January 29, 2014

GUESS WHAT?!

First off, thanks again always for all the emails I get, it makes me feel incredible!! I love hearing what is going on in everyone's life right now. I'm excited to come home and see all these new baby cousins of mine and new people in the family. WEIRD, but exciting. It's weird to think that life at home is still going on and crazy things are happening. I just feel like time should just pause there until I come come back and then things can start again. But it's okay, its will be fun to just see all that has happened while I was gone. 

There are a lot of English Speakers in the ward, so it's nice because they'll talk to me in English, and I'll answer them sa Cebuano. It's actually really funny. But I want to learn Cebuano so bad so I keep telling them, if they only talk in English, how will I ever learn? So then they halo halo. It's great, mix English and Cebuano words. I have not had a lot of headaches so I am great, a few were pretty bad, but after eating and taking medicine I felt a lot better. But other than that I have stayed healthy. It's nice. Even from all the weird things I have tried with my companions, I haven't gotten sick, thank goodness. I do feel and notice your prayers every day, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much! THAT'S THE NICEST THING THAT ANYONE'S EVER DONE FOR ME!!! 

ARE YOU READY!!!!

HERE IT GOES. . .. ..

EVEN THOUGH YOU'VE PROBABLY READ IT!!

THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME, COME ON LAUREL, JUST SAY IT ;)

I GOT EMERGENCY TRANSFERRED!!!!

Can you believe it? Sister Tandiman just left and now I left the area. And my bago nga mga kauban (new companions) don't really know the area still? I mean kind of, but we didn't make it to teach all of our investigators ug less active members so I don't know how things are going to work out. In a way it's kind of a white wash, man. I just hope that they don't skip visiting people if they can't find them.

This transfer has been a little insane, but it's all good. With Sister Zomora and Sister Albaytar we were enjoying our time together, but I feel like we weren't really working as hard as I had with Sister Tandiman. We weren't getting as many lessons in because we were visiting one of our IBD's every day, Sister Vicky, who is doing very well! and traveling there from other areas made it hard. Also with time. We would leave late to go out and work and just didn't use our time too wisely, it was okay, but definitely could have been better. We still would get 25 lessons, per week but I wanted to be teaching more, so it was nice when we were able to split.

 And then what? After Sister Tandiman's ET, me next. Weird thing was I figured I was going to transfer, but this next transfer, not before transfer day, so it was a little bit of a shock, but it's cool! I'm actually excited. I was sad at first because I felt like I was just getting comfortable with the people there and enjoying my time there, but this is going to be good. There is a reason for everything right? I just hope those 2 Sisters can find all of our investigators and less active members because we didn't quite get to visit all of them when I was there. That's when you gotta have faith, right?

so my new kauban is Sister Villiasus, and man do I love her!!! She talks to everyone and is happy ALL THE TIME!!! It's great, she helps me out in the lessons and really backs me up instead of just sitting there, having me do the whole lesson, like sometimes Sister Zomora would do. It was hard, but got me to just go for it, and keep talking. I feel like we are pretty unified in our teaching all ready, although we just met. we still aren't perfectly unified, but it feels good so far. And her FTE's are really meaningful, she doesn't just share one doctrine, we make it longer than that and insert more doctrine in, it's great!!! so they really know about our church. Our Branch Presidency is amazing, super funny, and full of life. It looks like they will be really helpful with the people and they will be fun to work with. This area seems nice, even though we aren't exactly sure of our area yet, we have ideas, but not the whole picture. It looks like we need to find a lot more people because we just have a few investigators, so that will be fun! it will be like opening a new area. Even though at first I was scared to get a whole new companion, I am so happy and excited. I have learned so much from each companion and know that it is for a purpose. Whatever it may be.

Wow things were really put into perspective in the zone conference we just had yesterday. it was about the City of God I realized that I need to really strive to live my life well so I can live with Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. I can't wait for this moment. And the feelings that we will have will be experiencing more joy and happiness that we have ever felt before. I can't believe it. This joy must be incredible. I don't know if people realize how neat this promise is. To be able to have this wonderful opportunity to live there, creating worlds, with loved ones, always and forever, if we keep the commandments and covenants we have made at baptism and in the temple. I can't imagine how people live without this knowledge. It is such a motivator to me!!!

sorry i'm out of time, but that is my crazy week, i will send you more updates next week. always stay happy! Here's a quote I really like that I found in personal study. "Sometime's in life we become so focused on the finish line that we fail to find joy in the journey." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

love ya tons one and all

Sister Riggs

January 21, 2014

Buenos Dias Familia y Amigos,

 

I hope all is well and everyone had a great week!!!

