I Ate Bat.

Monday last week: President Rahlf called and I freaked out trying to think of so many reasons why he was calling. Come to find out he just wanted to tell me so many facts about the book of Acts that I was reading. Did you guys know that Luke was the one that wrote it? hahahah it was funny. 

Tuesday: I had prayed to have Heavenly Father Help me with my teaching skills because I feel I need to improve. Then for district meeting our lesson was about teaching skills, and asking questions. 

We visited an investigator. She is having a tiff with her neighbor. The first thing she says is I wish I was a man. hahahah and then next thing she says. I shouted some things I shouldn't have hahah it was so funny she is super independent, never married, hard working old lady. She has her nieces and nephews live with her as they go to school. She is funny but so down to earth and real. She tells us why everyone is less active. It helps hahah. 

Another less active: she has a hard life but she just works though it. She wanted her husband to start doing chores around the house, so that she could rest once she got home. He didn't give much mind. In her closing prayer asked if Heavenly Father if he could change her husband’s mind hahah. 

After that I ate bat! hahah our neighbor members went to the caves to catch us bat, Then made it into Adobo Bat. It is a fruit bat so a lot safer and the only part with any meat though is the breast. It was like beef jerky in texture but I loved it. It was good. 

WED: Normal Day, got 2 lessons because everyone was gone to the City as we worked in the mountain but it was still fun. 

Thursday and Friday: Barfed. We all got sick except my comp. we slept watched Mormon messages. Talked, got blessing, sent the ZL's to grab medicine because there is no place to get medicine in our area and the ZL's area is just next to ours. 

Saturday: had a really cool personal study about the Atonement and so did sister Maunana, but I couldn't explain it to her or anything because I cried and I don't know why! It was annoying! hahahah she is like do you feel sad? or bad? and I am like NO. She is like are they tears of Happiness? No not really they are Just Annoying because I can't tell you how awesome my Personal study was! hahaha 

In investigator Cecile: in our records she is not married to her husband so we taught LOC and she told us that they are married hahahahah that was kind of awkward hahaha. 

After that it was family day (not really but it looked like it) so everyone was having a picnic or had family over so we didn't bother them. Then we had a Baptism interview. She is only 9 and is sometimes distracted during our lessons. So she didn't do a great job we have to review things and her baptism will be next next week. It is ok though now she knows it is serious. hahah 

On the way down from the mountain we had to walk, but a Jeepney came that was full of wood for houses and fires (the people had cut it down and filled their Jeepney) and we were with the elders so we jumped on and they dropped us off at the base of the mountain. 

SUNDAY: Bore my testimony on the Atonement, and how it makes up for our sickness too. hahaha 

Found a new investigator, our referral from last week. They told us that after we left when we first visited; her husband got a Tricy and a job, so they where so much more friendly to us this time and were willing to listen to us. hahah but it was cool. After that meetings. 

Beth: active member, but her husband is an active member of another church. They are so cool and such an interesting family. We decide to visit and found out they had randomly adopted a baby!!!!!!!!! hahah they are like 40 but they look like 25 and don't have kids so they now have a BABY. hahah she named him Elijah so that their family will be blessed by the sealing power. She really wants her husband to be a member but it will come he is a nice guy. 

Next week: I have interviews with President. It should be good. The next week is a normal week and then Transfers and then October we have Zone Con. and General Conference. November I go to Manila for fingerprinting saying I have been in the country and in December I get to go to the Manila Temple (SO EXCITED FOR THAT) and then home. hahah Weird. 

I ate bat!

Coolest cow ever

The local horses are super pretty.

Sunset storm clouds.

Brown out as we were cleaning our teeth. Every house has so many candles in case of brown out. In Kitibati they use white ash to make their teeth super white so we tried it. it was fun. 

Do my teeth look whiter?

Tita means Auntie.  Perfect gift for Aunt Denise.

We have a pizza place here in Tugue. 

This is our Ward coordination meeting and someones birthday.

 we have the same skirts just different colors and length i am so tall!!!!!!!! 

The little girl in the green shorts is our investigator and will be baptized next week.

At our Bishop's house.

Invitations to be Baptized

It has been a good week this week. Had a lot more lessons, and invited a lot of people to prepare to be baptized. I know it will take a long time to get them there but if they have that desire and really prepare themselves it opens doors. This week we talked a lot about potential. We all kind of brag about our investigators and the smart kids that we get to meet, we figured that if you don't limit people they will soar. So that is why we give invitations to be baptized to show them that we know they can achieve it, we can't limit it by well I won't see them be baptized so why invite them. Don’t limit people by their problems they can overcome it if they rely on Christ. Trust in Christ to help them and invite. 

