Maligayang Bagong Taon

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Ashley Mecham	9:22 PM (15 hours ago)
to me, Amanda, Austin, Elizabeth, Liza, Jamie, Kendra, Lindsey, Patrick, D, Ryan

That was a strange Christmas call. The call dropped while you were making me talk to the cat... and then time was up. Hah! But it was great hearing your voices family! Mahal na mahal ko kayo!

This week was crazy time. We talked to SO MANY PEOPLE and it was awesome. Christmas was three set dinner appointments with members and then everyone else in the world forcing food down our throats. It was painful. But it was beautiful because we had the opportunity to share the reason of Christmas to all of Pasay City. But, sadly, the next day was suffering the effects of food poisoning. It was painful. I'm still feeling it. 

However, on Saturday we had the best day! Sister Tuia and I were feeling so sick but we felt like we really had to work anyway so we did. We would walk around like zombies and then pretend to be normal when we saw someone we needed to talk to. Then we would turn into zombies immediately after until we found someone else. It was awesome! We found a ton of people to teach! But by the end of the day, we still hadn't reached our goal for new investigators. We had set a high goal the night before and really had faith that we could reach it. It was 8:00 p.m. Our last appointment wasn't home and our back up was asleep. We were so happy. It was a great opportunity to find a family to teach. We said a prayer and the spirit led us to a street I'd never been down before. We passed a home but turned back. I was apprehensive about knocking on the door because it was late. But I knew the Lord wanted me to, so I did. A father came to the door and I had no idea what I was going to say. I opened my mouth and I don't remember the words that came out but he let us in. We taught him, his wife, and his 8 children the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. The spirit was strong and they invited us to return. It's a simple story, but for me, it's a miracle. We set inspired goals and worked with faith that the Lord would help us reach them even though we felt so sick. The Lord loves us, but even more, He loves the Monillas family and wanted them to hear His message of love and hope to the world.

This week I've been super frustrated with the disobedience of missionaries! I've accidently become the obedience police and it's really awkward. BUT, in John 15:18-19, Jesus teaches that if we want to be loved by the world, we have to join the world. But, He says, "I have chosen you out of the world." Especially as missionaries, we have a higher standard we must live by and though the world, or even other missionaries, don't see the importance of it, the Lord does. And that's that. 

Happy New Year, family. Don't smooch too much.

Sister Mecham

Flooding Pasay City Hall with Book of Mormons

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Ashley Mecham	Dec 23 (7 days ago)
to me, Amanda, Austin, Elizabeth, Kendra, Jamie, Liza, Lindsey, Patrick, D, Ryan

Dear Family,

MALIGAYANG PASKO. Merry Christmas, eh. Christmas in the Philippines is the same as Christmas in Utah but replace the snow with drunk people. I know, I've used that joke before.

This week was a big cheese ball of crazy. They sell cheese balls here but they're 1,800 pesos, which is like, way over the missionary budget. So no real cheese balls. We had transfer day. My daughter, Sister Francisquete, finally came back from Palawan. (don't worry, I'm still reigning champ for longest sister on Palawan. I was 5 transfers, she was only 4.) Anyway, I got to see her. It was blissful. Her new companion is Sister Disoloila from Fiji who is insanely adorable. I spent the whole transfer day running around, teaching and helping the new missionaries. So I had no time to cry my eyes out because Sister de Leon left me. She became my best friend. She is the prettier, filipina version of me. 

The next day after transfer day was our mission christmas party which was okay, but I would have rather been working. Especially because when I got there our zone leader told me I had a main part in the play he wrote for our zone presentation. Ayaw kong umakting. That's that.

Then on Saturday DOROTHY was BAPTIZED. It was awesome. She's great. And guess who baptized her? Our other recent convert - Joshua! It was a beautiful experience. Before it happened, I asked Joshua if he was nervous. He said, "No, this is my priesthood duty." BAM. So rad. 

We then actually had a ward Christmas party that was a fund raiser for Tacloban. We gave them our Christmas party budget AND had a fundraiser Christmas party. Pasay is the best ward.