I got all the letters and the cute books from Thanksgiving and Christmas, wow, I didn't know they were coming so thank you so much, It really did suprise me. I loved reading each and every one of them. They all meant a ton and I loved being able to read them. Everyone is so sweet and made me feel sooooooooooo great. I loved the drawings and words from everyone. All the cousins, and family members. So thank you for making that day special. And Brother and Sister Tippetts, That picture is AMAZING and your sweet notes made my day :D

 

Oh yeah so Visaya is Cebuano. People hear, call Cebuano Visaya, so they always ask, "Kahibalo ba ka Visaya?" You know Visaya or "Makasabut ba ka Visaya?" You understand Visaya? and I will say SIEMPRE, which is a perfect way to lead into an introduction. (OO, mga missionayio mi gikan sa simbahan ni JesuKristo sa mga Santos Ulahing mga Adlaw). Yeah, we are missionaries of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints. Mga Mormons. Mouthful huh? It's so great. I was talking to the Sisters in our Balaye and how it's so cool hear to be able to talk to so many people about our religion and what we believe and I say, yeah, people are always insterested and willing to talk and ask questions. But they say, they never really seem interested in us because we are Phlippino. I never thought about that really. It made me realize if I were to say, hi, I'm a missionary.  . . in Utah or some parts of the US, people would listen, but just think oh cool, but not really think it's that cool. But here, once I talk to them, I think they are just impressed I know their language so they are more willing to talk to me and want to learn more. Sorry, I know that my explanation doesn't really make sense, it's hard to explain, but I guess I just wanted to say, I'm glad I am here. I have been able to talk to so many random people about our church and what we believe and not feel dumb. It was hard to share beliefs in our hometown, but here, it's just easier. I don't know why.

 

Leslie is joining rugby. OF COURSE SHE IS!!!!! That is WONDERFUL, how does she like it? I'm so sorry to hear that people have already made friends and developed clicks from the beginning of the year, that stinks. Why do people have to be like that. I'm glad she's getting involved, that is a great way to meet people and a way to not get to tired of work, at school. Get's your mind off things. I actually almost joined rugby, but everyone warned me that I would get trampled if I joined it, since I am so small and everyone else was Tongan or Samoan. SO FUNNY!!!!

 

And man, I am jealous, you got to go cross country skiing. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's hard huh, Miley and Abir? It takes a while to get used to, but I'm so proud you are trying so many new things here, in the US. It makes me happy and think that I need to follow your example and just try everything. I have been doing that with food more than activities since we don't have a lot of time to do things like that. This week I ate intestine. AHHHHH, no picture, but my companions said it was safe and it was a bbq treat. They had chicken head and other weird things, so I started out with just this, man I was terrified, but I was told it was LAMI JUD (very delicious) so I decided to eat it. I actually thought it had a good flavor. It had a weird texture, but other than that I enjoyed it. I have had Balut now three times, but the third time I really couldn't eat the bird so I gave it to Sister Zamora, the yoke and regular part of the egg is fine, but I just couldn't do it this time. I ate the bird the 2nd time, but kana long. (that's it) I have tried more things since both Sister Zamora or Sister Albaytar are Filippino. They are great. They get me to try it, it's fun, and unforgettable. The food here is AMAZING. I stick to things that look safe and healthy, and have tried some weird things, not dog (iro) yet though, thank goodness, I haven't run into that yet.

 

It's a little hard teaching with three people, but it's been okay. When we split, it's usually just me and Sister Albaytar, since she's techniqually the one training me, and then it is easier to bounce off each other. With Sister Zamora she takes charge more and it's harder to add our thoughts in. And Sister Zamora goes with a ward missionary, it's nice, that way we get more work done in this area. I hope that makes sense!

 

