Ups and Downs

This week was like a roller coaster! The beginning of this last week started out a bit rough as we kept getting punted or running into problems with our Less Actives, Recent Converts, Investigator, and some members! We had so many things happening at once and so many people needed our help I started to get really stressed. By really stressed I mean REALLY stressed. I then felt that I needed to just stop and say a prayer. As I prayed I could feel Heavenly Father comforting me and he was able to guide Sister Dumale and I through this last week to do the things that He needed us to do.

One thing that happened this week there was a fire at Sister Aster’s house. It didn't burn down the whole house but it burned half. We had just taught them that night and about an hour later their house caught on fire. The fire department was able to get it out and they didn't lose many things. We are so thankful no one was inside and that they didn't lose a lot. We are planning a CSP within the next few weeks to help them out :) Sister Aster has now been a member for a little over a month and we have been teaching her 2 daughters (9 and 10) and they are active in Primary and want to be baptized so bad! They are so sweet and as we have been teaching them their older Brother, Jomar, has been curious and so we are now teaching him! He is 12 and is wanting to be baptized on the same day as his sisters. Even the 2 littlest boys (ages 7 and 4) sit in on the lessons and can't wait until they are 8 :) We have been talking with her husband and he is always nice to us but is shy to go to church and be taught. (that is what he always tells us) Well ever since Aster was baptized and the kids have been listening he has softened up and the kids always want him to sit in which is great! We always encourage them to invite him! Well he unfortunately didn't sit in but at church the next day (I totally pulled a Brooke and bribed them with Candy to be reverent ALL of sacrament meeting.) HE CAME! Yes. HE CAME and attended ALL 3 hours!! Everyone was so kind to him and seeing the smile on his face when his little boy gave him a late Father’s Day card that he made in primary was priceless! I asked him if he would come again next week and he said, "Syempre!" Which means "Of course!" We hope to teach him this week :)

We also had the baptism of Jushrei and Ruffa Mae this week! We are SO proud of them!! They gave such sweet testimonies and they both said they feel so happy and new. I couldn't have said it any better. I asked Sister Dumale how her first Baptism was and she said, "I love seeing them go into the water and then seeing the smile on their faces when they come out of the water. It's an amazing feeling." Again, I couldn't have said it any better. 

We taught Jemily last night and we also committed her to baptism! Her baptism date is August 8th! She has so many questions (which we LOVE) and members are always with us in her lesson which is great. Of course it is our job as missionaries to help them and answer their questions but it's always great to hear from members and have them give personal experiences.

Also, Jeralyn had her baby!! Yay! It's a GIRL! And she is ADORABLE! We taught Sister Aster Saturday night and she then told us that Jeralyn had gone to the hospital earlier in the afternoon to have her baby! (She is 6 days overdue at this point) We taught her family then went with Sister Aster to the hospital! We saw her husband Leonardo outside and he said she just gave birth but he still had not seen her yet and didn't know if it was a boy or girl! So we all found out together which was kinda funny but Leonardo was so happy and now they have 3 girls and one boy. I can't tell you her name yet because they hadn't decided! So next week you will all know :) Mom and baby are doing great and she is TINY. Even though she's 6 days overdue she is so little but is healthy :)

Even though this week was hard, it was full of rewards and I'm so thankful for Heavenly Father for helping us every step of the way. I am also thankful for my sweet companion who is so positive and hardworking. I am also thankful for all of you! I can feel your love and prayers for me every day and words cannot express how thankful I am. You are all in my prayers too. I hope you all have a great week! I know how hard life can be sometimes but always remember to turn to our Heavenly Father and do your part and be positive :) Love you all!

Love,
Sister Wilde

Baptism of Jushrei and Ruffa Mae!

#selfies

Elder Purcell baptized them! He is heading home this week!

#selfie

Could they be any cuter?!?! Probably not.

Jushrei and his buddy he brought to church!He is wearing the neck tie we gave him :) (THANKS MOM)

The Aguilay family at church :)

I love my stolen picture of Sister Aurora and Sister Villamore! THEY ARE ADORABLE. I love this ward and the people in it!!

Yes, Elder Means drove us home in this petty cab. Was he sweating a lot? YES! I'll tell you what it is hard!

Eating our favorite snack! Saging (banana) in sugar! Marasa hinduro! (very delicious)

Our picture after we were punted for the 3rd time. Still trying to be postive :) We didn't know there was a man behind waiting for us to move.

Quality time with my anak.

Haha I love her hair!

Dad's ROCK!!

Hello Family!

This morning my Zone went to a beach in Capoocan, played games, and just enjoyed our P-Day morning! We then traveled together to Tacloban and let’s just say I am so happy to be sitting in a fast hidden internet shop with a fan directly in front of me. I say this because it is RARE, very rare.