Oh, Sister Tuia is my companion. She is Samoan. She's my first companion where I speak more Tagalog than her. It's weird.

Okay, this is about all the time I have because I already spent most my p-day Christmas caroling with the primary children of our ward. We went to city hall and the children soften the hearts of the people and we made so many contacts and passed out so many book of mormons and it was such a great experience. But now I have no time to wash my clothes. It's okay. Who needs clean clothes? Char, joke. 

Merry Christmas! I adore you all!

AYAW AYAW, pero, ayos lang

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Ashley Mecham	Dec 15
to me, Amanda, Austin, Elizabeth, Liza, Jamie, Kendra, Lindsey, Patrick, D, ryan.mecham

Last week I got to go on exchanges with Sister Reyes! Maybe we just talked about Palawan the whole time... mostly kidding. We did work I swear. But, as the exchange is coming to a close, Sister de Leon texts me, "Sis, magtatrain ako." My response, "Biro lang ba ito? Kasi, hinda sya nakakatawa." Which means, "Sis, I'm going to train." NOOOO! Sister de Leon has been fired as a Sister Trainer Leader and gets to train. This was a shock because, so far in our mission, no Sister Trainer Leader has been let go! They always finish their mission as STLs. But listen, even though it is sad news for me because I adore Sister de Leon, it is also great news because hopefully that will happen to me, too! Not that I don't love serving my sisters, I just super love training. And my new companion will be Sister Tuia! I met her in the MTC, she's one transfer ahead of me. She's from American Samoa and she's hilarious so I'm super pumped. I've been praying that my new companion wouldn't be American (I'm not racist, I swear. Filipinos are just easier to get along with than Americans...) But I only got a half american! Hah, I'm super excited. It's going to be like the old times with Sister Hunt. But anyway, let's talk about real things.

This week was a good one! It's been the first week in a while that we got to spend most of the time actually working in our area. We have seen so many miracles. We're working so hard to get baptisms this month. We have so many investigators that are so so so close. They all just have super huge problems and need to be interviewed by President Stucki in order to be baptized and that takes time. But, I am patient. We're going to have some really great baptisms in the upcoming week. Hey, can you do me a favor and pray for our investigator Elias Samonte? He's so great and is so ready to be baptized but he is struggling so much quitting smoking. We've done everything to help him, including making calendars, visits multiple times a day, daily scripture verse texts, calamansi juice, at iba pa. It all really comes down to himself and the Lord and his willingness to just do it. But, please pray for him. I know he can do it, he just doesn't believe that.

This week will be crazy. Transfer week which means I have tons of meetings and I have to teach a ton at the meetings and it's super fun and not stressful at all. Also, we have our mission christmas party! Who knew? Missionaries actually just party all the time. But I think Sister Francisquete will be transferring off of Palawan so I will get to see her! Mother and daughter united at last. 

Anyway, I just had a keyboard malfunction which took some time out of my email, so I know it's short short but that's just about good. Love you all!

Oh wait, the Christmas call is coming up! I'm not sure what time I will be able to call, but I'll let you know. Do you want me to call on Christmas? Or Christmas Eve? Or the day after Christmas? Which will be more convenient where you will all be there? Also, I can Skype you if you want. It would be awesome if the chitlins Braden and Bailey could be there because they're probably huge. I also have no idea how to skype from here, but let me know asap what your skype info things are so I can give it a shot. No promises, I might just end up calling. 

ttyoc

Sister Mecham

maiyakin na ako

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Ashley Mecham	Dec 8
to me, Amanda, Austin, Elizabeth, Liza, Jamie, Kendra, Lindsey, Patrick, D, ryan.mecham

Hey, I love you!

This week was rough! Whew! We had MLC where I cried in front of all the mission leadership and it was super awkward. Especially because I never cry. Okay, exaggeration. BUT usually never. Anyway, moving on. I learned a lot and it was great.

