More Photos of Christmas! week 26 cont.

thanks for the gifts!

The City

The apartment sisters

The Sunday after Christmas

Maligayong pasko at Maligayong Bagong Taon!!!!

I can't believe that it's 2014 in just a couple days!!! Where does the time go?!

Life here is so good. I am loving this new area and loving getting to know my way around more. I don't know if I really love the traffic though...but other than that this area is great!

 This past week was good and we were able to eat with the stake president and his family on Christmas and with some other members. I opened my Christmas presents by myself while everyone else was just kind of relaxing and on Christmas eve I read the nativity story by myself and opened one present.:)

We had our Christmas Zone Conference on Christmas eve, so that was really good to go to that and see all the couples and missionaries and of course President and sister Peterson. It was a really good conference. We had all the spiritual stuff of course, but then we played games and did a huge gift exchange (which of course I would end up with a teddy bear),  Each zone  then did a skit. Ha ours was a really rough version of the ants go marching one by one, but the missionaries go tracting 2x2. Ha it was really fun though. Then we ate dinner at McDonald's and then Sis Vaipou and I went with Sis's  Cox and Malig to Elder and Sister Hardin's house for some treats. It was a really good day.

The rest of this week has been good though. I absolutely loved skyping with you guys!! ha next time I will do better about only talking for 40 mins. though...haha oops. Oh well. it was so nice to be able to see everyone!!

I wanted to send some pictures today, but I left my camera at home, so next week I will get some pictures home!!

We have a curfew tomorrow at 6pm, but one of the members asked president if we can eat with them at 6 and then they will take us home! I am very excited for that. I don't think we're going to be getting much sleep though on the 31st because they have been doing fire crackers for like the past month and also Sis. Malig,  a filipina in our apartment,  told us that it is a tradition here at midnight to jump as high as you can so that you will grow tall. It is also a tradition to make as much noise as you can to scare away the evil spirits. Hahaha I am just a little upset that our bedtime is 10:30...

I love you all so much and I hope you have a great new year!

Love,

Sister Mecham 

Food on Christmas!

Me, President and Sister Peterson
Christmas Zone conference

Me, Sister Viapou

Me, Sister Wilkes

Merry Christmas!

I Love my new pillow case!

skyping on Christmas!

"To San Pablo I've Been Called" Week 25 Philippines

Our mission theme song is to the tune of "In Our Lovely Deseret" and the first line is "To San Pablo We've Been Called by a Prophet of our God" and I have been singing it a lot to myself this past week because I GOT TRANSFERRED TO SAN PABLO (3). 

It is really great! It is a rather large city, but it is really really cool! My new companion is sister Vaipou, she is from Samoa and is 6 weeks behind me on her mission, so we are pretty close in 'age' of the mission. She is great and is just so loving. She is so pretty and just so much fun! 

Sister Lorente and I spent our last few days in Candelaria visiting lots and lots of members and packing and packing and cleaning and packing. I was actually really good though and surprise...I actually fit all my stuff in just the 2 big suit cases! They weighed like 100 pounds though I'm pretty sure, but hey. I got all my stuff packed.

Thursday morning we traveled to the mission home to meet our new companions there. Sister Lorente got transferred and sister Finau got transferred too. Neither of them were very happy, but there are good sisters taking our spots in Candelaria.

So these last few days, we have just been trying to get used to the area and get all settled in. 

San Pablo is a WAY bigger city than Candelaria but is kind a weird because there will be tons of buildings and traffic, then you drive down the road a little but and there is a huge field of rice or corn or something. It is super random.

But I love it. I am SO happy to be here. I am like maybe 30 mins. away from the mission home too so that is nice :)

Fun Facts

Our ward has the stake president's family and both of his councilors in it. The stake president is having us over for Christmas lunch.

We went to like 2 1/2 hours of the NINE HOUR CHRISTMAS PARTY they had on Saturday. It started at 1 and got over like at 8:30. I about died when they said it was going to be that long. 

This ward is rich. Sobrang rich. They were throwing candy out the whole night, gave everyone 2 meals, tons of ice cream, refreshments and then at the end of the night, each family got a large basket of grocery type items. It was nuts.

