Welcome to Bohol!

Maayong Pasko!

I hope you're all enjoying Christmas Break with your families :)

Bohol is the most beautiful place I've ever seen, it's like a tropical paradise. The typhoon didn't hit Cebu, but there was some scary rain and darkness and no power for a while. We had nightly planning by candlelight haha. I actually slept without an electric fan and the wind from the open window was amazing.

I love teaching these new people. I'm also enjoying being in a trisome. My companions are from Vanuatu and Fiji. They are so much fun. Their first languages are not English and they aren't yet fluent in Bisaya. I usually teach most of the lesson because of the language levels, but I am so amazed at how fast they are learning and how they can learn English and Bisaya at the same time! The gift of tongues is real.

The branch here in Baclayon is small, but the members are active and so welcoming! I'm excited to help them turn the branch into a ward. We are doing 20 TC's everyday and trying to figure out the area because it's really big and there's tons of work to do! :) We want to flood the area with the Book of Mormon!

We have an IBD, Jane, she just started coming to church last month and said she was taught by some elders a year ago and really wants to be baptized this Saturday. We are trying to teach her everyday and review all the lessons so she can prepare to be interviewed and baptized. 

This morning we taught a less-active family and then decided to go find a referral we received on Friday. She was so happy to receive us and set out tons of chairs. Then all the people on the street and outside her tindahan came up and I asked all of them their names and talking to them and soon enough we had 6 new investigators and taught them all an intro to the Lesson 1 and about our purpose as missionaries. One of the men grew up playing basketball with "mormons", he said he always thought they were really fun and has a lot of respect for them. and he really wants to learn about the gospel. Then they said, let's all meet here this time next week! The Spirit was so strong during that lesson. It was a great morning and a great start to the week! Hopefully though we'll be able to teach them more one on one to help them individually progress.

Places we taught lessons this week:

1. under a dense grove of coconut trees on a hill during a spectacular sunset. One of the coconuts fell though, right next to us and it probably would have knocked us out if it had been a foot closer! But the Tatay told me not to worry, he's lived here for 30 years and hasn't ever been hit by a coconut!

2. standing up outside because the house had no chairs, the child was sick inside, and the ground was flooded from the rain.

3. on a nanay's bed because she has a bed-ridden daughter

4. on a dirt path outside a tindahan surrounded by onlookers

I hope you all have a merry christmas :)

-sister bertoldo

Transfer Call!

Sister Dayhop and I had a great last week as companions!

Rhodora finally committed to a baptismal date, and she came to church on Sunday! It was so perfect and the Spirit was so strong because it was the branch's primary program. It's so important to sister Rhodora that her daughter learns about Christ (part of the reason she's taking the lessons is so she can teach her daughter) and so I teared up a lot during church because I felt the Spirit so strongly sitting next to her! The members were so welcoming to her!

We also had a Mission Christmas Party and had a lava-lava exchange!

We also had a Level 1 alert (schools were cancelled) because there is a typhoon headed to Cebu- it's supposed to hit on Friday. There has been heavy rain and some wind, but nothing to worry about, it's only level one. They just take precaution because Northern Cebu is vulnerable to storms.

The big news is: I am transferring! To Bohol, a separate island from Cebu! I'll be serving in Baclayon branch, a very hot, wilderness area right by the ocean. It's also close to a big tourist city, Tagbilaran, so there'll be plenty to do on P-days. The other big news is that I'll be in a trisome now with two Polynesian sisters! I've never been in a trisome before and I'm a little nervous but also excited, it should be an interesting transfer!

It was SO hard to say goodbye to the people I've come to love SO much here in Bogo. There were some tears. And lots of pictures. And I gave away half my closet haha. But I'm happy to say that we will be leaving 3 solid IBD's in our area. I hope I get to hear that they were able to continue to receive the gospel!

I hope you all have a great week! Read Alma 36:3! :) Love you all!

As they say in the Philippines, byers!!

-Sister Bertoldo 

Eventful Week!

It was an eventful week!

1. I bought honey (dugos) from a tigsuroysuroy who came up to our house during our studies. He just looked into our window and said, "M'am, Honeybee m'am!"  We asked him if it was pure honey? And to my surprise he opened up his bucket to unleash LIVE BEES to prove his authenticity haha. So we each filled up an empty water bottle with some honey. My companion verified that it was, in fact, pure natural honey haha. So now we have honey! We also have a small swarm of bees on our porch!

