I'm dreaming of a white christmas....

So.. all last night I just couldn't sleep, and so I sang christmas songs and my companion hates me now(: haha just kidding she loves me still, but I am so excited for christmas, can I jsut say that?

This week has been a rough one. Last sunday Sister Kumar get really sick during the night time, fever, chills...etc. so monday we did the bare minimum for Pday and she slept all day. Then Tuesday was district meeting, and barely made it to that, she got a priesthood blessing, and came home and slept. then slept all day wednesday. I was just reading my scriptures and taking her medicine, and cleaning and stuff like that. Then we worked thurdsay and friday... and guess who got sick friday night. Yeah.... It was the worst ever!! haha fevers are not fun. And those nasty coughs where you have mucus and nothing comes out it is just so hurty.. haha. yeah. welcome to the last 2 days of my life. But I am happy to say that I can move today! so thats good. (: Don't worry, I only got sick cause my companin likes to cough with her mouth open... gross huh.

Anyways, this week has been kind of a boring one because of all that. Transfers were also this week, but we knew that we were not getting a transfer, so here we are,. amo man giahpon. We have decided that we are going to focus a lot on less active members in our ward, because people are just not ready here. and we feel like we will find those elect investigators after we start rescuing some of the less active ones. Good plan huh! Not ours,, it came from above.

Cool thing that is happening today....(: Do you all remember Sister Rosaleah, from bacolod 1st ward? She was one of the less actives that was rescued while I was there, adn she always fed us good food... yeah, well today her and her son are going through the temple and both taking our their endownments. Dante is going on a mission in california. It is so an amazing feeling to see my hard work and so many sweat and tears pay off and go to the temple. I remember the first lesson we had with them, and I barely knew the language, but I remember telling her that if she was faithful and went to church she would be prepared to go to the temple with her son. And TODAY it is happening. This work is real. It is Totally the work of the Lord... and because of the Faith of the people. I love it. What a special thing.

I hope you are all having a great end of the school year... I think summer starts today for you, right? wowza!

Love, your sister Missionary,

SIster Young

P.s. I got a package from uncle brent and aunt Chris! Thank you so much, my companion is so excited to decorate the eggs!!!!(: and she loves the slinkys(:

I survived

Wow, this week has been so long! It seems like forever since I got to call my family! But, all is well.

This week on wednesday we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. I went to Pagla-um while sister Kumar stayed in our area. I had so much fun in Pagla-um... it is so pretty there.. and sadly I took no pictures. But, I learned how to weave those cot bed things that they make here. It takes about 6 hours to complete a whole one! and these people are so good kag fast at making them! It was fun to see.

It was refreshing to go somewhere new and work, it gave me enthusiam to go back to my area and work! 

So this week I have been studying in Mosiah. And I was thinking about my very first book of mormon. It was one of the really really old ones that have the pictures inserted where the story is. Anyways, I remember when I was a kid that My favorite picture was the one where Abinadi is standing in chains in front of Evil King Noah. There is like a cheeta or something next to the king and all the priests are pointing and mocking and laughing at Abinadi. I don't remember why I liked it... but I really love this story. It starts in Mosiah 12-17. What caught my attention this time was in verse 3 of chapter 12 Abinadi tells the king that his life will be valued even as a garment in a hot furnace... Little does the king know how true this is...

Then the priests of the king ask Abinadi about a scripture and what it means, and Abinadi just goes off on them and tells them that they don't understand because they don't practice what they preach. It really hit me, not that I am so disobedient to the commandments, but I can always try to be better. I am not perfect. 

Then chapters 14 and the beginning of 15 talk about the atonement. I think I ahve already talked about chapter 14 before... but I just love to replace the word "our" with "MY"... try it out. it means so much more. 

Then of course in 15:28 it talks about me. read it(:

Chapter 16 talks about our agency and what wll happen if we use it for good... and what will happen if we use it for evil. and how we will be ressurrected. 

I love chapter 17 too... Because after Abinadi is don't talking alma believes him and begs the king to let him be free...but the king wont have it. And tries to capture Alma, but he goes off and writes the words of Abinadi..

Then Abinadi stands up for the truth and it kinda scares The King... and he was about to release him, I'm sure the king felt the power and authority that was there while Abinadi was speaking. but then the wicked priests pressure him, and the king caves and kills Abinadi by fire. And of course Abinadi seals his words and truth by death. 

What a powerful story. as I was reading it this morning I could literally feel the heat from the flames that killed Abinadi burning my hands as I held my scriptures. call me crazy, but I know this book is true,and it has power.... as the more we read it the more real it comes... the more we ponder on the words, and apply it to our life the more personal it becomes....

