Week 24

Nothing really happened this week so I'm not really sure what to say. We had transfer announcements, but Sister Tumagoy and I are staying together. I guess President Reeder only separates a companionship if they aren't getting along and/or the area isn't progressing. She's been so encouraging in helping me learn the language and it's really coming along now. And we have fun together and work really hard. So I'm so grateful for that. I'm so grateful for Christ's example and the opportunity to really work on developing Christlike attributes. This week's sacrament meeting was more reverent. My companion had the idea that we do a one day mission with the youth and YSA next. She is just so in-tune with the spirit and I wonder how she receives all this amazing revelation. Haha I hope I can become as experienced and humble as she is. She just hit her year mark! Anyways, so we will need to get permission to do the one day mission and then we will go on splits. Which I'm kind of scared for because it means that I will be taking one of the sisters from the ward and I'll be the senior companion for the day!!! Ah!!! My Tagalog isn't fluent yet... But I've become less worried about it because I've been doing my best to rely on the Lord for help in all aspects of the work. Mom and dad, I am SO GRATEFUL for the Lord's hand in my life. I would not be able to do this great work without His help. My heart just overfills every time I think of the blessings I've received from Heavenly Father. Also, it's been hard to get our investigators to come to church... but we're working hard. We're going to really focus on the Book of Mormon this week.

Week 23

This weeks email is going to be short because I honestly don't have much to share. This week was kind of a blur anyways.

Us missionaries in the Mercedes ward talked with the youth about reverence in sacrament meeting. We've really been struggling with that in the ward and I really pray that they understand the importance of inviting the spirit during church. We focused on the Atonement and yeah... The youth are wonderful and I've really enjoyed building relationships with them.

Aaaaand we had exchanges this week, so I worked in Daet with Sister Adkins. I love being able to meet other missionaries' investigators!

I'm speechless this week. Probably because this internet cafe is SO LOUD I can't even hear my own thoughts. Sorry, sorry!

I really am enjoying my time here in the Philippines. :) I know this church is true!

Love,
Sister Stettler

Me and my companion

Week 22

Hello everyone!!!

Another week just flew by. I can't believe it. Sometimes the days are SO long and then before I know it, I'm emailing home again. Except I'm probably one of the only missionaries who DOESN'T look forward to P-day because it takes me so long to do my laundry and then we are so busy for the rest of the day! As a side note, it used to take me 5 hours to do my laundry and now it only takes me 2 and a half. I think I'm finally starting to become a Filipina! ;)

Anyways, first of all, who is excited for General Conference?? Because I'm stoked! :D I'm just bummed I don't get to watch it until a week after. Buuuut that's ok because the prophet's words aren't going to change, right? ;) haha Conference has just been on my mind lately. I can't believe I left right after last conference. Our lives just kind of fly by. I'm just doing my best to make the most of the time I have now. Especially because it's not my time, it's the Lord's.

We had our missionary workshop this week which went over really well. When we told them we have another one planned for next week, they were really excited. It really surprised me actually. We taught the youth and YSA how they can share the Book of Mormon with their friends/relatives, etc. Some of those kids who did practice teaching with me are wonderful little missionaries! When I did my part of the workshop I asked who wanted to serve a mission and almost all the hands went up. So awesome!

Ano pa? (What else)...... we have a few new investigators! It's sometimes so hard to teach in some places though because all they care about is that I'm white. My last area wasn't like this so it's been taking some getting used to. So I've started to do what the Elders in my district do. Whenever they say "Amerikano!" I'm like, "Saan?! (Where?)" hahaha Um ya. That's actually pretty hilarious. And one time I told some kids that I was convinced that I'm a Filipina. But in reality? All I want is people to focus on Christ's name that's on my name tag. I was even discussing the importance of Jesus Christ's name on our name tags and how our message is centered around Christ with some investigators. Then after that, it leads to our purpose, which is to invite others come unto Christ. Remember Domingo? Well, we were asking him what service project we could do for him after the lesson, and I think that really changed his perspective about the missionaries and about Mormons. During the lesson, Sister Tumagoy asked him why he thinks we are there and he said because we want him to get baptized. I was thinking..... oops. Yes of course we want him to be baptized, but not for our sake! So we did some of our how to begin teaching bullet points (ummm... those basically set our expectations and help us know the investigators expectations as well), and I think he finally realizes that we are here on errand of the Lord and we are here to HELP him come closer to His Savior. Not make him join our church. It was a good learning experience for me.

