Still afraid of monkeys!

Why hello everyone :)

This week was quite a week! I find myself saying that a lot, but it's true! We found 9 new investigators this last week and we really hope to see some progress :) One of them in Nanay Ningning and she is just the sweetest thing! She's accepted a baptismal date along with her daughter Arene (40 y/o) and she just cried in the lesson of the Restoration. She is so thankful we found her and is really progressing. She's reading the Book of Mormon and prayed to know if our message is true. Her daughter Arene is also amazing and is very intelligent. It's cool because she is well educated in all sorts of religions and has so many questions. I love it :)

On Tuesday I had exchanges with sweet Sister Lunar. Seriously, she may be small but she is sassy ;) I love that girl! I was also blessed to go back to my last area, Ormoc 2nd ward! My favorite was of course seeing the Peregrino family :) They were actually not in our plan but we got punted 7 times and went to them. Sister Peregrino saw me, ran to me, and hugged me so tight! We felt impressed to share the spirit of Christmas, and focus on the atonement. The spirit was so strong and while teaching them I couldn't hold back the tears! But I wasn't the only one! Sister Peregrino really cried, especially when she said the closing prayer. She said she was so thankful I got to come back and teach them because they have really missed me. So thanks to her I cried even more! Ah I LOVE THEM. Anyone to ever meet that family is so blessed! They will forever hold a special place in my heart. Also got to see MaryAnn and Reynaldo and I just felt at home being in their home again teaching them :) Love them too!! I can't wait for them to go through the Temple next year :)

So in case I haven't told you all about Tatay Takyo, he is a recent convert who was baptized in April. He lives in the cutest little home far in the bukid (mountains) that overlooks Ormoc city. Nanay Coquillia lives close by him and so she always comes with us when we teach him :) Tatay is the sweetest person I have ever met and treats us as if we are his children. He always says in his prayers that we are his kids to him and wants us to be safe always and continue to share the gospel. Is that not the cutest?? He also always feeds us and we actually had a Thanksgiving at his house :) The best. He did it because he knew that I  had Thanksgiving back home.

Thursday we were doing some finding and we found a lady named Jovilene. Her husband lives in Manila for work and she had a 3 year old who has hydrocephalus. We shared to her and her sister in law, as well as their neighbor. We focused on families and how God is our loving Heavenly Father. She was really interested in having us return! Friday passed by and we went to teach Joanna, a recent convert, Saturday night but she was busy. Feeling somewhat frustrated because it's so dark and muddy and we are so tired we went to cross the river in hopes to teach the Tonyada family. On the way to their home we see many people outside of her home and as we look, we see her child has passed away. We walk up to her door, see this small casket, and a sobbing mother. She saw us and we both just hugged her. She told us she was waiting for us to come back. She opened up to us and she told us she remembered what we said, that Heavenly Father doesn't give us trials that we can't handle.  We shared with her a scripture and talked to her about the plan of salvation and the atonement. The spirit really guided us as to what we should say and it was really an amazing spiritual experience. Even though we taught her once, she has so much trust in us and wants to listen. We really hope to continue to teach and help her this coming week. We were also able to meet her husband yesterday. I always say it, but we are SO BLESSED to have the knowledge of the gospel.

I had the opportunity also this week to go on exchanges with Sister Skey!! Ah I have missed her!! It's like we were never were apart! We laughed and worked and just enjoyed our time. I can't believe she goes home in 2 weeks! Time is so fast. She is assigned in a waray waray area right now so she was struggling to speak Cebuano and we just laughed because she was always translating for me in Catarman but I got to translate for her :) She is the most tender thing and just cried telling me how proud she is of me and how much I have grown in my mission. I couldn't hold back the tears either because she is going home! But she served with her whole heart and will do amazing things when she returns home :)

