Week 78

Dear Family,

I lied last week when I said I just left my last area for the last time... I was transferred!!!! :D So... on Monday, I had my departure interview. Then Sister Bowen and I ate at Mang Inasal for the last time and then slept in the City Sister's apartment. It was actually a cool experience getting to their apartment. Neither of us really knew how to get there... I had been there a couple times before going on exchanges, but I couldn't really remember. I just remembered the first jeepney to get on. So we decided to go for it... and while we were riding in the jeepney, I started to get a little nervous because I thought maybe we had gone way too far or were supposed to switch jeepneys or something. Right at that moment, we both saw a road that looked familiar. We decided to take a chance and get off. We got off and... the road let right to the apartment! Of all the times in my whole mission when I didn't know what I was doing or where I was going, I've never gotten lost. God is really taking care of His missionaries. We were guided by the spirit. :D

Tuesday morning we went to the Career Workshop thing where we learned about job interviews and resumes and all that fun jazz. After that, we went back to the mission office and after waiting around for an hour or so we had a little devotional in the mission home with the APs and President and Sister Aquino. We all went around and had a little testimony meeting. There were tears and laughs.. it was a very well rounded meeting. :) After that, we all went out to eat at a nice restaurant at SM and then we went to the airport... I said goodbye to Sister Bowen... it was really hard! I know I'm going to see her in like a week, but I know how sad she was that she was about to leave Iloilo! Then the APs drove me to Oton where I spent the next day. I saw Nilo the dog and Mister the cat! And Brother John the French man and Connie his wife who made me mango float! :D

Wednesday, I went on splits with Sister Nonu. She is a new missionary, only been here 7 weeks from Samoa. Her trainer is Sister Winward who went with a member of the ward. It was so fun! I wasn't in my old area at all, but I was still familiar with their area and I still enjoyed it. I still got to see a few people I knew. Wednesday night I did get to go to my old area because Sister Veronica, the member who used to always work with us in Oton had an FHE with all 7 of us missionaries because now there are also two elders in that area. I was so happy to see her again! That night, all the brand new missionaries straight from the MTC came. Two of them slept in Oton Apartment with us along with some of the trainers who traveled from their areas so they could go to their meetings the next day. Thursday morning, I went to transfer meeting. And... I got transferred to Guimaras! Guimaras is a smaller island pretty close to the Panay Island. For several years only Elders have been allowed to go there, but this transfer it was opened again for Sisters. I was put in a threesome of course... because obviously I won't be staying the whole transfer. My new companions are Sister Nelson and Sister Orani. They are awesome and I have had SO much fun with them these last few days. Thursday after crossing the water in a boat, we spent the rest of the day fixing our apartment, waiting for furniture and water and cargo. We have a HUGE house... 7 bedrooms! And once I leave, there will only be the two sisters living there... but it's nice. :) Guimaras is so beautiful! There are so many trees!

  Friday and Saturday we had normal proselyting days, went to a baptism, met many members and the Branch President and Branch Mission Leader. They all seem so amazing! I wish I were staying here! Church yesterday was amazing! I enjoyed it, and all the members were so welcoming and excited to have sisters there again. We all shared our testimonies, of course. (I was so happy that after sacrament meeting a woman came up to me and told me if she had closed her eyes, she wouldn't have known I wasn't Filipino. That made me feel good. I guess I'm getting better at their accent!) The members are all so nice and were sad to find out that I'm not staying long. After church, 4 of the young women wanted to work with us... we would have gone on splits with them, but all of them were under the age of 18 so it wasn't allowed... so all 7 of us went to all our appointments. I was worried it would be a crowd at first, but it went really well. The young women are so good! And they all want to serve missions!

  And then this morning, my last P-Day and last day in the mission... we went to the beach! :D The beach here in Guimaras is gorgeous! My camera just can't capture it! I wish I was a professional photographer like some of my siblings at times like these. :D Later I'm going to eat my last Guimaras mango and start packing. Tonight we have an FHE with some members which should be super fun. And then tomorrow... I'm off. I might go to District Meeting first, but I need to be back to Iloilo pretty early. Tuesday night I'll be flying to Manila all alone... sleep in a hotel all alone... and then leave from Manila Wednesday morning... all alone... But it will be okay. I've had the best mission ever and no regrets. I will forever treasure the amazing experiences that I've had and the people that I have met. I will forever be grateful for the knowledge that I've gained and for my testimony which has been solidified. I am so grateful that I was able to serve God full-time for 18 months. They sure did fly by fast! Where did the time go!? I feel so old! hehe. :D Especially with all the 18 and 19 year olds coming now. Anyways... I'll see you all soon!

