My Own Princess Pammy

Written 11/9/14

**Disclaimer/Just an explanation from Megan: Princess Pammy is the title of a series of made-up stories that Grandma tells to the grandchildren in our family. This would be the reason for the subject of this email.

Once upon a time there was an 80 year old man who bought Sister Luke and Sister Santos ice cream when they tried to talk to him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then he told them all about his multiple girlfriends in many lands, and Sister Luke shared with him the Law of Chastity.

Once upon a time Sister Santos and Sister Luke were walking in the mountains when they heard what sounded like a really sad kitten. Little did they know it was actually the call of a bright yellow frog, being eaten by a green snake.

Once upon a time, Sister Luke's batchmate and BEST friend in the Bacolod mission, Sister Char, became her new STL. Sister Luke felt like Alma when his strength was exhausted because of his happiness. Then Sister Luke got to listen to Sister Char give a wonderful training on Friday.

Once upon a time Sister Luke found out that her recent convert, T., became the young men's president in Bacolod 2nd ward. Her joy was again, so much that her strength was exhausted.

Once upon a time, Sister Luke started her 11th transfer in the mission field.....

So that was some of my week. My past companions THINK they can die here in the mission. Sister De Castro is now officially an RM, and Sister Fitz and Sister Foote are next to die. Also, my past companions all THINK they can become companions! Sister Fitz and Sister Oquias are together and I'm SO happy. Plus with Sister Char here.... Life doesn't get too much better.

The area is finally seeing success. It feels so good to see the hand of the Lord blessing this area. J.P., the brother of a recent convert was baptized on Saturday, and this week C. surprised us by setting her own baptismal date on the 15th! Her husband is home now (he was working up north up till now) and he accepted a baptismal date for December 6th. We’re so excited for this little family. Brother M. is so receptive and willing to learn and supportive of C.

This week Sister R. showed up to church in a new skirt and bringing her four kids with her. She asked for a priesthood blessing for her oldest boy who had a raging fever, and it was amazing to see her faith. She’s already in Mosiah in her reading. M. is on track to be baptized on the 22nd with R.

Brother L., a husband of our RC, Sister B., actually took a book of Mormon this week! He always sits and listens skeptically to our lessons while he sews and we teach Sister B., but this past while he’s started asking questions and this week he asked, “Who’s Alma and why isn’t he in the Bible?” and other questions like that. We gave a brief explanation and Sister Santos bravely offered him a copy for himself. He took it, and said he’d read it in his spare time. I know the Spirit is not limited… It can work on anyone.

We had 10 investigators at church on Sunday and our mom investigators are all bringing their kids to church... Hopefully soon the husbands will folllow. That's our current project. Project Husband. Okay, that sounds bad for a missionary to say.... You know what I mean. I promise I'm focused on my purpose...

Speaking of, I studied about my purpose and the doctrine of Christ this week, and it blew my mind all over again. The way is really so straight. But in that, we really see the love of our Lord. If it was zig-zag and looping, the path would be much harder and more exhausting to follow. Because the Lord loves us, He made the way straight. I want to close with one of my favorite scriptures from 2 Nephi,

"O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the  keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he  employeth no servant there; and there is none other way    save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.

I thank the Lord that the keeper of the gate is Christ. I know that if we live this gospel to the fullest, we will have what we need to be able to pass through that gate, and to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, to gain eternal life, and to sit down in His kingdom, to be crowned and glorified. Then we call all run up and down the stairs with Aunt Laura. I know she's just waiting for us :)

Hope your Once upon a time is as great as mine is right now.
 Love you all. Be good.

Love,
Sister Luke

1. Reunited. Sister Char.

2.  Wicked sunset
 

3. Cute J.P. or "Polpol"
 

4.  A piece of sugar cane. A question mark. A piece of art.
 

5. The feet of the missionaries...
 

6. Our addiction is getting out of control.
 

7. Sweet.
 

8. My new best friend the nun.
 

9. I'm a one cow woman. :)
 

10. "First you take a plastic bag, then you put it on your head..."
 

11. Our new pet. For Aubree.

Suman Overload

Written 11/2/14

No transfers for Sister Santos and I! Still here in the sticks of the sticks. And loving it :)

Also.

No one sent me pictures of my nieces and nephews in their Halloween costumes. I'm trying not to be miffed.

I know Dad and Krista's birthdays passed, but I need to add my bit on "Things I love about Dad" and "Things I love about Krista" since I wasn't there around the dinner table when this was discussed.

Dad: My favorite thing about dad is that he be's my bud, even when I'm 7,000 + miles away, he still emails me and says sweet things about Mom. Also that Dad has always magnified his calling in the church and as a father. Being here on the mission has taught me to appreciate that.