Every day I realize why I have the companions I do right now. I was so worried and dwelling on the thought of missing Sister Tandiman, but I'm okay now. I do miss all the fun times we had. We would laugh all the time, joke around with each other since we were both fine with that, get bread, and try a new one every day, really laugh and joke with the investigators, avoid turkeys, and so much more. We had so many great times and plans for the future, but it's okay, I know that I need to learn something from these two for my mission. I am so grateful for Sister Albaytar and Sister Zamora and all they have taught me. I have realized that Sister Tandiman and I were helping people progress, but teaching things a little too fast and not really focusing on their needs. Even if the next lesson is to go on to one of the commandments, it's okay to review something from the other lessons to make sure they understand it. We have one investigator, Magdelina who we really realized this with, she is the one with the great prayer. Our plan was to teach about Repentance and Baptism, and Sister Albaytar said, let's review the Restoration, and then decided to just talk about the Book of Mormon since they hadn't really read it. And it's so important in their conversion. If they don't understand the importance in the Book of Mormon so they don't read, they won't progress. And Sister Tandiman and I had been feeling that way too, the investigators in that area, enjoy our visits, but don't really understand the importance of it and having that desire to find out for themselves, if that makes sense. So we are going to review with them and help them gain that knowledge before we go to deep into things. Also our ward isn't super organized with giving duties to people in the ward to help out so last Sunday Sister Zamora took charge in asking ward members certain things and getting it all figured out. We were just kind of waiting for it to happen before, but she really helped get them to change things, make a plan, and get things organized for us as missionaries and just the ward in general.

 

We have been able to work ward missionaries in our ward, which helps a ton because there is so much work that needs to be done. So many people to see in so many places and not enough time during the week. Since there are three of us now, it's nice so Sister Zamora can go with a ward missionary and get more work done so we can make it to all the people we want during the week. This really worked well yesterday. We got 9 lessons since we had a ward missionary working with us. I am glad people are so willing to work with us. It's kind of hard though since they don't know the area yet, the ward missionaries have to do the leading, but it's worked out well.

 

Since they speak Cebuano all the time it pushes me to learn more. And I feel like I have improved so much just in this last week. It's hard sometimes though because they think I know more than I do, so when I ask, what was that, they explain it to me in Cebuano, which doesn't really help because I still don't get it. Sometimes that works, but not always. I just need to not be afraid to ask them what is going on if I don't understand. And man, they are so good at FTE's and OST's. I still feel inadequate at doing OST's, but every time I do overview, I feel better. I just need to keep practicing. Then I will feel comfortable and just point out main things, not all these words or things that aren't needed.

 

We have a baptism planned with Sister Vicky Delina for Feb 8th, so it was changed, but she is so ready and sooooooooooooooooo excited!! We are so thrilled. She knows so much and really has a strong testimony. She has investigated in the church for about 2 years and is so good. This makes me realize how we can't push people when we give them dates just because we want to see them baptized, we need to let them learn and figure out if this church is true and for them or not. Vicky has definitely done that and knows this is the true church. I love seeing investigators and their knowledge of coming to the truth. We can really see a light in her. Also we have seen so many people change. When talking about the 10 commandments and not worshiping graven images and things, they have taken pictures down and really progressed. It has been a great week and I have seen people change. Sister Zamora is bold in her teaching, but sometimes that is how we need to be. And Sister Albaytar has such a strong testimony. It's sometimes hard to teach with three people, but we are starting to become more unified in our teaching. I love it.

 

We have had great times reviewing things and making sure they have a testimony before we move on. Sometimes I get scared of Sister Zamora because of how bold she is and how she sometimes just speaks what is in her mind, but it's okay. I know she is just helping me grow even if some of the things she says makes me feel kind of down on myself I can do it. I like working with Sister Albaytar when we split, because she will have me take the lead and if she sees I'm struggling will help me and add in and connect things. When I try to get Sister Zamora to help sometimes she just sits there and lets me go, without helping. Man, it's kind of annoying, but it's good, it pushes me and I probably do need to learn to take charge of the lessons in case I get a companion that doesn't say a lot and I need to kind of be the leader. I don't know what is going to happen, but whatever it is I will know later on.

 

I'm grateful to have so many opportunities to testify of Christ and meet new people to bring them to this gospel. So many of these people here really have been prepared by our Father in Heaven and I have really noticed that lately.

 

Do something different this week that you haven't done in a while okay!!! And always stay positive and just doing the right things!!!

 

Wishing you were all here, experiencing the same things I am now, missionary work is so amazing! Thanks again for all your support, and I love you all and miss you like the dog misses it's cherry :) heheheheh

 

Sister Riggs

January 14, 2014

Komusta Pamilya ug mga Barkada!! (Tagalog)

