Another week in the Philippines! week11

  Another week in the Philippines.

Well the time here is just flying! My time to have to train is approaching  WAY too quickly! It still definitely scares me that I will be responsible for someone who most likely will not be able to speak Tagalog...but I am sure we will be able to figure it out somehow. 

We had a training meeting for all the new trainers on Friday, so I got to see Sis. Wilkes and Sis. Smart again because they are both training as well. They are definitely just as stressed out and nervous as I am. Ha so I think we are all just in the same boat.

This has been a week full of ups and downs (just like every week ), but I know I am learning a lot everyday. 

On Tuesday I had another exchange with the Sister Training Leaders (STL's) and I worked with Sister Pittman. She is great! She goes home in a couple weeks. She really helped me not feel so nervous to teach people. The church has pamphlets for all the preach my gospel lessons. She said I should get really familiar with them and then if we ever (me and my anak (child)/ trainee) get stuck in lessons we can just read a pamphlet because it says everything very clearly. That really relieved my stress.

We had a pretty good day yesterday though. WE HAD AN INVESTIGATOR COME TO CHURCH!!!!!! Woot woot!! We have another investigator that comes to church every Sunday as well, but she is already living with members so it is easy for her. We are hoping she continues to progress as well so that she can be baptized soon!

The investigator that came yesterday is name is Avelino. He is just great. He is probably in his 60's and his wife has had a stroke,so she stays home all the time. He only has one leg and gets around on crutches. He is so amazing though. We invited him to be baptized on Oct. 26 and he totally accepted it! He gave us a referral to talk to his friend that lives next to him. 

We contacted his friend on Saturday and he came over and just listened to us. We couldn't teach the friend since there was no female present and we aren't allowed to only teach men alone. We invited both of them to come to church and after that Bro. Avelino said "Oh and my baptism is on October 26th right?". Ha I was  shocked!! When he came to church yesterday I was so thrilled! A lot of the members came up to him and talked to him too. It was so amazing. I really really really really hope he will continue to progress. 

When we were talking with him and his friend on Saturday, he really reminded me of my grandpa Walke and my uncle Nolan just because of their personalities. Also we have another investigator we are teaching that reminds me of my Aunt Penny. It really just helps me love them even more and really want to see them progress.

Well that is all from here!!! Thank you so much for all the words of wisdom and love and advice. I look forward to it every week!.

Love,

Sister Mecham

Took this picture of a Jeepney while stuck in traffic! This is how most people travel.

Training! week 10

Hello po!

Well it's true. I get to start training someone this next transfer-starting September 26th. I am kind of in a state of shock right now and I think my anxiety is just super maxed out right now!  I can't even really think about it. I got the email today saying I am training, so this Friday we'll go to the training meeting for the new trainers in San Pablo. Sister Begontes isn't training though, but she will still come with me. I am kind of excited though because it looks like a lot of my batch will also be training, so I will get to see all of them again!

In other news, we have been pretty busy. We get punted a lot - as in people are 'too busy' for us to teach them, or they aren't home, so we have been talking to tons of people. This week we got 71 OYM's. That means we talked to 71 different people and shared just briefly about the gospel with them and asked if we could come back and share more. So this week, there are quite a few people we need to go back and visit and hopefully we will be able to find some people who are really interested and will progress, because so far, I haven't really seen any of our investigators progress.

This week we have also dropped a few people so it is kind of discouraging, but being able to just talk with so many other different people has been fun, and I am definitely understanding more of the language. Still definitely not fluent and I am SUPER nervous to have to train because of the language barrier, but I know it needs to be done and Heavenly Father and President Peterson need me to train someone, so I will do my best with this language thing.

Not much has happened this week. There are still some weird things that happen everyday that just are totally not normal, but are normal for here and so I am still getting over this culture shock thing.  I am feeling a lot more comfortable with the area and I can find my way around easier, so that has definitely been a big blessing. 

We also don't have specific areas any more here, so all of us in Candelaria are free to go any where. We just have to make sure we aren't in the same area as the other sisters.