Krista: My favorite things about Krista is that she is a good supporter. She looks for ways to serve always, and is not wrapped up in herself. She's a good example of missionary work, and is good at laughing at herself and her mistakes, which I admire a lot.

I love you both! Did you eat German chocolate cake for me?

This week we celebrated "Kalag Kalag" the Filipino version of Halloween. Except it's on November 1. We go in the graveyards and proselyte and talk to the people there, which always makes for some good times. And some pretty awkward conversations, as you can imagine. I mean, we basically walk up to people sitting at the graves of their loved ones and say... "So... Who died?" I'm so tactful. I would not suggest this as a conversation starter.

We met a sister outside the other day that asked Sister Santos, "Pwede ko siya hicapan?" Or, "Can I touch her?" talking about me. I stuck out my hand to shake hands with her, but she wasn't satisfied, so she pinched my arm and my nose and got really excited and then walked away.

Another adventure was when Sister Santos and I were wading through the small stream on the way back from one of our areas and washing the mud off our feet. We were nearly finished when we heard a strange sound, and turned to look upstream to see a Carabao (Is that a water buffalo in america? I don't know) peeing, like, gallons of pee into the very water we've been cleaning our feet in. Sister and I ran away barely containing our giggles for fear of offending the owner of the Carabao. Ahaha.

Also, because of Kalag Kalag we were fed 5 TIMES... This sticky rice called Suman that every single family in the Pines makes on November 1, with coconut and coconut milk... It's delicious, but you get sick of it fast. And it's the heaviest food ever invented and by the end of Saturday I just wanted to throw up the 5 (filipino sized) (meaning HUGE) servings of suman with all the pancit and noodles and sprite that everyone else had forced us to eat.

Sorry, this isn't a very spiritual email. Let me see if I can do better.

On Sunday our baptismal candidate, J.P., passed his baptismal interview for his baptism on the 8th of November . He’s the younger brother of one of our recent converts and has been coming to church for a couple months now. We’re excited to see him baptized! On Sunday, Sister R. leaned over to me in gospel principles class as someone mentioned baptism and said to me, “I’m going to be baptized here. So...When?” M., our investigator around 50 years old is still working with us and the Lord on losing her coffee addiction, but she loves church and her faith is really growing. We had 7 investigators again at church and I really testify that even though things don't always work out during the weeks like we plan, the Lord steps in and makes up the difference.

This weekend with graveyard proselyting, we started out a little rough with some people that weren't interested at all in talking with us, but after a while they seemed to warm up. We ran into a mom named J., around 40 years old with 6 kids. She had met the missionaries a couple months ago when they talked to her outside her house, but must have never returned. She was really excited about the pamphlet we gave her and let us sing for her before we left and told us to come and teach her family. I love meeting receptive OYM’s. It’s really encouraging after other people run away and hide from us.

Don't have much more to say, except I know that my Redeemer lives, that He directs this work, and that this is His restored, true gospel here on the earth. One of my favorite lyrics I came across a few months ago about the Savior say this:

No creature is so lowly,
No sinner so depraved,
But feels thy presence holy
And thru thy love is saved.
Tho craven friends betray thee,
They feel thy love's embrace;
The very foes who slay thee
Have access to thy grace.

If Christ loved even those who mocked and spit upon Him, how much more is he able to love us, even in our sinful humanness, when we are willing to come to Him through repentance,acknowledge our weaknesses before Him, and work hand in hand with Him to overcome them. I know His grace is accessible to all, and because of His infinite Atonement and love, we can return to be with Him, and be like Him.

Have a blessed week,

Sister Luke

1. Gorgeous. This is a banana tree. 

2. Our Halloween Costumes and candy. We trick o' treated to each other. (I had to teach Sister about Trick or Treat general practices.)

3. The niece of one of our Recent converts. She loves my scripture case :)

 

4. The OKC fans here don't know how to spell Oklahoma.

 5. 3 of my favorite tots.

My New Best Friend

Written 10/26/14

I'm doing away with greetings at the beginning of my emails. I'm just not clever enough each week to think of a new one.

Happy Halloween! They don't have Halloween here. But it's one of my favorite holidays. They DO have a holiday called Kalag Kalag on November 1 and 2, which is basically all the Filipinos gathering in their cemeteries to eat on the graves of their loved ones. We get to go to the graveyards this week and proselyte while everyone is doing Catholic prayers, so this should be pretty fun. :) Weird to think I was new here in the Pines with Sister Fitzgerald this time, last year.

Happy Birthday to Laila, Dad, and Krista! In ilonggo they don't have a way of saying happy birthday. They just use English. Kind of disappointing, right?

I'd like you all to meet my next door neighbor, my new best friend- in the first picture attached to this email. Don't worry mom, when I took this he had just finished eating a live duck, so it was very safe. :)

This week we had Zone Conference in Sipalay and it was amazing. Bacolod Mission baptized 590 souls in the month of September. Is the work hastening or what?? Seriously. I was astounded. I feel like Edna from the Incredibles: "Fight! WIN!" complete with the crazy eyes and fist pumps. That's totally what it feels like to invite people to be baptized every day.

Our mission is working on submitting pedigree charts for all our recent converts in the branches and wards here, and I've really enjoyed it, even though it's crazy and chaos to try and get people to remember dates, names and places. It's so fun to see them run into their house, search for marriage certificates, birth certificates, pictures and the like as they look for their ancestors dates and names. It really brings a great spirit and unifies the families we've taught. They start to discuss old memories and get excited about doing work for the dead. Except in our recent convert's house... R. (about 20 years old) was helping us fill out his pedigree chart, but he couldn't remember too many details. He kept returning into his house to ask his mom names, dates, etc, and apparently she was a little exasperated with his endless questions. It went like this: we'd send him inside to get a birthdate, hear the ensuing shouts from his mom, R. would come out, tell us the answer, and reluctantly head back in with more questions. Ahaha. Louder shouts would follow. This escalated until all their family records were committed into our hands and the mom told us to leave her in peace. Ahaha. What a rousing Spirit of Elijah.

We've had an investigator named M. who has come to church for the past two weeks. She's been taught for a couple months but only now have we seen major signs of progression. She told us she knows now that Sunday is a holy day, and will never work on Sunday again so she can go to church. She's working towards baptism in November, and told us in a lesson "I just want to know everything about your church so I can be a part of it." She loves Gospel Principles class and is always early for church. She stops her work anytime we pass by so we can teach her, and in our lesson yesterday about the Word of Wisdom, she told us she will stop drinking coffee, no questions asked. She is wonderful! She even invites our less active members to go with her to church.

We had a really nice experience this week with an investigator named P. referred by a member a couple months ago. The past month we've tried to visit we've found no one home, but this time was different. We were in a tricycle on our way to that area where she lives, and instead of stopping by her house first, just happened to go past her house and visit a less active instead. We stopped by some other appointments in that area, and then finally decided to head back down towards P.'s house. As we got there, we found some opportunity to give service, and it was a good way to introduce ourselves, as we hadn't previously met her. Just as we started the lesson, the member who originally gave the referral, Maricel, showed up randomly at the house. She told us she was washing clothes and suddenly felt the need to go faster so she could come visit Sister P. She arrived at the perfect time and gave a beautiful testimony of the power of prayer and the Book of Mormon. I have no doubt the Spirit knew where she needed to be, and I'm so grateful she was listening and worthy to receive the promptings of the Spirit.

We worked our tails off this week to reach our goals and saw so many miracles every day. On Sunday, we had 7 investigators at church, and even Sister R. came. We lost contact with her for about a week but started teaching her again and she stayed for all 3 hours of church with her kids and seemed to really enjoy it. My planner is now full of purple marker, compliments of her 5 year old daughter J. :) That's the real purpose of missionary planners.. To keep the small children entertained while we teach the parents.

Last of all, I had an epiphany this week I'd like to share with all of you.

 Gratitude is the antidote for comparison.

Lately I've become more fully aware of how awesome my life is. How many amazing people are in my life right now and what they have done for me and being here in the mission with the everyday miracles that are happening... How can I not be grateful? And I've realized in the journey to be full of gratitude, I've thought a lot less about myself and how I compare to others. I can overcome comparison because I'm focusing on what the Lord has done for me, instead of focusing on what I see that might be missing. Think about it... Comparisons, thinking "Man, I'm not as beautiful or talented or patient or [insert personal concern here] as so-and-so" is just another way of disregarding completely the things the Lord HAS blessed us with. How ungrateful and prideful of us. But this past month I've really felt the healing power of gratitude.

That seems to be about all, folks. The work is working. If this isn't hastening, I don't know what is. You better join quick, or you'll get left behind like the pooper-scoopers in the 4th of July parade.

Love you!

Sister Luke

1. Our friendly neighborhood python

2. If there's ever been any doubt that I'm a cat lady...

3. This is our addiction. Chuckie chocolate milk.

4 & 5. I'm just not good enough at teaching to keep the kids awake. 

6. This is called a c-cad. Only 7 pesos for a ride! :)
 

7 & 8.  Our birthday glowstick celebration for sister Santos.