The ward is SO nice though!! I am SO excited and happy to serve here!

Our house is a lot smaller than Candelaria and has 0 yard, so that means I have to do handstands and cartwheels in the house again.:)

Maybe like 100 feet from our house is a Pentacostal church.  They love to sing and play their drums and just rock out right during our personal study time on Sunday morning. It is fantastic.

They also start their practice at like 10 pm, but at least this week has been Christmas songs :)

So that's my life. I love it. This Christmas will be super weird, but I am happy here :) 

I love you all and hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Sister Mecham

Me with my new companion, Sister Viapou

Sister Lorente and new companion, me and Sister Viapou

Transfers??? Week 24 in the Philippines

Well I am getting transferred. I wish I could tell you where, but I have no idea. They will tell us tomorrow.

 The AP's just called us and told us to get our area book looking nice, our apartment clean, and pay our bills. But the only problem is, Sister Lorente is transferring too. We are really sad because we don't want to leave "Z" or some of our other investigators because we finally have this area seeing progress, but I guess it'll all work out some how.

Anyway. This week has been good. On Wednesday we had Zone training meeting in Lucena.

 Thursday our kitchen sink (aka the only working sink in the whole house) got clogged with too much rice and pancit, so we had to call the couples to come fix it. Well. 3 couples showed up. The Gines, Hardins, and Feralles's. I just love all of them so much. The sink took a while to fix and all the elders had to go get supplies and such, so I sat out in our front room and talked to Sister Gines and Hardin for like an hour and it just felt SO good. It totally reminded me of just talking with family back home. It was much needed. Plus now, I have a new goal in life. I want to be a Couple missionary. They can do whatever they want. Literally.

Friday, Sister Harris and I had exchanges. It was a great day too because all of our lessons were referrals!!  The only referral I have received on my whole mission was" Z"! So that was really cool to see how much this area is progressing. Plus one of them was a Joe (American). He is actually kind of wierd...but his wife is a member, so he could definitely be baptized sooner than our other investigators. But it was really good to work with Sister Harris. She was definitely impressed with the progress of this area as well as with my Tagalog. I have definitely noticed the change in both and it really does feel great to be improving. 

Sister Harris is done with her mission this week, so I was so glad to be able to work with her one more time. She is a really good missionary. Ha but we got double the stares because she is a tall blonde American, ha but it was fun.

Saturday, Sister Manu and Sister Finau had a baptism for 5 little kids they have been teaching in Sariaya. They were kind of a special project because there are no missionaries there. All these kids parents were less active, but now they are coming back! It was a really good service.

And yesterday we got to go to Lucena to watch the first presidency Christmas devotional. It was SO good!! Plus "N" came to church again!! and I got pictures with a lot of the members.

This week, I think we will definitely just be following up with members and  "Z" and our other investigators and getting our area ready for new missionaries. 

I love you all so much and I'll let you know next week where I'll be transferred!!!

Love,

Sister Mecham

Our bedroom

 Our district and sister Umiten

Sister Pitman visited my family?! I did splits with her before she finished her mission.

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" Week23

"Z" GOT BAPTIZED SATURDAY AND CONFIRMED SUNDAY!!!!!!

It was SO perfect, and probably the closest thing to a "White Christmas" I'll be seeing here in the Philippines.I couldn't be happier. Sister Lorente and I are SO happy we were able to see her make these huge changes in her life. She has really been changed by the Book of Mormon.

 We rounded up some tablecloths and flowers and pictures from the members to have set up at the church and just made sure the room was really clean and looked nice (Mom would be so proud of my Relief Society skills :) ) . 

 It was such a beautiful service and she was SO happy!!!! Sister Lorente and I could not stop smiling! It was a perfect set up and the spirit was so strong. I finally felt like a real missionary! I loved it!

 After the baptism, we were all just kind of standing there and talking. "Z's" husband, was just kind of standing there.  I just asked him how he was feeling. He just looked at me and I could just see that his eyes were red and it looked like he was going to start to cry. It was definitely my second favorite part of the baptism. He has kinda been the "black sheep" of the family. These last few months he has really changed a lot.