If there's still snow, please send me some. IT IS SO HOT HERE!!! Sometimes I get done taking a cold shower and then I want to take one all over again. But that's life. And I'm actually loving it. :) And that's really all.

The church is true!!! I'm probably going to continue to end all my emails with that..... because my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel is NEVER going to change. I love my Savior and I know He atoned for each one of us. We never have to be alone because He is there for us. He sees every tear and knows every fear we face and he is there to lift us up and make us stronger. I know that my redeemer lives!!!

I love you all so much!

Love,
Sister Stettler :)

White Sand Beach Service Project

Week 21

Kumusta ka??

So this week was kind of crazy but great! I finally found one of those white sand beaches! We had our community service project on an island and cleaned up the area there. Sister Tumagoy and I also had our first workshop too. It was a musical workshop and we taught the youth and YSA how to lead the hymns. Believe it or not, it wasn't my idea. They all loved it so much that we're going to do it again one Sunday. Then we focused on missionary work and sang "Called To Serve." The only other time I've heard the youth sing that song with power was in the MTC. It was so awesome! I'm so excited for the youth in the ward who are looking forward to serving missions.

Ok, I have to apologize because I never proof read these emails I send because I guess I'm just lazy.. And then I've gone back and looked at them and thought... "Oh dear." So..... sorry!

Anyways, a lot of our investigators are doing great in their Book of Mormon reading! And our less actives!!!!!!! When they read the Book, they come to church. It's like, Bam. Magic. Just kidding. It's really the spirit. I am SO grateful for the spirit!!! I've said it many times before and I will never stop saying it. The spirit is ESSENTIAL to doing the Lord's work. Without the spirit, we wouldn't succeed. This week, I had a few experiences where the spirit testified to me of His purpose. One of those was while we were teaching one of our investigators, Domingo. He truly is an investigator. He asks so many questions and really difficult ones too. The spirit was so strong as we taught him, and I knew that we wouldn't have been able to answer his crazy hard questions without guidance from the spirit. But the thing that really stuck out to me was as I sat there listening to his responses, the spirit bore testimony to me that it was bearing testimony to him. And I mentioned an experience before where when the spirit is that strong, I understand everything in Tagalog. It was just different this time because I didn't understand completely the language, but I still just knew what he was saying... I really, really don't know how to explain it... It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had though! :) I'm so grateful to see the Lord's hand in my life. I know that the gift of tongues is real, and the power of the spirit is REAL.

I can't even express how grateful I am for the opportunity to be here on my mission. Heavenly Father called me to be here in the Naga Mission for a reason. I love this gospel so much and I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true!

I love you all!

-Sister Stettler

Week 20

I'm beginning to believe that the tower of Babel was built in the Philippines. hahaha There are SO MANY dialects here, it's crazy! At least they really speak more Tagalog than Bikol (hey look, I finally know the correct spelling) in my new area so it's making learning the language easier.

What a week! Sister Tumagoy and I have been planning some workshops lately and we're both really excited for those. We're hoping to get the ward more involved in missionary work. I'll let you all know more about those later as they come up. We also had to postpone our baptism...... again. You know, I'm starting to wonder if I'm just a bad luck charm or if Satan and agency is really a real thing..... But I have to say that I'm so grateful for prayer as I've been able to turn to my Heavenly Father through these discouraging moments. And He makes up the difference because He is blessing me so much!!! On the bright side, we have some new investigators who are really starting to progress! It was just up and down all week with those we're teaching keeping their commitments. Especially church attendance. It was pouring yesterday and people don't really like to go anywhere when it's raining, so the chapel was pretty bare. I almost don't blame them because by the time we got to sacrament meeting, we were soaked. And the church is so small, we have our gospel principles in the clerk's office. Which means Air Conditioning! And one very cold Sister Stettler. I never like to be in AC rooms anyways, raining or not, because whenever we go back outside, I die of heat. But that's the way it goes. haha I laugh at myself because I can't believe I think 75 degrees is cold, and I grew up in Utah. Anyways...

