Maligayang Pasco!
I should say, Merry late Christmas but oh well :). Thanks for the emails and phone call and the unexpected phone call too, hehe :) It was great hearing about everything and sorry that I didn't tell you all everything... I forgot to mention to your question of how I get around.. I walk, I ride jeepneys, tricycles and Pedicabs and buses if I'm going long distances.... that's about it... Christmas is always a fun time of the year. Here in the Philippines, it starts in September and then with each week that passes, it gets progressively more festive. It's pretty neat to see. The Christmas lights are really quite amazing and it's great that these people love putting up Christmas lights :). I love it here in the Philippines and I love the lessons I'm learning every day.
Yesterday, I had the phone call with you all in the morning, then I went to church. It's pretty great that some of our investigators were there. Afterwards, a bishopric member and his wife invited us over for a lunch so we accepted. Then we went back to our apartment and studied and then we delivered the gifts to the less-active families.. it was pretty great. God helped us out so much and for this entire week! We've had limited time where we could deliver these gifts, but He blessed us with speed and no misshaps happened. I could literally see blessing after blessing as were delivering the messages and gifts. It was a humbling experience. Anyways, then we went back to the apartment and we had an apartment Christmas party with the other two sisters that we share the apartment with. It was pretty neat and festive. We had a gift exchange too and I received some really great gifts. There's one that I love (I loved them all). It's a Filipino flute... Sister Santillian gave that to me because she knew that I played different instruments and it even came with instructions with telling me what note is what note... so I'm now learning a new instrument, hehe :) It's really neat and very Filipino. Yes, at times, I have been playing the piano over here, in district meetings and whenever the ward needs a pianist so no worries about me not playing the piano... :) Afterwards we shared spiritual messages and then we ate a ton of great food... it was a great experience. It's always a great time of the year to reflect on what Jesus has done for me and to recommit myself to do better so I can emulate His example all year long... it's a really humbling experience. The people here are amazing. They're so humble... they don't have a lot but the things they do with what they have, it's amazing. The food is delicious... The only thing I haven't tried is the the head of the food. For example, I eat fish, but I don't eat its' head, because the eyeballs are still attached... so I've avoided the head so far but who knows what the future holds. Apparently, the head is a real delicacy... but I guess I'll see in the future :). haha A couple of weeks before Christmas, they started to pull out some fireworks.. so that was all nice and loud, haha It's all leading up to New Year's Eve and a few days after that... so I guess I'll tell you more about that next week. :)
Sorry if I haven't answered your questions... feel free to ask about them in your next emails and I'll respond when I can print them out next week or so... no worries :) Thanks again for everything! Thanks for the Christmas cards too! I appreciate everything!
Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Las Pinas- week 9.....almost Christmas :)
Kumusta!
Thanks for the emails! This past week has been great as usual. We went out this past Monday to work and we couldn't do any appointments, they all fell... but then we visited a less-active family and God blessed us by letting us finally know the reason why this less-active family doesn't come to church... that helped us out a lot because now we know where to start off with this family. The reason is that they don't have a testimony. The only reason they had joined the church in the first place was that the Church built them a new house... so we're glad that we know the reason. God helped us out a lot. On Wednesday, we went to work, as usual. It was great. We decided that we would go to Jesse's house. Jesse is 18 years old and is a former investigator of some previous missionaries a couple of years ago. Out of the blue, as we were walking, he called out to us and told us that he would like to learn more because it helped him out before.... that happened last transfer. But we have been busy so we were unable to go there and when we did, he wasn't there... so we finally went back there this past week. He was at work but his family was there and that was great! His mom has 12 children and his grandma has 15 children... so small amounts of children indeed. When we taught the family, it was the mom, grandma, the brothers, and a couple of sisters...so around seven in all. It was pretty cool, they want to know more and they're really good. The brother remembers some things that were taught to him years ago (he's around 16 now) and we're excited to work more with this family. On Thursday was our mission Christmas party (with the whole entire mission, except those on Palawan)... it was pretty much the whole day and it was great. We had President and Sister Stucki speak to us, then a gift exchange, then we ate lunch that was high quality. Afterwards, each zone did a few musical talents... it was pretty neat. President and Sister Stucki are so nice to all of us. They even gave each missionary an apron with our mission name on it... Yes, I just need to cook now, hehe. Actually, I'm starting to gather Filipino Recipes because I want to eat these foods when I get home...so it looks like I might cook when I get home, haha :) On Friday, we went to Pulang Lupa (a mini-city, type complex) and we didn't get to meet with very many people...but we had the ward list with us so we were trying to find these long lost people in this area (the inactives). God blessed us by leading us to this one family. The parents are not members but their four sons are. It was pretty exciting because they also agreed to come to Temple Tour this week (on the 23rd). So that was pretty exciting. God is blessing us a lot....
