Week 52: SUM-AG

This week was CRAZY. So many things happened! I don't even know how to explain all of it! 

So first things first.. the sisters in our neighboring area, Sum-ag, were pulled out last minute from their area. The sister was with a short-term so the sister just got transferred and then we were with her short-term, Sister Bernades, for two days. TWO DAYS to learn their area!!!!! They just came to our house and dropped her off then President Barredo called us telling us that Sister Fawcett and I were now in charge of two areas! Tangub is already a very large area but with Sum-ag it reaches both borders of two different zones. It's crazy! We're not really sure why but now we have to go to church twice in one Sunday haha. It all works though because Sum-ag's sacrament meeting is at 9am and Tangub's is at 11am. We have a LOT of work to do!

I locked our keys in the house on Tuesday. We didn't have a spare. The owner of the house didn't have a spare. We decided to just figure it out later in the day since we just wanted to work. An AMAZING recent convert named Jayco came to work with us and theeennnn there was a typhoon! Even our umbrellas couldn't protect us so then we were soaking wet and the roads flooded SUPER deep and then we remembered we couldn't get into our house! We called the office elders and they said they had a key to our house but when they got there it was the wrong key. Great! What they ended us doing is they literally broke the door down and we had to sleep with a couch barrier against the door so nobody could get in haha. Great day! 

Anthony's doing amazing. We taught him Word of Wisdom on Saturday and he has a lot of vices but wants to stop them all. We're moving his baptismal date to the end of August but we're really hopeful it will go through. 

Also we met these two amazing girls, Maryjane and Maryjoy, in Sum-ag area. They're progressing really well! We'll continue to visit them as well this coming week. 

Although this week was CRAZY stressful... especially learning an entire area in only two days but I read a really cool part in the Old Testament that I felt applied to me in Joshua. Moses had just passed away (translated) and Joshua was called to fill his place. I can only imagine how overwhelmed he felt to take care of all the children of Israel, be the one to lead them into Canaan, and lead them all in war. The Lord spoke to him words of comfort in Joshua 1:9, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." So.. even though our area is really big now I felt the words of comfort that were also given to Joshua... that is to "be strong and of a good courage." I know He is with us every step of the way in this work and will take care of us and the people in these areas!

I love you all and thank you all for your support :)

Sister Pope

no pictures this week sorry the computer is hecka sketchy

Week 51: MIRACLES

Man this week was great! We definitely saw the work move forward and are excited for August. 

Jenelyn and Gosel's marriage papers are expired! They have to do everything all over again! It seems like more and more things are happening to keep them from being baptized. We actually found out this week that they've been planning on being baptized since 2014 but something would always happen to get in the way. We're really setting up a way to help them though and praying SO hard that Gosel will get a day off. Jenelyn is still going to church and reading the Book of Mormon. This couple has such a desire! I really hope we can help them.

Anthony's foot is all better! Although we've faced a few problems with him too. He feels really pressured to join the church because of the family he's living with which are also members but then he came to church on Sunday with his Book of Mormon and two "teachings of the prophets" manuals. We don't even know where he got them but he says he's reading them. So that was cool! He's set for Aug 12th and really hoping he gets a strong desire. 

The big miracle this week was a mom and her two kids randomly coming to church. Her name is Novelyn and she brought her three kids, Arnold (13), Harold (11) and May Ann (4). We've only taught her like three times and she just went! And she loved it and had sooo many questions! She really wasn't progressing at all and we were actually considering dropping her next month but we're so happy that she's randomly progressed! Hopefully she'll continue well! 

Other than that it's been a really good week and we're seeing the progress of some of our new investigators finally! Thanks to everyone for the love :)

Sister Pope

1-2) I'm cooking really filipino food now! Laswa (a vegetable thing) and Bangrus (milk fish)... it tasted pretty good! We gave the leftovers to Anthony and the Tabanyag family and they said I cooked it well! 

3) We were teaching this lady we found and her husband comes in with this random assortment of seafood he had literally just pulled out of the ocean. there's fish, shrimp and tons of crab and then they fed us after! nothing like fresh seafood

4) We're teaching this group of people near our house that we'd see a lot all the time outside their house but just started teaching them. we taught them Book of Mormon on Saturday aaaand they have the 80's version of "Ang Libro Ni Mormon".. this thing is an antique haha. Turns out they were taught by the Elders when they were little kids. 

5-7) John Lloyd and Jessibell, two child of records, were baptized on Saturday and they are sooo cute and already doing missionary work. they brought their neighbor and our investigator, Turkey, to their baptism so he could support and it was a really cool experience for him. Also Turkey has no vices and wants us to teach him! Anyone can be a missionary!!

Week 50: DAMU KORING (LOTS OF CATS)

Hello everyone!! This was another great week in Tangub.. very humbling too. I have to say I was a little intimidated when I first got to this area but we're really starting to see the work move forward. We're so excited! 

