January 27, 2013

Nanay ko,

This week was great! This week was filled with a lot of lessons. We also had a church tour, to encourage investigators and members to come to church. We had a good turn out and there was definitely a lot of work put into it, by the members. We also had the baptism of Jasmine and Bernadette. They were both so excited to finally be baptized and we are happy to have them as members of the branch. We have a lot of investigators, but we are struggling to have any of them keep their commitments and act upon their beliefs. The area that we are over has many members...but the problem is that they are all consider LA (less active) because they do not attend church or they have not gone to the temple yet. It is definitely a struggle and we are working with a lot of the RC (recent converts) to keep them at church. Many of the LA are also members that have gone on missions or have served in high callings...and for one reason or another, have left the church and want nothing more to do with it. It is definitely sad to see, but it is even harder to understand and I am trying to figure out what I can do as a missionary to help these people.

I am feeling better about the language. I wouldn't say that I understand any of it better than I did the week before, but my understanding has been enlightened on what I can do. I was thinking a lot about understanding and as I was praying and studying and fasting, I gained more understanding about understanding. I was enlightened on what I can be and become. I know that the Lord will give me understanding through His Spirit and through Him, will I gain greater understanding. I may not understand the language any better than I did before, but through the Lord I will gain greater understanding of what I need to know--the needs/concerns of those that my companion and I are teaching, the language, etc. I am relying on the Spirit as much as I possibly can. And part of my responsibility is to review my work and see what I am doing and what I can do better. I like to refer it to that experience of which our Savior had experienced. His time on earth was not that which was the easiest. There was much struggling and trials that came to Him. But how great was the blessing that He gave to the children of men. Our loving Heavenly Father did not make it easy for His son...then how could I expect that my time would be easy? I am trying to be the missionary that he needs me to be and I am trying. I spoke to the mission president about it and he said that I am doing well. Some food for thought (brought to my attention by my companion): we have only had two weeks, out of 8 weeks, that we have not met the mission standard of excellence. This Standard of Excellence contains 8 am lessons/wk, 30 lessons/wk, etc. Even on Christmas week we made the standard...this is very difficult. President Blienser has complemented us on our work and efforts.There is something that I am doing right :) It has surprised many that we have done this every week, especially with me being so new to the mission

January 21, 2013

The experiences here are just like living up at college...especially when you have three other girls living with you. I have had very similar experiences here that are the same as college, so none of it really seems new to me. This will make you laugh...we went to FHE with a family and we were playing games and one of them was called John the Baptist...it was the thimble game! nakakatawa! I was excited to know that there were similar games :)

This week was a rough one. We had a lot of appointments fall through and we could only leave them with a prayer. But we are trying to manage with what we have. We taught a lot of the same families as we do every week...we are trying to catch up on all the referrals still. The church is such a different aspect here...you have members which are small in number and then you have a large number of less active. And it is because they have not been to the temple. So this week has been with a large amount of less actives...some who are really sweet (one of them, Sister Cagunot, reminds me of Grandma Wong...look just like her too!) and some that really don't care to hear from us. Missionary work has its ups and downs and it has its blissful times and some very difficult times. But I had this experience...

This week He really gave me a tender mercy--there is a less-active sister, named Elsa. She has three children, two girls and one baby boy. When we had first had visited her when I first arrived in the area, her baby boy was sick with a respiratory condition. He was having the hardest time breathing and was just struggling altogether. When we had visited her, my companion had asked me to give their family a blessing and to pray for the baby that he would get better soon. In my heart I so badly wanted to give this blessing to them...but my mouth knew not how to express these words to my Heavenly Father. I started to pray aloud, but in sorrow of not being able to express the feelings of my heart, I started to tear up. The other children were making comments--"iyak siya!" (she's crying!)--but I continued with what little words I knew. I left hoping and praying to the Lord that he would see the desires of my heart and forgive me for the lack of words that I had, in expressing my desired blessing upon this family. I had thought little about it, until this week, when we went back to visit them. The little boy is now better...he was running around and was just the happiest little thing I had ever seen. When we went to leave, I went to shake his hand, he came right up to me and put his hands in my lap and stared into my eyes. He did this for a while and then he put his head in my lap and then looked back up at me. This was such a tender mercy to me, because I felt that it was his way to thank me for what I had tried to bless him with, and Heavenly Father was using this child to help me to see His love. The Lord continues to bless me..I must more actively look for them, though...I hope daily that I am doing the things that the Lord would have me to do.