I have some funny moments happen to me this week that I would like to share:
1. I totally fell in the mud. It had been raining hard that day and I thought I knew what I was doing but no. It was so funny and I have some battle wounds ;) I laughed so hard and Sister Cailing was so worried. I told her I was fine and apologized ahead of time in case something like that happened to her because I will probably laugh before I become concerned. Don't worry, I'm working on it :)
2. A family in our ward has a monkey. His name is coco and I am terrified. I asked if he was nice and they said yes but he bites. So to me that means NO,  he is not nice! They were laughing with how nervous I was and they said I needed to overcome my fear and feed him a banana. After gaining some courage I walked up to him and fed him a banana! It was seriously so scary for me and my fear of monkeys has not been overcome. But it's okay. One step at a time.
3. We really have no food in our home and Sister Cailing and I were starving and had no dinner appointment :( We found 1 week old spaghetti and decided we should try it and make sure we pray before we even take a taste. Heavenly Father blessed us and it was good!! We had to heat it up in the toaster oven since we ran out of gas to cook. We then decided to experiment and what we can up with has now been named Pan-Oat. It goes as follows:
-Hot cake mix
-Water
-Condensed milk
-Oats
Mix all together and bake in toaster oven for 7-10 minutes. After spread chocolate syrup and slice apples to on top. Then enjoy! (Just be sure to stand near the garbage in case it's not good.) But it really wasn't that bad!

Anyway, I am just loving my mission every second of every day and finding myself learning new things all the time. It is an amazing experience full of laughter, joy, tears, love, and faith. I love you all!

Amping Kanunay :)
Sister Wilde

Best. Thanksgiving. Ever. Tatay Takyo!

Our Thanksgiving chicken :)

Mini bananas :)

t

Tatay Takyo brought us ice cream this morning :) He is the BEST!

I fell. Typical Sister Wilde

The well I used to clean the mud off my leg.

Yes. A family in our ward has a pet monkey! I fed it that banana!!

FHE again with Sonny and Marita :) They love it so much!!

EXCHANGES WITH SISTER SKEY!!

Pan-oat. Lami kaayo

25 days!! Feeling excited!!

Blessed Beyond Measure!

Hello everyone! How is everyone doing? I hope great :) I am doing great! We had Zone training meeting on Tuesday and Sister Cailing and I gave our first training together! It went really well! Sister Cailing was really nervous but I was so proud of her :)

Heavenly Father has blessed and spoiled me so much being an STL here in Ormoc. I had the opportunity to go on exchanges in Carigara. Yes, I got to go back to Carigara, my 2nd area and work there with Sister Sungahid! (The follow-up trainer of my anak) IT WAS AMAZING!! I got to teach 4 of my Recent Converts there! I also got to see many members and their reactions to see me were priceless! The Quebec girls were adorable and let out the biggest screams and wouldn't let go of me! I missed them!! I also got to have dinner at Bishop Ragsags house, and Sister Ragsag made my favorite meal! THEY ROCK. They still have the letter I made them up in their front room. So cute. I felt like I was at home working in Carigara and I feel so blessed I got to go back! I even got to be reunited with my bff’s (Christine and Unice) and when cute Joemar Aguilay saw me, he couldn't hold back tears of excitement. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE.
On Thursday we had a very successful FHE with Sonny and Marita. We have been thinking about dropping these investigators but prayed to know how we can help them, and if we should drop them. Through Sonny’s opening prayer in one of lessons earlier in the week, we knew we needed to come back and help them progress. So Thursday we did an FHE and our ward mission leader, Norman, joined us! He is actually an RM from here so we saw each other once in the mission and he's back here for school! The lesson was on the Atonement and the spirit was strong. We played fun games and honestly, I laughed so hard. The hardest I have ever laughed in my mission. #success. From the pictures you can see charcoal on the face was the punishment!