This week has been insane, me and Sister Tandiman had a wonderful time visiting places we hadn't gone before and finding new investigators. We have a Sister inour ward who I think i"d brought up before. Sister Virgi Alcantara is such a wonderful helper because she has such a good attitude about missionary work. She is always there to help us find new people to teach since she knows pretty much everyone. It is so helpful on hastening the work here. I just feel so lucky. We get to teach so many lessons and be with so many people while people in other places are having a harder time. I feel so blessed, and really look up to all those who are having a harder time. They are my heros! The hardest part is getting people to come to church especially without pilete. (money) With one investigator, Sister Magdelina, she said she wants to come to church so bad, pero she can't without money. We told her to start saving her money from Monday so she will be able to come to church on Sunday. She said okay and we told her that if she prays to Heavenly Father and really asks him to help her, He will provide a way. And if she does her part in showing her faith in Him by saving her money it will work out. We told her that we will pray for it to work out as well. We hope she will come. In her prayer at the end of the lesson, she did exactly that. She prayed and told Heavenly Father her situation and asked Him to help her. It was so sincere and we really felt the Spirit. It was great!! Also with Sister Sally. She wants to come to church and to bring a friend, so hopefully she does so. It's nice to hear that people want to come, that means they want to learn more and want to find out for themselves in this is the church for them.

Zone Training was AMAZING!!! Wow, I learned a ton from it and it made me want to be even better and use the scriptures more. In Preach My Gospel it says that The Book of Mormon is the most powerful tool in conversion. So it is so so so so important to be familiar with the scriptures ourselves so we can teach from them and not our own words. I usually use my own personal experiences in lessons, which is good and can help us connect, but it's better to use scriptural examples or things from the scriptures. I want to be so familiar with the scriptures that when someone says something to me or asks me a question it reminds me of a scripture or a story of someone from the scriptures instead of from mylself. I mean I can do that a little bit now, but I want to be able to that with a lot of different scriptures, so it's not just the same one over and over again. I have had wonderful experiences and have learned so much from being able to study from the Book of Mormon every day. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!

This Sunday was pretty sad because we had no investigators come to church. We were really dissapointed. But less active members did come!! So that made it better, but it was still sad. Our Sacrament meeting attendance dropped a ton and I'm pretty sure it was the rain, but that really shouldn't be an excuse. It was raining way hard and basa kaayo (extrememely wet) We couldn't believe it. We usually have 250+ come to church, but this last Sunday was 155. Next Sunday hopefully will be better. We just have to stress the importance of coming to church. I think the Lord is testing us. Because we went from having 9 come last Sunday to 0 this last week. DILLI MAAYO. well, we will be better :) That got us motivated to always strive to be better.

Oh and wow we were shocked last Wednesday Sister Tandiman ug ako got a call saying there was going to be an EMERGENCY TRANSFER, what? Totally unexpected. We were both way sad. I really didn't want her to go. I feel like we had gotten so close and really began to get unified in our teaching and with our investigators, but as time as gone on, I have realized why this needed to happen. I was scared at first, honestly. To get used to a whole new companionship, to lead the area without Sister Tandiman, to be in a threesome, and just everything. But I am so happy. Sister Zamora ug Sister ALbaytar have helped me grow so much in these past few days. They speak Visaya all the time so it really pushes me to practice. Sister Tandiman would use it too, but we would speak in English more and use Cebuano for our lessons and FTE's. Then after the lessons we would talk in English. With these two now, they are always speaking it. It's because Sister Albaytar doesn't really know that much English. It's a good thing I'm in a threesome though because if Sister Zomora weren't here I don't know how much I'd be able to communicate with Sister Albaytar. It would just be harder. Having them speak it all the time made me realize how much I knew in Visaya, there is still so much I need to learn, but it made me feel better about my Visaya. It is neat hearing them speak and figuring out what they are saying. Also just asking questions. I realize, I'm not going to get to use this language after my mission really and if I just keep using English, it won't get me anywhere to learn more. They tell me things everyday I can improve with and tell me what I am good at. It's nice. It has been okay leading the area, I got lost once so far, but it's been good. Now I know where it is. So even though it was scary at first, I have loved my new companions, they are wonderful and I learn so much from them. It's fun learning more about their culture and their lives before their mission. Everyday I realize more and more, why they needed to be here at this time and that I needed them to learn and grow more in this language and just as a missionary.

Wow, we had the greatest experience with Sister Vicky. She is amazing and has really progressed. We know she knows this is the true church and she has a strong testimony of this gospel. She is so excited to get baptized and we are planning on the 25th of January for her. She just told us that she has already come to church a lot in the past and so she probably could have been baptized earlier, we just didn't have her record from the old missionaries and all they had taught her. But now we know she is ready. We were told she has already been taught these things, but are still teaching them so we have it in the record. We are so excited and know she is ready. I can't believe how much she knows about this gospel and the sacrifices she makes for it, and the blessings coming from that. She is great!

 Oh and with Brother Ben and Sister Vengi we are extending his baptism to Febuary 15 since they still need to get their Cenomar before baptism.