His family and pretty much all the ward members always say "oh sister, he was a less active" or "sister, he's Laman in our family" and he never says anything to stand up for himself. But Saturday night, I know he felt loved by our Heavenly Father for the changes he has made. I know Sister Lorente and I really did our best to show him and Z love. I KNOW they have changed. We were SO proud of him to be the one to baptize and confirm his wife. It truly was beautiful.

Sunday was beautiful too. He was able to confirm her during sacrament meeting.
After the sacrament, Bishop invited her to go up and bear her testimony and I kid you not, she was absolutely glowing!!!!!!!! She is the cutest. She also bore her testimony at the baptism. We had visited her on Friday and after the lesson, we asked her to bear her testimony but she told us she wanted it to be a surprise for us, so we had to wait till Saturday. I love her so much!

That was the definite highlight of the week and was really just wonderful.

In some other news though. I am pretty sure I'll be transferred on the 18th.
President had to interview Z on Tuesday because of her current religion. He just had to make sure everything was good. (I had to translate for it!!! scary!!).

 After the interview, I just talked to him for a little bit and then as he was leaving (Sister Peterson had come with him) he just put his arm on my shoulders and said "Sister. You are tired of this area. I can just feel it." and I just said, "Yes President", so I am feeling a transfer is coming.
 I am definitely nervous, but I think I am definitely ready for a change! I am so sad to have to leave sister Lorente though. I have already made my mind up that I am coming back here in 5-10 years with my husband to visit her and her husband and we will all tour the Philippines together!

Fun Facts:

Sister Lorente taught me a new word. It is nakakapagpabagabag. It means to be disturbed!

They have a tradition here. You go caroling and then you ask for money. Well I was unaware of this, so Sunday morning as we were getting ready to go to church some people came and sang and I just stood and watched them then clapped for them and said salamat po when they got done. But then they didn't leave and sister Lorente said that they will wait till we go give them money. So we ended up just hiding in our house till they left...

Jollibee (the main fast food place here) has a theme song. But it sounds like a real song. I definitely encourage you to go look it up.

Also "Nasa yo na ang lahat". Sister Lorente taught me that song too. I love it.

That's it from here. This week we will be finding new investigators and enjoying the sunshine while you all freeze :)

Love,Sister Mecham

Zone p-day! Last Monday in Lucena

Baptism Day!

I Love Papaya!

White Christmas!!!

Baptisms, Apostles, and Tricycles Week 22

Well I have to apologize for the semi-depressing email last week

. This week has been SSSSOOOO much better!" Z" IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! 

It turns out that if the bishop sees you get super upset and almost start crying in front of the ward council, he takes your side and talks with them to figure out a way for "Z's" baptism to be on Saturday night. Who says crying doesn't solve anything, psh. 

Ha I really hope that doesn't have to happen again! 

We have been busy this week going to her house EVERYDAY to get her ready for this Saturday! President is going to interview her on Tuesday just to make sure that everything is all good and that she really is ready to be baptized. Of course she is!! Her countenance has changed SO much since we've started teaching her and she just absorbs the lessons like a sponge! It really is such a miracle to see her change. 

In November, Sister Lorente and I had fasted for just one miracle in this area (meaning one baptism) and yesterday during sacrament, Z and her husband came in late and she just turns around and gives us the biggest smile and waves at us! It just hit me SO hard that SHE is our miracle that we prayed for. There is every reason for her not to be baptized because of her past and  her families religious beliefs, but I know that she is ready to be baptized and I feel so humbled to be able to help her. 

Another really amazing and wonderful miracle this week was on Tuesday. We had our mission tour with Elder Brent H. Nielson of the 70 and his wife. It was such a good meeting. 

We had a special sisters meeting in the morning with Sister Nielson and it was great! She said that when she was a young mom, she read a book about finding the holiness in everyday life, and so she really encouraged us to do the same in our work.

 Of course we are in the Philippines and it is super different for a lot of us, but she said that there is always something holy we can find. Then she said that when we get home, we need to marry someone who is a returned missionary and is ready to raise a family. Ha! Just like what we always talked about in young women's. It was really good.

