Week 43 "How to Train Your Dragon" July 30, 2017

Hi everyone! 

Although this week really only consisted of Wednesday through now, transfer weeks feel like FOREVER long. 

On Wednesday, I got to pick up my baby missionary! We got to the mission home at around 7 am, and President Koster had crepes waiting for us... It was nice to have something kind of American. ;) We probably have the greatest mission President, and he's from one of my fav places: San Diego California. :')

Anyway, we then learned from President and the AP's how to be trainers! So, at this point, we are ready for anything, and IN come the new missionaries. Only four of them, though. ;) 

And I got assigned to SISTER RADANA from CDO. She's a Filipina, and she's super sweet. The very first question she asked me was, "Do you speak Tagalog?" Ha ha.

On Thursday, we taught our new RC, JIZAN!! :) He's very great, and we taught about Family History Work and doing baptisms for the dead. We are going to try to plan a day when he can go and do that. It'll be so neat! 

On Friday we had our weekly planning, and despite that, it was probably our most productive day this week. We were running around everywhere, teaching everyone we laid eyes on. We got lots of new investigators, and hopefully that will help us a little.

And then one of our investigators LITERALLY chased my around the house with scissors in her hand and a piece of my hair in the other, trying to get a piece. I was honestly terrified.

Saturday we had a ward Family History activity, so we texted and invited Jizan and he said that he would be coming from work, then asked if he had time. We said, "OF COURSE!" and so he was on his way.. and to give a little backfround, the activity started at 4pm, but since this is the philippines, and everyone is always late, it didn't start until 5, and at that point, the internet wasn't working so well. But Jizan told us that he was on his way, and I swear 2 minutes later, someone stood up and said, "Alright, so our closing hymn will be...." and we both looked at eachother, and then had to awkardly tell Jizan after the activity was over, that it was actually over, even though we told him that he had plenty of time. HA HA. He was understanding, though.

And Sunday. Oh man. I will explain Sunday to you in a monologue that goes a lot like this:

Kid: *Stroking my hair*

Kid: Do you have any lice?

Me: No.

Kid: I do. A lot of it.

Me: .....

Me: *Looks at the kid stroking my hair*

Kid: *Pointing to the little girl next to her* She has a LOT of lice.

Kid: *Goes to stroke my hair again*

Me: *Pulls hair into a bun, never to be let down again*

In short, that's been my whole mission. But on another note, I'm PROUDLY LICE FREE, and I've never had it before, and I DO NOT plan to get it. 

Yup. That's my week. New missionaries, running away from lice kids, protecting my hair from every element here- including investigators and scissiors, and of course loving the cats, even though they probably have lice, too. They do say it's more fun in the Philippines.

Stay safe and lice free, kids. :)

I love you all. 

​

My new missionary

                                                The road to our home when it's rained all day.

      One of my kabahays did my hair, but I made her take it out when we got outside because I felt  WAY too fancy. Lol.

Car stickers.. ;)

-- 

Mahal Kita!

Sister Mosher

Week 42 - July 24, 2017

I dont have lots of time BUT transfer calls came in and I AM TRAINING a new missionary. Pray that I dont break her! ;) Jokes

AND JIZAN, CHRISTINE MAE, and GABBY are all BAPTIZED! I t was such a wonderful experience, and the happiest thing is that Jizan told us that he wants to serve a mission. My mouth hurt so bad from the grin that took up my whole face. SO HAPPY. That is all I have time for, I love you all!!

 

            The three next to yanzon and i are our baptisms. gabby is the little one! :)

 

                                                 FUTURE MISSIONARY

                            He wanted to show me a cool trick (those are jelly beans
                                            

 

Pizza Hut

 

 

 

Week 41 "We're Having Baptisms)

HI EVERYONE! Another week! 

