Called to Serve

Monday, August 4, 2014

Hello, August.

Kamusta kayo lahat??

Wow. I can't believe it's already August!! Time is going so so soooo fast. I don't like it. I hope you all have been having a good summer! This summer has been treating me well--rain every day :) haha

This week has been awesome!! I don't even know where to begin! We found and taught 11 new investigators this week! And we had 7 investigators attend church with us!! We have been seeing so much progression, it is so amazing to be apart of!

And guess what?? Ricky finally came to church!! He is doing so well. He now has a baptismal date, too! For September 20th! (Happy Birthday, Avery!!) His lessons have been so spiritually strong. He just gets it. And I think I learn more than he does from our lessons. He finally understand the importance of actually acting on the knowledge he's gained. I am just amazed at his faith and dedication now. He said something in our lessons... "What's holding you back from doing what's right?" He is just the best.

And nanay Delia has a baptismal date now too! For September 13th! She has been coming to church for 3 weeks now! She wore her cute new skirt yesterday :) She is just so excited and is making so many new friends in the Relief Society. She signed up for the baking class every Friday and is loving it so much! She just has a smile on her face every time now, we see her. A real smile. It is so incredible to see how this gospel changes people. It's a real change. And it's beautiful.

So we had a funny experience the other day. Sister Acostan and I were walking down the road and this big ambulance was driving at us. It suddenly slowed down to a crawl as it passed by and then a voice came on it's speakers, "(clear throat) Hello, miss. Good afternoon!"

Hahaha, what?? I thought I had gotten used to all the greetings, compliments, cat calls...but that was a new one. Ha! It's more fun in the Philippines.

So last week, I mentioned that talk from Dieter F. Uchtdorf. I really liked this talk, because it was unlike any other one I have heard about the pioneers. Usually, it's just focusing on all their hardships..all the stories of trials or all the stories of the many miracles. But this talk really applies to us now. It helped me realize the legend that the pioneers left behind and how I can change because of it. One thing that he said there was...

"It is one of the great ironies of our age that we are blessed with so much and yet we can be so unhappy. The wonders of prosperity and technology overwhelm us and shower us with security, entertainment, instant gratification, and convenience. And yet all around us we see so much unhappiness.

How many people do you know who are truly happy? Can you say the same for yourself?"

Am I really happy? Ask yourself that. I think it's so easy for us to get swallowed up in the "happiness" that the world tries to offer. Then suddenly we seem to think that if I look like this...I'll be happy. Or if my house is like this....I'll be happy. So on and so on until we find ourselves chasing more after this "happiness". But it's a lie. In the end, the things of the world will never bring us true happiness. We will never be satisfied.

This world also tries to rob us of our happiness. So many times, we let the smallest, trivial things take our happiness away. President Uchtdorf said,

"The pioneers, those wonderful souls who sacrificed so much, went without and hungered for even the most basic of necessities to survive. The pioneers understood something about happiness. They understood that happiness doesn’t come as a result of luck or accident. It most certainly doesn’t come from having all of our wishes come true. Happiness doesn’t come from external circumstance. It comes from the inside—regardless of what is happening around us.

If they were here with us today there is no doubt in my mind that they would tell us we can be gloriously happy even if our favorite TV show is cancelled, traffic comes to a crawl, the rain spoils our picnic, or the fast food worker forgot to include straws or packets of ketchup at the drive-through window.

When we cover our face with our hands and complain that someone else got the promotion, someone else got the part, someone else got the biggest slice of pizza, it might be helpful to remind ourselves that there is a difference between the profound and trivial. "

How many times do we get upset over something completely small; completely trivial? This made me stop and really analyze myself. A lot of my "problems" are really just selfish and small. But this helped me see the bigger picture. That there is a bigger happiness that I am capable of reaching. I'm the only one holding myself back from being truly happy.

"The pioneers knew that the things around them did not determine their happiness, but the things within most certainly did. And with that spirit they found happiness in every circumstance and in every trial—even in those trials that reached down and troubled the deep waters of their very souls. "

It's not just the small, trivial things that get in the way of our happiness though. This life is not easy. We also, at times, have trials thrown at us full-speed. Things in life that knock us down, scrape us up, hurt us really bad. We look back at the hardships of the pioneers and admire them. They were incredible. But we are also modern pioneers. Just like they suffered...we also suffer. But just like they overcame, we too, can overcome.

"The pioneers were not supermen and superwomen. They were just like you and me. How often did they wonder if they could go on? They must have asked themselves over and again, “Can I do what I have been asked to do?”

But they pressed on. In faith, one step at a time, they pressed on. They trusted in God and His divine and merciful plan. And they left a legacy that will inspire and strengthen generations to come.

They knew they couldn’t simply take a day off. Each day they literally put their shoulders to the wheel in order to get closer to their new place of refuge. Some days they made good progress. Some days they made little. But they didn’t have the option to give up. In spite of feeling overwhelmed, in spite of many good reasons to become discouraged and disheartened, they did not give up. They could not give up. No matter how difficult, no matter how much they wanted to do something else, they kept their eyes on their goal and on their purpose. Each day and with every step they edged relentlessly closer to their destination.

They looked beyond their troubles to eternal blessings."