2. WE HAVE AN IBD! (investigator with a baptismal date) He is only 9 years old, His sister is a less-active member and his parents are Catholic. He is very serious minded and focused for a 9-year-old. He really wants to be baptized and learn the Gospel. He listens and he reads his assignments we give him, and he agreed to be baptized this December! His parents live with a family that are members, so he can come to church with them each week. We are really enjoying teaching him. It strengthens my testimony that the age of 8 and older is the age of accountability, or the age that  people are able to make decisions for themselves and be accountable for those decisions. Even as a 9 year old with a non-member family, he has such a strong intuition and desire to  follow Christ. He asked us if we would help him? And we were like, "Of course that's our job!" :)

3. We had a dinner appointment! These are rare! Usually we are given biscuits and soda, but we had an actual dinner appointment with a member this week. She cooked us spaghetti and homemade tomato sauce with Chinese steam buns and pistachio pudding. We also shared a Mormon message with them and then washed all the dishes. They even had a Christmas tree in their home!

4. We were given fresh guava and tambis by a less-active member that we visit. He has a tree outside his motor repair shop that was laden with fruit, so he harvested a big bag for us! Natural guava is not too sweet, but it's so good with a little vinegar. The tambis is a bright pink and very fibrous fruit, not too sweet but super refreshing! The fruit here in the Philippines is incredible, it just grows everywhere!

5. We saw a scary storm! One minute we're walking along in the heat to a teaching appointment, then the wind picks up, then kalit there is big black clouds on all sides that came out of nowhere, and torrential  rain and lightning with simultaneous earsplitting thunder! It happened so fast! Luckily we ducked into a nearby Panaderia just in time...

6. I had a blister or mosquito bite or something on my ankle that must have gotten infected because I got a fever and swollen lymph nodes and I was so sick all week! Plus the rain, the heat, mud and the work, it was a struggle! But I cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide and I'm on an antibiotic now. I also got a priesthood blessing, and I'm so grateful for the priesthood.

One thing I learned this week: God is able to do His own work 

Love you all! Happy Thanksgiving back in America! (watch on lds.org Robert D. Hales's video on Gratitude)

-sister bertoldo

Pagtambayayong

My "ponderize" scripture for the week is Mosiah 4:9:

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth;believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

Bisaya word of the week for you: pagtambayayong. It's fun to say and it means....unity or "togetherness".

Our two IBD's both came to church this week! They want to be baptized so much and they wanted to see the baptismal font! They're scheduled for December 26th, so that means that if I transfer next transfer I won't get to see it, but that's okay, as long as they are receiving the Gospel, I'm happy! 

To be honest, we've been having much more success in working with the less-active members in our area. Reactivating members has become the main focus of my time here in Bogo, and we've been having a lot of success. The branch president actually high-fived Sister Dayhop and I yesterday in MCM because apparently some of the members we brought to church, (mostly batanong mga lalaki (teenage boys) haven't been there in YEARS. We're trying to strengthen the priesthood and the youth, especially with the recent realignment that just happened.

I like the word "pagtambayayong" this week because it's true that missionary work is a group effort. Without full-time missionaries, it's difficult for a branch or ward to grow (and therefore the Church). But without the members, local leaders, and kuyogs it's difficult for the full-time missionaries to do their job successfully. Thus, we need to work together!

And of course, we all need our Heavenly Father because this is His work and He knows best how to conduct it! (D&C 101:63-65) 

Yesterday during my personal study hour I studying what it means to keep the Sabbath day holy (balaan sa adlaw sa igpapahulay) from the Bible, Book of Mormon, and recent talks from the apostles. I realized that before my mission, I didn't always fully keep the Sabbath day, not like I do now as a missionary. A "day of rest" doesn't mean you just go to church and then spend the rest of the day sleeping and doing homework, it means setting it aside from the week as a day to worship, study the scriptures, serve others, visit others, spend time with family, or anything else that directs you to the Savior. That describes everyday as a missionary, haha, but I really want to keep the habit of Sabbath day observance after my mission (layo pa). 

Also, I'd like to invite you all the read "Lasting Happiness" by Craig P. Wilson (https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/04/young-adults/lasting-happiness?lang=eng)

Because of course we all want to be happy, and there is literally a way for us to achieve lasting happiness!

Later today we are doing a district activity for P-Day but our district leader won't tell us what we're doing, he just said to bring 10 pesos and extra clothes because basin mahugawan ta....haha. There will also be balut because the new American elder in our district hasn't eaten it yet. That used to be me haha.

Amping mo!

Sister Bertoldo

Kinsa si Jesukristo?

There's nothing like being a missionary, in the Philippines, during Christmastime. There's no snow, just tropical heat, palm trees, flowers! Maybe slightly more wind because it's the rainy season haha. There are star lanterns everywhere.

But you mostly feel really- happy. Like you've never understood so well what Christmas means. A question I ask frequently as a missionary is "Kinsa si Jesukristo sa imo? Who is Jesus Christ to you?

The greatest thing about being a missionary is learning the answer to that question for myself while simultaneously helping others to realize it. I am learning that we can literally "cast our burdens" on the Lord and continue in faith even DURING difficulty, discomfort, and trial. I'm learning that through Christ, I can actually feel....happy....during trial, something I don't think I fully knew before.

