So a lot has happened and my little notes are messy so this is going to be a random email! So we did splits with the STL's earlier this week! That was so fun! Anyway, but something Sister Wilson said to me really helped me. Because lately I've been getting frustrated and impatient with myself because I want so badly to just be able to converse fluently with these amazing people!! To laugh and joke with them--they are such a happy people! But the language is still coming. Anyway...she told me at the end of the day something that she noticed about me. She said back in the MTC, they watched a video of Christ, walking through a multitude of children and he was smiling and touching their hands--not a word was said. And she said that in the day, she was reminded of that when she was watching me with the children and even with the adults. Even when I wasn't saying anything they still could feel Christ's love from me. That was something I needed to hear. :) Our STL's are great!
So I got a sunburn. kadiri...I'll send pics. hahaha and oh goodness! During the splits, my comp, Sister Velasco was at a lesson and their 2 year old kid stood on a shelf thingy behind her and started peeing on her!! hahahaha There is never a dull moment here.
Again, I just love these people so much. And I love it when they smile! All day, I love smiling at people and have them smile back. I love watching how smiles can change people's countenances. Faces just light up. Spirits are lifted. Smiles are so much deeper than we realize. And smiling isn't a new language I have to learn. It's the same where ever you are. So never stop smiling! A man started talking to me the other day. He told me he's seen the missionaries before but they always seem so mean. I was like..what?? But he said that I was different. I actually smiled. I was actually happy. It makes such a difference--especially as missionaries. people are always watching and every moment of every day we are representatives of the church--representatives of Christ! So be happy! We have a happy message!
haha! So earlier today when we were traveling back from the temple, we convinced the taxi driver that I was from Cebu. haha he actually believed it! ha! Then I told him that we were just joking, and I was from America and I've only been here for 4 weeks and then he would just gawk and look at my companion every time I spoke tagalog. haha I take that as a good sign...
Oh mom, be glad I'm here in Quezon City...cause in the southern Philippines, in Mindanao (shoot, idk how to spell it), they don't send white people there...because they will get killed. ha...there are a lot of muslims and people that do not like us down there. But I am completely safe here!! :) okay....well as safe as I can be in the Philippines...haha I won't tell you everything but there are moments that I'm like...mom would probably be scared if she could see me right now. haha but I promise that I am the safest I could ever be here. and I know that! I know that I am being divinely protected because I am a missionary. I see it every day. and I am completely confident and feel totally safe here. so rest at ease :) I'll tell you stories when I'm back home haha
So I miss milk. real milk. Don't freak out mom...our "milk" expires in october.....um. haha and they don't even refrigerate it here. But I put it in our fridge anyway. haha While we were grocery shopping this week, one of the workers came up to me and smiled and said in his English, "I appreciate your beauty, ma'am." haha Seriously, if you are feeling bad about your appearance...come to the Philippines. You'll never feel more beautiful in your life.
We had service this week!! Seriously the funnest service I've ever done. We did some weeding.....with machetes! haha I'm dead serious. Full out machetes. I felt so native! I'm going to come back a crazy lady! I'll be weeding in my garden with a machete soo look out.
So I get attacked by children every day. There will be like 5 or 6 hanging off my arms...occasionally on my legs as we're walking. I love them! mom, I'm packing some in my bags when I come home so just beware... :)
I made a new friend too. haha This cute old man who we always pass every day, without fail he comes and gives me a high-five. haha He calls me "best friend" and sometimes if we don't quite walk far enough down the road, he will come find me to get his daily best friend high-five. He makes my day! I can't get discouraged here. Because whenever I start to, the people just boost me back up again. :)
Haha some weird old lady like marked me though....I have no idea what she was doing. She grabbed me while we were walking through the squatter homes and muttered things in Tagalog and then licked her finger and rubbed my forehead and then drew a cross on my belly....and then she smelled me and kissed my cheek and said thank you anak (child) and let me go. ha....uhhh. I was a little scared. Hoping I didn't get cursed with some vodoo weird stuff. haha but she was sweet....
ohhh I finally had a scary bug encounter! Well scary for me which isn't much. But anyway, we had a dinner appointment at a member's house. Anyway while we were eating, a cockroach starting flying through the air at us...ahhh I flipped!! All of us were screaming and it flew right over my head and landed on Lhara sitting right next to me! But I was running...haha then it flew off her at me and I crouched on the floor screaming then I saw it crawling on the floor so I jumped up and stood on the chair hahaha. kawawa naman....but the member got it. oh geez. I almost had a heart attack.
ohh haha! So there was a parade down our street the other day! We were walking to an appointment and saw it coming so we watched it....well....I thought we were supposed to watch the parade....but it ended up turning the other way around!! haha people in the parade all started walking up to me and shook my hand as they walked by. hahaha Then the entire parade all filed in line to shake my hand!! hahahaha what??? I was laughing so hard! Only in the Philippines. I say that sentence a million times a day.
So we have 3 investigators now with bap dates in April! Paul, Ceasar, and Allan!! I'm so excited for them! They are amazing!
So we are starting to teach Grace. She has 4 kids and her husband is in prison because he is a drug lord. she takes him food every day. There are a lot of drug addicts in our area... it's really sad. Anyway, she's awesome, but it's kind of frustrating because I can tell that she's only inviting us over and listening because I'm a pretty American girl. A lot of our lessons from people we meet on the street end up that way. Everyone will listen and even "commit" to do things, but only because I'm a maganda Americana. and I can tell as we are teaching that they aren't really listening. It's frustrating!! Sometimes I would rather not stand out so that the people that listen to us would actually listen for real, rather than have countless people be friendly and invite us in but not really listen to our message. But we do get a lot of contacts and potential investigators because I'm white and blonde and maganda...so it's good. If we can just get them to truly listen and develop a testimony for themselves.
So one last thing I want to share before I send some pictures is about the power of prayer! So this is small and may not seem significant haaa, but it was significant to me! So as you've heard from me it is HOT here. Holy cow. And it's only getting hotter. We haven't reached the peak of summer yet. So at night, we sleep with fans blowing on us all night long. Partly to try and keep mosquitoes off us, but for the most part it is because it is soooo hot. Even at night. Well last night, I woke up suddenly because I was SOOO HOT. Like overheating....and I realized that our fans had shut off.... hm weird. So I sat up and tried to turn them back on.... nothing....I got up and tried to turn on the light in the CR....nothing. Our power had shut off. ahhh. I started to panic a little in my half asleep daze. haha I'm sitting there drenched in sweat....like "we have no air con! these little fans are the only thing we have to keep us from dying!And we have no power!!" haa Well I decided to pray. So I knelt down by my fan and said a simple prayer. No sooner than I muttered "Amen." there was suddenly a sputter and boom. Our fans kicked in again full-speed. Prayer works, folks. And I learned how much our Heavenly Father cares. Even when it's just little sleepy Kylie in the Philippines, freaking out because she's hot and her fan isn't working. He cares. AndHe loves us and will bless us even in the little things.
Okay, well I love you all!! I miss you!! I wish everyone could come here. It is an amazing experience! The people are incredible and the things I see every day hahaha. It just blows me away. I love it here :) Stay safe! Know that I love you sooo much and you are in my prayers all day every day!
mahal na mahal ko kayo!
Sister Oyler
God speed sister oyler
ReplyDeleteAmazing experience for her. Christine, you and Mel raised a good daughter.
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