Finally.... An email with details!!!

Hello to anyone and everyone who is reading this!

How are you all?! I hope you're all doing weel. I'm doing good. And, just as expected, I'm not transferring! I get another 6 weeks here in Inabanga Green. Heaven on Earth. I'm excited to watch our recent converts continue to grow and hopefully witness a couple more baptism before I leave here. :D 

So we have this investigator who was found by Sister P and Sister S. And we've been teaching her this whole time and we were running out of patience and ideas because she's been reading the Book of Mormon and has a strong testimony of that and of Joseph Smith. But she just wouldn't come to church! So last week, we took over some fellowshippers for the first time. And oh boy did it work. We had a great lesson and she came to church last Sunday! Not only did she come to church, but she brought her 3 kids. And, during Relief Society, she shared a really spiritual personal experience and bore testimony of the power of prayer. It was amazing! She did it all willingly. Yesterday, when we visited her, she just kept saying about how she was just overwhelmed with the Spirit on Sunday. And she had so many great questions. It was really an miracle. 

Then we went to the T's home to do their first family home evening with them. And we were having an absolute blast and teaching them how to do it so they can start doing it on their own and all that jazz. Man I love that family so much. All of our recent converts. We're family and this is our first family reunion in a long time. I'm so happy to have this opportunity to reunite with them :D 

Anyways, down in Tontunan, where they live, there is no cellphone signal. So, during the closing prayer when we suddenly received a series of rapid texts, we were shocked. All of them from Sister I - her mission call had come! President Tanner was over here on Bohol for zone interviews and he brought it to her! Unfortunately, we were clear down in Tontunan (about 30-40 mins away from her house, or longer depending on how long the wait for transportation is.) Luckily, Sister I loves us. And because last Thursday night, when we were doing a FHE with their family, she got the text that her call was in, she promised us that she'd wait until we could be there with her!!! So we ran up Tontunan hill (poor Sister Orzal looked like she might have a heart attack) and as soon as we stepped onto the highway, a tricycle heading to Clarin came by and picked us up! 

Slowest tricycle ride ever. And the driver had to stop to pee on the side of the road. I was like: "FOR REAL?! Sister I has her mission call!!!!" Anyways, we go there just in time. We ran down Tangaran to where she lives and were greeted by a large crowd of ward members. We all rushed inside her balay and she opened it.

PHILIPPINES CAGAYAN DE ORO MISSION!!!! She reports October 24th, 2014 to Manila :D And I'm so excited for her! She's so great.

Ah. So, from our tiny Inabanga Brach, which averages about 100 people (if the R family comes. If not, it's like 85...) we have Bro. J who leaves in August, another brother leaving in September and Sister I leaving in October. Sister J's papers are in, so none of us will be surprised if she leaves in November! It's super special. I love Inabanga so much!

Ah so last Monday, we had a zone activity. We all went down to the beach on this island off the coast of Calape. Here in Calape Zone we have 26 people and one 12 passenger van. Luckily, the rules about seats and seatbelts aren't applicable here. So 24 of us (Sister W and Sister J didn't come) piled into that 12 passenger van and droved down to Calape! I was standing on the side with Sister T because all the seats and laps and floor were taken. It was crazy fun! We had a great time playing beach volleyball and enjoying the sand. It was a perfect day - there were clouds, so the sand wasn't blazing hot - but it didn't rain! So perfect. It was way fun. 

The attached picture is my beloved Calape Zone, June-July 2014 Transfer! Not pictured: Sister W and Sister J who didn't come to our Zone Activity at the Calape Beach, and Sister T (from Fiji) and Elder T (our other zone leader) who were taking the pictures. Now, sweet Sister V has gone home!

Alright. Gonna leave ya'll with that for now. I'll send over some more pictures.

I love you all!!!

Amping!

Ingat!

Halong!

The Field is White....

Hello :D

Been awhile since I started in English. Thought I'd try it :D

Alright. Yeah, I've been AWOL for like 3 weeks. Cuz I'm in the Bukid and the only city is Tagbi. So if we need important things, we have to go there...and traveling there is like 4 hours there and back. So it consumes like our whole P-day! So I'm sorry I've lacked email time...

