Current Address

Sister Jorden Elizabeth Jackson
Philippines Baguio Mission
PO Box 115
National Highway
Brgy. Lingsat
San Fernando, La Union
2500,
PHILIPPINES

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Thankful Thoughts



Kumusta Pamilia Ko!

Thank you for all the lovely letters and packages this week! I feel so blessed and so loved :) I will write you all back when I get on the plane this Monday for THE PHILIPPINES!! But for now, I am busy spending my last few days with my lovely Kasama and soaking up every last moment at the Missionary Training Center.

Thanksgiving was beautiful! I loved spending time with my district family. In the morning, Elder Nelson came to the MTC for a devotional. There was a massive crowd of missionaries waiting to go inside. One Elder said, "This is the closest we will get to Black Friday!" How cool is that!? Instead of going shopping, we get to listen to an apostle of the Lord. I would make that trade any day. Elder Nelson told us about how important it is to work with the ward mission leader and family history consultant in the wards where we are serving.

After the devotional, we had a lovely Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria. After lunch, we did a service project where we packaged 350,000 meals for kids who are in need. It was so fun to work side by side with the missionaries and do so much good.

Thanksgiving dinner was supposed to be a sack dinner... but it ended up being a fantastic feast! We all brought what food we had from our families or friends. Elder Harris's mom sent him a boat load of fresh fruit and veggies, rolls, apple pie, and sparkling cider. We feasted, shot baby carrots at each other, and enjoyed each other’s company. Since we didn't have cups, we cut water bottles in half and used them to make a toast. It was so fun! It most certainly is one of my most memorable Thanksgivings. 
Spending it with my district was my home away from home.

Earlier this week we taught our last lessons with our progressing investigators. One particularly was wonderful! We started with a song again and really taught from our hearts. The spirit was so strong. I loved it! We taught Kenneth about faith, repentance, baptism and the Holy Ghost. At the end of our lesson, he asked if he could just get baptized tomorrow, because he doesn’t want to wait 6 more weeks. I am so grateful that the Lord blessed us with such a great last experience teaching at the MTC. I know it’s all Him- I'm pretty much the same last week as I am this week. But He is making up the difference for me in our lessons and it is so great!

Our teacher gave me two really good pieces of advice: Love the culture wholeheartedly and love the people. Try everything and love it! Love everything about everyone and everything, and you will be so much happier with your mission. (I think this applies to life in general too!) He also told us to teach with power. He said we know the doctrine and enough of the language (#doubletake) that all of our lessons should be taught with power.

On Sunday, I fasted for stamina to learn as much as I could this last week at the MTC and for guidance in my studies so that I could learn what the Lord needs me to learn. I can feel the Lord’s help with all my efforts. Even though I don't know nearly enough of the language and I am not a well-qualified teacher, I am trusting the Lord and jumping into his work! I am so thankful for all the blessings the Lord has given me. I am so thankful for all the love and support I receive from each of you! It really means the world to me.

This week was wonderful and so happy. Here are some of the funnies:

-I go around saying "ready...GO!" in Tagalog all the time, but what I thought was “ready…GO!” is actually "ready....SING!" Oops. When I am about to jump into bed, "ready...SING!" When I am leaving the dinner table, "ready...SING!" When I want our district to start walking, "ready...SING!" 
Good thing I went over some new verbs this week.

-One night at the residence, we were doing impressions from movies or famous people. I said, "Guess who I am....’Talaga?!?’" in my teacher’s voice - he says that all the time. They got it right off the bat, of course :) The next day, my roommate told my teacher, "Last night Sister Jackson said, ‘Guess who I am....TALAGA?!?’pretending to be you!" Thank you Sister Smith... 
out of context I sound like a total creeper. :)

-We are assigned to help set up the gym every Monday and Saturday night for devotionals. We have to spread a giant mat out over the ground and then put up chairs. In order to get the mat out as quickly and neatly as possible, we unfold it as a group, lined up along the edges. We unfold a section together, then go back to the other side and unfold another section. The mat is massive! It takes a ton of people, and as we keep going the folds get bigger and bigger and people move pretty fast. This week while we were walking backwards, unfolding a section, Sister Golightly fell, and was half dragged, scooting along next to me. I was dying laughing (I’m so mean!) and trying to help her up, but I couldn't! So, she was dragged half way across the gym! And, she ended up losing one of her shoes and socks! The guy on the megaphone (that tells us all when to pull) asked everyone to fold the mat back up until we found her sock and shoe underneath. She is such a good sport though, love her!