I am so thankful that Abinadi was so strong in his faith in jesus chirst... who hadent even come to earth yet.... that he would not deny it. He was such a great example to me, to all of us. When ever we just want to quit, or give up... think of Abinadi. I know he know what was going to happen to him... but he suffered it to happen. 

I love you all. I hope you are loving the scriptures as much as I am. I wish I could have felt the Power from the book of mormon before I was almost 2 decades old... but its never too late, righT? 

Trust me, and if you don't trust me, trust god. This book is true. 

I love you all

Love, Your sister Missionary,

Sister Young

P.s. The earthquake that happened here on the island.... everyone felt it but my companion and I... the power of our name tags is amazing. love you!

Happy Mother's Day

This is just going to be a really short little email this week, because I got to skype my momma! But I just want to wish all the mom/grandmas/aunts/ all those women that are amazing a happy mothers day, how great is your calling!!!

This week was crazy... we had just a whole weeks worth of meetings in Bacolod city, talk about lots of plete! but all is well, we had lots to learn. 

I am so thankful for this opportunity to be here to serve. It is such a great blessing that I get to not only bless others here in the Philippines, but at the same time I get to grow and my family gets to be blessed! 

Until next week... 

Love, Your sister Missionary,

SIster Young

Happy Birthday's

First, I would like to say.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELBY!!!! Today is your 23rd birthday, wow are you old! haha, And a very happy birthday to Aunt Traci too! But I won't mention your age(:

Last year on May 3rd i received my mission call..... I read my journal about my thoughts and how I was feeling and what was going through my head... And now as I am actually LIVING my mission for almost a year now... I realize that I mission was never what I thought it was going to be. It is much more hard and much more sweet. Seriously I've never had so many ups and downs. But I am so Thankful that I am here, even though sometimes I just want to pack my bags and go home after a really hard day, or week. I am still here.

Another Year mark that is coming up is my 1 year of being an endowed member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and boy does it feel good! I remember the struggles and trials that I went through in the weeks and days leading up to all these BIG things happening in my life... and now i'm here(: Serving in the Philippines....And I can't wait for the day when I get to go back to the temple!

This week has been a hard one. My companion had a melt down... one of those that she is all crying and yelling at me, and where I just go into the other room and cry and pray. I've never experienced something like that happening between a companion and I before. I didn't know how to react...

But It was bound to happen, our area is so... hard. Seriously. Never in my mission have I been rejected as badly as I have been here. There is just something about a blonde haired., blue eyed, tall white girl that the filippinos just love... except in this area. We get punted so much... on thursday we got punted 7 times in a row... the day before that we got punted 4 times... and the list goes on and on. This is Her second area, and she misses her 1st area and now we just get punted so much... its hard. And she is just way tender too.

But we got things worked out and ate ice cream(: so all is well... except that we are going to get fat if we keep having ice cream to calm our nerves. The other day we were reading with one of our investigators and I came across a verse that was so applicable to our situation now... I'll tell you...

1 nephi 16:18:

"and it came to pass, that as I and my companion went forth to find Investigators, behold, we did lose our patience, which was made of fine character; and after we did lose our patience, behold, President Lopez was angry with us because of the loss of key indicators, for we did obtain no baptism."

and That is pretty much how our life is right now. (: But, despite all of that, while teaching the sister of one of our aweome investigators... Sister Marcia, we invited her to come to church, and she said that she had not money to go to church, and I was prompted to tell her that if she came to church that she wouldn't have to worry about food that the lord would provide. That night I prayed so hard that she would find the desire and courage to come to church with her 4 little children... and guess what! She came to church! (: I rejoiced.

But what was even better than that was what happened next. So Brother Rolly is her brother and he has been investigating for about 2 months now and he comes to church all the time. Sister marcia was sitting in Gospel principles class and Brother rolly walked around the corner and the smile on her face was absolutely priceless, and then the happiness that just glowed from him... it was amazing. And it was strange cause at that moment I could feel the spirit so strongly, and it was just them smiling.. It was amazing.

I pray that they progress... that that whole family progresses, because I know that this gospel will bless their lives.

I know that for some reason I was sent here... maybe so I could be brutally rejected and feel more of what Christ felt. I don't know. But I really can't wait till this area is really going good(:

I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic week. And mom, I'll see you next week huh! (:

Love, your sister missionary,
Sister Young

DUCK!!!!

Maayong aga, family!

