Miracle on Ice (well, more like flood waters)

I've officially survived my first transfer (6 weeks) here in the Philippines! We have a new sister here in Sta. Cruz who is from Tonga. It was fun to greet her by saying "Fefe Hake" and having her reply "Sai pe." She is also being trained so now I'm not the only one who doesn't understand Tagalog! 

Lots of great new foods this week! I bought some barbecued chicken feet and intestines and it was actually really good! I also had this sour fruit that you apparently dip in salt. The best food though this week was ice cream from a street vendor, especially since it was extremely hot. 

As the title suggests, this week was full of miracles! From discovering new families who earnestly desire to hear our message to others who we learned have family members who are members of the church and are preparing to be baptized, the work in Sta. Cruz is wonderful. Even our main investigator, Mary Joyce, who is 11 and needs permission from her parents in order to be baptized, experienced miracles. Her father has worked in Saudi Arabia for the last 3 years and happens to be returning this week, so we'll be able to ask him for permission. Her grandma, or lola, who lives with her, also accepted the invitation to be baptized and desires the rest of her family to learn about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ too. I testify that God is preparing these people and more to come unto Him and become part of His church. If you've ever wanted to know more about your purpose here on Earth, or simply want to know more about the church, don't hesitate to talk with missionaries. We're not scary people (hopefully haha), and our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ and teach about His gospel. I'm so thankful to be here and be a part of this work!

Master the Baguio's Raging!

It's weeks like this one that I'm grateful that I bought an umbrella! A baguio (or typhoon) came through Manila, and we experienced just a portion of the real thing. You could say it was a baby baguio! The flood waters only reached about 6 inches, so my stylish crocs were super useful. 

We had a branch activity where I got to help make sticky rice, using a giant wooden rod to smash the rice into a pasty consistency, which you then put on a banana leaf with some brown sugar and enjoy! We also played some games where if you lost, someone got to put lipstick on your face. When it was my turn, I choose to get a lightening bolt on my forehead and become Sister Potter. 

I also got to attend the baptism of Nanay Elvie and Rochelle, two investigators of the other Sisters in Sta. Cruz, but with both I've developed great friendships. It's amazing to see the power the Gospel of Jesus Christ has on people's lives. I'm so grateful to be here in the wonderful Philippines even through the physical and spiritual baguios that I've endured. As you continue to develop faith in Christ and His atonement, sunshine will always come. 

Sunshine will always come

Missionary work ain't no Monkey Business

So while teaching an old couple a monkey randomly sauntered in and at first I thought, "Isn't anybody concern that a potentially wild animal is within a biting radius?" Then the nanay (grandma/mother) picked him up and began giving him kisses like you would do with a new born kitten. I found out that the monkey is actually her pet and he has no teeth, so no need to worry about acquiring rabies! 

New foods this week includes a plethora of interesting bread flavors. If I had to choose between "ube and cheese" or "black forest" flavored bread, I'd eat the later, mostly because it has some chocolate in it. I also had squid! While it was better than the canned squid I ate once some years ago, let's just say I'd rather eat "ube and cheese" flavored bread instead. 

When teaching investigators and members here, it's easy to become frustrated and impatient with them when they don't follow through with commitments (going to church, reading scriptures, etc.). But I think it's important to remember how patient and loving God is with us in our own weaknesses. I have a firm testimony that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all of us can become completely clean and receive peace and comfort to endure all our trials. God will never leave us alone, rather, it's our decision to turn to him and enjoy the blessings of His gospel.

  Word of the Week: Char! --- expression for when you are being facetiously sorry

Like Taylor Swift, Shake it Off!

Sometimes we'll have meetings in places 4 hours away and need to take one of the many coach buses that travel to far places. On one such trip, basically the only music that was played was Phil Collins-esque Filipino songs and Taylor Swift. To try and ascertain some spiritual truth from this experience, I would that ye follow the example of Taylor Swift and when sore trials come upon you, simply shake it off. Exasperated at Tagalog? Shake it off! Investigators not coming to church? Shake it off! Mosquitoes relentlessly plunging their fangs into your flesh? Literally shake it off! Immediately too, as several missionaries in my zone contracted dengue fever this last week. Hopefully I don't get it too. 

As always, I'm experiencing many exotic foods. This week was rambutan, which is similar to lychee, Ice Candy and the most famous, Halo-Halo. Rambutan has the funkiest skin, but the fruit inside is way yummy. Ice Candy is like otter pops, but sweeter. I like to have it on hot days...so basically everyday haha. Halo-Halo, which translates to mix-mix, is a shaved ice desert that has candied beans, pineapples, gelatin chunks and ube (purple yam) ice cream. It sounds weird when I describe it that way, but it was very masarap! 

A highlight this week was the baptism and confirmation of Katherine, a 14 year-old, who lives with her aunt and uncle. It was so sweet to see her bear her testimony after her baptism. I know that when we exercise our faith in Christ and follow His example by being baptized by someone holding His priesthood power, we can become thoroughly clean and feel God's love more prevalent in our lives.

There is Sunshine in My Soul Today! (And it's harmful UV rays too...)

This week has been full of beautiful sunshine and not so beautiful watch tan lines. I'll have the most stunning tan lines when I return that even the farmers will be jealous. 