Well, this week has been great! I have learned a ton, gotten more confidence in myself, and learned more about really studying the scriptures so we can expound them better and give a better background. I was studying the words in Jacob chapter 5, the allagory of the Olive Trees. I love that chapter and it is perfect for missionary work. The Lord really is with us all the time, helping us in His vineyard. Without His help we would be nowhere.

It has been so wet too, these past few days. I have always been inside when it rains really hard, but we have been able to experience the rain as we walk. Our shoes get soaked and it is so fun!!! We walk in huge puddles and it reminds me of puddle jumping with you all. Man how I miss it. I see what they mean by needing two outfits sometimes in one day, but I haven't had to worry about that until this week. So funny. I hope to be able to have a good coming week with my new companions. I am having to learn patience with them because we are often late to our appointments or meetings. Hopfeully that will get better. I realize that even though I am the junior companion I can still share with them the importance of being on time and helping us become better. We haven't taught as many people as I did with Sister Tandiman because they, my new companions get talking with members or investigators which makes time run out in the day. So hopefully we can plan better for this week.

I hope that everyone will enjoy their week and that everyone is okay with the SNOW. I hear it has been crazy and in the negatives all over AMERICA. Wow, just a little bit cooler there than here. I wonder if that's why it's been so rainy lately. hmmmmmm, well, hope school and work is going well and that you are enjoying LIFE.

Love Sister Riggs

January 8, 2014

To my beloved friends and family!

 

I'm so glad that things have been eventful with Christmas and New Years and I sure hope things are FANTABULOUS!!!

 

Leslie is off at college now, wow, weird, and at SUU, that's even better!!! I sure hope she enjoys it and gets involved. I'm sure she'll be great!! I bet that was amazing to get her back for a few days and then kind of annoying to let her go again, how are you doing without her there. I bet it's still not the same huh? Oh and can you have Lezlie e mail me the date of when that lady from China is getting married here. I"m going to ask my mission President if it's okay if we go.

 

I'm excited about Brady, my new cousin, that's crazy. That's so cool that he was baby Jesus, I'm sure that was a wonderful Christmas Eve!!! I have been thinking a lot about family and friends this past few weeks. Little things keep reminding me of you all and it's sometimes hard. Songs will come up that I sing with people or I see something that totally reminds me of someone and I get sad, but then I remember that this time I have here is so short. It is going by fast for me, I feel, I don't know if it's different at home, but that's how it feels here. Just because we are always doing something. I just keep thinking of the quote, "A missionary leaves his family for a short time so that others can be with their families for eternity!" well something like that. I love that quote so much!!

 

Also days are good at bad with the language, I noticed that a lot this week. One day I was just feeling super discouraged. We were teaching about the Plan of Salvation and since I haven't done that lesson as much I don't know a lot of the vocab and I was mixing things up and just not saying it right, but my companion was there to help me I was just feeling down. That day did get better though, just started out rough. I just keep thinking, I can't wait, until I can understand everything and feel so confident in my teaching and don't know when that will come. I just have to keep practicing though and putting myself out of my comfort zone to speak their language, even if I don't know everything. How am I going to learn if I don't do anything or practice, right? But then yesterday things got better. I felt like I really could understand a lot that was going on, even what the people were saying back to me. Usually I just know what my companion is saying and get some words from Investigators, and try to put things together, but not full sentences, but yesterday I felt a lot better. I understood sentences!!! I WAS SOOOOO HAPPY, and Dad, I have had two dreams now in Cebuano, it wasn't all Cebuano, but some of it was and it was great. Hopfeully that means I am getting it. I have felt like I have learn so much just from being here and using the language so much, but there is still so much to learn. It does make me feel good when people compliment me and say, wow, you speak so well, or it's so good to hear someone blonde, speak our language. That always boosts my day, but other days are just hard. I can do it though. I love that scripure that says "where there are two or three of you, I am in your midst". And that is the Savior talking. So many of the scriptures and quotes I have read in personal study have helped me when times get hard, I love it.

