Mandaluyong- week 3.... belated birthday wishes to all and to all a happy birthday! :)

Kumusta!

Happy late Birthday Mom and Nikki!!! :D No worries, I didn't forget about your birthday. I thought of you guys on those days and wrote a happy birthday in my journal to you... I just forgot to mention it in the email home... :S  hehehe....  Anyways, this has been an incredible week. God is really great and merciful. The work is moving forwards and I'm even more excited than I was before (if that is even possible). Thanks to a member, we were able to find this less-active named Kylie. She's 21 years old and has a three-year old child. She has a husband but they're not married (seems to be the case for everyone) and he's a Catholic. She was baptized when she was around 16 years old and then got pregnant and left the church... but this past week was incredible with her. During our first meeting with her, she was crying and was so grateful that we came by to help her. I also think this was because of the member who went with us and referred us to her, Sister Lyna (who's leaving on a mission in March). They're best friends and it was a very spiritual meeting watching the two of them cry and talk with each other.... then yesterday... Kylie came to church! It was great! It's amazing to see how much power members have in helping with less-actives and retaining the new converts and even finding new investigators. I wish every member realized this.... I have really loved this past week and God has helped me a lot. Thanks to Him, we were able to find less-actives and have really spiritual lessons with the people. There was this one less-active, Sister Ventura. She's around 65 years old... give or take. and she got baptized around the age of 21 but then left the church 3 years later. We couldn't find her house and then the inspiration struck and we talked to a recent convert near by and she was able to find Sister Ventura for us. The meeting was so spiritual and it was amazing.  :)

I really love this transfer so far... (as with all my transfers). It's kind of amazing to have companions that you learn a lot from. I see their weakness every day and realize what I need to change to become better because sometime I didn't really notice I needed to change this particular weakness until I saw it in my companion and realized that I needed to get rid of it. God is so great and merciful with letting me learn these lessons... especially so early in the transfer so far. He's helping me out a lot and I'm so grateful and humbled with this opportunity over here to be a missionary and learning these incredible lessons...  Thanks for the emails! I was pleasantly surprised! :D haha  Thanks!  

Mahal ko Kayo!

Sister Mohrman

Mandaluyong- week 2.... temples, baptisms and an interview... pretty intriguing :)

Kumusta!

Thanks for the emails! I appreciate them. I haven't found a printer yet but when I do, I'll print them all up :)  Things are going great here. I'm learning so much! My companion is really great and I'm so humbled and grateful that I get this opportunity to learn these lessons and future lessons this transfer. God is great. I've been pondering/reflecting these past few days and it's been great. I learned more lessons that I needed to learn and I'm grateful for that. This past week, was our temple day. I love the temple. The reason why our trip is so early in the transfer is that I'm in a new zone and the temple is about 20 minutes away and also that the temple is closing the second week of February and will remain closed for the rest of the transfer and part of the next one. So it was a great temple day. On Saturday, we had two baptisms. It was a couple that are 70+ years old. It was pretty great that I got to see a baptism so early in this new transfer :) My companion and her companion before really helped this couple out so much and it was incredible to hear their story. The Tatay doesn't speak Tagalog very well or understands it but he speaks Basaya.... otherwise known as the Cebuano language. It was a great baptism for them. They are the parents of the ward mission leader too. Anyways, apparently there are a lot of people in this area who speak the Cebuano language... so these people have been teaching me some words and phrases... pretty interesting. I said that I'm working on Tagalog first but they're very willing to give me words in this language so I guess I'm learning this one too at the same time... but at a really slower pace, which is good because I need Tagalog first. haha  :)  Yesterday, we had our interviews with the President. So that's why preparation day is today and wasn't yesterday. It was a great interview. President Stucki is a very inspired man and I learned a lot. Sorry... time is rather short today... but thanks again for the emails! :)

Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman

Mandaluyong- week 1.........good 'ole metro manila

Kumusta!

So.. as the heading states, I have been transferred. Actually the four sisters from Las Pinas were pulled out and elders were put there.... so my companion got transferred to. hehe  If you look at the map of the mission, I just keep moving up, haha :)  It's pretty funny. Apparently, I'm meant to be a city missionary because I've been in all city zones so far. I like it. I'm now currently in Mandaluyong... it's a real city. Personally, I think that the area I'm in right now is like New York City. You have Brooklyn, Manhattan, etc... so I think that Mandaluyong is like that with Makati being the big main one and the other areas are like suburbs to it. It's pretty interesting. It's great. It's funny... so far in every zone I've been in so far, there's been a connection to it. While I was in San Pedro, I received the referral for the person in Las Pinas.... and voila! I get transferred to it. This case, I had stayed in this area for about a day and a half after my first transfer because I was waiting for my new companion. Also, I met this girl who volunteers at the family history center at the temple and she remembered me every time I went up there and it turns out that I'm now serving in her ward... so it's pretty ironic. The girl's name is Lena and she's leaving on a mission in March. She's serving in the visitor's center in Hawaii by the temple. That's pretty exciting. The ward is really great and really functional as a ward. I'm excited for lessons I've already learned and for the many more lessons ahead of me this transfer. I bet you're wondering about my new companion, eh? hehe  I was surprised at this, but not really... it's hard to explain. Her name is Sister George and she's from India. Pretty exciting.  I think that so far in my mission, my interest in my majors has grown so much more and with her so far, it's fueling the desire even more. It's great. She also knows a bit of Arabic.. so later on in the transfer when I get a better grasp of Tagalog, she's going to teach me some Arabic... I'm pretty excited... no worries, Tagalog is my main focus, it's a great language, full of challenges :) haha. She knows a lot of languages, though and she goes home in May. For her whole entire mission, she's been in the bigger cities in Metro-Manila and she's never been to province and she really, really wants to go to province... I get the feeling that after this transfer, she'll go to province for her last two transfers and I'll stay in the Makati zone next transfer... it's funny, the feelings you receive as you ponder. God really does have a sense of humor... I realize that more and more as things happen and areas I'm in, companions I'm with, etc...  I'm excited for the lessons up ahead of me. 