TUE: Last week we talked about how an investigator needs to get married to get baptized. Her "husband" overheard us and almost walked all the way back to Manila (far way from here.) to get his birth certificate fixed so that she could get married. Two factors that make Her Husband cool: He just lost his job but sacrificed anyways to go all the way to get his birth certificate and he started random jobs to pay his way back up.  After that it flooded so hard the street was a river and we just had to go home. Got soaked the trycie was having a hard time. Only had one umbrella. Our dinner appt. (next door to us) just came by and dropped it off then went back home. (They didn't want us to walk back out in the rain after getting home) 

Birthday of our on and off LA (less active). She has a hard life so we gave her a cake and she cried. It was cute. I love her. She sings to us and her oldest daughter is super cool. 

WED: Invited an investigator to be baptized and taught another investigator, but that lesson was hard because her brother was watching TV in the other room, and I could hear English so it makes it hard to speak Tagalog when English is going though your brain. SHE WENT TO CHURCH and participated in the Gospel principles class.

We were in our far area and our usually ride was drunk, so we walked and we were going to walk the river but it had rained really hard last night so I was a little iffy but right as we get to the dirt road that goes to the river a guy drives up and drives us all the way to our house  (we needed some things that we had left). Then we got a ride to our Bishops house (had a dinner appointment) by a trycie driver that was so high on weed. It was scary. But right then our Ward mission leader drives up on his motor and follows us all the way to bishop’s house and then he went home. He could smell it too. 

THUR: Had to push an investigator's baptismal date back again.... but this will be the last time  and it made the sister Justine realize that she needed something to do about her family, so they gathered their money up and moved out of the parents house, to snap brother back in to shape. It will be good to see them on their own and now brother won’t have his cousins to get him out of going to church with his wife. He is a member but LA and we want them to be strong so that they can be an eternal family in one year from now, but he has so many escape routes at home. 

Friday: Taught another investigator again because there was a mix up and we thought her parents didn't want us to teach her. So we stopped but she asked us to teach her again (showing desire) then we asked her parents they were ok with that and we gave her a baptismal date. 

SAT: Open house of the stake center all day long. We get there and they hand us a stack of invites and tell us to hand them to people and with our missionary powers we did it. Then there was a program and they had invited one of the government officials to give their thoughts and impressions about Mormons. We had a lunch and we did it again then the rest of the day people toured though and we handed out family history things. Then our Mission President came and we sat at the back of the primary room. We were there in case someone had a question the primary workers didn't know and then we welcomed people into the sacrament hall like we would if it was normal Sunday meeting. It was kind of like working at Staples. When there were no customers we would sit and talk and then a handful of people would come. 

Sunday: I just felt good on Sunday and I don't know why usually it is the hardest day. We visited an active member and talked about growing and bearing our testimonies until nothing can bring them down. It is good because he is a college student and there are a lot of non members that he can share with them. 

Also we visited a sick member.  She was sick this whole day and her niece was there to take care of her, so we shared a little bit. 

Meetings Meeings but it was fun.  after that the Bishop feed us for like a half way snack, and then we ate dinner with our Neighbor and all his siblings they are all members and like all in their 20's and early 30's and it was just fun to laugh and talk and eat and it was just like when our family gets all together and talk. 

What do RS ladies do?

We had an open house and this is how it was set up. Also the RS Pres keeps asking me what we do in our RS and I don't know because I never paid that much attention. Mostly painted things, made decorations, canned things, made jam. yen lang. 

She is 90 years old.  We see her every week.

Trices are nice to sleep in.

A friend.

A survival vehicle with a tiny driver.

Mango Float Recipe

Sister Perkins sent this recipe home and said she loves it.

Mango Float by Sister Gardoce

2 boxes Nestles All Purpose Cream

1 can Alaska Sweetened Condensed Milk (yellow label)

2 mangoes

2 packages of Graham Crackers

Mix cream and milk until well blended.  Shred the mango into the milk mixture.  Line the bottom of a pan with graham crackers.  Add a layer of the milk/cream/mango mixture.  Repeat layers ending with graham crackers.  Frost with whipped cream or left over milk/cream/mango mixture. Place in freezer until firm.  Serve icy cold.

Also, click here to see THIS POST from April if you'd like more Filipino recipes that Sister Perkins loves to eat on her mission.

Street Contacts and Sunsets

On Tuesday; it was Ramadan so everything was shut down. The government, the schools, even though it is an Islamic Holiday everyone gets it off, which is cool. No one was home though they all went to other places to use their time off and so we just street contacted EVERYONE there was a lot of people just walking around so we talked to them. 