Our Zone got to watch the new 2015 Christmas Initiative, before it's been released to the rest of the world, it's released to the missionaries! It was so wonderful- they're launching a new Christmas video, website, and pass-along cards. I can't WAIT to use it to tract, teach lessons, and bring people to baptism! That's the only kind of "white" Christmas I need!

I only get one Christmas here in the Philippines as a missionary, so I am REALLY excited :)

We went on splits with the STL's so I got to go back to San Rem for a day. I helped them find a former investigator that they hadn't been able to find (she lives in a tiny bamboo balay tucked away in the vasts expanses of a sugar cane field) and she was like, "Why haven't you visited me?" and she had written in the back of the Basahon ni Mormon we gave her tons of questions she had about God, the Godhead, life after death, baptism! It felt good to help them find a person so prepared to learn the gospel. And to see the work we started be resumed.

We just went through realignment so our area will probably be combined with the other sisters' area next transfer. For now, we are just TALKING TO EVERYONE and trying to strengthen less active members while adding new investigators to our teaching pool every week.

Just this morning I dropped off my sheets and bedding at a labhanon (place where women handwash laundry as their job) and the woman was so excited that I could speak Bisaya so we talked bout that for awhile. She said "you must be so smart, foreigners NEVER learn Bisaya!" and I told her that it is only possible to learn a language fast if you have good motivation to do it....namely, the Gospel. Then she opened up to me that her brother-in-law used to have a terrible drinking problem. Then he joined the LDS church and now it's gone! She said she is so grateful for our church. We got her address we're going to visit her and start teaching her! I can't wait to introduce her to the Gospel of Change, the Gospel of Christ. Because it is only through the merits and mercy of Christ that we can truly become our best selves. 

We also had a "miracle lesson" last night. We've been working with a less-active member, a 17-year old lalaki, Paul, whose mom is preparing to go to the temple and whose sister is newly returned from a mission. But all of our carefully chosen scriptures and testimonies of family members failed to bring him back to activity in the church. Then last night we bumped into one of the active young men of the branch. We felt prompted to ask him to kuyog with us, and even though it wasn't in our plans, we felt prompted to visit Paul. It was a miracle lesson. He had been childhood friends with him sa una. He had missed him. He opened up to us about why he hasn't been to church. He opened up to us that he had a desire to return. He finally promised he would come. The Spirit filled that room.

It is so important for the members to reach out to other members. It is SO much more effective than missionaries alone. Every member IS a missionary.

I hope you all have a great week. I know the Gospel is true. I know Christ is our Savior. I know that kon iapply nato ang iyang mga pantulun-an sa atong matag kinabuhi, makabaton ta og hingpit nga kalipay, bisan unsa ka dako ang mga pagsulay.

Love you all, labi na my Filipino brothers and sisters :)

Amping kanunay!

sister bertoldo 

Wala'y Tubig

The plumbing in our CR (bathroom) is broken, so the landlord shut off our water until they fix it. So, for the past 24 hours there hasn't been any water in our balay....it's tough to shower, cook, brush your teeth, and wash your face, etc. with no water.... 

we had to ask our neighbors, who have a hose, to fill up basins and trashcans with water. Then we used a ladle flush the toilets and to "shower". 

Sometimes at night as I'm hanging my laundry (hay-hay) out on a line, still in my dress, out on the terrace under the palm trees, and then dump the extra water out over the side of the terrace, and then go down to iron (plantsa) my other dresses, I feel like I'm living in the 50's or something. It's kind of cozy, but mostly it's a huge hassle haha. And I'm not very good at it- I have a burn on my hand from the iron- now a permanent scar.

I have a year left of my mission! haha. It's interesting to be a foreigner and speak a different language. I'm now the only American living in our house, so I spend most of my time trying to understand and join in. Sometimes I'm successful! and sometimes I'm not haha. Because the language uses different ways of saying things and has different "sayings", you kind of have a different personality if you learn a different language. It's weird to think that there now exists a side of me that my family might never really know or understand. 

It's the same for Jared, he will come home being an expert in Italian and in the cultural ins and outs of Italy. I understand now why RM's either always want to talk about their missions, or never want to talk about it. 

The Philippines has a thrift store kind of thing, called an ukay-ukay, and it is quickly becoming a huge weakness of mine! :) it's just tons of clothes piled in a tent and they're all really cheap. Every month my companion and I stop in and buy a new skirt or a new blouse. Then we have to hand wash it (because who knows where it's been!) and line dry it, iron it, and spray it with a little fabric softener and there's a new outfit! Sister missionary weakness. The salesmen recognize us as "Mormons", they all say "Sister, sinina! sayal! blouse!" (dress! skirt! blouse!) haha. They know, now, that I can speak to them so now they try to persuade me to buy all kinds of things, but we are very frugal in bargaining with them. It's a good opportunity to share the gospel because they ask us why we are so dressed up? Do we get paid for missionary service? NO? Whey then, are you serving a mission? It's a great way to bear testimony to them of the gospel and our purpose as missionaries.

