Week 48

Mayad nga aga!  To make this easy, I'm going to copy some of my
journal entries from this last week.  I hope you enjoy. :D

I think I'm finally getting good at washing laundry by hand... and at
cooking Filipino food.  My bata is training me well, haha! :D I
learned how to make Manggo Float this week, mmmm! :D  And it's SO
easy!!!  I've also learned how to make a ton of other things with
rice.  I actually love rice now!  I am becoming dependent on it.  I
don't eat it EVERY meal yet, like some people do, but at least once
every day. I'm really embracing the culture and I'm going to miss it a
whole lot :(  Last week we had an FHE with a less-active family and we
were outside on the beach.  Their little 7 year old boy, while I was
teaching, put a small jellyfish on my seat and then put my hand on it.
 Gross!!! hehe.  They also were playing with a leach... I'm glad they
didn't make me touch that.
We met a group of Babjao? the other day... it's like a race from
Manila and they have no education... they are just a bunch of kids who
are raised to ask people for money. Usually when they beg for food or
things at the market, I feel really uncomfortable because we aren't
allowed to give them money... but one of our potential investigators
live right next to the group and they are actually a bunch of really
cute kids.  I was scared of them at first, especially when the little
baby was pulling on my skirt too... but now I'm hoping that we can
teach them as well and maybe even help them to learn to read if at all
possible.  They are really nice.  We also started teaching a couple
muslims last week who have never heard anything about Christian
beliefs before. It was so hard to explain about Jesus Christ! But I
really hope they were able to feel the spirit and continue listening.
They laughed at me at first... I don't think they had ever heard an
American speaking their language before... I was just glad they
understood the Karay-a because I know they have their own language as
well...?
Haha, in a teaching setting, I have no problem speaking the
language... but in regular day to day settings... I don't know why I
can't just speak to people normally, haha!  It might be in part
because people naturally assume that all I know is English... but I
had a funny experience last week.  I went to the post office to post a
letter... and I don't understand myself... I know perfectly well how
to say "hi, I would like to send a letter to America" in their
language... but instead, I stand there awkwardly and hand the worker
my letter, just looking at him expectantly... waiting for him to
figure out what I want as he stares at me blankly. haha... no wonder
people think I don't know how to speak the language, haha.  We later
found out that the worker I was talking to was the branch president in
the Dao branch.  I felt better after a while because he started to
talk to us and we found out who he was, but how embarrassing! haha. :D
 I have been told quite a lot lately though that I don't really have
an American accent, which makes me really happy.  Sometimes people
actually think I'm fluent!  But I know that's not true.
Last week was holy week.  One day, there was a procession, or like a
religious parade thing down the city and so the tricycles couldn't get
through, so we walked... but we could hardly get through!  People
lined the road and were all watching and there was no way around... so
sister Aurelio and I just walked in front of all the people quickly
all the way down the procession!  I heard people all around me saying
"Hey look! There's an American!" And people were taking pictures, etc.
 I felt so bad!  Like I was being very disrespectful to their
religious celebration.  I imagined the next days news headlines "Kana
desecrates sacred Catholic Procession" or something like that... haha.
So far I haven't heard anything more about it so I guess I'm okay,
haha. :D
Saturday there was a young man activity which was awesome!  All the
young men ages 12-18 were invited for the whole Antique Zone to help
them prepare for their missions.  They first had a devotional thing
where President Pagaduan spoke to them.  Then they split up into their
different "districts" and had a "district meeting" taught by the
elders, where the Elders taught them how to place a book of mormon,
etc.  Then they had lunch, and then for the next 3 hours they went out
in their companionships to different areas to place books of mormons
and pamphlets... but only in the San Jose areas... which means my area
and the other sister's area.  When they came back and reported to
us... we got 40 referrals!!! The other sisters got 20.  Crazy!  I
don't know how we are going to contact them all, but I thought that
was an awesome activity for the young men to get excited about doing
missionary work.  They were all wearing little pin-on nametags and
they looked adorable, haha.  I've never heard of any activity like
that before, but I think it was awesome! :D  At the devotional, I was
part of a group that sang a musical number, "Come thou Fount"  I
really love that song... :D
This was a really incredible week.  I am really feeling pumped about
missionary work.  It's so fulfilling! We taught 32 lessons this
week... and I'm tired... but pumped.  It is so exciting to see people
accepting the gospel.  Sister Thelma's baptism is April 20th and she
is so excited for it as well as us.  She has already seen it changing
her life and she likes the change.  I am so grateful to be a member of
the true church. It is the best thing in the world. We meet a lot of
opposition as well, but we know that we are doing God's will.  I am
surprised at how we can stay so happy and positive, even when someone
is yelling at us or something.  We just love them... and someday
hopefully they will accept the gospel as well.  I love this work and I
love Jesus Christ.  :D  I love you all,
Sister McClellan

