Nakakapagpabagabag

Written 8/3/14 

The night I was set apart as a missionary, we were all about to leave for the stake center. Dad and I were alone in the laundry room, about to walk out to the car. I was wondering if I had to bring my mission call or any extra papers, and I asked dad, "Is there anything I should take with me?" Dad just looks at me and smiles and responds, "Courage?"

In Alma 17 we read about the sons of Mosiah going out for their first time into the mission field.
"And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

"And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God."

So, Dad is super smart, right? This week Sister Oquias and I have seen miracles. I've really felt this week that the Lord has made me an instrument, and it feels so good to do the Lord's work. I know patience really does pay off, and being courageous enough to follow promptings brings blessings.

First off, there's a lot of things on the mission you just have to man up about. Like your fears. Stuff like sponges and feet and cockroaches and speaking Ilonggo. But manning up is good! I can officially say I'm over my fear of feet. Yeah. "How beautiful... are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings". Right? Conquering fears here.

We did exchanges with the STL's on Tuesday and I was reunited with Sister Char for a second because she lives in the same apartment as the STL's in Victorias :) I learned a ton from Sister Legaspi and the rain soaked us pretty good.

Alright, down to the deets here. On Tuesday Sister and I were headed on our way to F. We always pass this guy outside his house, and he's one of those people I always think we'll talk to but always end up being in a hurry. President gave a training last week and mentioned that "someday" is a dangerous word. We were warned not to wait to act on promptings. Sister and I both slowed down as we walked by him, but neither one of us stopped till we got past his house. We finally turned to each other- couldn't put off the prompting anymore, and turned our little selves around to go talk to him. His name is A., he's 62, and we gave him a restoration pamphlet and had a 5 minute lesson with him... and the next time we came back he'd read the whole pamphlet and told us he believed Joseph Smith was a true prophet. Yeah, these things really do happen.

On Sunday, guess who showed up to church with F.? Yep. A. was there. We followed up Sunday after church and he'd already started reading in the Book of Mormon. We brought F. to the lesson with us, and F. shared with A. what he'd been learning in 2 Nephi 31. He told us all about the chapter, about Christ's invitation to follow Him, that even Jesus was baptized, and that we need to have faith, repent, and endure to the end. I sat open mouthed as F. bore his testimony to A. Miracles are so real. Earlier that day in church, F. had even gone to the pulpit and borne his testimony.I can't describe the happiness as I sat and listened to him share his conversion story.

We also met the L. family, a promising new 3 investigators on Saturday night. A very drunk less active insisted that he show to us his friends he wanted us to teach. We weren't quite sure we could trust him, but we took a couple recent converts with us to make sure no funny business happened and went to meet them. We even have drunk less actives giving referrals, so hey, can't complain.
The last awesome thing this week was L.'s baptism. She bore the strongest testimony and the Spirit was super strong.

The adventure this week was at Bishop's house trying fried squid. Which I was not positive I could actually eat but of course I did. And it wasn't even bad. Do you still recognize me?
I also learned the longest Tagolog word this week: "Nakakapagpabagabag". But don't try and say it too fast or you might end up swearing in Ilonggo, which is what I did on Wednesday in front of a bunch of recent converts. Ahaha. So I'm a great example.

Love you all, keep on truckin'.
Love,
Sister Luke

1. Reunions with Sister Char. Ignore the disheveled faces.

2. L. LOVE this girl.

3. Letters from our recent converts to us. They are talented artists. :)

4. The flood in the street on the way to Bishop's. This is a baby flood.

5. My favorite girl ever.

6. This is A. and F. in our lesson yesterday. 2 old men trying to help each other read the book of mormon. It doesn't get better than this :) My companion took the stolen picture... just for the record.

French Fries

Written 7/27/14

Hi Fam-
Sorry, it might be a long email this week.