On Monday, we had a regular P-day.. BUT I finally got to go RUNNING. For the first time in what- almost 10 months, my feet got to run on a real running track. We went to the Marikina Sports Center, and it was glorious. You can ask my comp, I just about kissed the track- I was so happy. And I am so proud to tell you all that I still got it. ;) So you could say it was a wonderful pday. I got to run, email some wonderful people, and had a mall worker guy watch me pick out a coloring book for about 10 minutes... Like it's odd or something to see an American in the Philippines picking out a coloring book.

Tuesday we taught the kiddos being baptized- Gabby and Glydell. Gab is 9, and Glyd is 8. They are cousins and their parents are LA. They are super cute kiddos, and so makulit. Ha ha ha! They're crazy. ;)

GABBY1 Our other future RC is the girl. Cute, no And her smily little brother. )​

Wednesday, we taught Jizan, our 20 year old investigator. He is also being baptized on the 22nd of July. He is absolutely GREAT and we love him. WE taught him Word of Wisdom, and he gave up alcohol right away. We followed up on Wed, and he told us that although his friends were offering it to him, he declined every time. HES GREAT!! 

We then went to the grocery store across the street from our house that night because I really wanted some cereal. So we got in line, I had my jumbo box of cereal, and my liter of milk, and the guy in front of me asked how many kids I had. I kind of just looked at him like, "what?" and he looks down at my cereal box, and I realized what he meant. I then had to admit to him that the cereal was for me, and he kind of was like, "Oh, uh. Yeah, okay..." and turned around. HAHAHAH

 

                     Jizan (our future RC) in the back and some cutie kids in the front

 

Thursday was a happy birthday to my first trainer, Sis Estrella. And it finally rained after what- 5 days. It was wonderful. Floods everywhere. ;) We were very happy. We ate dinner at a members house and we had Lechon- it's roasted pig. Most of the time, its a full pig, but today we had the head lang. So we sat down to eat dinner around a giant, crispy pig head. Not something you do.. ever.. in America. ;)

                                                            Our lechon

Friday was another day where I don't remember much... Weekly planning. Sis Yanzon lost her umbrella which means that if she cant find it, it will be her fourth umbrella in 6 months.. I'm still on my first... Thank you Eddie Bauer. 😍

 

Our solution for rainy days- plastic bags over our actual bags. last time my BOM got soaked. ;)

Saturday was our fav day. Sis Yanzon got hit by a motorcycle... softly, it was kind of just like a hug. Kinda sweet. ;) It didn't stop for her. jhahah

We also taught Christine Mae, another investigator being baptized on the 22nd. :) She's great, too. 15 years old. 

All in all, its been a great week... and I will FINALLY SEND YOU PICTURES after how many promises?

 

                                                                      Sis Yanzon and I

Please pray for all of our investigators being baptized, and please pray for us because we don't know what we will do when they're baptized. HAHAH!! I love you guys thanks for the emails!! :)

 

                                      

                                                                     Zone Activity

 

                                                     a real ice-cream sandwich... ;)                     

              CUTE RIGHT hahaha i don't know how they all got in there hahaha

                               Our departing missionaries- E. Eagar and E. Syme

 

 

--                                Christine mae (our other baptism) is in the PINK!

Mahal Kita!

Sister Mosher

Week 40

Hi Everyone! This one will be a short one, I'm low on time. BUT I just want to say thanks to everyone who emailed today! Holy cow! So many exciting things are happening in life! 

People getting married, some are leaving on missions, friends are getting their calls, lots are finding ways to enjoy their summers and their families.

Life is GREAT! Life is so beautiful, and these are moments that we wont forget. Some will be sweet, and some are on the other side of the scale. But nevertheless, life is good. We are to embrace it and take it all in. Learn from the past, and use it as a stepstone. The future holds everything for us if we are on the right path. Agh. Life is life, life is great. :)

My mind is all over the place right now. My point is that I want you all to take a sec and make a sincere and genuine list of things that you're grateful for. I do it every few months: some of mine include:

Family, lots of siblings to love (10) ;)

My Best Friends

Music

Memories

Joseph Smith

Smiles, hugs, laughs

This world

Anyway, I have to go! BYE!

