mga paa

Yesterday I ate chicken feet and frog legs. mmmmmm. It was prepared Chinese style, though. Not very filipino. The chicken foot slapped my face. Buhay pa pala. See attached picture.

Oh man, WE HAD AN AWESOME WEEK. We somehow squeezed in two exchanges and had members working with us every day and met tons of families and potential priesthood holders and had tons of referrals and loads of people came to church and it was a perfect storm the beautiful things. 

But I want to share a great experience about one of our investigators. Her name is Nory. She is 60 years old but looks 40. When we first met her, she was so angry. Not at us, but her heart was just filled with anger. Her husband left her a few years ago because he had another secret family. But the worst part is, the husband and his no longer secret family just live down the street. If she wants to go anywhere, she has to pass by their house. She really really hates her husband. Like, it's scary. A few weeks ago, she was in a crazy mood and it was late at night and we invited her to repent of her sins. She said, "I have to kill someone before I repent." HUHHH? They she opened up how she has a real desire to kill her husband. I was seriously terrified and there was no spirit in the room at that moment. When we left, I said, "I don't know if we should go back to Nory... she seems a little unstable." But, a few days later, the Spirit led us back to her and we are still teaching her. She is very diligent in reading the Book of Mormon. This week, she shared with us something that was beautiful. She doesn't want to kill her husband anymore! When she walks by his house, she doesn't feel angry, she just feels sorry for him. She shared how, through reading the Book of Mormon, she finally feels peace in her heart. (And she learned how much God does not want her to kill people...) It was a very spiritual lesson as she bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon and it was just another testimony to me of how sincere study and application of the Book of Mormon changes hearts and changes people. Also, we were talking about how her heart used to be and we said, "Pusong bato?" which is also the title of a famous song here which means heart of stone. And she said, "Hindi. parang puso ni Satanas." It was hilarious. But she was serious...

That's all the time for now. We have a new mission president and it is apprehensive making. Love you!

pag-jajogging

This last week was CRAZY TOWN, PHLS. We didn't have the opportunity to work even one full day in our area. BUT, we did have the opportunity to do a lot of faith building things. We met the new mission president's wife and her husband. They are wonderful and I love them! They are so sincere and just overflowing with the Spirit. And I'm not just saying that because I know they've been reading the blog posts... :P We also had MLC and interviews. Good stuff. I'm still learning so much! I still have so much more to learn! 

One thing that I liked that President Ostler said was why we so often change leadership in the Church. It's because God wants us to put our trust in Him, NOT in people. It doesn't really matter who are earthly leaders are. We need to turn to the Lord. He also shared with me in our interview something that actually really helped me feel calm and peace about the upcoming changes. It was just really simple. The Lord wants to comfort us. Always. He wants us to feel His love and His arms around us. But sometimes, matigas lang yung mga ulo natin. He just said to just allow the Lord to comfort us. Let ourselves feel the peace and His love. And that's what I'm doing because I'm obedient to whatever the mission president says. :)

Oh, I heard that JP (my recent convert from Pasay) was called to serve as the 1st counselor in the elder's quorum! I told you he would be a great leader in the church!

Also, Ester and Gelnie passed their baptismal interviews and will be baptized on Saturday :) More families to prepare for the temple! There are so many miracles here and I just really love love love being a missionary in the Philippines.

"I'm hovering to death!"

^^^^ That's an example of the joy of teaching your companion English. Another is "finger foot".

This week was beautiful, as always. We went to the temple. Lots of revelation. 

We've been praying so hard for referrals, because that is our biggest lack in our area (because there are only a few members that live in our area) but this week we had a ton of miracles and got member referrals from other wards! We just talked to members on the jeep coming from stake conference and they know people in our area and boom referral. It's awesome and it's a great way to see how God is answering our sincere prayers. 

I know my english is weird in this email. My brain is tired and I don't want to try to be right because I woke up early and haven't eaten yet. 

This morning I woke up too early because they made me go to Manila and get fingerprinted again. I think this means they lost my first ones... Which is why i say to you that I don't know if my exit visa will come in time. Sister Stucki told me that she and President Stucki still haven't gotten their exit visa and they go home in two weeks. Harrrr harr. My arrival is a mystery for you.

This week, everyone was sick. Two of the families we are teaching were at the hospital on Sunday and weren't able to come to church. That will delay their baptism. It's sad, but I'm trusting in the Lord's timing and I know that if we strengthen our faith, we will continue to see miracles in our area. 

We had an awesome stake conference when Elder Quentin L. Cook presided (over broadcast). It was great. It was like General Conference but all the talks were directed to Filipinos. There was a strong focus on families and it was really great for the people we're teaching. 

I think this is it for now. I really am too weak from hunger to upload pictures but there are many from our temple trip. Stay tuned for next week. Love you!

ster mech

ganoon din

This week I was sick, I think the sickest I've been on my mission besides Dengue. But, we have so many progressing investigators that we really couldn't afford not to work. But, we could only find one ward missionary to work with us! (If you have two, one can stay with the sick one at the house and the other will work with the healthy one.) So instead, I ordered a priesthood blessing and we were off to work! Mostly I just sat there trying not to pass out while Sister Dumayas taught. We were so blessed to not miss one moment of work because of my failing body! It was seriously a miracle. That's when you know that Heavenly Father really loves our investigators!

