TRANSFERS-​--TRAINER NA AKO!

HELLO FAMILY!!

This week has been crazy and awesome. I'm running out of time so I might have to cut this a bit short. Transfers are this Wednesday and I got a call that I will be training a new missionary!! Whaaaat?!! Ah. I am so excited, but so very scared!  I am still pretty new in the field so I feel so inadequate as a trainer. I will meet my new anak (child) tomorrow morning at the mission home.  I don't know yet if she will be a Filipina or a foreigner.  There are 4 new sisters coming in--2 from Provo MTC and 2 from Philippines MTC. So we'll see!  This is going to be a crazy new adventure for me, I'll need your prayers. 

Yesterday, we had another great lesson with Ricky!  He's doing so well, down to 1 cigarette a day! I am so proud of him. We pushed his baptism date back a little bit though to September 27th.  I am so excited for him.  Right now, he's been working at a call center and the hours have been hard for him.  He has to go into work at 3:30 in the morning and his shift goes until 12:30 noon.  But he is still so awesome and he came straight from work to church at 1pm.  He is so dedicated!  Heavenly Father definitely is noticing his faith--he got a call after church informing him that he was being transferred to a new account.  Now, he has Saturday and Sunday off--exactly what he has been requesting, AND regular work hours from 7am to 4pm. He was so happy! He was doing a little dance when he told us about it! Hahaha. Our lesson was great.  We taught him tithing and fasting.  He just accepted it fully.  I am just amazed at how Ricky is just embracing every aspect of this gospel--no hesitations. And he just says over and over that he is so happy. That he knows this church is true!  Then he got teary-eyed and said he's so grateful that God sent us to him to bring him this gospel and this happiness.  He said in all his 50 years of living, he has never felt this happy. ha! He said, "I wish I could just show you my heart! You know the smiley faces like this??." and he drew a little smiley face on his chest, "Well, mine's like THIS!!" ..and he drew this HUGE smile extending into the air!  Haha!  It brings me soooo much joy to see how much this gospel has infused a physical light into his life. Into his eyes. It is a night and day difference, from the first time I met him and now.  Just like the video I shared a couple weeks ago, God's light is real.  I am seeing it in the lives of these wonderful people.  It changes people, it changes lives.  It is beautiful.

So one of my favorite things to do here is play with the little kids!  I wish that as missionaries, we could just have one day of the week set aside to just play with kids! Haha. I always have to cut it short though and get back to work. :) TONS of the little kids--little girls especially--will call me Elsa from frozen! haha the other day one girl just ran up to me, "ELSA!!!" haha, so I started singing "Let it go" and her eyes just lit up with excitement! Then about a million kids just came running!! Haha we all ended up singing "Do you wanna build a snowman?" together.  And they were hanging on to my skirt and hands and legs just singing and dancing with me!  It was the cutest and funnest thing ever.  One of the girls kept asking me to twirl in my skirt, so I would spin around and they would just squeal and look at me in awe. Haha I felt like a disney princess!  There were probably about 15 kids all trying to talk to me at once, haha a little bit overwhelming, but I just loved every minute.  They are the sweetest, sweetest things on earth.   

Another time this week, these other kids taught me the "Bahay Kubo" handshake/game thing.  I already learned the song from my companion and then we played the game with some of the kids on the street! Haha pretty soon we had a huge group of us laughing and playing. These are seriously the happiest times for me!  I can see a new perspective and understand a little bit more of what Christ meant when He said to become like little children.  Ahh. Just everything about it all is so beautiful. 

Well, I'm running out of time.  I love you all!  Keep safe and happy over there with school starting again!  

Ingat kayo palagi!

Mahal na mahal ko kayo!

Sister Oyler

 

 

                                                         (Pictures from last week)

 

We rode the LRT!

 

The crazy office elders

 

I saw my nanay again!! Sister Velasco!

 

Sister Lockwood--MTC exchanges!

MTC exchanges

I love these crazies. They're my little barkada

 

Floood

 

 

                                     

The water is so gross

 

We had dinner with Delia

Delia with Sister Paningbatan

 

 

Ricky

 

 

(This week's pictures)

She's the cutest thing!

So dirty

haha.... the cutest little boys!

Arlene! One of our investigators. The wonder mom with baby girl twins and 2 other young kids that she takes care of by herself all day until her husband comes home from work at night.

Happy Birthday, Jen! (one of our investigators)

 

Aki playing the Chinese garter game haha!

 

 

Our district

 

I need new shoes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy Old Men...

Hello, hello, hello.

We are e-mailing a little later this week, my companion had to go to the dentist earlier today...ah.....let's just say I miss real dentists in America...let's hope I never have to go to one here....I'll leave it at that. Haha. But anyway, we're at a different computer shop this week too, and it's a little sketchier and they said it will probably give my camera a virus if I try to send pictures so I probably won't be able to send any this week.  :( Maybe on our way back we can stop at our normal shop to see if there's room to send you my pictures real quick.

Anyway....there is still never a dull moment here.  Even in just the things people will say as we walk by.  The broken english phrases, "Hay beybey, how much is yo age?" ...umm what? Hahaha. Actually, oh gosh. We had the funniest experience on Friday.  We met this really old tatay on the side of the street and started talking to him.  He looked so jolly and friendly, and yeah, he was awesome! Just...a little too friendly ha.  I started talking to him and shook his hand and then he wouldn't let go of my hand...ha, so I introduced myself by grabbing my name tag with both hands so he would let go.  He was really nice and funny, just....crazy!  He kept grabbing my chin and saying, "You are SO beautiful!!!" I stepped away a little bit, but we kept talking to him.  My companion introduced herself, and he wouldn't let go of her hand either.  He just was so overjoyed that we were talking to him!  Then he asked Sister Acostan if he could kiss her?!! She was like, what?? Uh, no!  I was laughing so hard, but then before I knew it, he was grabbing me by the shoulders coming in for a kiss!!  I was like ahhhhh!!!!!!  "Bawal, Tay! Sorry, hindi puwede!!!!" haha oh gosh.  We wrapped up our conversation and went to leave.  Then he grabbed my arm with both hands and said, "I am Homer Hosea!  Remember me!" ...hahaha um, don't worry tatay, I don't think I'll be able to forget.

Hahaha, oh the things we experience as missionaries.

We had MTC exchanges again this week!  It was so much fun!  I got to work with Sister Lockwood.  She's going to Manila mission. She was a fellow white, blonde, American haha so that was fun walking around our area :) She did so well, it was such a great opportunity to work with her!  It reminded me of my days back in the MTC when I heard her teach in her new, broken Tagalog.  I feel like I was just there yesterday, but it's amazing to see how far I've come when I take a step back and look at it.  One of our investigators' kids joked that I'm pretty much a white filipina because of how well I speak Tagalog.  He heard someone talking in their bahay and when he walked in, he was so surprised to realize it was coming from me!  Hah!  I know I have so much to improve on, but I am so grateful for the gift of tongues that the Lord has given me.   I know it's not me.  It's coming from Him.  I am just so grateful that I can work at it and be worthy to receive it and use it to bless these people's lives.  I know Sister Lockwood will be the same way. She is an awesome, dedicated missionary.  I felt like she was my own little trainee!  I already love her so much and I only spent a couple hours with her. Haha.  It's so awesome that we get the opportunity to go on exchanges with the MTC missionaries while in this zone.

We started teaching a new investigator this week!  Honoria.  She is the sweetest, old nanay.  Very devote Catholic, but it was amazing that as she invited us in and we sat down, she looked at us curiously and said that she didn't know why she invited us inside...there are so many missionaries of other religions that always try to come to her door and she hides from them.  Ha! She doesn't believe in anything but her church, and doesn't want to listen to anyone else.  But she said that she always sees us walking by and every time she does it just makes her so happy.  So when we showed up and asked to come in she let us in.  She's really happy when she sees us and she doesn't know why.  As we opened our lesson, we sang, "I Am a Child of God" and she began to cry.  It was beautiful.  Haha, not our voices by any means, but the sweetest spirit was in her tiny home.  As we left her home, I was just in awe....the lesson was so simple, but so powerful and beautiful.  The Lord works in beautiful ways, it is so amazing to be a part of His work.

Ricky is doing so well, too!  He honestly doesn't need us at all; he teaches himself!  At one of our lessons this week, he told us that honestly, after we taught him Word of Wisdom and then Law of Chastity, he sat thinking after we left...that wow, God seems pretty demanding.  But then he said that he realized for himself that all these "rules" and guides from God are really helping him to be happier in the end.  He said it's almost as if God is telling him, "Ricky, I love you.  These things are for your good." And he is just so pumped up and empowered to change and follow Him.  I am just amazed at the faith and love that these wonderful investigators have.  He is slowly but surely progressing in his effort to rid himself completely of cigarettes.  It's hard for him, but he is doing so well.

Delia is doing great too.  It's hard for her to give up her coffee, but she is willing.  She is finding so many friends in the Relief Society and already went to one of their activities and we didn't even know!  She is so involved in the church and so happy and excited!  I love seeing her this way :)

I am just loving every moment as a missionary.  It is going so, so, so very fast.  It needs to slow down!  I wish I could extend and serve a 2-year mission!  I am just so grateful to be here.  So humbled by this work.  I am learning so much. I know that above all else, my mission is changing me the most. I honestly am a different person.  But I am a better person.

Anyway, I'm almost out of time, but thanks everyone for all the emails!! I love reading them.  It helps me not feel so completely cut off from all of you.  Have fun as you all get back in to school again..haaa suckerrrrs. :P Just kidding. I love you.

Thanks for all of your love and support.

Hanggang ang susunod na linggo!
 

MAHAL KO KAYO!

Sister Oyler

 

 

 

Dinner 

 (Salamat, Maricel for the picture!) 

 

This is what makes it all worth it :)

HELLO FAM BAM!

Ah!  I can't believe Logan is leaving for his mission!  That is so crazy to think about, time is going so fast.  I am so excited for him!  He is going to absolutely love being a missionary. Tell him good luck for me! That I wish I could see him off too, but know that his cousin loves him and is cheering for him on the other side of the world!