Remember that time I really wanted to be called to France on my mission? I take it all back. All of it. If there was any doubt in my mind about where I'm supposed to be it has been burned and destroyed. I never want to try and teach the gospel in any other language except Ilonggo. I will tell you why.

My life here somtimes seems to be one big facepalm. Ahaha. Filled with embarrassing and awkward (and wonderful) experiences. On Tuesday I had to teach 5 French speaking (sort of English speaking) investigators. They are students from Paris working on building a bakery in one of our areas to help the Filipinos here, and their cook is our Primary President. One of them asked Sister A. (the president) where she goes Sunday mornings, and then they had a brief discussion on how our church differs from the catholic. She invited them to listen to the missionaries, which we were excited about, but I didn't know till I got there how little english they spoke. Oops. Turns out I'm really not talented at teaching the gospel in english. I felt like I had a size 28 men's foot stuck in my mouth. Also, they returned to Paris last saturday, meaning we only got to teach them twice. What do you teach to French people who understand only a tiny bit of english, who have never had contact with Mormons before and who can only listen to you twice?

 I'll spare you all the painfully awkward details, but needless to say Sister Oquias and I got our fair dose of awkward.  Also a good dose of those small miracles that the Lord gives us every day. There were 3 boys and 2 girls, all around my age. One of the girls was pentecostal and one.. Atheist. So. That was another layer of difficult. But we cobbled together a little bit of lesson one and letting them know our purpose as missionaries and we were cut short because they needed to get back to work, but we set a return appointment with them that following Thursday.


As sister and I thought and thought about what we would teach and how we would teach it of course only one thing kept running through our minds: The Book of Mormon! Our unique message to the world that can answer all your questions. We felt prompted to write a short message in the books and give them the church websites. As we arrived, all nerves, on Thursday, we were at first disappointed- they had just fallen asleep because they'd been working all through the night and into the morning. Shoot. While we were there though, we ran into their Filipino partner working on the bakery with them, and as we got talking with him found out that he is a former investigator and was nearly baptized years ago. A tender mercy, because as it became clear we weren't going to be able to teach as we'd planned, Heavenly Father placed someone in our path to whom we could give the Book of Mormons and trust to give them to our French friends.

I'm so glad we felt prompted to write in the books, and I really know that no effort is ever wasted. Even if they meet the missionaries in the years to come or don't, no effort is wasted in missionary work.

The other miracle we experienced this week: L.. She's 13 and is so excited to be baptized. The only thing we were worried about was speaking to her mother. We wanted to go talk to her on Tuesday, but as we approached, we saw her right in the middle of a lot of people gambling, barbecuing and taking their orders. Awesome. As I saw her I said a silent prayer that Heavenly Father would bless us with an opportunity to approach her. A minute later it started pouring, so we found refuge at a less active's house, right outside her tiangge. The Spirit definitely led us there, because less than 2 minutes later, L.'s mother walked in. She immediately struck up a conversation with us before we could even greet her, and was so friendly. It was a perfect opportunity and a few minutes later when she left, she'd gladly signed L.'s consent form, and hopefully we'll be visiting the whole family tomorrow.

The disappointment this week came from C.... We followed up about her cenomar and wedding preparation and she told us her "husband" wants them to wait until December to get married. We were really sad... But we felt like we had to respect the husband's wishes and their decision as a couple. But she still came to church on Sunday and is reading the Book of Mormon.

It's the best feeling to hear RC's bear their testimony to us. F. told us this week as we were reviewing the restoration with him that he used to feel like Joseph Smith, and then he found the truth in this church. He always, always reads, and brings his Book of Mormon everywhere he goes so he can read in his spare time. I love this awesome Lolo.

The Elders have been rocking it in Central Manapla, the super super far away area. The've been holding special sacrament meetings on Sundays, and attending on Sunday was such an uplifting and encouraging experience. 76 in attendance! 24 nonmembers! Now that's hastening.