Here is a funny story. On Saturday we were going to an appointment and this little kid was in the street kind of far away from us, he just looks over at me, screams and then just books it back into his house, just screaming and crying. Hahahahaha!  It was pretty funny. We were going to go talk to his mom after, but we decided that might not have been the greatest idea...

I love you guys so much though and I can really feel your prayers everyday and it helps so much! Thank you for the emails too:)

Love,

Sister Mecham

Merry Christmas!!! Week 9 Philippines

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

So here in the Philippines, September 1st is officially the 1st day of Christmas. Yes. I am SO happy about that! This is definitely the reason why I got sent here. Joke lang! But really. Yesterday in church our Bishop wished everyone a Merry Christmas ha it was great. They celebrate Christmas in all the "Ber" months. So this means we will probably start to be hearing Christmas songs and seeing Christmas lights. I can't wait!

This last week has been pretty good though too. I still fight with anxiety and lots of stress every morning, but getting out of the house and getting to work and just being able to feel the spirit so strongly in the lessons helps me so much. I have really been trying to focus on the investigators and not be thinking about what I will say next, and I can always just feel that Heavenly Father needs them to know that they are SO loved. It is such a unique experience to feel so much love from Heavenly Father for these people I really don't know and  can't understand half the time. It really just reaffirms to me that this church is true. I love it. And it makes me so grateful I am a member of it.

We have been so lucky to be able to find so many people. Everyone here is so willing and so open to hearing our message. Some of the religions here are actually not allowed to listen to us or they can get excommunicated from their church, so they pretty much just run away from us, but the Catholic people are usually always willing to listen. We have found that talking about baptism by immersion really gets their attention and so we have been able to teach a few people and explain about how Jesus was baptized. It has been working pretty well.

We still don't really have any progressing investigators, but I know one day we will find someone who really wants to have these blessings in their life.

Last week I was able to work with one of the sister Training leaders- her name is Sister Harris and she is from Sandy. It was really fun to work with her and we did a LOT of talking to people that day. She has been out the same amount of time as Sister Begontes, so her Tagalog is pretty good. She said it took her a while to learn it too, but she gave me a lot of good study tips that helped her.

On Wednesday we had Zone Training again in Lucena. It was pretty fun and we have a really good zone. It is always good to have zone activities because we always get our letters and I get to see the other sisters. 

P.S. getting letters seriously is the greatest thing in the world. It just makes me so happy every time!!! 

Anyway...I want to tell you about the bus rides to get to Lucena. So there are like a ton of big tour buses here that just go all the time and that is their main transportation to get to far places. (also Jeepneys). But riding on the big buses TOTALLY reminds me of the bus on Harry Potter 3 that just weaves all over in and out of traffic and stops suddenly and then speeds up all the sudden and just swerves all over. It is probably the sketchiest thing ever...ha but we haven't crashed yet. Ha also they have air con so I don't complain.

Anyway. I really wish you could all see this place and just experience all these things with me, but I will have some really good stories for you when I get home.

I hope everything is going good at home! I love you guys so much and I am so grateful for all the support. Everyday is hard, but there are definitely miracles everyday and I am so grateful for all of them.

Solving spiritual problems people have is quite difficult and it is really hard to know how to help them. We have been dropping lots of people and just teaching basic lessons, so hopefully we can start teaching more of the other lessons too and really see some progress in this area.

Love,

Sister Mecham

New Companions! Sister Begontes, Me, Sister Finau and Sister McKinney

Typhoon? Week 8 Philippines

So this big monster of a typhoon that was supposed to hit only ended up being like 20 minutes of rain for us.  I think everywhere else in the Philippines got hit with it and had massive floods and really bad windstorms. President and the Zone leaders wanted us home for one of the days, but the weather wasn't even bad at all. 

This week has been stressful again. But very rewarding too. We have dropped some of our investigators but we found TEN new ones this week!!!!! It is so great, and I am really trying a lot harder to talk to people and not be nervous to go talk to them in the street.

On Wednesday we had President Peterson come and do companionship study with all of us in the apartment. He helped us do practice teaching, explaining the book of Mormon and why it is important for our investigators to read it. He really helped us understand that it is important for us to focus on the person we are teaching and "go to Heaven" to ask inspired questions that will help them understand the importance of their reading. It was really good and it was good to just hear about his advice for us and how he wants us to be teaching.

