Greetings from Olongapo City!!
The one the only. I have to much balita but no time to write it all. I have had a wonderful week.
First things first, I love you all and thank you for everything.
I have been transferred to Olongapo Zone. In my area is Kalaklan, Mabayuan, and Filtration. We live in Gordon Heights, I think. We are really close to Subic. It is a big city out here life is awesome here I really feel home here I had a feeling I would come here one day actually. I feel at home for sure. I really like my new area already. It is absolutely beautiful in every way. There are lots of hills and big mountains that we get to climb up to go to the investigators houses and such. It is truly made for me. I really love it. My new companion is Sister Tuimaseve. She is so sweet, she is a foreigner just like me she was born in Samoa full Samoan siya, but she moved to Utah when she was 12 years old. She is only 2 transfers ahead of me.
I believe in the gift of tongues. I truly do. Everyone is chismissing or gossiping about how we are going to do it as 2 foreigners in this new area and not very good at Tagalog. I have been given a new and exciting challenge, each step that I take I have to take with the Lord. He is the only way that I can do this. My companion rocks. She has an awesome sweet spirit about here, she is just full of love. I know I can learn a lot about Charity and Love and Service from her. But I really have to get my chops going with the Tagalog if we want our investigators to understand the lessons. It is definitely a challenge, but we can do it. I feel an odd sense of comfort-ability here. I know we can do some damage out here.
Their accent out here in Olongapo is more straight, its more clear and beautiful. I like it. Mas Maganda dito kaysa sa Abucay. joke. Maybe I've been given the gift of tongues, I don't know but I am being richly blessed.
I have learned so much out here already. I feel like I am finally in the right place. Masaya. Natutuwa ako.
--Sister James
4.27.2010
4.05.2010
whhhat?
We are going to watch General Conference this weekend at the church. I am pretty excited for it. You are so incredibly lucky to be able to go to General Conference LIVE. Not many Filipinos have the chance to see that. Be grateful for that wonderful opportunity to be able to see and hear them speak the word of God for us in this time of history.
We had an awesome experience this week at sacrament meeting. I got to experience my first investigator get up and bear his testimony. It was awesome. I don't understand him very well, but what I did understand, he is sobrang astig . Astig siya talaga. This is Brother Romel. He is rad. He has had many trials in his life and it's wonderful to see him change and to actually smile. Natutuwa ako!
Learning to love is something that takes a lot of my soul. I still think in the back of my mind that I'm not going to see these people ever again, but I can't remain in fear, I have to just bear the pain that will come and just be open. It's worthless to keep on going if I don't become more like my Savior. He is the only way to live a happy life. true discipleship comes when you are able to change your desires. This is something that I will continue to work on my whole life. I'm excited to see the result.
This week was awesome. And super gross. It was Mahal na Araw this week the Filipinos are so festive they will use any excuse to party. It's awesome. But for holy week, it is so gross talaga. They whip themselves sa likod on their backs until they bleed. Some of them pinako sa cruz. I truly can't think of the real word. OH--crucify themselves in their hands. Luckily I didn't see that. I got some pictures of some of the men doing the penetentia. Crazyness. We talked to an investigator and he said that he was paid 10 pesos to beat the guys on the back with bamboo sticks. Wow. hahawefwae fsdf. That's all I can say. I'm still in shock. It was truly shocking. This week we get to see the residue of the penetencia. There is blood splattered all over the front of peoples houses. It's so gross.
I'm beginning to crack my heart open to these people and my life is so much better because of it. I'm learning to really think of Tagalog as an art, I love art... language is an art, culture is an art, everything around me is evidence of the art of God. speaking of...