How I wish that you could be here to meet these people. It is experiences like this that give me hope and bring the fire back in my heart. But this week was a hard one with the language. I was trying so hard to express myself...and I was being understood and I couldn't understand either. This was mainly with my companion...and in no way is it her fault. She is from Laguna, Philippines ( I really have no idea where that is) I know that it is on my part completely...but it has been so hard, not having anyone that can understand what I am saying or how I am feeling.  I will talk to her and she tells me that she understands, but whether I say it in Tagalog or English, she doesn't understand what I mean. And with that one of the sisters in the apartment was making comments about something and I later found out, through my companion, that it was because I had not filled the water buckets and that she was having to do everything. It just made it really difficult and frustrating because I had no idea...she could have just asked me as a reminder...but I just went through a swing of wondering if I would ever be able to speak the language. My companion was trying to help me to look at things positively and I am trying my best. We taught a lesson with Jasmine (15) and Bernadette (11), who are just like Julia and Ryann...and I was trying to talk to them and they were talking over me and were laughing about my pronunciation and so much more...and at that point I had had it. I was trying so hard to teach them and it was not going anywhere...I feel like this so much...But I felt so embarrassed when we went to a FHE on Saturday with a bunch of branch members and one of the sisters was explaining a game to them in Bicol, but forgot to explain it to me...and I guess I lost but they were all playing and then it came to me and I had no idea what they said or what they were doing and I just walked out of the house, because I just felt so lost and alone. They were really kind to help me to understand the rest of the night, but I just fear of going through that over and over...but that is how it will be for a while as I work to establish my Tagalog and then my South Bicol. All is well and I will continue forward and hope for the best and pray my heart out to the Lord for His help and guidance in my language skills. My companion is helping me some...it is different to have a native speaker teaching you, when they are learning English. This is where the understanding fails on both our parts, because I don't understand her sometimes and she doesn't understand me. But I hope to continue working at it and seeking for the gift of tongues.

If anyone would like to contact Sister Pace, you are able to email her:   alexa.pace@myldsmail.net