Jenelyn and Gosel are doing well, although we've faced an issue with their progression. Brother Gosel lost his job last week as a security guard because one of the guards on duty was caught sleeping so all of them that were on shift that night got fired. He was able to find new work pretty soon but he now works every single day from 8am-8pm. We committed him to find a way to make it to church that Sunday but when Sunday came only Jenelyn came to church. We're very thankful though that she showed her faith! Hopefully he'll be able to figure out things with work.

Anthony, Jade and Janine are also doing really good! Anthony wasn't able to come to church yesterday though because he stepped on a nail.. AND it was hecka rusty and gross so it's gotten really infected. Dang it Satan! But he's doing great as usual :) 

We met this lady today who LOVES us because we're white. We were out finding and we started talking to her and she could not get over that we were talking to her in ilonggo she loved it so much. She invited us in but is really not interested in us teaching her but she made us eat the inside of two young coconuts and it's milk (which is a LOT of food) and literally made us both eat a half a loaf of bread. I literally thought she was trying to kill us with food haha. She said she'll text us though whenever she cooks food so we can try filipino food... hopefully she'll become receptive! haha

That was pretty much all for the week, our investigators are cool and Heavenly Father is working a lot of miracles. It's amazing to experience! Thanks all for the love :) love you all!

Sister Pope

1-2) I got to see Sister Bernolo and Sister Ducado at MLC <3 <3 LOVE THEM!!

3) Sister Fawcett was cleaning out our trashcan outside and left the door open then like ten minutes later we were sitting at our desk eating breakfast and we hear a meow in our kitchen. A cat literally somehow got all the way through the front door of our house to the back with the kitchen. (all the little black things are dead cockroaches we killed the night before.... don't judge us #philippinesbacolodmission)

4) We had been home for literally fifteen minutes and Sister Fawcett passed out on the wall HAHA 

5) Just at an appointment with an investigator.. one of their kittens literally fell asleep in my shoe. For any of you who know me, you know this is huge. It's SO CUTE

6) Tangub!

Week 49: SEA SNAKE

Hey everyone!! What a great week :)

So Tangub is amazing! Like I mentioned in my previous email this area has a reputation for being really difficult but honestly it's a great area with soo many people being prepared for this gospel. The people are great! There's this one recent convert family called the Tabanyag family and only the mom, dad, and five of the kids have been baptized but there's still three other siblings, one of their spouses, and a friend staying at their house that haven't been taught before! Sister Fawcett and I taught them this week and they have started reading the Book of Mormon and really enjoyed church on Sunday. Our focus right now is the friend, Anthony (21), and of of the kids, Janine (23) and her husband, Jade (26). They're all soooo cool and prepared, hopefully they understand our lessons to them! 

Also we're teaching this cute young couple, Jenelyn and Gosel and they're super prepared. They've been taught by the missionaries for a long time but never have kept commitments so we went back to them and they actually have all their wedding papers together, want to get married, and have a desire to be baptized! We're really excited for them and hope they'll progress well too. Everyone here is just great!

Oh yeah the rain here has been crazy.. it rains allllll day so when we get to investigators houses we're soaking wet and our feet are super muddy but they let us in anyways! The kindness of the filipino haha. 

Craziest thing that happened to me this week was eating a sea snake. We went to this group of investigators in one of our areas called Matahum and they barbecued this snake thing and we ATE it! It was actually super delicious. They gave us a live one, I'll put up a picture with me and the snake.

Anyways, after a really fast week, I'm loving this new area and being companions with Sister Fawcett, really it is SO much fun being companions with another white person haha. Thanks everyone for the love and everything! You guys are great :)

Sister Pope

1) Welcome to Tangub!!!

2) This is something funny in ilonggo but translated it doesn't sound as funny.. it is really funny to me in ilonggo though

3-4) Sister Fawcett and I with the sea snake!! Sister Fawcett was really scared of it.. I was hoping mine would turn into a prince. 

Week 48: TRANSFERS

Hello everyone... it's been a really hard day because I'm TRANSFERRED. I've been in Magsungay, my second area, for four transfers now and I've been transferred out of my first zone. The really really really hard part: I live less than ten minutes away from Magsungay. SO CLOSE yet SO FAR!!!! It's literal torture. BUT I know that the people in my next area are being prepared by Heavenly Father for us and I'm really excited to meet them. Ladies and gentleman my third area on my mission..... TANGUB! It's had a reputation of being a really difficult area but I know that it doesn't depend on the area but on the missionary. But the best part.. my new companion is SISTER FAWCETT!!!! I lived in the same house as her for three transfers and now we're companions! Two american girls taking on the Philippines.. it'll be fun. I'll miss my family I left in Magsungay but I'm excited to meet new people this transfer and love them too :)

Anyways, my last week was really good. I had exchanges with Sister De Leon at Sante Fe on Tuesday which was really fun, she's still in her training but she's really hard-working and really loves the work. 

