Good News!!

Good News! I'm out of the hospital and I'm transferring!!! So ya it was true, I had dengue so I was in the hospital for a week just sleeping. I only had like a "level 1" dengue case so it wasn't bad at all, just uncomfortable really. Dengue is just spread through mosquitoes so ya I guess I just need to wear more bug spray. I missed all of the Sinulog celebration which is alright kay it would've just been a pain trying to work that week either way. But ya didn't really get to say the goodbyes to the people here in Sikatuna that I would have liked to but that's ok. padayon ra. But ya I'm transferring to Bayawan Zone on Negros!!! I'll be follow-up training Elder Swayne. That's really all I know for now, I'll email more about it next week but ya I'm finally going to the bukid!!!!

Yes I finally got the package with the music!!! I was surprised to find only 14 songs on the flashdrive but i mean hey it was better than sitting in silence in the hospital. BUt ya not a lot else happened this week or so kay I've just been sleeping so ya that's all for now.

Love ya!
Elder Shirley

So how does the transfer to Negros work? By boat?
and ya so tomorrow there's a bus depot and I'll get on a bus there and then I'll travel to the bottom of cebu and then take a ferry over to negros

There'll probably be other missionaries heading in that direction pero di ko sure

i'll try my best to take pics though

What is follow up training?
so follow-up training is just like an extension of training, so like if there was anything you didn't really learn or don't understand then the follow up trainer is supposed to help you with anything you didn't really learn in your actual training

Hawaii

So... a week ago or so I was in Hawaii (this is Spencer's mom talking)... Tuesday night came around and I anxiously waited my weekly email ... nothing ...hmm? Did he say it was zone conference?   I go to his Mission specific facebook page and casually ask if anyone else with a Wednesday didn't receive their weekly email...

Here are the responses I received ....

Julie Jones: Zone conference in Cebu City. All day travel for some.

Sue Ann Whitlock: I heard from my son but he is serving on Negros. He didn't mention a conference but I'm sure everything is fine. Sometimes my older boys would miss here and there.

Sarah Tuttle Call: My son is having trouble with his emails not sending to the whole family. He sent the email but nobody is getting it. I had to get him to send me his email and then I can send it out to the rest of the family. He is in Negros and said they did have zone conference but it sounded like they had a normal p-day.

Wendy Robbins Williams: Son is in Negros and not having any problems with emailing.

Shelley Frohm: message me I am the mission nurse and can probably help you out.

See anything suspicious?  The mission NURSE?  hmm.....so... I message her:

"Hi there! I’m the mom who asked if there was a zone conference and if that is why I hadn’t heard from my missionary (elder spencer shirley)- it sounds like that may have been the case... but... since you’re the nurse and he didn’t tell me until after the fact that he had worms... he had been complaining of headaches, but said they are better now... I’m going to assume all is well and that it was just a fun busy day for him that I will hear all about next week... if not, please let me know . Thank you for reaching out & thank you for all you do for our missionaries! "

Her response:Your son is okay and he will email you soon.

Great!! All is well :)

The next day ....

Sister Shirley I wanted to update you on your son. He has had a fever and felt pretty poorly since Saturday. Yesterday he asked to just reassure that he was okay. He is okay, but was admitted last night to the hospital. He has Dengue Fever.He is really past the worst of the Fever but felt that he could rest better in the Air conditioned hospital. They will continue to monitor his platelets as this is one of the complications with Dengue. If you have additional questions feel free to contact me..

What?! my response was "Thank you so much for the info", but my momma brain and heart were: what!? is he okay? should I be worried? did he get a blessing? how long will he be in the hospital? and oh.. darn it! this next week is transfers and he REALLY wanted to go to the Bukid (jungle/urban area) ... guess he will have another 6 weeks in the same area ... bummer.

I didn't nag the nurse any more, I assumed she would reach out if needed (I DID check my messenger multiple times a day!) .... It was a LONG week waiting and hoping for an email and update from Spencer ...

So, here's some pictures of a couple turtles I saw while trying not to think of him ;)

brrr

Never thought I'd miss being in the negatives. I mean really I just miss being even just a little cold. It's just always so hot here. Like pastilan jud. I'm like reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeallly hoping I get transferred to the bukid. Like honestly that's what I feel like I need the most at this point. I had a goal of writing a letter to you every transfer but I'm not so sure if I'll do that this transfer.