Then the main mission tour with Elder Nielson was great too. There had been some rumors that he would interview a few of the missionaries and I just kinda pushed it to the side. That morning when I woke up I felt nervous and I immediately kind of knew that I would be interviewed. When we were in the big meeting, we all stood when he entered and then he had everyone come up and shake his hand individually and introduce ourselves, and I just felt SO nervous. After everyone shook hands and stuff, he sat on the stand and the meeting started and then he looked at me again and I just knew that I would be the one to get interviewed.

The actual meeting was SO good!! I loved it. The spirit was so strong and I learned a lot about the atonement.

 President Peterson gave a really great talk about the Book of Mormon. Then we had a delicious lunch and the Nielson's sat at our table and ate with us.  We then had the second half of the meeting. It was perfect!

After that meeting President came up to me and just kinda pulled me to the side and said "Elder Nielson would like to meet with you after, so when you see him start to leave, just make your way out behind him." I died. I could NOT stop smiling and I was kind of in shock!!! I just felt so loved. 

I had had such an awful week and I was just so humbled that I would be able to be interviewed by an Apostle of the Lord!! It was a good interview too. He just talked to me about our family, my areas, and about the St. George area.

He said that as much as I want this area to function like a ward in St. George, he said it probably won't because the church is only 50 years old here. He said that it is such a blessing to be able to see the church in such it's early stages here and that 'when I come back in 50 years with my husband, I will be shocked to see the progress here!

 It was such a neat experience and was a huge relief from the really bad week I had. He is going to email you guys too and send a picture of us. He said that they like to email you guys and just let you know that the missionaries are doing OK. :)

As we were leaving, President shook my hand and I just told him  thank you and he asked how the interview was. He said "good. I thought you would like that". It feels so good to know that president totally has my back here and is really looking out for me!

Now one fun fact;

I am going to make a Disneyland ride of a tricycle in the Philippines. Last night we got a ride home from Zeiti's house with their neighbor. There were already 2 people in the side car thing, then the in laws of Zeiti got in too, so there were FOUR adults in the car thing so Sis. Lorente and I were on the back of the motorcycle. I am pretty sure the tricycle was like 20 years old too and like super rusty.

 The driver was just going SO fast!! The roads had tons of ruts because it had rained a lot and so we are just bouncing ALL over the place! Then he is trying to avoid them so we are like running into all these bushes and Sister Lorente and I were just dying of laughter and holding on for dear life!! 

To add to the experience, this cow was in the middle of the road so we are chasing this cow out of the road. It was scary! Not to mention the guy was drunk. It was exciting!

Any way. I love you all SO MUCH!!!

Love,

Sister Mecham

Sister Mecham and Brent H. Nielson area President of the Quorum of the Seventy

Sister Lorente, Sister Mecham and President Nielson

Sister Mecham and Sister Lorente at the SM (shopping mall) in San Pablo.

Philippine Tricycle! With side car !

                         

Thanksgiving Dinner! Chicken, mashed potatoes, mango pie!

Thanksgiving!

"Hey Joe", "Barbie", "Ako,sabon na lang" (I just use soap!) Week 21

Well. This week has been the pits!

 In first Nephi it says that they traveled through the wilderness for 8 years and experienced all sorts of hardships and trials. I think about that all the time and am SO grateful that my mission (in the wilderness) is only 18 months. The trials I am facing now really aren't that fun. 

But then I always have to remember in 1 Nephi 17:1-3 about how the Lord provided a way for all his commandments to be fulfilled. I know that somehow these humongous trials we have now with ALL of our investigators will some how work out.

President Peterson has asked us to memorize the Standard of Truth from Joseph Smith.

 It says..."The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every nation, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say The work is done."

I know that I am doing the Lords work. There is nothing that can stop this work, even if it looks quite impossible right now. I never thought that I would experience so much hate radiating off of a person when they yelled at us for saying that there was an apostasy and that "everyone is a prophet", or being afraid to tell someone that it costs 500 pesos ($14) to get papers and a birth certificate copy for them to get married and them responding that they only make 300 pesos every day (maybe 4-5 times a week) for their family of 6, or trying to help someone prepare for baptism who grew up Muslim, and then realizing that penalty for her if she ever went back to her family would be a total nightmare.

