Stories, Batman, Navy Doctor, and more

So this week was crazy. but also super fun! i'll tell you a couple stories, hopefully you can get a taste for it. 

We went to teach this sweet young mother that we had just started teaching a few weeks ago. we started teaching her because she asked for a Priesthood blessing. and she had a really great experience there. but she's catholic. so we're teaching her about keys and one true church and all this great stuff and she understands. and at the end she was like yeah, imma stay catholic. and i literally asked her, even though you know it's wrong, and this is the right church? and she looked me straight in the eye and said yes. she would rather stay with the traditions of her family even though she knows it's not the truth. lame.

Then we taught this dude named greg! (yep, now we have a nick and a greg)

he's referral from a member. he has been taught a ton, but never by sisters so the member was like why not! let's try again! maybe sisters can get through to him! 

anyway we're teaching and the whole time i can't tell if he's crazy or messing with us or possessed by a devil. he pretty much thinks his calling in life is to be batman. but his friend is really sincere so we are giving it our best. then on sunday he comes to church!! i have never been so nervous to have an investigator at church before in my life. the whole time i was just on edge wondering what he was gonna say..... but it was great! he even made some really good comments! then we got a text on mondayfrom the member friend that was like come teach greg right now!! he's gotten answers that he can't explain and God held his tongue at church so he wouldn't speak non sense!! but we couldn't teach him! cuz we were completely booked (sister noriega's last day) so we set an appt for friday. friday, we go to his house, he's not there. he got a new job! so we set another appt. 

then yesterday he came to church again! and this time he made several really great comments and was really happy to be there and brought his long time less-active sister as well! so great!

sooo we'll keep you updated on the batman. 

Then! we got a referral for a retired u.s. navy doctor. that's exciting. he only speaks in english cuz he lived in the states for 21 years. so we go to meet him and he's suuuuper madaldal (way chatty) so we set up a return and we're like ready with a plan of how to get him to stop talking every once in a while so we can actually teach him. he has read a bunch from the Book of Mormon, he's been to the LA temple, he's known a ton of mormons and he's got some really great stories and knows a ton about a ton buuut we're there to teach him the gospel, not exchange stories about america. 

So we go back. it's a rough start, kinda repeating the first interaction. but we finally get him to stop and "listen" for a lil bit. nope. that didn't last long. he only waited till he heard something he could "teach" us about till he interrupted us again. for reals. so im like aight this is a waste of time, he's not listening to anything we're saying, im getting ready to go, my comp doesn't get the hint, is still trying to force something in the gospel into him. and he's like oohhh sister jones is no longer happy with me and im like yeah dude, you're wasting our time. you don't want to listen so we're gonna go teach someone that does. and he's like umm how old are you? 22. well im 68 and i've traveled around the world so you can't tell me anything i don't already know blah blah blah.(ps earlier in the evening he stopped my comp and said, i don't mean to be rude, but, did you go to college? what was your course? obviously doubting her educational status. ps she's a neuroscience major....)  i literally stopped him, put my hand on the Book of Mormon and said, brother i have been called by a prophet of God to share this message with the world. guess what, he didn't listen to that either. 

whatevs, we left. he just brought to life sooooo many scriptures. cool. 

let's end on a great note! 

we got a referral at church from an active rm in the ward (sister) for a girl that she brought to church with her! (best thing ever) and then we taught her on wednesday. so we had just had a meeting about giving the bap invitation in the first lesson so im like aight. it's happening. so we go through the usual stuff and we can already tell she's super awesome. she has a book of mormon already that rose (her friend) have her with her testimony in it, and she has already started reading it!!! so we're talking and im like so as you continue to listen to us and act on our invitations, you will gain the desire to follow Christ's example and be baptized...... and she was just like nodding happily so i was like .... do you have a desire to be baptized now? and she was like yep! and we were like sweet! and gave her a bapt date and everything and she wants to go on a mission and get married in the temple and she came to church again this week and she's 24 and awesome and we're so excited about her!!!! 

ps we taught her again on sat and asked her why she is so ready to accept and live the gospel and she told us after she went to church on sunday she was thinking about it a lot and then on tuesday she had a dream where david archuletta (spell?) (her idol and the face of the church in her mind) like led her through the mist and handed her a book that was blank at first but then as she opened it and tried to read it the words started showing up that this was where she needed to be and it was the truth and she needs to stay here. crazy, eh? 

she's awesome. 

anyway, that's all folks! have a great week! 

-sister jones

Crazy week and a super short email + message from Tacloban

Oh hey there

staying in meycaauayan!! new comp sister Oliphant, american... that's pretty much the only thing i know about her. should be tight though. 

Sending Sister Noriega off today, she's doing aight, kinda surreal experience for her, as I'm sure it is for all going home. 