Missions are awesome! I love it so much at the Missionary Training Center, and I know I will love it even more in the Philippines on Monday

Love you all! Thank you for everything!

 White tie or white T Saturday! 
Our last day at the temple before it closed. 

 Thanksgiving lunch in the MTC cafeteria. It was awesome!

Service project... future lunch ladies? 
I think I found my calling for life after the mish. 

Our Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving toast

 I love my district!

I'm going to miss our roommate circle talks :)

 Our teacher - Brother C.
Our teacher - Brother T.

It was so hard to say goodbye to our awesome teachers. Loved them! 
Both Brother Cohen and Brother Trebas have been awesome. 


Our Mandarin speaking friends. They will head to Taiwan the day after we leave for the Philippines!


Selfies <3
We got a little bored in field orientation yesterday. 
It was literally ALL DAY!!
 But we had fun :) and learned lots :)

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Still Alive Through Week Five

Thank you so much for all the dear elders and letters and packages family and friends! I love to hear from you and feel your support! Mom- How are you so cute?? Your packages are adorable! Seriously, I am the luckiest missionary to have a mom as awesome as you :) Dunaways- Thank you for the envelope of goodies! It seriously made my day. Your school pictures, Halloween costumes and drawings are wonderful! I am sending you letters back soon!

This morning at the Temple I ran into Alecia Judd! I haven't seen her since Belize 2012! It was so cool to see her! The temple closes this Monday, but I'm glad we still get our Sunday afternoon temple walks :)

Sunday afternoon at Relief Society we met our mission president’s daughter! She is delightful. She will be serving her mission at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Her brother is also at the MTC right now. What a cool family! Also, I heard one of the most AMAZING talks ever in Relief Society by a woman on The General Relief Society Board named Sister Rodgers. The MTC talks are never available for the public, but maybe she has spoken at BYU devotionals or other places. Google her! 

Sunday night after devotionals, we get to watch old MTC devotionals or movies. The first week that we were at the MTC, Sister Golightly saw that they play Legacy sometimes, and she was so excited! So, this Sunday when we saw it was playing, our whole district decided to go. It was hilarious! Oh my goodness! So many great one liners. When a couple went in for a kiss, Elder Alonzo yelled, "Elder Harris! Close your eyes!" (#missionprobs) It was great to laugh at all the cheesy one-liners. Also, the actor that played Joseph Smith had CRAZY hair and he had CRAZY EYES! 
I didn't realize they showed comedies at the MTC.

On Wednesday, I checked another item off of my MTC bucket list. I was a host! It was tremendous. It was so great to be a part of missionaries arriving and help them during their first experience at the MTC. We helped them get their tags and find their rooms, pick up their books, find their classrooms and meet their teachers and companions. I loved all the sisters that I was blessed to be able to show around! It was great to feed off of their positive energy and excitement. I was a little bit worried that I would get choked-up seeing people say goodbye to their families (we are supposed to be super happy and bubbly), but I only got emotional once, watching an elder say goodbye to all his little siblings. But, I quickly walked back to my station and helped another sister out of her car.  :) I was a super positive host! I recommend hosting, at least once, to every missionary. You don't have to be invited to host, I'm pretty sure you can host after your second week.

I have learned so much about the gospel and coming closer to Jesus Christ. Right now I am trying to find the right balance between planning a lesson and teaching by the Spirit. It's a struggle! If anyone has any suggestions feel free to share.
I need all the help I can get.

We have had some awesome lessons! Last night one of our investigators agreed to be baptized! Earlier in the afternoon, we were doing TALL (technology assisted language learning) and when we both came to the sentences in our flashcards, "The Holy Ghost testifies of Christ" and "Through the power of the Holy Ghost you can feel Gods love for you" we felt the Holy Ghost so strongly.  After TALL we both started to tell each other that we needed to talk about the Holy Ghost. We started off the lesson by singing “I am a Child of God” in Tagalog (thanks for the idea Grandma J!), and Sister Golightly shared a scripture about feeling the Holy Ghost and bore a super amazing testimony. Then I was next. I was so stressed about teaching by the spirit; I couldn't decide what scripture to share so I just ended up bearing a short testimony. Then I invited him to be baptized. He said yes! I am still learning how to teach the way Christ wants me to, but I know that testifying of the simple truths of the Gospel is the best way to bring the spirit into a lesson.