Look up manuel 'bobot' bagtas sa internet. He is an awesome guy. I got to meet him today. He is an artist here in the Philippines. He is so AWESOME. I love him. He is really talented. He is so creative. He has the coolest house ever. Everything is just art & art collections of others' art. Awesome. He is a teacher as well as his wife in the arts. He is just so awesome. I love him. It was really refreshing to meet someone that has something in common. I felt at home in his presence. He is so awesome . One more time--awesome. I can't speak English. He was talking about how difficult it is to find materials for this work & there just isn't much available for him and if there is it's really expensive, so he uses garbage. He is a junk artist. His work is so awesome. But we got to meet him because I have the awesome opportunity to be in a play/parade thingy for Balanga city days. It is going to be awesome I play an American nurse and we are reenacting the death march that happened here in 1942. He created everything for it and the missionaries usually get to act it out every April for the parade. (Here's a link that talks about it).
http://artbobot.multiply.com
This is his website. The creativity that he has is admirable--use your resources to create something.
This one is great.
I love you all. Seek balance through Jesus Christ.
Be good.
Sister James
We had an awesome experience this week at sacrament meeting. I got to experience my first investigator get up and bear his testimony. It was awesome. I don't understand him very well, but what I did understand, he is sobrang astig . Astig siya talaga. This is Brother Romel. He is rad. He has had many trials in his life and it's wonderful to see him change and to actually smile. Natutuwa ako!
Learning to love is something that takes a lot of my soul. I still think in the back of my mind that I'm not going to see these people ever again, but I can't remain in fear, I have to just bear the pain that will come and just be open. It's worthless to keep on going if I don't become more like my Savior. He is the only way to live a happy life. true discipleship comes when you are able to change your desires. This is something that I will continue to work on my whole life. I'm excited to see the result.
This week was awesome. And super gross. It was Mahal na Araw this week the Filipinos are so festive they will use any excuse to party. It's awesome. But for holy week, it is so gross talaga. They whip themselves sa likod on their backs until they bleed. Some of them pinako sa cruz. I truly can't think of the real word. OH--crucify themselves in their hands. Luckily I didn't see that. I got some pictures of some of the men doing the penetentia. Crazyness. We talked to an investigator and he said that he was paid 10 pesos to beat the guys on the back with bamboo sticks. Wow. hahawefwae fsdf. That's all I can say. I'm still in shock. It was truly shocking. This week we get to see the residue of the penetencia. There is blood splattered all over the front of peoples houses. It's so gross.
I'm beginning to crack my heart open to these people and my life is so much better because of it. I'm learning to really think of Tagalog as an art, I love art... language is an art, culture is an art, everything around me is evidence of the art of God. speaking of...
Look up manuel 'bobot' bagtas sa internet. He is an awesome guy. I got to meet him today. He is an artist here in the Philippines. He is so AWESOME. I love him. He is really talented. He is so creative. He has the coolest house ever. Everything is just art & art collections of others' art. Awesome. He is a teacher as well as his wife in the arts. He is just so awesome. I love him. It was really refreshing to meet someone that has something in common. I felt at home in his presence. He is so awesome . One more time--awesome. I can't speak English. He was talking about how difficult it is to find materials for this work & there just isn't much available for him and if there is it's really expensive, so he uses garbage. He is a junk artist. His work is so awesome. But we got to meet him because I have the awesome opportunity to be in a play/parade thingy for Balanga city days. It is going to be awesome I play an American nurse and we are reenacting the death march that happened here in 1942. He created everything for it and the missionaries usually get to act it out every April for the parade. (Here's a link that talks about it).
http://artbobot.multiply.com
This is his website. The creativity that he has is admirable--use your resources to create something.
This one is great.
I love you all. Seek balance through Jesus Christ.
Be good.
Sister James
2.24.2010
Wise Words
From lil' Sista James.
"There is beauty in change. This is the base of the repentance process. The change and fresh view of life. I am learning so much about God. It's been awesome to be able to think about and feel and hear and see deity. Godliness all around me. I have been enjoying my time out here even though it is so hard. It is so awesome to feel new and change. I promise you when I come back I will be different. Sobra. I'm learning about the importance of repenting daily. The blessings that come when you feel clean are so indescribable."