Craziness happening in our mission!   we are in fact absorbing about 20 missionaries from Tacloban so a ton of missionaries that would have left next transfer got a call and are going home... this week! surprise! that's cray cray. so that's the biggest effect we've seen from the storms.

yeah this week is pretty much craziness. we had a good week, but not a ton of work with meetings and exchanges and all. we had our baptism!! the two munchkins. started an hour late.... but then it was great!

sorry i don't really have any time to really email cuz im in the office and it's mad awkward. sooo yeah. 

hope you had a great birthday mom! sister noriega sends her birthday wishes as well. and her love, she hopes to meet you all some day. 

peace!

[Note from Mom:

Here is a paragraph from a missionary couple serving in Tacloban, from my mission mom's site:

"The missionaries are all alive and accounted for.  They are in the MTC hee in Manila and will be reassigned or sent home starting tomorrow.  They have all visited the MTC psychologist at least once.  They had some pretty terrible and traumatic experiences.  Experiences that young people should never go through.  They also learned that Heavenly Father is aware of them and mindful of them.  If you could see the devastation you would know taht if they did not have angelic protection they would not have survived.  All those who would have been released by Feb are going home with an honorable release.  The church is going to build a new mission home and when order is restored the missionaries could go back.  They will still keep their Tacloban name tags.  Those members who listened to their leaders and went to the chapels lived.  Those who didn't died." ]

Baptisms!!!! Cyrel and Coline got baptized today!! they're the cutest. and coline's whole family was there!!! which is cool because her dad is a less-active and her mother and the rest of her family are not yet members :)

the elders had two baptisms as well!!! and this was elder liu's first baptism!!!!! he was so stoked!

hit up precious' birthday party on the way home 

Happy birthday momma!!!!

we took some pics of the apt to celebrate :)

our comfy couch! and here's my awesome comp!! we had to take two to prove she's not crazy.... lolz 

our lovely bathroom!!!! complete with cold bucket showers and non-flushing toilets.....

 hard working sometimes means getting holey shoes!! and socks...... but the work goes on!

the beautiful front yard :) home of our washing machine!!! aka that tub right thur. and our dryer!!! the hangers.

always prepared. 

Safe and Sound and the work goes on! Shoe thief & Pictures too...

Thank you for all of your prayers and concern!!!! we are completely safe here. send your prayers down to Tacloban!!! they have been hit crazy hard. but they're way down south (completely different islands). we had a lil rain, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Cutting down bamboo with a butcher knife --after the typhoon

72 hour kits in their apartment - ready for the typhoon

Anyways this week was great! but first, stuff i forgot to tell you about last week....

we were playing wiffle ball (idk how to spell that...) and the gate was open to the church and this super crazy lady came in and was like waving a straw around like a wand and mumbling stuff.... but she wouldn't talk to us so we were just like uhhhh aight let her do her thing then she went inside the church and came out with a hymn book. sorry lady, can't have that! so then she just gala-galaed around waving her straw and mumbling at us.. so this continued for some time then! i go up to her to try to usher her gently out and she's like all smiles and just rubbing my arm and squeezing my arm.... not actually that unusual of an occurrence .... anyway i just waked her over to the gate and led her a lil ways away and she wanted me to kiss her on the check... not sure if that completed the spell but it's all good :) 

Next! the neighborhood dog has a fetish for my shoes.... not legit! 

So we left for three days last week and when we came back, one of my shoes was missing! so i finally replaced my beloved and now holey shoes.... so i got some new ones. then that night he took one of those!!! lame. now we obviously keep our shoes inside at night..... just took a lil too long to learn that lesson... 

Sarah's "holey" shoes and socks

So i should be at the point by now that i don't mix up simple words in tagalog, right? wrong. alas. that never ends apparently. just like english. anyway! we're teaching this lady about...... abinadi! and noah. so i wanted to ask who king noah was more scared of, God or the priests... except i said God or the sayote!!! (that's a vegetable......) it was awkward. but super funny. should be saserdote..... close enough! 

hmmmm also! this is sister noriega's last p-day!!! so that's crazy. we get to go fix up a sister's fight this week... yay!!! exchanges ulit! and sister noriega's ert! so just a couple days here in our area :/ 

Sarah and Sister Noriega

The work is going great! we have two baptisms on Saturday. both part members. the cool thing is we're getting the parents back at church because of the baptism. that's always good to see. and we should have two more next saturday. 

10 year old Cyrel going to be baptized Saturday

Last night we got dropped by an investigator because her husband's whole family is of another religion and they can't take the pressure of being different. and we can't teach them there daw because his siblings live close by and they'll walk by and see us teaching there. officially lame. i just let sister noriega talk there cuz what i really wanted to say would have been a lil harsh... .... anyway! 

