Monday 16 September 2013

VIP's, kidnappings and other missionary tales


Seriously, p-day again, it was p-day yesterday!

So this week, insane as usual. On Tuesday morning we had a lunch appointment with our rich neighbour across the street. They're straight up millionaires and live in Hawaii and just come back to their mansion in San Nicolas whenever they feel like it. So we walk over and theres literally the whol neighbourhood standing outside, plus a parade, a marching band, all this crazy stuff doing on. Turns out its San Nicolas day! Something to do with the saint who this place is named after. Anyway the neighbours put on this huge street party and they had this classy buffet thing serving to all the locals. We walk close and theres one our investigators working it, so she pulls us out of the crowd and sits us down on one of the shaded tables in the VIP area where its all the rich people from town, which were loving. So chilling waiting to get served, our other investigator is working security at the door and comes and gets us from the table and takes us into the SUPER VIP area inside the house, which were loving. Basically because were white everybody knows and loves us. The mayor spots us and waves, so excited to see us, usual stuff. So were making besties, handing out pamphlets, the whole shebang and we go in to get food and its CHAOS. It was like a mosh pit in there, you couldn't move your arms, and there were so many people crammed into the kitchen that people couldn't lift there arms enough to actually get any food. This is like the towns elite, the mayor is in there, the millionaire family and all old ladies in heels and pearls and all the biz. Old ladies are mercilessly shoving me into a wall to get rice and I'm really just trying to resist the uge to....do something not very nice, but it was all good. Eventually we got out of there and our rich landlady spots us and puts us on an even better VIP table and scores us extra drinks, genius. Local celebrities I swear, but at least it helps in the work :-)

So were teaching the worlds best family right now, and our whole hearts and souls are going into them because they're a family and they are so hard and so important to get! At first they didn't seem that keen but the dad came to church two weeks in a row and suddenly got super keen, but his wife said she was really happy in her church and refused to come to the lessons. This week we took our secret weapon, the mission prep teachers whos whole life revolves around missionary work. We get to their house, and he gets the mum involved. The dad commits to baptism but says the mum won't budge. Then our secret weapon starts talking, nobody knows what he said because it was Ilokano, pero next minute they're LOVING IT and they COMMITTED TO GET MARRIED THIS WEEK AND BAPTISED! And were sitting there like, jaws to the floor, thinking is this real life. So the whole family in the space of less than a week is coming to church, reading and praying as a family every day and working towards baptism. The dad literally went to get the marriage papers the next day but theres problems with birth certificates so the Bishop and him are sorting it out and there should be a wedding any week now. I can't believe it. I'm praying like crazy that the baptism will go ahead. The dad answers every question in gospel principles, he reads everything, I swear he could be the next Bishop. This week we're planning on working harder than EVER because we need this for them, so excited, so so happy!
So I'm kind of falling apart this week, I'm rocking some pretty wicked leprosy type disease that is slowly eating me alive and nobody knows what it is and is not really going away, should be right though. And the other night I was cooking and burned my finger on hot oil which burned halfway through my finger. At first it was ok, and then it kinda hurt, and next minute I'm crying myself to sleep while Sister Storey is running around trying to take care of me, bless her heart. Its a pretty wicked injury. It hurt. So much. But nobodys got time to sit around and worry about it, theres too much work to do.
So in other news this week, we had a near kidnapping experience, sort of. Ah dear. So we were out in the jungle and caught a tricie home, which is like a motorbike with a little sidecar thing. We tell him where to go and he all of a sudden darts off the road into this sketchy jungle path to apparently nowhere. Sister Storey starts freaking out and yelling at him no no Baranggay 13! He ignores and shes like STOP STOP HINDI PO HINDI PO! He doesn't. And she turns to me and shes like we're getting kidnapped right now. I'm starting to believe it, I'm like, should we just jump out?? SHOULD WE?? I sort of really just wanted to jump out, woulda been fun but he was going way fast. She starts screaming at him again and out of nowhere he pulls back onto the main road and towards home and were like, what actually just happened! Nobody knows. The moral of the story is, we weren't kidnapped. But hilarious.
Ah man, theres a million stories I could tell you from this week. Elder Ramsay and I will give you all the full run down when we get home, we see each other at least twice a week so were always having the greatest of chats possible in a legitimate Elder/Sister kind of way.

Anyways love you all, the church is true. Every day of this mission just gets better and better, people are put in our way that need us and we do things that shouldn't be humanly possible sometimes, but we do them because were set apart by the Lord. I love this mission and this work and I love you all. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, can't wait for Sunday!

I barely ever take photos so I'll get better. These ones are our neighbours dog which some kids destroyed, so sad but kinda hilarious. The worlds sketchiest bridge, which is now even sketchier since it was destroyed in a storm and half collapsed but we still have to use it and the marketplace. I'll do better ones this week.

Sister McKim
xxx




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