Tinikling

So hilarious times as usual! We get on the jeepney this morning to
come into the city and the Elders happen to be on it, barely sit down
before this rich lady next to me starts going off at us in very loud
English. Shes like my brother is a mormon minister and he stole my
land, it should be against your religion to steal peoples land, I'm
going to report him to the mormon leaders! Shes absolutely going off
and the rest of the people on there are staring at us seeing what were
gonna do. We were trying so hard not to laugh but explain kindly that
people aren't perfect and that our religion doesn't encourage land
theft. By the end of it we get her chatting about her life, give her a
restoration pamphlet and get her address for the missionaries over
where she lives. They're gonna be a wee bit surprised when they meet
her, but she turned out to be lovely.

So last Sunday they announced that the following Saturday there would
be a branch talent show, giving people like 6 days to prepare.
Everyone was stressing all week about it because nobody had time to
organise anything, BUT the thing is Philippinos love dancing and
always have a casual couple dance numbers up their sleeves at all
times. So we get there and it turns into So You Think You Can Dance
Philippines, SO GOOD! Us missionaries put together a last minute
cultural delight for everyones entertainment which was a nice little
mix of skill and danger. Hilarious though, people really love seeing
white people be bad at Philippino things. Haha.

We have a lot of investigators doing so well at the moment. A problem
we often have is too many investigators and not enough time to spend
with them, so you see everyone once a week and then they don't
progress. So this transfer we had a genius idea. Why don't we just
pick a few people and visit them more often! I felt like that little
girl on the taco ad with all the genius ideas. And what pretty much
happens now when good things happen we do a little mexican hat dance
to celebrate. So its been way good. What the Lord wanted me to learn
this transfer was the 'killing two birds with one stone' theory. We
had two less active families, both the mums were left by their
husbands, none of the kids wanted go to church and they were all round
struggling, but when we combined them and made the two families be
friends we saw them both get completely active again, and now after
all this time all the kids are getting baptised! We're also seeing
with our other investigators that as we set them up with less actives
with similar problems then they just help each other figure it out.
We're really seeing the difference between working hard and working
smart!

Love you guys,
love the mission

Go serve somebody!
Sister McKim

Parang Fiesta

Ah man this week!

We got invited to a wedding this week, just casually, as you do. We
didn't know the people but they were related to a member that we just
met, so of course it made sense we were invited...haha but it was so
good! It was a big Catholic wedding so they had this big party outside
and it was way fancy, but the amazing thing is everyone just has so
much respect for us as missionaries its incredible. We walked up to
the place and someone spots us and ushers us inside the house and we
sit in the big comfy couches and everyones rushing around bringing us
plates of food and chocolates and we sat inside and had a way nice
lunch. Then we went outside to the actual wedding, they literally
snatched chairs from the bridal table so we could sit down and when
the bridesmaids came back they had to stand. We felt way bad but they
really insisted. Its really incredible the respect people have for us,
we get way too spoiled sometimes!

I can't even remember what else happened this week because it feels
like last p-day was yesterday, this week just rocketed by. This
morning we had a wicked zone activity at the beach, we had a huge out
of control water fight then got a wicked SLIP AND SLIDE going on the
beach. It was the best activity so far, we were covered with soap and
sand and all had to go sit under the well water to clean off since we
can't go near the ocean. Felt like summer! Also our town is having
FIESTA which is like a huge party in the town for a couple weeks, kind
of like a fair. On thing thats huge is kid boxing, like little kids
boxing each other, like 10 year old girls even. On of our
investigators is 12 and he won all his rounds so we won a ton of
money, and went and gambled it away. The kids got a few things to
learn before he can get baptised.... but like, kid boxing, what. The
whole town comes out and bets on it, they love it.

So this last week Sister Ramos and I finally gave in and started
working on Ilocano. In our mission most people can speak Tagalog but
their native language is Ilocano, so pretty much in lessons they will
talk to us in Tagalog and then turn to each other and talk ABOUT us in
Ilocano. So we committed and started working on it, now we teach half
in Ilocano and pray only in Ilocano. The gift of tongues in real, is
the only explanation I can give about that. Heavenly Father knew I
needed a challenge.