This Thursday, Sister Golightly and I, and a lot of other people in our zone, got a stomach bug :( The MTC is just crawling with germs. But, we asked for blessings from our district leader and his kasama and it was a super spiritual experience. I know that the priesthood is real. I felt God’s love for me and His desire for my well-being. One part of the blessing promised that I would be healed according to my faith. That night I was kind of hungry, but said to my kasama, "I'm too afraid to eat because I don't want to be sick again!" A few minutes later I realized how dumb that was of me! I decided to have faith in the Lord and his promise and I ate some pretzels (thanks mom!). Of course, the Lord was true to his promise and I have been feeling great ever since.

I can't describe in words how cool it is to be a missionary. I walk around all the time just so happy, for no reason besides it’s a great day and I am a missionary. I am just joyful all the time.

On Friday night, we got our flight plans. (OH MY GOSH! ALREADY??) Earlier this week a sister that was leaving gave Sister Golightly and me some streamers. So, we ate dinner fast and ran up to the residence decorate the room! We were surprising our roommates (and all the sisters in our zone, as it turns out :)) with a p-day eve/flight plan day/part-ay part-ay. *Insert Filipino accent* We have so much fun together! Everyone brought over some goodies and we spread a sheet on the floor and wore party hats (courtesy of the sisters leaving) and talked and laughed till lights out. I think my roommates and I are the craziest out of the bunch though :)
I am so blessed to be with such a happy group of people.

Language Mistakes: (I'm glad I am having less of these, even though they are entertaining)

-While practicing the baptism invitation, instead of saying "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized..." I said, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and atone for sins.... HINDI! HINDI!" (“No! No!”) Practice is very important.

Door Segments:

This section is dedicated to my awkward door exchanges. I don't know why I have so many issues with doors. Enjoy! :)

-Because my arms were full, I pushed the door to a building opened with my butt to hold it open for Sister Golightly. She looked at me super confused and walked through the door. Then I turned to walk out and ran into an elder who was holding my door opened. I guess he opened it at the same time as me and was standing right beside me but I didn't see him till I ran into him. Physical contact! 
Poor elder, he was so uncomfortable!

-Same door as the day before, I was super happy because an elder just swiped his card so all the doors to get into that building were unlocked. I said, "Oh yes! They're still unlocked!" I completely overlooked the elder who was holding opened the door for us and ran to the other door next to it, opened it and held it opened for my kasama. She was in a really awkward situation choosing which door to go through. kasama loyalty triumphed. But, that’s when I realized that the elder was holding the door for us and his companion was standing outside so we could go through looking bewildered. 
We apologized and had a good laugh :)

-Finally, at the end of a super long day, I stood at the key card swiper and swiped my card over and over again. The green light would not turn on! My kasama said, "Uhhh... Sister Jackson??" I looked up. The door was opened already. Oh man! Good times!


I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers!

Ready to greet the new arrival missionaries!


Sunday night temple walk


P-day eve/Flight plan day Par-tay Par-tay

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

What Every Sister Should Know About the Missionary Training Center





First day

When you arrive, you will be greeted by a host who will help you with your bags and go with you to collect your name tag, MTC ID card (which lets you into the cafeteria), your study materials and books. Then you’ll drop off your bags in your room and take your study stuff to your classroom where you will meet your teacher, district and companion. Then you head to a big “Welcome to the MTC Meeting” with all of the new missionaries and the MTC presidency and the MTC Relief Society Presidency. It is great! Next, dinner. After dinner, you’ll have some time to unpack and then you’ll go to a teaching experience (in English) where in a group of 30ish missionaries you move from room to room teaching one investigator by just raising your hand if you have something to say. The first day is awesome! 
I literally COULD NOT STOP SMILING! It’s amazing.

