Week 30

Wow, there is way too much to write about, I don't know where to
start.  First of all, Congratulations Daniel and Jennifer on your
wedding!  I thought about you all day yesterday and the day before...
haha. I'm glad it was a success :D
So... they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines, but the
other Americans in my apartment decided to celebrate ourselves.  We
bought Jolibee and ate root beer floats and slept downstairs.  It was
fun!  that night, we found out that Sister Schocker is going to train!
 Exciting for her!  So, that meant that on Thursday, she had to travel
to Iloilo for a training meeting and I was left in a threesome with
the other sisters.  It also meant I was for sure going to transfer.
Sure enough, I found out Wednesday night that I would be transferring.
 So, early Friday morning, the three of us and the zone leaders
traveled to Iloilo for the transfer meeting.  The new missionaries
haven't gotten here yet because for some reason their visas were
delayed or something... so for the next few days until they arrive,
Sister Schocker will be in a threesome with the other sisters.  I on
the other hand have been transferred to Antique, San Jose.  The ride
here was so beautiful!  I thought Roxas was the best thing ever and
the rest of my mission would be dull in comparison, but just the drive
here got me excited.  We were following the beach the whole way until
we got to the forest area.  It was SO beautiful.  I love it here so
much already.  Yesterday, we were walking to someone's house and when
we turned the corner, my jaw dropped at the view.  I'm definitely
going to get a picture of that before I leave here.  So... the
language here is Kinary-a.  It's a little different, and I was super
scared at first when I found out I would have to learn a new dialect,
but they seem to understand my Ilonggo pretty well and I'm picking up
on the new dialect pretty quickly.  My new companion is Sister
Patricio.  She's super sweet, and my first Filipina companion.  She's
almost done with her mission... in missionary terms, I'm "killing
her."  She goes home in February?  But she's super good, and I'm sure
I'm going to learn a whole lot from her and how to become a much
better missionary.
Yesterday was the primary program at church.  They were so cute, but
small in number. It reminded me of primary programs back home when
there are usually so many kids!! We are actually in a branch, and the
other sisters that we live with are in the same branch as us, just a
different area.  In our apartment, I am the only American and the
other 3 are Filipina.  They are always speaking Tagalog in the
apartment to each other so maybe I'll get a lot better at my Tagalog
as well while staying here.  I replaced Sister Bowen here, my
companion in the MTC.  She was transferred to Kalibo, where they speak
Aklanon, the hardest dialect... I wish her good luck! :D Their
apartment is really nice.  My companion and I don't have a real
bedroom... but it works really well.  There is a big wooden board in
the middle of the living room that separates our room and the door is
a curtain.  It's nice :)
I met one family here... I'm not sure if they're related or not
actually, but they are active members and they are all deaf.  It's so
much fun to talk to them.  I'm pretty sure with one of them I learned
more sign language in half an hour than I did in my one semester in
high school so long ago.  They are SO much fun!  I am excited to
continue to learn more sign language from them as I stay here and when
I go home, I'll be able to sign to those of you who know sign
language! :D
Oh wow, I just forgot something that's kind of important... the day
after I got here, we had a baptism!  Sister Glory Dee?  She's 17 years
old and super active and good!  She was baptized with another woman
who was pregnant and due NEXT WEEK!  That baby will be able to say
he/she was baptized twice! haha.  Both of them were so happy and I
just love attending baptisms.  If any of you haven't attended a
baptism recently, go to the next one in your ward!  They are really
nice... and help me remember the day I was baptized and what it felt
like.
I am so grateful to have a family who loves each other and supports
each other in all that they do.  Some people don't have that blessing
in their lives.  Thanks to each of you who have impacted my life in
some way or other... and all of you have. :)  Can I just say again,
that missionary work is like the best thing ever?? :D  Sorry, once
again, I am unprepared for pictures.  Maybe next week.  Love you all!
Halong!
Sister McClellan

Week 29

Hello wonderful family!

So, I might be getting transferred this week.  I won't know for sure
until Wednesday night? But, it's pretty likely.  I'm super sad!!! I
don't want to leave this area!!  I just love the people and the area
so much more every day!  I would be perfectly happy staying in Roxas
my whole mission.  I don't even really like going on exchanges
anymore.  I used to think they were fun... and still do... but before
it didn't make a difference to me who I was teaching or where I was
because I didn't really know anyone.  Now though I really care about
these people and I don't want to miss one opportunity to teach them.
We have so many new investigators as well and I want to see them
progress and be baptized!!!  So... hopefully I don't transfer yet.
I'll find out soon.  We did go on exchanges this last week on
Wednesday.  I went with Sister Ilaga in her area and Sister Wignall
went with Sister Schocker in our area.  It was a good day... I've
never had so many people tell me how good I was at the language!  I
learned that day though that I really don't have a problem anymore
talking with people.  It's been a gradual change but I just noticed
because I compared that exchange with the last time I did exchanges
with Sister Ilaga in her area.  Before, I couldn't even ask them
questions about themselves or even felt comfortable having a normal
conversation.  This time though felt really good!  I could really talk
to them without even really having to think about it!