So this past June 24, M got baptised. She's a convert from Iglesia ni Kristo. I've been teaching her since my first week here :D The picture attached is at her baptism, with Elder Meliang, Elder Fox (who baptized her), her husband (who is getting baptized this Saturday - July 12, along with 5 of our other investigators) and Sister Orzal and I.

So yeah. This coming Saturday, July 12, we'll have 6 baptisms and another one is working out some stuff and will probably be baptized the first week of August if he keeps progressing like he is right now :D

Aright. Questions now: 

1.  Tell us about your new companion.

Sister Orzal. Where do I start?!? This Sister is SO amazing. The past few weeks with her have flown by. She is so obedient in every way, and always learning and helping and just being awesome. She teaches me so much and I love her to death. 

2.  What was the hardest thing you have had to do as a trainer?

Umm...training hasn't actually been difficult. I'm more of just a senior companion - Sister Orzal came pre-trained. I thought the language would be hard, but it's not bad. I thought I'd have to do all the teaching, but she's already participating a ton. So it actually hasn't been hard yet. She's just so good!!!

3.  Tell us about an investigator.

Hmm....we have this one investigator named J. She's in her late 50's or early 60's. She lives an interesting life. She had 3 kids - her oldest is C. Her other son lives in Cebu and she doesn't see him a lot. And her youngest, J., who was killed by a stray bullet and died on Christmas day a few years ago due to blood loss. That was right after her husband had died and so they couldn't afford the blood they needed to save J.'s life. Now, after several years, she has a new man in her life and they're working on getting married. Last night, we went to her house and had the opportunity to teach her about the Plan of Salvation. She recognized the truth of our message through the peace that came with knowing where her husband and son are right now and that she can see them again one day. It was really spiritual and she really felt it. She can get baptized once her and her boyfriend are married.

4.  With your new companion, who does the cooking?  

Mostly Sister Orzal. She actually knows how to cook. Sometimes I cook....and I always help. Usually I wash the dishes and put the rice in the rice cooker and she cooks the sud-an. 

On a side note, I when I went to Cebu to pick up Sister Orzal, I met one of her batch - Sister DeTal. and Sister DeTal told me that she's read my blog! Followed by: "You're so much prettier in person!" haha...is that a...compliment?

Also, we have this giant hill. Like it takes a good 15 mins to walk up and you're doing lunges up it. It's the short way to this one  family so we walk down and up it a lot. It's either short and steep or 45 mins one way. So when Elder Fox and Elder Meliang came to do the baptismal interviews for the family, they got to go up and down the hill. They also brought our Branch Mission Leader, brother M. On the way up the hill, Elder Meliang sat down on the ground half way through and told us he could go no farther. Followed by a comment from Brother M: "Moniwang si Sister Warner." Which basically means: "Sister Warner's gonna get skinny. Followed by a round of laughter. Lolz! I've been walking up that hill for 2 months now! (Not with Sister Salima cuz she didn't wanna do it....it's really hard.)

The work here is really being hastened. I'm so lucky to be a part of it. The coolest thing about the mission, the thing that makes it all worth it, is watching these people really change their lives. Like huge changes. And watching the spark of the light of the Gospel become a bright burning flame within them. That radiates in their countenances. 

No fireworks on the Fourth of July. Unless you count the fireworks in the eyes and souls of the missionaries and the investigators when they are given the "go-ahead" for baptism. When their salvation is almost palpable - right there, within reach. And they're grasping it with their whole hearts. There is no replacement for those fireworks. 

I'll leave you with a quote I saw on the back of Sister Mahinay's planner.

"We should not expect the Lord to remove our challenges just because we promise Him that we will always be faithful if He does. Rather, we are to endure well, and then we will be blessed." 

- Elder J. Christopher Lansing

Well said.

Nahigugma ko kaninyo :D

Amping! 

Ingat!

Halang! 

ANOTHER QUICK EMAIL!

It was another quick email!  Last week, they had rolling brown outs... Alan got a quick email wishing him a "Happy Father's Day" and then nothing.  Terryl got 3 lines.  Pretty sad, huh!!!!  This week, it was a little better!  We got some more detail; unfortunately, she her watch broke and she has to catch a boat to go somewhere to get a new watch!  Darn it!!!