And today (well yesterday for me) is Fathers Day!! Happy Fathers Day to my amazing Dad! Even through all of the teasing I sure love you! :) Happy Fathers day also to my uncles, my Poppy and grandpa, and all of the other amazing Dads out there! Keep being the great husbands, fathers, and friends that you are :)

This last week Jushrei and Ruffa Mae passed their baptismal interviews! We knew they would :) Sister Santa is so excited for Jushrei to be baptized but not as excited as he is! He can't wait to be a missionary someday and we can't wait to give him his first neck tie on his baptism day :) (My mom is a genius and sent 2 ties in a package. Again, she is the bomb.) Now Ruffa Mae, she is just hilarious! I mentioned a few weeks back about finding her family and her being the only one who is not a member. We taught the Word of Wisdom last week thinking it would be a reminder but came to find out she drinks coffee every morning. But she committed to stop drinking it and she sure did it! The first thing she said to us when we saw her last Sunday was, "Sisters!! I prayed when I woke up this morning AND I didn't even drink coffee. Yeah, NO COFFEE." I may or may not have laughed at first because she was just so stinkin’ excited but it was adorable and we couldn't be more proud of her :)

We have a newer investigator and she is 17 years old and her name is Jemily. She is a sweetheart! And when that girl prays, the spirit is so strong! She told us she prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that she felt just so happy and good. Every time we ask her a question during or after our lesson, as I listen, I can see her as a future Sister Missionary and I told her that after our lesson and the smile on her face was priceless. We really hope to help her to continue in the gospel and I would sure love to hear in a few years where she would be called to serve :)

Sister Dumale and I can hardly believe that after this week we will be in the last 6 weeks of her training! Time is flying!! We just love our companionship and I am so proud of her as she has really embraced and adjusted to missionary life so well! She amazes me! She keeps telling everyone we talk to and meet that I have taught her waray waray and they don't believe her until I start talking to them and we just enjoy the looks on their faces :) She has really picked up on the language and I am so impressed! We joke (but it's not really a joke) she has better English than me and Sister Malu and I agree that she has better English than both of us because the languages here are just becoming a part of who we are. I love it. My ward here and I all joke that I'm a Filipina except I am just too white. Maybe by the end of my mission ;)

Have a great week everyone!! :)
I love you all!

Love,
Sister Wilde

So we have a lot of frogs that not only live outside of our apartment but inside our bathroom as well. It is pretty hilarious to hear Sister Malu, Dumale, and Pui scream while in there. But don't you worry, I'm pretty much a champion frog catcher. When you do it everyday you get really good.

Elder Anderson (in the middle) had to go home last week from being sick :( But he is doing better I heard so that is good!

I love these Sisters :)

Matching umbrellas!

I love Sister Dumale! This was taken this morning at our zone activity.

I sure love Sister Malu!

Crab!

Feeling like a celebrity in the hat Sister Malu bought this morning.

Shout out to the Birthday Girl!

Hello,

Today is June 15th. That means on Thursday it will be June 18th. And that means it is my Moms birthday!! And that means she is getting old! ;) Ha, just kidding! Even if she was going to be old she sure doesn't look like it! Happy early Birthday Mom! I love you to the moon and back and am so thankful for you! From diet coke runs, to "window"shopping (we always bought something-Sorry Dad;)) to girl talks, and jamming to One Direction, those are all memories I cherish and look forward to creating more in the future :) I LOVE YOU!

Tuesday we had Zone Training meeting and it was awesome! I sure love my Zone! Elder Purcell and Elder Dingil gave a great training about time! They focused on the importance of time and how here in our missions it is the Lord’s time, and it's a short time, and we need to use it wisely! I couldn't have said it any better! I can't believe how fast time goes by here on the mission. I love everything about being a missionary and the past 9 months have been challenging but so rewarding!! I can't wait to continue to give all my time to the Lord for the next 9 months and continue to use my time wisely when I return home.

This week Sister Dumale and I found 8 new investigators and committed 5 to baptism! Angel and Angielyn are daughters of Sister Aster. They have really seen the change in their Mom and want to become like her! So sweet! The other 3 are a family! The Obero family. They are former investigators from a year or so ago and only their primary age daughter is a member. On the first visit with them we taught the parents and 2 of their sons, Mario (17) and Orley (19). Mario was smoking and Orley has some earrings and did not look like he wanted two Sister Missionaries in his home. We greeted them and they become not so stiff as they realized I wouldn't speak English to them and as we started to get to know them. They joined in on the lesson and the spirit was so strong. The next visit Mario was working but Orley joined again and kept trying to get Mario to come! (That's a good sign!!) As we were teaching the rest of the Restoration I felt we could extend the baptism commitment to them. I felt Brother and Sister Obero would accept but I wasn't sure about Orley. I told Sister Dumale to extend the invitation and she got super nervous but as I said a little prayer for her she extended and they all accepted!! I can see their desire and willingness to be baptized and to make changes in their lives. Especially Orley! Mario apologized after for not sitting in and said he will when we go back. We really hope so! :)