The Area Presidency broadcast was great. It's amazing what was said and the statistics that were shared. There's not enough time to write everything that was said but I'll give you a general idea. The Philippines is the cradle of Christianity in Asia. No other country can compare to it. There's also been some incredible prophecies about this land, it's going to play a huge role in the future in preparing for the second coming... it's amazing...One of them is that soon, the majority of the missionaries in Asia will be Filipino and they will be sharing with all of the Asian countries. However, right now in the Philippines, they are one generation away in the church from being extinct. Hence the high numbers of less actives. So now the focus is on the rising generation (you know the youth and young single adults like myself, that type of thing) and four other goals/focuses. They have five goals/visions for the year 2012 and I'm humbled that I get to experience this for the entire year. The Area Presidency also announced that they asked all the missionaries in all of the Philippines to help. We literally are on a rescue mission and it's so humbling to learn all this information and what we are embarking on. We are now working hand in hand with members and reclaiming the lost sheep... and as we are doing this, we're finding new investigators. It's amazing.  If only members realized the power they have in helping the less-actives... there wouldn't be any problem like this in the world! The Area Presidency was also focusing on the need for the doctrine to be shared and the focus on becoming better teachers, better spiritual environment for people to come to church, better visiting and home teaching, basically better everything. There was lots said and I took a lot of notes but there's not enough time... sorry :S No where else in the world is there a huge problem like this. I'm humbled that I get to be a part of this effort and determined to help! Thanks for the emails I've received.. I appreciate them!  

Mahal ko Kayo

Sister Mohrman 

Las Pinas- week 12......Transfers! :)

Kumusta!

So I bet you all want to know how transfers are.... well I'll be sure to let you know next week because I don't find out until tomorrow. :) haha  This past week has been great, full of lessons and what not.  On Wednesday, I went to the temple and it was great as usual. My companion and I did a lot of service this past week and it was really good. These people needed it and they appreciated it. and now, they're even more receptive to hear the word. It's been pretty good. Rachel and Raquel are progressing. Racquel (the mother) is getting even more warmer to the us and the church in general. She still has a ways to go but she's on the way! :)  The ward is getting more involved and more excited about this work. That's really exciting, especially with the less-actives. They have a plan now and hopefully they will follow through with this plan... this Saturday is going to be pretty special. This Saturday is the Area Presidency's broadcast to all the stakes, wards, Bishops, leaders of the different groups, stake presidents, teachers, etc....  and of course the missionaries have been told to attend. This broadcast is specialized training. It's going to basically help them with how to teach during church so they stay on the doctrine and more interesting for the less-actives, less-actives and members. It's going to cover a lot of things but I'll tell you about it next email after I attend it... Thanks for the emails! 

Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman

Las Pinas- week 11..... bombs away!

Kumusta!

Thanks for the emails! Happy New Year! Fireworks here are pretty spectacular.  You know at the end of the Stadium of Fire and they're shooting off fireworks... and then at the very last of the song, they shoot off all of them at once?  Well that's how it is here in the sky at the Philippines. It's pretty cool. Days leading up to New Year's Eve, they're letting off bombs and other fireworks that are loud. Then on New Year's Eve around 6:30 PM or 7:00 PM they start to let off the fireworks in the sky nonstop like at the stadium of fire... and it goes on for the rest of the evening with it getting even more as it got closer to midnight. and then it would still go off in the morning too!. Yes, it was hard to sleep because along with the fireworks, it was the loudest thing I've ever experienced. The horn things that were played at the world cup in South Africa that caused a lot of problems, were played constantly and other horns that are even louder. I have to admit, earlier as were heading back to the apartment. My companion and I each bought one and then right before 10:30 PM we were blowing in the horns... it was great :) and really fun. It gets crazy here in the Philippines but I didn't actually see the bulk of it because of safety issues and curfew. It's fun and then it continues on for the next few days because everyone likes to party! :D  haha.  It was a great experience. This past week has been a really great week full of lessons. God is great! He's is so very merciful to me! There's this one family whose 14 year old daughter wants to get baptized but her mom is against it and she has gotten offended by us extending a baptismal invite to her daughter during first transfer and then the problems kind of escalated. She also hasn't liked the other missionaries either. So we backed off for over four weeks and re-evaluated our efforts and God inspired us with the way to go. Now she's very warm and excited to see us. God is helping us so much and she is softening up. We're teaching her the lessons again but in a way that excites her and that is because God inspired us to do it this way. We're including a story every time we teach and getting her more involved (our focus is mainly on her) and now she's more excited to hear more. We teaching with pictures and whatever we say we try to do it in story like telling (it's really hard to explain). She still has a long ways to go but she's progressing and I'm so excited to see the change in her! God is great!  On Wednesday, I get to go to the temple again! I'm pretty excited for that!  Next week are transfers... and that should be an interesting time. So I'm not sure, if I get to email on Monday or Wednesday.... I guess I'll find out then, haha.  :)  The investigators we have are progressing a lot and so are the less-actives, slowly but surely.. it just requires time, patience and love. I love it here and I'm so happy and grateful for the lessons I'm learning. We're getting blessed by God in a lot of ways and also with finding out the concerns of the less-actives and our investigators.Thanks for all that you do! Maraming salamat po!

Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman