With Love From The Philippines

Friday, September 29, 2017

Week 51 "One Year!"

This week I had occasion to ask myself: "What on earth am I doing here?" as I waded through filthy flood waters up to my knees and got soaked my a car speeding through muddy puddles on the side of the street (totally thought that only happened in movies). As I tripped and slipped on muddy and unkempt trails scattered with rocks and bugs and an abundance of trash, to get to a small concrete house, where I then spoke a language that doesn't quite fit in my mouth.

These things I've been doing for a year now, and these thoughts kept playing through my mind until we finally arrived at our apartment after a long day. I then had an impression to listen to a specific song: "I Was Born". I'm not sure who the singer is, but the song starts with people from all over the world, telling where they came from, sometimes in their native tongue.

Some from New England, others from Africa, America, Philippines, Tonga.. and then the chorus kicks in:

..And we are here to serve our King.

Children from the Most High.

And it's His good news that we bring,

as we labor gladly, bringing souls to Christ.

All my thoughts ceased at that moment, and I just had to smile. This is the best calling, no matter how many lists I make of things I never thought I'd ever have to do. (or eat)

I've been here a year now, and it blows my mind how slow and how quickly it has flown by. That I'll be seeing your wonderful faces in 6 months.

I will try, with my remaining time, to serve and love these people the way God wants me to.

I want to be able to leave the Philippines with the words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" ringing in my ears.

I have 6 more months of learning and showing our Heavenly Father that I love Him and His children, and then a lifetime of building on what I know now.

I wont say its been an easy year- quite the opposite actually- but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Anyway, I'm not trunky and I love you all with my whole heart.

Mahal Kita!

Sister Mosher

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Week 49 "Work of Salvation"

I said this last transfer, and it felt like last WEEK, but transfer weeks are always the longest ha ha ha. But then the transfer flies by! I'll be staying with Sister Randana, and finishing her 12 weeks with her in Marikina! Needless to say, we thought that I would be transferred, and we are very excited that I'm still here. By the time I'm outta Marikina, I'll have been here for about 6 months.

This week was a good one! We finished all of Cristy's lessons, and our last lesson with her was about TEMPLE MARRIAGE! And the importance of that, because until death do us part is for quitters. No, that was a joke, but doesn't it seem SO MUCH HAPPIER if it's forever?! I'm proud to say that I literally used Taylor and Tyler Stanley's wedding picture to teach ha ha. I'm still so cuted out by that. :)

We actually got some new investigators this week. We have this long-time investigator, Amor, who is absolutely wonderful and active in church, but she can't be baptized yet because she is not married yet... We've been working on that, but for those of you who have or are currently serving where marriage is an issue, you understand me when I say that it is HARD to get someone married.. especially when they don't have a birth record.. But we are not giving up. Pantywaist, her niece was over when we went there, and she was putting wallpaper up, so we invited her to listen and she turned out to be really interested! She even came to church!

And the most exciting thing this week is that CRISTY IS BAPTIZED! I was all GRINS when I watched her enter the water. She glowed as she stood in front of everyone and bore her solid testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of the things she has really come to know for herself. Her words brought the spirit so quickly- there are few things as powerful as a raw and unadorned testimony of a disciple of Christ.

Baptism ni Cristy

I'll be hitting a year on this mission in a week or two, and one thing I've come to learn is that missionary work is HARD- that was obvious on my first real day of work. As a missionary, trials think they're your best friend and they hang out with you even when you don't want them. Struggles and heartbreak and sadnesses are inevitable as a missionary. While doing the work of the Lord, it cant be easy, BUT on the other hand, every missionary will also experience the pure joy of this work, and although the discouragements seem to outnumber the joys, the happy times outweigh ALL of the sad times by TONS.

I know this work is true and that missionary work is not a walk in the park- it's more like a walk through Jurassic park because it is the work of Salvation, and Salvation was "purchased" at a very dear price. It required all that Heavenly Father had, and all that Jesus Christ is. (John 3:16)

But as Elder Jeffery R. Holland so simply puts it: "Missionary work is not easy, because Salvation was NOT a cheap experience... It requires something of our souls."