 

We had some crazy experiences again, like last week. I have been AMAZED noticing the Spirit in our lessons a ton, especially this week. We plan to teach certain things to certain people and in our planning sessions and then sometimes when we get there, we feel strongly to teach about something else because of what they are going through right now. This happened when Sister Tandiman and I went to see Sister Bacus and her family. She and her husband are less active members, but their kids aren't. We were thinking it would be good to teach them the Plan of Salvation because we noticed that their family was kind of struggling so we wanted to emphasize how if we live righteously here, we can make it to the Celestial Kingdom with our families. When we were just talking with her and the beginning she started crying. I didn't really know what she was saying really, but I felt for her. All I knew is something was going on with her kids. Apparently her children have addictions to drugs and just aren't helpful at all at home and just all the time. She is feeling stressed and doesn't know how to deal with them because they don't really listen to her. Sister Tandiman and I changed the lesson to faith and action. We needed to let her know that her faith is so strong and that we know she is doing the best she can, which is great and the Lord is proud. We brought up scriptures that we thought would help and told her the quote, "Faith makes things possible, not easy." So if she shows her faith by keeping the commandments and just doing what she knows is right she will be blessed. We just tried to give her hope and just be there for her.
It was great because of Monday we had a wonderful lesson about Faith and Action in Jesus Christ by Elder Ferris our new district leader. He told us that sometimes people say they have faith in Jesus Christ, but they don't do anything about it. My seminary teacher, Brother Anderson drilled this in my head and I have never forgotten it. Faith is a principle of action and power. I'm sure you have all heard that, but it is so true. If we don't do anything about our faith and really show Heavenly Father and Jesus that we really care we will do things. I learned so much from this and what we can actually ask people about faith. Because of lot of people here say they have faith in Jesus Christ, but they think that's all they need. They can be saved because of Him if they have faith in Him and live a good life, but there is so much more. So our District Leader told us that if we let them know they are doing good, but there is more that needs to be done, we will be more affective in our teaching. He encouraged us to use this in our teaching and we really have. When we talk to investigators about how they really need to find out for themselves, it's not us trying to drag them to join our church or our religion, but to work for it to find out how true it is. And they can't find out for themselves if they don't do anything about it. If we give them a Book of Mormon and they don't use it or study it, how will they know and how is that showing faith. Once they do something, they can know.

Oh man, I almost forgot we had 9 investigators at church this last Sunday!! WOW, I wish you could have been there to see this. And our reactions, they just kept coming, it was wonderful! So when we first were there we saw 3 of our investigators. Vicky who came with her daughter, who is soooooooooooooooooooo good. She has been taught by missionaries before, I'm pretty sure all the lessons or at least a lot because she already knows about the Word of Wisdom and other commandments that are really far into the teaching records. But since we don't have a record of it, we started from the beginning, but she is moving swiftly through them because she already knows a lot. She always adds to our lessons and just is so good, so we were so happy she was there. Then we saw Ben and Vengi, they are there every week because they know what they are supposed to do and how true this church it. I love their diligence all the time. Then we noticed that Nick and Ovelia were there and it was AMAZING, they had come once before, but had some Catholic tradition thing  for Christmas the next Sunday and went to that instead, but have been progressing really well. Every time we go to their house we have a kugog with us, Brother Traya and is super good at being there to fellowship them. They always have so many questions which is so good because that really means they want to learn. Some of the questions they ask are funny. We were teaching about the Plan of Salvation and how we will live forever with our families. He mentioned that Sister Ovelia is his 2nd wife and that he was wondering if he died if she would too. We told him no, she'll still be here. But what if she marries someone else? Than what happens? Who are we with in Heaven? And just some other questions that I have totally thought of before and it was just funny all that went through his mind. And then we noticed 3 other investigators came in that are apart of a part member family. So the dad, Brother Regner, is the only member in this family and they have been stubborn about coming before so it seriously was a shock for us to see them all there. Man, this was the best Sunday. We were extrememly happy the whole rest of the day and made sure they knew where to go with the different classes and made sure they had someone there to go with them. Sister Tandiman and I were praying that they felt something different at this church than at the churches they go to. It was such a great day!
Also on the side of the road, an investigator was on his way to work, Clarisus. He stopped us and said, hey, can you come by tomorrow? We agreed and were excited. That just shows that he really is interested and that he wants to learn more. We were very happy.

 

Members are so helpful and eager to do all they can for us as missionaries and just want to introduce us to all their friends so the gospel can be shared in their homes, it's so wonderful. Their attitudes about missionary work make me more excited and I just keep thinking, this message can change people's lives, why not share it to everyone. We can't just hand out Book of Mormons everywhere though, we have to make sure they really want to read it and learn for themselves. It's been great, just having that attitude makes things a lot easier to do the work.

 

 Oh yeah, I have a funny story. So it was raining pretty hard one day and the roads or walkways we go on, they are dirt. So they were quite muddy and full of water. We went to go to this area to find a less active member's house and we got stuck. There was no place we could walk that didn't have water. So we saw a rock in the middle of the giant puddle. "Should we try it?" Sister Tandiman asked, (Siempre) of course, I replied. So I leaped to the rock and it was so unstable I just fell in the water, well I got my feet wet. I was so lucky I didn't land in it sitting, that would have been awful, but I got drenched, and muddy and it was just great. JUST MY LUCK right? My skirt was pretty drenched and I actually got a little scrape. Man, we were laughing sooooooooooooooooo hard. I wish you all could have been there. It doesn't sound super funny, but we thought it was. And everyone who would walk or drive by would laugh, it was great. But anyway so we went to this house and they have turkey's there. I don't know if i've already shared this, but if I have sorry. So we said AYAW, because that what you say when you get to someone's house and all of the sudden the turkey's started chasing us. what?!! Turkey's or all birds usually leave you alone or are afraid of you so they run, but these ones were like guard dogs. man, it was so freaky. And Sister Tandiman is dealthy afraid of turkeys, chickens, just any bird on the ground. She hates when we walk by or go near them so always has me go first to get them away, but these ones, were different. We talked to a neighbor and apparently they have bitten people before. I'm glad that Sister Tandiman was cautious enough to tell me to get away from them so I wasn't hurt. It was so funny. I thought she was so silly to be afraid of them, but I actually found myself afraid of those ones. Who knew turkeys were like that. That totally reminds me too of the turkey whisperer Lezlie, that we saw on our trip.

 

Well that's my news for the week, Some days are hard, but we are making it through.

Amping mo! (You all Take care)

 

Sister Riggs

January 1, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEARS or MALIPAYONG BAGONG TUIG!!!!!!

I think I thought of the thing I miss most about the U.S.: air conditioning. Some places have it, but people mostly just use fans. And when the power goes out, yeah we don't have cool air, which gets kind of tough, but it's all good. I'm just grateful for fans. And the thing I like best about the Philippines, is definitely the people. They are so happy kanunay (always) and welcoming and sweet and kind and adventurous and soooooooooooooooooo much more. Everyone will let us come in and give us soda or a snack even if they don't have that much for themselves. Philippinos are so Christlike :)

I hope you all had a FANTABULOUS CHRISTMAS and NEW YEARS EVE and DAY!!!! Have you all made new year resolutions? I'm sure you have, I have too! After the training workshops and wonderful zone conference given by the AP's and Mission President and Wife, I have a lot of things I want to do for this new year. I can't wait. I hope to become a much GREATER missionary and get so much out of this part of my life. I know that I need to do all I can and the Lord will help me with the rest, but if I don't do my part, nothing will happen. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will be there for me when I need them if I can't do it all on my own, but I do need to do things to show my dedication. I have so many things I want to happen and to be able to grow so much in this gospel and just as a person and I know with the help of my Father in Heaven I can do it. 

Wow, this week has been insane. Well, first off, I am staying here with Sister Tandiman in the same area!!!! At times I felt like I was a burden to her because I didn't help out that much in some of the lessons because I don't know enough Visayan or I don't know all of the doctrine yet. But I have been feeling better. I add my comments whenever I have thoughts come into my mind and I take more of a part of the lessons so she isn't just teaching it all. So I was worried that I would go with another companion to finish my training because I needed to learn to say more in the lessons or not rely on her as much, but I realize I can just push myself more during the lessons and just help out with all that I can now. GIVE MY ALL, like what President Scorseby said. What are you going to give on your mission? Well, I'm going to give him all I can. I feel like we have grown so close as a companionship these past few weeks. Time has gone by fast, I can't believe I am halfway through training, there,. . .living on a prayer! (name that song) Anyway, I was worried too we'd be transferred somewhere and I didn't want to because we have just found so many new investigators and I didn't want to leave them. We saw potential and hope with them. We are hoping things will work out with them and we can get them to have a desire to come to church and closer to Christ. 

Wow, we had a few nindot kaayo events happen this week. First of all we went to Irish, Ivan, and Kenneth's house. There are all between the ages 19 and 22, I think and they are siblings. They have lost both of their parents and are all working or going to school as of now. BUSY KAAYO SILA (they are very busy) all the time, except Sunday nights, so we decided to go and teach them the Plan of Salvation on Sunday. We were only going to teach the first few lessons with them, but their first question was, what happens after this life? (Unsay human niining kinabuhi?) Will we get to be/see our parents again? (makakita among mga ginikanan usab?) What's going to happen? Man, we couldn't just answer a little bit and then say, we'll talk about that our next visit. We both felt strongly to teach all of lesson 2 in one visit. I haven't felt the Spirit that strong, in a lesson, since being here. Sister Tandiman and I left feeling extremely happy and exhausted almost since the Spirit was so strong. I loved sharing with them what we know and how this Plan is so important and made just for us. You should have seen their reactions when we told them, they can see their parents again. What a wonderful moment in time for them. They want to live life well so they can make it back with their parents and of course with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. Personal Experiences were shared and things just went so well. And that was the first time we had taught the whole Plan of Salvation lesson in Cebuano, well at least for me. That's why there are two of us huh? So we can help each other out and testify of each other. At first I was worried, but we felt like it flowed so well. I love the Spirit and know that without it there, it is extremely hard to get the message across. We can teach the same lesson to different people and totally have a different feeling coming out of it. That's what is so cool. Sister Tandiman and I have used different scriptures for each lesson so we really can cater to our investigators needs. It so works, and it helps us get to know more about the Book of Mormon and where things are found. 

