HALF WAY!! Sarah's been out 9 months! What do you get when you cram 25 people in a Jeepney??

So this week was chill. we had temple tour and that went super well! we crammed 10 missionaries and 15 others in a jeepney and trecked on over to the temple. (jeepneys usually hold about 22.... smaller people....) but it was awesome! rose and her son jeff came and their new kid aljon!

So aljon is actually rose's nephew but they kinda just adopted him or something... he moved in with them. then that night we taught them all, sat he went to temple tour, sunday he went to church, and the'll be getting baptized on August 3rd :)    He's 13 and when jeff introduced him to us he was like this is brother aljon, he's 13, is he a teacher or a deacon? it was hilarious cuz aljon literally had no idea who the heck we were or what was happening... good times. :)

Other news..... i swear we teach people other than rose and her family.....
they're just the funniest slash most progressing. also hilarious. people have a really hard time understanding the concept of fasting. like a really hard time. we'll teach it and everything and they're like oh yeah sweet i've done that heminah heminah

But then! we were fasting and we go to their house and they're like did you go to your place and eat? and we're like no, we're fasting. and they're like ok. did you eat at the church? nooo we're fasting. ok. do you want something to eat? nooo we're fasting. ok. did you drink water?? nope. still fasting. ok. so you just can't eat hard foods, right? but you can eat soft foods (whatever that means....) and drink water and everything, right? nope. still fasting. no food, no water, 24 hours. that's what fasting means!!!!!!! oooooooh. wait, seriously? what if you get thirsty? umm you suck it up. seriously??? yeaaaaah cuz we're fasting :) good times.

follow-up conversation (5 mins later) i bet that's why those two missionaries died. they were walking all day everyday and they didn't drink any water. lolz so great. 

mmk. ummm a ton of missionaries are going home this transfer and it's gonna be crazy! this was the first batch that was actually called to this mission after it split. and the first batch that came in with President Sperry as the president... it's like all the zone leaders and aps and stuff... weird! (transfer day is next week, i'm not training again so pretty much anything could happen but i'll probs transfer....)

We're going on exchanges tomorrow with the other sisters in the branch and this is the first time i will be the senior comp on the exchanges, going into the other sisters' area. it's weird. but should be way fun. i'll be with sister miner who is super great but she's been having a really rough time. we spent a lot of time this week finding random ways to cheer her up :) it was super fun! and hopefully it helped. she seems to be doing better! it reminded me how much i want to hit up psychology when i get home... like a masters or whatevs :)

let's seeeeee. i used my credit card for the first time ever here earlier today and i handed it to the girl and she literally looked at it and was like "ano ba iyan??" which means like what the heck?? it was hilarious. she called over like 6 other workers and they had a lil meeting (which they assumed i didn't understand lolz, so fun to listen to...) before they decided that i actually could use it! and it was totally normal! yay!!! it caused quite the stir.


Happy birthday 'merica!!!!! so on the fourth of july here we did.... nothing!!!! but the next day! (when it was the fourth for all you kids) we had a baptism! so on the way back we bought anything that we could think of slash find that was american. aka chicken nuggets and pepperoni pizza (which could only be identified as pepperoni pizza by the label... but beggars can't be choosers, right? lolz) and the other sisters bought a cake that was sooooo good! and the cake people decorated it for us! so it said happy independence america!! twas presh. then we came home and sang american songs! aaaaand that was the end of our festivities. there goes my one and only fourth of july here!!! (weird.)