Yesterday I was just sitting in church and then the Branch President announced that I would be the concluding speak, give a 20-minute talk about prayer. So caught unawares, I just went up and found that I was able to comfortably deliver a 20 minute talk in Bisaya about the principles of prayer and the importance of individual and family prayer. I felt so much love for the people looking out at all of them from the pulpit.

Our area just went through realignment, so it's a lot smaller now. That means we really need to focus on less active members and finding new investigators.

I love you all, have a good week.

-sister bertoldo

Wherefore didst thou doubt?

Last P-day we went to Odlot Hideaway Beach Resort with the Branch President and some of the members....it was like my own personal form of torture, because I just wanted to jump in the ocean and swim! Haha. I did get pretty soaked by some big waves that crashed over the side of the seats! There was a diving board extending out over the rocks for people to jump into the waves, and man it killed me not to jump!

But it's ok, rest assured that I'll return to the Philippines after my mission aron sa pagligo sa dagat! Lami gjud siya!

We had a training meeting this week, so we went back to the mission home to discuss successes and problems with training. It was neat to see the trainers' side of the meeting this time, and it's always inspiring to hear President speak.

I've been having ups and downs of course, but through fasting and prayer and study and work, it's amazing how Heavenly Father speaks to us through personal revelation. I've been especially touched by reading Alma 26:27 (bear with patience thine afflictions and God will grant you success), Helaman 10:2-5 (work with unwearyingness and you will be blessed) and I've been studying the life of Christ from the book of Luke a lot. I know that if we focus on the Savior and doing his will, we are steadied, supported, uplifted, and ultimately successful. But the miracles and success come AFTER the trial of our faith.

As I was staring out at the ocean that I can't swim in I thought of Peter walking out to Jesus on the water, showing such great faith, but when he takes his eyes off of Christ and focuses on the waves and winds, immediately he begins to sink. Christ then asks him, "wherefore didst thou doubt?" How often are we like Peter, letting the winds and waves of life falter our faith!

I hope you all have a great week! Do a little something extra for your spiritual welfare, like pray a little longer, study the scriptures a little deeper, or seek a few extra ways to help others.

-sister bertoldo

Balaan Espiritu ang Yawe

So many small miracles this week!

They taught me that the Spirit is the key to missionary work. The Spirit is the key to peace. The Spirit is the key to guidance in our everyday lives.

Of course, I knew that before. But sometimes you learn things on a deeper level.

I'll share one experience.

One, our area has many less actives, but I've been feeling like we need to reach out more and find more new investigators. So one day our appointments fell through early on, and right there in the yard of our punted appointment, we prayed that God would place in our path people that were prepared to receive the gospel. After the prayer, my companion looked at me like, "what now?" like she was expecting investigators to drop out of the sky haha.

Then I remembered a name from the area book I had read earlier that week. Veralio, lives in Pelaez. So we went to Pelaez. There was no Veralio. But we found one old Tatay sitting in his hammock under some palm trees. We talked with him and found out that his wife recently died and he is now taking care of his children and grandchildren by himself. We testified to him that God is aware of him and led us to him today. His eyes filled with tears and he agreed to meet with us later this week. We also went on to find a Nanay that works for a member, a 10-year-old boy from a part-member family who hasn't been baptized yet, and a whole family that was so happy to hear an American talk in Bisaya that they let us in to teach their whole family.

I know that when we actively seek and heed the guidance of the Spirit, we aren't alone in our efforts. We will be directed and guided for our good. Without it, we'll surely fail.

We have one investigator that is REALLY progressing. Once we forgot to give him a reading assignment from the Book of Mormon and he texted us later that night asking for one! He came to church and actively participates in all the classes. He even invited his girlfriend to join in on our lesson and now she's reading the Book of Mormon too. His parents aren't willing to let him be baptized yet though, so we are all just praying for their hearts to be softened, and that they will see how much happiness that gospel is bringing their son and can bring them too!

We had Zone Interviews this week, which happen every five months (I've already been here 5 months?) It was very edifying to talk with President Tanner, and get some aircon in the middle of our work hours!

I'm really loving spending a second transfer in the same area. It's wonderful to know the area, discover more people, learn quicker routes, and develop relationships with the members.

We have planned a branch temple trip to Cebu Temple in November, a branch FHE, and a Branch Christmas party this December!

Later today for P-day, we are going to a nearby beach resort for a bbque with the Branch President and his wife and a few of the members. They said it is their tradition to do that for their missionaries each year. So sweet!

​

ayo, ayo!

-sister bertoldo

Birthday Week!

I had the best birthday so far because I got to spend it surrounded by the Filipino people here in Bogo. I got to spend it here in the Philippines under the heat and the palm trees and the flowers and teaching and testifying to people of the truthfulness of the gospel in Bisaya. I love this crazy language, and constantly learning new words. 