So one thing that really hit me this week in my study is that every
single principle of the gospel is an eternal principle. Every single
one. So when you're wondering what its going to be like in the next
life, think about one of the principles and think about it as
something thats going to continue on in the next life. I realised a
LOT of things this week when I took that perspective. We keep trying
to have chats about the universe, and have to stop because its too far
beyond out comprehension. You know someones been studying deep
doctrine in personal study when the next hymn they want to sing is "If
you could hie to Kolob" then you know you're getting ready for some
deep learning.

Love you guys,
please share with me what you're learning in your scripture study. If
you don't, I'm gonna assume you're not doing it.

Ay-ayatenka
Sister McKim

Do you love me?

Another baptism, another couple of souls on the way to salvation!
These girls were awesome, they come to church with their aunties and
their grandparents because all their parents are a combo of living
abroad or having already died. Except for one, her whole family are
converts and used to be amazing and active and fell away a couple
years ago because the mum wanted so bad for the kids to have a good
education that she started working on Sundays. She avoided us like
crazy and was not about being taught until the day we asked her to
sign the record for her kid. At first she looked like she didn't want
to do it, and then it seemed to me like maybe she was guilty because
until now she hadn't been apart of her daughters baptism, but we
talked with her for ages and by the end of it she was so excited and
said she'd been wanting forever for the missionaries to teach her in
her house again. We were worried she wasn't gonna come, but she walked
in late and shy but she looked so happy to be back in the church
again. Shes on the way back, and shes gonna bring all her kids back
with her so I can't wait to see the rest of their progression. We also
have the other family coming up for baptism, I mentioned them last
week. They were a really strong family until the dad bailed on them
and the mum literally works 24/7 to feed the kids so they all went
inactive. The 3 youngest kids were never baptised and have been taught
by the missionaries for years but never consistantly did anything
because the mum just couldn't help them do anything. We've been
putting our hearts and souls into those 3 kids and the mum has
progressed and insane amount. On Saturday night she came home late and
saw us trying to hide the Mothers Day present we were making for her.
The last couple weeks shes sent the kids walking to church and shes
just come for sacrament meeting, but yesterday she was there Sunday
best for the whole 3 hours. I about cried. Especially when I looked
around at all the other less active members we are teaching who came.
Blessings for sure.
We had our Zone Training this week and we were basically chastised and
told to step up, which I truly was grateful for. In our mission we are
supposed to focus 50% on investigators and 50% less active/recent
convert, and often its tempting not to because people want baptisms. I
really felt inspired a couple weeks earlier to implement this and as
we have been doing this we're seen the blessings. Most of our
investigators are family members of less actives, and as we focus on
strengthening the less actives members, they go from being a bad
example to a good example to our investigators, which makes it a LOT
easier for us. So inspired!
I'm also obsessed with reading about Peter. I hope its not a bit
prideful to say that I feel like I relate to him a bit, obviously a
little little tiny bit. But as I studied this week the story after the
resurrection of Christ when He appeared to Peter, and after all that
he had been through they were back again right where they started. And
Christ really had to ask him, 'Peter, lovest thou me?" Sometimes we
really have to think about what were doing, would the Lord have to ask
that of us? After we've been through so much, do we sometimes go back
to where we started? So if we really love the Lord, we will always
move forward and do what He asks. And what He asks of us is, "Feed my
sheep."

Love you all my precious precious favourites,
Sister McKim



Pictures are
ZTM they made people draw their companions with their feet. This is
Sister Ramos picture of me, I look good as.
The baptism! Thea, Maxine and Charmaine. 

Grasshoppers and the Holy Ghost

Kumusta everybody!
So this week, its good to be back! Me and my comp are like the dream
team, we just get each other and because of that the work is going so
well. We had a lot of really great and memorable experiences this week
and I'm really remembering what it is to be a missionary.