Then! we went to teach a girl who is super awesome and legit. much much better experience. she is just so ready! she asks all the right questions and really is thinking and praying about what we're teaching her! she's gonna get baptized on dec 7th which is the stake baptism thing so that'll be great! 

Then we went to dinner at a member's house. they have a missionary out in the field right now and would like to take this opportunity to apologize to errybody that comes to our house right now..... parents just get soooo excited about what's happening to their kids...... mom. reign it in please. ;)  [note from me:  I don't do this do I????]

have a great week! we're all safe and sound and the work continues! 

-sister jones

candles in a heart from the Novaliches sisters - going away surprise

signs from Novaliches sisters - going away surprise

CSP!
we're supposed to do community service projects every week... doesn't always happen. but we always love them when we have them!!! this week we cleaned the church! and brought cyrel along so she could get a taste of service before her baptism.....

Cyrel didn't like our lizard as much as i did...... or Molnar did for that matter! 

Traveling, training and a fresh mango shake.

So we survived last week! that was fun. lots of traveling. Malolos has the same tree in front of the apt that we have in front of our house.... which i discovered by pulling a leaf off and watching the white sap seep out like a tear..... anyway, back to missionary work.....

We taught this crazy lady and I got my bible bash on... my bad. and by crazy lady i mean wonderful daughter of God..... if there was ever a winner in bible bashing, i totes would have won that... but there never is. lame. basta, that was day one in Malolos. 

Day TWO. got to work with a fresh from the mtc american again, i forgot how little tagalog we know when we first get here.... it is super entertaining. She was a champ though. there we also taught a crazy lady. but she wasn't just intense like the first lady, she was legit cray cray. like half the time she was talking to someone that wasn't there..... still a wonderful daughter of God though. 

And then! we went down the road a lil bit and taught this lady who is bedridden cuz she has cancer and one of her legs is like... not there ish? not really sure. anyway! we were supposed to give her a baptism date daw so i was all excited to get some pump up faith lesson on. and it was! until the end. She wouldn't pray. all we want her to do is pray. not even about anything specific in that prayer. just pray. she wouldn't do it. told us we came to pray for her, like all the missionaries that come to her always do and we can't expect her to pray in front of us because it's never going to happen. literally said i will never pray in front of you, that's what you're here to do, pray for me. 

URG. i'm frustrated just writing this. moral of the story, of everything that is happening in her life, that is the only thing that will keep her from progressing. and because of everything that is happening in her life she needs prayer so much!!!!!! anyway. my plea to you is just to pray. seriously though. Just Pray.

Don't worry though. then we decided to tract. first house. a brother and sister let us in (22 and 26) we started teaching and their mom and sister get home (of course ridiculously surprised that two americans are sitting in their house) anyway long story short turns out to be a great lesson and even though we completely surprised them the sister that just got there was like im so sorry i can't stay and join you but im super late!!!! (she was literally running around getting ready for where ever she had to go) and the mom was the same way but stopped long enough to figure out who we were and give us a snack! and they were all stoked for us to come back and the brother was asking way awesome questions and ready his assignment before we even left. can we say led by the Lord to the prepared??? why yes. yes, we can. 

Day 3! Baliwag na! started out the day with a great wake up a less active lesson, turns out his wife isn't another less-active, but in fact a Catholic.... some things that would be great to know before the lesson but all the more exciting to learn during! anyway then we got lost for a good hour.... another fresh from the mtc comp. but we got to see some awesome day of the dead festivities!!! the cemeteries here ps are way different cuz the coffins are all above the ground.... and if someone else in the family dies, they just stack their coffin on top of the other family members! that was interesting to see. And then we found some way awesome people! like a new investigator that used to be in the church of the devil aka INC

Total tangent. word on the street is that INC is having it's 100th year anniversary this year or next year and at such time they will stop all baptizing and missionary work and everything........ because time is up daw and everyone else is just damned to hell...... interesting..... we'll see if that's true and pray that it is! cuz the church will die out like the shakers. (not entirely sure im thinking of the right church back in the day in america buuuut you get the picture.) 

Anyway this girl was way legit. so that day turned out great too! then sister noriega and i got to finally teach together again and it was soooo great! we're super used to each other now so teaching is just like bam. doesn't matter who is talking, cuz we would be saying the same thing if the other one was talking. party.  

This week we're in beautiful meycauayan allll week!!!! except friday for mlc.... so stoked! today we had a zone activity for sister noriega!! and we played soccer and ate at "doc Jones" twas a party. 25 piso fresh mango shake for the win. now imma lil bit sunburned..... next week we're gonna ride a kalabaw. get excited!! 

peace out. 

pray always.

-sista jones