I also got to teach an FHE lesson this week. We had about 30 people there. I used an analogy of three cotton balls. One got no rubbing alcohol (doesn't keep the commandments) one got a little bit of alcohol (sometimes keeps the commandments) and the third was completely doused in alcohol (always keeps the commandments). Then I set them all on fire. The first one masiga dayon. The second one burned more slowly, but still burned. The third one stayed a white cotton ball despite the flames. We then discussed how the commandments are a protection to us and how they strengthen us from within. Then we played games and ate pancit, bread, and soda (a Filipino party classic haha). 

This week I learned how to weave a puso na saging (hanging rice)! But I'm not sure if I remember, I may have to be shown again haha.

I spent the day after my 21st birthday throwing up, but not for the usual reason 21-year-olds throw up. I hadn't eaten all morning, then at lunch I ate 1/2 a kilo of landsonies I bought off the street, followed up with cold water (shocking to the system in this heat) and a LOT of walking. Then during the last lesson of the day, I felt soooo nauseous. I managed to finish the lesson and get out of the Nanay's house before I started vomiting up the water and fruit. Then it was awkward because the lady and my companion are both rubbing my back and holding my hair and suggesting things like massages and menthol oils (the cure for EVERYTHING here haha) but after getting it all out of my system, I was totally fine.

I hope you all had the chance to hear General Conference! We just barely got to watch it this weekend, and it was wonderful! I especially loved President Monson's simple and direct invitation to live the gospel and be an example to others. 

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/october-2015-general-conference-invitations-from-the-prophet?cid=HP_SU_10-4-2015_dPTH_fCNWS_xLIDyL1-A_&lang=eng

Last night we had a choice experience. We went out to work in this little baranguay on the mountainside. We have been praying to find investigators. We were seeking the name of a potential investigator in the area book. Instead we found her sister who agreed to listen to us. She then invited her cousin, her two sisters and her cousin's wife! Nindot! Soon, Sister Dayhop and I found ourselves teaching the message of the Restoration to five young women! One left before the lesson began, one left before the lesson ended. Of the 3 that stayed for the whole lesson, 2 actively participated. Of the two that participated, one requested for us to continue teaching her and set an appointment. 

That is the difficulty of missionary work. We need to talk to MANY people if we want to find ONE who is actually prepared and ready to accept the gospel into their lives. I'd like to invite all of you to talk about the gospel to your friends and peers and passersby. The Gospel is the way to happiness. Walay laing agianan. Without the help of members, without the courage of the members to speak up and share the truth, the work can't progress!

"As members of the Church, we are responsible to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to illuminate the great blessings that flow from heeding God's commandments as well as the inevitable consequences of ignoring them. We invite you to pray that people everywhere will have their hearts softened to the truths of the gospel and that wisdom will be granted to those who are called upon to decide issues critical to society's future." -Elder M. Russell Ballard "The Lord Needs you Now" ALSO SEE Mosiah 2:41

Sigi, wala na, amping kanunay!

-sister bertoldo

Pagkananay

Kamusta!

I'm feeling more like a "real" missionary as a trainer- I get to take initiative and make things happen. It's scary, in a good way

 Right now we are working on strengthening less active members through:

1. Setting up Home and Visiting teaching

2. FHE every Saturday night at a different LA's house

3. bringing active members as kuyog

4. Inviting EVERYONE to attend General Conference

My new companion is a huge blessing....she is pure Bisayan. My past companions spoke English and Tagalog and learned Bisaya here on the mission, but Sister Dayhop is PURE Bisaya. I just copy her pronunciation all day, and she's under strict orders to correct what I say wrong. It's so helpful. I know enough of the language to teach, but I want to expand my ability to: fluency- I want to really converse and relate to the people. It's hard to be patient with myself in the language! I'm really loving Bisaya.

Favorite new foods:

1. Landzones and rambutan fruit.....for description, read 1 Nephi 8:11 (haha)

2. Tamarind candy, imported from Thailand, it's so good! Not sweet, more like "aslum".

3. Natural Ginger candy....Relieves stress. So good!

4. Fresh Lato (a type of seaweed) with vinegar and boiled camotes.

You can't imagine unsa ka lami until you eat it for yourself!

Great Teaching Experience as a Trainer:

We were in a lesson. I felt a lot of pressure leading, opening, inviting, teaching, TALKING! I started getting scrambled, like my thoughts wouldn't align and I was messing up my Bisaya and trying to memorize things on the spot. Then I paused and a wave of calm came over me and I felt the words "you don't need to do everything. Let your companion talk, she has something to say" So I stopped talking and turned to her. She proceeded to relate a personal story to them that was just what they needed to hear. The Spirit filled the room. She was crying so it became my turn to take over and continue the lesson. Without thinking or reading anything, I just tied the lesson into her experience and into the commitment for them in seamless Bisaya. The words just came. I know that when we let the Spirit work instead of trying to do everything on our own, mahimong ta malampuson. 

"Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true" -Alma 32:21

cge amping mo, kita kits!

sister bertoldo

God id Mindful

This week is my last week of the 12 week training! 

"If sometimes the harder you try the harder it gets, take heart! So it has been with the best people who ever lived." Cherish your spiritual burdens because God will converse with you through them and will use you to do His work if you carry them well.

This week I got to work with a lot of people:

1. On Tuesday we had so many teaching appointments that Sister Fernandez and I split up with two members in the ward to cover more lessons! 

2. One of our investigators, a college student, had a day off of school and asked to spent it with us, teaching! He's curious about what it's like to be a missionary! So we took him and one other member with us to teach! It was like "reverse LTMP" because we had an investigator present to teach less-active members! I really prayed that he would have a spiritually-uplifting and testimony-strengthening experience! I loved hearing him add his testimony to ours during the lessons, even though he himself is just beginning to learn the gospel! Later that day he texted us and said thank you, and that he would never forget how he felt while teaching the gospel with us!

3. Then I went on splits with the Sister Training Leaders, which meant nakabalik ko didto sa San Rem! I got the opportunity to help Sister Detal find a whole neighborhood of investigators that they hadn't been able to find yet, and we even found 3 new investigators that day for them! 

4. District Conference, so we got to be in a Christmas choir!!! The branch hand-sewed matching skirts and shirts for our choir, so sweet! Also, we got to see President and Sister Tanner and Elder Vezencio of the Seventy!

This week was also great because I got to lead. It's scary to lead at first, mostly because of the language. But I noticed something:Here in the Philippines there are always people out walking around selling food. If you avoid eye contact, they won't bother you. But if you are curious and kind of actually want what they're selling, you'll look in their direction, even subconsciously! And they notice and they'll come up to you. 

Being a missionary is just like that. Because we wear a badge with "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" on it, people know we have something to offer. Some of them will avoid eye-contact. Or say they're busy, they need to laba and hugas, and hayhay and luto. But SOME people, catch our eye and smile....they are curious. They want to know. A part of them thinks, is what they have to offer, their message, what I've been subconsciously looking for?? And we notice. And we come up to them and invite them to listen to us. You never know who God has prepared to hear the message of the gospel.

We had one such experience this week. After being sent away from 5 houses, I still wanted to tract in that area. Finally we past by an older Nanay who was just laying down on a wooden board in her house. She was craning her neck to watch us walk by, so I didn't want to just walk by and I walked right into her house to visit her. She immediately pulled out a bench for us and fixed her hair. She said she has been visited by missionaries of other faiths and still hasn't found what she's looking for. SHE'S LOOKING! Which means she is a humble seeker of the truth! At the end of our lesson I asked her to read the first page of a pamphlet before our next visit. She told me, "Sister, ever since I had a stroke and my arm got paralyzed, I mostly just sit here in my house. I will read your WHOLE pamphlet." We are excited to go back to her and continue teaching.

I really love sitting on the floor of these humble homes and telling people things like: "Naa'y Dios og plano para kanimo" or "Ang sakripisyo ni Jesukristo mihimo malimpyohan sa atong mga sala aron makabalik ta sa presencya sa Dios." I would like to testify that there is NO better way to learn a language than by doing it teaching the gospel. The love you feel for the people is the greatest motivation....otherwise, I'd probably give up learning Bisaya haha.

I held a baby kitten this week. smaller than my whole hand! (see attached picture)

I saw a spider fight (favorite pastime of kids here)....gross haha.

If you get the chance, read "The Power of the Word of God" by Elder Michael John U. Teh of the Seventy (he is Filipino). It gives great insight about what I'm experiencing here in the Philippines!

"Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land. Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever." (Alma 26:36-37).

Butterflies and Balut

Kamusta kamo!

I finally ate Balut this week! If you don't know what it is, google it! It is a delicacy here. We had a Family Home Evening with a less-active member, her non-member husband, and her younger brother who is our investigator. They said, "Sister, we'll have an FHE with you if you eat Balut for us! So I did it!

When we showed up at their house for FHE though, they weren't home, just the investigator was there. So I suggested that we still hold the FHE with him at the chapel with the branch president and his family. It turned out really great because we got to show him the chapel and there was a youth institute class going on, so he got to meet all the youth of our branch. Then we had our family home evening lesson with him and his sister and her family got there just in time for the lesson! It was really great, Sister Fernandez had an object lesson with fire and everything (I would explain the object lesson, but too complicated! It was really cool though!) Then after we closed the lesson, they watched me and filmed me eating Balut.....

And it turns out that Balut is delicious, as long as you don't look at it.

We're really working on finding investigators through the members. Referrals are always the best way to find people interested in the gospel. We give "referral cards" now to every member we meet with and ask them to write the name and address of one person we can go meet and hopefully teach! But we also still continue to focus on strengthening the members, and we are see a lot of success! This Sunday, fast and testimony meeting, we had 2 investigators come to church and two of the less-active families we've been working closely with attend church!