"I am learning about the Atonement of Jesus Christ more deeply here in the field. I have to develop my relationship with Christ, I have to come to know him better. Follow his perfect example and the rest will fall into place. My sacrifice here in the mission has been so dang hard, but it is truly nothing compared to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When I think of this my purpose is clear. Every trial we will ever have in this life is covered if we just do our little part."
"If you aren't getting anything out of your reading, keep reading, ask Heavenly Father for help. Ask for His guidance before each time you read in prayer. This will help if you have Faith that He will be able to help you. If you sincerely want to get something out of your reading you will. Siguro keep a study journal write down thoughts and write down what is happening, what your insights were, and what questions you have to reasearch further later, and also write down the characteristics of the prophets. It will help you so much, I am doing the same thing it is definetely a big learning experience."
"I ate pig blood this week. Yummy!!""There is beauty in change. This is the base of the repentance process. The change and fresh view of life. I am learning so much about God. It's been awesome to be able to think about and feel and hear and see deity. Godliness all around me. I have been enjoying my time out here even though it is so hard. It is so awesome to feel new and change. I promise you when I come back I will be different. Sobra. I'm learning about the importance of repenting daily. The blessings that come when you feel clean are so indescribable."
"I am learning about the Atonement of Jesus Christ more deeply here in the field. I have to develop my relationship with Christ, I have to come to know him better. Follow his perfect example and the rest will fall into place. My sacrifice here in the mission has been so dang hard, but it is truly nothing compared to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When I think of this my purpose is clear. Every trial we will ever have in this life is covered if we just do our little part."
"If you aren't getting anything out of your reading, keep reading, ask Heavenly Father for help. Ask for His guidance before each time you read in prayer. This will help if you have Faith that He will be able to help you. If you sincerely want to get something out of your reading you will. Siguro keep a study journal write down thoughts and write down what is happening, what your insights were, and what questions you have to reasearch further later, and also write down the characteristics of the prophets. It will help you so much, I am doing the same thing it is definetely a big learning experience."
"I told one of our investigators to kill someone."
She's starting to get the language....I think.
Sister Lindsey James
Philippines Olongapo Mission
National Hwy
Mangan-Vaca, Subic Bay
2209 Zambles
Philippines
2.04.2010
12.28.2009
Merry Christmas from The Philippines!
"It sounds like you had a good Christmas, very different from mine. We were teaching and eating and eating and eating, Eating appointments. Oh my. "
If I'm remembering correctly, I believe Sister James had 5 or 6 eating appointments on Christmas day, which is good. She loves the food.
Sister James has been in the Philippines for about a week now, give or take when she actually arrived there after a brutal 2-day flight. But she is there, safe and sound.
Sister James spent some time in Ecuador last year, and she expected the peoples' living conditions to be similar, but she says things are worse in the Philippines. "The living conditions here are appalling. Truly. There are dirt floors and everything, some of the houses have tile, but it is pretty bad, We are truly so blessed to have the security and shelter and comfort that we have. " They also don't use toilet paper. It's a luxury for Sister James to have some.
"I got blessed because of my awesome companion. She is native. She is so cute and she speaks really good English. Her name is Sister Daquioag. We are also living with these other two sisters; they are also native. They are truly hilarious goofballs. I don't ever understand them, but when I do get their jokes it's pretty funny. Haha. Their names are Sister Bermudo and Sister Sauqetwoef. (I don't know how to say her name still) I can't ask her its too late."
Lindsey (I'm feeling so weird saying Sister James. Eventually I'll get used to it, but not right now.) has only been in the Philippines for a week, so she's having some difficulties with the language. Lindsey is one to expect a lot from herself, and rightly so. In this second week, she is already seeing improvements. She received a priesthood blessing around Christmas, and she said, "I know that the blessing helped me, later that night we were out teaching and I understood almost all of what my companion was teaching about." She goes on to say, "It was awesome. I am definitely understanding a lot more than last week. What a relief, now I can actually start listening and writing down words and speaking. I get nervous when I speak sometimes, and then other times I don't at all and I don't care if I am wrong. But I will get it eventually. I just am having a battle with patience right now. I get so pissed when I can't say what I want to say, especially when I am talking about the gospel."