Love,
Sister McClellan

Week 77

I just left my last area for the last time... and for the first time... I didn't cry.  I cried when I left Roxas, San Jose, and Oton!  I'm not exactly sure why I didn't this time. Maybe it's because I was only there for 6 weeks, one transfer, and I didn't feel as attached to it as I did to other areas... maybe because it hasn't hit me yet that I'm not going back. It's weird because I know that I have a week to go before I go back to the states... maybe that's another reason why it hasn't hit me yet.  I'm in a weird situation now... I'm actually not sure what I'm going to be doing this last week... President Aquino just told me to bring all my bags to the mission home just like the other 3 missionaries going home tomorrow.  I'm still attending all the departure interviews and orientation things today and tomorrow... and then... I think I'll be working in Oton again because it's the closest Sister's area to the mission home.  I hope that's what I'll do... I'll most likely be in a threesome.  I know there's still a lot of good service I can do in this last week... but it feels a lot different because I won't be in "my" area. The Oton area was split just after I left, so most of my investigators from Oton are now being taught by Elders, including Brother Reynaldo, Sister Remie... all of them.  I just hope and pray that they all come to church next Sunday and I'll get to see them all along with Brothers Romeo, Conrado, Vicinte... and all the other Recent Converts and members that I did get close to there. :D
 

So, my last week in Pavia was really actually wonderful!  We got a whole lot of new investigators through referrals and service.  Something we've gotten quite good at is finding through service which is my favorite way to get new investigators... although then they tend to be more poor, but that's okay. :D  This week it was really rainy and one day we were walking and saw a sikad in front of us stuck in the mud.  He was taking a woman and her baby home.  We caught up and pushed them quite a ways... getting our shoes stuck in the mud and our skirts quite dirty, haha. It was so much fun.  We were able to talk to the sikad driver and the woman and hopefully we'll be able to teach them (or Sister Karaponga with her new companion...) Then later that same day, we saw a man walking with some heavy bags and a box with a small child at his side.  We offerred to help him carry his stuff. He was really shy about it and acted like he didn't want us to... but we kind of just grabbed his stuff, haha.  We didn't give him a choice :)  When we got to his home, he was so grateful and let us wash our feet and then invited us inside and met his wife and we shared with them.  They said we were welcome any time.  I love people so much.
 

Church yesterday was good... Sister Bowen and I both were asked to share our testimonies in sacrament meeting.  Several less actives came to church.  And our investigator, Sister Iryn also came to church with her 3 children who enjoyed primary :)  I'm so glad I got to see them at church before leaving. They've been wanting to come for several weeks now and just never were able to :(  They want to be baptized, including her husband. I really love that family.  I'll miss them a lot.

We actually did feel the earthquake on Tuesday from Cebu. Sister Karaponga and I were walking to district meeting... we were walking really fast because we were late... :)  I saw above the trees that the electric wires and poles were moving a ton... my initial thought was that there were some men working on them.  I saw some people across the street kind of cowering and motioning for us to get to the side of the road.  Then we saw a big group of missionaries ahead... they were still waiting for the key to the gate to the church.  They yelled for us to stop.  We stopped walking and then I really felt it.  I got kinda dizzy and was like rocking back and forth... so cool! :D  But of course, we were all okay... I feel sad for all the people who died in Cebu though.  And there was a little damage to the temple as well... :(
 

Well, I'll most likely email one last time before going home. So, in the meantime everyone take care and don't miss me too much ;D  I love you all!!!!