Wow, this week has just been a blast!!! We have just been working so hard to get this area up and running!! We have really been focusing on getting the trust of the members and building good relationships with them, because before... I don't know what happened here. but, I am proud to report that things are getting so much better now! People are just flocking towards us wanting to work with us. It is great! The work just stands still when the ward isn't involved.

We got to go to the community service project that was all three of the bacolod stakes, north, central, and south. And lucky me I got to see so many of my recent converts and all the people that I love from all the wards that I Have served. It was awesome. Remember Sister Emilita? from Bacolod 1? I saw her and she just started crying. I miss her so much! And Sister Joy from Bacolod 1, also. She was so cute! I am so happy! 

I also got to see people from Silay, and Tangub. It was just amazing, and all that AND I got to do service! I didn't realize how much I miss doing service. We got to go to the High school and sweep the grass. Literally. I am not even joking. They gave us these little hand brooms and we swept the grass. It was fun, I really felt Filippino.(: There were so many people there, and it was so cool to see us join together with the Baranggay people and serve. I think they really appreciated it too. 

So, i've been on my mission now for 10 months... and one of my favorite stories to tell people about how prayer works and how Heavenly Father loves everyone, and wants to help with even the silliest of problems is about that one time when we were going to the temple. We were about to leave our house in Pima and I couldn't find my white shoe ANYWHERE. I looked in my closet, under my bed, seriously I searched the house everywhere. Mom and dad were getting frustrated cause I couldn't find my shoe. Then dad told me to pray, so him and I went into my room, knelt down and prayed. Then dad opened my closet and there was my missing shoe. ha. okay, so I was telling this story to a family that is in our ward and about half way through the story I could tell that Sister Magante was trying so hard not to laugh, and I was getting really self-conscious. Then she finally stopped me and said "sister Young, Zapato... parang duck." haha. Then everyone busted up laughing. Now.. so you can understand... In Hiligaynon the word for shoe(singular) is Zapatos.... but my spanish background makes me all confused cause in spanish Zapatos is shoes(plural) so i always make the mistake of forgetting the "s"... well in Hiligaynon when you forget the "s" on Zapatos it means DUCK... So, I am just so happy to announce that for the whole 10 months of my mission I have been telling people that I needed a White Duck to go to the temple.. and I couldn't find it anywhere... but after we prayed I found my lost white duck in my closet.(: Silly problems, Lost ducks, I promise you that heavenly father answers prayers! 

That is my funny story of my life... awesome huh. It was really funny, and it made the kids we were teaching just have something else to tease me about! 

I really do have a testimony of prayer though. Heavenly Father loves us so much! Even if you are ugly, or pretty, or older than the hills, or just a 6 or 7 year old child, he hears and answers our prayers. It doesn't even matter the problem ukon situation, he will always be there for us if we are going to depend on him. If we will trust him and follow the promptings of the spirit. 

I love getting on my knees at the end of a long, hard day of procelyting, or a long day of getting punted 6 times in a row and just talking to my Father In Heaven about how my day was. About my trials, about what I thought I did good, about how I thought my companion talked too much, about how inadequate I feel, and then just having his love pour over me and comfort me. And as I kneel there he talks to me, though my thoughts and through my heart and gives me answers to my questions, he gives me strength, he gives me advise, and most of all he takes away my worries and cares and I really just feel his love for me. 

I know that all of you can feel that. You have to just try. It takes a long time to be able to really communicate with Him, because we are so tired at night, or we have sins that we don't want to confess to him, those things block that pure communication with Him that we all need so desperately. I have a lot of room to improve, I am not perfect, but I am so thankful that I have developed such a good relationship with Him. It has helped me so much! 

I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week! I challenge you to develop that relationship with Our Heavenly Father, it will bless your life so much. Just try it. 

Love, Your sister Missionary,

Sister Young

happy easter!!!!

This week has been kinda a dud week... its been something like holy week... Cause of good friday and stuff... anyways we have gotten punted a lot and there is always these catholic parade things at night... and unfortunately a lot of our investigators attended... so that was great!

This week because we have now the whole of Sum-ag we tried exploring the old elders area... it is so dako! so big! And there is no maps in the area book... so that is hard. but it was fun! We have been trying to build relationships with the members cause the missionaries in the past... I don't know what they did to offend the ward but its like they don't trust us... but its okay, Sister kumar and i have the charm(:

The work is slowly progressing here in Sum-ag. the members are finally starting to give us referrals! And they are good referrals! this week alone we extended 4 baptism dates! I am excited to see the growth here, as we work our little butts off! 