Sister and I made a goal to invite every single person we talked to this week to come to church, and we saw another miracle from it! A couple weeks ago we met a less active YM who'd been baptized in Sagay and then moved here and was lost. We taught him and a group of all his friends and invited them to church. Finding through members is SO much more effective than anything else. On Sunday, guess who showed up? All 7 of them, with the Less Active young man leading the way. I love the influence of the Spirit.

The purpose of missionary work is, of course, to invite others to come unto Christ, but it is also the mantle of a missionary to eat whatever is placed in front of them. A mantle which I definitely do not resent. :) See the pictures for a look at my "mantle" this week....

I love you all. The work is real. The Atonement is real. Change is exciting.

Love,
Sister Luke

PS Please excuse the subject line, I can't help myself.

 1. My favorite of all- Uga. Dried fish, then fried. (I'm totally serious, this stuff is addicting and delicious.)

2. I love living next door to neighbors. Excuse my nightgown.
 

 3. My other favorite... Lugaw. Its a sweet soup that I can't get enough of

4. At mission presidents training. 

 5. Read em and weep.

6. This is how they dry their fish. I like the bigger fish though. And sometimes they cut them upon down the middle and then dry them. There are countless ways ;)

7. The special sacrament group.

8. The kids. Dont you just want to eat them up?

9. The MOST food everyone gives us. More lugaw, snickers, santol, sack lunches sister Lopez gave, and the cake later that night. 

10. I can't help myself.

"Jesus is Real to Me"

Written 7/20/14

Hi guys.

I just got done watching that video of Charlotte singing at Hunter's baptism and bawling my eyes out, so forgive me if I'm a little sentimental. I've been thinking all week about the baptism and I kept telling Sister Oquias, "Only _ more hours till my nephew gets baptized!"

I had a really sacred experience this week. I was thinking about Hunter and his baptism a lot, and I remembered Hunter's favorite primary song he always sings for Mom. Which is the song you just sent me in the video of Charlotte, "I Know that my Savior loves me". Sister and I had a really really hard night on Friday, sort of the straw that broke the camel's back with our young men recent converts. Sister and I both left that area with tears, feeling super discouraged. We reminded each other that discouragement weakens our faith and that we can't give up, but I felt like Nephi when he said, "For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry."

That night as I was going to bed, Hunter's primary song filled my head and I echo the lyrics of the song; "...The love that he felt for His little ones, I know He feels for me. I did not touch him or sit on His knee, yet Jesus is real to me.....Wrapped in the arms of my Savior's love, I feel His gentle touch..... I know He lives! I will follow faithfully. My heart I give to Him.I know that my Savior loves me."

I testify that Jesus is real to me.

This week didn't bring too many crazy experiences, but sister and I did have a really faith building experience on prayer. We were the MOST punted I've ever been in my life, we had NO one to teach and we couldn't even find a person outside to talk to. It was raining and we were exhausted and it was only like 2 pm. Sister and I sat down, weary, and the thought came to me to pray. I suggested it to sister and she gave a nice prayer, asking for guidance on where we should go. At the same time, sister and I both suggested that we should go to Sister G., an older Pioneer of the church here in Manapla who's been sick the past few weeks. Well folks, here we have a classic Ensign story as we visited her and found out she'd been waiting for "her missionaries". She cried as we sang with her, and was so grateful for our visit. I'm so grateful for the Spirit that guides this work. Tender mercies are everywhere.

I've had to learn to say "But if not" here on the mission. I don't know if you remember that talk from conference a few years ago, but it's so good. Look it up. Anyway, with this whole recent convert issue we've been dealing with, and wanting to see people progress but having to wait... I've really had to put my trust and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is an excerpt from that talk that explains how I feel and what I've learned about Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ:

"Centuries ago, Daniel and his young associates were suddenly thrust from security into the world—a world foreign and intimidating. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to bow down and worship a golden image set up by the king, a furious Nebuchadnezzar told them that if they would not worship as commanded, they would immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. “And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?”
The three young men quickly and confidently responded, “If it be so [if you cast us into the furnace], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand.” That sounds like my eighth-grade kind of faith. But then they demonstrated that they fully understood what faith is. They continued, “But if not, … we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” That is a statement of true faith.
They knew that they could trust God—even if things didn’t turn out the way they hoped. They knew that faith is more than mental assent, more than an acknowledgment that God lives. Faith is total trust in Him.
Faith is believing that although we do not understand all things, He does. Faith is knowing that although our power is limited, His is not."