I knew I was transferring this transfer since I had been in the same zone for seven transfers so everyone in my area already knew I was leaving. Let me tell you: it's SO much harder to transfer when you know you're leaving because other people get sad too. The hardest by far was saying goodbye to Raniel and Elmer. We all cried and said goodbye... UGH I'm gonna miss them so much. Another hard one was saying goodbye to Jessivelle and her family.. we've been teaching them for five months and they've just started progressing so randomly and fast... I'm so glad we didn't give up on them. It'll be an amazing day when they're all baptized. Of course it was really hard too saying goodbye to Sherwin and Ernesto, I can't believe all the change that they've been through and how different they are now. I'm so proud of all of them. I love them all so much and will miss them with all my heart. 

But, after crying a lot this past day, I've realized how much my Heavenly Father has blessed me here and know he will continue to bless me, no matter where I'm assigned. I'm grateful to be here serving a mission and meeting all these beautiful children of our Heavenly Father. Thank you all for your love and support :) Here's to a new area!

Sister Pope

1) The church was under construction this week... this is what they use instead of metal rods. They just climb up the wood with bare hands and feet and sit/stand on the wood poles.

2) They painted the road and this was the sign they put up.. thought it was kind of funny

3) Lublub's family.. her mom is finally starting to progress! 

4) Corcor!!! Love him so much

5) The Esturco family... a super strong family that was baptized on Christmas. They go to church every Sunday and are just amazing

6) Binggirl! love her so much, she literally walks to church every Sunday, just her and her 11 year old friend

7) The classic our-area-is-by-the-beach nametag picture

​​8-10) One of our investigators, Ronnie, raises beta fish for a living. He raises all 100+ of his fish in separate gatorade bottles so they don't fight eachother

Week 47: SAKIT :(

Hey everyone!! I'm all better from my sickness, thanks for all your prayers and loves :) It actually was a huge setback that I got sick, we weren't able to be out for long times in the sun and we didn't get to teach a lot of our progressing investigators. We missed them so much and ready to bawi (catch up) this week!

First, Sherwin is doing great. He's so excited to receive the priesthood and wants to baptize all his friends we're teaching. haha. Actually he has a few friends that are sincerely interested and we're teaching right now so hopefully we'll see some progression with them. 

Jessivelle and her family are progressing soooo much! They're really starting to stop smoking and drinking coffee and they're telling all their friends they're mormon already haha. Sister Jessivelle even invited us to her daughter Alexa's birthday party so we could offer an opening and closing prayer at the event. Needless to say, there were a lot of moms that were amazed at my Ilonggo this week. Jessivelle did face some judgement because of that though and she said she got a few rude comments from some of her friends BUT she told us that she cares more about Christ and wants her family to be together forever. She's so amazing!!! 

Funny story: Sister Garrish, my companion in the MTC, and her trainee, Sister De Leon, cut eachother's hair this week. It was a mess haha. Her trainee's hair used to be so long but Sister Garrish just braided it and cut of all of her hair with NORMAL PAPER SCISSORS. It was soooo crooked, but luckily my mom has cut my hair all my life and I was able to fix it so it looked okay. Sister Garrish cut her hair off too so I helped it look okay too. haha they're so crazy. 

Other than that, this week is gonna be hard. Last week our mission President joined our district meeting and straight up said in the meeting I would be transferring this transfer. Not only transfer, but finally transfer out of Bacolod which means wherever I go, it will be veeeeery far away from my first two areas :( I'm so not ready to leave Magsungay yet but I know my next area will be an amazing learning and growing experience. 

Thank you all for your love and support to me, it really means a lot. I love you all!!

Sister Pope

1) We pass by this huge cemetery on our way to district meeting and the walls are all painted cool, this one is my absolute favorite.

2) Straightening Sister De Leon's hair and trying to make it look decent.. her hair almost reached to her waist before

3) I'm not sure if I've written about him before, he was the one that went to church in his pajamas, but this is Corcor. He's half Korean and the CUTEST kid ever!! His little voice is so high-pitched and cute. We saw him on the street on our way to an appointment and he was playing with a tire, love this kid 

Week 46: SICK AGAIN

hey everyone!! im sick again haha. i really wanted to email but i have a fever right now so i should be going home soon. i really wanted to tell you guys though that sherwins baptism was awesome. he bore a really powerful testimony about Joseph Smith an d just has really gained a powerful testimony from the book of mormon. other than that our other investigators are doing really well.. sister jessivelle and her family should be baptized om july 22 so we're keeping them in our prayers. they're all so great. thanks everyone for your love !! 

Sister Pope

1) Sherwins baptism! sorry for the lame picture, it was nighttime outside and the flash looked terrible so we just took a picture inside AND i was sick haha. the important thing is that he's been baptised! 

2) ive never tried attaching a movie before so hopefully it works... this was on sunday coming from an appointment with ernesto and all of them. they always insist on taking us to the bangga from their house but the battery ran out on the bike so our investigators jay-r pushed the sikad from the back without his shoes on!! theyre super cool

(SORRY EVERYONE. THE VIDEO WOULDN'T UPLOAD)