January 14, 2013

This week was busy. We had appointments planned for about every hour of everyday...and if not a teaching appointment it was a meeting that we needed to attend. Our teaching appointments have been really great...other than this last week felt like our week of dropped appointments. We would arrive at an appointment and either they would not be home or they would hide or lie to us. So we had lots of improvising. We have been really lucky as a companionship and have received many referrals, with no work on our part...but we get the hard part of trying to contact them and teach them. We have had several of our referrals not want us to teach them and several that want us to teach them and we end up not knowing how to find them.
This week went out to visit a referral that we had received from one of the recent converts...their house is located in Capuy, which takes about 45 minutes for us to travel to, by jeepne. So it takes some time for us to go out there and to cover the expenses...and to our dismay, they were not home. We have no other investigators or members out in the area and so we were walking around when my companion said that we should go visit this one family--the Lasala's. We only had a general idea of where they lived, but with our luck and the continual guidance of the Holy Ghost, we were able to find Brother Lasala. This family astonishes me...Brother and Sister Lasala had attended the Christmas party we had weeks ago and they had spoken to my companion and had set up time to be visited the Saturday following the party...however my companion had forgotten. This family was not offended...in fact they were more excited that we had actually come to see them. We sat down and were talking with them and my companion told me that they had made many dishes for us that Saturday we were suppose to visit, but they knew that no matter what they wanted to learn more about the Church. We introduced some materials to them and it was just amazing how much they wanted to know. My companion was saying that they are so ready to receive the gospel...there will be trials along the way, as we found out that Brother and Sister Lasala are not married and Sister Lasala has a previous husband who took their son and deserted her. We taught them again on Saturday and it was wonderful...they were excited about going to church and one of the other individuals, April, was anticipating to have her son receive a priesthood blessing because he is always sick. Unfortunately they never arrived at church on Sunday...so we are going to follow up this week and see what is going on. I had shared a couple of weeks ago about two young boys (brothers) who desire to be baptized, but are not able to because their parents don't want them to join...I admire these two so very much. We went to visit them again this week...they get so excited when we come to visit. We were talking to them and they were sharing with us how sad they were the last time that we had visited, because the last time we visited, their aunt had told us that they were not home (which was false). One of them said that he cried, because he wanted us to visit him and teach him about the gospel. We taught them about their purpose in life and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. They loved it so much! One said that he wants to be married in the temple someday and the other said that he wants to become a police officer/security guard for the church. They also said that they were upset with their parents because they were making them attend a catholic church, which they do not believe in or enjoy. My companion and I can only have patience in this circumstances, for we may only be the planters of the seed, and another may reap of the blessings of these two young boys. I pray many times that the Lord will watch over them. The two investigators we had that were preparing for baptism on the 19th were delayed because the District Leader did not feel that they were ready....which my companion and I were prepared for. But it was hard to tell these two girls that there would need to be more preparation for them, in order to be baptized. It is interesting how we are given that discernment to know if they are ready or not to receive the covenant of baptism. We are hoping this week to work more with them this week and help them really feel the change that is necessary in order to be received unto baptism.We have several other investigators that we are teaching that are uncertain about our message and we are striving to work with them to help them understand the need of the gospel in their lives. Pray that we may be able to bring light to them :) I know that God is watching over His children, but he does give them the agency to choose and make decisions in their lives that may change it's course forever, whether good or bad.
My companion and I are doing well. She told me that when she went into the interview with our mission president, that he asked her if she was happy. She said that she was and that this has been one of her favorite transfers. I am struggling some days to adjust to the culture and the ways in the Philippines and I must have my heart always open to my companion for this reason. I do love her...she is so very patient with me (especially when I break down over not being able to help her teach the lesson as much as I would like to, because I don't know how to say it, or the pain I feel when I can't share the joy I have through the gospel in words, to the people we are teaching). We each have our strengths and our weaknesses and we are working on them together.
It doesn't feel like I have been out for a month....i still feel so brand new. It has definitely been fun experiencing the Philippines. For New Year's we had an eating appointment, but we had a curfew for 6pm...so it was pretty uneventful. Other than all the fireworks and loud noises at 12am-1am. Our bed time was still 10:30pm...so it was nothing exciting :)
Arjay's baptism was wonderful! He is such an amazing 11year old. He has just been growing so much spiritually since he has been a member. We are so very excited to teach him more about the gospel and the blessings it will bring to his life.
 Mahal Kita!
Sister Pace

Dec. 13 with batch & trainers

Sorsogon district (sisters) with Sis. Bleisner

district activity

district activity

Our first week of the new year!

Kumusta po Kayo!

I hope that all is going well for you all! This week was a busy week and there was so much to learn.

We had the opportunity to go out and contact referrals and teach lessons to them. It became a little difficult when they started to disappear when they had told us to return at a certain time. Philippino people will just hide from you if they do not want to talk to you...or they send their children to come tell you a story about where their parents are. It is always great to take a opportunity to talk with new referrals, but it is hard, when you can tell that they don't want to hear from you.