CUTIES

My friends who follow us around as we go out to work. ')

I encourage all of you worthy males, and for those who might not qualify now, to get worthy and to serve a mission. You will be a much better person, I promise. And girls, if you have boyfriends who are preparing, encourage them to go! They'll make a better husband. As for girls, it's not required to serve, and ther is absolutely no shame in not serving a mission, but nonetheless preparing does wonders for a testimony.

It's hard and wonderful work. I don't know how it can be both, but it is. I love it.

Thank you so so much to all of you who have supported me through this far in my mission, and I looooove your emails. :')) They melt my heart. You are all in my prayers and I love you all tons.

CHRISTMAS NA!!

Kids playing ')

Sister Ann (on the right of me) and her aunt

Mahal Kita!

Sister Mosher

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Week 48 "Happy Birthday Jessica"

Hi everyone! I usually write what I will send to you in advanced, but I totally forgot this week... so I will try to go from Memory:

Tuesday, we had district meeting... Nothing really exciting happened there.. We've been really struggling with finding people to teach. But our one progressing investigator will be baptized this week!!! Cristy! We are so excited for her! She is 23, and she is the golden one. After her baptism, we will be back at square one.

Wednesday we went to Pizza hut! And we accidentally offended a lady.. 😬 She is the neighbor of Cristy. We tried to get to know her, but whenever we talk to her, she pulls out her cell phone and ignores us! Ha ha 😂 So we still just try, and she always ignores us, but one day we went to Cristy's house, and we didnt see her, so we didnt smile, and she complained and threw a fit to one of the members in that area, telling her that surely we cant be representatives of God because we have nothing Godlike in us... Ha ha. So now we are making sure to go out of our way to smile at her.

Rocky took us out to PIZZA HUT again!

Thursday, we ate dinnner at the Basconcillo's family! They have a daughter on her mission, too. And we will be getting home at the same time, so it's neat! They are such a fun family, and they made one of my fav foods for my birthday- Tinola! Check it out on Pinterest and try making it for your families. It's AMAZING! I wonder if America has all the ingredients needed?

Friday WAS MY TWIN SISTERS BIRTHDAY! Bishop invited us to eat dinner at his house, and he bought this giant tub of ice cream! It was sweet, then my comp said, "Sis Mosher! Happy Birthday!" and he stopped and went, "Wait, ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY" Maybe it was vain of me to assume that he invited us over for my birthday, especailly when he pulled out a tub of ice cream. ;) Nevertheless, I'll count it as a celebration. ;)

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!

Saturday we had a ward activity, and we invited all of our investigators and one showed up, but it was a complete SUCESS, and she came up to us and said, "I'm SO happy here." It was so good to see the spirit of family and fun and of love touch our investigator. She said that she feels the spirit strongly. Ha ha but she didnt come to church the next day cause she said that she was tired from the activity sooooooo 😂

Sunday was CHURCH. And Church is always wonderful! I love the spirit that comes.

Most pampered pooch.

-- A real life grumpy cat

Mahal Kita!

Sister Mosher

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Week 47 "Did I spell "Gagumba" Correctly?"

Hi everyone! I hope you're all so well back home. I pray for you all the time, and I hope you're all so happy.

My week was a good one! I feel all of your prayers for me, and us missionaries really appreciate those. Needless to say, we NEED them ha ha!

Monday we went to the sports center again, and I made my companion run with me, and I saw a cute track team and I WAS SO JEALOUS. Ha ha!

Tuesday, we watched the "Restoration" with our investigator Cristy! She cried, and we all felt the spirit strongly. Theres no way I could ever deny that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

Throughout history, we've had prophet after prophet, each opening up a new dispensation (a time when we have prophets on earth) and every time, the people chose to reject them. But I've been doing a lot of study on the Restoration, and we always hear the phrases, "Chosen Generation", and "The Latter Days"- it's in the name of our church. That's because these are the last days. I read something that stood out to me, it recalled that throughout history all the prophets have been rejected and killed, including Joseph Smith, but since hi, we have had an unbroken line of prophets of God leading this church. Meaning that this is the dispensation that will not fail. That's amazing. Anyway, lets take advantage of the time where we live and let's follow the counsel and guidance of our Prophets. :)

Anyway, enough of my rant..

