Hello!

The work is doing alright. Still just struggling with finding new people but that'll always be the struggle. We generally bike most of the time unless we're going to an area that's like waaaaay out there, then we normally take a bus. We do have a couple new investigators. So 2 of them were actually medyo former investigators so they actually came up to us in Church and pretty much just asked when they could be baptized so that was awesome. And then we have been running into a ton of people's extended family so we are really hoping that we can start visiting all of these people we keep running into randomly but ya we'll see. The branch is kinda small but I mean ya it's a branch. There church building is nice though kay it was built like 5 years ago. There apparently at one time was 2 sets of missionaries here but now it's just me and my companion. And ya we got "new emails" but ya they're just going to forward everything that gets sent from the old email to this one so don't worry about changing the address or anything. sorry I realized I haven't really been sharing that many spiritual experiences or anything in a while. So ya I guess one of the things that was cool for me this week was the opportunity to really explain how the atonement works to one of our recent converts. Kay usually when teaching about the atonement we don't go super in depth about how it works or anything but since this was like the 3 time she had been learning about Christ's atonement I decided we'd actually explain to her how it works and everything. It was super cool. It really strengthened my faith and kinda gave myself a reminder about how merciful and loving our heavenly father is and how incredible Christ's sacrifice really was. But ya i absolutely love it here. I think that my area might be one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'd 100% move here if I actually had money, a job, and a life. But ya it's just like life here is so much more simple and the nature here is absolutely incredible.

Ah man I miss real pizza.... It's been so long... And I can't wait to meet the puppy we should've gotten like 3 years ago. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how that even happened but i mean I can't complain too much. There'll at least be a dog when I get back. Sorry Kinda tired so i'm cutting this short. Just look at my pics, I swear they'll make up for my lack of writing.

Love yous,
Elder Shirley


so quick explanation of the pics from this week. They burn the fields of sugar cane to like clean them or something??? so ya that's what the fire pics are (kay they always burn the fields at night) Then they also always make these rock piles in the fields from when they originally tried clearing the field for the Tubo so we took some dramatic pics on top of the rock piles. And then I also managed to find enough ingredients to make french toast so that was awesome.

yaaaaaaaaaaay bukid!

This past week was pretty fun. I got to go to a lot of fun places in my area. I got to go to Tubo fields for the first time so that was super fun. My area is like crazy fun like it's insane. It's still weird though kay even though I'm in the bukid I still see a ton of white people! My last area had a ton of tourist spots and now this area has a ton of resorts so there's still white people! It's just weird seeing non-filipinos. But ya good times all around. We had a FHE evening at a recent converts' house so we could get to know their family and ya so we got a couple new people there so hopefully that'll work out. Gihapon we commited couple more people to baptismal dates so hopefully we can work with them to help them meet that goal. It's been weird as a follow-up trainer kay it's like I have to know how to do everything kay my companion doesn't exactly know how to do everything but ya it's been a growing experience I guess. Kinda makes me have to do more, like I can just rely on my companion but I have to really push the work forward and act. It hasn't been easy but it's been good.

Yo what's up with the fish memes? walay claro ka, hahahah. Thanks for all the pics. What's up with y'all doing all these adventurous things without me? I don't think that's allowed, you gotta wait until I get back. I'm doing a lot better this transfer. When you get my next letter that's just like 5 pages of me complaining, don't be too concerned. I'm doing good now. But yo ma, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I know i'm early but ya I can't exactly email you on your birthday. Hope you're making the most of your birthday. I'd make you pecan waffles but ya I'm a little far away. Maybe when I get back. I'm kinda out of time so this'll have to be it for now.

Love yall! Hope everything is going great!
Elder Shirley

You were online way earlier than usual ...
it's cuz we have to wake up and get on a bus to email and shop in Dumaguette kay there's absolutely nothing in my zone.... Like it's bukid jud..So ya we generally email first

What are Tubo fields?
oh bitaw, wala mo kabalo bisya. Tubo = Sugar cane

was that the church building where ther basketball court was?
ya that was the church building. pasaylo, I haven't really gotten a good pic of the church yet

Island Life

yooooo my area is awesome!!! So Thursday I spent pretty much the entire day riding buses and ferries to get to Zamboanguita (my new area). I was with Elder Christiansen, Mobanta, and Bowers on the way down to Dumeguete (one of the biggest cities on Negros) and ya it was great. It's so awesome here. It's so bukid and I love it. We got like rice fields, a small town, sugar cane, the ocean, and like soooo much bukid it's amazing. Our area is like huge so we actually are in a biking area so that's been super fun. I think if I were to live in the philippines I'd live here in Zamboanguita. I honestly love it so much. So about my area and companion and all that. So my area is a branch so it has a fairly small number of members here. My companion is Elder Swain and he's from New Hampshire. So since I'm his follow-up training his bisaya is still semi-limited but he's getting there. That's like the super cool thing about this area. It's like bisaya jud. In Cebu the language is all mixed with tagalog and waray waray and just like everything so it's kinda hard to understand people there but here in Zamboanguita everyone just speaks bisaya so apparently I'm like actually pretty bisdak (fluent) and I didn't even know it. Like I can carry entire conversations and totally understand everything that people say. It's awesome, I love it. Still kinda just trying to figure out how to do missionary work but ya at least I can speak the language now hahaha.

Sooo my dengue I think I got from my house in Sikatuna kay there's a ton of mosquitoes by our desks so they bite us the entire time while we study bisan kon we have bug spray on. So ya. So the pic of my back is kay I guess sometimes Dengue discolors your skin and so when I had Dengue my back was the main thing that was affected so like my back just kinda felt broken the entire time so ya I got like this random brown spot on my spine. But ya so when I had dengue my fever spiked to 39.8 degrees celsius and my platelet count dropped below 80 so ya you can ask dad about what that means but in short it was very bad.

I have not got the envelope yet, it'll probably be a while before i do kay ya it takes forever for stuff to get to negros.

I'm doing good though. Finally have another companion I can get along with. I love yall and hope that yall don't worry too much about me. I'm doing much better now and I'm starting to enjoy the mission again.

Love yall!
Elder Shirley














So the tall red head is my comp.



 The guy that we're in a lot of pics with is a priest aged young man that kuyogs us a lot.

And then the dog is like the only golden retriever in like all of the philippines. his name is Linus



The pic with the ocean behind us has Apo island in the background gihapon.

















And the sisters we are with are investigators of ours that live in a community area that is literally paradise.



So if you look at the map of negros the tiny little island is right next to my area so if you zoom in you can probably find zamboanguita







the boy with the knife is the same priest that kuyogs us



What’s on your key chain that hangs on your belt loop?
so that's called puso. It's a mini version of it though. So puso is just cooked rice that they wrap in leaves to sell. So ya I have a couple keychains that have mini puso

my companion just happened to catch a frog

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.