Chapel Tour

This week was pretty slow at first but the past couple days have been awesome. So we had been making like no progress with finding new people to teach because street contacting just doesn't work here because everyone is always either working or busy, there's not really anyone that's out and about just to be out. Last Saturday we had a chapel tour though, which was looking like it was going to be a total bust, no one that was invited came. We have like 15 ward missionaries and they all invited people and like none of them came either. We were supposed to start at 5 and it got to 5:30 and Elder Clegg and I decided we'd try just inviting people off the streets. We tried encouraging people, promised them that there'd be food. We even talked with a homeless person and encouraged him to come and eat and stuff with us and even he didn't come. One of the ward missionaries said he was on his way still and that he was bringing a friend so we just decided we'd wait for him. He finally came around 6:30ish and he showed up with 8 people from his class! It was great, we actually got a chance to teach new people. There wasn't a ton of interest from them though, so we were still a little disappointed. However, the next couple days after that we received like 5 referrals from members just like out of the blue! It was awesome! We didn't even go up and talk with these members, they just came by and they were like "hey, I know this person that you should go talk to." So ya now we have a few new investigators so that's been really exciting. My bisaya is starting to improve more. It's still hard to have just like a normal conversation but I can really teach now in lessons.

Each day, as long as there's no meetings or anything that takes up time, we generally plan to teach around 10 lessons, but of course we generally get punted a few times. So some days we are lucky to teach just 2 times, but other days we end up teach 7 or 8 lessons. Weekly we probably teach around 20ish lessons on a good week, but other weeks we're lucky if we teach around 12 lessons. We mostly teach investigators, less actives, and a couple recent converts each week. We also meet with members though, so I've probably taught a lesson to most of our ward at this point.

Our church building was actually the original stake center that was built back in the 80s but it's actually still in a really good condition. Elder Clegg was telling me it was also there that they translated the Book of Mormon into Cebuano.

I remembered to take more pictures of our area this week. I also went on splits because a companionship in my district was in the hospital all week (one of the elders got a bacteria infection thing on his face) so I went with one of the Elders so that he could teach in his area at least once this week. So I have a couple pictures from that area (Arlington) as well.

We actually haven't been getting that much rain so that's been lame. I don't think I'll ever see the leaves change color here so if anything you're lucky. And we probably pray like 37 times each day so ya.

Gihigugma tika! Miss you!
Elder Shirley


Arlington + sunset


Pics of the area outside of our balay and in front of the church. and of course pics of the church


elder clegg only has a backpack because he is carrying a ton of pamphlets and book of mormons to the chapel for the chapel tour.










Our Chapel


Chapel tour with all the ward missionaries plus the people that came


Ward missionaries that woke up early to throw a frisbee with us --the one standing in this pic is the Ward mission leader, he's 20ish, his name is Louen (pronounced lowen). The one squatting right next to me is brother Prince, he's a recent convert and is super fun to teach, and the one in front of me I still haven't figured out his name... There's so many of them....

This area is great, I absolutely love the people here.

My week has been good. My bisaya is improving, I can share more in lessons, and the people we are teaching are progressing so it's been good all around. So when I say that my area is about as city as it gets, I really do mean it. We are actually in the smallest area in the entire mission. We can walk from one end to the other in like 20ish minutes. There is probably some place we can get toilet paper but that'd just be another thing we'd have to buy so to budget we just don't. Wiping actually isn't nearly as bad as you'd think. But ya it's also the same deal in the Philippines, if you do use toilet paper like in the church bathrooms, then you just throw it away in a little garbage can right next to the toilet, you don't flush toilet paper.

Also no one has gotten Dengue fever in my area before so I'm safe for the next couple months.