How was everyone's easter? I didn't even realize that it was easter until last night and I was eating a boiled egg for dinner and then I jumped out of my chair and told my companion... HAPPY EASTER!! haha. Did you get to sing hymn 198 in sacrament? I love that hymn. Here they don't celebrate easter.... 

I love you all, sorry this is so short. I love missionary work! Keep your heads up, and I pray for you all all the time. (: 

Love, your sister Missionary,

Sister Young

General Conference!!!!

Hi family! (:

So just to catch you up on things that are going on here...

Transfers were on wednesday, we usually get the call on monday but this time we get it on tuesday and Sister Cabalquinto got transfer. I got to stay in the area where I've only been for 12 days... AND they pulled the elders our of their area and gave it to us... so now we have the whole of Sum-ag! it is quite the challenge and I am so stoked! (:

My new companion is Sister Kumar. She is Indian, and from Fiji! She is so awesome! I love her so much, we just teach so well together. (: Her and I are going to do miracles in this hard area!

You know, I don't know if I have told you all this before or not... but I seriously believe that we are only with our companions until we have given each other what they need. And that means that Sister Cabalquinto and I gave each other what we needed fast! It was hard to adjust to her, but at the end of the 12 days, I loved her with my whole heart and I didn't want her to go!

I absolutely LOVED conference! It is just too fast though.... one of the parts that I really loved was Elder Teh's talk. the one about the lady from the philippines that lost her family... I loved what she told him..."I accept everything the lord has asked me to do..." I love that. I really learned alot from her example. Sure things are hard, sure there are going to be things that I don't want to do or don't like to do, but I am going to do it. No matter what.

I also love President Packer. He is getting so old... but I love his enthusiasm. And I loved Predident Uchrdorf's talk! about gratitude. It reminded me of grandpa. He always used to tell me "Put a 'GR' in front of your attitude"

And then the one that the Lady jumped out of the semi truck to save her son. It reminded me of my dad. (:

And the one that I really enjoyed and made me think about my whole family was elder Cook's talk. I really liked his idea about having a "family Tree Gathering" and having people bring pictures and stories of our ancestors. We should do that... when I get home. start working on it! (:

I loved hearing all about the Gilbert temple dedication. (: every time it was mentioned I just couldn't hide my smile!

I am so thankful to have a living prophet on the earth today, and an active 12 apostles to guide us and to tell us the things we need to do so we can be ready for the second coming.

sorry this is short and scatterbrained.. I was just trying to type fast and quick because it is raining and there might be a brown out.... (: haha I lov eyou all

Love, your sister missionary,

Sister Young

Sorry, no pictures again.... I still havent bought a new card reader.

(: the atonement is power

So, I just want to appologize for last weeks email. I was so... depressed and angry that I had to leave silay. Yes, I still miss it, but I can tell that I am needed here in Sum-ag so desperately.

It was a painful transfer. I cried, and my heart was just... I can't really explain it in words. I would wake up and not want to work and not want to talk, and not want to do anything.... but I would get on my knees and plead with the lord to give me strength. Strength to make it through studies, then strength to make it through the day... and sometimes even while we were walking I would have to plead with him to help me have the courage, and desire to keep going when I just wanted to cry and clos up like a clam. And I would feel him put strength in my veins, and mend my heart and i would make it through the day. It was hard. And sometimes I wanted to just not ask for his help because I wanted to miss silay, but I would humble myself and ask. 

I have discovered a blessing that the Lord has given me... ever since I can remember.. but I just now realized it. He has given me the gift of Forgetting. I know that sounds really harsh, but it is so true. For example, this transfer, as I have had to rely on him solely for my strength and everything, he has also helped me Forget about silay. not to the point that it is bad, but just enough to where I can move on. so I can grow and learn in this new area. I am so thankful for that blessing. And I know that when My time is done here that I will remember and be happy and all things will be brought back to my rememberance. 

I know that I could not have moved on if it wasn't for the atonement. How grateful I am for our elder brother Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for me. He really loves me. 

I found a power scripture the other day... it is in doctrine and covenants63:20 "nevertheless he that endureth in faith and doeth my will, the same shall overcome" and it is so true. Put your faith in him, and he will do the rest.