Not much else to share. We worked really hard this week and then we got to go on a little vacation! Okay, not really, we're missionaries. But we celebrated Elder Lapana's birthday and I have never been so excited in my life to buy a birthday cake for someone. Funny how I've been learning how to really enjoy the little, little things. We went to Catherine's after our district meeting, which is a beautiful resort here in our zone. Beach and mango shakes? Yeah, I'll take that any day. I think Elder Lapana really enjoyed his birthday though. We wrapped all his presents in Christmas wrapping paper because that's all I had. Mmm... Missionary life. It's great. Work hard, play hard. :) Yup. Naga mission is the best mission! ;) The church is true!!!!!!!!!! I love this gospel. I love the Lord's work. I love my Savior and I'm grateful He's my best friend. I love you all!

Love,
Sister Stettler

Week 19

Kumusta!

Sobrang masaya ako! (I'm so happy!) Sorry there was no letter last week. Anyways, transfers were this week and I was so anxious for them because I was the only one from my district being transferred. Psh. What did I have to worry about?? Thank you for all the prayers. :) I feel of your love and I'm so grateful for all the support!
 
It's been a great week! Busy, busy, busy. My new companion is Sister Tumagoy and she's from around Central Luzon (Luzon is the huge top portion of the Philippines). We get along really well (so far haha) and she's an amazing cook. She's already taught me a few things and I told her I'm going to be a gourmet cook by the end of our transfer. Let's hope... I'm only really good at cooking pasta and rice right now. hahaha My new area is in Daet, a little over 3 hours from my last area. Our town is called Mercedes and the work is really progressing here! Sister Tumagoy actually trained Sister Coons, my kasama (companion) in the MTC, and so now I just replaced her. They did amazing work in this area. They had a baptism last week, and then we had the baptism of Jane, a cute 11 year old on Saturday, and this Saturday is Daisy. We've been praying for Daisy a lot and we taught her twice this week because she's been struggling with the word of wisdom. She's been doing amazing though! Obviously, because she's having her baptism on Saturday!!! When we taught her on Saturday night, she told us that she just got a new job and she has to work on Sundays, so she can't attend church. We had just finished teaching about temples (because we were also teaching a recent convert, Mark), and so we explained the big picture to her. To eventually get to the temple and gain exaltation. So pretty much choosing between a temporary job and salvation. haha She already knows everything though. She likes to be taught and then join in other lessons when we teach other people. Seriously though, as we were teaching, the spirit was so strong. And it's so amazing to me because when the spirit is present like that, I understand everything in Tagalog. And that's saying something because I'm still REALLY struggling to understand people. Daisy started crying because she has such a huge desire to be baptized and doesn't want to have to move her baptismal date again, this time for church attendance. Last time, she had a little bit to drink and she was so sad that her baptismal date had to be moved. This is the first time I've seen someone with an extremely strong desire to change. My heart is filled with this love that I've never felt before and I just want to help her and EVERYONE ELSE with all the strength I have. I'm so excited for Daisy. Even though I've only known her for a week, I'm so proud of her and excited for Saturday. Now our district has to come up with a musical number for it. Let's hope we can pull that together. ;)

We're teaching so many people. This week we kind of focused on the recent converts since we have a lot of new member lessons to complete. This week we're going to focus on second lessons with those that the sisters tracted last transfer. We'll see how that goes. We're also teaching a beautiful family who is excited to come to church every week and we're hoping they will get baptized next month. .....and I'm having a hard time remembering the names of everyone else we're teaching because I've met so many people this week!