Sounds just like Lindsey.
"This church is true. It's real. It's amazing being able to feel the spirit so often as a missionary. I am truly blessed and protected as a missionary. It is amazing being able to see people living the gospel."
Okay, now onto the technical aspects...
If you feel so inclined to send Lindsey a package, please keep the price under $50. If it's over that, she has to pay a crap load of money for it.
Her mission home address is:
Sister Lindsey James
Philippines Olongapo Mission
National Hwy
Mangan-Vaca, Subic Bay
2209 Zambles
Philippines
You can send packages or letters to this address. Letters take between 3-4 weeks to arrive, so if you want a "faster" method, I would stick with dearelder.com. The link is set up to be on the page where you directly write a letter, just select the Philippines, Olongapo mission, and it should tell you what to do from there. That takes about 2 weeks and is free. International mail requires an international stamp (they're about a dollar at the post office), or two regular stamps.
Ingat!!
--Anna James
p.s. pardon the grammatical or spelling errors. Lindsey's English sucks now, and I tried my best to proofread, so sorry if I missed anything.
If I'm remembering correctly, I believe Sister James had 5 or 6 eating appointments on Christmas day, which is good. She loves the food.
Sister James has been in the Philippines for about a week now, give or take when she actually arrived there after a brutal 2-day flight. But she is there, safe and sound.
Sister James spent some time in Ecuador last year, and she expected the peoples' living conditions to be similar, but she says things are worse in the Philippines. "The living conditions here are appalling. Truly. There are dirt floors and everything, some of the houses have tile, but it is pretty bad, We are truly so blessed to have the security and shelter and comfort that we have. " They also don't use toilet paper. It's a luxury for Sister James to have some.
"I got blessed because of my awesome companion. She is native. She is so cute and she speaks really good English. Her name is Sister Daquioag. We are also living with these other two sisters; they are also native. They are truly hilarious goofballs. I don't ever understand them, but when I do get their jokes it's pretty funny. Haha. Their names are Sister Bermudo and Sister Sauqetwoef. (I don't know how to say her name still) I can't ask her its too late."
Lindsey (I'm feeling so weird saying Sister James. Eventually I'll get used to it, but not right now.) has only been in the Philippines for a week, so she's having some difficulties with the language. Lindsey is one to expect a lot from herself, and rightly so. In this second week, she is already seeing improvements. She received a priesthood blessing around Christmas, and she said, "I know that the blessing helped me, later that night we were out teaching and I understood almost all of what my companion was teaching about." She goes on to say, "It was awesome. I am definitely understanding a lot more than last week. What a relief, now I can actually start listening and writing down words and speaking. I get nervous when I speak sometimes, and then other times I don't at all and I don't care if I am wrong. But I will get it eventually. I just am having a battle with patience right now. I get so pissed when I can't say what I want to say, especially when I am talking about the gospel."
Sounds just like Lindsey.
"This church is true. It's real. It's amazing being able to feel the spirit so often as a missionary. I am truly blessed and protected as a missionary. It is amazing being able to see people living the gospel."
Okay, now onto the technical aspects...
If you feel so inclined to send Lindsey a package, please keep the price under $50. If it's over that, she has to pay a crap load of money for it.
Her mission home address is:
Sister Lindsey James
Philippines Olongapo Mission
National Hwy
Mangan-Vaca, Subic Bay
2209 Zambles
Philippines
You can send packages or letters to this address. Letters take between 3-4 weeks to arrive, so if you want a "faster" method, I would stick with dearelder.com. The link is set up to be on the page where you directly write a letter, just select the Philippines, Olongapo mission, and it should tell you what to do from there. That takes about 2 weeks and is free. International mail requires an international stamp (they're about a dollar at the post office), or two regular stamps.
Ingat!!
--Anna James
p.s. pardon the grammatical or spelling errors. Lindsey's English sucks now, and I tried my best to proofread, so sorry if I missed anything.