One of our investigators told us, during the testimony meeting, that he felt so happy, that this was different than how he feels at other churches he's attended. He really felt the Spirit. He said "I want to be up there too, once I have my own testimony." We even saw that he was tearing up a little. My companion and I also went up and bore our testimonies. I have decided that I'm going to bear my testimony in Bisaya every fast and testimony meeting. That's 18 Bisaya testimonies. So far, I've given 4!

I'm really grateful to be in the beginning of my mission: I'm reveling in all the TIME I have left on my mission. I can already tell I'm going to miss this place so much, so I want to make all the most of my time starting from the VERY beginning!

I'm learning so many skills here that I probably won't ever use after my mission. These include:

1. opening cans with a knife

2. chopping wood with a blunt knife

3. cooking Filipino-style sud-an

4. catching butterflies with my hands

5. killing various kinds of bugs

6. hand-washing laundry

7. making keychains out of seashells

8. cleaning bathrooms that don't have proper drainage

9. taking apart and putting together electric fans

10. how to find and buy various delicacies of the Philippines

We taught a member about the Word of Wisdom last week and she said, "Sister's I've been selling cigarettes out of my tindahan, and as I'm listening to your lesson, I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't do that." We really appreciated her humility and honesty!

Funny story: 

We spent one day tracting in an area outside of Bogo city and to get there you have to take a little forest path through a thicket of palm trees and these little heart-shaped flowers. It was a BUTTERFLY SANCTUARY, millions of them! So naturally, we caught a few. Then we went and taught a few lessons, all the while holding the butterfly by its wings. It was a good way to meet people because they thought it was so funny. On the way back, Sister Fernandez was like, let's keep them and make bookmarks out of them! So we put them in a spare Book of Mormon I had and shut the book....I felt so bad killing it, with the Book of Mormon even! We caught a third one and I didn't close the book very hard. Then during our next lesson, I opened the BoM to share a scripture, and that third butterfly, still alive, flew out! The person we were teaching was shocked, like the scriptures really are "living scriptures" haha. I love the Philippines.

There's so much more, but for the sake of time, I'll leave it at that. Have a great week everyone!

"The opportunity to work is a privilege, 

The privilege to work is a gift.
The power to work is a blessing.
The love of work is success.”

-David O. Mckay

Teaching Moments!

​Kamusta!

What a fast week it's been!

We have a Zone implementation to focus on teaching college students. We are teaching one young man, Vince, who is in his fist year of college. The previous missionaries have only taught him twice, but when we met with him he gave us an overview of the Restoration of the gospel, just from the pamphlet! He is VERY interested! I felt the Basahon ni Mormon burning a hole in my bag, so I gave it to him. He carefully took it, brushed the cover, and began skimming through! Then in his prayer at the end of our lesson, he said "Thank you, Father, for this precious gift the Sisters have brought me. I will treasure it forever and be happy to learn it." Awww!

Another great teaching moment: there is a member here in the branch that used to be SUPER active, but after a mistake she made, refused to come back to church. Missionaries have been working with her to tears. At the beginning of our lesson with her, she pounded the table and said, "okay, sisters, what are you going to tell me today because I've heard it all! I know the scriptures, I used to teach them! What do you have to say to me?" I don't know all of what I said, but I felt it being fed to me line by line in my mind. Then I looked at her angry face and I reached over and grabbed her hand (Part of me was like, Haley, don't touch her she's angry!! haha) and told her that Heavenly Father loves her and she needs to have faith and come back to church. It's not the "missionaries" that want her to come to church to fill their statistics, it's her Heavenly Father that wants her to return to his loving arms. But to partake of His love, she has to have the faith to ACT. Then I read Alma 32:40-43. The whole time she's just staring at me with pursed lips and a knit in her brow. Then ​she cut me off. My heart almost stopped haha. But she said, "Sister, I will take your challenge. I will come to church. I have so much fear inside me. But what will happen if I let go of this fear like you say? I will take your challenge. It is the fear inside me, now I can see that. I need to have faith." My companion and I were shocked.

Yesterday, she showed up at church and stayed all 3 hours, and participated!

Branch Activity: Family Day! We designed it like a giant Family Home Evening: opening song and prayer, then each family breaks into smaller groups according to which baranguay they live in for a lesson taught by missionary companionships and then food and games! We had a giant obstacle course! Each group also had T-shirts in a different color and the missionaries had gray t-shirts. It took up the WHOLE day, because....Filipino time!

New Cultural Experiences:

1. Rambutan fruit! maybe you can google it, but better to taste it!

2. Budlefight- I like to watch.....not participate.

3. Dampa, a game all the kids play with rubber bands. I'm getting pretty good.

4. Bisaya word of the day: singot haha

5. Everyone here thinks my name is a Filipino apellido

With love from the islands,

Sister Bertoldo​

Don't Fear Imperfection!