 I didn't ever think I would be faced with any of these problems in my entire life. But in just one week I've had it all. None of them are my problems, but because I am a representative of Jesus Christ, these now feel like my own personal challenges. I am learning more about the Atonement and patience and trust than I ever have in my entire life. I am grateful for these challenges though. I have absolutely no idea what I can do in any of these situations, but I know that the standard of truth is real.

This gospel will be heard in every ear and there are people here I have been called to help. President Peterson also had us read "Mountains to Climb" by Pres. Eyring. We read it as a companionship last night and it has helped me so much. I think Heavenly Father really wants me to learn about the atonement, patience, and trust right now, because I know that I am really being tested by all of them right now.

On a brighter note though I have some fun facts;

If you are a white person in the Philippines, you will hear "hey Joe" at least once a day. (in reference to when the GI's were here)

We were walking down the street one day and this little girl just stops dead and stares at me then says, "BARBIE". We are now teaching her mom :)

We started teaching our Ward mission leaders sister and their little neighbor girl came over. Her name is Nicole and she is 4. And after the lesson was over, we were eating crackers and drinking coke and the little girl like grabs my hair and was kind of playing with it. Then she asks "Anong shampoo na gamit mo?" (what kind of shampoo do you use?). Then she smelt it and then rubbed her little hands through her hair and says "Ako, sabon na lang" (I just use soap). Oh my gosh. It was the CUTEST thing EVER!!

Any way. This past week has not been my favorite, and I really have no idea what we are going to do with all these different investigators. It is hard. But I know that Heavenly Father will take care of these people and that everything will work out how it needs to.

Love, 

Sister Mecham

This is actually the same river I washed clothes in at the beginning of my mission, just a different spot.

Crossing the river to get to Z's house!! (one of our investigators)

Another Fun Fact. Our STL (also a Sister Harris) straightened my hair for me with our iron. #reasonswhyilovethephilippines!

Investigators, potential baptisms, and exchanges to Tayabas Week 20

This week has been full of ups and downs again (as usual), but the more I hear about this mess in the Tacloban mission, the more grateful I am that I am here and our biggest problems are trying to get investigators to read the Book of Mormon and find people to teach. 

I have absolutely loved this week though!!! It has been great! We did have some more miracles this week! Every day is a miracle though.One of my favorites this week is that we have a new investigator," Z." She just married a member of the church and they are both like 21-22ish. We started to teach her this past week and she is progressing SO much!!! Her goal date is December 7th. Yesterday our bishop talked to her and her husband. He said that her husband can prepare to baptize her!! It will be our first completed family and my first baptism!!!! 

They live in his parents house. The parents are active members as well as all of his sisters. "Z" will have plenty of support.  She doesn't really know much about Christ, so we decided that we will take these next few weeks and really teach her about Christ and help her to gain a strong testimony of Him!

 I am so excited and I can't wait to see her progress. She has been coming to church for a few weeks now.We will still wait a few more to make sure she is really ready to be baptized.

BUT!  To get to their house, you literally have to cross a large-ish river ON ROCKS! Then walk through the jungle for like 5 minutes to get to their house. Hahah but in all honesty, I would go there every day. IT IS SO PRETTY!!!!!!! (I'll send pictures next time)

Our second miracle happened yesterday. We were able to meet with more members and give them a family mission plan.We also meet with our bishop again, and it FINALLY feels like we are really gaining their trust and it feels SO good!

 We got a surprise text on Saturday night from bishop saying he needed two speakers for the next day, so Sister Lorente and I had to speak. I was super nervous, but the topic was Trust and Be Strong. I think it turned out OK because a lot of the members told me I did a good job and they all complemented me on my Tagalog. 

On Thursday and Friday I was in Tayabas for exchanges with Sister Harris. A lot of the people there were really impressed with my Tagalog! I seriously can't believe it! It feels SO good to be able to talk to people fairly easily.  I still have a hard time understanding a lot, but I know that will get better too.

We may be dropping some investigators this week.We want to find new ones who will progress. 