We had a baptism on saturday, my companion's first baptism ever! and she deserved it! it was funny cause next door was the 7th day adventist church and they have sunday on saturday so we could hear them singing as we were bringing another child of god into the fold. (: 

so, I made a fool of my self the other day. (: we had zone conference and now that the borders have changed we have more elders in our zone then sisters and it is double the size. I was asked to be the chorister and here you sing the first line really fast so they know the tone and stuff and then you say "ready, sing" and then everyone starts singing. I was super nervous and the song was 241, count your many blessings. and I started it.... "count your many blessings..: but the actual words are "when upon life's billows..." and so some where singing it right and others werer not... and i was so embarassed and everyone was laughting. haha. yeah,, go sister young!!!!! ugh....but it was funny(:

We were able to watch the general womens meeting conference thing. It was such an amazing experience for 2 reasons. 1 because I could really feel the Sisterhood that we have in the church and I could feel the love of our leaders even though I am millions of miles away. and 2 because I am back in my old stake and all the people from my first area noticed me and were so happy to see me. Mind you I was only in my first area for 3 weeks... and it just reminded me how much of an affect I have on the people here. My name will forever be remembered in the pHilippines. It was special. 

I hope you all had a great time watching conference, I get to watch it this week. I am so excited. I pray for all of you daily, and I hope you feel my love for you, and Their love you you. 

Love, Your sister missionary,\

Sister Young

Transfers...

So, yes, the boundaries for my mission got changed so all of a sudden on friday we got a call from the assistants that told me and my companion that we were both transferring... In 2 hours... talk about stressful. There were 40 missionaries that were coming from the two stakes that got put into the boundaries for cebu mission. it was a train wreck. You have no idea how heart broken I was to leave silay. I was reading my journal from my last transfer and i had written how I was so thankfu lto leave bacolod 1 because I knew that I had fulfilled my purpose there... but this transfer... I don't feel that way. I still have so much to give to silay... and I was ripped away from it. It was so hard... there was just something about silay that made me love it right away and I worked so hard there... and now... nothing.

Anyways, I'm now in Sum-ag. Funny story. I am sitting in the exact same computer shop that I came to my first P-day here... and I am also back in my very first district.. Tangub district. It is so weird to be back here.... It is so much more hot here than in silay. haha. My new companion is sister Cabalquinto, she is the same batch as Sister Delos santos. She is a good missionary. Very very quiet though.... I don't know if I can handle that. haha. But I think eventually she will warm up to me, at least I hope!

The second day I was here in sum-ag we saw an old lady get hit by a big tubo truck... Yeah, it was the worst. The truck wasn't moving very fast, but she was an old fragile lady and she was just laying on the ground wimpering... and there as nothing that we could do. And my companion just wanted to hurry to get to our next appointment. Kalu-oy.

I MIss silay so bad. I know that change is necessary in life, but why did I have to leave silay? I left a part of my in silay that I will never get back. it is so hard! I have never cried because I had to leave an area until now. At night time I look at all my pictures until I fall asleep.... seriously, it is that bad. UGH! haha

I have seen a change come over me though as I have been in this area. Its like I am more receptive to the spirit and I have a desire to make this area "mine" so I am just..  I don't know, more open to talking to people and sharing the gospel. And I'm not afraid of speaking Ilonggo anymore. It is amazing. I am truely blessed. The other day I did not want to go out and work, it is hard transitioning... anyways, I prayed so hard that morning for help and you know, heavenly father never falls through with his promises. He really helped me that day, and I know that I would not have made it without his help.

I love you all, and have a great week!!! P.s. sorry I can't send pictures... My card reader is broken...): maybe next week?

Love, your sister Missionary,

Sister Young

Blessings from heaven!

Happy P-Day! Wow, this week went by super fast! In fact all these past couple of weeks have gone by sobra fast! I can hardly keep up! But it is so fun, and it is so....a blessing.

Just to let you all know how my morning went.... we were having personal study and all of a sudden I heard this screaming... and squealing... and it was going on for about 30 minutes so I finally asked my companion what it was... and she told me, "kaluoy, sister Young." with basically means... its miserable... wanna know what was happening? Our neighbor was slaughtering his pigs. but its not like you would imagine... they don't "insta-kill" it to put it out of its misery before they start chopping it.... they chop it and make it suffer to death... it was the most horrific sound... and mental picture ever... and then i couldnt focus..... haha. happy p-day!

Last P-day after emailing we went to This cool tourist place with a giant bamboo bridge... it was probably 1km or more longer. it was so old and it was breaking and it was scary, but it was a fun adventure. I really enjoyed it. We got to see the ocean and it was just a fun time. 

Tuesday we had exchanges and I learned a new word.... are you ready for it?

Nakakapagpapagabag it means 'bothered' in tagalog. I still can't say it right. 

Wednesday was my nine month mark... we didn't reallydo much cause my companion was sick, but we had a family home evening and it was fun! I met a little boy that wanted to take a picture with me, his name is Arjan, and he is 8. (: He was cute, but sadly he isn't in school, so when I asked him to write his name for me, he told me he doesn't know how. It was sad, but he came to our family home evening that night! haha (: it was fun!