I testify that even when things don't happen the way we want them to, even when we don't understand, it's enough that the Savior does. My God is certainly able to deliver us from our trials, but if not, I will not turn from him. I will not give into the temptations of the devil and become discouraged or slow down. Faith truly is total trust in Him.

It's been a good week of learning. I love you and miss you all, but I'm so happy here. Jesus is real. I know that my Savior loves me, and you.

Go find some missionaries and give them food, they love it.

All my love,
Sister Luke

 1. I had a fiasco with my memory card and nearly lost all my pictures from my mission. But thanks to the heroics of Sister Oquias' brother, here they are again. Belated 9 months photo. :) That is ice cream. Mango, ube (the purple) and chocolate ice cream.

2. The cutest. They dye the baby chicks here. Don't ask me how. I just care that they are so cute.

 

3. I ate this. And 2 two more. Also I tried Octopus this week. The head. It looked like a baby alien and was not my favorite. 

 4. I shaved my legs with this. [She didn't actually. I had to ask her cause I was certain she'd die of Tetanus] [Whatever that is] [I just know you get it from old rusty things]

5. Its been so cold the past week courtesy of storms Glenda and Henry. This is yesterday after proselyting... And this isn't even the wettest we get.

6. L. put homemade tabs on her book of Mormon. I love this girl.

7. Not for those of a weak stomach.

 

8. They do roadkill professionally down here. 

 

 

9. A book report on Peter Rabbit....

 

 

10. Gorgeous sunsets here.

 

11. Our super far area in the middle of nowhere.

 

12. I won't tell you how many tries this one took.

Highs and Lows

Written 7/13/14

Maayong aga sa inyo! Kamusta ang Dominggo nyo?

Happy birthday and baptism to Hunter this week!! I'm so proud of you! I sent a letter to him a couple weeks ago, hopefully it arrives before his baptism :)

So this week has been a stressful one. But when is life not stressful, right? It's still had some really good days. It's true when they say that you experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows here in the mission. Lets start with the highs, shall we?

The Spirit protects the missionaries, even the clumsy ones. This week I took a nice tumble coming back from one of our far areas across the river. There's a really steep trail to get to all the houses, so steep there's a rope to hang on to, like a handrail. As we were descending, the thought popped into my head to hold the rope a little tighter, and just as I did, well... You know me. I slipped down the rest of the trail (gracefully, of course). Luckily I wasn't hurt at all because I had one hand on the rope, but it was a good tumble. One of our ward missionaries, J.R., was with us and we couldnt stop laughing... I may no longer have my pride, but I do have good memories. :)

L., our new investigator (from V.J.) said in our 2nd lesson with her, "Sisters, pwede ko magpatudlo sa inyo magpangamuyo?" (Sister, can I ask you to teach me how to pray?) She even came to church by herself this week, and brought a friend with her. Golden? Golden.

We taught F. about the temple and family history this week. His first question? "Sister, I remember all my relatives names and information except my grandmother's birthday. Can you help me submit all of them to be baptized in the temple?" Um. Yes. His question at the end of the lesson, "Sister, about Tithing. When can I start paying that?"
Golden? Golden.

C. Our wonderful C. We talked to her about her and her boyfriend getting married and we now have a date for August 16! Marriage is unbelievably hard and expensive here, so no one gets married anymore which understandably makes missionary work very hard. But we basically just walked into a perfect situation:

C. is the (will-be) daughter in law of a really active member, who has the funds to help them get the legal requirements they need for marriage, and! Get this! She sews, too! The member. So she's going to make C. a beautiful dress. Its literally like they've just been waiting for someone to invite them to be married and baptized. Which they have. She even put her Ang Libro ni Mormon in a plastic protective cover. Who is that cool? These people are. Golden? Golden.