Oh man, referrals are so great!  This week we had a GOLDEN referral
from our patriarch.  Her name is Anna Marie.  We contacted her earlier
in the week to set up an appointment with her and even then she was
telling us that she's catholic, born and raised and went to a catholic
school, but because of the respect she has for her friend, the
patriarch, she is so open and willing to listen to us.  She wants to
learn from us herself so that she can then teach her family, which
means she has a lot of real intent.  When we taught her on Saturday,
I'm pretty sure it was the best lesson I have ever had so far in my
mission.  I could tell how everything we were saying was being
directed by the spirit.  She told us that she had prayed to God that
if she shouldn't meet with us, she would be stopped somehow, but the
whole week she was excited to meet with us.  She was invited to a
Catholic activity for the exact same time as our meeting and told us
she was surprised that she had come. When we testified that there was
a reason why she was there and that it wasn't by accident, she started
crying and told us that she already knew that.  When we testified
about the peaceful feeling she would get if she read and prayed about
the book of mormon, she told us that she was already feeling a
peaceful feeling.  She said she was going home a lot more happier than
she had ever expected to.  We'll meet with her again next Saturday.
Hopefully I won't transfer and I can keep teaching her and all our
other good investigators!  I can't imagine how hard it's going to be
to go home in a year.  Just the thought of leaving Roxas makes me so
sad!

Funny story, when we were leaving an appointment the other day, an old
lady with a muddy cane started walking with us.  As she was talking,
she got so into her story that she started waving her cane in the air.
 Sister Schocker got hit in the back of the head.  I have no idea what
the lady was saying because I was laughing so hard.  She wasn't hurt,
but it's not every day and old lady gets so carried away in a story
that she hits the American in the head with her cane... and of course
all the neighbors and bystanders were laughing too... because of
course they were all watching when it happened, haha.

We had surprise clean checks this week.  Good thing our apartment
wasn't too dirty to clean in a few minutes.  Elder and Sister
Robinson, two senior couple missionaries came to check.  I love them
so much.  We just talked for like half an hour with them, asking about
their mission and what they do.  It sounds so great!  I so want to go
on a senior couple mission!  I'm jealous of you, mom and dad!!! haha,
joke lang, this mission is the best thing ever. :D  Anyways, they are
going home in 2 months and they're super sad about it!  Elder Robinson
started to cry when we were talking about it.

So I had a PAT ring made here in the Philippines by the bishop's
brother.  It's pretty sweet.  PAT stands for Pumili Ang Tama.. or in
English, Choose the Right! :D  He engraved on the inside for me
Philippines Iloilo Mission 2012-2013.  I love it!

We woke up this morning at 3am to do our personal study..... and then
companionship study at 4, and then at 5 we went to the beach for maybe
the last time for me.  I took some pictures, but I forgot my cord, so
sorry no pictures this week.  I am super tired, but hopefully we'll be
able to get everything done early today so maybe.... just maybe... I
might be able to get a short nap sometime later.  I have a ton of
stuff to do today though.  Including laundry...

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  Enjoy getting together for
Daniel's wedding.  I'm sorry I can't be there, but I hope you all
understand :)  No one wishes more than I do that I could be there, but
I know that this is where I need to be right now.  I know that each
and every one of you will come to my wedding someday... right?  :D
Start saving your pennies...
I love you all!!!  I hope you all have a fantabulous week and continue
to choose the right.  I was going to share a short spiritual message
about trials, but I'm out of time... so you can all look forward to
that next week.  And in the meantime, know that I'm thinking and
praying about you all.  Congratulations Daniel and Jennifer!

Sister McClellan

Week 28

Dear Family,

This letter is going to be full of random stories and fun facts...
hope you're excited.
Last week on P-Day, we were eating in Jolibee in the "mall".  We were
sitting by the window and as everyone passed by, they just stared at
us.  Of course that's not very unusual, but some of them came right up
to the glass, open-mouthed.... I felt like I was some animal displayed
in a zoo, literally.  I imagine that's how animals might feel as
people press up against the glass gawking at them, haha.  And when we
waved or smiled at them, they got WAY too excited.  Oh man, I love the
people here so much.

We love to buy dirty icecream from little kids on the street riding
bikes.  We call it dirty because we don't think they use filtered
water, but we found out yesterday that they use mineral water so maybe
it's good after all!  The kids make the icecream themselves (adults
too)  and they ride around all day selling it.  It's like the icecream
man... and music plays too while they ride.  It's pretty good
icecream.  We ate ubay and mangga flavored icecream. :)

They also have these things called "chunggies"  which are everywhere.
People sell stuff on the streets and through windows in their homes.
We buy snacks and drinks from them all the time.  It's a good way to
talk to people and find new investigators too!

Last night we discovered a lizard skeleton in our bathroom door.  It
looked as though they had been squished when the door was shut and
died and no one noticed them for who knows how long.  I was nominated
to thrown them away, as always because everyone else is too scared to
get close to anything gross.  I always kill the spiders and stuff in
this apartment.  I haven't been able to catch a mouse yet but we know
they live with us.  Their poop is always everywhere.  The other night
even I got a little scared.  As I was falling asleep, something landed
on my head and then I saw it's shadow run across the room.  I turned
on the light and it was just a cockroach, but I had a hard time going
back to sleep, haha.  And the ants here are giants... I've never seen
ants that huge...

