Initiated to the country

Hello po!

Where even to begin this week! So many stories I could tell you but I can’t be here all day so I’ll try keep it quick. First of all, Elder Ramsay is in hospital L He has denghei (nobody knows how to spell that) which you get from being bitten from infected mosquitos. When I saw him on Thursday he had been puking for days and could barely walk after he scoffed a ton of Pizza Hut, but him and one of his housemates have gotten it so now were all extra careful of mozzies. Its like pure death every day, but apparently it goes away in like a week so if everyone prays for him it should be fine! We also just got released from Typhoon lockdown where we’ve been stuck in the apartment waiting for a level 3 typhoon to pass, which turned out not to be as epic as it could have been. Also there is a Philippino child right behind me unashamed staring at my white face, really all up in my personal space. Philippines right, love it.

So. We had our first dinner appointment the other day and it was going so well. The family was amazing and they understood a little English so we were cracking all the jokes. Whenever we eat at members houses they always tell me I’m not eating enough and tell me to eat more, even though I’ve eating more than I thought humanly possible. So I go for this chicken that’s smelling kinda sketchy, and I taste it and I’m thinking, this isn’t meat. But gotta appreciate everything that’s given to me because these people are sometimes giving us their only food so I put on a brave face and got it down. Was so proud of myself til we left and Sister Storey told me that they were intestines and my worst fears were confirmed. Its pretty much confirmed that the bit I had was mostly cooked poo. Yep. Philippines man! I laughed about it though, while taking meds to make sure it was all legit. Its cooked, right? Haha. But the other night we heard these people singing happy birthday, so we called for them to come outside and they were so excited to see us, invited us in and gave us pizza and drinks and talked with us for an hour about their lives and miracles. Moments like that keep us going, so many happy times!

So we have a ton of new investigators which is amazing. Everyone sits on the street outside their houses all the time so we just talk to people all day and they are so unbelievably nice. Everyones keen to listen to our message and have us over all the time but the problem is getting people to keep their commitments. When I got here we basically had no progressing investigators to work with so we can see how every single day we get better and better and make more and more progress. This week we only got one investigator to come to church but a ton of our less actives came which was a serious blessing. We worry sometimes especially because the mission standard is to get two baptisms a month that were not doing good enough, but since Sister Storey has only been here for 10 weeks and me for not even two, I think we’ve done really well and already come so far. I love studying so much, my Tagalog is coming along really well and I already feel like this is my home. I know that I was sent here for a reason and Sister Storey and I firmly believe that we will bring miracles to pass here in San Nicolas. Most days I will have a moment where I think it would have been so much easier to stay home, but every day we have amazing moments where we think that there is no way we would ever trade this experience. The mission is amazing. Nothing in life will ever give you the experiences you can out here in the field so if you can, get out here now! I feel my Saviour’s love every day, and I know that through Him I am already changing lives.

Trying to attach photos, in a sketchy internet café so see what happens. Also I'm probably not in any of them because we haven't had a day where we felt beautiful enough for pictures yet. Also, I don't have time to reply to everyone now but I print off all your emails every week so please keep them coming and I'll reply when I can! I appreciate every little thing. One more request, its my birthday September 22, so if anyone who loves me, which should be all of you, wants to send me a legit letter in the mail, that would be the worlds best birthday present. We only get our mail occasionally so send them asap to get here on time!

Mahal po kayo!

Sister McKim