"Be Biblical on all matters"

I saw that quote in large letters at the front of a bus we were in. I don't think this is actually sound advice but decided to write it down as an interesting thought.

I included a picture, taken while I was helping to defeather a chicken that we ate later on in the evening. This week I learned how to kill/defeather/cut a chicken for cooking. 

Things I was impressed by: Sister Jack cooked all of the parts of the body, including feet, head, neck, and internal organs, excluding the intenstines and the feathers. It seems so much more worth it to use literally the entire body, and not only the legs or breast for eating. wowowow
  
Earlier this week, we taught a woman named Vilma. Vilma has 5 children. Her oldest is 14 years old and doesn't know how to read and is not able to go to school, because she doesn't have a birth certificate (this means that she was probably born at home, beneath the knowledge of the government.)  Their home is incredibly small, with no flooring, just dirt. They brought in chairs for us from their neighbor's house. She was mildly interested in listening to us, but seemed incredibly apprehensive about us. I noticed slowly, throughout the lesson, she became more interested in what we were saying. I told her that even though I am from America, and she is from the Philippines, that we are both children of God, both loved by that being. I really felt that. I still feel the truthfulness of that. 

BYE.

2nd Nephi 31:3

PS I met a 67 year old women that has 18 children, and 60+ grandchildren. Can you believe that?

The GREAT I AM

I briefly revisited some favorite passages of mine from the old/new testament that I would like to share. ( I got so excited about them all over again.)

Exodus 16: 9-21 (There really is so much to learn from here. So. much. Please send me your thoughts on this if any of you feel so inclined.)
Exodus 13:21-22 (Ether 2:4-5)
Exodus 3:11-15 (existence! = I am!)
Matthew 9:10-13 

This week I got very sick. I had the lovely opportunity of vomiting on the side of the road immediately after an appointment. It was all too exciting and the ride home in a barangay patrol vehicle was a trip. It was a trip. 

I've realized that I am basically a different person when I am speaking Tagalog. The language/culture doesn't really allow me to say what I would like to say. It's not only that I don't know how to express certain things yet, but that the things that I would want to express aren't relevant to most people here or they aren't normal things to say here. I'm not describing the situation very well, but the culture is very very different-including conversation topics. For people who have served foreign missions: Do you relate to this?

I am learning a lot from Sister Lumanog. I am learning a lot about the culture first-hand from her. (Sometimes good, sometimes not.ha) We've started to speak English every other day in the house, as she wants to learn English. I'm finding it harder than I anticipated to speak English with her. When speaking, my English is getting a little rough...

I'm not really sure who all is reading my blog, but if you feel like we are close enough friends, I am curious about what each of your thoughts are on 'spiritual knowledge.' Please send me a letter if you would like. 

Walang hanggan ang pagmamahal ng Diyos.

Walang katulad

(Sorry this is a week late again :( )
I am feeling your love from across a very long stretch of water. I am overjoyed to hear from dear dear friends and family.

I have been feeling very strongly lately that I need to stay an extra transfer than I was planning. ( Mid-april, instead of beginning of March, 2013) I prayed about it and think that I might do that, with faith that everything will be fine for me planning/getting classes I need to be in. I am learning so much and I feel like I'm really only getting started on my mission.
   
I am learning so much from Sister Lumanog. We have very different teaching styles. My style is a bit more slow with more questions and her style is more fast and is actually really entertaining, even as her companion to see her interact with people. She is really great with analogies and I'm starting to use more analogies as well in my teaching, which is great as I wanted to improve in that area. I am seeing the combination of our styles start to mold. Some investigators really connect with her and some really connect with me. Some really enjoy listening to a foreigner speak Tagalog (ha) and some really want to speak with a Filipino missionary. With both of us, it seems like we are able to reach more people than with just her or just me. My tagalog is improving especially being with a filipino companion. She understands English and every once in a while, I'll have to explain something in English, as I don't have certain words yet in Tagalog. Sometimes she will say things in English like, "I'm really tired!" or " This is hot!" haha.

I extended a baptismal invitation to a long time investigator yesterday and I re-remembered one reason why I wanted to serve a mission/why I am still here in the Philippines and not at home: I have not experienced this kind of joy before, a kind that almost swallows me completely. Tears aren't even adequate. The reality of so many things has hit me while being on my mission.

I loved people before my mission and had a great desire to love people but I'm slowly learning 'how' to love more fully. How. I also realized that I spent not enough time on other people before my mission. There is a balance between spending time on 'oneself' and not on 'oneself' that I want to readjust for my life after my mission.

this first picture is of Brother Razon and his wife, who I won't ever forget and helped to make me a better/stronger missionary. the second picture is of my plan for my hair after my mission. the third picture is of Sister Lumanog with a lot of colored bags.

P.S. If you know my mother, please feel free to bombard her with a birthday chat/email/call/text/love. Her birthday was last Monday!
Hey Mom! ---> It's your  __--=***=--__birthday!_--=***=--_

john 15:1-5 - beautiful.bb. (( & Jacob 5-check it))

+--PAGASA--+

I love this gospel. After general conference I feel so so indescribably full. I am in awe at the beauty of life and more recently the application of the atonement for myself, has become real. I am understanding how grace can be applied to my life. 