In the Manila MTC I did buy the easy-soft rubber shoes that everyone talks about and they're literally the greatest things ever. They're actually really comfortable and light so they're super nice. There is four beds in my apartment but there's only two of us so we just have extra beds. It's funny because I was actually talking with some filipino Elders and they said that they actually hated the apartment I'm in. Their main thing was just that it smells because we have a river right outside of our house and every river in the city is just filled with trash so they actually do smell really bad, but I personally can't smell it in the balay so I think our house is great. Elder Clegg was explaining to me but apparently filipinos are really picky with where they live which I totally thought it'd be the Americans that'd care more so that was interesting. And ya we can't really use hot water to do dishes because we don't have any hot water period so ya that's not happening.

Last Pday we went to Museo Sugbo which was pretty cool. It's a museum about the history of Cebu. So I guess Sugbo is actually the original name of the island but when the spanish came they asked a person who was just walking by what the name of the island was. They of course didn't understand and they thought they were asking what he was carrying, so he responded with what he was carrying... Zebu, or dried fish oil. So that's how they got the name Cebu.

So as far as getting a hair cut, Elder Stastny wanted to get haircuts at the MTC before leaving and so I went with him and then one of the filipinos working their called me over to get a hair cut and then ya so I got a hair cut. We do have a church building, I haven't taken a picture of it yet so you'll just have to wait for that.

For emailing we just go to little internet shops. It's like 18pesos for and hour so its alright. I think we can print things off at the shop but it costs more money so we generally try not to have to print a ton of things off.

So here in Sikatuna we generally just walk in the streets. Either the side walk is too small or people just extend their balay onto the side walk, so it's easiest just to walk in the street. It's actually pretty great because you just walk across any street whenever and where ever. You just kind of wait until there's a break and then walk. Generally there's not a moment where you can cross the street all at once so you kinda just cross frogger style and just keep moving through the lanes, waiting for cars to pass by, and then moving into the next lane. It's awesome. It's actually pretty safe too, since everyone does it, all of the cars and motorcycles expect it so they just kind of serve around you.

I think I've been blessed pretty much everyday since I've been here. And i mean like blessed by kids. So like there's like this respect thing where if there's an older person like a tatay or nanay (it's like dad or mom but like older so more for like a grandparent but since they're not your grandparent you don't say lolo or lola) then you take their hand and then put it up to your forehead. We live like right next to a school so we walk past kids everyday and ya there's always a couple that take our hands and bless us.

For language study Elder clegg kinda just helps me out with whatever I feel like I'm struggling with most at the time. Sometimes we just take a picture book of mormon that's in english and then take turns translating it into bisaya.

For lessons we have probably taught out of the english book of mormon as much as we have taught out of the bisaya book of mormon. It just depends on the people we teach. A lot of people in the city speak pretty good english and think the english one is easier to read so we just use that.

Right now we only have a few new people that we've been teaching because in the city we really have to work mostly through referrals because on the streets and stuff everyone is too busy to talk. Last night was cool because we had recently taught a former investigator who pretty much never progressed because he felt like there was no reason to give up smoking and that there were no health problems or anything wrong with it, and we shared Alma 32:27-29 with him and just asked him to try pretty much. We went and visited him last night and he was out smoking in front of his restaurant. When we started talking with him though he apparently used to smoke like 3 packs a day (about 60 cigarettes) and now he said he's been able to smoke only 3 or 4 times a day so he's improving and actually trying. He's been taught all of the lessons like 3 times so this was huge. We decided to all just share about family history with him because he had never been taught about it before. He was actually reeeeally into it. He was super excited about it and he actually wants to come to church this sunday to meet the ward family history consultant. I don't think he's ever come to church before either so that's really exciting!

This area is great, I absolutely love the people here.

Amping!
Elder Shirley


Cebu Temple






FHE at the Osumo's house with 2 other District Leaders after District Leader Council


Fish tank outside of our balay

Member's dog begging for food

Sitkatuna

Hey pasensya (sorry), I was supposed to get an opportunity last thursday to send a quick email saying that I'm alive but I told my trainer I'd just wait till Wednesday so we could get to work. 