So this week has been so great!! We had zone conference this week which was the best.  I learned so much.  We have amazing missionaries and leaders in this mission.  We had MTC exchanges this week too!  Because our zone includes the temple area and the MTC, sometimes we get to go on exchanges with the Tagalog missionaries inside the Manila MTC! It's so much fun!  Actually this week, we went on exchanges with some missionaries going to the Iloilo and Bacolod missions--so they were learning Hiligaynon!  They were from the Provo MTC actually, but for visa problems they are staying at the MTC here for about 5 days. So poor things, they didn't understand a word of Tagalog--they taught in English.  But I was so lucky, I was the one that got two of the cute new missionaries to work with me!  Sister Fepuleai from Australia and Sister Robertson from Samoa! They were the sweetest things!  I had so much fun working with them.  They are going to rock it in Iloilo!

So, I found a new favorite food!  (okay, one of my favorites). Kamote kahoy!! haha I don't know why I love it so much.  It kind of tastes like a potato, but it seriously looks like sticks of wood (kahoy) before you peel it. It's so cheap, what the poor people usually eat. But I LOVE it. :) But it's healthy, so it's a good thing I'm craving this and not fudgee bars ;)  There is so much good food here though. Soooo many fruits and vegetables!!  I am not going to know what to do when I get back home to the desert.....

Well, I read this past week a talk by...Elder Gerrit W. Gong--that's his name. haha anyway, it's called "Becoming Perfect in Christ". And it was exactly what I needed to read.  A big weakness that I am struggling with especially here on my mission...is being a perfectionist with myself.  It is like a sickness.  And it always leaves me disappointed, anxious, exhausted, dissatisfied..feeling like a failure.  And I know nobody is perfect, and I don't expect to be perfect...but I always am falling short of my expectations.  Well this talk was...just awesome. 

He said that "the word perfection is sometimes misunderstood to mean never making a mistake." 

He goes on to talk about how the greek word for "perfect" means "complete, finished, fully-developed".  And that idea was really neat to me.  Especially in the scripture, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven, is perfect."  Christ is not asking us to get to the point where we never make a mistake.  Christ is asking us to become complete. finished. fully-developed. 

Like Him.  

Which is exactly what this lifetime experiences offers us.   A lifetime of learning and growing...falling and getting up, making mistakes....so that we can eventually become complete. finished. fully developed.  

It's beautiful to me.  And beautiful that amid all of our weaknesses and mistakes..."We are His greatest handiwork, even though we are still a work in progress."  

Anyway, this week has been AWESOME! Why? Because, Ricky is AWESOME! 

It has just been amazing to watch his progression.  We've taught him Word of Wisdom this week and now he's working on trying to quit smoking.  Last night, the elders came over with us to give him a priesthood blessing.  He is just so solid.  He came to church again this week, too!  He told us last night that he gets so excited to go to church now to go and see the way people smile differently.  He keeps describing the happiness he sees and how it just seems complete and whole.  And how he hopes he can reach that point, too.  Over the course of our lessons, he's opened up to us about a lot of things in his life.  Last night, we thanked him for trusting us as missionaries to open up to us. And then he said something that was amazing...he said, "Oh...I don't just see you two as missionaries..." I was a little confused at first, and then he looked at me, "It's not just Sister Oyler.  I see Jesus Christ through you."  Tears of happiness just came to my eyes.  I was just filled with the Spirit knowing that I was truly able to just be an instrument in the Lord's hands as He helps Ricky come back home. 

At the end of the lesson, Ricky started to say the prayer...he suddenly started sobbing. The Spirit was so strong.  It was incredible to just hear him speak with his Father.  He said that he was crying because he was so happy. And as tears streamed down all of our faces, he just thanked God for helping him find this happiness. "I know this church is true!" he exclaimed in his prayer.  and then he tearfully plead for help to be able to quit smoking, because he wants to badly to be an obedient follower of Him.

This is what it's all about.

Walking all day, every day--in sweldering heat, or monsoon rain--, the blisters on our feet, the bug bites all over our legs, the every day early mornings, the lonely nights of homesickness, the disappointing rejections, the new language, new culture, and above all the ever-intense fire of our own personal refinement....

it's all worth it because of this.

This kind of joy of seeing my brothers and sisters experience the pure peace of the gospel and start their journey back into His arms....this is what it's all about. This makes any price worth this prize. I love being a missionary.

Ah, I'm running out of time, but I wanted to share a Mormon message video that I really really liked, too!

 

Anyway, I love you all so very much!  

Sister Oyler

 

Our favorite little candelaria :)

Akii

 

Ping pong p-day

My MTC girls! (namimis namin si Sister Fewster sa Morong)

 

Silvernio's bahay

The cute little IVC province

MTC exchanges!!

 

My 2 cute little comps :)

 

We made kamote kahoy!

 

Kamote kahoy before if is peeled haha.  It seriously looks like wood.

 

Sister Acostan always wants me to make tuna salad sandwiches haha.  She loves it :)

 

Thank you, Maricel, for posting these pics!  Love you!