The lowest of lows this week? Some of our Recent converts. There's 6 of them all in young men who used to be so strong, but in the past few weeks have been struggling and returning back to their addictions from before. We had a good week with some spiritual lessons with them and we thought they'd all be there at church. But come Sunday, not one of them showed. We went the that area after church on Sunday to teach some other instigators, and seeing those recent converts was seriously like being dumped. It felt like being dumped! Only worse. Totally heartbroken this week over those boys. It's been the hardest thing to watch on my mission; seeing members and investigators that know, but don't act.

The funny experience from this week? Sister Oquias and I and L. and Apple locking ourselves in a bamboo hut (where we were teaching), forcing the door closed against an angry 5 year old with a big rock, while he's trying to beat us and the house to death. I'll save a more in depth explanation for another day. It was the most terrified I've ever been of a 5 year old, while at the same time laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

I know God lives, and I know the Atonement changes us. I know we can overcome anything, truly, anything, if we have Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that miracles are wrought, that people are changed and that hearts are sanctified. (Take a look at Helaman 3:35 and Hebrews 13 this week). I know this because I've seen it, I've felt it, and because the Holy Ghost has borne witness.

I love you more than a rich man loves a peso.

Get work done.

Sister Luke

 1. Happy 10 months to me!

2. I am Katniss Everdeen.

3. The farthest left is L. The guy on the right is our ward missionary J.R. 

4. This is me and Sister being Charlie's Angels

5. And this is how long my hair is. Just thought you'd like to marvel. :)

 6. This is one of the streets in my area 

 7. This is my everyday headdress.

8. Our cute little bird friend.

 

9. All the single ladies!

 10. This is last night's sunset. SO GORG.

Happy 4th!

Written 7/6/14

Hi all.

So many things have happened this week, I hope I can get them all typed out here. I also want you all to know I'm appreciating this moment because I am FREEZING in this email shop. It's raining outside and when I come home I will have to stay in a blanket burrito 24/7.

The Filipino independence day is in June, so I celebrated personally by wearing my red skirt and blue shirt. #Murica.

Thank you all for your conversion story contributions. I had some really awesome studies this week because of it. Anyone else who wants to send me their conversion story is welcome, I'd love to hear more.

I have a picture of Mom and Dad that I carry around with me and whip out in lessons to talk about eternal families. I've gotten so many comments this week on how Mom is so gwapa and that Dad looks like Tom Cruise. :)

I also got told by one of our less active members who was really drunk that I look exactly like Mamma Mary, I just need to wear a robe, so... That happened. You never know what to expect here :)

I love the Book of Mormon because it confounds false doctrine, and this week we have run into an unusual amount of that yucky stuff. I learned this week that "Baliscad" is the devil's favorite word. In Ilonggo it means "upside down". The devil was everywhere this week, turning the truth on it's head for our members and investigators this week.

 I wrote down some doctrine of the devil I heard this week, and the scriptures that teach us the truth:

"It's better to trust in myself than in God." (Mosiah 7:33, 2 Nephi 4:34)

"I can't pray because I have too many sins." (2 Nephi 32:8)

"God understands that I can't go to church because I have to cook." (Alma 45:16)

"God still loves me and will bless me even when I don't obey His commandments." (Half-truths here. That's also the devil's favorite. 2 nephi 28:8)

"My son can come to church only if it's raining... Otherwise he needs to sell his ice cream." (Mosiah 13:17-18)  (By the way, it rained on Sunday and they still didn't come. -_-)

"I can't be baptized in your church because your members are sinning." (Moroni 10:32)

Isn't it scary what the devil can make us believe? That's why the daily basics are so important. The devil has been working hard on some of our recent converts lately. We have a lot of young men aged converts in one of our areas who have lately been avoiding us and not coming to church. I got a taste of motherhood last Friday as Sister and I tried and tried to wrangle them all so we could teach them and get to the bottom of this. It took almost an hour but we finally got to talk to them all and resolve some concerns with them. It was a heartbreak to hear that some of them had fallen back into old habits and addictions, but even more sad to hear them tell us they can't come to church because of their sins.