 

Love, Sister McClellan

 

Week 76

Funny story. One day, Sister Karaponga and I were going home riding on the back of a motorbike, behind the driver on a tricycle.  As we were riding, Sis. Karaponga turns to me and says very calmly... "Sister, my skirt is caught in the wheel... should I tell the driver?" haha, she's so funny! I said..."uhhh... yeah! like now!" For the next 30 seconds or so, she's trying to explain to the driver what happened and ask him to stop, but he doesn't get it.  Finally I say "diri lang!" which basically means "just here" or "this is where we get off" He stops and her skirt is really stuck in there!  She was lucky it didn't get ripped off her! haha.  They end up pushing the tricycle backwards with her walking beside, until they could finally rip it out.. .so funny!  Her dress was ruined though :(  And another day... we were walking home in the dark, and I stepped in a hole of mud.  Gross!! We used this as an opportunity to talk to someone and ask for some water to clean off my foot and shoe. Missionary work is so fun!

 

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Bowen.  It was super cool to be her companion again! We haven't had an experience like that since the MTC so it was really cool.  We've both definitely changed a lot in the last year and a half.  We've both for sure improved in the language and in teaching. :D

Then, on Thursday, we did a CSP (service project) for a less-active family.  We pulled some weeds and cut some plants that they sell at the market (I forget what it's called...).  It was fun talking with them - they're like my second family here in this area.  The BEST part though, was that I got to ride their carabou! I don't know if that's how it's spelled. They don't have this animal in the states. I have pictures on my camera... I guess you'll see it in a couple weeks, hehe.

Our investigator Iryn, is doing so well. She told us the other day that from the day that we met her husband and were welcomed in their home, they have been receiving so many blessings. She's been recognizing all the tender mercies and has connected it as having started the very day we met her husband.  So cool!  I love them a lot... we're going to have FHE with them tonight which should be loads of fun! :D

We have another investigator who is super rich... I thought he was about to drop us, but we did our very best to follow the spirit. It was the most unique lesson I've ever had. I only spoke to him in English and for the first time, he really listened to what I was saying instead of interrupting. Also, we decided to just answer his questions instead of giving the lesson we had planned. "Teaching People, not Lessons" made all the difference. I really felt the spirit in that lesson and expect him to start progressing soon. He seems much more interested now in what we're sharing and even thanked us for the new insights he gained.  It's funny how sometimes I feel like I keep learning the same lessons over and over again... hopefully, I won't need to learn that one again.

Time goes so fast, no? how many more letters like this will I be writing? 2? wow, what a concept. :D

BYE!!!!

Sister McClellan

Week 75

Dear Family,

 

I don't have much time to write this email. These last couple weeks have been very busy. I had to get fingerprinted this morning... even though I did just last month... and it took a really long time with all the other missionaries as well.  With our area so far away, we don't even have time to go home before our family home evenings... we just leave all our groceries and everything at the other sister's apartment here in Jaro and then take it home at night.  It's been crazy living here in Pavia.  But I love it. :D  It's so much fun and Sister Karaponga is so funny.  I love being her companion. :D

It was also a very VERY challenging week. I've experienced more rejection than I think I have in most of my mission put together... in just the last few days... haha.  I'm surprised though at how... desensitized.. I am.  Of course, it still hurts... but not as much as it used to.  It just gives us more drive to find others who are more prepared to accept the gospel.  It's been good because we've been able to keep a good attitude through it all.  We are still really enjoying the work.  We've switched our focus this last week... from finding new investigators, to contacting and teaching all the less actives in our area. That has been very difficult! haha. Finding them is challenging! They don't have addresses! haha. And then many of them have changed religions and don't want to listen to us... but we just smile and do our best and we've been able to teach many of them. :D  I expect them ALL to come back to church. :D  We will not give up on them because we need them!!! and they need the church! They need the gospel! :D  But... we would appreciate your prayers. :D

I love you all!!! I hope each of you have a fabulous week!

Sister McClellan

Week 74

Good morning!

