Subject: week 8
" The Philippines is crazy!!!!!
Tuesday:
The rain was intense all day and I got plenty of bug bites haha. This
day was a little hard because I didn't really get any sleep and my legs
were itchy with my bug bites. We were ready to work, until we received a
text from our Mission President, telling us not to work today because
of the "monsoon" and a missionary had been electrocuted. So...we stayed
inside...which was actually really boring, until we pulled out our LDS
dvds on our tiny laptop. We watched movies and studied and ate the rest
of the day. Pretty eventful (:
Wednesday:
District Meeting!!!! I finally met my District and they are quite
hilarious. 4 of us sisters and 5 elders. We got to know each other
better with scripture-chasing games! We all had lunch together at this
really awesome place, but I can't quite remember the name. It reminds me
of a rainforest cafe with a chess area...just like in Harry Potter
1...? For work, Sister Soliven and I visited Elisa Macariola (Less
Active) and it happened to be her birthday, which caused her to feed us
even more. I was so stuffed! We then visited Nilda Demayo (Less Active).
Turns out that her grandson Joper (14) is actually a member so we
encouraged him to attend church! We also received two new investigators
(his aunts): Grace and Angel. We then visited Sister Mercy and her
daughter Mary Rose. Mary Rose should be having her baby sometime next
week. So exciting! Gahh! I just want to speak Tagalog already!
Thursday:
I finally had time to create language study goals...quite a lot. To be
honest, my Tagalog hasn't improved too much because everyone tries to
speak to me in English, and then I get upset. Pero, I am starting to get
a lot of their phrases and slang words...! Today we also didn't work
because I was pretty sick. So my kasama forced me to take medicine and
sleep the rest of the day. I felt so embarrassed and guilty that we
couldn't work. Because time is so precious and we only have 18 months to
teach.
Friday:
Today our Ward Mission Leader (Adolf) worked with us! He is so awesome;
I think I mentioned him in last week's letter. We first visited Mary
Rose and her boyfriend Peter was there! His work schedule is extremely
busy, but we were finally able to meet up and it was very exciting. We
then visited Andy Mariano and his wife happened to be there (whom we
have never met before). Andy had a previous baptism goal, but for
certain reasons it was postponed. Now that we had an amazing lesson with
him, his desire to be baptized has definitely come back. He is excited
for us to teach him. SWEET. We then headed over to the Obena Family
(looking for Emanuel who wasn't there) and we met his mother and his two
sister-in-laws...which gave us two additional investigators! Towards
the end of our lesson, there was a brown out... not a black out. YUP. It
was scary! We then made our visit to the Bayaga Family to see Mark
(Less Active; 16yr old) but he wasn't there! Next time! Today was so
great because we received a handful of new investigators! I JUST WANT TO
SPEAK TAGALOG!!
Saturday:
For lunch, kasama ko at ako (me and my campanion), plus the other two
sisters in our house were taken out to lunch by Sister Christine and her
friend Emma. They took us to Marikina Hotel Buffet. It is extremely
fancy and there happened to be a baby-baptism-reception going on at the
same time. So many people and so much Filipino food...oh my gosh. But, I
didn't stuff myself because I knew how many people we needed to visit
for work today, plus our area has many hills...and I was not in the mood
to throw up! Sister Christine is actually a return missionary from
Cagayan de Oro! During work, we wanted to visit places in our area that
we hadn't touched on yet. So we looked for the Tagle family and we found
them! Their son Jun Jun(9) escorted us to find the next family, which
was an extremely muddy hill. The family was nowhere to be found, so down
the hill we went, my shoe came off, I stepped in the mud and my shoes
were terribly muddy...it was embarrassing...Jun Jun couldn't stop
laughing at me! We then headed over to the Balanlay Family, where we
found Romeo and his wife! Our first official meeting with him! Romeo is
an RM (return missionary) from Davao Mission and he had a temple
marriage! His wife was wearing a I LOVE MORMONS shirt and...it pretty
much made my day. When he saw my shoes, he immediately started to SCRUB
them (they were already off of my feet). I felt so bad, but what made it
worse was knowing that he was also sick! I am not quite sure how many
times I said Thank You...probably over one million times. Afterwards, we
headed over to Nilda's house and taught Grace & Angel. During this
visit, Grace's daughter kept wanting to play with me, so I did my best
teaching and making sure she didn't fall off the bench I was sitting on.
She also kept playing with my zipper ties on my purse, so I removed
them and gave them to her. She felt very pretty because I tied them on
her ankles. Grace told us that she was born as Iglesia, but she kept
postponing her baptismal date with them because she didn't feel right.