Kamusta!!!

First, gotta get two things out there.

1) Dragons are real. Mosiah 20:11

2) Aliens are real, too. Hebrews 11:34

3) Can't find evidence of zombies :(

Alright! So transfers went down this past week!!!

Tuesday night at 11pm (so late!) We got the text that Sister Hatch would be going to Tagbi...and I would be staying and training a new missionary!!!! 

Meet Sister Orzal - my first anak (GREENIE!)  in the mission!!!! She's so awesome. She's from Luzon and speaks Tagalog. Which sometimes proves difficult in lessons cuz I don't speak Tagalog very well. But, needless to say, my Tagalog has increased 20 fold in the last few days! She's teaching me a lot. And she's still learning English!

P-day was great! And this will be short again cuz we're going back to Tagbi so I can buy a new watch! Getting on the boat Thursday back to Cebu, the strap got caught and ripped off. So sad. Gotta get a new one now :D

Amazing experience...going to Cebu to get my anak! I traveled with Sister Mahinay and stayed in Consolacion with Sister Lange and then, the next day at the church, I saw sister Juliet!!!!! So awesome :D

Enjoy the picture of the awesome dragonfly. This type of dragonfly is all over our area. And they move really slowly, so you can pick them up and hold them and stuff. They just play dead when you pick them up and hold really still. I'll send a picture of me holding one. It's pretty cool. And they really are that bright red color.

So...we have this awesome investigator who will be baptized in a few weeks named Sister G. She's 20 and she has a 9 month old son named A. And we went to teach her the other day and when we showed up, A in this frilly little pink shirt with ruffles. Then I told Adam that real men wear pink - he just smiled. He doesn't understand anything yet...still too young. But it turned out Sister G had just bought that for him when she went to ukay-ukay ("oo-k-eye oo-k-eye" like a yard sale - it's piles of left over clothes from Goodwill and DI that are sold here for a really cheap price and it's basically the only way people here can buy clothes).  She went there to buy some modest clothes because we had taught her the Law of Chastity and how modesty applies. In terms of all my investigators with a baptismal date, she really gets it. She was so prepared. We had to drop her for a transfer (with Sister Salima) to get her there, but now, she really learns, understands and applies. So even though she's poor, when we taught her the L.O.C. she went out and bought a whole new wardrobe so that she could live the law of modesty. She's absolutely amazing. She really is grounded in Ang Basahon ni Mormon and trusts God so much. She's getting baptized on July 12. 

I'm doing my best out here. Representing the Warner name and my Savior's name. And I'm ridiculously happy to do it.

I'm very excited. The work is progressing so fast :D

Alright - gotta run! But I love you all!!!!

Ingat :D

Beautiful Dragonfly

Sister Warner and her companion, Sister Orzal (on her left)

A TRIP DOWN THE RIVER.....

Kamusta mo?!

So sorry this is gonna be brief. We had a zone activity down in Loboc - we went on the Loboc River Tour with the Talbots and Sister Tanner. So. Much. Fun. It was gorgeous!

1.  When are transfers?  Do you feel like you will have a transfer between you and Sister Hatch?  

Yes. One of us will probably be transferring. Not sure who, but I feel like changes will be made!

2.  How is your apartment working for you?  What do you use to cook with?  A stove?  

We have a stove thingy on top of the counter that's connected to a tank of gasul, so we cook with that. It's similar to a Camp Chef...

3.  Do you only drink the bottled water?  So far so good with that?

Actually we have like a kuan...it's like the one we have at home in the corner. Like a dispenser thing...? and we just trade in the jugs with our landlord and they get them filled up with purified water. I'll take a picture of the kitchen soon so you can see!

4.  What do you typically eat for breakfast?

Whatever we have! Pansit, bananas, apples, Energen (this sort of hot drink)

5.  Who cooks?  You or Sister Hatch or both?

Both of us. We cook pretty equally. Haha. And we do dishes equally. Companionship unity!

6.  What did you do in church today?

Yesterday...we had 7 investigators at church! They're all have baptismal dates within the next couple of weeks. So I hope I don't transfer! We just went to Gospel Principles Class with them and then Relief Society. We didn't teach yesterday, which was a first in weeks. 