On saturday Erica was baptized. It was such a good baptism even if it did start an hour late... her mom came, and her mom is not a member and we only have taught her once... but it was a good experience!  I am so happy for her!!!!!! 

Yesterday there was another typhoon... there was seriously so much rain... somethimes I just don't underdstand how much water can fall from the sky...but on the plus side, I got to unintentionally play in the rain! (: hahaha.

So I have been reading in 1 nephi again... I started over again cause I jst didn't like that I wasn't receiving any insites so i started over and I am so glad that I did. I read in 1nephi 8:12. I love it because the intrepretation of the tree of life is the love of god. And I love that lehi says that he was filled with exceedingly great joy... and it is so true of how you can feel as you allow the love of god to become part of you. It nourishes you, and can heal you, and give you strength. I am so blessed to be here and to have the chance to help others feel that love from god for them. To help them partake of the fruit of the tree. To be healed spiritually and physically as they apply the atonement. And also for myself to feel The love of God so abundantly in my life. To feel him hlep me on a daily bases. I could not do this with out him. 

I love you all, hgave a great week!\

Love, your sister missionary,

Sister Young

 

 This is me in the CR. haha.



and two of the ward missionaries that went with us.

Um... bamboo taytay

 This is the Bamboo Bridge that I went to last P-Day, It was so cool... but it was creaking and breaking with each step...hahahah. but we made it. It was fun!

 meet our ward missionaries(: haha

 (: okay.... so my companion and i are weird...

family home evening

 halo halo, it is the best thing ever!!! This particular one is Kamote...which is like a potato, and mango, corn, ice, sugar, jello, condensed milk...and i think that it is. oh and coconut. it is sooooo gooooodddd!!!!!


and my dirty feet. (: haha everyone has dirty feet but mine are so white that you can really see the dirt so everyone laughs! :)

 

crazy girls(:

Baptism ni Erica

Hello 9 months... what?!?

So in two days I'll hit my half way mark!!! Um.. where did the time go? I don't want it to ever end. Things are just too good here!

Just so you all know, my new name here is Marshmallow Vanilla Barbie Dawn Young. Haha, I refuse to let my investigators know my first name until I transfer... So this is what they came up with. Do you like it? (: 

On monday we had a super fun Family home eveining in aidsisa with all the member, 4 and all of our investigators there!!! It was a blast! I love having fun spiritual moments with my investigators... and then we played this game... its hard to explain, but I lost so I had to write my name in the air with my lips.... seriously, it was so embarrassing. But a memory that I never want to forget. 

Then on Wednesday we had zone training at the  misison office with la carlota zone. It was fun because I got to know all the filippino elders cause my companion is filippina and they all talk. it was cool to meet new people. haha. 

Friday we had to go to the dentist for sister delos santos again. that took all day.... 

Saturday we dolled up sister erica, the one who will be baptized next saturday, and Sister Christine. (: they were having a dance in talisay and they were so excited!!!!!! it was fun to help them get ready... and then we went to work. 

Yesterday was fun! the Less active family that I told you about last week came to church again! I love them. We had a japanese lady speak in sacrament meeting and she had to have an intrepreter but they spoke in tagalog so i didn't quite understand it all. but it was way cool. Then we went to aidsisa and taught a bunch of lessons and it was just a good week!!!!!

I love this area, and this time that I get to serve the lord. I love helping people get to know Christ and their true identity as a son or daughter of god. It is just an amazing experience. I love it.

Love you all,

Love, your sister missionary,

Sister Young

 These are from some of my adventures this week. I love these kiddos so much!

 I cut my bangs(: everyone was so shocked! haha and here they call it not like in america bangs.. like with a european accent maybe? haha i don't know. its funny though(:

 Last monday we had a funtastic family home evening!!!!!

Kalayo= Fire

Hello.. So, this week I saw a house burn down. We were teaching one of my favorite little investigators and we looked off into the distance cause this bug huge black ball of fire shot up into the sky... but we didn't think much of it because right now they are burning all the campo fields. like you burn the grass at home... anyways. and then we started walking back to civilization and realized it was a house... in the same spot where we had just came from prior to our lesson with the little girl. so we ran to go see if the investigators that we just taught were okay...

They were fine, and it was the house next to them... there was no one inside. What happened was the couple that lived there left to go to silay and they forgot to turn off the gas to the stove... and BOOM. it took like 7 minutes to burn the whole thing.. all that is left is the cement structure.. and the two cooked pigs out back(: haha. 