There's a storm a brewing up in hur and we didn't bring umbrellas! looks like we're in for a wet night! speaking of wet nights. i struggle at walking sometimes. specifically this week. i fell THREE times! (the ground gets really slippery when it's wet and my shoes don't have the best traction in the world slash any traction... details) all on the same foot.... it has a lovely abrasion/wound that kinda looks like a star/tattoo gone wrong on the top.... it's not my favorite thing in the world. but the first fall was absolutely hilarious.
we were walking from one appointment that we got punted from to our next appointment (which we also got punted at which made this oh so much better) and we decided to take the scenic short cut thing that goes past the river. (it's way pretty) so the last time we did that there was a lil river thing that we had to step over and one part of it was wider so we went to the narrower part but then the other side was steeper
(i feel like this isn't making any sense.... i would be using my hands a lot if i was telling this story in person... you'll figure it out.) so last time we took the steeper side cuz we didn't want to fall in the river... k it's more like a stream. anyway. last time it was a lil slippery but it worked just fine!
so this time i went first (bad idea) and i stepped over to the other side and immediately started falling slash slipping slowly back into the river! and i couldn't just step backwards blindly back to the other side so i lean down and grab onto two rocks. and im convinced that if i can step on these rocks it will get me far enough up the hill thing to get to the top.
long story short. that was an epic fail. i slipped right on back into the river.

ps this whole time some very concerned, hilarious, and slightly drunk neighbors were trying to direct me to safety. and sister chamberlain was cracking up. as was i. and we were in veeeeerry colorful matching dresses. oh we were a sight.

well that's all i can remember but that may or may not be because i just woke up from a nap.... some things never change. gotta love p-days. ;)
peace out!
-sister jones

Goodbye Pangarap

pictures of the last few days in Pangarap!!!

 Bernadette and the neighborhood kids!!

Jeff, Aljon, and Aeron :) 

 The whole family!!

a large ish spider hanging out by our laundry area....

me and my twinner! aka trainee :) 

Golden Family & her Pangarap mom:) New word: nakakainis...

We went to ecco park today and it was great!! but no grotto last week so pictures next week... sister chamberlain and i bought matching dresses, also pictures next week after we go to temple tour! (p-day is on wed next week, ps.) but everyone asked us alllll day 1. if we were twins. and 2. if those were new uniforms for us lolz

So our golden family, right? still golden. so the 14 year old son is like the most legit kid i've ever met.
he's not even a member yet but he's like going to seminary and yesterday they gave him a Duty to God book and after church he was like umm sister, what do i do with this? and i was like uhhh idk i never did it! jk then i looked at it and figured it out. it's all good :) i was like umm you do it! (k i explained more :) ) and he was like sweet! can i do the deacon part even though i'm a teacher? and i was like yeah sure if you want, or you can just do the teacher part and he was like i want to do it all! and he just like reads the Book of Mormon and asks super awesome slash crazy questions like what was god before he was god if we can become like god?? 

AND they're going to temple tour this week! which is good cuz someone at church told rose she can be sealed to her dead parents in the temple buuuuut they said it in english and sealed kiiinda sounds like see. so now she thinks she will see her dead parents in the temple..... i was really confused when she asked me that....we figured it out though, no worries :)

AND she taught us how to make pancit! and was really concerned that we weren't going home after church and had another meeting that night kinda far ish. so she packed us a dinner. she's our Pangarap mom. nbd. :)

This family though for reals brings a new investigator to every lesson and it's like having a member present. so legit. we taught on sunday and it was this crazzzzy long lesson and i was kinda bummed cuz we didn't have time to go to a couple other people but at the end this new dude (who is the cousin of the dad) was like so i learned something today! and we were like sweet, what was it! and he was just like i feel like this is the truth. this is what i want. and we were like sweet!!! and we talked about that for a bit and then he was like so when's the baptism! and i was like umm who's bap? theirs? or do you want to be baptized? and he thought for a sec and was like yeah i think i do! soooo legit. we're teaching him again thursday. :)

downside. not a single person from manggahan came to church. fully active/endowed member, mostly active, recent converts, less active, investigator, inv with a bap date. we have them all over there and not a single one came. i think it's an epidemic. actually we're kinda worried about them..... there's some sketch stuff going down in that neck of the woods....