7.  Any funny, special, spiritual stories? 

Umm...I wish I had more time to write about the miracles I've seen, but I just don't have time today cuz of the Zone Activity. But I will share one miracle. So the Loboc River Trip takes place on a floating restaurant. And it costs P400. Expensive. So everyone was trying to plan which meals to skip so that they could afford to go and such. So Sister Hatch and I were gonna skip dinner a couple of days to afford it (lolz...) and then, we got fed. Dinner Thursday-Saturday. And Sunday night, this family we're close with gave us 3 Kilos of rice and veggies. Wow. Miracle! The Lord is aware even of our desires and is willing to help us out! Even when it comes to affording zone activities....

Alright. Gonna take off now to go work! 

Nahigugma ko kaninyo!

- Sister Warner -

BY THE WAY:  There is a picture of my arm.  I took a little tumble down our stairs cuz my flip-flops were wet and I was running down the stairs and slipped! Got several deep bruises on the left side of my body. Right side escaped unscathed cuz I grabbed the rail. One on my arm, two on my back, one on the back of my thigh and one on the back of my calf. It actually didn't hurt until that night when I went to sleep then....ouch!!!

The is of  Elder Johnson, Sister Cuerquis and I :D I love them! They're awesome!

Me with Sister Tanner.

This is with the Talbot's.  They go home in July and I am going to miss them.

This is with my Zone - on the floating restaurant.  Awesome!!!

We did NOT receive an email for posting on May 11; it was Mother's Day and we Skyped!!!  The next week, she was having brown outs (electricity loss) so we only got bits and pieces. Here is her May 25, 2014 email.  

Kamusta mo?!

Well, as you can tell about my totally nonchalant title for this thing...I'm out of creative juices!  It's been a long week. A looong week. 

My new companion, Sister Hatch, likes to run. So, every morning at 5:30 am, we wake up. And we pray. And put on our running clothes and shoes. And we run until about 6:30. 

It's hard. But I love it! And it gives us time to explore our area. The people here are up with the sun and down with the sun, so often I think that the work here would be more successful if we could start earlier in the day...but that's okay. We can explore while we run.

Then we stretch and shower and eat breakfast and study and work! 

I don't know if the running helps necessarily...since our area is super bukid and we spend the day hiking mountains as it is.....*Give me, mountains to climb!* How true that song is. I sing it every day!

I'm having internet difficulties again...so I'm gonna make this quick! 

We moved to Clarin! Tuesday we spent all day paling around with the Talbots and moving from Calape to Clarin. We got to go to this super awesome store called Bohol Beads (they go home in July and wanted some gifts for their families) and this awesome hotel in Tubigon (the Robertson's and Tanner's are in Bohol right now so we helped pick out rooms for them and make reservations) called the Monina RM. So nice. And there's a super nice restaurant inside...I've eaten there once after a district meeting. 

Funny story: Sister Hatch and I were teaching a lesson the other night and one of those cute, cute little tiki's crawled on the ceiling and then pooped on Sister Hatch's leg. Haha - that's the first time I've seen that happen!

Sorry this is so short...I'll make it longer next week! And I'll add some pictures. 

In the mean time...

I love and miss you all!!!!

Sister Warner

HERE ARE TWO PICTURES THAT SHOW THE BEAUTY OF HER AREA:

Mangroves 

Banana Trees

Life on Bohol

Kamusta mo?!

What an exciting week. 

First, our zone activity! Last Wednesday, we piled into the Zone Leader's van (except the Ubay district because they're so far away) and drove to this lake. It was SO beautiful! Sister Hatch and I found this trail and went running on it, but I only had flipflops and it was raining. So they broke. So I had to run 3/4 of the trail around the lake barefoot! It was super scary cuz all the creepy crawlies here...but I lived! At one point we went to cross a little stream and I stepped in what I thought was a little bit of mud and ended up sinking down to my knees! Whoo....it was a bit deeper than I thought. We finished our run around the lake wet from the rain (and sweat *gross* cuz it was SO hot) and dirty. But it was a blast!