"We inspire others not by our perfection, but by how we deal with our imperfections."

I'm all settled into my new area. It's in the same zone as my first area, so the members always joke with me like "laayo kaayo ba siya?" haha. My new area is small, but has many more members. They are still a branch so there is plenty of work to do in helping them progress and grow! The exciting new things about my area are: 

1. Naa'y aircon nga chapel na!

2. I now live with Sister Weech, who was in the MTC with me and is also from Colorado and BYU! and her trainer gihapon :)

3.  there are showers in our apartment...not very CLEAN, but still, a shower!

4. My new trainer, Sister Fernandez, is bisdak kaayo (very good at Bisaya, native) and is like a walking dictionary for me :) Also, she used her language study hours to practice sentences with me, teach me new words, and help me with my language study. She says I will learn Bisaya by MAKING MISTAKES, by trying. We made a language wall and she made me sign a paper saying that I will only speak Bisaya from now on....sorry about all the English in this email Sister! haha

My trainer and I are whitewashing the area, which means that we are both new and have to learn where everyone lives and who everyone is. We have been walking and wandering a lot! They don't have "addresses", we just know which buarangay (neighborhood) and then we ask random people who point us in the general direction until we find their home. It's kind of fun, actually.

KINAMOT: With my last district we marinated and barbequed pork and cooked rice. Then we went outside and ripped off a giant banana leaf. We piled the rice in the center then spread the meat ontop. Then we gathered around it in a circle. I was just about to ask, "should I go get plates and forks and things?" when my district started grabbing the rice and meat with their hands! It was a lot of fun, but my parents probably wouldn't approve.

"What you think about is either conducive to faith or distracts from yuor ability to exercise faith. Your thought with respect to faith cannot be neutral. If your thoughts are not productive or edifying, you have the responsibility of replacing them with productive or edifying thoughts."

Sigi, human na ko, 

Amping 'mo!

-Sister Bertoldo

"Praise Him in the Islands"

Kamusta!

I ate pig brains this week! In my defense, I didn't know that was what I was eating until my district told me AFTER the fact! I'm ashamed to admit that....it was delicious.

Work: 

The people here are very playful. They love pictures and engaging activities.So we set a companionship goal to incorporate more media into our lessons. We now sing, in Bisaya, hymns to open each lesson. It really invites the Spirit and the people here LOVE singing and music, so they really appreciate it! I love singing for them!!! They aren't shy to join in sometimes too. We used to sing in English, because that is what the members do here, but it's better if they can understand the words. We also use the gospel artbook to show pictures as we teach specific scripture stories or principles. We've also started bringing sticky notes. We give a reading assignment and write a couple of questions on the sticky note and leave it in their scriptures. It helps them to have a very specific assignment and it prepares them for our next lesson! We also are now bring a little DVD player into the investigators' homes to play the Restoration video. It's the only video we have that is in Bisaya!

I had my first "D&C 50:22 moment" this week. We've been teaching an old Catholic woman. On our second lesson, her daughter joined in. We taught about the nature of the Godhead, the focus of the gospel on families and finished with teaching how to pray sincerely, not from a memorized script. Then we asked the daughter to say the closing prayer. She offered a very sweet, simple, but genuine prayer. After, we noticed tears in her eyes and we asked her what she was feeling. She said that that was the first time she's felt she was really praying to her Heavenly Father. Beautiful moment! We are excited to continue teaching her.

Funny Story:

There was a storm a couple nights ago (blindly bright flashes of lightning and ear-splitting thunder...so scary!) The next day we went out to work. It was rainy slightly. While we were in the home of a woman we had just met that day, the torrential downpour started. We were in the middle of getting to know her and see if she's interested in being taught, and then the rain on her tin roof was so loud that we couldn't hear the sounds of our own voices! So we helped her shut her windows, gather her laundry inside, and we just sat in her house saying nothing for about 20 minutes, waiting out the rain. He son comes out, in his boxers, and starts cooking food. She falls asleep. We still can't hear anything or open the door to leave without letting in a flood of water. So we just sit and wait haha. So awkward. When the rain slowed down a little, we asked for plastic to wrap our bags and we left, after getting a return appointment, of course! We worked the rest of the day in the rain, but it wasn't as hard....there were some bent palm trees and corn stalks though, from the wind!

I love the Philippines. I love the warm wind, the ocean, the starfish, the seashells mixed into the farming soil, the loud music emanating from tiny huts at any hour of the day, the giant tropical flowers, the butterflies, the motorcycles, the people! Isaiah best described being a missionary here: 

"Sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise from the ends of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles and the inhabitants thereof.....Let them give glory unto the Lord and praise Him in the islands" (Isaiah 42:10, 12).🌴 

Well this has been a long enough email! I hope you all have a great week!

Love from the other side of the world,

Sister Bertoldo!