Miracles Abound

Dear friends and family,

So, just so you know, there's only 6 Sisters on the whole island of Palawan, and all 6 of them are in our zone.  So, I feel pretty special right now that we do have the privilege of being here.

One cool experience this week - Sis. Ordiz and I were riding on a trike (small motocab) and I was attempting to use my very limited Tagalog to talk to her.  Our trike driver turned and asked us if I spoke Tagalog.  The correct answer to that question was "conti" or "a little."  We then talked to him some, and I said I really like Palawan and that the people here are nicer than in America.  He liked to hear that.  We talked with him some more about how I'm learning Tagalog (a very rare thing here - most white people don't bother.)  Then Sister Ordiz talked more about missionary work and why we're here and we ended up giving him a pamphlet (pass along cards aren't a thing here.)  He's not in our area, but we gave him as a referral to the Elders in our district.  Super awesome; and it was encouraging to me to always try to speak the language more and more.

We've had pretty much one "brown out" also known as a black out where we didn't have electricity almost every day this week.  A lot of times they happen at night, so our fans shut off and we get hot which is lame, but oh well.  We also had one water outage for a day which was hard too, but it's okay.  Just livin' the Philippines life, and it's kind of fun sometimes and we laugh about it.

The biggest and best news - this week, we prayed for miracles.  I really really really felt a strong desire for every one of our less active members and investigators to come to Church.  We invited 5 of our awesome investigators to come and 4 of our less actives to come to church - and EVERY ONE of them did!!! I was so happy.  I may have been sort of lacking in faith, because they have many obstacles to overcome in order to come.  But they did.  Ah.  My joy when I saw them - I couldn't stop smiling yesterday, it was such a good day.

By the way, roosters are really really evil and I don't like them.  I know my nickname in the family has always been "Rooster" or 'Roo roo,"  but here the roosters crow at 4 am and I kind of want to have rooster for dinner so I don't have to wake up then and then not be able to sleep after that.  Super annoying, but oh well.  Animals do what animals do.

I also now have an unwanted admirer..  His name is Jacob, and he tells me how beaitiful I am and sings me Tagalog love songs.  I don't think it's gonna work out though, since I don't speak Tagalog very well, am probably 2 feet taller than him, and he's 9 years old.

Hopefully this picture attaches okay.  It's of Sister Jeannic's baptism!  Ah!  I was actually really sick that day and kind of wanted to pass out, but I was there nonetheless.  Sister Jeannic is amazing.  Truly, truly amazing.  She is very smart, and remembers all the lessons, reads everything we give her, and has this great thirst for knowledge about the gospel.  Her testimony is beautiful, which we have had the opportunity to hear time and time again as she works with us every day now as our "member present" since she doesn't have a job.  She is soooo awesome!  She also is already reading up on temple preparation and is very interested in serving a mission.  Ah.  Man.  I can't get over how awesome she is, seriously.  In the first picture are some members as well, plus the Elders in our District.  Everyone here says Elder Schroeder and I look like "mga kapatid" or siblings.  I guess I can kind of see, it, haha, but it might just be the straight noses and blondish hair.  And whiteness.

Sister Ordiz and I with Sister Jeannic.   AH SHE'S SO AWESOME.  Seriously.  Best first baptismal-ee ever.

 

 

 

I'll send some more in a second.

But for now - things are great here!  The language is very hard, and it's sad to me that I can't speak fluently yet because I really really really love these people and want to be able to talk with them about their lives and thoughts and feelings and experiences.  They are great, seriously.  We did not have a single lesson this week without a member present, and they are so willing to work with us.  Miracles are here because of how amazing these people truly are.

I am happy!  It is hard to not speak fluently, but I am happy.

Much love from Palawan,

Sister Larsen

 

At the Philippines history-- using a machine gun at the museum.  And Elder Schroeder photo bombing.

 

 

 

Myself and Sister Ordiz at a Philippines history museum which is cool .  The museum has a lot of WWII things which are awesome.  I still love history.  Oh, and I mostly wear my glasses now cuz my contacts get pretty bothersome with all the dust and stuff here.

 

 

 After proselyting, this is normally what my feet look like at the end of the day.

Yeah, we're pretty hardcore :)  It's the rainy season so it's ALWAYS MUDDY.  But, it's definitely an adventure!!!