I'm trying to remember what else happened this week... This is embarrassing. Um, okay. Oh! I went on an exchange with a sister that is struggling so much. She wants to go home so bad because she's been here five months and can barely speak tagalog. She is so discouraged but we are doing everything we can to keep her here, respecting her agency hah. But that was my duty at this last exchange. And it was awesome. I felt the spirit working through me as we worked through the day to help build her confidence in herself and in the Savior and I found myself saying things to her that I would never have said to anyone. At the end of the exchange, she expressed her desire to stay on her mission and how she has a new commitment to be diligent in serving the Lord in order to feel the JOY in missionary work. It was an incredible experience that I can't exactly explain. Basta, because Heavenly Father loves her and knows she has much more to do on her mission, He put into my mouth the things that would help her. That usually only happens to me for the people we teach, but now it's happening to help the Lord's missionaries here in Manila mission! I love being a missionary!

"In the end, your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the Lord does not already have."

Sister Mecham

Wa pakels

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Ashley Mecham	Dec 1
to me, Amanda, Austin, Elizabeth, Liza, Lindsey, Jamie, Kendra, Patrick, D, ryan.mecham

^^^ That's slang so you probably won't be able to google translate it.

Hey hey hey! How was your Thanksgiving? I thought my thanksgiving wouldn't be a real thanksgiving but it actually was. I'll tell you about it later.

Last week we got to go to the temple! Enjoy the picture of just me... Sister de Leon and I have no friends to take a picture of the both of us! But that's okay, we've accepted that... parang wa pakels sila sa amin. Anyway, the temple is the best. I'm so happy we got to go. 

Then, we had mission tour! Elder Echo Hawk from the 70 and his wife came and spoke with us for almost the whole day and it was an awesome experience. Those two have such strong faith. Sister Echo Hawk also told us a lot of stories of what happened to the missionaries in Tacloban. It's so crazy. But all 204 of them were safe, even though no one knew where they were for a time. Elder Echo Hawk also told us a really inspiring story about how he was blessed to observe Elder Christofferson in the process of receiving revelation for where missionaries are to serve. He said there were two television screens, one with a profile of the future missionary and one with a map of the word. Then Elder Christofferson would ponder and choose, completely by revelation. He said there was one time that a future elder popped up on the screen that had it all. Leadership experience, excellent grades, everything. Elder Echo Hawk was sure that he would be called to the hardest mission in the world, wherever that is, because he was obviously so talented. He was called to Iowa. Elder Echo Hawk thought, "I'm sure that's not the hardest mission in the world..." Then Elder Christofferson paused, as if to question the assignment, then said, "When this future elder receives his call, he will be disappointed. But he will accept the call and serve a very successful mission. He will be an instrument in the hands of the Lord in converting someone that will be a great asset to the Church in these latter days." BAM! It was an awesome testimony builder to me that we are called to serve in specific areas, not because we're super talented or because we aren't, but because the Lord has prepared specific people that He knows we, with our specific talents and personalities, can help. Awesome.

Anyway, that was thanksgiving day. We had a huge lunch with TONS of food. Then, surprise, the mission leadership (The sister trainer leaders and zone leaders) are invited to a secret meeting with Elder Echo Hawk at the mission home afterward. It was a mind blowingly spiritual experience. He told us tons of secrets about things that are going to happen and specifically said, "This doesn't leave this room." Hah. It was awesome. Then, we ate thanksgiving dinner with Echo Hawks and the Stuckis. And it was real thanksgiving dinner. I ate mashed potatoes and stuffing and turkey and ham and green bean casserole and olives and it was crazy. It was also hilarious to see my philipinos tasting American food and being freaked out by it. Because usually it's the other way around. But I didn't get any pictures because it was a secret meeting and even I didn't see it coming.