12.12.2009
Update!
Here are a few excerpts from her letters…
“I am constantly being stretched to my limits, especially with the language. I've really learned that it takes faith to learn a language. So much of it is through the help of deity. There is no way that all of these idiot stupid Elders can go to a foreign country and be fluent without the help of something or someone bigger. Our own intelligence truly could not learn this fast.”
“We are speaking only Tagalog in the classroom now, but it doesn't really feel that different. This week is going to be my first time teaching the first lesson sa Tagalog. Nuts! I won't ever teach the gospel as a missionary in English again.”
“I am loving how I am growing continually in areas that I really needed to work on. I am doing well with the shy thing. I am not really shy here at all, it is easier for me to just go up and talk to people now.”
“Sheri Dew gave an awesome talk in the fireside yesterday. She rocks! I really like her outlook on things, and how unafraid she is to say bold things about the Gospel. She was saying how important it is to know who we are; realize the healing power of the Atonement and the importance of personal revelation. True that Sista!
She really is way awesome, one of the best firesides I've ever been to.”
“I can't let myself get excited for going out into the field yet, but I can't help it!
I know that it is going to be so incredibly awesome!! I can already tell I will love the people and the culture. I am way excited to get out there and dive into the culture of the Philippines. I know that I am going to LOVE it!”
“We are wealthy. We are wealthy temporally; I witnessed that in many ways in many aspects while in Ecuador. But we are truly wealthy in our spiritual knowledge. Spiritual wealth is far more important and infinite than temporal wealth. The knowledge that I possess spiritually, is so priceless and valuable to me. I am glad that I have the opportunity to share this wealth and joy that comes from the Gospel.”
I just got word that she's got her plane tickets booked for her flight to the Philippines! Needless to say, the flight is going to be a doozy....she leaves on Monday the 14th arrives Wednesday the 16th.
I'll post her new address when she gets it to me.
--Anna
“I am constantly being stretched to my limits, especially with the language. I've really learned that it takes faith to learn a language. So much of it is through the help of deity. There is no way that all of these idiot stupid Elders can go to a foreign country and be fluent without the help of something or someone bigger. Our own intelligence truly could not learn this fast.”
“We are speaking only Tagalog in the classroom now, but it doesn't really feel that different. This week is going to be my first time teaching the first lesson sa Tagalog. Nuts! I won't ever teach the gospel as a missionary in English again.”
“I am loving how I am growing continually in areas that I really needed to work on. I am doing well with the shy thing. I am not really shy here at all, it is easier for me to just go up and talk to people now.”
“Sheri Dew gave an awesome talk in the fireside yesterday. She rocks! I really like her outlook on things, and how unafraid she is to say bold things about the Gospel. She was saying how important it is to know who we are; realize the healing power of the Atonement and the importance of personal revelation. True that Sista!
She really is way awesome, one of the best firesides I've ever been to.”
“I can't let myself get excited for going out into the field yet, but I can't help it!
I know that it is going to be so incredibly awesome!! I can already tell I will love the people and the culture. I am way excited to get out there and dive into the culture of the Philippines. I know that I am going to LOVE it!”
“We are wealthy. We are wealthy temporally; I witnessed that in many ways in many aspects while in Ecuador. But we are truly wealthy in our spiritual knowledge. Spiritual wealth is far more important and infinite than temporal wealth. The knowledge that I possess spiritually, is so priceless and valuable to me. I am glad that I have the opportunity to share this wealth and joy that comes from the Gospel.”
I just got word that she's got her plane tickets booked for her flight to the Philippines! Needless to say, the flight is going to be a doozy....she leaves on Monday the 14th arrives Wednesday the 16th.
I'll post her new address when she gets it to me.
--Anna
11.19.2009
Heidi sent me this photo in her last letter.....so exciting that Sister Holt, Elder Weed, and Sister James all got to be in the MTC at the same time!
Enjoy!
--Anna James
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