This week we had so many investigators at church - families! Bishop had stars in his eyes. He came up to me and said, "Magaling ka, Sister Mecham." But I said, "Magaling po ang Diyos, Bishop!" We really are seeing the Lord's hand in our work and I know all we are doing to be worthy of it is giving our all - obedience and diligence.

I have no time for reals right now because of helping my dear momma. I love you!

Napakaiksi ng panahon

Hey! Emailing is stressing me out! Stop reminding me about going home! I'm not ready yet! I'll just see you when I see you and we don't need to talk about it.

This week was too busy in the way I don't like. We had MLC which is almost a whole day without work. But I learned a ton and I know it will help me be a more effective servant of the Lord. Then we had a special mission conference where Elder Craig C. Christensen and Elder Echo Hawk spoke to us. It was seriously great. It was also depressing because it was the last time we met together as an entire mission before President and Sister Stucki go home. I have seriously learned so much from them and they have made a huge impact on my mission and my life. We also learned so much that I wish I learned when I was new, but the Lord has His own timing. 

Oh man, we're experiencing so many miracles. We're finding the best people who are so prepared and they're really ready to come unto Christ. I just feel so blessed to be the instrument in the Lord's hands to help them do it.

There were too many emails this week. I have a lack of time now for you. Love you!

I'm going home.

TO PALAWAN. HAH fooled you.

I really feel like I grew up on Palawan and I'm pretty stinkin' excited to go home there and see my second family.

Our flight leaves in a few hours so this is going to be a great short email. Maybe not shorter than Ryan's...

Because I have a quick miracle to share with you:

The youth of our ward gave us one million referrals of people the met on the street during their One Week Mission. Sister Dumayas and I have been working hard to find and teach all of them. One of them led us to a far away place in our area that we rarely go to because there are no members and no investigators yet. We were led down a small street which turned out to be completely the wrong place than what we were looking for. (I really am finding it hard to express myself in english...) The people there had no idea who we were talking about. But, Esther let us in to teach her. Turns out she's dating a member in our ward. They've been dating for 6 years. And she never wanted to learn anything about the church. He always invited her, but nothin'. Then, as we were just listening to her, her eyes get all teary and she says, "I don't know what changed, but I'm ready now." She hasn't told her boyfriend yet that she's super interested in the church, but she already told her parents that she's going to be baptized. She was nervous to tell him and then BOOM we just show up at her house and she was so surprised. It was AWESOME. I don't know if I've ever tracted into anyone more prepared. It's just a miracle. 

It was good to see your beautiful faces last week. You all got fatter. (I swear that is not a mean thing to say if youre filipino. They laugh at me when I tell them Americans are offended by it.) That's okay, I'm fatter too. Too much food. 

I love you! Be safe! I still don't have definite news when I will be returning home. You really haven't heard anything from President Stucki? A bunch of missionaries in my batch say their parents got something saying when their flight was...

Maybe I'm really not coming home... :)

-Sister Mecham

Puerto Princeeeeeesaaaaa

Personal/Ashley's Mission Emails

x

Ashley Mecham	7:48 PM (23 hours ago)
to me, Amanda, Austin, Elizabeth, Liza, Jamie, Kendra, Lindsey, Patrick, D, Ryan

Yeah, I spent the week in Puerto. It was amazing. I saw so many of the people I found who got baptized after I left. I think there are too many experiences in my brain to write them all to you.

 

The best was that I saw the Rosas family. I don't know if you remember, but I opened the area over there in Puerto Branch 2. There was absolutely no one there that the elders were teaching. So, using the CMIS (like a ward list), we located a ton of less active members that the elders didn't know were there and that the branch forgot about. Brother Jun Rosas was one of those less active members we found. His wife, Nida, was super receptive but there are very poor and live far from the church. It was really hard for them to get to church, especially because Brother Jun would spend all their money on alcohol and was almost always drunk when we went there. But, when we were there before, he started to change and they started coming to church. Brother Jun returned and Sister Nida was baptized right after I left. Now, their whole family has been baptized and they're preparing to enter the temple next year. Seeing them this week was a HUGE miracle. I was shocked by how much they have changed. Sister Nida worked with us for a whole day and bore strong testimony of the restoration of the gospel and how much the gospel has changed their family. I truly got to see how happy they were now. Before, Sister Nida would always cry to us about how much her and Jun fought and about his drinking and everything. Now, there is just pure joy. I even got to see them at church because there was a baptism. It was such a blessing to see how much they belonged there. I truly testify how much truly living the gospel changes people and brings real happiness to families. They made me promise I would come back and visit after my mission and bring my husband? So I have to start saving up the money and looking for a husband... hah.

 

There has been so much progression on Palawan and they're preparing to become a stake. I feel so blessed to have been a part of their progress, even if only slightly.

 

BUT, I was really happy to return back to Paranaque. As much as I LOVE Palawan, I was surprised to feel that I don't really belong there anymore. The Lord needs me here in Paranaque. Our area did struggle because we weren't here for a week. The members weren't able to make it to our investigators and less actives, which was disappointing. But, we still have some really great and progressing investigators. The Danong family is really golden. Brother Medison went from smoking a pack a day to 3 sticks a day in this past week, even though we weren't there. We're so blessed. I really feel the love the Lord has for the people here and I love seeing their progression.

Sister Mecham