This weeks theme was well and truly the Holy Ghost. It was our lesson
in every meeting we had and really resonated in all of our work this
week. We had this one experience especially with the sisters in our
house who prayed to know where they should go to find new
investigators. They both felt strongly about this really far away
neighbourhood with no members and only one former investigator. So
after a really random series of events on Saturday night we all ended
up at this members house for dinner and he offers to take us where we
were going. It was getting late so the sisters were just saying they
would bail and go there the next day instead, until we realise the
really random way hes driving us home is IN that neighbourhood. So
they jump out and ask him if he happens to know this one random
investigators. Hes like, get in. Takes us to this MANSION and starts
yelling at them to come outside, missionaries are here, and takes us
away. We're sitting there like, something big is about to happen. When
they got home that night they told us the incredible story of the
family who immediately invited them in and told them they had been
waiting for them. The dad has RM sisters and always opposed the church
but over time of trying to disprove the church came to know it was
true, but was never baptised as he was unable to stop his drinking,
but was waiting for the right time. And this was it. There is no
possible way to deny the Holy Ghost once you have experienced it.

We have been working a lot on part member families, and a lot of
single mums who went less-active so their kids were never baptised.
This one woman in particular, the missionaries never teach her because
shes never home. The three kids under twelve come to church by
themselves because the mum has to work 13 hours a day every single day
of the week so she can feed them. They used to be well off and were a
really strong happy family until the dad left them for another woman
and took everything, their house their businesses, and left them with
nothing. We managed to catch her coming home late one night and barely
got her to sit down to listen to us. Once I heard her side of the
story I couldn't blame her, it was awful, her testimony is as strong
as it ever was but she just can't not feed her kids. For the first
time in a long time I cried, I usually have it pretty together, just
look at the logical side of things, or the fact that if they just do
the right thing it will all work out, but I couldn't help it with her,
she just needs more. I just didn't have the words to say because I
just cannot relate in any way to what shes been though, but something
in what we said must have stuck because Sunday morning the whole
family was sitting together in church, happier than I've ever seen any
of them.

We had this other incredible experience this week on Tuesday morning.
We went to an investigators house and she wasn't there, we should have
left because we had somewhere else to be but we asked the grandma if
we could teach her. Turns out she's a less active we didn't know
about. Just as were saying the closing prayer, her granddaughter walks
down, so we teach her too. Just as were closing again another lady
walks down the path and sits down. By the time we're finished praying
she is bawling her eyes out. She is an old friend of the family and
also happens to be a less active member. She tells us her husband is a
drunk and abuses her, so shes been having an affair. She could never
have children with her husband but is now pregnant so she knows its to
the other man. She said her only two options were to go with the other
man and commit adultery, or stay with the husband and commit abortion.
She was destraught. I was sitting there at first so so scared for this
woman, and scared for the huge responsibility she had placed on us,
and knowing whatever we said was going to have a huge effect on what
happened. I prayed, as you do when you don't know what else to do. So
I told her, and I was harsh and I was bold which doesn't seem like the
think to do with a woman in that state, and I told her that the answer
to sin was not more sins, and God didn't do this to her but her
choices had led her to this point. It was incredible to see this
working over in her head. By the end of the lesson she was smiling
again and she really had felt the Spirit. As we walked her back to the
road she said the whole day before she had seen missionaries
everywhere and wanted so bad to talk to them, then last night she went
to her friends house in Vigan and the elders there taught her but she
didn't have the courage to tell them. Then she didn't know why, but
she walked here the whole way from Vigan, which would have taken hours
and hours, not knowing why she was going to this womans house, and
meeting us there because we'd stuck around longer than we planned. The
Lord's plan is perfect, and everything happens for a reason. Except
our sins, those things don't need to happen so we should stop doing
them.

This calling is like nothing else, nobody else in the world can
possibly understand what is feels like to be set apart with this
calling except those who have done it. I don't want to go home and
have to experience that feeling of being released. I love this work.

Love you all, even you random readers out there!
Sister McKim

A family gave us mangos so the kid just climbed on the roof and picked
them off for us. We had a dinner appointment this week and they served
these cooked, I don't even know what its called, its like a locust
grasshopper thing. They told me to eat it and I was like yep get it in
me. I've changed apparently ha. And the tiger and his chicken head
lunch, masarap!