Anyway! we had a suuuuper lame interaction with a random american dude here. made me suuuper grateful im not serving in the states. that would be so hard!!!!!! so props to statesiders. i feel like the only things that are hard about this mission are actually just kinda fun. like learning tagalog!!!!!! i learned a new word the other day (that happens a lot, don't worry, this one is just way fun to say ) it's "nakakainis" and it means..... annoying! yep. good times.

Today we went to ecco park which is way pretty! there was this girl there having a super intense photo shoot complete with a horse drawn carriage and at first everyone was like it's an artista!! (star) and then we asked and they were like umm this is ____ (i don't remember the name) it's just her 18th birthday so we're doing a photo shoot to have pictures for the party. it's fairy tale themed..... sounds like it'll be a pretty intense birthday party!

aight. im outie.
love you all!
-sister jones

ps. we saw the broadcast training thing last night! it was so good! and my friend from p-town was in it!!! sister campbell!!!! it was crazy to see so many white people. conference was the same way.... weird.

Confession, reflexology and 11 new investigators!

This week was really quite hilarious because!!! we're working with a less active member and we went to her house the other day and she was like sisters. i have a confession. i have a sin i need to tell you about. and we were thinking aight she probs didn't read her assignment. which would be unusual for her buuuut not the end of the world.

Anyway she goes on to tell us this crazy story about how she got in a fight and gave some lady a black eye! this is a grown woman with kids! we kinda laughed a lot. but then she got all serious on us and was like im not worthy to go to church cuz im a terrible person and im gonna ruin the name of the church if people see me going to church that know that i got in this fight! so we got real with her too and talked to her about repentance and how this isn't a church of perfect people, it's a church of sinners trying to be better. and how that is the only thing that is important, she is trying to be better than she was yesterday! it was a great lesson and we really felt like she understood what she needed to do and how important it was to come closer to Christ now more than ever! she committed to come to church and it was all great!
Then we went to teach her sister, our investigator and heard the same story from her perspective, which was ps, 30 times funnier because she didn't punch her so she didn't feel bad about it.....

Update: our less-active didn't go to church. and neither did her investigator sister. actually that whole area was absent. we think there was an epidemic...... it's a work in progress.... a long work in progress.

Then yesterday we went to our golden family and taught 10 commandments so she would stop taking the Lord's name in vain when she shares stories at church... always awkward. anyway it was great! and we got impromptu head and shoulder reflexology done on us! which imma huge pansy about and it hurt like the dickens. but whatevs, it was a party.

This week is sister chamberlain's birthday!! so we're celebrating today by buying matching dresses at the palangke that are ridiculously colorful and bright. get excited.

The work is doing great! unless you're our branch mission leader who decided to comment on our completely full progress record that the work in our area is rather dull and nothing has really changed there. thanks bro. good thing you're getting released next week or i might have more in common with our less-active that we thought! joke lang. ish.

But for reals. we found 11 new investigators this week and i could literally tell you a miracle story about finding every single one of them. it's so amazing to see how the Lord guides us to people and guides people to us!! 

I gave a talk in sacrament yesterday, that was exciting. so we teach slash interact with like half the branch on a regular basis but for some reason when i stood up in front of all of them to talk about missionary work, what we do all day erry day, i got super nervous! buti na lang, Elder Christoffersen  gave a talk in April conference that was exactly what i wanted to talk about! so i just used lots of quotes :)

Life is good, this transfer is going way too fast and i have no idea what is going to happen next transfer cuz i'll probs go to a new area and the possibilities are endless!!!!!

ngumiting baril! (smile gun) pew pew! 

with love from the Philippines

-sister jones

Golden investigators pay tithing before joining:) & jackfruit...

Hello!

So this week was gooooood. just doing our missionary thing ya know.... 