So... if you ever wear red here... apparently it's your birthday.  I
have one red shirt and every time I wear it, I hear people call out
"happy birthday!" to me.  It's pretty funny... I don't know why they
do that.  And Filipino people do weird things with their mouths, haha.
 If they don't understand something you are saying, they open their
mouth really wide, like a fish.  I've found myself doing this as well
a lot lately.  They also point to things using their lips.  And they
make kissy noises to get people's attention or to signal a Jeepney
driver that they want to get off.  It's a completely normal thing to
do.  I haven't mastered it quite yet.  There are so many random things
that are so commonplace to me now that I'm sure I haven't written
about. Sorry about that.

Elder Vuiasawa in our district has Dange? Fever.  It's pretty bad. He
was in the hospital for a couple days.  I don't know much about
that... except it's from mosquito bites or something like that...
anyways... tani I don't get it.  We visited him in the hospital and he
didn't look too good.  But he's better now I think.

We have the best stake president in the world.  He and his family are
some of the best people I have ever met. I want to be just like them
someday :D  First, President worked with us all day on Thursday.  He
wouldn't accept any money for the gas or travel.  And when we thought
he was taking us home at night, he took a wrong turn.  He asked us if
we knew where we were going.  I said no... and he said we had one more
person to reactivate.  I said okay!  He ended up taking us to his
house (talking about his wife who is super active)  and feeding us
dinner. He kidnapped us!  And then he and his wife came to drop us
off.  That night we were wondering who would work with us the next day
when their daughter texted and asked if she could work with us... an
answer to our prayer.  They are just so great!

Oh... and what's going on in the East?  I've been hearing stories
about storms and people dying and crisis... is it true?  And
apparently President Obama is still our president... ?

I am getting so excited for Christmas.  They have been playing
Christmas songs for a couple months now... and been putting up
Christmas lights all over.  They don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but I
think we will be having a dinner with a member or something.  They do
celebrate Christmas here though.  I don't know what we will be doing
on those days... maybe nothing will be different in our schedule,
haha.  So it could be fun!

Valentino was ordained to the office of Priest yesterday.  I'm so
happy for him!  And Karla gave her first talk in Sacrament meeting.
She did such a good job, even though she was nervous.  JR is still
working at learning to read and he's improving!  And Aillene will be
moving home to her parents soon, who live kind of far away where there
is no church  :(  I hope she'll still be able to make it to church
every Sunday... I don't know how much choice she has though... that's
the only sad news.  But her testimony is still strong and she loves
the Book of Mormon.  They are all so wonderful!

Thanks so much everyone for your letters and prayers, I love you all!
Sister McClellan

Week 27

Valentino was baptized on Saturday!  The most exciting thing was that
his mom and little sister were able to attend and we didn't think that
anyone from his family would attend.  Of course his in-laws were all
able to come, but this was extra-special.  His little sister is the
cutest little girl ever!  I want to teach his family SO badly!

This week was SO hard!  Probably the hardest yet of my entire mission.
 They have some different holidays here.  Thursday was All Saints Day
and then Friday was All Souls Day.  They are kind of like our memorial
day.  Everyone gathers and has get-togethers and eats sticky rice...
Thursday, almost every house we went to fed us sticky rice.  Sticky
rice is pretty cool.  Esmunro Bermejo showed us his "magic trick."  He
plopped a big serving of rice on his plate and then held the plate
upside down and the rice didn't budge. haha.  They also visit the
cemeteries and their loved ones who have passed away.  At first I
thought it was like their Halloween, because some people dressed up in
costumes and in the stores, it looked like they celebrated Halloween
here, but they don't really.  From what I understand... All Saints Day
is more like celebrating life and is a more positive holiday and then
All Souls Day is more for mourning the loss of their loved ones...
even now I'm not exactly sure.  But because of these holidays... we
were punted from almost every lesson.  No one was home!!! And those
who were just fed us sticky rice as they were running out the door.
It was exhausting.  So from Wednesday until Saturday, we didn't get
very many lessons completed at all.

Now that Valentino has been
baptized and confirmed, we don't really have any progressing
investigators.  We have two with a baptismal date, but they haven't
been coming to church and we have been having a hard time getting a
hold of them, so we aren't sure how prepared or interested they are
after all. Hopefully this next week will be much better. :-)

So, why have I never really known much about the Liahona Magazine?
That's all we get here and I love it!  We have been teaching a lot of
lessons lately about the Liahona from Alma 37 and how we can compare
the Book of Mormon and other scriptures to the Liahona.  Our
scriptures really are a guide, a compass for us in this life, and if
we follow the guidance it gives us, it will help us to overcome our
trials and sorrows and obtain happiness and a greater "land of
promise."  I know this is true.  I love the scriptures so much,
especially the Book of Mormon. I know it is the word of God and was
written, "prepared by the Lord" for us, in this day and age.  :D

Love you all,
Sister McClellan