December 12, 2013

HEY ONE AND ALL!!!

 

How's the snow?!?!! SUERTE KAAYO, ( very lucky). It hasn't been as hot as where Zac is, but it's been pretty warm. It doesn't feel like Christmas really because there is no snow. Have you gone sledding or skiing or anything? I can't wait to have snow again. I thought it was so funny when they told us to pack handkerchiefs to wipe off sweat, but they have been very helpful. GROSS RIGHT? What was Abir and Miley's first experience with snow? I want to know what they first did? Have you had snowball fights, made snowman, all that jazz? and the Christmas tree, there are only little ones here, but we are just going to make one since they are kind of expensive and it would be hard to transport. Are there Christmas parties being planned? We have two, I'm so excited. One is the 16th of December with our zone, we are having a talent show and food and it's just going to be great! They put me and an Elder, Elder Ferris, to be in charge of the dance para among Zone (for our zone). I'm so excited, it's going to be sweet, its a hip hop dance to a cool song, about missionaries. It makes me realize how much I miss dance. And our other one is for our ward, it is on Christmas day, weird right, people are usually with their families Christmas Day and you stay at home, but this will be cool. There is going to be a video, a presentation by the missionaries, which I don't know yet and games and stuff. I love this time of year, and it is just cool to teach around this time of year, about Christ's birth. We have been singing Christmas songs for the Ward choir each week when we perform, but not even in Sacrament do we sing Christmas Hymns, it's weird. But every time my and akong kauban (my companion) start a lesson we sing a song. I love it so much. We feel like it really brings in the Spirit and I just love singing so it's awesome. And at the stores the cashiers all have Santa Hats, but other than that it just still feels like August. It's hard to explain, only when we sing Christmas songs or see lights does it feel like Christmas. It's funny!

 

 This week has been great! I do feel like every day, every week gets better and better although there are good and bad days. I am feeling so much more comfortable talking with people and having conversations with them. At the beginning of being here I was way shy, I just was quiet and didn't really talk to people because I was afraid, I'd mess up or something, but karon (now) I will talk to anyone, just like at home. FEW!! I was scared that what you had said dad about being afraid to talk because of the language barrier. It did happen so I should have listened to you. SORRY. I just thought, yeah right, I won't get scared, I can talk to anyone right? This is something the Lord wants me to be more humble about I think. I am told all the time that, wow you can talk to anyone and not feel uncomfortable at all, I'm so jealous, and that is such a great quality to have and so forth. Since I was told so much I think I really got it in my head and started to use that and I became too boastful with that. Man, this is Heavenly Father's way of saying, calm down, don't get ahead of yourself, and giving me this chance to show him that I need to be better about using those compliments to think to highly of myself. Does that make sense?

Oh and I had my first experience with a cockroach, ewww, I didn't realize how gross they are. I saw it in the dishes and thought okay I'll just catch it like a crab to get it out, grabbing it where it's legs can't get to you or its pinchers, but I decided I didn't really want to touch it. So I caught it with a cup. And then when I tried to get it outside it flew out of the cup to the curtains. AHHH, I screamed so loud. I didn't realize how afraid I could be of a little bug like that, but man it was gross. We were all screaming and no one wanted to touch it or get near it, I finally caught it again with the cup and successfully got it outside. FEW!!! funny, You have to face your fears everyday, no matter how big or how small, always remember that okay?

 

Okay so in our mission we do this thing called FTE, finding the elect. This is where you talk to people on the streets, in the jeepneys or just anytime you come in contact with someone and teach them something about the gospel. We introduce ourselves as missionaries and then share our purpose as missionaries and then just whatever comes to our minds about the gospel. It is hard to come up with something to say, but it is getting easier. Usually our FTE's have been together, but lately if we are on a jeepney Sister Tandiman will FTE someone next to her and I will FTE someone next to me. So we get to talk to more people. I am okay now talking to them on my own, if that makes sense. I can understand mostly what they say and even if I don't I still just testify of Christ or about what we know to be true. Our mission goal is to FTE 100 people a week, and not just going around trying to find people to testify to, really sharing with them something they will want to learn more about. So we hope that the people we talk to invite us to their homes so we can teach them. It's a cool thing for this mission, but is kind of hard. That means talking to about 20 people a day.