What to bring to the MTC

·         Mints – not gum
·         Post it notes
·         White board markers
·         Lotion
·         Thank you cards
·         Watch
·         Basketball shorts for gym time
·         Headphones for gym time in 2M
·         Pictures of home, family, friends and good memories
·         Pens – in lots of colors. (They will brighten your day!)
·         Language notebook, personal scripture study notebook and journal
·         Laundry soap, dryer sheets and “delicates” bag (the washers here are super heavy duty!)
·         Pillow – I’m glad I brought my own pillow. They have pillows, sheets and blankets here, but I sleep so much better with my own pillow!
·         HEALTHY NON-PERISHABLE SNACKS.  Think trail mix, dried fruit, protein/granola bars, microwave popcorn (there are microwaves everywhere!)
·         A bag for bathroom stuff and a bag for shower stuff. My shower stuff bag is a mesh “delicates” laundry bag that has a loop on it that I can hang my stuff in the shower. It dries really fast, so it works well!
·         If you have musical talents, bring sheet music (church approved, of course)! People are always needed for special musical numbers. They have violins, cellos, flutes and pianos here for our use – so leave your instruments at home. :)

What to buy at the bookstore (you can go any day, not just p-day)

·         Stamps
·         MTC water bottle
·         Lanyard pull out thing to hold your ID card
·         Ring to attach your key to your lanyard
·         Flashcards on a ring that fit on your lanyard

A typical MTC P-day (at least for me) includes
·         6:30 wake up – NO SLEEPING IN
·         Laundry – go either EARLY morning or afternoon to avoid crowds
·         Email time – 1 hour. Use the computers in the laundry room because they send pictures. Bonus – you can get your laundry AND email done at the same time
·         Nap!
·         Temple visit (Eat in the cafeteria. I hear it’s amazing! I’ll try it this week)
·         Study time
·         P-day ends at 5 for dinner and you’ll have class at night

*If you want to wear P-day clothes all day…you can! You can’t wear them in the cafeteria, but you can get a sack breakfast and lunch which are great!


During the first week at the MTC, you have a lot of personal study time. And companion study time. And personal language study time. It’s tempting to walk over to the computer lab and check your email or to talk with your awesome district instead of working. Decide now to be a hardworking, exactly obedient missionary and it will make life at the MTC enjoyable and satisfying.  


The MTC is the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH! Do everything you can to come with a humble, teachable heart, positive attitude and a determination to be obedient. You will quickly love the MTC!

My kasama (companion) Sister Golightly


The classic MTC photo

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Happy (late) Veteran's Day!





We like to celebrate holidays. It jazzes up the MTC monotony a bit :)


Another week has flown by! During my first devotional at the MTC, I looked at those missionaries with their white usher badges helping people find their seats and I decided it was my dream to usher while at the MTC.

This week my dream was a reality. I ushered for the L. Tom Perry devotional this week, which also meant I got 3rd row seats and he TOTALLY made eye contact with me. He told us a super cool story about the missionaries evacuating the Philippines that I don't think has even hit church news yet, so I'll give y'all a summary:
There were 24 missionaries that still needed to evacuate, and they all gathered at a church building. They needed some way to get from the church to the airport. Somehow the stake president got a hold of a ***jeepney.*** All 24 missionaries crowded on and they made it to the airport. They all had plane tickets, but couldn't get on the plane because people were giving huge sums of money for seats on the planes at the airport. A US solider dropping off cargo from his cargo plane saw the missionaries and came over to ask what they were doing. They explained their predicament and he said they could sneak on his plane. Every single missionary in the area affected by the storm was safe. 

I know that this is the Lord’s work. I feel so blessed and humbled to be called to serve these wonderful people. I know that the Lord will guide and protect His missionaries. I hope I can learn how to truly become His missionary. 

Yesterday our teacher challenged us to bear our testimony to 5 different sets of elders or sisters around campus. In the bookstore, we asked if we could bear our testimonies in Tagalog to some sisters there and one said she was from the Philippines! After we finished, she told us (in Tagalog so I might have missed some stuff) that we were great at speaking the language, and had strong testimonies. She said we would bring such a strong spirit to the Philippines, and she was so excited for us to serve there. She said she knew we would do many good things. Just talking to her, and feeling her kindness and encouragement made me so happy to serve in the Philippines. She was such a kind sister! I'm so grateful we were blessed talk to her, and that I was able to get a glimpse of the Filipino people. I can't wait!
  
This week’s laughs: 

-Today a sister stopped my Kasama and me in the laundry room and told us, "It’s so different to see you two normally and like... this!" Yeah, it looks like I just rolled out of bed and came to the laundry room to wash my clothes because that’s exactly what I did. My Kasama and I were a little taken a back. But, hey, we both have a good sense of humor so we just laughed about it. 