I've had a lot of good service opportunities this week. The other missionaries, branch members and I went to the home of an old lady who is an investigator. She is so poor that she can't afford to patch all the holes in her roof, so when it rains she sleeps sitting up holding an umbrella. Despite her poverty, she prides herself on her garden, which we colloquially call "The Garden of Eden." To help her, we fixed her roof Filipino style! We "melted" Styrofoam in gas and it formed this putty thing that when dried deflects water. It was definitely one of the more interesting service projects I've done. 

I also began teaching English and it was so refreshing to talk about past participles and superlatives. I also taught them the word pulchritude and it's so funny to hear them randomly say, "Sister Morgan is a pulchritude!" 

The highlight of the week was the baptism and confirmation of Cykey, who is the 9-year-old we've been teaching. It's amazing to see her testimony grow, even at her young age, and her desire to follow the example of Christ by being baptized. Even though so many of the people I interact with lack temporal means, their spirituality and readiness to accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is so vast. 

Word of the Week: Pangit -- Ugly (Opposite of pulchritude haha)

Attack of the Giant Flesh Eating Mosquitoes

I've finished my first official week here in Santa Cruz and I guess the natural wildlife here wanted to congratulate me by chewing me up. You could say they left an impression on me (cue joke drum riff). I'm becoming more and more grateful for modern medicine, including the makers of Cefalexin, Deet and 7-11 Slurpies. I guess I need some trial right? 

As part of my first official week, I also got to ride my first official bike! It's fun to bike through the dirt roads trying to avoid the pot holes and roaming dogs. 

We passed by a local church that was built through funds from a couple in Seattle. It was fun to see my hometown randomly in a place so far away. We traveled to some of the farther parts of our area where it's more rural and water buffalo are more abundant. The countryside here is amazing. Sometimes I'll pause among the guava and coconut trees and look out at the surrounding palay, or rice fields, with the tropical mountains in the distance and not believe I'm actually here. The people here, while lacking in monetary or material wealth, have such a spirit of endurance and humbleness. While I'm still not understanding everything, I can tell that there are many here ready to receive the gospel. 

We had a branch (a congregation smaller than a ward or about 120 people or less) activity where we watched the movie, "The Testaments," which is about Christ visiting the people in the Americas after his resurrection. The scripture in Matthew that talks about Christ visiting other sheep that are not of this fold and having one fold and one Shepard, made me reflect on my purpose as a missionary. I too, am helping the Filipino people come unto Christ and become part of his one true fold. I'm so grateful for the experiences I'm having here.

I'm Singing in the Rain

Wow what a week! The plane rides to get to the Philippines went well. I got to speak to a couple people in line in Tagalog and they actually understood me! I also used a little bit of the Cantonese my mom taught me in the Hong Kong airport. The flight itself was way long but they did have the game "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" on the back of the seats. It was sort of frustrating though because I think it was the British version because it kept asking questions about cricket and British slang. Our district's personal record was only 64,000. Other than learning about British fun facts, I mostly slept. We arrived into Manila around 11 PM, but it was really disorientating because it was the next day. 

Families I taught in Manila before leaving for Olongapo

The Philippines is such a cool place! While it may be a bit more humid and hotter than I'm used to, the sunsets are absolutely beautiful and the greenery is so lush. We stayed in the Manila MTC for about 5 days and practiced teaching lessons and more importantly, went to the immigration office to extend our visas. There we talked with some people, and I quickly found out that most of them weren't Filipino, but rather Korean or Japanese. Luckily, I was able to use the 5 phrases of Japanese I know and still talk with them! After the Manila MTC, we were bused to the mission home in Olongapo to meet our trainers and Mission President. I had to say goodbye to some of the missionaries in my district, as they were going to a different mission. 

Olongapo is about a 2 hour drive from Manila. My mission president is President Dahle and he is super nice! My trainer is Sister Otod and she's been serving for about 7 months. We've been assigned to the city of Santa Cruz, which is the farthest area from the mission home. The trainers are supposed to help us learn how to teach and fortunately, Sister Otod is fluent at Tagalog. Missionary life here is such a different experience. Like, if you want vegetables or meat, you just go down to the local open market and get it there. A giant pig head will just lie on the table while the worker, with a large butcher knife, cuts up the piece of meat you selected. The food hasn't been too crazy yet. Lots of rice, chicken, cabbage, rice, pork, rice, fish, rice etc. I bought some food to make PB&J sandwiches, so I enjoy that too. 

Mini Bananas

Rainy season is definitely here! Just imagine having an umbrella and wading through flood waters and being completely soaked by the end of the day. I miss the misty Seattle rain, but it's been cool to experience this weather too. We have lots of investigators and people to teach. I teach on average about 5 lessons each day, all in Tagalog. Everyone speaks so fast here! I'm able to pick out a couple words here and there, but so far, I don't really know what's going on most of the time. The people here, though, are so open and accepting. The kids especially like me because I'm the only white American in all of Santa Cruz. One of the women said that my hair is like a doll and everyone wants to touch it. It's funny to me that they are so fascinated by it. 

For church, I'm one of the only people who know how to play piano, so I'll be playing for them. They also want me to teach lessons too. Apparently, they have missionaries sing each week, so I sang "How Great Thou Art" for them. On Saturday, just 3 days after arriving, I had my first baptism! The missionaries before me did most of the teaching, but I taught a little bit too. It's amazing to see the success here in the Philippines. While so many things are different here, feeling the Spirit and God's love is exactly the same. I love how the gospel is for everyone no matter what their situation or circumstance is. Overall, it's been crazy, but a good crazy :)

Word of the Week: Matangkad -- tall (I'm matangkad and have to duck everywhere I go)