Lupang Hinirang

This week was one of the greatest weeks so far in my time here in Pilar. I feel like I may be killing myself physically, but I am so so excited about the progress that I'm seeing here in Pilar that I truly can't wait to go out and work. I'm hoping that my body doesn't fall apart by the time I get home. It seems like every week, I have some sort of other sickness.  It's physically exhausting, but so so yummy to be a small part of what's happening here in Pilar. I am filled with an excitement and hope that is beyond myself. I am filled with strength beyond my own. I am so grateful for these many experiences and opportunities to became more acquainted with my God.

I feel like the weeks keep getting better and better and more strange and exciting. Margie and CrisMar were baptized this week. It was an exciting week for the 2 sets of missionaries here in Pilar. :)

Last night, I vomited my dinner. I'm not sure what the problem was, but I was feeling terrible and said a prayer that I would feel better. Within a few seconds I ran to the bathroom and the terrible feeling left in the form of rice, fish and watermelon (it's watermelon season here and I may have overeaten....) I feel alright now. Last week I squeezed my boil and it's healing now. Everyone has told me that my boils are unusually small. THANK GOODNESS.

We had such a weird week. I was able to experience the nastier sides of  'addiction' and what sorts of extreme things people are compelled to do. We have an investigator who is very addicted to playing computer games. Last Thursday, after we had shared with him, he asked his mom for 5 pesos to play computer games and she wouldn't give it to him. He completely lost it and starting shouting and insulting his mom. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing and it felt like maybe he forgot we were still in front of him? It was like he completely disregarded the fact that we were still there and completely lost control. He said that ' the devil was whispering to him," and it was mildly frightening. It the midst of them arguing, he grabbed a knife and said that he was going to kill himself if she didn't give him money. It was as awkward a situation as you probably think it would be. I was very grateful for my companion, who handled the situation very smoothly. I was left to think about a few things, especially regarding the Word of Wisdom. I couldn't believe how ugly the effects of addiction are on people.

We are continuing to explore our area and find members who we haven't met yet.  We went to an area called 'Ala-Uli' and we were welcomed into a home of a less active member, named Renelyn. Renelyn was asleep but her brother Joel was extremely nice to us and welcomed us in. Within minutes and without really talking to us he told us to come and eat lunch while we waited for her. We were a little surprised, and have never been offered a meal so quickly and without any questions. I laughed at this and really enjoyed that meal. Joel has the same first name of my father and the same birthday as my mother.

 We went to another area in Ala-uli and found a small compound of members. We had to walk through a river to get to there area because the bridge broke a few years ago. The kids pretty much went crazy when they saw me and it's always very obvious to me if I am the first american in a long time to go to a certain area. The staring gets a little out of control but the kids are the best. They are always shocked when I speak tagalog. I'll try to email some photos next week.

I heard a story yesterday about a old woman (an investigator's 100 year old mother) who competed in a contest for senior citizens. She had to thread a needle on one try. Anyways, she succeeded and was supposed to win 1000 pesos, but she didn't take the money. She requested some bread and butter which became her prize. We all couldn't stop laughing at this story and I really want to meet this old woman.

I'm trying to learn the filipino national anthem. Sister Alazo also wanted to learn the american national anthem and so we sang it. I'm missing my country. Would you believe me if I told you that I cried, a little bit?

We had an incredible week, especially with several of the less-active families. It seems like now is the time for them. I've been in Pilar for a long time and it seems like everything is lining up for these families to hopefully be able to return back into activity. It feels like God is literally preparing these people to receive this message. It is so beautiful.

BYE. thank you all for your love and support.

Maybe salvation refers to in part the need to be saved from our own vices, our self-destruction.
What is the power that literally inspires and causes us to become new creatures? __________

Corpse- I met a man who had your eyes. Your eyes! I found them here in the Philippines. I kept feeling slightly uncomfortable as we were speaking with him. It was a 40 year old, Filipino version of you.

little peace

This week has been full of new faces. We are literally going through
our directory and searching for members. It has been surprisingly
fruitful. I can't keep track of all these new names and faces and I'm
always asking Sister Alazo, 'Who is this person? Where do they live?"

We have a new investigator who has a really great story about his
tattoos. He married a girl named, 'Paz,' and he thought her full name
was 'Pacita,' and decided to tattoo her name on his arm. He later
found out that her full name wasn't 'Pacita,' and that it was
actually just 'Paz' so he got another tattoo on his other arm with the
words, 'Paz.' He's catholic and also has about 4 tattoos of Mary on
his body. Nice guy.

We also attended a member's birthday party and was pleasantly surpised
to find out that the special musical number included about 15 old
woman dressed up in Hula costumes (bra + skirt) and had choreographed
a dance. Words do not describe this... :)

I've been a little sick this past week with a cold. Good news about my
former boil: it went away with antibiotics but then decided to grow
legs and then plant itself in my abdomen.
Sitting/walking/eating/breathing has been interesting this past week.

I've been reading out of a manual, 'The Gospel and the Productive
Life,' and have found it to be interesting. I want to include
something that I found to be interesting about spiritual gifts. I
often feel very inadequate and found this to be insightful. Maybe
there are some of you that feel the same way. This is from Marvin J.
Ashton:

" Taken at random, let me mention a few gifts that are not always
evident or noteworthy or noteworthy but that are very important....

The gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and
using a still small voice; the gift of being able to weep; the gift of
avoiding contention; the gift of being agreeable; the gift of avoiding
vain repetition; the gift of seeking that which is righteous; the gift
of not passing judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the
gift of being disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of
being able to ponder; the gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing
a mighty testimony; and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost."

I thought of a few more gifts: the gift of discernment of feelings and
thoughts of others, the gift of awareness of self and others; gift of
ability to comfort others.

There are probably thousands more, but for some reason I was drawn to
the idea of 'spiritual gifts' that aren't well known or discussed.

D&C 46:11-12 -"all may be profited thereby." (DONT BE SHY.)

Have a lovely thanksgiving and please give a sincere 'thank you' to
God, most of all.

JessLI: thank you! thank you! CalArt-Get it girl. I'm visiting you in
Santa Clarita maybe next summer. I should've probably asked before I
invited myself...

BAM.

I'm really enjoying the work here in Pilar. We are looking/finding new
investigators and are also seraching for less-active members in our
area. It's been an incredible week full of interesting situations and
many successes. My companion is such a great person to work with. She
is hardworking and a very spiritually sensitive person, which is so
refreshing to me. I wrote on the side of my planner for Nov. 6, "I'm
excited to see where God will lead us today."

I'm grateful for situations that continue to try and test us being
'human.' We had an interesting situation on Nov. 8 where we were
ordering food at a street food vendor. We noticed a little girl that
kept following us and eventually she asked me for money. I ignored her
question and asked her where she was from and where her parents were.
She didn't look very poor, but she told me that she was hungry. I
asked Nico, the member that worked with us that day if he could give
her an extra burger that he bought. He gave it to her and she ran off
with it.

It was a fairly quick event, but the conversation that came because of
it, was the really interesting part. Nico mentioned that he doesn't
like giving money or food to kids because it'll just perpetuate them
begging on the streets. It'll also perpetuate a lack of responsibility
on the part of the parent. In the same thought, he mentioned something
that Jesus said, about giving to those to asketh, giving to those in
need, without judgement for whether they are 'really poor' or not.

Maybe it tugs at our pride to think that maybe the food that we gave
to a beggar on the street actually went to someone who didn't actually
need it and is maybe just manipulating a situation to be given food.
But, maybe not. We'll never know.

I'm home in April, which is so weird to me. It is the fastest year of
my entire life. Christmas is next month??
See you all very very soon. Keep learning and expanding.

Until then,
Sister Vickers

"Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price."

I attached a picture of some of the sister missionaries on transfer
day. It also happened to be halloween, so I decided to dress up like
my new companion, Sister Alazo.( I have my arm around her.) She is
from Bulacan, Central Luzon. She is incredible nice, even tempered,
considerate, and just a soothing person to be around. It feels like
we've been companions for a long time. I am grateful to re-apply
principles of unity in this new companionship. I noticed that my
stress has significantly decreased, even though I should be stressed
considering the state of our area. I think there are certain stresses
that I can handle better than others. I wrote in my journal, "When I'm
not happy, or when I'm struggling emotionally, creativity just stops.
I write less, create less. Happiness leads to a surge of creativity,
and of ideas." I've been able to process many things and am grateful
for the things that I have learned in the past 3 months. i.e. God is
alive. ALIVE.

I also got a joke from her that I've been using this whole week and
will probably use for the rest of my mission. Whenever people ask me
where I'm from, I usually say, "Sa America." ( in America) Now, I've
been telling people that I'm from Samar ( part of visayas) and they
are usually shocked by this. Then I add, " Sa America." ( Samar-Sa
America)
This is hilarious to filipinos (and to me) , so I don't have any plans
to stop using this joke.

Pilar split and we are assigned to Pilar 2. We have about 5
investigators in our area, two of which have a baptismal goal date.
We're planning on having a baptism on November 24. After that date, we
have very little to work from. We were given a new area book (the book
with the record of our investigators, members and other important
information about the area) so it's been fun to make new maps and
reorganize everything. Because we are really really lacking in
investigators in our area, we are going through the branch directory
and finding less-actives. It feels like a treasure hunt.

We met two less-active members in an area called Balut. They were
incredibly nice and receptive to us visiting them. We have return
appointments with them this next week and will hopefully be able to
work with these people to help them come back to reactivation as well
as search for new investigators in their families. We also met a lot
of people just out on the street, and I gave out all of the pamphlets
that I had. I know it was a successful day when I ran out of pamphlets
to give to people. That was one thing that I thought I would never get
over- talking to strangers on the street and inviting them to learn.
(I2L) Now, it's one of my favorite things to do. I used to hate the
fact that I get stared at a lot wherever I go, because of my gender,
race, and height. I decided a while back to start using that to get
people's attention and use that attention to teach them about this
beautiful, life-changing message. It's been successful, especially
this week.

I found out as well that Lubao, my first area, has a plan to create a
new branch in Lubao 2, which was the area that Sister Mafi and I
reopened. I couldn't believe this, and am so so excited about the
growth that is happening in Lubao and in Pilar. Also, Sister Mafi my
trainee, is now training a new missionary, so I have become a
'grandma' in the mission. : ) Life is fast and beautiful.

Byebye.


D&C 138: 17, 43, 50
^ If we understand the importance of our flesh, our body, maybe we
would be able to better understand certain commandments that we are
given in regards to our bodies.

----!Pinakamakapangyarihan ang Diyos!----