WED: in our far area to have a cheaper ride we can cross the river on a boat it is only ten pesos, or we can walk it is free, by trycie it is 30 pesos. So after all our appointments we decided to cross the river but there was no boat man. So we walked and it was deeper than we thought. So we walked home wet up to our waist. Before it was just to our ankles. hahah 

THurs: We visited our Old ladies. We talked about one about the temple and how our bodies are temples and how we need to be clean and ready to return to the temple when we need to. She loves to share her testimony. She told a story she shared her testimony to an attorney because they were just sitting there in awkward silence in a car ride. I like everyone needs to have the courage of old ladies. They don't care they just speak their mind and no one can do anything about it. hahahah Another one I thought she was a 16 year old. She had on baggy shorts and a tank top and was chilling under a tree looking at her garden that she just planted and then she ran to open her gate for us and sat in her window to listen to us share. SHE IS 77 Years OLD but can do everything. We shared about how faith is like her Garden. She is like God knows plants, that makes me happy. 

Friday: Visited an investigator and she went to CHURCH! and she shared about all the things she learned in first Nephi because now she is on second Nephi!!!!!!!!   I love it. 

Then we visited some members that where sick. One was a little girl that only has a dad no mom. She was watching her Grandma cook and was ignoring her out going siblings. She is a tough kid. We asked if they needed anything from the Ward (we are like home teachers) but everything Changed when her dad walked in. she was about to cry. It was a tender moment because she knew her dad was there now to take care of her. Then we taught an investigator and then found out after that that her mom doesn't want us to teach her. :I 

We talked with the Patriarch of Cagayan providence. (There is one for every Providence I think... ) It was like talking with Dad. We talked about the how in the Salt Lake Temple is live and how cool it is. It was fun and it just made me realize how much spirit just radiates off of really faithful people. 

We had an investigator come to church that always wanted to and she always reads the Book of Mormon, and we picked her up but I think she had a good experience because her kid slept though the whole thing and it was testimony meeting and when I shared my testimony she Cried and she wanted to share her testimony of the Book of Mormon but she had a sleeping kid in her arms. That was good. 

I have a hammock!

Caribou

Pretty sunsets

Mud and Comp Bonding

Wednesday: had an LDS funeral service in the morning. It was good an normal until we had the lunch with the family and we ate horse meat (like beef) and the family of the dead used this brown holy water to wash their heads and right hands. It is so they don't have headaches or get stressed. It is an Old Catholic tradition thingy... 

Was a good day full of lessons and our plans went smoothly, but at the end there was so many bugs like huge meaty flies it looked like a Plague they are harmless but just annoying, they get in your hair, and smack you in the face. It happens here and because there are so many flies there are so many frogs. We got a trycy to go home and it was up a lot of hills because we are in the mountains. The trycy was having a hard time we hear this clunk and the trycy man says BABA SISTERS! We had to jump out so that he could make it up the hill. And we had to run after him while getting pelted in the face with the weird flies. (a member told us they eat the flies they have 4 wings )  

After that we had a dinner appointment, that was like a restaurant, so good. And the members have a daughter that is supper good at the piano and singing. It was fun. Only thing is that after we all had LBM  because the soup, she used the tap water (not filtered) and didn't heat it up hot enough to kill all the things in the tap water. So we didn't sleep. 

Saturday: RAIN. And this time our shoes got stuck in the mud so we walked with no shoes until we got to some houses. They washed our shoes and we washed our feet, they gave us flip flops for the walk home. It made me think that we helped that family exercise their Light of Christ and then I thought about how there was a lady that washed Jesus feet and just thought about how we really are representatives of Christ here because as the family was helping us they used a different language (Tawis) that I don't know but I heard missionaries and Apo (in tawis it means God). Then they drove us to the next set of houses as they left to go to the city to shop.

MUD.  Our area is in the mountains during the rainy season.

 Our shoes got stuck in the mud so some people gave us their flip flops. 

This is comp bonding.

It is really hot.  You can't use beds because you just sweat so we just sleep on the floor sometimes.

Our missionary housemates.

I love being a missionary.

My muddy shoes

After a baptism on Saturday, we played volleyball with the members.  Nothing too hard because we were in skirts.

A Tiny Mouse

Last Monday there was a tiny mouse in the shower and our housemate that is terrified of mice found him. Long story short, our RM neighbor thought someone was killing us and came to our house with a bag full of wooden sticks to beat up the killer. We just sprayed the mouse with water and it ran out of the door. 

Visited an active family, CUTEST FAMILY EVER! They have very little but are VERY ACTIVE like they do everything and they are SUPER HAPPY. They are like best friends and sometimes she will say we don't have rice to her husband and he will laugh and say Bahala na Si batman. It means it is up to batman. Then he will text the RS president or the Bishop and they get rice and they have never asked help from their parents because they both live super far away and don't have the money for distance calls.  