So Wednesday we all got to the mission home and went through so orientation kind of stuff. Afterwards we got to go through the Cebu temple (since it's literally 100ft from the mission home) and do an endowment session (in english). It was super cool, the temple is absolutely beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful temples I've ever seen. It's on the smaller side it's bigger than the Anchorage temple so it's not that small. That night they had everyone that was going to be a trainer come and have dinner with us and talk with us. We weren't actually assigned trainers yet so Elder Stastny and I tried to figure out all the areas that the elders were serving so we could have an idea of where we'd end up. Dinner at the mission house is literally the greatest like lami gyud siya. 

That night we stayed at a little hotel by the mission home and then the next morning we went back to the mission home to meet up with our trainers and then head out. They have like a little tradition thing were they have all of the trainees stand outside in a line and then while we sing Called to Serve our trainers come out and stand behind us. When we finished singing we'd turn around and we'd meet our trainers. So ya that was kinda fun. My trainer is Elder Clegg, he's from Cache Valley, Utah and he's been out for a little over a year now (I think he hit his year mark in July). After I got my trainer we just happened to be walking around the mission home looking for something and we asked Sister Pajaro (the mission president's wife) where something was and she said she didn't know but she invited us to eat lunch with her and it turns out it's next to impossible to turn down an invitation to eat, people will just force you to eat with them. But ya so day 1 and we got to eat lunch with the mission president and his wife. 

We are serving in the Sikatuna area which is about as city as it can get. The people here are awesome. Our first night of teaching I got kinda lucky because we just visited with some members who all happened to speak amazing english. One of the them actually translates for the church. Then the other family we visited is like the filipino version of the brady bunch. They speak so much english that some of them don't even really have an accent. It's nice because sometimes in lessons I can follow along easier because the people we teach will use a few english words here and there but it's also hard because a lot of the time, since I'm clearly not filipino, people will just speak english to me which again is nice because I can understand but it also just makes it harder to learn the language because I'm not actually using it or listening to it. I do think I'm getting better though. The first couple days I couldn't understand a single thing being said to me but now I can actually catch enough of what's being said to understand where our lessons are going. 

As far as food goes, we have actually only "cooked" for ourselves twice since I've been here. Any time we teach someone around lunch or dinner chances our they invite us to eat with them, so we've had a lot of meals with members. The first night we actually ate two dinners because they seriously don't take no as an answer. When we do eat we just go and buy Sudan (just pretty much anything that you'd put on top of rice, chicken, pork, etc) and then we'd cook rice and call it good. 

The first couple days it rained a few times but it hasn't really rained since. It's not terribly hot or humid so that's nice. All of the missions in the Philippines are actually getting little washer machines because they decided that our time could be better spent than washing clothes by hand for 4-5 hours. So ya we have a washer machine. My companion is also the district leader so we've taken a couple trips to Labangon, where our stake center is, to do a blessing and a couple baptismal interviews. We just walk everywhere we go in our area but any time we need to go to the stake center, we take Jeepneys. I haven't taken a ton of pictures since being here so if you want to see what the temple is like or what a jeepney is then you'll just have to look it up for now. 

Our balay is actually pretty big, I was surprised at house spacious it is. We don't have a shower, we just use a bucket of water and we don't have toilet paper so I guess wiping with your hand is actually a thing. The mosquitoes aren't too bad here. I've walked around all day after forgetting to put on bug spray and I'll maybe get like 1 or 2 bites all day so it's alright. We don't really get a whole lot of other bugs. I've seen some cockroaches in the streets and I wake up every morning and walk through a spider web but other than that it's alright. We actually had two giant spiders in our balay, elder Clegg said he's only ever seen those kind of spiders like once before on the island of Negros so hopefully we won't see more of them. For teaching and finding investigators we mostly work through referrals, but we haven't been getting as many referrals lately so we might try proselyting soon.