-Last night while studying, I looked at a list of scriptures in Preach My Gospel (textbook missionaries use to teach lessons from) and said to my Kasama, "Oh we already read those, right? They were no good." She said, "Yeah, they were dumb." Then we both realized what we just said! We are the worst missionaries ever! The scriptures listed were fantastic; they just didn't apply to what we were teaching. :)

-This week’s item of men’s clothing that I found in my laundry was a sock (much better than last week). Why does this keep happening to me??

-I am missing like half the socks that I came here with. I have no idea how, because I am so careful to put them in my dirty clothes bag, and get everything out of my washers and dryers. It’s a mystery. We joke that the cafeteria workers come down to the laundry room and get socks out of the washers and dryers, chop them up and put them in the food. That solves the missing sock mystery and explains why the food is so strange sometimes. :)
  
Love y'all so much! I am so blessed to have all of your support. Write me a letter or Dear Elder and let me know how life is for ya. I'd love to hear from you!

Mahal Kita!
Sister J


Filipino sister we met in the bookstore 

***Definition of a jeepney  (added by Sis. Jackson’s mom)
Jeepneys are the most popular means of public transportation in the Philippines. They are known for their crowded seating and flamboyant decorations.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Love, Laughter and Learning

This week has been amazing! For the last two weeks I think I was drowning in a sea of Tagalog, but this week I started treading water! I can feel the Lord’s help all the time. I am so grateful for the growth we have had this week!

We are teaching new investigators. (By the way, these are teachers pretending to be people they interacted with when they served their missions in the Philippines. The life stories are true; our interactions with them are not staged.) One is named Lester and the other is Kenneth. Lester is great; he is just not interested in what we have to say AT ALL! His wife is working in China and she met the missionaries and loved them. She is the one who gave us the referral. But our other investigator, Kenneth, is amazing! We have had great progress this week, even though we only taught two lessons.

When Kenneth was in college he was in a motorcycle accident and is now paralyzed. Shortly after (or right before...language barrier) his dad passed away. He just found out that surgery will never make him walk again. He told us that he doesn't believe that God loves him, because of all the terrible things that have happened to him. And the one time he prayed was to ask God to save his dad, and God didn't answer his prayer. My heart just goes out to him! I know that the gospel will help him so much! We were a little over whelmed by all this in our first lesson, but our second lesson went so well! It was amazing! In our first lesson we challenged him to pray. We followed up on this challenge in our second lesson. He told us he prayed and didn't feel anything. I asked him why he thought he didn't feel anything. He said he doesn't think God will answer him, but he wishes he could have faith. I asked him to read Alma 32:21-22. I told him that his desire for faith will grow into faith with the help of the Lord. I promised that if he prayed again and had faith that he could receive an answer to know if God loved him, that he would get that answer. Then, the pamphlet I had been searching for earlier LITERALLY fell out of Sister Golightly's scriptures into her hands. It was amazing - such an inspired lesson.

The teacher that acts out Kenneth is also the teacher that acted out Roy, our very first investigator. So, he has pretty much seen all of our mistakes. He told us he was super proud of how far we have come, and that Kenneth can feel our love for him. And that is what is helping us teach by the spirit. No wonder why Christ said, "By this shall man know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed us with love for Kenneth, and continues to bless us with guidance in our lessons, and with the spirit.

This week my favorite personal study time was reading about Humility in True to the Faith and reading all the scriptures referenced. It would be an awesome Family Home Evening discussion topic, if you get a chance. It was great to dissect this virtue.

The funnies this week are pretty long:

Our teacher told us that the MTC is making us "loco" because our whole district laughs at the dumbest things now :)

-Nagsisipagsisinungasinungalinyah is the longest word in Tagalog. It means "to tell fake lies," which doesn't make much sense to me. How would one “tell a true lie"?

-Last Saturday Sister Golightly and I were standing outside the gym waiting for it to open. I saw a cute little bird, chirping and flying across the sky, toward the gym. It kept going, flying really fast, then, SPLAT into the brick wall! It fell to the ground and Sister Golightly and I ran over. She said a tender prayer for it, and we watched it take its last shallow breaths, feet twitching as it died. 
A few days later we found out 
the word for wall in Tagalog is "dingding." 

-My roommates and companion are so cool! 
We have picnics on the floor at night and chat. 
It’s the little things in life that count here at the MTC.

-Last preparation-day doing laundry guess what I found in my dryer. Men’s underwear. Yuck! Super unexpected.