Saturday: we taught a 9 year old, whose 13 year old sister is a member. We don't know how that happened but we are trying to get the parents. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and we used the tile designs on the floor to be the different places and I was the person acting it out. I hopped from one circle to another it was fun and they liked it. 

Some Cool Things

Have fun in Colorado. The cherries went by fast!! we have a lot of investigators but my companion doesn't know them all so we dropped some, and are trying to figure out who really wants to listen, most of the people we start to teach and then they say I am Jehovah witness or I am catholic don't come back. Satan’s church has a strong hold here, it is crazy. There is 6 major churches in our area all in front of the road. Our church is all the way in the back. hahah it makes me laugh they all are just there to be seen of the world but people can't enter the kingdom of Heavenly Father by going there and here a lot of people literally can't find our church because it is so far back haha. 

But we do have some good investigators. They all are young mothers. Christy Mateo, and Cecilla always reads the BoM and we haven't even taught them were it comes from they just read it. Mary grace has a husband that always reads but he works all day but when he gets home and she is cooking he reads it. Then we teach his wife. 

we have a lot of less actives but they all hide from us or say sorry I am now back to Jehovah or I am now back to Catholic. I want to ring their necks and shout you know how much danger you are in right now!!!! Others just say that they are too busy, to listen, to go to church. That’s when I want to say ya but when you are dead you have all the time to sit and hate yourself for not using the time wisely. 

Also we visit some really old but active ladies because visiting teaching is not a thing here. When we are there all I can think is that the Lord really up holds these ladies. Like they are 82 and up, they wake up pray, read, feed animals, take care of yards or gardens, hand wash laundry, eat milk and rice, take naps wake up read the book of Mormon, pray, clean house,  take laundry inside, eat crackers milo rice, pray go to bed. They totally rock at enduring to the end! One is funny she says she cried because rats ate her Sunday shoes then prayed and then felt better. hahah I am like ohhhhhhhh you need someone to visit you!!! Sometimes we do their dishes and pump water for them to help out.  

Some cool things. 

had a family that is active but their daughter in law couldn't get baptized because they aren't married, and they aren't married because they were lazy to get the Husbands Birth certificate..... we committed them to a date to get the certificate and a date for Marriage so that they would do it. GGGGAAAAAAAAAAA! 

Later that night we were walking home and this lady with this little kid, walks up to us and says can you come with me. We asked here where she was going. Home but was afraid to go alone and she had no money for a Trycie. we walked with her and she told us she had left her job because she is a house maid, and her boss didn't come home on time so she left the house to pick up her kid that was waiting at school and to go cook food for her other kids waiting at home. Usually she would wait for her boss because they would hand her her pay and then she could go home. She just talked all about her life and we just walked and let her vent. She recognized she could trust us. She had people teach her before but her family that was Jehovah Witnesses didn't like it. The whole time I was thinking of 3nephi 12:41 it was cool.

Here we have horse carriages and it is so cool. It is to go to those places that are far but not so far that you need a tricy. There is a lot of horse here.

Our District leader is my batch, but he is the only Pilipino elder in our whole batch that I forgot about him. hahah to make it up whenever we send in our KI's I add thanks Batch! hahahah 

In our far area is up this mountain it is supper pretty! On Saturday we were walking and a punk kid just blows past us on his horse it was sweet. I was like dude this is like the lone ranger I expected someone to be chasing him but no one was and he was just getting home from school and it was downhill so he ran his horse. After that we got a ride down the mountain and saw someone was letting off fireworks it was like when we went up to Lindsey's for the fourth to see all the valleys fireworks. It was cool, at least I got fireworks kind of close to the fourth. haha 

One of our investigators has a sick baby so the baby was super tired but too hot to sleep. They don't have electricity. So we took some pamphlets and fanned the baby off until it fell asleep then we taught a lesson. They thought I was the oldest because I was good with taking care of kids but I said nope but I have a lot of nieces and nephews. 

One of our investigators lives in a house where people have placed a statue of Mary and they come every day to worship it. They interrupt our lesson, so we have to stop and run out because they make weird comments. But she told them to house it somewhere else and they are going to move it to another mountain top house so that we can have good lessons with her. 

There is a college here and a lot of boarding houses. So we have started to teach the housemates of some of the members it is really fun. We tell them that Heavenly Father wants them to do well in school and wants to hear about your day, like your parents at home want you to.  I miss college life..... so much fun. 

Visited the most frustrating LA ever. He has like 4 jobs and is never at home. He has two wives because there is no such thing as divorce here.   So we can't baptize his investigator wife. IT IS CRAZY! But we teach his kids and the boy came to church and wants to pass the sacrament now. He is a cool kid. Also he is kind of getting a flame for missionary work because all the talks were about missionary work and he asked us a few questions it was awesome!