Our investigator who came to church last week," N", told us Saturday that he wasn't going to come again because he only wanted to go once to see if he felt an answer. Well I guess he didn't really feel an answer, so he didn't come to church again. He just can't get an answer and we have not been able to help him get one. I really don't know what else we can do. I think we have shared every scripture in the Book of Mormon that talks about getting an answer from God, but nothing has helped him. I know he has changed a lot from reading the Book of Mormon, but I don't know if he can really see it in himself. We will go back again on Tuesday and try to get him some more help, if not, we may drop him for a while. 

Any way. Life is just rolling a long here. I can't believe it has almost been 6 months!!!!! WHERE DOES THE TIME GO!?!?!? I am so grateful though for the progress I have made and I absolultely love that I am getting better at Tagalog. I know that the gift of tongues is a real thing and I know that I have been blessed with it to be able to help the members and investigators here in Candelaria and for sure for the rest of my mission!!

Mahal na mahal ko kayo, at ingat po palagi!!!

Love,

Sister Mecham

#ilovetayabas Don't mind the super bright sister Mecham. This place is gorgeous #exchanges

Exchanges with Sister Harris in Tayabas

Seeing these gorgeous places totally makes me want you guys come to pick me up! You would love it!!

Last Zone meeting with Sister McKinney and our zone leaders and the senior couple; the Farrales'

The Tayabas Sisters (Sister Umiten was in Candelaria with Sister Lorente)

Sister Manu's first Sunday last week!

Tayabas!! Sometimes this place doesn't seem real...

I LOVE Filipino BABIES !!

Bagyo, Wala Tubig, Transfers, at Mga Investigators nam in. Week 19

1. We are all alive and healthy here in the thriving metropolis of Candelaria. The bagyo (typhoon) only hit us with heavy rain and wind, so Thursday and Friday we couldn't work and just sat home all day and read scriptures, wrote in our journals, and washed clothes. Our power went out a couple times so that was exciting. Saturday morning there were still dark skies and it poured in the morning. Our water tank was broken and they didn't know how long we would be without water. We have 2 huge buckets that have water in them, but I still freaked out and Sister Lorente and I went and bought some big water jugs that morning. By the time we finished our studies,  it was fixed. Ha I felt kinda silly, but I figured next time the water tank is broken we will have clean water to drink. I feel really bad for these other areas though. We are so blessed to be here. The storm was pretty bad and the wind and rain was crazy, so I can only imagine what condition these other areas were in. It's pretty scary.

2. We had to say goodbye to Sister Mckinney on Thursday morning, and now we have a new housemate! Her name is Sister Manu, so we now have 2 Tongans here in Candelaria and they speak Tongan ALL THE TIME. It is interesting! Some of the words sound like they swearing in English ha so it definitely catches my attention sometimes. It is super weird not having Sister Mckinney there any more, and now I am pretty sure I am the ONLY caucasion in at least a 100 mile radius of Candelaria. (well maybe not 100 miles, but it kinda feels like it).

3. The weirdest food I had this week was just some tofu. It was actually quite delicious!

4. WE HAD AN INVESTIGATOR AT CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His  is 67. He is a former military guy and so it has been a really rocky time trying to gain his trust. But I know he is living proof that the Book of Mormon changes people because he was at church yesterday and every time we go to teach him, he is waiting for us. It was such a miracle. But the even bigger miracle was that our sacrament meeting was SO REVERENT! I have never seen the whole ward so quite. It was such a blessing and Sister Lorente and I were really hoping it was a good environment for him to feel the spirit. After sacrament and even before, a lot of the ward members came up and shook his hand and welcomed him. Then in the Sunday school class, one of the men that just got baptized 3 years ago sat with him and talked to him after about his conversion. It was such a perfect Sunday and such a tender mercy to see that Heavenly Father is answering our prayers for this ward. We will go back to visit him on Tuesday and we are really hoping that he was able to feel the spirit!

5. My Tagalog is improving leaps and bounds. I have noticed I use taglish a lot more and I am understanding a lot more. I am definitely not fluent, but it is a lot easier for me to read in Tagalog, and teach. So that is a huge blessing. I still miss a lot of what people say but when I try to concentrate on the Spirit, every time, I just feel SO strongly that they all just need to know that Heavenly Father loves them.

I love my mission. I love the things I have changed. I love that I am doing the Lord's work. And I love this work!!