Okay another one was there is a girl named Bianca who is about 16. She is AMAZING! Every time we visit her she is just so good. She knows what's right and that this is the true church, she just doesn't come. We have been wondering what was keeping her and she never would tell us. But when we went to her house she opened up to us and shared how when she went to church, the only time she's ever been there, she didn't really have that great of a day. The youth weren't super nice or welcoming. It was so great to finally hear her thoughts and so we knew how to help. I told her I felt the same way when I first got here. I didn't know anyone, but I still went to my first day of church. I didn't stay home, I went and was able to meet a lot of people. Plus you can't make friends in one day, it takes time. I told her even after a few Sundays I still didn't really know a lot of people and Sister Tandiman knew everyone since she had been in this ward before. But overtime you start seeing the same people and it's great. I have come to realize how important it is to really connect to your investigators and share personal experiences. It is touching for you, or the person who shares it and the investigator. 

Also we weren't planning on going to a lady's house, but Sister Tandiman had a strong impression to visit this one Sister. I said okay, sure, let's go! So we did and Sister Vicky actually wasn't there, her sister was, GiGi. She told us to come right in and that she had been taught by other missionaries before. It was great!! We used How To Begin Teaching to develop that trust and so we could find out more about her, and she shared so much about her family. She actually started crying. I didn't know exactly what had happened, but I felt empathy for her. It's cool that even if I don't quite understand what they say I can feel for them because of their body language or their facial expressions. 

Oh and actually earlier today we met with Sister Vengi and Brother Ben. They have AMAZING faith (hugot nga pagtuo). They come to church every week and always read/keep the assignments we give them. Vengi, has done some things in life that might keep her from being able to get baptized. Our mission President sent a letter to the First Presidency to see what they could do, but still hasn't hear anything about it. But, on the other hand, Ben is totally fine. We have just been putting off the invitation to be baptized because we didn't know how to ask him to be baptized, but not her. That's just sad right? We prayed and prayed, studied, and really prepared for how to do this, but we just needed to ask the Brother and tell the Sister she'd have to wait. We did, and Sister Vengi took it so well, a lot better than we thought. She is fine with the thought of him getting baptized first and we just let her know that there is hope. The date for Brother Ben is January 25th! We are so excited and hope it works out. It was wonderful because right as we said, Imo bang sundon. . . (Will you follow. . .)he said, SIEMPRE!! (OF COURSE) It was great. BUt we still finished the invitation and he is so ready!!! ANDAM KAAYO SIYA!! We can't wait. Sister Tandiman and I think she understands and is glad she is taking it so well. 

 I have learned so much from Sister Tandiman and have so much more to learn from her, I'm sure. We have so much fun together, have so many spiritual moments together, and strengthen each other every day, it's FANTASTIC. 

HOPE YOU ALL ARE HAVING A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR, AND REALLY PARTYING HARD AND BEING EXTREMEMLY LOUD!! hehehehehehehehe. We were loud. We actually got to watch movies last night for New Years Eve, we watched Frozen and Kon Fu Panda 2!! I loved it. I was so happy we got to do that. And we got to stay up until midnight and watch the fireworks and scream HAPPY NEW YEAR. It was GREAT!! You're having our annual party diba? (right?) I sure hope so. 

CHEER LOUD, and make some AMAZING new goals/resolutions sigi (okay)?

LOVE YA TONS!!! Sister Riggs

I tried chicken feet, what, It wasn't really meat, I felt like I was chewing cartalidge, which is kind of was. It had a great flavor, but interesting texture. 

Zone activity-hike to a waterfall, quite the BUKID (mountain area) so gorgeous

kids here, so ADORABLE

NEW YEARS PARTY

Our Christmas Tree, kind of pathetic I know, but it was fun to make, we just used what we had, totally forgot the star though