The next couple days were really kinda rough for me and I had a couple break downs.  I have a really hard time planning our lessons and then being able to teach just the basic doctrines. I am also stressed about having to train someone.  I was just frustrated that I couldn't even teach a basic lesson. Sister Begontes told me I should call president and I didn't really want to because I really didn't want to add to his burden, but she had me do it anyways and I am so glad I did.

He told me that I can't expect to be perfect right now and that it just takes time to learn everything and just helped me calm down.  So, after I hung up, we finished our studies and then went out to work.

Our work was good and we were able to teach some good lessons and just help our investigators understand what we had taught them last time and we were even able to find 3 new investigators! President came to our house around 5 and I just told him my frustrations again and He said that they were all very normal for new missionaries. He said that a lot of foreign missionaries (Americans) come here and have a hard time teaching because they all know the doctrines, but have never had to teach them before.

 He gave me a lot of other really good advice and just helped me realize that my problems weren't as big or as stressful as they seemed. After we talked, he gave me a blessing. In the blessing he told me to remember and feel the support I have from all my family and friends and home and to remember that there are millions of members of the church praying for the missionaries everyday. 

He also said that because I am serving, there are angels assigned to assist me in this work. It was such a beautiful blessing and made me just feel totally at peace and helped calm down my mind and help me just have the reassurance that I can do this work.

 It made me SO grateful for the priesthood and even more for the love of our  president and for him taking the time to drive clear out to us to give me a blessing. There was such a sweet spirit in our house after his blessing.

These last few days have been much better and I am really doing my best to have the confidence I need to be prepared to train someone. Whenever I feel discouraged, which is pretty much every morning before our study time, I just really remember the blessing president gave me and I feel so much better!

I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your support and for your love. I can feel it everyday and it helps me so much! I love this church and I know that it is the only true church and we are SO lucky to be a part of it!!

Love,

Sister Mecham

The Philippines Week 7!

OK well life is definitely much better. I still am stressed about a lot of things, but that is definitely just part of the work. My new companion is Sister Begontes!! She is 24 and from the Philippines (I forgot where) but she is great. She is definitely already pushing me a lot and is helping me learn more about how to be a missionary and solve people's concerns.

 

Also I need to make a clarification: IT IS OK TO SEND LETTERS TO ME! Ha! Yes, we all think the Philippines are super sketch, but I got a letter from Elder Neely in Hungry, so I am sure if anyone wants to send me letters its totally fine!

 

Anyway, this week was good. We all did exchanges within our apartment last week and it went very well. On Tuesday when Sister Mckinney and I worked, I had to pay a lot better attention during lessons and really listen to what the people were saying. But somehow we survived. Sister Hellewell was sick on Wednesday so we just stayed home and I was able to get a lot of studying done. Everyone was stressed out last week because of all the changes. Sister Maka got transferred to Batangas and is training a new missionary there and Sister Mckinney is training sister Finau (sp?) who is from Tonga. And Sister Hellewell got a new trainer who has only been here 6 weeks longer than us, so she was SUPER stressed because neither of them really know Tagalog. But I know they will do great because Sister Hellewell works really hard.

 

These last few days, Sister Begontes and I have been meeting with as many members as we can and trying to visit with all of our other investigators and figure out why none of them are progressing. We may be dropping a lot of them.  We want to find more people who are really interested in hearing our message.

 

 I still am getting used to the culture here. Ha, sometimes I just have to laugh at things because they are just not normal! But it's all good! Laundry still takes like 3 solid hours and I really don't know if my clothes are clean. I definitely will not be bringing them home with me after this mission!

 

 The cold showers are still not fun, but on p-days I shower in the afternoon and the water is actually semi-warm! 

 

The last few days it has rained SO much!!!!!!!! Some of the members told us a typhoon is coming. Ha! Yeah. I can't believe I will be here for 15 more months. I hope I survive! Joke lang. (jk) I'll be fine.