OK so now that I'm out of the house you finally decide to change my light AND you're getting a dog.... Apparently I should've just left the house for a couple months. I don't have a lot of time on the computer left so I'll keep this part short, but I love you! and miss you! The work is hard but it's enjoyable. I'm growing everyday. I hope you're doing well at home. I see probably like 100 cats everyday so I haven't really missed pepper all that much yet. There's also like a ton of dogs too. It smells pretty gross here but it's still an incredible place. I love it so much.

gihigugma tika!
imong pabarito missionaryo,
elder shirley

ps i tried balut in the mtc.... not too bad

oh and here's a pic of when Elder Clegg and I had family night at our bishops place

Cebu Arrival!

Dear Brother and Sister Shirley,

Your wonderful missionary made it here in the Philippines Cebu Mission! I am excited about having him as one of our dedicated missionaries. He brought a great spirit, and I am looking forward to working with him. Enclosed is a welcome photo taken with Sister Pajaro and myself.

Maayong Buntag! (Good morning)

I absolutely love it here. I know for sure now that the Philippines Missions are by far the greatest missions.  We leave Wednesday for the field and I can't wait.

Oh and funny story about our jet lag. We got here and they had pushed up our evening devotional so that it'd be done at 4 and then we could go back to our rooms, unpack, and then go to dinner at five and the unpack some more, and then finally go to bed early... We all got in our room and then laid down on our bed and just passed out. We missed dinner but we got to sleep for 14 hours straight so it was worth it. But ya needless to say we have definitely adjusted our sleep schedule after that. 

So this MTC is like 12897123847x nicer than the Provo MTC. It has been semi-recently refurbished so it is awesome. It's actually a beautiful MTC and we can literally see the temple across the road so it's amazing. It's been really fun because some of the Filipinos in the MTC speak cebuano so we've been talking with them and it's awesome. Filipinos are literally the greatest. They are so much fun to be around. 

It is SOOO HOT here. The first day we got here it had rained all morning and then the sun came out so it was super humid for the first day. Every meal we've had has been some kind of filipino dish and yes we are also served rice for Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

The Manila Temple is closed but they let us do a little temple walk around the outside of it so we got a whole bunch of pics of that. I have a new companion for our short stay here at the MTC, it's Elder Stastny from my district at the provo mtc. He's from Nampa, Idaho and is probably one of my favorite missionaries that I've met so far. He's great, he's really fun to be around. The districts here are made up by our missions so now everyone in my mission is going to serve in the Cebu Mission. I got assigned as District Leader for the like 5 days that we're here so I literally don't have to do anything so that's awesome. It is a little problematic because everyone in my district assumes I know everything when in reality I am just as lost as they are, but it's fine, I just talk to the MTC president for everything. President Carlos and Sister Carlos are literally the greatest. They're super nice and friendly. 

The day after we got here we got to go proselyting with the Quezon City missionaries and it was actually amazing. The Quezon City mission is a Tagalog speaking mission so we didn't really understand anything since we have only been studying Cebuano. It was nice though because we didn't have to worry about not knowing the language so it made everything less stressful. I went out with an Elder Maez who has been in the field for 22 months now. He was pretty cool and could speak like perfect Tagalog. We walked and taught lessons for like 4-5 hours and I loved every part of it and I know I'll love it even more when I get to Cebu and I can actually communicate with people. 

OH when i was waiting in the provo mtc for forever, waiting for it to be 3:45 so we could actually leave, we were saying hi to all the new missionaries that were coming in and I saw Lincoln Miller from our Stake and I saw Elder Williams from Boerne, Texas so that was fun.

The sister from Bethel is Sister Martins. And ya I think I talked with a sister from las vegas before but i would need a name to be sure.
There's a limited number of computers here so we actually only get like 30 minutes to email at a time so this'll have to be it for now. I'll maybe be able to email more later.

Gihigugma tika! pinakanindot ang Pilipinas!!!
Elder Shirley

Arrival in the Philippines!!