 

So, quite a bit happened this week... but a lot of it I will have to share AFTER I go home, haha.  It's...interesting. :D  Be excited. Anyways, we've been teaching a lot... and trying to contact less actives.  They are really difficult to find actually, especially since we don't have any ward directory or even an updated list of names of members to look for. Sometimes we just run into people and they tell us they're members and we ask them who else they know who are members that live nearby. It's like detective work :D  And we're still also taking time to find new investigators and giving lots of baptismal dates. :D It's way good.  We have another family... they're pretty poor... but amazing! The mother is reading the book of mormon and when we asked her about her reading, she told us ALL about Nephi and them being commanded to go back to Jerusalem to get the plates and leaving their riches, and him having to kill laban even though he didn't want to, and about how Sariah complained against Lehi, and about how Lehi found out that he was a descendant of Joseph.  She remembered everything! :D I was super impressed!  Now if we could just get them to come to church! :D

Sister Karaponga and I are having a blast here! You have to be fun and creative when you're living in a small apartment with only 2 people. That's all I've got to say for today... :D

Love you all!

Sister McClellan

 

Week 73

Good morning everyone!

This week was SO good!  It's been so fun, just applying all the things that I've learned to this new area.  We are really starting basically from scratch.  There are a lot of members living in our area which we have to go find, but as far as investigators, we have none.  

It's different having so many missionaries in one ward. We meet at the same time as ward 2 which has 4 sister missionaries, so there are 10 of us sister missionaries in one building at the same time. I really feel like I blend in and it's a little harder to get to know all the members.  At least... it's harder for them to remember me... So the other Sisters in our ward are actually assigned in Jaro, really close to the church which we go to.  They were assigned there before and we became the bonus missionaries.  We live pretty far from the church, which makes it very difficult for members and investigators to get to church.  We are hoping that pretty soon we will be able to help this area progress enough that we could get a branch out here in Pavia.  It would help a lot of people. I'm trying to encourage the same thing which we did in Roxas, my first area so long ago. We opened a temporary group there in Panay for the same reason and over time the less actives came back and now there are 60+ people going to church there every Sunday in that little tent thing at a house there. If we did the same thing here, we might have similar results. :D  In the meantime, we have to travel quite often in Jeepneys and in Tricycles and in Trisikads.. we get every form of transportation in this area.  It's even farther to go to District Meetings every week.  It's a good thing I like traveling. :D

This week was pretty fun, we did a whole lot of door to door tracting... I have to say that Sister Karaponga and I are getting pretty good at it. :D  It is actually super fun!  Especially trying to see if we can get the rich people to open their gates and let us in. :D  We have several new investigators who are super rich.  Actually, our new investigator Brother Nestor has the biggest house I've ever been in here in the Philippines... and I'm pretty sure it's even bigger than any house I've been in in the States.  He's super nice.  We rang their doorbell and talked to his wife and I'm pretty sure she wanted to say no, but we worked our magic and just were as friendly as we possibly could and she agreed that we could come back another time when she wasn't busy... that sounded a lot better than nothing... :D  Then later, while we were waiting for Sister Aquino to come work with us, someone informed us that the man at that house wanted us to go back and he was all ready to let us in and he has TONS of questions.  He's not ready to accept anything we say... but at least he let us in!  And we have a return appointment.  He reminds me a lot of Brother Romeo from Oton, hehe... and he was baptized. :D

 

Another family we met we are also super excited to go back to and teach.  He's an African American from Virginia. His wife is Filipina and they have 4 kids ages 11-17 or something like that. We haven't taught them yet but they were super excited to see us and we are scheduled to go back to them this next Saturday. I wish it could be sooner, but that's their availability. The Dad and kids only speak English, so I'm going to have some fun trying to teach the lessons in English for the first time, hehe. I'm excited though. :D It seems like most all our investigators right now are rich. It's great! :D 

We found another man who is super nice.  He's not rich, but his family is SO nice. And we taught them all about the Restoration and they already believe.  The poor are so much more prepared to accept what we share.  They can't afford to come to church... but they are very humble and loving and I know they will find a way once we help them build their faith a little bit more.  We love teaching every type of person.  Right now my goal is to just talk to as many people as I possibly can and make a difference in the lives of every person I meet, although we really are trying to focus on the rich right now.  Everyone needs the gospel!  And I'm running out of time to tell everyone in my area about this wonderful plan of happiness! hehe. :D