-Our first lesson with Lester, he asked us if we could speak Tagalog. We said a little bit. Then literally right after that we asked him to read a section of a pamphlet we brought. He started reading, and then looked up very confused and said, "This is Sebwanu, not Tagalog." I have no idea how we got a Sebwanu pamplet, but how ironic was that?!

-While teaching her lesson to an investigator, my roommate introduced "The First Vision" as "The First Ugly Poop." 
Language mistakes are the best!

Mahal po ako ninyo! Magbabasbas ang Diyos!

T-shirt Thursday with my roommates. 
(T-shirt Tuesday would have sounded better, but I thought of the idea on Tuesday night, 
and we all really liked it so, we couldn't wait!)


The first snow fall! We were so cold. 


We took a picture with a previous missionary who starred in "The District" (reality show on BYU-TV).
#mtccelebstatus


My kasama and I with our Sister Training Leaders. They left the MTC on Monday. They were fantastic!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Happy (and hard) Days in the MTC

This week was amazing! And exhausting. Hard in a super great way. I learned so much and I am excited to share! While my companion and I were preparing our fourth lesson for our investigator I felt such a huge impression that I needed to learn how to ask him to be baptized in Tagalog. Crazy, right?!  It was only our fourth lesson! But I followed the prompting and when I asked him to be baptized he said yes!! It was amazing. The spirit is so strong. They tell us as missionaries that we need to teach by the spirit, but we definitely are taught by the spirit as well. Every day.

So when I asked our investigator to be baptized, he told us he was already baptized. I quickly looked for a scripture that told about baptism by immersion. Turns out the one that I had him read was about baptism for the dead! After he read it he asked us (in Tagalog), "Am I going to die if I get baptized?" or something like that. I don't really speak the language, but that's what my companion and I are pretty sure he said! We quickly tried to clear that misunderstanding up in our broken Tagalog. Oh man! At least we understood what he was saying this time :) Baby steps!
The next morning in class our teacher told us that we were done teaching Roy. :( So sad. But then.... PLOT TWIST!! ROY IS OUR NEW AFTERNOON TEACHER!! It was SO weird to walk in after lunch and see Roy. In church clothes. Teaching us Tagalog now. During a break my kasama and I asked him for some personalized feedback. He said we gave him some of the most memorable lessons, not just because every single one was hilarious, but because he also felt the spirit really strongly during our lessons. :)

Oh, also.... Happy Halloween!! My Kasama and I have way too much fun together. We are always laughing at our mistakes, and having a great time. We decided to dress up like twins for Halloween! (pictured below) Chambray shirts, glasses, orange white and black chevron shirts... Awe, totes presh! But we do work really hard too! We balance fun and work well. We have a clip full of flash cards that we carry around all day and quiz each other any spare moment we get. I love Sister Golightly! It's hard to imaginge going to the Philippines and getting separated from each other by what she calls, "The Reaping" (hunger games:).
 
My favorite scripture study sequence from this week:
Matt 7:7-11
Nephi 1:5
Prayer in the Bible Dictionary, paragraph 4
 
Check it out if you get a chance. I know that prayer in behalf of Gods children is so much more powerful than praying for yourself. Praying for help is not the easy way out-- it is a form of work. Once we pray for rightous desires, God will bless us with things that he already wants to give us. I am trying to pray for my language ability. Not for my own benefit, but so I can benefit God's children and share His message with them. I know that I cannot learn Tagalog on my own. I pray that He will bless me with the knowledge that I need in order to teach what he needs me to teach the people in the Philippines.
 
Here are this weeks funny highlights:
 
-While practicing "getting to know you" in Tagalog with some Elders, I was playing the role of investigator. They asked me if I was married. I said no. They asked, "Why not?" I wanted to say, "Because I am a child!" Instead I said, "Because I am a book!" My Kasama had no idea what I was trying to say and she looked at me for a couple secconds and asked, "Why did you say you are a book?" Haha good times!
 
-My teacher told my kasama and I not to worry about our mistakes that we made with him. In the field he told an investigator, "Jesus kills for you." Oh man, that's pretty bad!

-Our district leader was giving us a little devotional one night. He told us (and this was in English) "You are all tools, whether you like it or not!" People still make mistakes, even in English. I love that our district is close enough that we can all laugh together at that.

-We found a tree that smells like pink starburst. For real.
 
Mahal Kito! Mahal po tayo ng Diyos!

 
Happy Halloween!
 
Our district
 
My roommates. Love these ladies!
 
The starburst tree