We had exchanges this week with our STL's and I got to work in Ormoc with Sister Henry! I was so excited to work with Sister Henry again but nervous because Ormoc is a Cebuano area! We arrived Thursday night (It's a 2 hour bus ride from our area to there) and the first lesson I tried to replace some words I knew but was really just speaking waray waray. Sister Henry kept laughing at me because she knew I was trying so hard! She said I was doing great but I knew she was just trying to make me feel better. The next lesson I said a little prayer to help me speak Cebuano. Sister Henry asked me to lead the lesson and I spoke Cebuano!! Yeah, it was a miracle!! I've been able to learn from my anak and Sister Minoza and I'm so thankful Heavenly Father helped me to speak Cebuano for that recent convert. Sister Henry hit me during the lesson and said, "What?! You know how to speak Cebuano!" I just laughed and the lesson turned out to be great. They asked me to pray at the end but I prayed in waray waray because I'm just so used to it. Maybe next time in Cebuano ;)

There was a broadcast this last week to the Philippines and it was amazing! Sister Wixom talked about the experiences she had while in the Philippines and as she spoke I couldn't help but cry because it got me thinking about all the of the experiences I have had here and all of the people I have met and I just love this beautiful country full of beautiful people.

I love you all! (In case you didn't already know;))

Love,
Sister Wilde

Exchanges with Sister Henry!

We had to cross a river! But that is normal here :)

Stuck under a tarp for 10 minutes while it poured!!

Just eating my favorite snack after a long day of work! Sister Dumale thinks it is gross and weird so she wanted to take a picture of me. Haha.

Kids, kids, kids!!

Elders selfie!

Elder Purcell goes home in 2 weeks!

Carigara Zone!!

My bff's drew me pictures :)

HUMP DAAAY!!!

I just wanted to start out with a quick shout out to my Mom who got Employee of the year award! That's so awesome! Congrats! :)

On Monday last week I received a package and it was a "Hump Day" package. As I opened the package and read the letters from sweet ward members, friends, and family I had to hold back a few tears! I'm beyond thankful for the support and love I feel from everyone back home! THANK YOU! I also laughed because the picture of my Dad in that Hump Day shirt made me almost pee my pants. Hahaha I cannot lie! Also Tyson’s Nacho Libre quote, "I know you're doing great because you know a butt load crap about the gospel." THAT was clever. Later in the week I all of the sudden got phone calls and texts from the zone leaders and my district leader demanding to know what was in the 8 packages at the office! They really just want to know if there is chocolate!! ;) As I sat and opened my packages (My Zone Leaders brought them to me on the condition I opened them in front of them and shared.) Sister Dumale just kept saying, "I am so blessed Nanay!" She is too adorable! I kept saying, "I think my family thinks I'm starving!" So much food but I love it!! :) THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE!

This week Sister Dumale and I were going through our area book when we came across some less actives we didn't know about! Hala! We asked our ward members who lived in that area and they said that they either didn't know where they lived or that they were not there. We still kept thinking about them and when we were teaching Sister Santa she asked us if we had visited the Sudario family before. That is the family we had been asking members about!! Say what?! An answer to our prayers! We found their house and Brother is very nice and both he and one of his 12 children are members. So his Wife and the other 11 children are not members yet. He said we can come back and teach them when they are not in school and he doesn't have work! We are so excited to help this family!

We had stake conference here in Carigara this last weekend and President and Sister Maurer attended! Sister Maurer gave such a sweet and powerful testimony and President Maurer gave a great talk on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. I hope that we all do good on the Sabbath Day as President Maurer taught. The Stake Relief Society President also spoke and she focused on visiting teaching. Being here on the mission I realized just how important it really is. Especially for our sweet Sisters who are not active in the church! As members of the Church we all are missionaries and have a responsibility to help members stay strong in the Gospel and strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ.

I love you my dear family and friends! I look forward to what this next week will bring as we have zone training tomorrow and Sister Dumale and I will have exchanges with our STL's. Her first exchanges and she will lead our area! I know she is nervous but I also know she will be great! She's amazing!!

Love,
Sister Wilde

We can't believe it has been 9 months!

HUMP DAAAY!

 

For the next 9 months I will continue to feast upon the words of Christ! This isn't something that will only be for the next 9 months but for the rest of my life. I cannot express how important it is to read the Book of Mormon everyday! The Book of Mormon is true and we will truly be blessed and grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as we read it. 

Can you spot Calvin the camel?

For the next 9 months I get to keep helping people with their random little projects and just enjoying my time with them. I LOVE the people with all of my heart!

For the next 9 months I will get to ride in petty cabs and apologize to every driver for being big! Can you spot Calvin the camel?

For the next 9 months I will continue to receive packages from home full of goodies and love every minute of it! I better enjoy it ;)

Happy early 4th of July! I just so happened to be wearing red and white!

I loved the book the Adam's made for me! I sure love them!!

I've got the best batch mates!

I love our ward members!! Especially when they work with us! :)

Sister Jeralyn is close to having her baby! I love her!!

We rode a hobble hobble for the first time today!! It's a motor and normally here they fit like 8 people on it! It's crazy and SUPER FUN!

Yes, that is Elder Means. Ha!

Our Zone put together an Iron Rod activity and I've done one before at Girls Camp but man here it is crazy! Going through a river and down a rocky hill! It turned out great!

Carigara Zone!