We had such a great lesson with her and Angel; tears were shed. On the
way home, Sister Soliven wanted to take a completely different route
through our area. After thinking we were super lost, we found our way to
the Jeepney station and headed home. We were very blessed because as
soon as we entered our house, the rain poured and poured and poured.
Sunday:
Oh church! Today, the four of us sister missionaries sang Nearer My God
to Thee, as requested by the 2nd Councilor, and they forced me to
harmonize with them. It was actually really sweet. Oh, and Joper was at
church passing the sacrament (Nilda's grandson)! Bishop also announced
that starting next Sunday, church would begin at 9:30am!
It was the funniest announcement because the congregation began to get
very excited. A later church time means that many more Less Actives will
be coming back to church, hopefully! For lunch at Sister Micairin's
place, we had Menudo, corn on the cob and suman. Sobrang Masarap
(delicious)!! Today was also our Ward Council Meeting, which we found
out today, which caused us to change our work schedule. During the
meeting, we discussed having a Chapel open house for everyone in
Conception and Cupang. It is going to be in September! For work, we were
joined by Brother Franz and Sister Joy. On our way to find Sister Joy's
cousin's house, we bumped into a man who said, "Bible Study!?" His name
is Gabriel and we were literally the answer to his prayers. He prayed
for a sign about his religion; he is catholic but he doesn't feel right.
So we gave him an overview of Lesson 1, listened to his concerns and
questions, he listened to us and really likes us. He likes us so much
that he wants to attend church and bring his family!!!! Oh! We are so
excited! After Gabriel, Franz left early, And Sister Joy took us to her
cousin Marivie and her son Benji(17). Benji is actually the one
interested in listening to our message. His lolo (grandpa) doesn't like
the Mormons and Benji is not sure why, so he was a little worried about
his lolo's feelings once he finds out that we talked to Benji. We are
trying to strengthen Benji's desire to learn, because he does, in fact,
have a desire. He is such a nice kid and his mom also wants to listen to
us! Today was so great! The Lord really does prepare people who want to
hear the Gospel.
Monday: Today was supposed to be P-day, instead of tomorrow...but it is today..because TEMPLE DAY IS TOMORROW!!!!!
District Meeting was pretty sweet; we discussed Christlike Attributes.
My District is so funny! WE all then headed, in a jeepney all together,
to KFC. Whatever I ordered, I will not order again, because it wasn't
good and my stomach was very upset haha. For work, Sister Soliven and I
stopped by Mary Rose's house and she told us that she would be having
the baby today...so we waited with her...but a lady helping her said
that it wouldn't come till later. While we waited, I played with her
younger sister, Angelika. She is the cutest thing! I kept playing with
her and we took pictures. We then headed over to find the Jimenia Family
and we found them just around the corner! Brother Butch Jimenia(Less
Active) is a Return Missionary and his wife is a non-member, and she is
an extreme Philosophy major. She has been taught by many missionaries
before and she has a strong desire to constantly have debates with them
and her husband. However, she wants to go to the next Temple Tour that
we missionaries have, so we said we would keep them posted. Our
discussion with them was very complicated and the Spirit was not there.
It was pretty terrible, but we think they are both really great. We
headed back to Mary Rose to see if she had her baby, but no. So we went
home.
Today: To get to the Manila Temple, a taxi is
required.....being driven around in the Philippines, I am very surprised
I haven't thrown up yet. The Manila Temple is so beautiful; inside and
out. After a session, Sister Soliven showed me the Manila MTC, which is
right across the street and we bought a couple things in the Visitor
Center. Taking a taxi home was a little scary because we were given
three different sets of directions from our other sisters and our
District, but we eventually arrived here at the computer cafe safely.
By the way, for those of you who are not Mormon, my
weekly letters are not meant to offend your beliefs. My weekly letter is
to let people know how I am doing and about the missionary work I have
been participating in. If you ever wish to cease receiving my emails, I
will not be offended. Just kindly reply to my mother's email (the email
that forwards my weekly email).
Markina 6A Cupang is a lovely area with loving
people, but it is very difficult as well,. which is perfectly fine
because I know missionary work is not meant to be easy. I know that I
will be tried in all things and I know that I need to hold the ground
that I have even if it is limited. I am so thankful for everything my
Heavenly Father has given to me, my family and to all of His children
here upon the earth. I know that this Gospel is true: Alam ko po na
totoo ang Ebanghelyo ni Jesucristo. I hope all of you are doing well! I
love you all!!!
Sister Tatiana Escobar "
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