 My favorite expression is "Oh my Gulay". Gulay means vegetable. It is definitely more fun than oh my gosh. I say it at least 10 times a day because of various things I see or have to do. I love it!

Next week I'll send pictures of Sis. Begontes so you can see her!!!

I love you all:)

Love,

Sister Mecham

The Philippines Week 6!

Well this week has been full of many changes. After our divine P-Day last week, everything just got progressively more difficult. I think Heavenly Father knew all of us needed that day to be so perfect because of all the changes happening.

The work has been pretty good and we are finding some more success with our teaching and have been able to get more lessons this week and I am starting to understand more of what people say, but I still have a long way to go.

 

On Thursday, Sister Hellewell came to Candelaria (She knows Sydney Baker!!!!). Her companion is sick and may have to go home, so she is working with us until Thursday (when we all get new companions). Sister Mckinney and Sister Maka will be training this coming week and so Sister Maka will most likely get transferred (we find out tomorrow). Yesterday I had to say goodbye to Sister Nabus. She was supposed be spending the next couple days in the mission home and  going to the Manila temple. But, the temple is closed for a couple weeks, so she will take a bus back to her home on Wednesday.

 

Since there are 4 of us here now, we are all taking turns being companions until Thursday. Yesterday and today I have worked with Sister Maka and I have learned SO much from her!!! She just has a "go getter" attitude and is a power house. We only had a few hours to work because of all our Sunday meetings, but we still were pretty successful. Tonight we will also be working together. Then tomorrow Sister Mckinney and I will work  together . Wednesday will be Sister Hellewell and me. I am pretty nervous though because I have to lead the area and I don't want us to get lost or run out of people to visit...so I have been kind of stressed out these last couple days. I am especially nervous for Wednesday though because Sister Hellewell and I have only been here for 6 weeks.  We are definitely going to have to relay on the Lord that day and pray to understand what people are saying. 

 

Yesterday at church, in our relief society lesson, I was able to read the English manual again and it talked about our callings in the church and how we should approach all of them with cheerfulness. I know that we were supposed to have that lesson because as I read it, it felt like Heavenly Father was speaking those words to me and I wasn't reading them. It was such a sacred experience.

 

I know Heavenly Father is SO aware of me here and has places marami (many) things and especially people in my path each day to help me do this work.

 

We have all been warned that we will most likely have to train at the end of our 12 week training and it totally stresses me out, but I know that I will be able to learn so much from it. President and Sister Peterson wrote me a letter (well all the newbies) that said our missions will not be easy and not our favorite things, but when we have completed our time as missionaries, it will be our most favorite memories! I know that is true and I don't want an easy mission. Everyday it is re-affirmed to me that there is SO much Heavenly Father needs me to learn and I know I need to have more patience and LOTS more faith each day with the language, and just the work.

 

 Sometimes it feels like I will be on my mission forever.  These things I have so much stress about, that seem SO huge, and SO hard,  I know one day I will  look back at them and realize that I was able to get through them and learn from them because I have Heavenly Father helping me each day. When we are doing the Lord's work or when we are studying and reading the scriptures, the time flies and I just feel so good about the work I am doing.

 

I love being here. I  know these challenges are hard right now but , I know I wouldn't learn anything if it was easy. So, I am grateful for this opportunity to push myself and do these hard things. I am also incredibly grateful for the people Heavenly Father continues to bless me with and I can't wait to meet my new companion this week and be able to learn from her.

 

Mahal Kita!!!

Sister Mecham

This may just be my favorite investigator of all times. Everyone calls moms and older women here Nanay so she is Nanay Ester. And she is 68 and probably weighs 68 pounds. I just love her. She lives in a tiny little house with her tiny little husband, Eddy. I just want to take them home with me because they are SO cute!! Ester loves to look at the pictures in the pamphlets and reads them every time we meet with her.

(Also don't mind the fact that I look like a giantess... :-)

Another darling family that we are teaching!

Week 5 Philippines. "I Feel Like I am in Tarzan"

Hello family!!