I guess some of you wanted to know a little bit more about the Philippines, food, etc... so I decided I would tell you about the common food joints here in the Philippines. Of course, I eat the normal Filipino type food but they have a lot of fast food joints all over the Philippines. The most common (besides 7-11, haha :)) are McDonalds, Dunkin' Donuts, KFC, Dominos Pizza (which is delicious), Pizza Hut and many others... they're all over in the Philippines, not just in the city-city type area. I'm not sure what else to say about that....so anyways. Next week I'll tell you more about Christmas. They start Christmas in September but I decided I would tell about it in December to all of you :D It's been raining a lot this past week and I like it. I love the rain... it was pretty great. Also, on Sunday, they had a stake Christmas musical devotion. All the wards did a very good job. Then at the end, an elder from the seventies spoke.... I forgot his name but I really enjoyed it. Well, this seems longer than usual... hope you don't mind, haha... Thanks again for everything!
Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman
Thanks for the emails! This past week has been great as usual. We went out this past Monday to work and we couldn't do any appointments, they all fell... but then we visited a less-active family and God blessed us by letting us finally know the reason why this less-active family doesn't come to church... that helped us out a lot because now we know where to start off with this family. The reason is that they don't have a testimony. The only reason they had joined the church in the first place was that the Church built them a new house... so we're glad that we know the reason. God helped us out a lot. On Wednesday, we went to work, as usual. It was great. We decided that we would go to Jesse's house. Jesse is 18 years old and is a former investigator of some previous missionaries a couple of years ago. Out of the blue, as we were walking, he called out to us and told us that he would like to learn more because it helped him out before.... that happened last transfer. But we have been busy so we were unable to go there and when we did, he wasn't there... so we finally went back there this past week. He was at work but his family was there and that was great! His mom has 12 children and his grandma has 15 children... so small amounts of children indeed. When we taught the family, it was the mom, grandma, the brothers, and a couple of sisters...so around seven in all. It was pretty cool, they want to know more and they're really good. The brother remembers some things that were taught to him years ago (he's around 16 now) and we're excited to work more with this family. On Thursday was our mission Christmas party (with the whole entire mission, except those on Palawan)... it was pretty much the whole day and it was great. We had President and Sister Stucki speak to us, then a gift exchange, then we ate lunch that was high quality. Afterwards, each zone did a few musical talents... it was pretty neat. President and Sister Stucki are so nice to all of us. They even gave each missionary an apron with our mission name on it... Yes, I just need to cook now, hehe. Actually, I'm starting to gather Filipino Recipes because I want to eat these foods when I get home...so it looks like I might cook when I get home, haha :) On Friday, we went to Pulang Lupa (a mini-city, type complex) and we didn't get to meet with very many people...but we had the ward list with us so we were trying to find these long lost people in this area (the inactives). God blessed us by leading us to this one family. The parents are not members but their four sons are. It was pretty exciting because they also agreed to come to Temple Tour this week (on the 23rd). So that was pretty exciting. God is blessing us a lot....
