Magulo Ang Buhay Ko! (My life is crazy!)



Baptism this week....Sister Micahella Duque

 June 24, 2012
Well Hello there family, Hopefully I can type really fast,
because I have a lot to say  this time around...it was
a busy week, I can hardly believe it's monday
again! haha
First of all, Sis. McKinley is now back from the
MRC in Manilla. Sis. Magalogo had brain
surgery,  she had hydrocephalus. We are told
that now she is recovering well, and she will
continue to recover there either return to the
mission field in a month, or be sent home.
They still aren't quite sure what will happen to
her. Sis. McKinley returned back home to me &
Sis. Olila. But... I'm a little jealous of Sis. Mckinley
though, while she was there in manilla,
she got to see Sis. Morton (my companion from
the MTC who is serving in San Pablo mission)
I guess her companion got sick too...so they
went there and they got to meet each other.
Through text I got to text Sis. Mckinley and
say "Hi, I love you" to Sis. Morton...kinda a
weird feeling, but cool! :)
so...now we are a trisome, so in a way, yes
I got a new companion...
Sis. Mckinley...trisome is WAY different, it's hard
to keep track of everyone  haha but it's all good, we're happy to have
Sis. McKinley with us. It's also difficult because now we have to juggle the
2 areas,k and there was plenty of work just to be done in my area, in Sto Tomas...
but now we have Carmen East area too...so it's a little hard discerning who are
the top priority and who can go a little while without a visit. We just hope that
our neglect won't keep them from progressing. We also had another ET
or emergency transfer...I have had 2 zone leaders in 1 week... that's not normal.
The elders are having a hard time being obedient hehe.

So yes, we had our Zone Conference this week! It was a really great birthday
present, we got to ride a bus that had aircon (which is air conditioning) and it
was really nice and clean and went to Urdaneta for our special conference. It was
a bitter sweet experience knowing it was the last conference I would be
having with Pres & Sis. Jensen. I will miss them soo much, they are sooo
great!!!! Ah...brings tears to my eyes! :( Anyways, he told us that if he
could pick one thing to give to us, or one thing he wanted for us it wasn't
to be married in the temple, or to be successful at work, or remain active in
the church, although those are all great things. It was that he hoped that we
would always have the spirit to be with us. Because if we have that, we have
it all. It was soo true. Tears started streaming down my face as the spirit was
so strong as it testified to me that that is the truth. That is our main goal.
Be worthy to have the spirit with us and guide us and help us and bear
witness and warn and comfort us. I have been praying a lot lately to
Heavenly Father, asking him to help me have experiences with the Spirit,
and to help me recognize its influence in my life, and of course, He never
ceases to answer my prayers. So of course conference was on my
brithday, so I had the biggest birthday ever! Lots of people came to my
party! hehe Just kiddin...it was a lot of fun though! I got the HUGE box...
everyone wanted me to open it cuz they wanted to know what was in it!
haha I waited till that night. Luckily the Senior couple drove by our
house later that night and brought it to our apartment so I didn't have
to carry it on the bus with me...not that I am even capable of doing that,
but even trying to.
The box was great, I loved the glue traps & sanitary wipes and toilet paper...
I was laughing soo hard, it was hilarious! thanks for the bubbles, the kids
will LOVE it, and my companions are loving all the candy. I think I have
enough to last my entire mission now! Thank you!!!!! hahaha I was
laughing soo hard, there were PILES of candy! aha Um...also thank you
soo soo much for all the shirts, ties, and even pants. You have know idea
how much it means. To some here, it will make the difference of them
being shy because they don't have anything to wear, and now they will
be able to go to church because they have clothes. Thank you soo much,
I have enough ties now for...everyone here in the Philippines now I think
 hehe just kiddin :)

This week...we also had a baptism!!! Yay...she is 10 years old,
Sis. MicaElla Duque....Her dad is an inactive member, who is now active,
he's a returned member, and she had her baptism. It's been fun teaching
her the lessons and watching her grow, she is really cute! :) That night...
we had a special treat. sis. McKinley and I introduced Sis. Olila to cookie
dough! hahaha it doesn't taste so good here though...but nonetheless...
we still made it! We just thought there was something wrong with that,
we made cookie dough in the philippines in a big frying pan because
we didn't have a big eough bowl. haha it was hialrious!