So... I NEVER in a thousand years... would have thought that I would actually enjoy going door to door, talking to strangers.  But I have actually been having fun! And at the beginning of my mission I remember being terrified of people asking me questions or something.. afraid I wouldn't know the answer or be able to understand them because of the language barrier... but now I absolutely love it!  I welcome any question... and when I don't know the answer, that gives me something to research in my personal study the next day.  I love people.  I really do a whole lot.  We are all brothers and sisters on this earth and we can gain something from everyone that we meet.  I am so grateful for this experience that I am having here.  I continue to learn new things daily.  I've never felt so happy. :D  Even though I probably won't be getting any more baptisms (because investigators need to go to church several times before they can be baptized and I only have a few sundays left...)... I know that I am planting dozens of seeds. :D

Oh and about the storm... I heard about it... and we have had some super strong rain in the past week... but I don't know if that's the storm you all heard about, haha.  It didn't really affect our work... I just got a little wet... :D  And I once again don't have an umbrella, haha.  I gave it to a woman and her baby... theirs broke, haha. But it's okay, my companion and I can share for a few weeks :D

Love you all! Continue to Lift where you Stand! :D

Sister McClellan

Week 72

Hey family, sorry for the late letter, just as I was about to send it, there was a brown out.
What a week. A lot has changed.

On Monday, we had Family Home Evening with President Aquino and his family. It was super fun and I really enjoyed it!  President Aquino is the best! he really cares about each of us so much!  After the FHE, he pulled me and sister Mendez into another room and informed us that we would both be transferring.  Sister Mendez was given a different assignment and I also was informed that I would be released as a Sister Training Leader and would be opening up a new area, Zaragga, where no sister missionaries have ever been and elders only went there occasionally because it was far from their area.  I was super sad to hear that I would be transferring because I honestly didn't think I would be, with only 6 weeks to go, but I guess God had some other plans in store for me.  When transfer meeting came I was surprised to see that I was being assigned to somewhere other than Zaragga.  Instead of opening up Zaragga, I'm opening up Pavia.  It's also a great area and there are several members living here.  My new companion is Sister Karaponga and I really like her a lot.  She is from New Zealand, but she grew up in the Cook Islands. She's so much fun!  Because we're opening the area, we didn't have an apartment for a while and slept in another missionary's apartment which was kinda far from our area. We have an apartment now though and we love it.  We finally got beds today which will be nice... and a lot of the other furniture and household items which we need. We're still waiting for desks and shelves and things like that, but we're comfortable enough. We've already made good friends with several neighbors and the guards. :D  Our neighborhood has a swimming pool... :D  and a basketball court, a grassy field to play frisbee on in the mornings... and a grocery store, restaurant, and just about everything we need! :D  we love it already! and the management and owner is super, super nice! 

since we're the first missionaries living here, we're kind of a big deal here :D  both of us are foreigners and we are not yet familiar with the area.  Usually one missionary has been there for a while and trains the new one where to go, but we are equally new to the area, so we've been asking a lot of people for directions, haha.  It's been fun!  I love our area actually. it's the first time I haven't been on the coast, but there are a lot of big houses... actually more rich than poor that I've seen so far.  It will be a whole new approach for us to really be focusing only on rich people.

Our ward is really awesome as well. It's kinda weird being in a ward again.  Our bishop is super awesome.  the whole bishopric is SO young! they all look like they're in their 20s... and sometimes they kinda act that way too, haha. but they are so great!  Our bishop likes to rap... and he was especially excited when he found out I could beat box.  hehe. There are now 6 missionaries in this ward. And from what I heard, Oton just split again as well and there are also 6 missionaries there in that branch.  Goodness, the work is for sure progressing!

Yesterday, we had a cool experience.  Sister Karaponga had been writing in her planner and had it on her lap or in her bag or something and somehow, while we were traveling in a tricycle, she lost it.  She was super worried because it had a lot of money and her personal card and all our numbers and things that we needed... we said a prayer and were immediately comforted.  We remembered the 90/10 principle and decided to apply it and keep a good attitude no matter what.  Later that night we received a text that someone had found it and this morning we went to go visit him and he had it, completely untouched. What a great man, and so honest. He wasn't very interested when we asked if he would be willing to listen to our message, but we gave him a pamphlet and he has our number so hopefully something happens there.  I feel that that experience happened for a reason and we are also very relieved that we found that!! We know God is watching out for us! :D 

That's all I have time for now. I'm looking forward to seeing all your bright, smiling faces again! take care! love you,

Sister McClellan