I wanted to share another blessing. Sometimes, as a leader in the mission, most missionaries are afraid of you because they know the Stuckis are just a text away and they think if they mess up in front of us they will get in trouble. So, sometimes they aren't too excited when we tell them we will be doing exchanges with them. But, the other day we saw two sisters that are both really new in the mission, one just finished her training and is now training the other. We had a really awesome exchange with them and they are great missionaries. But when we saw them, they said, "We have something we need to tell you." And they were so serious and we were nervous. But then the trainer went on a huge tangent about how they applied all the things they learned from us in their work over the last week and had the best week on their missions and experienced so many miracles and then, with tear filled eyes, sincerely thanked us for our time and willingness to go on exchanges with them. It was so great because we had the opportunity to see the fruits of our efforts and to learn from their amazing example of gratitude. That's all.

This week was also a great week of work! One day we were walking down a street that we used to go to all the time but since we moved houses, we don't. They we saw a man with an adorable baby so of course we talked to him. Instantly he said, "Are you Mormons?" YES WE ARE! Then he said, "Follow me." We were super confused but we followed him. He led us to a small home and he beckoned the inhabitant. A young woman, probably in her 30s, answered the door. Her face lit up with joy when she saw us. She said, "Pasok kayo!!!" emphatically. we had no idea what was going on but we entered her home. She then explained to us that missionaries had taught her mother 3 years ago and she kept thinking about that for some reason so has been praying that the missionaries would come back. Then she asked her friend, the man I mentioned earlier, to bring the mormon missionaries to her if he ever found them. BOOM. She came to church the next sunday and will be baptized in January. The Lord totally prepared her for us, we barely did any work to find her. Then, another day, we were beckoned by a man that looked a little drunken, so we didn't stop to talk to him. (I hate to say, but we have to be a little picky with who we talk to because there are a lot of drunken men that beckon us daily...) But then we walked a little way, then we both stopped. We had to talk to him. So we went back. Turns out he's a member that hasn't gone to church in ten years but has wanted to return lately but didn't know where the church was here. So we told him. He came to church the next day. It was awesome. That's all, I know if we are obedient and work hard, the Lord will literally place people in our paths who are ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I hope you are all well. This was a super long email. Enjoy.

Sister Mecham

LAFANG

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Ashley Mecham	Nov 25
to me, Amanda, Patrick, Liza, Lindsey, Jamie, Kendra, Elizabeth, Austin, D, ryan.mecham

Dear Family,

Maligayang...Thanksgiving! There's no Thanksgiving here so I'm not sure of the Tagalog for it... maybe, Araw ng Pasasalamat. 

This week was crazy and great! We went on 3 exchanges. We only had a little bit of faith that we could accomplish 3 in one week but the Lord blessed us anyway and we had great experiences! This week we will have no exchanges because we have TEMPLE DAY today and MISSION TOUR on Thursday. Oh, that's why my email is late. P-day is Tuesday this week. I am so excited to go to the temple. Bursting. 

Our area boundaries changed and I'm so happy about it! We got an addition of so many less active members that I'm excited to help return to the gospel! It is also really fun because it reminds me of the good old days of shutgunning an area on Palawan which was one of my favorite times on my mission. Hi, I'm Dora. I like to explore. The Lord is blessing us so much, maybe even more than we deserve. Definitely more than we deserve. We are experiencing so many miracles and it blows my mind every day.

I am thankful for the opportunity to go the the temple semi-regularly. I am thankful for my calling as a Sister Trainer Leader and the opportunity I have to serve the sisters here. I'm thankful for the miracles I am witnessing in Pasay 1st Ward. I am thankful for Sister de Leon who is so Christlike and a great example to me. I'm thankful that I am healthy and able to serve the Lord with all my strength here in the Philippines. I'm thankful for my family who has been nothing but supportive of my mission from the start. I'm thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, that lived for me and set the perfect example for us all. I'm thankful that through His Atonement, He provided the way for us to overcome our weaknesses and sins and return to live with our Father in Heaven again. I'm thankful for this knowledge that I have been blessed with. I love you all and I love the Lord and I'm happy to be here.

Sister Mecham

"Whenever you're having your hardest day, thank the Lord."

                                                           -President Stucki