Anyways, we also had, of course, some great spiritual experiences this
week, members that have opened up to us finally that we've been visiting
over and over again and thought their heart was sooo hard, it has now
started to softened. I have been really blessed to notice the differences
in their lives and gradually watch as the spirit works on them. I guess
there's been a lot of disobecience here in the mission field, one thing that
Pres has stressed is obedience. It's soo importnant, a lot of missionaries
are sent home because they're dumb and do dumb things. It's soo not
worth it. I am such a firm believer that if you want blessings in fullness,
you need to obey with exactness. Anyways, I love you all and pray for
you always, thanks soo much again for the box and all of your love and

support always, This was definately, of course, a fantastic birthday!
Love you
xoxox

Well Hello There :)

June 18, 2012 
Well hello Family...I really don't even know where to
start with this week.
First of all that's cool that it's Cedar Hills Days
there....kind of ironic because here it is "Rosales
Days"...it lasts for like a few weeks, and its a BIG
deal here...they even have school off for 1 day
to celebrate haha. They also had fireworks...it was
fun to see!...but their fireworks were...like for
2 minutes, and it was sponsered by SM or the mall
here. :) We were in the middle of teaching a lesson-
outside of course and it was 9:00 and they went
off...it was beautiful! :) They also celebrated their
"Independence day" June 12th.
To answer your question, yes, they do have
father's day here, But we didn't really notice people
celebrating it because this weekend we had
our special conference for North Luzon Philippines,
 it was good! :)  This week seriously is a blur- all
I know is our work was pretty much down the drain
because of circumstances that happened to Sis.
Magalogo. She had mentioned to me before that
she was in a car accident. Her mother passed away,
and she lived, but years ago when she was 15 she
was in a coma for months. She is now totally recovered,
and here serving a mission. Anyways, because of it
sometimes she blacks out. We got a text from her comp,
sis. Mckinley one night and said to buy gatorade
for her that she wasn't feeling well, so we came
home with gatorade for her and....I found her on the
bed, shaking, and totally not communicating, her eyes
twitching. I opened them, used a light to check her
pupils, took her pulse, called her name, it was
crazy....she was sweating...anyways, we got her
taken care of. Had to put socks on her feet...nurse her
back to health pretty much. haha It was crazy.
Sis. Mckinley was just standing there because she
didn't know what to do. Luckily, we had come
home just in time. Sis. Mckinley just started freaking
out and crying. Sis. Magalogo said she couldn't
talk but she could just write....so she wrote to us her
problems. Her speech was completely
compromised. Anyways, Sis. Mckinley said that
Sis. Magalogo was afraid to go to bed because
she might not wake up. I just thought that was a
little ridiculous, she was fine. Honestly I sensed
that it was a little of her home sickness, plus she
had only drunk like 1 cup of water and eaten 2
pieces of toast that day...her body was just shutting
down. So I forced her to drink and eat. They
all laughed at me, and called me mom...and trust
me...i felt like a mom...but it worked and she
was ok. We called president, I talked with him and
President was more upset than antyhing because on
her medical history she hadn't mentioned anything
about it. It was new news to her. He siad he was
99.9% sure that she would be sent home. Anyways,
he told me it was up to me if it was life or death
I could make the call and take her to the hospital,
but he said quite honestly here the hospitlas do
some weird things, and they'll sabotage a patient
first to get more money out of them and then nurse
them back to health...anyways it's a little ridiculous.
So he told me that she was better off there in my
care with my medical background then going to
the hosptial. No pressure, right?! haha Anyways,
the next day she continued to get a little better.
She kept having relapses though like she thought
she was in a car crash then and there and would just
start yelling & crying...and then the thought came
to me maybe she suffers from PTSD (post traumatic
stress disorder or something- and maybe it's stres
induced from the mission...but I didn't know really) 
One night when she was freaking out I was sitting
there, stroking her head while Sis. Mckinley went to
finally take a shower...it was like 1:00 in the morning-
and she confided in me that her Father abuses her
he hits her and likes to hit her in the head- and she
has a lot of memory and brain problems because
of it. This story just gets more and more interesting,
right? haha crazy. Finally they went to Urdanetta
and met with President- and had an interview, and
she was sent to MRC in Manilla MRC is a
Medical/missionary recovery Center- I guess they
made it like a medical center for the missionaries
and they made it out of the old mtc building there
before they redid it. Anyways, she and Sis. Mckinley
are now there in Manilla and they said that she was
interviewed by a psych. They determined that
she was never in a car accident, she has some mental
something...I don't know ... we haven't heard
any news yet from Sis. Mckinley, they are stilll there. I
guess I"ll let you know next week. Anyways, its been
a crazy week!
Especially because now we have to cover their
schedule- because they have a bap interview...
and our schedule too...it's just crazy! ah! haha
Kind of ironic because I was just praying, asking
Heavenly Father to send my way something so that
I could continue to learn cuz I feel at a stop- like
I"m not spiritually progressing- it's easy...I don't want
it to be easy. I want to learn. Well....ask and ye
shall receive, right? Anyways, I learned a little
more about me as a result of this. I learned that
more than anything...I want to be a mom. And...I'm
very grateful for nursing, and the subject I've
chosen to study.
Oh...yesterday morning, we also had an Earthquake!!
No joke...our room shook a little bit...but no big deal...
hehe oh the fun adventures in the pines...gotta love it :)
Our work was kind of crazy this week....but we did
have some great experiences with fellowshipping the
less active members. Bro Adolfo, whom we've been
visiting for 2 months since I've been here finally
expressed the reason why he doesn't want to go to
church, and it was because of a fellowshipper that
we brought, he felt comfortalbe with him :) The ward
doesn't need us to fellowship...they just need the
members to step it up, and help each other. We
taught Bro. Ryan and I was surprised when we
were talking I asked him where he saw himself ending
up in 10 years and he said he didn't know, maybe he
wouldn't even be alive. I told him he's 16 years old....
he's still a kid...he will be alive haha Then we talked
about planning. The attitude of the typical Pinoy is
life for today...they get their support from work
daily so they can eat, food storage...whats that?
emergency fund?...that doesn't exist. They live for
today now. Anyways, we made him make alist of the
goals in his life. It's good to have goals. If you have
no goals, you have nothing to live up to. No reason
to live. That is why we all have the end goal to reuturn
to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father &
Savior, Jesus Christ.
Anyways...basta magulog ang buhay ko para sa
linggo na eto, pero ayos lang.
Love you all and pray for you always!
xoxoxo