The work has been reeeeeally slow recently. No new people, getting punted more and more, walay kuyogs. It's been a week or two to say the least. But I got to go to the temple today and do a session. I feel a whole lot better now. I know the area isn't going to be magically better, but I feel like I have the support I need for now. Next week is zone con so that'll be cool kay I'll get to see the other half of my batch this transfer. Pretty much everyone from my batch that was on Negros transferred to Cebu so ya I'll get to see them all now! But ya other than that really nothing new. Like I said the work is slow but ya siempre it continues.

And ya I know the feeling with puppies just wanting to jump and bite. We taught a lesson to a less active the other day and their dog literally just was biting my pants and socks the entire time we were there. So ya I imagine you're having a great time with Siskin. And ya i didn't get any elk pics but that's alright, maybe next week. But dang sounds like everyone is doing pretty good for now. New job, last semester, new dog. good times all around.

kana ra,
elder shirley

we went and had hot dogs with my recent convert


sun setting with sinulog** decorations


ya i used your picture thingy

** The Sinulog-Santo Niño Festival is an annual cultural and religious festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, and is the centre of the Santo Niño Catholic celebrations in the Philippines.
          The word Sinulog comes from the Cebuano adverb sulog which roughly means "like water current movement;" it describes the forward-backward movement of the Sinulog dance. Sinulog is the ritual prayer-dance honoring Señor Santo Niño or the Child Jesus. An image of the Child Jesus is said to be the baptismal gift the Portuguese conquistador Ferdinand Magellan gave Hara Amihan (Humanay) of Zebu (now Cebu) in April 1521. The image, believed to be miraculous, is housed at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in downtown Cebu City.

Happy New Year!

We noticed there was a 7.2 earthquake off the southern tip of the Philippines ... did you feel it? Nah I didn't feel anything. But ya pepper seems pretty done. Do you guys just leave her downstairs or do you take her upstairs when you go to bed?

Work has been slow. So the problem is that most of the people we visit or need to visit are sisters or people under the age of 18, and ya we can't visit them without a kuyog. And ya everyone that used to work with us is basically gone so that's been a struggle. Ya it's actually pretty much affected every aspect of our work so ya it's been pretty slow. But we're still pushing. Haven't really managed to find a ton of new people, and the one's we've found aren't really progressing so ya it's been a struggle. But ya I think i've gained a ton of weight this week kay like every time we visited a member they'd want to feed us because of the holidays and all that. So ya I've eaten a TON this week. So ya it hasn't all been bad by any means, just slow. We did get one of the new Come Follow me book thingies. I've read it a little bit but ya it looks good. I still try to do Language study everyday but sometimes we just end up getting really busy so we don't have time for it. And ya since my companion is bisaya daan he's been really helping me expand my vocab so that's been cool. And ya we still swing by and at least talk with Teri (bread store lady) but we haven't been able to visit her in a while because again we don't have any kuyogs.

But ya I think it's totally weird that Desmond will be walking and talking by the time I come home. Also he's less than 6 lbs? he must be tiny. we haven't really done a lot these past couple pdays. Today we played basketball with all the elders in the zone (hence the late email time) so that was cool. Also Sinulog is coming up so we've kinda been looking at some of the street stands to see if there's any cool shirts or anything. I was just talking like a small desk calender that has all the days of the month on one page so that I can write in all the stuff that'll happen each month. kana ra. sorry if i wasn't clear but it sounds like you kinda got the right idea.

So we just had interviews with president and well 1) I'm for sure transferring and 2) we talked and I think I'm transferring to the Bukid! (like jungle mountains) So who knows maybe I'll go to Negros gihapon.  I was actually the only elder from my batch that didn't transfer but everyone that did transfer switched islands. Like everyone on Cebu is now on Negros or sigijor and everyone that was on negros is now on cebu. So I think there's hope for me in regards to transferring to negros

love ya! Amping!
Elder Shirley

There's pics of Elder Dumanjug getting a pedicure/manicure from a member.





There's my birthday cake.

The pics with all the food and Mcdo's is because one of our best kuyogs is leaving and going on a mission so we were kinda celebrating.

The pics with the brother in the red shirt and the blue shelves is Brother Elijah. he's one of my favorites.

And the chicken is Native Adobo so ya that was really good gihapon.