Later that day we also ran into a recently gone less active YSA aged young man we've been working with to overcome some of his addictions as well... Except he was drunker than a skunk and hiding a bottle of whiskey in his pants. I called him out on the whiskey and we tried to talk him into handing the bottle over to us and not returning to the party, but it was clear he was not quite.. there. Ahaha. He ended up tucking the whiskey bottle under his arm and running (apparently drunks can still run) back to the party. It was pretty devastating to see the example he was setting for our recent converts and the sorrow he was causing himself and his family. I'm still a missionary, so I guess we have to invite others to come unto Christ- even the drunk ones.

All of our sadness and worrying and mental exhaustion over our members came to a head on Sunday, where sister and I were fasting for our Recent converts. I nearly cried as the meeting started and hardly anyone was there. Then I nearly cried again as I watched nearly all those boys walk through the sacrament hall doors and take a seat in the meeting. Later I watched one waiting outside Bishop's office, waiting for an appointment with him. The Lord is ever so much more powerful than the devil and his false doctrine. He can take care of these children of His way better than I can.

In other news this week, V.J. and company brought 3 new investigators to church with them, and as B. introduced me to L., he said "He wants to be taught by the missionaries. So when is his baptism??" Ahaha. LOVE these little 13 year old missionaries. B. even said the closing prayer in his young men class on Sunday :)

C. is a new investigator who is AMAZING. She's the daughter in law of one of our members, and is so golden. In our first lesson she asks us, "Sisters, what does 'gospel' mean?" And in the second, as we followed up on her prayer about Joseph Smith she says, "I prayed and after 3 days, I felt so light and peaceful. I know he's a true prophet." She came to church on Sunday and the RS in the ward were so good at welcoming her. I testify that the Lord answers prayers!

The cake topper to all this? F.'s baptism on Saturday. He's been so diligent in biking to church every week, and his baptism was a sweet experience. Afterwards, it was raining outside and we were worried about him getting wet. (Filipinos are all afraid of the rain. It gives you the flu.) We got a black garbage bag from the storage closet for a makeshift poncho and he wrapped his wet towel around his head (like how we do when we dress up like the shepherds in the Nativity story on Christmas Eve and Megan and I fight about who gets to play Mary... Which apparently I look like Mamma Mary so that ends that everlasting argument. Okay, tangent over.) and resiliently got on his bike to go home in the rain. As he rode out of the church grounds sister and I watched and she said to me, "Now that's the faith."

Well, do you think this letter is long enough yet? I hope these emails catch a little glimpse of my life here. I love it. I love the rain and the crazy Filipinos and the gospel. I know Christ lives. Read the Book of Mormon.

Love,

Sister Luke

 1. It was a week of cute baby animals. I have to admit it- I'm a cat lady.

 2. My Lolo F.

 3. You cannot tell me that is not the sweetest face ever.

 4. This is J., one of my RC's and this picture (and my face) explains so perfectly what I do about 50% of my time here. Sister Oquias and I play mother to all the lost children here.

 5. Another small Toko gecko for Hunter and Aiden :)

 

6. The gross beetles here, also for the nephews 

 7. This is a tricycle, if you can see it.

 

8. The gorgeous sea. Love all the colored boats behind.

 

9. I can't even stand up all the way in this house.

 

10. Love these kids. Even though sometimes I go crazy.

 11. Tric from the front. This is actually the tric I prayed over. Ahaha.

 

12. F. riding his bike from his baptism.