Me at the pump or "bomba" here, this is actually in front  of a house
...this is where they shower :)  And...that's completely normal here :)



Expected Due Date: Mar 10?!

Sister Olila and I bought a cake for Elder Antonios Birthday

June 11, 2012
Well Hello there Family! :) Thank you for the emails,
Kari...I loved all the pictures! I hope everyone there
had a great birthday!!!
I don't know if I mentioned it in last week's email or
not, but last week we had a lot of rain...and we had
mga tulog or like leaks in our roof and some other
problems with our house. Something from the "CR"
or restroom upstairs was leaking...and we had like
this huge yellow puddle in our kitchen and by our shoes...
it was disgusting, it got to the bookcase too...we had
move it...it was just grose. At the same time we had
running down the inside part of our walls. We also
have several repairs that haven't been taken care of
at the apartment so...we did what anyone else would
do...we went "house hunting" haha  Elder Engles
(senior couple here) gave us permission haha we found
some really nice places too...one even had a shower...
and a flushing toilet...I about died I was really excited. haha
we got a knock on our door (yes our aprt has a real door,
which is rare here :)) haha anyways, it was our parang
"landlord" he said, hey rumor has it that you're moving out.
haha here it is like no big deal, no offense, and you can just
pick up and move because...well for our situation I guess
what happened is a few years ago, the other mission president
before Pres Jensen asked Bro. Duke (they're really active
members at church here) to give up his house for the
missionaries, so they'd have a safe and protected, pretty nice
place...he willingly did it- so they are houseless...they live
out of their car (parked in front of the picture) and the
other half of the house, which is theirs too but it's
really small and they have a lot of children. Anyways,
I was very much appreciative of him, but that is why he
really didn't care if we moved or didn't move. But, he
has a brother that was excommunicated long ago, and is
now recently returning, and he said he doesn't want us to
be far from him, he wants us to continue to be there for
him, so he said to list all of the repairs and things that
he needs to fix, and he'd have someone over the next
day to do it for us. Well...so we're staying in our apartment.
Good thing too...I really didn't want to move..I hate
moving hah :)
One thing that I realized this week...of course I've
realized it the whole time that I've lived in the Philippines,
but it is how grateful I am for America. I am soo grateful
for  my country. It was cute because Sis. Olila's goal is to
sing every song in the hymn book from cover to
cover, so we go in order when it's her turn to conduct
companionship study (we do this every morning) and
yesterday we sang "America, the Beautiful" and earlier
we sang "My Country tis of thee" and it brought
tears to my eyes, I am soo grateful for my country. I
don't know what I did to deserve to be born there,
why I was given as many blessings as I have, but I am soo
blessed. For everything...for a loving family, for my body
being healthy, to have a good education, to have...just
everything that there is in America. I am blessed...we
all really are.
Here in the Philippines they also celebrate July 4th...
because they love America. haha It's called "Friendship
day". haha :) I am praying that things are going alright
I am absent there...in the next 9 months, its kind of scary
 not being there for the elections, I don't really know
what's going on in politics or what has happened at all...
which is all right...eye needs to be "single to His glory"
right? haha but...I can't wait to catch up when I get home.
It's funny here, everyone wants Mitt Romney to win the
election.  They don't even  know anything about him, other
than he's "mormon" haha but they all love him. eheh...
This week we were blessed to have fellowshippers at our
lessons! What a huge difference. Our ward missionaries
before, were only 19 years old, and they left on their