On Friday we had exchanges with our Sisters in San Miguel and I worked in my area with Sister Estores! She is a filipino but grew up in Australia. She is the anak of Sister Malu :) She is so cute and she doesn't know how to speak Cebuano so I ended up translating and the people couldn't help but look confused. Usually it would be the other way around ;) She is too funny and she said I'm more filipino than she is. Haha, she will get there :) We had a great experience as we went finding and of course while finding the kids started to follow us and of course we say hi but continue on. Well for some reason the spirit prompted me to keep talking to this little boy. So as I started to talk to him I asked if he was a member of our church. Why I asked that I don't know. He's 4 years old but the spirit was really directing me. He said they don't have a church but he would like missionaries to go to his house. So I asked him to show us where his house was so that we could meet his mom. So here we are being led by a little boy who might get in big trouble from his mom for bringing "Mormons" to their house. (It's happened before) Well his Mom happened to be a Less Active who we had been searching for since we got in our area. It was so great to find her and she was so sweet and we cannot wait to help her. Her husband is not a member which is a big reason why she isn't coming to church, so we really hope to help out this sweet lady and her family. Thanks to her cute 4 year old son :)

Church on Sunday was great and I ended up speaking in sacrament meeting. I spoke on Missionary work of course and I even shared some of Grandma Worthington’s conversion story :) It was really great and the spirit was there. Thank you Grandma Worthington :) Sister Cailing told me that as I was speaking everyone kept saying, "Oh man! Bisdak na siya!" Which means "She is fluent!" I guess you could say my language skills have improved as I've been working on a filipno accent. Haha! Sister Cailing has been helping me and I sound better! It's a great feeling knowing I am getting better even when I mess up a lot and sound "Slang".

I hope you are all still doing your ponderize scripture every week! I am! This week is Doctrine and Covenants 136: 29 :) I also just wanted to send my love to the Anderson Family. I got the news that sweet grandma Nancy passed away and I just know she is doing missionary work in the Spirit World. She is such a sweetheart who I have always felt so loved by! Randy, Cari, Shelby, Aaron, Cailee, Maddi, and Grandpa Anderson, you are all in my thoughts and prayers! No one ever really dies. How blessed we are to know the gospel and feel at peace when someone we dearly love, temporarily leaves us.

Sending my love!
Sister Wilde

Ragsag family :)

FHE

Quebeck girls!!

Aguilay Family!! :) Joemar isn't in the pictures :( but you know 12 year old boys. Gotta play with friends ;)

Fail Zone picture!

Sister Cailing and I gave our first training as Sister Training Leaders in Zone training meeting!! (That is a lot of training)

Elder Villaneuva! He is my current District Leader and we were in the same zone in Catarman!

Elder Simona and Elder Fakava. They never fail to make all of us laugh!

Sister Sungahid!!

STL life. Travel. Travel. Travel.

Justine (yep this is the cute baby named after me) is getting so big!!

Jeralyn is doing great :) :)

Sister Estores!

We may or may not be SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS! Yes, I totally made snowflakes and hung them with dental floss.

Traveling to Ormoc!

I thought I was sneaky. #FAIL And when I looked at the pictures it kind of freaked me out. Haha

I LOVE MY FILIPINOS. :)

Training at the Mission Home!

Hello all! Kamusta kamo diha?? I hope maayo man :) This week Sister Cailing and I experienced our first MLC in Tacloban! It's a leadership meeting for STL's and ZL's in the mission home! It was fun! Everyone always talks about MLC so it was cool to be a part of it ;) Elder Means was so excited. Yes, Elder Means and I have been in the same zone since February...we are still going strong! Haha it is so fun being ZL and STL in the same zone!!

Sister Cailing and I have been doing a lot of finding like I have been mentioned and it is interesting! We have been rejected A LOT. But we just continue to have hope that because we tried, maybe other missionaries will try them at a later time and they will be accepting. We do have some new investigators Myra and Emmanuel. They have two little boys and Myra is the one who really loved the idea of families being together forever. When we taught her yesterday, she told us she read the pamphlet and that she knows our message is true because she prayed!! We even committed her to baptism! Her husband wasn't there at the time but we set an appointment so he will for sure be there! :) He is willing to listen. Especially since his wife is so encouraging! Wives have a big influence on their husbands ;)

We also have 2 cute girls who are investigators ages 11 and 13 but their parents are not members. They have 2 siblings who are members and their aunt and uncle are active members in our ward. Well we taught the two cute girls with their Mom and committed all 3 of them to baptism!! We really hope to help get their Dad involved and complete this family!!