This week my companion and I had a training workshop. It was a really great opportunity to see what we were doing good on as a companionship thus far in our 12 week training, but also to see where we could improve. It was a little difficult though, because the "batch" that I came with are all Philippino and they were speaking Tagalog during training, until the mission president made mention that I could probably not understand. It is so hard being the only American and not having any support or help in understanding the language and everything else. We had the opportunity to reflect on how the doctrine of Christ is something that we should include in everything we do. We should be driven to do this work, because it is what the Lord wants--"For this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39) Heavenly Father loved us so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son to die for us. To know that He loved every single person that much, really tells us how much we should love others.Through the Atonement of His Son, we are able to have a way to return back to Him--faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I loved the story from 1 Nephi 8, with Lehi and the tree of life--in verse 12--"And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit." There are so many reasons why I am out here....I but I feel that this is my greatest drive, because of Mosiah 28:3 (click the link, for the scripture). I hope that through all of this, that I will be able to do this for some...so that in heaven I may have joy with them, over the salvation of their souls.

The people in this area are wonderful. I love going out and teaching...I wish I understood more of what they are saying, but I don't...and so I have to piece things together that I do understand. The children here are so cute and so precious, because they will sit there are try talking to me. I do not always understand them, but they are so much more understanding when I talk with them. In fact two of our investigators, two friends, came to church yesterday and during testimony meeting were trying to talk to me in Tagalog and then English. They were kind enough to translate and help me understand what they were saying. These two girls have been a focus for us and we are trying to find a way to lead them to be converted to the gospel and not to the missionaries that come through. They are making some progress and will hopefully be ready for their baptism on the 19th of January.

I am sorry if I write every week and it sounds the same. I am trying to share with you what has impacted me and the experiences I have had. The language is a trial for me and I feel that after I start to understand more of what the people are saying I will be able to tell you more about the people. For now the people are very closely cherished to my heart and I hope to start to understand them more so I can share with you the love I have for them....that may not make sense, but I will show you....

I hope you all are doing well and I can't wait to share next week :)

Ingat po,

Sister Pace

 

 

December 31, 2012

Hey Everyone,

Thus far in Sorsogon...it's a beautiful morning with rain and humidity. And the rain continues to fall...

This week has been really great...we started with a wonderful Christmas Eve, with so many eating appointments than I could ask for. I think in total we went to three houses that night for "dinner". And the families are so generous in telling you to continue to eat...even if you are full. And it is so hard when the food is so delicious ;P

Christmas Day was quiet when we woke up....which was really surprising...but it soon became cluttered with the sound of little kids blowing horns and screaming around in the courtyard of our compound. We went to visit several of our recent converts and investigators...it was great to go out on Christmas and have the chance to share with others the joy that the Savior brought to us on that day. Christmas was also full of eating appointments...I was somewhat prepared for the continuous eating, but still suffered for eating too much. The rest of Christmas day we spent teaching less actives...a lot of them were receptive to our message of love and guidance of the birth of our Savior. Many people were out still celebrating the holiday season when we got home...Christmas is such a big thing in the Philippines...it will last until February :) We visited one of our investigators that was going to be baptized on December 29th and he was so excited to have us teach him more. When we entered into his family's hut, he went to the other room and grabbed a bag. After we sat down he gave my companion and I a gift. This had to be one of the most touching moments for me...This young boy is 11 years old. His family lives in very poor circumstances and I wouldn't be certain to say if they have what it takes to meet their daily needs. But here he was giving two missionaries, gifts that he has purchased with money he had saved. I will always remember this example of service from one who was not even a member...and the love that he showed to us. I only hope that I may be able to give back to him, that which he has given to me :)

On Wednesday we went to visit some recent converts...they live out in the middle of the jungle. And just our luck a tropical storm was coming through that day. So the day was really wet. Rain + Jungle = lots of mud! I never thought that I would have so much mud on me, when I was trying to stay out of it. Even after several days....there was still large puddles of water and mud everywhere. I got the chance to Skype the family for Christmas...it was great to talk with you and update you on the service in Sorsogon :) I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Thursday we went back out to the jungle to teach one family. The Larcie Family...both parents are less active and we are in the process of teaching two of their children. We invited the children, two boys, to be baptized and they accepted. But they were concerned because they said that their parents would not allow them to be baptized. When we returned, the mother stated why she did not want here children to be baptized in our church. It was very sad to listen of the circumstances that lead to her choice. It took only a offence from a member to turn this mother and father away from the gospel and then to reject her children's choice to follow their desire in following our Savior. One of the young boys told us that he desires to become a missionary someday...I hope that the seeds we are planting will someday allow for that dream to come forth. It is hard to remember sometimes that we must never give up on certain people, because they may be set...we must always remember that they deserve every ounce of blessing from God.