missions last month...so we had no more ward missionaries,
so we decided we needed to ask the ward members,
even though they're not called as ward misisonaries, to
help us. Because the less active members are all older
anyways, they need someone there who can really relate
to them. We visited one couple, Isidio & Beatrize Martinez-
they're older now, like in their late 60's or 70's. (ok mom
and dad don't get offended by that...hhaa here if
you're 60 or 70 its like...you look and act old) haha
anyways Brother
is soo cute, he and sister argue sometimes...like bicker in
front of us because brother won't pray, he says it's the same
if sister just says the prayer for them...haha it's funny..also
she bought him expensive glasses and he never wears them
because he doesn't like them...but we asked him to put
them on for us and he did, he is soo cute...we just told
him how handsome he was. haha anyways, we asked
bro. Dulatre & bro almoite to work with us that day and
they said yes, so bro. dulatre is in his late 60's...but he is
really strong and capable of ...everything, he works at his
farm still and is goin strong. haha when we have service
projects, he still volunteers...oh he's just great :) anyways,
when sis olila and I arrived at the house of bro. martinez,
he was wearing his under shirt, and short boxer
shorts. haha we just laughed...orch. haha. Anyways...
when bro dulatre showed up in his
nice pants and white polo shirt bro martinez excused himself
and then came back with his church dress pants on (still just
wearing his under shirt) and his pants were clear up to
his chest I swear...they were soo high...and he has a
pot belly...it was just...really really cute. It seriously brought
tears to my eyes it was soo cute. Sis Olila and I just smiled
and started to giggle a little to ourselves. It just goes to
show you that all the less actives need, is an example. they
need a friend, and they too will want to become good,
become active in the church again. We also noticed the
huge difference when members are present because
yesterday, we asked Sis. Lazaro to come with us, we
went to eh Hilario family, we've tried for 2 months (since
I've been here) to teach them. 2 times we've taught brother,
but sister hilario would not sit down or listen to us. Anyways,
don't know what exactly her problem is.Anyways, Sis Lazaro
used to be good friends with her, it made a huge
difference, because Sis. Lazaro, they said they were
sleeping inside their house, but because Sis. Lazaro is
friends, she just walked right in their house, said hey, we're
here to teach, i dont care if you're napping, wake up. hahaha
and they weren't offended cuz she did it jokingly, of course...
they sat down for the first time, and sister cried, the spirit
was really strong as we talked about faith in Jesus Christ,
and then shared 3 Ne 13- seek ye first the kingdom of God-
and don't think about if you have food, or water, or clothes...
all things will be added unto you. Their problem was they
didn't go to church because of work. gradually their heart
has been more and more hardened until they had no desire,
but the spirit was really strong yesterday.
We're hoping they come to church next sunday.
Speaking of next sunday we're excited because it's a special
conference here...just for North Luzon so the northern part
of the Philippines. We're thinking it's probably to announce
the ground breaking of the Urdaneta Temple...we're hoping
at least that's why. :)
Also...we were told yesterday that in August we have
2 apostles coming here! We're excited about that too...
maybe for the ground breaking. We don't really know! :)
This last few weeks I have really been praying, asking
for Heavenly Father to help me notice more of the "tender
mercies" from the Lord. I have been blessed, that my eyes
have been opened. He is all around us and in everything we do,
there is almost always a tender mercy. I am so grateful for
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the short time I"ve
been given to be here in Sto Tomas.
I love you all & pray for you
lagi...
xoxoxo
Love,