Then Thursday, we piled back into the Zone Leader's van and headed up to Loon for a CSP! We filled the Talbot's truck with shovels, gloves, picks and spent the morning breaking and hauling rocks in the oven-like heat. It was for the member that Elder Teh talked about at General Conference...the one who's most valuable possession is her Temple recommend and she's happy despite losing her daughter and grandson in the Earthquake. We all got sunburned (or darker) and sweat litres. But we stopped and got delicious shakes on the way home (I got avacado/buko pandan which is avacado and coconut. It's delicious.)

Lots of work this week, too. Sister Salima and I climbed a mountain on Friday and walked for miles and miles yesterday. It was Fiesta - Patron: San Isidro Labrador for the areas we were working in. The day was filled with drunk people smoking, playing volleyball, basketball and participating in videoke. Quite the adventure. People were drunk and having a party, but because it was Fiesta, they wanted to hear the Word of God, too. Going home Saturday night and Sunday night was quite the journey. All of the simbahans(churches) turned into discohans(clubs) for fiesta. Strobe lights, colorful dance lights, rock music and lots of food. It was really interesting to see....

So the money came in for the new Clarin B sister's apartment. They should be cleaning it up and moving in within the next week or so! It might be Sister Salima and I or whoever the new companion is.   When we move, I will miss Calape. I will miss the Talbots. But I won't miss the music. Every morning our neighbor turns on his radio full blast. It's hard to concentrate when you have Kesha playing full blast. But on special occations, he turned on Classic Opera and Musical songs which reminded me of the Ballams and Utah Festival Opera -that I will miss! Mostly just Sunday Mornings when I get to hear songs like "The Impossible Dream" or "Ave Maria."  

Anyways, it was a great week. Transfers are this week! This is the first transfer that I have absolutely no idea what will happen. No idea. There are infinite possibilites. Guess we'll find out soon :D

I love you all!

Sister Warner

Santa Claus is coming to town.......

Joke lang. Just San Jose because here in Bohol it's FiEsTa!!! So their Patron Saint is San Jose. Right now, the streets are lined with yellow and green banners that say: "Happy Fiesta!" and all the people are gearing up for the great feasts that will occur this week. 

Miracles. Yes. Miracles. This week has been full of miracles. See question #3 :D

Speaking of questions...

1.  Do you teach a class on Sundays?  If so, what class do you teach and how many people are in it?

The missionaries take turns teaching the Gospel Principles Class. Most of the time the Elders teach, but I think we're starting to switch off cuz the other Sisters taught last week. 

2.  What did you do for service this week?  

Tomorrow Calape Zone is headed up to Loon in the wee hours of the morning to help do something up there....not sure what! Guess I'll find out tomorrow :D

3.  Tell us about one investigator or member who touched your life this week.

So we have this couple - they're so awesome. Mercy and Yul (short for Yulysses) They were found by Sister Pinkham and Sister Milligan back in...January I think. They were taught a few times by them, but never really progressed. Then, my first week in the field, Sister Salima and I decided to visit them. We visited their neighbors first and the neighbors mentioned that they were Iglesia ni Kristo...to those of you at home who are reading this, that probably doesn't sound like a big deal since Iglesia is only here in the Philippines. They have a reputation for not ever listening to the missionaries and for being really hard, hard investigators. So we were a bit leery of visiting them (Sister Salima and Sister Pinkham only taught them one time last transfer) but we went anyways. And after a great lesson, they told us they'd come to church. And they did! And they've come every week since then. They've payed tithing and fast offerings and participated in class and made great comments. And yesterday, they told us they want to be baptised and they want to go on a couples mission! 

Oh my heck. Even though it was like an oven outside and we were all sweating like crazy, I still managed to get chills. Unfortunately, they don't want to be baptized until June 24 (apparently the day that Jesus was baptized??? I'm not sure about that, but I'm just so happy for them.) so they're going to turn into a 6 missionary venture! Sister Pinkham and Sister Milligan who planted the seeds. Sister Salima and I who nourished them. And the two missionaries who are here in June will reap the harvest. And hopefully one day, in the next life, all 8 of us will sit together in the Kingdom of our Father and fully feel His joy. They are a miracle and I love them so, SO much. 