Even though I still can't really understand people, the language is really coming along now. I can all of a sudden speak more and people are starting to understand me. Hallelujah. It sucks being forced into silence. I think one of the reasons Heavenly Father sent me here is so I would say the things He wants me to say, and not say what I think sounds good. Does that make sense? I really have to rely on the Lord. I think one of the reasons I'm always so exhausted is because I'm constantly having to think really hard about how to say things. But sometimes the words just come and I know that's because the spirit is present. I'm not really worried about it now. I know it will come. I'm just doing my studies and it's coming little by little. Another reason Heavenly Father sent me to the Philippines is so I will be superwoman when I get home. hahaha Just kidding. I'm starting to get used to the huge spiders that run around the house (blahhhhhhh). They still freak me out, but whatever. Missionary life here in the Philippines... I have more things to worry about like getting worms. Whoo. Dad, you were right though. I was saved for the latter days for flush toilets and hot showers. I definitely don't get those both anymore. It's like a continuous camping trip. I love it though. It's definitely an adventure. Oh, we live like a two minutes walk away from the beach! You can hear the ocean from our apartment! Since we live so close it's really humid (oh, it's been SO hot lately) and everything rusts. So my companion thinks it's funny how I keep EVERYTHING in plastic bags. We're having fun though. We work hard and play hard. I think I'm really going to like it here in Mercedes. I love the work and I LOVE being a missionary. It's going by way too fast!!! I love you all! The church is true!

Love,

Sister Stettler

Week 18 - letter to mom and dad

Dear mom and dad,

I have a lot to tell you but no email time AGAIN today. :( Oh well. I will explain next week. Quick update. I had a fantastic week! My training is over!!!!! Can you believe it?! I'm being transferred tomorrow. Please pray for me as I am very anxious! And my next companion. That's the main thing I'm nervous for. The ward and area are amazing here and I am going to miss them so so so SOOOOOOOO much!!! My mission is going by so fast. I'm going to cry if I even talk about it. Even though it's hard, I'm loving it. Even if I still can't speak Tagalog well. It's coming along though. Of course they call it "missionary work", not "missionary play", right? Haha. I love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please take care. :)

Love,
Alyssa

Week 17

I got Christmas cards this week! Whoo! It takes a month for mail to get here :) So thank you for the mail and Merry-belated Christmas??... So this week was MUCH better than last. I didn't send out an email last week because it was absolutely crazy and we only had time to write to President and our families. Even though there are discouraging, frustrating, hectic weeks, there is always a turning point. Rose and Jessica were finally able to be confirmed and they are such great examples to their families! We're now teaching two of Rose's sons and Jessica's brothers and sisters. Sometimes her parents listen in. Their mother fully supports her children becoming members of the church, and hopefully she will continue to listen to us. Not much has really happened this week honestly. This is my last week of training and transfer announcements are on Saturday which is absolutely crazy. I am so nervous and anxious! I'm not sure why. I guess it's because I'm still not comfortable with the language and fear of the unexpected. I know it's all going to be fine though. The Lord knows what he's doing. :) Sorry this is so short. Not much to report. The church true! We say that all the time but I really do know this is the only true church.

1st Baptisms

The Falls

Hiking Mount Isarog

Week 15

Maray na hapon po! (Yay for Bicol!)