Well Hello There...

Blowing out Sis. Olila's birthday cupcake!

  
June 3, 2012
Hello!!! What a great week, no?!
So this week I think we had like a major event almost
EVERY DAY!!! It was soo crazy...and wonderful! :)
It went by soo fast though! It was the week of
Sister Olila's Birthday!! Wednesday we had another
service project, it was a lot of fun...especially because
it was Sis. Olila's Birthday! :) Elder Antonio called me
the night before and we planned that he would buy a
cake and make a sign...of course I couldn't do it...cuz
I'm not allowed to go anywhere unless she's attached
to my hip :)  haha    Anyways...so he and Elder Lucillio
did that, and it was a nice surprise- she had no idea!
Thursday was a lot of fun too because we had cleaning
checks...we were the last apartment they checked though
...so we had to stay in our apartment till 6 that night...
because they didn't come till then. haha  its okay...we
got a lot of other work & planning done while we were
waiting. And...we passed...I think once again we got
the 500 pesos reward...yes! :)
Friday Sis Magalogo & Sis Mckinley weren't there...
so we went out to lunch...that was a fun treat...guess where
we went? Pizza Hut!!!   Civilization!! hehe...not rice!!! :)
Saturday- we had a baptism & wedding. It was really
great, the spirit was strong, and Me, Sis. Olila &
Sis McKinnley sung "Lord I would Follow Thee" in Tagalog-
and Sis. Magalogo played the piano. It was really pertty-
I thought of Daddy...cuz that's his favorite song! :)
Oh I almost forgot to mention S. Olila slipping in the
mud this week...finally it wasn't me this time, it was her.
She had a HUGE mud print on her backside...she just
reversed her skirt so it was on the side and we just kept
going. hahahahhaa we just laugh...no worries haha
I was surprised she laughed too...haha ah you have to
love the weather here in the philippines :)
Our lessons are going great, and we're starting to see
progress with some of the Less Actives. We also have 3
progressing investigators here now. I was worried,
this area is harder than Lingayen as far as the members go,
the organization is great, but the people are hard . IN
Lingayen it was the opposite. haha But, its okay,
they're really progressing. Brother Ryan used to smoke a pack
a day and drink and now he is down to half a cigarette every
other day. He has a sincere desire to be baptized.
Brother Aldyn is 17 years old, His father was less active
and is now returned, and his mother and sister are recent
converts- so if things go well with him, hopefully it will
complete their family. They are working towards a temple
sealing now, it would be great if Bro Aldyn could be there.
I have learned a lot this week, it is true that ' we see ourselves
in terms of yesterday and today, but our Father in Heaven see's
us in terms of forever". Sometimes things happen to us and
we're not sure why- I see it not only in my life, but in the lives
of the many people here in Carmen, they wonder why it
happens to them especially because they're a member.
But we're not exempt- things happen for a reason. If there
was no opposition, there would be no opportunity to grow
and become better; more like our Father in Heaven. After all,
that is what this life is all about. Like Kelly always used to say
to me growing up, as she would hit my forehead with her
hand "Life's tough, get a helmet" right?! haha ;)
Well, that was my week in a nutshell. This week was
great, I'm starting to realize even more that when I come
home things will be different, I want to stay here...just
import my family here, and It'd be complete...I'd have my
Filipino & American family :)

YUP!  They're everywhere!

Sis. Olila and I opening our birthday boxes!

Love you all &
take care!