It was crazy! and then on our way home all of the fields were on fire... my companion said that she felt like she was coming out of.. yeah. anyways. It was crazy. we were so blessed.. we had seriously JUST been next door to the burn house and when we walked passed them we said hi and then FIRE! so crazy. 

That is one of many blessings this week! 

Lolo, one of our recent converts, couldn't read the book of mormon because he didn't have glasses and he finally got glasses! SO now he reads and he is really doing good. Brother Chris...who is actually Brother Rix we found out.. came to church last week and this week! He is really progressing! But he is still having a hard time praying. He wants to know why there are so many churches and what they gain from making a new church... so we taught about the great apostasy... and told him to read 1 nephi 13... so we will see. 

We have this less active family in our ward. The boy is active and wants to serve a mission, the mom is the relief society councelor and she is in the process of returning and the dad hasn't been to church in a long time. we went and visited them on wednesday and we started the dad to read the book of mormon and then he came to church yesterday!!!!! It was so amazing! The boy was so happy he looked like he was going to cry! I had to talk yesterday in sacrament so I got to see them all sitting there as a family again. after chruch we took a picture. It was so happy... I shook the boys hand and he just said, "salamat, Sister Young." with a smile and I knew how happy he was. I know how it feels... and I almost cried too.

I love it here. Missionary work is the best.. I get to help bring families back together.. I get to help them prepare for the celestial kingdom together! what a blessing!!!

1 nephi 4:6

Love, your sister missionary,

Sister Young

 The Jemora family(:

 Me and a ward missionary

 ANd the cute little tambok boys(:hahah

Happy March

This week has been a full one!

Last Monday we went to the ukay-ukay.. which is like a thriftstore with just mounds of cloths that you dig through and then you pay like 5 pesos for... it was so fun! My mom would love it so much! I bought a couple of things, and then went home and washed them!! haha (: fun stuff. Then Sister Delos Santos was not feeling very well so we went home and she took a little rest and I just did P-day stuff. Then at about 5 she was at the top of the stairs and I could hear her crying... She called for me and I asked what was wrong. She told me that she was in so much pain that she just wanted to die. She had a horrible tooth ache that just wouldn't go away. I had given her 3 i bee pro fin when we got home, and she said that it didn't do anything. I texted the elders and asked if it was okay if the bishop ric came to give her a blessing. THey said yes. I had no idea what to do... But we have a calamansy tree out side, and I had some honey so I heated up some water and put calamansy and honey and made her drink it... warm stuff helps pain. RIght? I gave her some more medicine and she rested until the priesthood came. During the time while we were waiting I organized and cleaned and I was able to serve my companion.. and it felt so good. I had been praying for an opportunity to serve her. I didn't want it to be like this... but it was an opportunity and I jumped on it. 

The priesthood finally came around 8:30 and gave her a blessing. For some reason I feel like Heavenly Father wasn't just speaking to her in the blessing, but to me too... It was crazy. I have never felt like that as someone else was receiving the blessing. But It was an answer to my prayers. 

Then on Tuesday we had district meeting and transfer day. Only one person from our district got transferred, our District Leader. But we all had to go into Bacolod so all the Foreign missionaries could have their pictures taken... and then off to the dentist we went. 

Let me just tell you how thankful I am that our dentist offices in america are clean, and clean, and sterile. The dentist office was about 6x6 and it was so cluttered with paper and junk and it was so gross... their was garbage all over and the tools that she used to stick into my companions mouth.. lets just say that they were probably pre-used and never cleaned except for the little cottonball that she wiped the tip with.. EW. 

Anyways, she got a filling and it hasn't been hurting her as bad. Thank goodness!

On thrusday we worked in Aidsisa. We taught one of our investigators, Gina... she works at the basurahan. which is like a garbage dump... I thnk I have told you about her before.. anyways she told us that she can't afford to come to chruch becasue she works so hard to find anything salvageable to sell from the dump and then barely has enough money to buy rice for her children because her lazy husband, who is a wonderful son of god, just stays home and drinks. he doesn't even help her. It made me so sad.  then when we went back on saturday she told us that she likes to listen to us...but that some other religion is giving her money and material needs and so she is favoring them. Which, yeah I get it... To someone who can't feed their family and who works in a basurahan i can completely understand why she would want that. The sad thing is though that I know that that is only temporaty happiness, and temporary money... what we have to offer her is eternal. It was more valuable, more precious than gold, silver, money, anything. ANd I wish that I could tell her that.. i have.. so I wish that she would just have faith and use that faith to test God. Because I know that he would provide for her. 