I have a new companion, Sister Lumanog. She is from Bacolod, in Visayas and she is teaching me so so much, including how to wash my clothes faster. I was a little humbled this morning when Sister Lumanog, a small filipino woman, started to help me wash my own dirty clothes. I am shocked by her sincerity to help other people. 

My dad sent me a talk by Boyd K. Packer, called 'The Mediator.' I read this talk in high school when I started to want to understand the atonement better. I have found that though it's been a while since I've read it, different things have seemed to sink more into my heart. It's interesting how old things, once revisited seem to connect, in an ever fuller way. (I especially appreciated his description of spiritual knowledge and what that actually is.)

Conference was beautiful and I never cease to cry whenever I hear 'Come Thou Font,' as I believe it communicates some of my deepest feelings of inadequacy combined with the hope that only comes from God. I particular loved and hope to reread the talks by Dieter F. Uchdorf, Donald A Hallstrom, Dallin H. Oaks (He cries more and more at every conference. Maybe it's because he's feeling more and more the things he's saying), and D. Todd Christofferson. Small answers seem to come to questions I've had in small, small ways, and General Conference seems to be more and more helpful the older I get. 

Yesterday, we had a beautiful experience of being guided to where we needed to be. I had just heard an incredibly sad, discouraging story of a member's older sister, not being able to take care of her children and thus decided to sell her twin babies at the market, not to the knowledge of her family. (This is not normal here and was definitely an illegal deal.) I felt like crying at the prospect that someone's life could ever be diminished to a mere 5-10 thousand pesos.

The appointments that we had planned to go to did not fall through and we had an extra hour and a half before we needed to go home. I was feeling a little at a loss, since I'm leading the area and I know who lives where, who is who, etc. I didn't know what to do but felt the strong desire to pray and seek for guidance. The member that was working with us, Jerome, said a prayer to give us guidance. Sister Lumanog started asking him if there were some members who lived nearby, or some former investigators nearby. He actually remembered one family that was being taught by the other set of missionaries that used to be in our area, but were transferred out. (There used to be 4 Sister missionaries in our area.) He knew where they lived, and so we went to their home and they happily welcomed us in. They fed us a yummy rice desert and while Sister Yumol and I were talking, she told me that it felt like we had known each other for a while, by the way we were talking. I, as well, felt extremely familiar with her. We decided to share the story in 1st Nephi Ch. 8 about the Tree of Life. As we started the lesson, she opened her Book of Mormon and remembered that this was actually the exact same chapter that the missionaries shared to them, before the transfer, during their last visit to them. 

God is mysterious. I am humbled to be a part of something so much larger than my own world, my own sphere of family and friends. I am so so grateful for the darkest of moments, especially on my mission, as the moments of pure hope seem to echo even more.  I wrote in my journal a few days ago, " I have hope. I cannot fully explain my feeling, but it is a small light that I didn't have before. an effect of the atonement? YES."

P.S. My dear dear friend, Katja got just engaged! !!! !!!! Yes for being in love. Yes for brave people.

<>

One time when I was talking to a woman who has a small shop, I gave her a pamphlet, but had a mix up with my Tagalog.

 

I meant to say, "Gusto po namin iwan eto para sa inyo po."(We'd like to leave this for you.)

But I actually told her, "Gusto po namin iwasan eto para sa inyo po."  ( We'd like to avoid this, to you.)

 

I was pretty far off, but I'm hoping she didn't hear me completely...

 

Anyways, this week Sister T and I did some exploring and we found out that there is a small island called, 'Lambiki' that is only accessible by boat. There's around 300 houses there. We unfortunately can't travel by boat as missionaries, but it definitely made me curious about the people there.

 

We attended a funeral service on Friday at which Sister T and I were invited to speak. I was very intimidated, but it was also another new experiences for me. Filipino funerals are pretty interesting. It's the second funeral I've attended and it's much more intimate than any other American funeral I've been to. The body/casket is just inside the home, with a glass plate covering the body. A ton of people are packed in there with a lot of loud crying. I could almost feel the love they had for their deceased sister.

 

The idea of 'family' has kind of sunk into my thoughts this week, especially at that funeral that we were able to attend.

I was thinking about my legacy that will be left here on Earth in 200 years. The idea that my artwork will still be looked at in 200 years is a lofty and probably unreachablewish. What about my eperiences, my ideas, my knowledge, my physical traits? Through generations after me, these things can continue to exist. I hope this makes sense...

 

My respect for the idea of 'family' has deepened incredibly. I've had several friends talk about they don't want to bring children into a world like ours, with the problems that we have. But, I realized that without the opportunity to procreate and to start new, there's not much hope for any sort of positive future.

 

SHOUTOUT to my Mom and Dad: Thank you for life!

 

 

(.) (.)

   >

 -__-

000

Hello my fairly full friends and frank-ish family,

I experienced the some of the lowest lows this week, combined with some very joyful, triumphant moments. I have never experience this amount of stress for such a prolonged amount of time. I want to apply the atonement more in my life. I am a little stuck at the 'how,' but I believe it will become more real to me.


Alma 46: 40--  Random verse? Maybe not. Maybe the source of our relief is closer to us than we imagine.

Pictures: There was a bug, the size of a small dinosaur that fell on it's back and was stuck. I decided to empathize with him for a moment. 
There is also a picture in the palay -ricefield. I think you can see them harvesting in the background...The monkey also had an uncomfortable human-like stare to it, and I wanted to show you all. 

Lovin.

-----0----

Sister DV