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