I guess some of you wanted to know a little bit more about the Philippines, food, etc... so I decided I would tell you about the common food joints here in the Philippines. Of course, I eat the normal Filipino type food but they have a lot of fast food joints all over the Philippines. The most common (besides 7-11, haha :)) are McDonalds, Dunkin' Donuts, KFC, Dominos Pizza (which is delicious), Pizza Hut and many others... they're all over in the Philippines, not just in the city-city type area. I'm not sure what else to say about that....so anyways. Next week I'll tell you more about Christmas. They start Christmas in September but I decided I would tell about it in December to all of you :D It's been raining a lot this past week and I like it. I love the rain... it was pretty great. Also, on Sunday, they had a stake Christmas musical devotion. All the wards did a very good job. Then at the end, an elder from the seventies spoke.... I forgot his name but I really enjoyed it. Well, this seems longer than usual... hope you don't mind, haha... Thanks again for everything!
Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman
Monday, December 12, 2011
Las Pinas- week 8.... exciting
Kumusta!
Salamat po! Thank you very much again for the package with the tree, etc... I loved it. I have to admit, I really love fruit snacks and the one thing that the Philippines doesn't have are fruit snacks... so I have to admit they were consumed in about one day :) hehe I stuck the laffy taffy's and chocolate in the freezer and they tasted great. I loved the decorations! Thank you so much! Thanks for the emails... I appreciate it! Things are getting excited as the time draws even closer to Christmas! Mahal ko ang Pascol!!!
Some of the less-actives came to church yesterday and it was so exciting. One of them is named Gilbert. He lives with his cousins and only the mom typically comes to church. Yesterday, he and his two cousins came to church with the mother. He also is going to work with us this week, he's around 22 years old. So we're pretty excited. We're still working at it and hopefully they'll continue to come to church.
Besides the miracle of seeing the LA's at church, we also had some investigators. One of them is Annabethina (Annabeth for short). She has three little boys all under the age of 4 (I think). The youngest is a baby and he's very cute. Well, she actually came to church yesterday and I was so happy when I saw her come in. We were sitting on the stand because my companion was conducting the music. She missed the Sacrament but she came right after it ended and she stayed for the Gospel Essentials class with her baby. She left her other two kids at home with the grandma. She's amazing. Her husband works out in the province, so she doesn't see him on a daily basis but she really wants to know more... Sorry, I'm not good at telling these stories, but it's a start :) hehe There's also exciting plans for the Christmas week next week! I'm so excited but I'll tell you all about it when it comes to pass :) Sorry this is short but it will improve... with time. :S
Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman
Salamat po! Thank you very much again for the package with the tree, etc... I loved it. I have to admit, I really love fruit snacks and the one thing that the Philippines doesn't have are fruit snacks... so I have to admit they were consumed in about one day :) hehe I stuck the laffy taffy's and chocolate in the freezer and they tasted great. I loved the decorations! Thank you so much! Thanks for the emails... I appreciate it! Things are getting excited as the time draws even closer to Christmas! Mahal ko ang Pascol!!!
Some of the less-actives came to church yesterday and it was so exciting. One of them is named Gilbert. He lives with his cousins and only the mom typically comes to church. Yesterday, he and his two cousins came to church with the mother. He also is going to work with us this week, he's around 22 years old. So we're pretty excited. We're still working at it and hopefully they'll continue to come to church.
Besides the miracle of seeing the LA's at church, we also had some investigators. One of them is Annabethina (Annabeth for short). She has three little boys all under the age of 4 (I think). The youngest is a baby and he's very cute. Well, she actually came to church yesterday and I was so happy when I saw her come in. We were sitting on the stand because my companion was conducting the music. She missed the Sacrament but she came right after it ended and she stayed for the Gospel Essentials class with her baby. She left her other two kids at home with the grandma. She's amazing. Her husband works out in the province, so she doesn't see him on a daily basis but she really wants to know more... Sorry, I'm not good at telling these stories, but it's a start :) hehe There's also exciting plans for the Christmas week next week! I'm so excited but I'll tell you all about it when it comes to pass :) Sorry this is short but it will improve... with time. :S
Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman
Monday, December 5, 2011
Las Pinas- week 7.... new charge given...
Kumusta!