It just breaks my heart. All churches are good, they all have good motives. But the Difference between us and them is our gospel is for eternity, not just for here on earth. And I just don't know how to make people understand that. 

I told her that we loved her, and we woldn't be mad at her if she didn't choose us, that we would still come and visit her and share with her... but, I just want her to be able to experience eternal happiness now here on earth in the kingdom of heaven... or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. UGH!

On friday our ward had a missionary homecoming. It is weird to think that that is me... this year! The mom looked so happy and so did the whole family. 

Also on friday we got 3 packages! 2 for me and one for sister delos santos all from dad! YA HOO. Dad sent sister delos santos a bunch of chips cause she loves them, 2 journals, some pens and markers, and a teddy bear that she loves... she put it on her desk and she just cried. it was touching. I got food from dad. It was awesome! (: 

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting. It was one that was so touching. Sheryn, one of the less actives in the ward bore her testimony. In it she told everyone how thankful she was for sister delos santos and I because she thought she was forgotten by the ward but the missionaries, us, found her and didn't forget her. Which... is kinda true. haha, we actually have never taught her, we were taeaching a family that is close to her house and she just came up one day and asked for a preisthood blessing. You see, she doesn't have a kidney... and she has been really sick, and now she has been coming to church ever since that.. And she did tell us that all she needed to come back to church was to know that we didn't forget about her, she was just shy and needed a friend. It makes me think of all the less actives in my ward at home and how much I could've done more to help them feel more welcome at church. I feel guilty that I didn't do anything to help them. 

I think more often than not what happens is we get too clickish in our wards and we don't go out of our way to friendship anyone else that doesn't have a calling... or who may not be so active in the church... it is so sad. I am totally guilty of it. Can I challenge you to "adopt a less active" and to reach out and step out of your click and establish the equality again in your individual wards? Have charity for all people.

"Unless the Saints attend their meetings, it will be hard for them to keep alive in the Gospel." -President Anthon H. Lund

I love you all. Have a great week!

Love, your sister missionary,

Sister Young

Moroni 8:3(:

Mmm... Manok tiil.

Just to let you all know, I hit my 8 month mark this past week!!!!!

Ya hoo!! We didn't have a very successful day that day, but Funny sorry... We were at one of our recent convert's and the daughter was looking at pictures and telling us what they were... and then my companion pointed at me and asked her who I was.. and she said, "Jesus Christ." hahah. I guess I really am a representative of Him... Really, though, It taught me a very good lesson. Sometimes, Just somtimes, I forget who I am and who I represent. It is one of my goals to always reflect the Savior, and to have people see Him in my countenance. Maybe I really was reflecting Him... or maybe she was just confused because I am so shinny white, I don't know. But, I do know that I want everyone to say that about me.

On Thursday we had Mission Presidents Training. We learned how to better teach the Commandments in lesson4 of Preach My Gospel. It was such a good boost. We also had ice cream... which is always a bonus. (:

Later that day we went to one of my favorite areas. Aidsisaw. We have a lot of great investigators there! And remember me talking about how my companion ate a Manok tiil.. or chicken foot? 

 

 

 

 

Yeah well guess who ate one, too? Yeah, ME!!! Go me! It was sooooo gross. I never want to eat another one again. There are like the nail and bones and cartalage... i don't know how to spell that and skin. and you just eat it all. It was EW!!! I took pictures. They look gross... on purpose cause it was gross. But now I can check that off my list of things to be done only in the PHilippines! 

If I were to give any of you advise, I would say don't eat it. 

Yesterday at church we had 9 less actives come to church!!! It was so great to see our hard work pay off. Now if only we could get some of our investigators to church.... thats the trick! But, I figure that if we get the less actives active again then our investigators will have people to bring them to chruch and sit by them and be their friends... right?

I am so thankful for the scriptures. Yesterday in church one of the speakers talked on how the trials and problems that are talked about in the book of mormon are the same trials and problems that we are having here. He also said that the book of mormon lays out the solution to their problems, so it also lays out the path of solution for the problems of today. IF we appy what we learn to our lives. It was so inspired! 

It is true that the book of mormon answers all of our questions. Through the words and also through personal revelation. That is why it is so important to prayerfully read the book of mormon and then PONDER, That is often a step that is looked over, and that is when magbaton kita sang sabat. I am so much thankful for the scriptures. 

Well, That is all for this week. I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! You are all in my prayers!

Love, Your sister missionary,

Sister Young

 

 

these kids crack me up!

This is a picture of pee.. yes. I got peed on again yesterday... seriously.. its so gross.

And My snail family!!! (: haha