 

We have a Sister named Bianca who is 16 and we have a baptismal date for her, but we need to change it since she didn't come to church last week. ;( We talk to her all the time about church and she knows what is best and says she wants to come to church, but doesn't come. She won't really explain what is on her mind. She just keeps saying, yeah I'll come to church, but then doesn't so we need to get her to want to have that desire. If she wants to progress that is the next step. We have extended the invitation for baptism to a few more people too! Brother Nick and Sister Ovel, they are people who a member from the ward referred us too! He has been coming with us to teach them and they seem to be doing well. They have a lot of questions and want to learn more. We feel like Brother Nick is more interested and Sister Ovel says she wants to study it a little bit more before committing to anything. They are both very sweet and seem to progress very well. We don't have a date yet, but they said they'd come to church on Sunday, so hopefully that happens. After doing part of the 12 week program in training we now are going to invite them to be baptized during the first lesson if the Spirit is telling us to and choose a date no later than the 2nd visit. We learned that if we do so, it will show our faith in them that we know they can progress. It's scary, but that's how they will know the purpose of our visits.

We saw 3 less actives at church this week that we had gone to and talked with. It is so exciting to see them there! It feels like we helped them remember how important church is and what can come from attending it. We were worried because Sister Bacus said that she didn't have enough money to come to church. Since it is so far, it is hard for people to get there and to have to pay, but we tell them that if we put The Lord first things will work out. Also Jessica Alcontin, she hasn't been to church in a while, but is very sweet. I am glad they came together so they felt like they weren't alone. And then Brother Mitch Bass came who hadn't come since after his mission in Ghana. Same as Grandma and Grandpa Pace, SUH-WEET!! I loved seeing people who we've taught, at church. They are coming back, I hope they keep coming back. We have mostly been teaching less active members and most of them are happy to see missionaries, but some don't really want to have anything to do with us, so we keep trying, and then if we think it's not worth it because they are "never home" then we will just not schedule to teach them anymore. That is why it's good to make back up plans. I always thought it was weird to teach less actives, but it's actually nice because they already know about the gospel we just remind them of things like praying as a family and the importance of the priesthood or other things like that. It has been nice to get referrals from non members and also those we FTE, It has led to On Spot Teaching, which is kind of scary, but seems to go well. We seem to get better every time we do it. We have been able to find new investigators from nonmembers and people we FTE as well. It's been so wonderful. There is a lady we FTE'd and she invited us to her house, after that we found more and more people there that had never heard of the gospel before and we go back to teach them. It's been nice.

 

The spirit is always with us, we can feel it. Especially in the lessons. As I start to understand more Cebuano I feel prompted to say certain things because of the Spirit. I am glad I am feeling more comfortable with the language, it is because we use it every day, but there is still so much to learn, I'm just grateful for all I have learned so far, the people we've come in contact with and all that I am learning from my kauban, Sister Tandiman. She helps me so much and pushes me so I can become better.

 

We had a super cool experience while teaching a 13 year old girl named Yan Yan. Wow, she's amazing. She is one who we FTE'd and she and her mom invited us to come and teach them. The lesson went well and we gave them the Book of Mormon. Yan Yan has been reading it and has so many questions. That shows that she really is interested. So we talked to her about her reading and she is understanding a lot. She wanted an English Book of Mormon because she says she can understand it better. BRIGHT KAAYO SIYA (she's very bright) but while we were testifying of Joseph Smith the coolest looking butterfly flew in to their balaye (house) and then flew back out. It was one of the prettiest butterflies I had seen so far here. Afterwards Sister Tandiman said, that was weird, it was kind of like the Spirit coming in to testify of what we were saying was true. So not only does the spirit come in the form of a dove, but can come as a butterfly! JOKES LONG, (just a joke) but it still was way cool!

 

Okay well I gotta go, I can't wait to talk to you on Christmas and catch up, I can't believe Leslie will be coming home, SUPER EXCITING!! Thanks for all your support and all that you have done for me.

 

Love Sister Riggs

P.S.

******SIDE NOTE: A balut or balot is a developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell.*******

I tried BALUT.

MAN, it was very different, but not as bad as I thought. FUNNY!!! I was terrified, but got my companion to try it too! She was very brave and said I was the only one that has gotten her to try it, SCORE!! I couldn't finish it because I just kept looking at the insides and whenever I look at meet that is red at all or looks weird or different I can't eat it. I couldn't look at it, while I ate it. I saw a head and a foot and man, that was so nasty. It tasted just like normal eggs and it was fine until I got to the body of the chicken. EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW, but we did it! The yoke was fine, the body was just the part that grossed me out, but it wasn't one that had been developing for a while to it was okay, it's texture was so squishy though, nasty.