Well time really is flying. I LOVE YOUR EMAILS!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously. It is super weird for me to think that you are all just chillin back home while I am in this absolutely gorgeous (yet super dirty at the same time) place on the opposite side of the world from you. It totally feels and looks like Tarzan. It's great. This week has been good though. There were no more run in's with pigs so that was a plus, and I got to go to some new places here!!

We taught some really great lessons this week and some really not so great. one really good one was to a brother investigator. We got one of his neighbors to come to the lesson since we aren't allowed to teach men alone. His neighbor has finally started going back to church (I absolutely love her by the way and she has the CUTEST daughter).

 We read the intro to the book of Mormon and he had TONS of questions it was so great and what's even better is that he understands English (which I feel guilty speaking sometimes because I really should use more Tagalog...but oh well)!! We were able to answer his questions about Joseph Smith and the gold plates. At the end I bore my testimony and said  how great it was that he had so many questions and got them all answered just by reading the intro. I told him the more he reads and studies the book and asks more questions, the more answers he will get. It was such a good lesson. After the lesson, the Sister who came with us told sister Nabus that she had learned a lot too.  It was a really great experience.

Another good lesson was tracting one day, we went up to 2 ladies and were going to OYM them, but one invited us in to her house (booyah) and we just shared with her the importance of prayer and shared a scripture with her. She said she was really interested to know what Mormon's beliefs are because she has been to so many other churches, but saw us the other day and was curious! The only problem is though she works late everyday till like 9, so hopefully we will be able to figure out a way to teach her.

I have been reading the conference edition of the Ensign and it just makes me realize how lucky we are to have prophets and to have the spirit with us always.

We had district meeting on Wednesday, new missionary check-up on Thursday in San Pablo, so I got to see my whole batch of missionaries and talk about what has been hard on our missions. It was really good to hear that pretty much everyone is having the same struggles and it was also really good to see Sister Smart again!!

On Friday sister Nabus and I went to San Jose. It is about 3 hours away. President lets the missionaries who are leaving visit one of their areas for their last Sunday. Sister Nabus leaves next week. We were supposed to be having a fireside in Candelaria but it got cancelled while we were gone so we spent that Friday night visiting some of the families she taught and then went to their branch on Sunday. It was really fun and I really liked that area.

 Sunday we did more tracting when we got home.We ran into several of  the members at another member's house. They invited us to have FHE with them. It was SO fun!!  I had no idea what they were saying half the time! They had me and sister Nabus share spiritual thoughts and then we played a game. I shared Mosiah 2:41 because it totally fits the church. We are on the other side of the world, but I felt the spirit exactly like I did at home. It just solidifies to me even more that the church is true!

Today was SO good though!! It was our zone P-day so we went to the most amazingly gorgeous beach I have ever seen!!! Holy cow! It was gorgeous! If I ever get a chance to come back to the Philippines, I am definitely going there. It was so pretty! We all were able to just talk, get our feet wet a little and play some games and just look at the gorgeous views. It was amazing! Also I got a lovely little sunburn on my arms.

In other news, I have been more diligent in using my insect repellent, but now they are biting my hands! So, I really lather up every day before we go out! No more big ugly bites!

 The work is hard, but I think that's how it is supposed to be, so I just keep doing my best. I have to put so much faith in Heavenly Father every day and just really trust that he will help me and protect me. I know that the spirit is so important in our lessons and I know that I need to do my part by studying and focusing on the investigators to be worthy to have the spirit be in our lessons.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! I am so glad I made the choice to come here and I am SO glad I am in the Philippines. It is definitely not America, but I am getting
used to it. Next week I will be getting a new trainer because Sister Nabus leaves :( but I am SO glad I was able to get to know her. She is so strong and so beautiful and has such a great spirit about her.
Love you all,
Sister Mecham

Our District!

Beach in San Juan! I love this place! Zone p-day!

Family Home Evening at a ward members house!

I had to do this pose! ha ha

Sister Nabus and I on the beach!

You can take the gymnast out of the country, but you can't take the gymnast out of the missionary!!!

The Sisters in our zone.

Sister Wilkes and I.

I Love this place!

This is how I spent my day. I was in Heaven!

Beach in San Juan

Sister Smart, Sister Wilkes and I at the new missionary check up in San Pablo!