 

Next week I will TRY to get pictures in! I've been lazy lately! Sorry! I know thats the best part

I love you all!

-- 

Mahal Kita!

​Mosher

Week 39 "Oh, we're halfway there; O-oh living on a prayer"

I am officially NINE MONTHS and HALF WAY in the mission! I am so excited about it. I can confidently say that I have accomplished a lot during my 9 months of missionary service. I have successfully memorized every EFY song since 2007, I can speak another language, I have shed lots of tears, as well as smiled quite a bit. Missionary work is hard on a whole new level, but it's fulfilling on that same level. I'm glad I am here.

It's been another week. On Monday we did P-Day things like emailed the ones we love, ate at Mang Inesal(that means nothing to those who've never been, but to those of you who've served in the PH, you're probably missing it right now, no? Ha ha)

Tuesday, we had some fun. We went to a members house, and they fed us some beetles- no joke. I even have a signed note that they wrote me, saying that I did indeed eat the butt of a may beetle. Lucky me, no? ;)

Wednesday we taught Anne, and during the lesson, she was asked if she had a testimony, and in came the waterworks. She told us that even if she didn't want to believe, she couldn't deny what she knows. She has such a strong testimony. Now it's all about what she has to be willing to give up for the gospel. God asks us to make sacrifices, and if we are faithful, He promises that our reward will be so much greater than ANYTHING we will ever give up. Read the story of Kind Lamoni's father who was willing to give ANYTHING for Salvation- Alma 22

Thursday I learned two things: one is that you can in fact get so tired of eating food. RIGHT? I never thought I would say those words, but I am so tired of eating food. Ha ha the members are way too nice. They passed around a "Feed The Missionaries Calendar" and we have dinner appointments every day until August. I'M EXHAUSTED hahahah. So funny. They're way too nice. 

And the other thing I learned falls on a much deeper scale, and it's about sorrow, and the role it plays in our lives. Sorrow and hardships are pretty much dreaded to say the least, but it's wonderful in the long run if we are faithful. The most wonderful and amazing people we know are those who know sorrow well, and it's because their trials have given them a depth of soul, something deeper to build their lives on, and that's beautiful.

If you know me, you know that I absolutely love poetry, and thei week, I hard a poem that describes my point perfectly: 

I walked a mile with Pleasure, she chattered all the way, but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with Sorrow, and not a word said she, but oh the things I learned from her, when Sorrow walked with me.

Isn't that nice? No one wants trials in their lives- I'm sure you dont want them, and I can tell you now that I'd prefer bliss to fire, but that comes perfectly in the next life if we are faithful and endure our trials well. Note the word "IF" (Alma 37:44-45)

So when the troubles and hardships come- and they will- don't fight it. Allow the tears to flow. We are not meant to be invincible, we bruise easily, and the heart is soft; prone to bleed at the slightest touch. It is in those moments of sadness that we much be brave enough to allow Christ in, to let Him be present in our pain; our sorrow is seen by Christ. One day, He will wipe away every tear, He will hold us tight, but for now we much pray through the pain. He understands the sorrow that is whithin you, for He was a man of many sorrows, He wept alone, He was tormented and forsaken. Believe me, a man who has been forsaken such as Christ will never forsake you. 

Jesus is the only person who knows all that you have been through. He is the only one who knows the deepest darkest spots of your soul, and still He remains. Jesus has the scars to prove that He is trustworthy, He had the only heart that bled for you. He will never stop loving you.

So what we learned this week: is that trials make you stronger. :) So embrace them, and love them. Even though they're rough. Let them build you, and you'll come out of the fire renewed. 

I love you all so so much. I hope you're all safe and happy and enduring well. 

LOVE YOU!

 

-- 

Mahal Kita!

Sister Mosher