We had a specialized training on Friday about promoting a new movie that is going to be coming out for Christmas on November 29th! It's called "A Savior is born" and it is so good! Please watch it and share it with all those around you! Christ is the reason for the season!!

We also had exchanges this week with our Sisters in Polompon area and I worked with Sister Balucos in our area in Ormoc. She is the anak of Sister Brereton and is hilarious!! She was sick Friday night from food but even while throwing up and stomach pain she said, "Even though I am sick I really want to work but I know I can't . But I am praying for the people we were going to visit and I never forget them or my purpose." She is awesome. And we were able to work the next day :)

It seems like my rat story has made many people laugh. I'm glad I can make other cry tears of laughter while I cry tears of fear. Haha no, just kidding. The rat situation is getting better. I'm still trying to overcome my fear.

I love you all!! :)

Love,
Sister Wilde

P.S. I received the CUTEST email from my brother Tate asking how he can share the gospel. FUTURE MISSIONARY right there!! :) Even if we aren't set apart as a full time missionary, we can all share the gospel :) It's every member’s duty to preach the gospel :)

My cute Filipina batch! (I'm so big. Haha)

Elder Gatil and Elder Dela Cruz This is the second picture we took. I told them we could take another one "so you two can be happy and taller." Haha!

They said, "Ah man. You are too tall Sister Wilde."

Traveling to MLC!!

Merry Christmas :) This is the tree in the mission home!

Elder Biador! We served together in my first area!

Took a picture of us missionaries who have been to the MRC in Manila!

Elder Griffin

So good spending time with one of my most favorite people Sister Brereton!!! :) She is an STL in  a waray waray area!

Look at this butterfly!

Oh look! It's Sister Talataina!! We sang Away in a Manger at the specialized training meeting.

Feeling the LOVE with these packages! Who has the best mom, dad, brothers, granny and poppy in the world?? THIS SISTER MISSIONARY :)

Some of my area!!

Cute Sister Balucos!

Nothing better than studying the First Vision in Cebuano while enjoying some gold fish!!

Oh Rats!!

Rats, snakes, rice fields, coconuts, mud, and rain. I love my mission.

This week Sister Cailing and I did a lot of finding!! Because well, we weren't left with very many people to teach in our Area Book which has been a real challenge! We were able to find 7 new investigators after being denied 100 times! (Not really 100 but you know what I mean) Anyway, it has been a great learning experience and I always love teaching the Restoration of the Gospel :) We found a cute couple with 2 little kids and as we started to share with them, we said, "We know that our families can be together forever." And the smile on that sweet sisters face was priceless! Also sharing the first vision with 2 sisters, seeing the spirit work on them was awesome. And they are eager for us to return!

I also wanted to inform you all that I mentioned to Elder Anderson at transfer day about Rats and he gave me a rat trap! Sweet! The Sisters kept telling me it was so sad and they kept trying to use the whole "Thou shalt not kill" thing on me but I am terrified of these rats and they have got to go! Well, we totally caught one! It was so gross and not one of the big ones! (It's okay, there is still time) Anyway, we had to drown it and dispose of it. Well Filipinos are really superstitious and they kept telling me that the rats were going to get revenge on us and were scared. Well coming home that night with Sister Bernabe (we were on exchanges) we heard a bunch of things falling in the bathroom and found a BIG rat!!! I start screaming because it runs out at us! I jump up on the chair which doesn't really matter because they can climb like a monkey. (EW) But it runs behind some boxes and so Sister Bernabe and I take the opportunity to run upstairs but it chases us. Yes, IT CHASED US. I am just screaming and Sister Bernabe is also screaming but trying to hit it down with her bag. We ended up staying in my room for 20 minutes waiting for the other Sisters to come home because we were scared. What an experience. Was that revenge?

Next week I will send more pictures with a longer email, sorry this weeks is so short! But I did just email last Wednesday ;) I love you all and hope you are doing great! Read the Book of Mormon, Pray, and watch out for rats ;)

Love,
Sister Wilde

Sister Bernabe isn't too scared.