What an exciting week!!! Rose and Jessica were baptized! I wish you all could have seen how excited they were for their baptism. SO many people we happy to see them go through with it because they were becoming so called "eternal investigators." It's so amazing to see how the Lord and other missionaries prepare certain people for you. Even from the beginning when we took over teaching them, I have seen a dramatic change. They started coming to church and following through with their commitments and I have loved watching their faith increase. I was sick on Friday (can I PLEASE stop getting sick?!), so the Sister Training Leaders came over and Sister Abarabar went on exchanges with Sister Ganzagan while Sister Sanft stayed with me back at the apartment. When Sister Ganzagan and Sister Abarabar went to Bombon to make sure Rose and Jessica were ready for their baptism the next day, little Vea (Rose's daughter) was jumping up and down acting like it was her getting baptized. Too bad she has to wait a few more years until she's 8 years old. hahaha Anyways, Sister Rose was texting us Saturday night telling us how excited she was to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. Unfortunately, Satan is real and he works so hard. Sunday morning, there was a problem at home and Rose texted us telling us she didn't know what to do because she wasn't going to be able to make it to church. Sister Ganzagan told me right after I finished saying my morning prayers and I rolled back on my knees and started praying again. haha. We suggested she just come to sacrament meeting and she arrived late with Jessica and weren't able to be confirmed!!! Ah!!! So disappointing!!! I really hope and pray nothing happens this week. And I just pray that their faith will stay strong as life really doesn't get any easier. Thankfully the gospel helps us through so much and we can overcome anything through our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This week was crazy because we weren't able to go out one day because it was so stormy. As my kasama (companion) said, "The coconuts are dancing." The wind was so strong and I was so bummed we weren't able to go work. There's only so much studying your brain can take! I hope this stormy weather ends soon. I've honestly been freezing!!!

So the night I was sick and the Sister Training Leaders stayed over, Sister Ganzagan gave me some sleeping pills she had just bought because I haven't been sleeping at all. I found out that sleeping pills and I don't get along too well. I freaked everyone out by talking and whimpering in my sleep from nightmares. haha

Yesterday, Sister Ganzagan and I went to Pili so she could get her patriarchal blessing. We had to leave church early so we could travel there! But let's pretend that never happened. haha It was fun because we got to take a huge bus. Um, I don't know why I wanted to throw that in here. I just love the Philippines! It's so pretty here and I guess it's nice to see other scenery besides Calabanga, Bombon and Naga.

Today is one of my favorite p-days! Our district hiked Mount Isarog and went up to the falls. It was so gorgeous! Some other Americans were touring it and believe it or not, it was really weird to see white people. Sometimes I forget I'm white. Which I don't know why. Everyone still stares at me and sometimes kids yell, "Hey joe! What's your name?" or, "What up man?" hahaha I have to try so hard not to burst out laughing. Usually I just give kids candy and we get along JUST fine. :) Anyways, when the two Americans were coming across the river, I turned to my district and said, "Look! Foreigners!" Haha Good laugh. Then the guy proposed to the girl and I just died and I accidently said outloud, "I wanna get married!" Whoops. Too late. I'm on a mission. And I'm so glad I'm here! Just to clarify. I'm were I need to be! :) Anyways, I love my district and we had a lot of fun today! Wow. We got up at 5 this morning to head to the falls and I am dead tired. And our email time is being cut short. So that's all for this week.

Hopefully we find some new people to teach because we really need a bigger teaching pool! It's so hard to have people lose interest, but everyone has agency, right? Just come to church!!! Seriously!!! I say that every single day and my kasama and I are trying to focus on the importance of coming to church and partaking of the sacrament. So we will see where this week leads.

I love you all! Talk to ya'll next week.

Love,
Sister Stettler

Week 14

This is probably going to be short because it was a pretty normal week! I ate cat this week and that was probably the most exciting thing that happened... That's right. And no, it doesn't taste like chicken. Pretty bland to be honest. Would I eat it again? No. hahaha Anyways...

I froze all week! Who knew it gets cold in the Philippines?! Thankfully I brought some cardigans and a hoodie with me. I hope the storms stop soon and it warms up. I have no idea how I'm going to return back to Utah because I don't like the cold and whenever I go into places with AC here I crave the warmth from outside! Thankfully I still have 15 months to enjoy and I haven't even experienced the really hot season yet.

The Elders gave us part of their area and by doing so, we were able to gain a few new investigators. One of the members gave us a lot of referrals (Elders loss). I love referrals because it means we have work to do instead of tracting!!! Even though Sister Ganzagan and I opened up this area, we haven't had to do a lot of tracting. Let's hope it stays that way and we continue to build up our teaching pool because tracting is NOT my favorite thing.

