. he reads the BOM, knows the church is true, was married to a member (who was alive when he started being taught, but has now passed away) anyway he's super legit. but he smokes. a lot. and he doesn't think he can ever quit. challenge accepted. it's time nick. 

We crashed a bridal shower party!!! jk we were invited. we just went and ate dinner and peaced out. it was fun though, the bride to be just got home from a mission not too long ago, the whole family works with us a ton (especially the grandma!!!! she's a champ) 

And we crashed a birthday party!!!!! jk we were invited to that one too. but we didn't know it was a party, we thought we were just teaching a normal lesson to our lil munchkins that are getting baptized nov 16th! that was kinda awkward... didn't even know it was the uncle's birthday.... oh well, got one new inv, one new referral, one new less active, and one new dinner. ftw. 

This week's gonna be cray cray. i might die a lil bit. but that's ok. as long as i don't die a lot a bit. 

Oh yeah. i was doing my laundry the other night (by hand. that's whats up) and got to listen to a lil bible study chat kwan going down in the neighbor's house. sooo weird to be on the other side of that. they sang some great songs though, it was very entertaining. 

that's all folks!

-sista honez

Baliwag, awesome investigator, and speaking in the new ward and a FUN FACT

October  20 email

We had another beautiful week in Meycauayan!! and we got to go to Bustos!! which was also beautiful! it's in Baliwag which is infamous for being a beautiful area among the missionaries so it was fun to go see it. 

One super cool thing that happened in  Bustos.  We were teaching an investigator that is doing really well and is getting ready for baptism and everything. he has also had a stroke so he has a lot of trouble walking. but he still walks to church. super legit. 

anyway we started just by asking if he had any questions from his readings and he was like yeah. what's the Priesthood? does it have a name in Tagalog?? and we were like of course!!! Pagkasaserdote! kaya.... Priesthood na lang! we taught him all about it and then he was like, Can i get the Priesthood?? or am i over age??

awesomeness. he recognized that all the youth that pass the sacrament have the Priesthood so he thought you could only get it while you're young. then we told him he could receive it and all that that entails and he was so excited. and overwhelmed. he said he wouldn't know how to use it properly and that it sounds like a very holy calling. awesomeness. yes it is. and that, brother, is why you can receive it. you know how holy and important it is!!!!

That was cool. also sister alingog made these amazingly delicious and spicy.... thing. idk what it's called. anyway, we're adding that to the menu :) it's a green pepper with cheese (ish) in the middle wrapped in a wonton thing and pan fried. malinamnam. sister alingog is still absolutely hilarious btw (we were in the same house in pangarap for three transfers) i hope we're comps one of these days! 

Back in meycauayan (i have to practice writing that cuz it's wicked hard to spell.....) we finally met the ward! all three new missionaries spoke in sacrament meeting. that was exciting. 

the first elder is still fairly new and from china!!! so he doesn't really speak tagalog... or english..... he's such a champ. and he just like introduced himself and told an experience of how they got dropped by an investigator, but then got let back in cuz he speaks japanese and the husband is japanese!!! at least i think that's what it was about.... 

then i went up and talked about some stuff, more like a short talk than introduction cuz they're all gonna ask the same 3 questions anyway when we meet them for reals :) 

then the new zone leader went up and called them all to action/repentance. lolz so great. 

seems like a really great ward though!! 

anyway! life is great! exchanges was a learning experience and the work goes on! 

have a great week!

-sister jones

  

 We asked Sarah  why they use Spanish for money and telling time instead of Tagalog...

She gave us a FUN FACT:

Before the spanish came in and colonized the Philippines some more, they didn't have a system for money or time cuz it wasn't really important to them.

Then the Spaniards came in and were like money and time is important!!!! so they taught them about it. which is why it's counted in Spanish!

The Province! Fresh air, and riding in a Pedi-cab

fresh air!!! the province is for reals great. so green and beautiful!!! we ride lil pedi-cabs (side car) around, it's like being in a parade.... always!! lolz

PS:   a pedi-cab is a bike with a lil side thing attached to it where we sit.... so this dude on a bike with no gears pulls us around the rocky roads :) and then we talk to them while they're struggling up a hill about their families and where  they live and if they like their job and then we give them a mormon.org card while they're out of breath and can't say no!! muahaha! joke lang ish. 

other news! mlc was cool, conference was awesome, annnnnnd yep! 

Sister Noriega is ps hilarious. she's like the energizer bunny... that also happens to be a really great missionary. it's the first time in...... 4 transfers my comp has been older than me in the mish, it's super fun! teaching is soooo nice. idk how to explain it besides saying that it's easy. things just go where we want to take them. unity kaagad. it's tight. 