Friday we had interviews with our Mission President and District Meeting...lots of time to prepare and reflect in what we are doing as missionaries. We were given a challenge to become teachers like our Savior...striving to always teach with Christlike attributes and to meet the needs of those that we are teaching. My Mission President helped with my concern with the language...I must strive to do my very best! I am still really fresh in the mission and it will all come with time. I still think that the hardest part for me will be that I am not able to say what I want to say, to those around me...but with patience and diligence :) After our meeting we went out to contact some of our referrals we had received from our recent converts ( we had one convert give us 7 referrals, another 2 and another 1...still trying to contact all of them!)

Saturday morning we went out early to teach some recent converts and less actives. One family we were visiting has child that is sick with asthma. This child was laying on his stomach and you could see that he was struggling with every breathe that he was taking. We did not stay longer, because the mother was busy, but we left them with a prayer. My companion volunteered me (as she always does...for my practice :)) to say the prayer. It was so hard to say the prayer, because I sat there on the bamboo platform trying to think of how I could ask for Heavenly Father to give them a proper and sufficient blessing for health and all their needs. I started to cry because I just felt that it was so unfair that I was not able to give them what I knew they needed the most.I thought about it after we left their house and I know that Heavenly Father knew the intents of my heart and He will bless them with what He sees necessary. The most I can do is try my best.

As we have gone out this week, I have learned so much from my companion, the people, the language, the gospel and so much more. I have gained more names...Sister Mukha, Sister Pokerface, Sister Pace, and Sister Face. I have learned that the language is difficult, but when you have the words of God in your heart and you are seeking after the desires to bring others unto Him, you are able to say the right words, through His Spirit. I have learned that mud in the Philippines is not friendly...in fact it can be rotten at times, but you must continue forward, because that is what the Lord would have you do. I have learned what love is, for it is in the face of the Philippino people daily. I have learned that there are great responsibilities as a missionary and we must stand up to our positions...but we can do all, for "through God all is possible"(Matthew 19:26).

I hope that you all enjoy the update of the week and I can't wait to share with you the experiences to come this week.

 

Happy New Year's to you all!!

Ingat po,

Sister Pace

 

 

 

 

The pictures are of our two converts. The older gentleman is Antonio...the most stalwart person I have ever met.  He is the only member in his family. The other is Arjay, who is 11 years old, and his sister. He is such an example to me :)

 

 living quarters with two other sister missionaries

this is where laundry is done

this is the bathroom

 

 

December 19, 2012

Family,

Sorry about the pictures...I will see what I can do to fix that problem. The picture is of two girls that are daughters of a mother we teach. They just found it so amusing that there was a white american in their yard.

I am glad to hear that you received the pictures from the mission president. The other missionaries in the picture are all Philippino and I am the only American coming in at the time...for some time, until February.

The living conditions are living conditions. It is very simple here. We are not in the best, but it all works. Consists of two bedrooms 1/3 the size of ours at home with a bunkbed and a closet. Then there is a living room/hallway/kitchen. And then a porch where we do our laundry. Oh...and a bathroom with a toilet that does not flush and not working shower. It has been an experience. But not too bad. I am trying to send some pictures to you in this email. The one with all the kids....that is the front where we hang all our laundry to dry and where we put all our shoes. The kids were caroling to us for Christmas. It has been going well on the adjusting to the climate...the humidity is something that I feel that you have to deal with whether you are use to it or not...so that is a daily issue ;) However I was eaten alive for the first week by bugs...it was really bad...there were bug bites all up and down my legs and arms. But I got some lotion and anti itch cream for it and they are starting to disappear. The area of Sorsogon is part forest, part city and everything else in between. It has been really interesting to be in a city one moment and them be traveling through a jungle the next moment. But the priceless part is it never gets old, seeing the shock on a Philippino's face when they see a american female and she speaks Tagalog.