Our golden family of investigators is doing great! we're super excited about them. They pay tithing every week... we haven't taught them tithing yet... that's how golden they are. and this week they gave us a referral! so she's been to the last two lessons and she's super great too! her brother passed away unexpectedly not that long ago so we got to talk about the temples and how once we do the work for ourselves, we get to do it for all of our loved ones! it was a really cool conversation. also i think a member told sister rose that you can be sealed to your family in the temple but they said it in english and she thought they said see.... so she was like hey is it true that i'll see my dead family in the temple? and i was like eh?? where did you hear that! anyway we talked it out. it was good. we're mostly on the same page again....

ano pa...... 

we have had suuuuper amazing timing with the rain. aka the Lord loves us. and we'll be like getting ready to leave the apt and it'll be raining crazy hard and then right before we leave... it'll stop!!! or the same thing while we're teaching so we didn't even get super wet this week!

Sister Rose made us some way good fruit/coconut dish yesterday.... it had jackfruit in it and she and her friend Elma couldn't remember what it was called in english and they just kept saying it's fruit and then finally remembered the jack part and thought it was the funniest thing ever. they were like all that was missing was the jack!! i just kept saying fruit and all i needed was to add jack! jack was hiding from me!!! hahaha jack was hiding!!! lolz i think people repeat themselves a lot.... but it's cuz when they don't believe us that we actually speak tagalog they say everything in tagalog and then try to translate it into english and tell us the same story again... which is wicked helpful when you first get here and have no idea what's going on but once you understand tagalog life is a lil redundant..... but always hilarious. :)

We had a bunch of meetings this week! follow-up training for sister chamberlain and then a meeting with half the mission (the other half was on wed) where President Sperry told us that backpacks are bawal.... and a bunch of other stuff too but that was the main affect it had on me... time to buy a side bag!

anyway life is good!

peace out!

-sister jones

P-day outing to the Quarry and a short, but inspiring Story. [8 months out!]

Sisters in Sarah's district went on an outing to a quarry for their P-day.

Companions on the bridge 

one of those last ones of the dude standing in the river btw was of a construction company getting water for the construction site. the one dude just stood in the water and they threw a bucket back and forth until the truck was all filled up!

Sarah at the "quarry"

Fishing 

Smilin' and hikin'

The people here are amazing! and soo hilarious. i love them all!! we're teaching this one lady (rose) and last night she was telling us her life story. it was crazy. her mom is muslim and her dad is... not. (i don't remember what she said her dad is...) but they are from mindanao (the super scary sketch part of the philippines) and by the time she was like 7 both her parents died so she went to live with her mom's sister and then like within a year she died as well. and her mom's sister's husband was like abusive and stuff so she peaced out and was on her own!!! as a lil girl! then she tried to get a job at a factory but they wouldn't hire her because she was too young. so she worked cleaning the streets. but she was so small she couldn't sweep with one hand like everyone else. she had to use two hands! which makes it was harder apparently.... and she would get so tired she would just cry. while she was cleaning the streets. 

And then she was like but even though i grew up with no parents, look at me now! she's educated and has a profession and a family and she's a great person! it was really impressive. pretty much tripled the already tons of respect i have for her. she said she still get sad though that she doesn't have family close by and that her parents are dead. then she looks at her son and she's happy again! (she's hilarious, i kid you not) it was so precious though. cuz that's way true. she is sooo loving!!

Little Update June 3, 2013

So here's a lil update by request ;) 

So this week was great! my cold went away, we baptized some munchkins, got lost in the rain, when on an adventure in a quarry (this morning), found a new sweet family to teach (also they told us all their problems/concerns in like the first five mins, it was kinda hilarious).....

What else..... no more transfer meetings... that was the big news of the week.... 

We were fasting and literally every appointment we went to tried to feed us.... hardest thing ever. they had donuts. all laid out nicely on a plate and smelling delicious with the fan blowing their scrumptious aroma towards us... i don't even like donuts but those looked so good! and the member telling us to just close our fast right now and eat! (don't worry, we withstood and the blessings were totes worth it, especially since she sent some donuts home with us!) 

Soo yeah! i forgot my cordy-cord so pictures will have to wait till next week, get excited. we took a bazillion. 

we're still breathin' and still preachin'!

peace out!

-sister jones