Love, Sister Mecham

Transfer Week! week 18

I can't believe that it has been six weeks since Sister Lorente got here!! I am amazed at how fast time goes here! This Thursday is Transfer day and Sister Mckinney is getting transferred to Lipa :( I am really so sad. It is going to be super weird to not live with her any more because she got here just one transfer before me. Ha and I just love her. She is a great missionary though and I hope in this next area of her's she can see some baptisms!! Sister Finau will be getting a new kasama this week and Sister Lorente and I should both be staying her!

Anyway. This past week has been good. We had a curfew last Monday because it was their election day, on Halloween, and All Saints day (Nov. 1) at 6 pm. We didn't have as much time to work this week because President didn't want us out considering the people start drinking in the morning and all throughout the day. It was super hard to get lessons too because they all were either at the cemetery or on their way there on Thursday and Friday. Our lesson numbers were not so great. We did our best with the time we did have to work.

Since we did have a curfew though, we all wanted to do something fun, but for 2 of the days, we ended up just washing our clothes. On All Saints Day we watched Finding Faith in Christ and the Restoration and ate a lot of chips. Ha it was pretty fun. After...yep you guessed it...we washed the rest of our clothes. Haha it was great.

There wasn't too much that happened this week because a lot of our investigators were out of town this week for the holidays plus there was no school for the kids this week. Hopefully next week it will be back to normal. Plus we met with the bishop yesterday and he gave us a list of some less active members, so we will be busy visiting them this week as well.

Some fun facts for this week:

-Filipino funerals are quite extensive. As in they put the casket in a glass hearse and then all the family walks behind it down to the cemetery and they totally back traffic up.

-I walked through my second pair of rubber shoes

-I can speak Tagalog  SO much better, but understanding when people talk to me is still kinda rough. I am definitely improving though

I love you all and thank you so much for your prayers and love each week!

Mahal ko kayo!

Love,

Sister Mecham

Birthdays, Stake Conference and Frogs! week 17

It has been another mabalis week here in the Philippines! I really can't even believe how fast time flies here. We have had some really great lessons this week with Jocelyn, Marites and Gregorio, and Napoleon. Plus we have found some other really really great new investigators!!

This last week we had our new training check up meeting on Thursday by San Pablo and it was SO good to be able to get some advice from president and just another reassurance of this work. Plus I got to see Sis. Wilkes and Sis Smart again, so that is always a plus!!

 Saturday was one of the little girls birthday we are teaching, so we bought a coloring book and some colored pencils and some hair clips for her hair. It was so fun! When we went to visit, we were planning on just reading the Book of Mormon with them, because they still hadn't, but when we asked them where they were, they were in 2 NEPHI CHAPTER 2!!!!! We about died!!!! None of my investigators have ever read that much!!! We were so proud of them. Their tv doesn't work, so they said that after they eat every night, they all sit down and read together. I just love them! 

Sunday we had a wonderful time in Lucina for Stake Conference! President and Sister Peterson spoke about the importance of missionary work along with the area 70, Elder Echo Hawk, and he did SUCH a good job!! I am always impressed at how strong the spirit is with worthy priesthood holders. Elder Echo Hawk and President Peterson just radiate the spirit and Christ like attributes. It made me so happy knowing that everyone at home is being taken care of by dad. I think that is why I look up to these priesthood leaders so much, because they remind me of dad:) I am very blessed to have the power of the priesthood in my life.

So all the other emails I get from my friends on missions always have fun facts. I decided I would share some fun facts from the Philippines. (and that is a tongue twister):

-Our next door neighbors, so lovingly bought a rooster and decided it would be a good idea to put its cage literally 8 feet from our window. So we wake up at 5 am every morning to a huge 'cock-a-doodle-dew' EVERY MORNING! We have had to start closing one of our windows every night to try to block the noise a little...

- Also the same neighbors have a dog who sounds like Cujo.  And that dog barks ALL the time!

-Since I don't have a straightener or a curling iron, sometimes I just let my hair do it's own thing (well everyday) and I definitely feel like Hermione Granger with the poof and friz I have everyday.