Wednesday was boring

Thursday we taught our 80 yr old investigator with an audience of about 20 kids all surrounding us. So while teaching, I felt something on my neck, so I brushed at it, thinking that it was just my hair. So I continued teaching, and a kid points at me and screams, "GUGUMBA! MAY GAGUMBA SA DAMIT MO!" (Spider! There's a spider in your clothes!" Ha hahahah. I totally felt it crawling all around inside, and looked like a complete goof to all the onlookers as I wiggled my body trying to get him outta there. Later that night I found him in my clothes and taped him into my journal. Ha ha

Sunday we had THREE dinner appointments and I thought maybe I'd die. Nevertheless, it was delicious.

So in all, it was a good week and my birthday is in 4 days, so needless to say, I'm pretty excited. I love you all. Stay safe and stay happy!! :)

Mahal Kita!

Sister Mosher

Monday, August 21, 2017

Week 46 "Wowza"

Mom says that I need to write better group emails. I apologize to any and all that got bored of my last email... ;) (In case you missed it, there was nothing there.)

So I'll make that my personal goal for the last 6ish months of my mission!

This week flew by!! I don;t know how because each day felt about two years long.. But here we are again. On MONDAY, we ate at Mang Inesal for Jizan's birthday! A member took us and it was delicious! Man Inesal is just a cute little restaurant that is knows for its unlimited rice... but ironically, some Poly missionaries were banned from eating there because from what I was told, they had somewhere between 12-22 cups of rice. Ha ha,. We didnt eat that much rice.

TUESDAY was support day. (the day we get our money), which was well needed because I literaly had 10 pesos to my name... thats not even a quarter in US dollars if im doing my math right- if my math is off, thats embarrassing, and I totally blame it on being here for about a year. BUT the money would not come!! so we went walked back to the house and did our studies as we waited for support, went out to check the ATM, went back to the house when it wasnt there. Ate lunch, checked for support, and just stood there not knowing what to do when it wasnt there. But this time, it is 3 in the afternoon, and we have no money to get to our area.. And we realized that we had a dinner apt. that night, so "the pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked". three hours later, we finally made it to their house, and it was well rewarding because they fed us and drove us home afterwards. Ha ha. We basically fell asleep as soon as we got home that night.

WEDNESDAY was HOT. We had to do our mealplan shopping that mornign because we didnt have the money to do it earlier that week. So Sister Radana and I went to the giant market place. It's fun there.... you walk down this narrow street and on either side of you, people are selling veggies and fruits and clothes and toys, and if you're lucky, you can catch a glimpse of a slaughtered pig out of the corner of your eye. I'm sure you can imagine how good it smells there. 🤔

THURSDAY we did exchanges with the STLS. It was me and the other white sister, Sister Hann. We never made it all the way to her area because everyone kept OYMing us, just meaning that they are the ones who approached us. It was nice. It's a good way to OYM.... Sometimes it is really daunting to have ALL eyes on you ALWAYS, but if you embrace it, its a good finding tool. Ha ha.

FRIDAY we taught a new and READY investigator, Cristy. She was referred to us by a member, and she is golden. She came to church the first time we invited her, and on Friday we taught about the Plan of Salvation and she soaked it all in. We then invited her to be baptized on Sep 9, and her eyes lit up and she said, "YES! I'm ready!" :')

She then came to another lesson with us, where we taught another investigator. The Investigator told us that she isnt so sure that the BOM is true because she doesnt feel like she's been getting answers.

At that point, all I could think was "Oh no. I dont want cristy to hear this!" and before I had time to conjure up any more thoughts, Cristy sais to this investigator, "I think thats where you need to trust in God. Satan is making you doubt."

When I say golden, i mean GOLDEN.

SATURDAY i was approached by a man I sweart about 97 yrs old. He asked me, "Hi, are you American?" I said, "yes." and he then asked if I had a husband. Which is normal lang here. Everyone is straight up BOLD here. They're not afraid to say what's on their mind. They will straight up ask you why you're fat. Nothing is off limits here. I told him "wala pa (not yet!)" and he goes, "Well, can I court you?" Like I said, BOLD.

I said, "Sorry, we are missionaries." He then looks at my name tag, looks at me, and starts shaking his head and hand in my face and goes, "NO THANK YOU." HAHAH. I couldnt even handle it. I laughed harder than I should have when he left. Ha ha

So thats my week. The pictures take a year and a half to load, and I dont have that much time, so next week na lang! I love you all! Thank you for the emails!!!

Mahal Kita!

Sister Mosher