I don't know why this talk resonated with me so well. Just so many things he said in his talk have given me a renewed perspective and motivation to propel me forward in my mission. I was getting a little discouraged...I was running out of energy. "kaya ko ba ito?"

But I know it wasn't a coincidence that I found this talk. God works in mysterious ways. It's so easy sometimes to get surrounded up in dark troubles and worries. But we need to remember that there is a bigger picture. If we "look beyond our troubles" it will bring light into our lives. Life is so much bigger and more beautiful than just what happens here. Than just being born, living, and dying. As members of the church, we are so blessed to know the bigger picture. To have access to those eternal blessings that will not only bring us joy in the life to come, but peace and happiness in our lives now.

Alright, I am like out of time again, but anyway... We have seen so many blessings and miracles this week! And it is just amazing for me personally... there are many specific details in my patriarchal blessing about my mission and it's such an incredible experience to witness these things being fulfilled. Gah. This church is true. :)

But it's so good to hear from all of you and read all your emails. I'm so sorry if I don't get to reply to everyone. But don't stop emailing though, know that I am reading them! I am so grateful for the many family and friends that I have supporting me.

MAHAL NA MAHAL KO KAYO LAHAT!

Ingat kayo palagi :)

Halong permi! (I'm learning Hiligaynon, too ;) )

Sister Oyler

My lion's mane

Temple day

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

6 MONTHS IN THE MISH......what?

KAMUSTA ANG AKING PAMILYA???? Grabe, namimis ko kayo lahat.

It is seriously so good to hear from everyone who emails! It makes my day soooo much the best talaga!

So I forgot to mention last week that after the typhoon came through, there were so many opportunities to help with clean up efforts...but....we weren't allowed to. I thought it was kind of weird, but the mission told us that it was bawal (not allowed) to help in any after-typhoon aid. It was probably for our safety I guess, but I wanted to get out and help so bad!! But these people are absolutely amazing though, they bounce back so quickly. And every day, I am surprised at how strong and old these filipinos are! I met an old man the other day named Jaime...he was 95 years old and still kickin away. It's just so crazy! You would think because they don't have the healthiest diet, or surroundings that it would be the opposite, but these filipinos are just awesome. I love them :)

So we had a Pioneer Day celebration for our ward...it was so much fun! The best ward activity that I've seen put together. Our ward here is a powerhouse ward, it is just full of amazing members. And the amazing miracle is that we had....drumroll please......15 INVESTIGATORS attend the activity! yes, 15 from OUR area! It was absolutely amazing. 10 of them were new investigators. Sister Acostan and I had gone to a few member's houses these last few weeks before the activity and challenged them to bring atleast one non-member to the activity. Every single person that we had extended the challenge to...brought somebody. I'm telling you, these members here are incredible. And three of our nanay investigators...Delia, Marilou, and Feliza all came and were the cutest little friends together. It such a happy night. The Spirit was so beautiful. This is truly what this work is about. This is building Zion.

Actually nanay Delia is so awesome! She's come to church twice now and is progressing so much! It is literally a miracle to watch her develop in this gospel. I know it's not us one bit, I am so humbled to be able to just be an instrument and witness this gospel change her life. And Monday morning, we went to her house and as we poked our heads into her door, she saw us and just lit up with excitement! Then she was so happy and proud as she pulled out 5 skirts that she had gone and bought from an ukay-ukay for church! She is filled with so much happiness now. Her son was sitting in the room and she said to him, "Hoy! Dapat kang maging Mormon na, ha! Malapit kasi na ako!" (Hey! You need to become a Mormon now. Because I'm almost one.) haha! I love her so much.

Ricky is doing alright, too. Still SO AWESOME in our lessons, our struggle is still just getting him to church. It is so funny though when he prays. He starts out, "Ama sa Langit.....magandang gabi po." ("Heavenly Father...Good Evening.") Haha the first time he prayed like that, I was like....huh? But then I thought, hey why not? You can greet Heavenly Father a Good Evening like you would someone else. Ha, it just reminded me how personal and loving our prayers should be with our God, because we are truly talking with our loving Father every time we pray. Why not wish him a good evening? :)

So, this week, we got attacked by ipis. And I almost died. Ha...but really. I HATE COCKROACHES. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them. And we had one flying around our apartment like the size of a bird!!! I won't even go into detail, but you can imagine what kind of a state I was in. haha! I didn't get a picture of that one, but I sent some other ones that my awesome comp killed for me. haha. Ah.

Also, you'll see pictures of us weeding in this little provincey garden. We met this guy...Silverino? I kind of forgot exactly what his name was, but we met him as he was working in his garden. We offered to help and then taught him a lesson afterwards. He is so cool! He actually sung us one of his Catholic songs, haha it was a fun lesson. We have been being blessed with so many new investigators this week, I am so excited to see how these next weeks go.

So this week I read a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf that I just printed off lds.org last P-day. I wanted a talk to read but was almost out of time so I just printed the first one I saw off lds.org. It actually was an incredible talk!! It is called "All is Well" and was an address about pioneers that he gave in Ogden. Shoot...I wanted to share some things from it but I am all out of time.

Ah, next week na lang.

I love all of you, sorry this is a short end, but I have to go!

MAHAL KO KAYO!

Sister Oyler