One Liners of One Crazy Week (with explanations of course)

·         “Don’t come back! We won’t accommodate you again!” – One investigator yelled after us as we were leaving her house. DANG MAN! Don’t yell so loud! We are trying to teach your neighbors!

·         “Follow Jesus! Not Joseph Smith! Amen! Only Jesus!” – One preacher man came and preached to us. He kept chastising us telling us to quit teaching the Gospel of Joseph Smith. I happened to be using a “Gospel of Jesus Christ” pamphlet as a fan right then, so I showed him the title…yeah, he still didn’t believe me. Oh well. Whatcha gonna do?

[We don’t preach a “Gospel of Joseph Smith”]

·         “Maybe this is still happening right now.” – Norma after reading Amos 8:11-12. Because yeah, people are still looking for truth today. Norma is so bright. She could teach herself the lessons!

·         “Yes! It’s the same feeling I felt when I saw you, Sister Jackson, at the fruit and veggie market.” – Jocelyn. She said the closing prayer after a lesson and asked which church is true and the spirit was so strong! So afterwards I asked her “Did you feel that!?” Yes. “Have you ever felt that before?”…hence her answer!

·         “I don’t usually let all those other missionaries in. But you look different.” – Josie, our new investigator.

·         Me: “Did you pray to know if Joseph Smith is a true Prophet?”

Angie: “Yes.”

Me: “What did God say?”

Angie: “Yes.”

Me: “OK! So… the lesson!”

(It’s terrible, but I’m not used to it being that easy. So simple! Love Angie!)

Thank you so much for all the letters mom! Three now from April! You’re writing me so much! I love them. I read them all the time. I’ll write you back later today. :)

Thank you for the package Sister Krimme! You are so thoughtful! The chapstick is super handy and it was so great to hear from you! I’m excited to try out the eyeshadow tomorrow!

 

 

Biking in Burgham Park!

 

 

One of the bikes is made of children's lawn chairs. We all have to come back here! They have the weirdest, most awesome bikes!!

[My family has a tradition of biking in cities that we visit.]

 

We made guac! It was so so so good. AH!

Things that make me smile! (Or at least spice up my day!)

Not gonna lie, this week was pretty awful. So, I’m just going to focus on the good, funny, or semi-interesting things that happened this week.

·         We had pizza night one night! Our house mates have a delicious pizza place in their area but it’s pretty expensive. All of us were feeling rather down, so they decided to buy pizza on their way home! We all pitched in…It was worth every peso!

       The detox night was priceless.

 

·         I found tons of nasty stuff on the stairs this week. Dead snakes, some headless dead chickens, dead mice (thank heavens some were dead), live rats, and lots of other random body parts from animals. The best…3 live kittens! They were hiding in the stairs.

       So adorable!

·         There was a cute little old lady hobbling along the road carrying her groceries and a walking stick with a machete tied to the end of it, and a huge bunch of bananas in her other hand. I walked over and tried to say, “Can I help you carry your bananas?” but I didn’t remember the word for “carry” so it came out, “Can I help you…bananas?” then I just kinda took ‘em from her and walked with her. Well, good thing I have a Filipino companion cause the banana lady thought I was stealing her bananas! I tried to explain! Ha ha it didn’t really work. She just kept saying, “They are for you! You keep them!” Oh man! We went with her all the way to her house where she sat us down, fed us bananas and gave us two bunches to take home! We are going back later tonight to teach her. :)

·         Super-missionary moment: I was walking along the road and there was a 3-year old (ish…maybe younger) boy holding a blue fuzzy little stuffed animal back pack, wearing jeans and a polo and Sunday shoes, standing on the side of the road SOBBING! All alone. Not a person in sight. I knocked on the closest house and asked them if they knew who his mom is – they didn’t. I tried talking to the little boy, but he was too worked up. There was only fruit salad in his backpack…nothing to identify him. I gave him my snacks to try to cheer him up and wiped the tears off his cheeks. I wish I could have given him a hug! (Not allowed as a missionary.) Well we stayed with him and I asked people walking by if they knew him…nobody did! Everyone was getting curious about who the kid belonged to, so they hung out to see. Soon we had quite the lil’ crowd trying to help this lil’ boy. Finally, a grandma with a baby strapped to her back said she knew where he lived and would take him home. Yes! Success!

·         Dad – I’m trying to celebrate the little victories!

        It’s working (I think) so thanks for that advice!

·         Mom – I got 2 letters from you on Tuesday! It takes longer for me to get letters now that I am here in Baguio but it was worth the wait! Thank you so much!

Love you all and miss you! Thank you for your prayers – I can really feel them!

 

Check out this sign! Oh my gosh! If this sign doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will! I laughed out loud when I first passed it in my area. :)

 

 

This is Sister Sawada. We have been in the same district since I got here! She has only been here one transfer longer than me. We are becoming close friends. She is from Hawaii and is super nice!

 

 

 

Happy P(agod)-Day!

[Pagod = tired]

Oh my hulay! RAIN STORM! On Tuesday we had a HUGE rainstorm! Because our area has a lot of alley ways with stairs and houses lining the sides, tons of water was flooding off of the roofs onto the stairs. We were hiking up stairs as 6+ inches of water streamed down. Also, there was a landslide in our area. It quickly turned into mud-sewage water because the open sewage canals filled up and overflowed. I smelled so nasty! But, that night’s shower and dry clothes felt so good! Just another adventure in Baguio. :)

On Saturday I got to go back to my first area for a baptism of three kids I used to teach: Jordan, Michael and Nicole! Oh my goodness – I was just beaming! I felt like a proud mama! Victor baptized them and then they shared such sweet, heartfelt testimonies! I was thinking back to when it was hard for them to pray, and look how far they have come now! I’ve missed them so much!

It was so great to see Sister Dizon! I know, it had only been 3 weeks, but three weeks in missionary life is an eternity! I told her last preparation day I would come, but then she thought I wasn’t going to come, so she was surprised to see me! I beat her to the church. It was one of those awesome running hugs that are in movies and I swore I wouldn’t do, but I just couldn’t help it! Also, she tried to talk me into giving her talk…ha ha just like old times! But then she stood up and said, “Well, Sister Jackson was supposed to give this talk but didn’t prepare anything…so I guess I will give it.” Great! Way to throw me under the bus! And lie to the congregation. ;) Love her so much. Also, her laugh is still just as contagious as ever. She picked this super obscure primary song for all the missionaries to sing. She was the only one who knew it, so we put her in the middle and tried to follow. Well, she missed a whole phrase, so we all missed it, then just started singing again. But then Sister Dizon started laughing, so then we all were just standing, trying to sing at a baptism, dying laughing. Diane is so nice. She had to speak right after our failed performance and said, “I’m glad our missionaries are so happy!”

I asked Sister Dizon if people missed me when I was gone. She said everyone was asking where I went, and was sad that I was gone. Awe! Tender! It feels good to be loved. This Sunday, if Brother Calika comes to church, he is officially a returning member! Also, others who have started coming back to church and those who are learning about the gospel are still progressing! I love them all and miss them so much!

Congrats to the Sevilla Ward missionaries who are soon to be full time missionaries! Ate Jov…Australia! Ate Kat…Cebu! Victor…Cagayan de Oro! I am so happy for them and I know they will be amazing!

Seeing, and hearing about, these friends has given me motivation to build just as great or even better relationships with the people in my current area and ward. Missionaries are so lucky – we get to be friends with all sorts of people that we otherwise probably wouldn’t have even met if we didn’t serve. I love and miss all of my Sevilla peeps, but I’m happy to be back in Baguio! And I’m ready to go! :)