4.  Tell us one funny thing that happened this week.  

Funny thing...hmm...Most of this week has just been happy. 'Not funny' per se, but just really happy. I guess one funny experience. So every night we take the bus home. And people bring all sorts of stuff on the bus. Most people don't have their own vehicle, they just use public transportation. So the other night we stopped to pick up a guy and this guy had like 4 mattresses, a giant stack of chairs and bags and bags of stuff for his tindahan. Lolz. And it ALL came on the bus with him. The mattresses and bags up on the top of the bus and the chairs taking up the back bench leaving no sitting room. The poor guy who was putting the mattresses up on top of the bus got stuck up their (cuz the bus driver just started driving) and had to crawl back into the bus through one of the windows! Oh man we were laughing so hard. 

5.  What difficulty did you face this week and how did you overcome that difficulty?

This week, the heat has been almost unbearable. You can break a sweat sitting outside in a lawn chair at 9:30 at night after the sun has been down for like 3 hours. But, when we teach and we lose ourselves in the teaching and in our work, we forget about the heat. One of the many blessings from our loving Father in Heaven who is aware of our every need. 

Mail from March is starting to trickle in now...slowly. But I got a dearelder in which Sister Peng gave a breakdown of the average day. I like that idea, so I'm gonna do the same! Here it is:

About 5:45-6:15 = Sister Salima and I both wake up. We never set the alarm because the sun is always so bright in the morning that there's no way you can sleep past 6:30. We have no curtains on our windows,so the sun is our alarm and that starts rising at about 5:00. We pray and then I take the fan back to the Sister Training Leaders who live next door. 

If we're up by 5:45, then we go exercise. My favorite is when we run to the church in Calape and run laps around the church. Sister Salima prefers to exercise in the front yard doing more like muscle-y stuff.

6:30 Sister Salima showers and I write in my journal and exercise some more. Plus drink water. Nice cold water.

7:00 I shower and we both get ready for the day.

8:00 is Personal study. This transfer I've devoted the first half of my time to studying Jesus The Christ and the New Testament. The second half I focus on the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel with my investigators in mind.

9:00 We sing a hymn, then we pray. We recite our Purpose, then various scriptures like our Mission Scripture (Jacob 5: 71-72) and D&C 4 in English and some scriptures we use a lot in our lessons, like John 3:16, James 1:5 and stuff like that in Visaya. Then we recite the First Vision in Visaya. Then share our personal studies and prepare to teach our investigators. 

10:00 We prepare for the day. If we have time, we try to eat lunch. 

10:45-11:00 is usually waiting for the bus to our area.

11:00-12:30 traveling to our area. 

12:30-6:00 is teaching. All day. Hiking through the bukid, mostly tracting. And we walk! Everywhere! Lots of walking and hiking and great adventures stuff.

6:00-7:30 is waiting for a bus back home and traveling back home.

7:30 is dinner

8:00 is planning and evaluation

9:00 is language study!

10:00 I go next door and steal the STL's fan. We have no fan of our own so we borrow theirs for the night. We have an AirCon unit, but it's too expensive to use. So electric fan it is! We only have sheets on our bed. Even though we die in the heat every night, we put a flat sheet over us so that we don't get bit by mosquitoes during the night. Then we read Ang Basahon ni Mormon together out loud until 10:30, when we pray and then lights out.

The days are long and beautiful!

Next week is transfer week! So I've had some time to reflect back on this transfer. Yeah, it's gone by ridiculously fast. Sister Salima and I have had such a great transfer together. Good times and bad times. We've been persecuted - laughed at, made fun of, mocked, pointed at, and been treated poorly. But we've also been so loved, so cared for, and so, soblessed. Whether it was singing hymns to get over broken hearts due to rejection, or whether it was taking our roller-coaster-like bus rides home, spending more time in the air than in our seats and gripping the bars in front of us as hard as we can. Laughing as we get pelted by peanut shells and trash that people have attempted to throw out the windows unsuccessfully. It's been quite the transfer. I seriously have had an amazing time.

I have absolutely no idea what will happen at transfers. No idea. It could go any and every way! But all I know is that I trust the Lord. I'll go where He wants me to go, I'll say what He wants me to say, and I'll be who He wants me to be. 

I love you all!!!

Sister Warner