-I have lost a lot of weight, but now it is all creeping up to my face. I'm not sure how to prevent that.... -_-

-A couple nights ago we didn't have to have our fan on us while we slept AND I even needed to have my sheet. it was really weird to wake up kinda cold...

-Filipino's LOVE Celine Dion. It is SO hard not to listen to it.

-I ate frog on Wednesday at District meeting! And surprisingly it wasn't bad...kinda tasted like KFC. Our District leader fried it then brought some for us. Hahaha I am sure mom just died!

Anyway. Life is just rolling a long here and I am definitely loving this work more and more everyday! The Book of Mormon is the word of God and I know it can change any ones life if they just read it.

Love,

Sister Mecham

Sister Lorente and I at zone p-day

This just may be my favorite family!

Bad hair day!?

New Food!?

Kumusta po kayo! Week 16 Philippines

Well. Another week here in the Philippines and it has been quite great! We had zone interviews Tuesday in Lucena and it was perfect. We are really focusing on using the book of Mormon more in our teaching and really helping the people understand the importance of it, so it was good to learn some other ways of sharing it. Plus we got to see President again and it was SO good to be able to talk with him for a few minutes. At the end of the interview he gave me another hug, and it just was nice. I definitely notice the difference of not having a priesthood holder in our house.

On Thursday we had our Sister Training Leaders come again and help us in our area. I worked with Sis. Harris and Sis. Lorente worked with Sis. Umiten and between the 4 of us, we had 9 lessons! It was so great, and 4 of our lessons were to members. it is definitely good. Friday and Saturday were good too and we got lots of work done and Sunday is a good recharge for the week.

Plus we have SIX investigators with a baptismal goal date so we are really focusing on them this week!! We have had some really good lessons with all of them this week too and we had an investigator at church! Her name is Jocelyn and I love her. She told us that she knows the book of Mormon is true and we watched the restoration dvd with her and the spirit was so strong!! She is SO prepared for this message and is really just thirsting to know the truth. She said that after we taught her the plan of salvation this week, she had a dream that she needed to keep reading the book of Mormon to know everything it contains!! And so she has been! I feel so humble to be able to work with her and teach her about this gospel. 

We have another investigator. His name is Napoleon. He kinda gives me stress sometimes. He is 67 and it has taken us a lot of time to build trust with him but FINALLY we have it!!! He has had a stroke so it is hard for him to feel that God loves him, but he has been reading the book of Mormon as well and I KNOW his heart is changing!!!! We also watched the restoration with him and he was crying. and again I just can't believe Heavenly Father is giving me the responsibility to help these people, but also the opportunity to get to know them as well. I am so lucky.

Our cute family is still just adorable. We have been having the kids give the prayers for the lessons and just help them give them, and it is a little piece of heaven. They are angels. They have been praying as a family too! I want them to be married so bad so that they can be baptized then go to the temple in a year. They wanted to go to church on Sunday, but they don't have the money for it. We are going to talk to a member this week and see if he could bring them on his tricycle in a couple weeks because we have stake conference this week. And they have also been reading. It makes me SO happy! Plus they really enjoyed some of the M&M's mom sent. 

And today was perfect. We had zone pday in Lucban. and it was gorgeous. It is about 2 1/2 hours away from us and it is up in the mountains, so it felt wonderful! There is a place there called Kamay Ni Cristo healing garden or something and it has all these statues of priests and Christ and on this mountain side, there is like the life of Christ and when he was crucified  in statue form and at the very top there is a HUGE statue of Christ. It was SO COOL!!!!!

Any way. Know I love you all and I love being here. I am definitely loving my life right now and I love that I am a missionary.

Love,

Sister Mecham

Bus Ride!

I ate this fruit. It is gross. It smells really really bad and then it has this weird membrane on it and looks like a brain. and then when you bite into it, it like oozes and is weird. I finished it though. It is called Durian.

Going to Zone Interviews!

I have the cutest Kasama!

This was our zone p-day!It was amazing!

Sister Lorente and I

Sister Wilkes and I at zone training

View from the top of the mountain!

Kamay Ni Cristo (Hand of Christ). I love zone p-days!

Sister Lorente and I. (each display on the hill is a scene from Christs' life)