We finally had the baptismal interviews for Jessica and Rose!!!!!!! We had to move their baptismal date to this coming Saturday because they didn't attend church last week. I wish I could enjoy Sundays more, but I'm always sitting there anxiously at church praying and hoping that our investigators and less actives will show up! Anyways, Jessica and Rose are very excited for their baptism and I'm so happy for them! I'm grateful for this opportunity to learn how to be more selfless and I'm sincerely so happy and excited when I see others' achievements and successes. And I get to be apart of a huge change in their lives which truly is a blessing.

I really don't have much more to say. Hopefully next weeks email will be a bit more exciting. I love you all and I want to thank everyone for all the support! Mahal ko kayo!

Love,
Sister Stettler

Week #13

Happy New Year everyone! How are the New Year's Resolutions? I've never been able to keep them so I just gave up on making them and decided to make goals throughout the year and just work on those. Anyways, speaking of goals, I am praying that Rose and Jessica go through with their baptism on Saturday! They've been coming to church for the past few weeks, but yesterday they didn't show up and they never texted us back. But whenever we teach Rose and talk to her about her baptism, she gets really excited. She has a strong testimony and I hope she continues to have the desire to become a member and keep strengthening her faith!

We started teaching Medey a little while ago. She lives with a less active member and on our third visit with her this week, she kept asking questions about how she can prepare for baptism. We asked her to start by coming to church every week and partaking of the sacrament, having faith, and repenting. She came to church yesterday and she told me that she has been coming before. I only understood part of what she was saying (this is the part where I wish I was fluent in Tagalog-haha), but I understood that she enjoys coming.

This week was such a great week! I'm understanding people a little bit more and I'm really coming to love the people I work with. The investigators, less actives, and members. We have a huge teaching pool of less actives and I'm so glad that a lot of them have started coming to church! We've invited some of the less active members to become involved in missionary work by having them come teach lessons with us. I think it helps them realize that they have an influence and are needed and have a purpose in the ward and in the church. Jonnabelle is a young single adult who is a less active, but she's recently started coming back to church and is going to start working with us. She has helped her family start reading the Book of Mormon and now all of them are coming and bringing their neighbors! Her father is not a member so we asked Jonnabelle to be an example to him and we are starting to work with him. 

I was able to try a lot of new foods this week! Filipino food is so good! I'm working on learning how to cook some of the food I really like. Fish balls are now one of my favorite foods, as well as scramble. Scramble is like ice cream and then they just put marshmallows on the top! And soimai is my favorite thing I've eaten here. Too bad it's Chinese! Go figure. That's my favorite type of food. 

For New Years Eve, Sister Ganzagan and I got matching sunglasses. What else do you do for fun? Haha The Bishop invited us over for dinner and then we went home because curfew was at 7:00. Even though we went to bed on time, it was impossible to sleep because of all the fireworks. So we got up and just watched them on our front porch. I think they went off for 4 hours. I can sleep through about anything though. There could be a war going on and I would probably sleep through that. By the way, I started sleeping on the floor at the beginning of the week because our bunk bed is so squeaky and I wake myself and my companion up all the time. Believe it or not, I have slept wonderfully all week long.

Then Wednesday morning we had to wake up really early to travel to Naga for exchanges. Sister Abarabar is one of the new STL's (Sister Training Leaders) and she came to my area. I had the opportunity to take charge and completely lead in planning and showing her around and teaching. That was so strange as I'm still the trainee (aka greenie haha). I love being able to work with other missionaries. I learn new techniques for studying, planning, and teaching. I guess that's the point.

Transfers were this week and we have a great district! Elder Nebeker and Elder Snyder stayed and their new companions are Elder Merrill and Elder Togueran. I really like our district because we all of a sudden have this motivation to work really hard. Which means it's been a successful week! 

Yesterday was fast Sunday of course, and I love the fast and testimony meetings here so much. Everyone just lines up to bear their testimonies! And they weren't all the same people that bore their testimonies last month. It usually seems that the same people always get up, but not here. I absolutely love the ward here. As I've said before, they are so eager to be involved in missionary work and their testimonies are so strong.

I look forward to this year! The time is flying and I'm really starting to enjoy being here. I feel like I'm fulfilling my purpose of inviting others to come unto Christ. I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Stettler