Transfer meeting was pretty interesting... it was also a specialized training too, so it was longer than normal. The area presidency has given a new charge to us missionaries in the Philippines... we're now reclaiming the less active. No more tracting. By that I mean, that in the planner if you have an hour of no appointments, a lot or missionaries will put tracting and go out and find new investigators.... but not anymore. All open slots available will now be visiting the less-active. We're still finding every chance we can get so we can continue to find and baptize new people, but that's on the way to wherever we go. So pretty interesting and exciting... did you know that in the last 50 years, over 500,000 were baptized but over 400,000 are less-active... really high numbers. I already gave you some of the recent numbers in the last couple of years but I thought I would share about the last 50 years too... The area presidency has also directed us missionaries to be more bold in everything we do and do the jobs that the wards aren't doing and taking the initiative while still realizing that the Bishop is the leader in the ward and respecting his authority. But apparently, the area presidency is visiting all the bishops and stake presidents in the Philippines and telling them that the missionaries will be bold and direct with them so that's what they're going to be expecting from us... the standard has been risen and we're on a mission now to find those that are lost. All those baptisms and them turning inactive... Things are changing a lot over here. They're going to be changing the standards of excellence and now there's going to be a special report every week about the less-actives and new things are being added in the area book about them. We get to track they're progress in the church and if they come to church four consecutive times then they're not less-active anymore. They even changed the price of the quad scriptures to 77 pesos! That is extremely cheap and only in the Philippines... no where else in the world. This is so that the less actives can have the opportunity to have all the standard works in their homes. The church leaders are very concerned about this part of the world- in the Philippines and that's why missionaries are now being called to step in to stay close to the recently converts (so we can strengthen them even if they don't have a fellowshipper) and reclaiming the inactive now... I think the church is doing this also as a way to generate work in the wards and branches about fulfilling their callings... so it's getting to be rather interesting. We're teaching the lessons to the less-actives and make sure that they get to hear all of the doctrine... there are a lot of other things but I don't have time to write about all the changes that are over here... sorry but I'm trying :) Thanks for the emails... I really appreciate them. Congrats on the baby!
Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman
Transfer meeting was pretty interesting... it was also a specialized training too, so it was longer than normal. The area presidency has given a new charge to us missionaries in the Philippines... we're now reclaiming the less active. No more tracting. By that I mean, that in the planner if you have an hour of no appointments, a lot or missionaries will put tracting and go out and find new investigators.... but not anymore. All open slots available will now be visiting the less-active. We're still finding every chance we can get so we can continue to find and baptize new people, but that's on the way to wherever we go. So pretty interesting and exciting... did you know that in the last 50 years, over 500,000 were baptized but over 400,000 are less-active... really high numbers. I already gave you some of the recent numbers in the last couple of years but I thought I would share about the last 50 years too... The area presidency has also directed us missionaries to be more bold in everything we do and do the jobs that the wards aren't doing and taking the initiative while still realizing that the Bishop is the leader in the ward and respecting his authority. But apparently, the area presidency is visiting all the bishops and stake presidents in the Philippines and telling them that the missionaries will be bold and direct with them so that's what they're going to be expecting from us... the standard has been risen and we're on a mission now to find those that are lost. All those baptisms and them turning inactive... Things are changing a lot over here. They're going to be changing the standards of excellence and now there's going to be a special report every week about the less-actives and new things are being added in the area book about them. We get to track they're progress in the church and if they come to church four consecutive times then they're not less-active anymore. They even changed the price of the quad scriptures to 77 pesos! That is extremely cheap and only in the Philippines... no where else in the world. This is so that the less actives can have the opportunity to have all the standard works in their homes. The church leaders are very concerned about this part of the world- in the Philippines and that's why missionaries are now being called to step in to stay close to the recently converts (so we can strengthen them even if they don't have a fellowshipper) and reclaiming the inactive now... I think the church is doing this also as a way to generate work in the wards and branches about fulfilling their callings... so it's getting to be rather interesting. We're teaching the lessons to the less-actives and make sure that they get to hear all of the doctrine... there are a lot of other things but I don't have time to write about all the changes that are over here... sorry but I'm trying :) Thanks for the emails... I really appreciate them. Congrats on the baby!
Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman
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