Mom is always right.‏

Written 5/4/14

Maayong aga family!

Let's just say that Mom was always right about everything and anything. I can fully admit that now. Allow me to explain:

When I was in high school and was having a stressful night, Mom would always say, "It always looks better in the morning. Go to bed, and things will work out tomorrow." I would refuse to believe her and I would spend more time than necessary worrying about the next day, sometimes wasting tears or exerting excess amounts of stress.

 Then I would go to school the next day. And whatever the problem was... Well, it would just work out. Just like mom said. Plus our teacher would bring us donuts or something lucky like that. 

I've come to see that transfers here are the same way. I worry and wail and don't want to leave my old area, lacking the faith that any other area could possibly be as good as the one I was leaving. Then I grudgingly give in, we transfer, and things just... well... Work out. And I discover that the new area is better than I thought it would be. (That's the "teacher bringing donuts" part of the analogy.)

Moral of the story: Always listen to Mom. 

2nd point of the story: I LOVE my new area. It's almost as north as you can go on the Island of Negros, in the Cadiz zone. My area is called Manapla, and if I thought Silay was a small town... Well... Silay has got nothin' on Manapla :) We're right by the sea, (you're allowed to be jealous) and I get to walk by the ocean every day. Yes.. It's completely gorgeous.

My new companion is my "Batch mate" meaning we arrived in the Philippines on the same day. LOVE her. Her name is Sister Oquias and she's my favorite little Filipina. She's super good at teaching and I love learning from her every day. Last monday we went to transfers at the Mission office, and then got lunch and went straight to the mission home for Mission president's training that night. (I was nearing the end of my selection of clothes because i had so much laundry to do and didn't do it on Monday because of transfers... So that was fun, getting to go to the mission home looking like a little ragamuffin. Hi, President!) That night was SO good with the training, and then I actually stayed at my first apartment in Bacolod that night. That was so weird to be back in my first area.Man, there's just so much that has happened the last week! Bear with me here. (That's such a Mormon expression.)

A little more about my new area. Sister and I go jogging every morning together, and I've never been so hot in my whole life. But it's okay. All the roads here slant UP, and so we're walking uphill a lot of the day. We used to ride tricycles a ton in Silay, but here we do a lot more walking, which I like a lot more. It's a good thing, too, because we have 5 dinner appointments a week. 5! We always eat with Bishop on Fridays, and then Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday we're at the R.'s house. They feed us a ton of dried fish here, which believe it or not, is delicious. Yes, Sister Luke has learned to like fish. Dried fish. You just have to not look at it too closely when you eat it or you'll get grossed out.

I've already fallen in love with the R. family... The mom is LDS and the dad is (currently) not, (but we're hoping to sneak in there and baptize him. Bam.) and they have a daughter serving in the mission right now. Which explains why they always feed us. :) Then they also have their son and his wife, Ro., who is the one we interact with the most. Ro.'s baby sister, A.M. is our baptism this Saturday :) She's 13 and the cutest thing you ever did see. Ro. and her husband were just sealed recently in the temple, and they have the CUTEST little boy in the whole wide world. I've never see the show Frozen, but I know the song "Let it Go" probably better than all of you back home because it's like the ONLY song people listen to here. Anyhow, this little boy is 4 and can sing the whole thing complete with actions and facial expressions and costume changes. (Mostly meaning he wears layers of blankets and casts them off one at a time. The most entertaining thing ever.) Anyway, they are already like our 2nd family.

The youth here in Manapla are super strong, and we have a lot of recent convert Young Men who are like mini T.s. They are the coolest, and it's so fun to help them get excited about serving missions. 

The area rocks, and Sister and I had such a good week. We're really going to fulfill The Vision of weekly baptisms here in Manapla, starting this Saturday with A.M. 

The funny experience of the week: The R. family just got a new tricycle this past week and wanted the missionaries to come... I don't know what you call it... Dedicate it? That sounds so sacrilegious. Just like, say a special family prayer that it will be safe etc. Of course they ask the blonde white American girl to say the prayer. No pressure. So last night I prayed over a tricycle. That's probably the most filipino/Mormon thing I can think of :) Ahaha.

Just lovin' it here in Manapla. I want to close with my testimony: In 2 Nephi 9 (one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon) verse 41 we learn that "the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel, and he employeth no servant there". I just want to add my witness that Christ is indeed the keeper of the gate. He knows us perfectly and He is always, always there. He is pleading with us to repent, and to stand worthy at the gate so that He may grant us His grace. We must answer to no one but Christ, He is our light, our joy and our strength. This is His work, and I have come to know Him so much more because I am doing His work, and striving to walk in His footsteps. I testify that when we are pure before Him, it is the that our confidence will wax strong. 

The most filipino love coming to all of you-
Sister Luke

1. I ate this crab. It was the most delicious thing ever.

2. My new paradise. Gorgeous right? Bekah- imagine the sunset. (I bet you don't have to dig too deep for that. Lucky duck.)

3. My cutie Sister Oquias. (oh-key-us) She rocks.

4. A.M. (who will be baptized on Saturday) and the YW president here. Isn't she the CUTEST??

 

5. Buko! (Coconut.) I've been wrong my whole life. Coconuts are GREEN when they are on the tree. The brown ones are just really old coconuts. Children are mislead in Utah about the true nature of coconuts.

 

6. The R.'s little singing boy. Funniest little guy ever.