Week 47

It was a great week!! Garing, for some reason I feel un-motivated to write..
I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting yesterday.  It went really well, I
didn't have too much preparation, but I'm getting much more
comfortable just saying whatever comes to my mind and it always turns
out all right.  The language is not a barrier for me anymore.  It's
wonderful.  I talked about the importance of the BOM and how even if
you have read it a thousand times, we should continue to read it and
study it daily.  I talked about the power of the BOM and about how we
can and should apply it to our daily lives.
I'm so excited mom and dad for you both.  Not too long and you will be
serving as well!  Wearing the name tag is a great experience.  Just
talk to everyone you meet and refer them ALL to the missionaries,
haha.  The young missionaries there will love you. :D  Nami gid!
And... I'm also excited for Jarom and his family being sealed to Emma.
  Thank you April for sending me the blogs.  I really appreciate
knowing what's going on at home.  Heather will be having her baby
soon!  That's also very exciting.  I'm so grateful to have such a
wonderful family.  Thanks for your support and prayers.  I know you
all love me. :D I hope you all have a wonderful week.  Love you,
Heidi

Week 46

Hello wonderful family!
This has been a wonderful week!  We have been having great success!
Our investigator Sister Thelma is doing really well.  She accepted the
invitation to be baptized this last week and said she is very sure
about it.  She came to district conference yesterday and although she
couldn't understand what they were saying because it was an English
broadcast where Elder Holland, Elder Hales, and Sister Cook spoke, she
said she really felt a really good feeling just being there.  We are
excited for her as well as for Brother Reynaldo, who we are trying to
help get married.  We have several progressing investigators and now
we are just struggling trying to find a balance between investigator
lessons and less-active lessons, because we kind of struggled in that
area this week.  Also, sister Geraldine came to church and Brother
Renato.  They are both progressing as well, and working towards
baptism. Sister Aurelio and I are both doing very well and are
enjoying the work. I know that this is the Lord's work and I am so
grateful to be here.
This last week, we went to Iloilo for a trainers/trainees meeting,
which was very uplifting and helpful!  And it's amazing how the Lord
helps make up for things in different ways... like we were out 2 days
because of the trip, which would have made it difficult to teach all
the lessons we would usually teach, but somehow we were able to get
more investigator lessons than we ever have any other week.  It was a
Wednesday and Thursday which are normally some of the busiest days
even!  But we were able to teach all those people we had planned for
on the other days of the week.  It was amazing!  And we were really
able to help our key investigators to make some very important
commitments.  They are progressing and we love them so much!  I'm
going to be so sad when I transfer. :(
Okay... Maybe I'll regret telling you all this... because I'm super
embarrassed about it... but... I got bit by a monkey. :/ I wasn't
playing with it, I promise!!! I just... wanted a picture with it...
and it climbed on my shoulder and bit me...  but not because it was
angry... I must have just looked delicious or something... :D  My bata
was super scared for me... she thought I was going to get rabies or
something... so while we were in Iloilo, I mentioned it to Sister
Pagaduan, our missionary mother :) and showed her the bite, and she
said it was okay.  I don't have to worry about it after all.  Whew!!!
I did NOT want to get a rabies shot, haha.  I wonder if that happens
to missionaries a lot, because she didn't seem to be surprised in the
least!  She just said to call her if I start acting like a monkey...
:D  Since this experience... I have been much more careful around
animals.  I'm glad it wasn't anything worse, haha.  I feel so dumb!!
What a bad example I was for my bata!  It could have been awful...
so... all of you.... stay away from monkeys!!! They can't be trusted!
haha.  But they are still my favorite animal, haha. :D
Other than that, missionary life is amo man gihapon (still the same).
But is very enjoyable.  I really love every minute of it, especially
when you can see the changes that people are making in their lives.
We have one investigator, Brother Roxas, who loves to talk. :D  It is
very difficult to get a word in sometimes, haha, but we love him so
much.  I'm surprised at the love that we feel for our investigators.
At first, he really seemed indifferent about our lessons and he just
wanted to share what he believed more than anything else I think.  Now
though, I think he gets excited when he sees us coming... maybe he's
still excited to share what he believes, but that's okay.  We can
really see how his beliefs are becoming closer and closer to the truth
and we can see his faith building.  He is unsure about when he will be
willing to be baptized, but he is getting closer.  He will be a
wonderful church leader someday.  I just wish I could stay here to see
it happen...  Sometimes the hardest part of missionary work is knowing
that you will be leaving them someday.  I'm just glad there will
always be other missionaries to take my place and that there are more
and more missionaries coming and more and more missions opening.  It's
so wonderful!
I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful for
this wonderful opportunity that I have to be a servant in God's hands.
 Realizing how much my testimony has strengthened over the past year,
makes me ever-grateful for my decision to serve a full-time mission.
I can't believe I only have 8 months or so left.  Noooooo...... :D  I
am definitely going to follow my parent's example and serve as a
couple missionary with my future husband someday. :D