She also asks me random english questions like what dope means. (She's way good at english, it's just random slang that throws her, which makes all her questions hilarious)

Soooo this week was very fast and i don't have anything exciting to tell you...... 

We taught a family last night. there were three men and the mom. usually, the families here have struggles from the men. this family, however, was the complete opposite. it was so weird! but also way cool to see these strong Priesthood holders. The 24 year old recent covert shared his experience that while he was watching general conference he got a text from work asking him to come in, and he was like no, i'm watching general conference! and they kept texting him but he just didn't respond until they were like aight we found a replacement for you! he was like blessing! (ok i don't remember what he said, but he was recognizing the Lord's hand in helping him not have to work on Sunday) that was cool.

We also taught this suuuuuper sweet lady named nora. she's 83 ish and is taking care of her bed-ridden sibling. we taught about repentance and she thanked us for coming to awaken her from her slumber of sin (aight i don't remember what her exact words were either...) because she hasn't been reading her scriptures daily. it was so cool to see her understanding of repentance that it isn't mean, or sad, or scary. it's an invitation to further receive blessings!! and she was so happy! we also talked to her about getting the sacrament brought to her and she was soooo happy! it was a really precious moment. 

Next week on meycauayan: zone training meeting, exchanges in other areas wed and thurs, more planning, and speaking in church sun! should be a party!

Have a great week! 

-sister jones

What in the world is STL??? and why does it now include MLC???

Oh mormons with their abbreviations.... what in the world is STL??? and why does it now include MLC????

This week was fun. we found out sister cestona and sister chamberlain are training!!! and a bazillion other people cuz we're getting like 30 new missionaries! exciting! sad news, sister garcia goes home. today. and i'm here, stranded till ..... later?

STL: stranded till later. 

Found out im transferring out of novaliches!! Peace out nova it's been real, it's been fun. occasionally it has even been real fun!! for reals though, imma miss nove, it's a great place. but sister cestona is gonna have a great place to train her new lil comp!! welcome to nova sister walker!!! i also found out that the only thing i will probs be remembered for here is.... being really good at tagalog. im cool with that. kasi, siempre, tagalog lagi......

STL: siempre tagalog lagi. (of course, always tagalog.)

STL: stoked to leave? nah not true. i love nova

last night a family had a birthday party and invited us slash made it a going away party. it was super nice of them, also the first time i had met quite a few of them. but they really wanted to say goodbye! lolz the food way way good and included.... snail!!! yeah, who knew i was secretly serving in france. snail, totes loob. 

STL: snail totes loob. (snail totally inside) (i ate a snail. it was super nasty. don't let anyone tell you otherwise....)

STL: still totally lost. who knew the people in that family were related. good thing they're in the other sisters' area.....

cool story: we have been looking for a family on our listy list for a bit now but the only address we have for them is: Green fields III. in case that sounds specific in any way, it's very much not. cuz green fields III is quite large.... anyway! this week we had four babies blessed in church! all four from families in our area! and one of them was.... a Navalle baby!!! (that's the family we're looking for) so of course, after sacrament we went lookin for that baby (and his dad) but they peaced out mad fast. good news, he didn't bless his own baby, an older man in the ward did that we see every week...... they're related pala! so we got their address. can't hide anymore!!!

STL: stealthy tracker lady..... aight these aren't very good. 

STL: sister training leader...... that one's for real. 

imma stl now! yaaaaaay. which is kinda like a district leader but for sisters. it's chill. we have 14 sisters in our area and we go on exchanges with all of them every transfer. then we go to MLC (mission leadership council, we're gettin fancy now) and represent those sisters. should be tight. im actually really excited for this opportunity for three simple reasons:

1. i'll get to see all the sister's areas (we go out to all the beautiful provincey areas (farms)) 

2. get to practice my counseling skills ...........to break up sister fights! lolz party

3. im going to Meycauayan! which is in Valenzuela stake! so for general conference this weekend i will get to see people from my first area!!! if they're still active enough to go to general conference!! sana. 

ps. update on past people. 

right before i left my first area i told you about a girl who had a lil baby and her man just up and left them. flash forward to now, she got a new man, he investigated the church, they got married, he got baptized, they're now all active and preparing to enter the temple. stoked. 

in pangarap, we had brother allin, struggling with a few things that kept getting his bap date pushed back and pushed back and pushed back. but he was so amazing and it was so sad that he wasn't progressing like he should have been! turns out! he didn't believe that there was a devil. once that got cleared up he was able to resist temptation because he was able to recognize it as temptation. he got baptized mga sept 21! stoked. 

that's all folks! I'm excited to watch general conference this weekend!!!! and the relief society broadcast!!

pps my new comp is sister noriega and i will be killin her off! she's possibly the most excited person i've ever met. should be a party ;)

-sister jones