This week was a struggle on some terms. I hadn't written in my journal for a couple of days, because of how busy we were...but we had so much going on. My companion taught me how to wash my laundry by hand...and that has been a really fun experience :) I actually really don't mind it! It was definitely interesting going out on our P-day and being out the whole day just to get groceries and everything else. On Tuesday we had a Community Service Project as a district and we went out and built a house for a family. It was a really great experience. I will try to send some pictures of that later :) At the beginning of the week we had planned for four individuals to be prepared for baptism on the 29th. They are four youth--Arjay (11), Jospeh (16), Jasmine (15) and Bernadette (12). They were all doing well in the lessons and we felt that they were going to be great. So Wednesday we went out and taught as many as we could but ran into problems and found back up lessons and the day ended up good and bad...over all sucessful for we taught a less active. Thursday was our Christmas Party with the Mission President, so we traveled for two hours by vehicle to go to another city to participate. It was a really great experience and I really enjoyed the things I learned. I met all the other missionaries that are in the South Naga Mission. There is one other American Sister...Sister Christensen. She is from Utah and has been our for four months. All the missionaries were really friendly and kind, especially since I couldn't understand most of them. I also received my scriptures...it was really like Christmas :) ( When we left the mission home the first day, I went in one vehicle and my scriptures went in another ). Friday was another day filled with teaching and learning...however the evening, at the Branch Christmas Party, we lost three of our potential baptisms. We were practicing in the chapel for a baptism that was going to take place the next day, and I was singing for it. Three of the youth came to the party because we invited them, but they got offended because we did not go out to see them immediately. It was very sad to see three of them just walk off and say that they no longer wanted to be baptized and said that they liked the previous missionaries more. I felt bad, but I know that my job is not to establish a friendship with these people, but to help them to see their need for the gospel in their lives. We are sad to lose their baptismal date, but it helped us to see that they are not ready to be baptized. Saturday we had our one and only baptismal interview for Arjay...it was so amazing to be there during part of his conversion, because I could see how happy he was about the decision he was making. When we had taught him earlier that morning we taught him about the word of wisdom...and he had read the pamphlet and we were going to review it. When we asked what he thought, he started to cry, because his family drinks coffee, because it is a cheap and easy drink here. We told him that he would not be able to drink it any longer. But as we told him that God would help him along the way and bless him, I could see his faith growing. He was so willing to do his best to prepare for whatever was required of him. Sunday I gave a talk in church, in Tagalog, even though most speak Bicol. That has been the struggle...and it might be for a while. It is tough to be trying to learn Tagalog and speak Tagalog, when everyone around me speaks Bicol. I have felt like I have not been able to do anything right and that I am not good enough for it. I felt so many times anguish in my heart as I was not able to express the way I felt in Tagalog. And I had Arjay sitting next to me, speaking to me and asking me a question and I couldn't answer him...I just started to cry, because I wanted so badly to talk to him and I was unable to. And that is my struggle....I want to so badly share with others the wonderful news, of the restored gospel, with others....but I am unable to. But I have learned that I truly must take it one day at a time and have faith in myself and in others. For I may not be able to do all now, but through God all is possible (Matthew 19:26).

Thank you so much for everything...I wish you all could be out here to meet the people here...they are so wonderful! Julia...I love your smile...it is so beautiful! And tell Sadie that she did a good job on killing the gingerbread man :)If you get the chance, can you email this out to the rest of the family? I hope that you all have a wonderful time celebrating and hopefully I will get to talk to you soon!
Mahal Kita at ingat po!

Sister Pace

 

Sister Carrasca and Sister Pace

sleeping quarters

 

Pictures

Here are a few pictures that we received from Sister Pace's mission office on the day of her arrival.

Sister Bliesner and President Bliesner 

This is the rest of the batch that arrived in the Philippines at the same time as Sister Pace did