Sister McClellan

Week 45

Mayad nga hapon!  I’m emailing in the afternoon because the internet
wasn’t working this morning.  I just finished playing some soccer and
basketball and Frisbee at the park.  That was really fun, but now I am
super kapoy!!! (tired).
This morning, I had a kind of funny experience.  Sister Aurelio pulled
out a dime from her wallet, and I had no idea what it was.  She told
me it was the young woman torch on the back and I asked where she got
it.  She said an elder from America gave it to her.  That’s when I
realized it was a dime!!! But, for some reason it looked way too tiny
to be a dime.  Are dimes really that small??? I didn’t believe her for
a few minutes.  I thought it was fake.  But now I’m starting to
believe, maybe it really is a dime.  Weird.  The other day when we
were visiting the Americans, we saw a fake flower boquet made out of
real dollar bills and it took me by surprise too.  It was so funny.
I’m so used to the money here now.
We had a really good week this week.  For the first time in my whole
mission, we almost achieved every one of our weekly goals.  We were
very excited about that.  We had many member present lessons and 5
investigators at church, including 3 for the very first time who we
have been trying to get to church for many weeks.  We also have 7 new
investigators!  It was a very busy, busy week… and yet we feel like we
could do better.  Especially since we teach so many lessons which we
think went well and then they don’t keep commitments….   But they
will :D  Our investigator Reynaldo wants to be baptized so badly.  I
think he is the investigator who has the most desire to be baptized.
The problem is kasal (marriage).  They don’t have the money to get
married.  And every time they get close to saving enough, it seems,
one of their children get sick and they have to spend the money on
hospital or medicine.  I wish I could help them more.  His wife told
us the other day secretly that he has been practicing his testimony
for after his baptism.  He is really excited!  And I just thought that
was the best thing ever.  It made me smile a lot.
We had a really wonderful experience the other day.  We visited a
less-active member who has been less active for several years.  She
was sealed in the temple and now is separated from her husband.  They
have 2 adopted children who she is caring for.  Last Sunday, she came
to church and had her son given a baby blessing who just turned 3 this
week.  And she said the closing prayer in sacrament meeting.  Then
when we visited her, she told us it was time for her to come back.
She really wants her sons to be raised in the church and for them to
serve missions someday.  She shared with us the scriptures that she
read in D&C 6 that comforted her, which are also the same scriptures
that comfort me so often.  She wants to be worthy to hold a temple
recommend again.  And she wants to be sealed to her children… but I
don’t really know how she can do that… without her husband…?
Anyways, it’s been a fun week, full of good experiences.  As well as
some others that I will share after the mission is over, haha.  Kamaan
ko gid nga matuod gid and simbahan naton.  Kamaan ko gid nga kon
magpadayon kita sa ebanghelyo ni jesucristo, mangin mas malipay kita,
bala haw?  Sadya gid ang missionary work.  Excited gid ako para
kaninyo, especially para sa ginikanan ko, kay magmission man sanda!!!
Yippee!  Padayon kamo tanan nga mangin righteous sa adlaw-adlaw.
Palangga ko gid kamo.  Nahidlaw ko kaninyo, pero, mas importante kon
ano ginahimo ko kadya.  So, halong kamo pirme, ha.  Take care, and
continue to Lift where you Stand! :D
Love, Sister McClellan

Week 44

 Hello Family.
This was a really great week.  We taught many, many lessons and have several investigators.  We get more and more investigators every week.   The challenge is helping them to progress, but we believe that they will.  We had some good experiences.  At the wedding last monday, we were invited by the wife of an americano to his birthday party. So on Wednesday, we went to his birthday party and found the biggest gathering of americanos than I had seen in a really long time.  I found it so hard and slightly awkward to talk to them.  I don't know why, but I was super nervous to even approach them and say hi.  I have no social skills around americans!! haha.  But we did and found out they are all from America and many of them have retired and are living here with their Filipina wives.  None of them know the language at all... but they were very nice.  One of them was a less-active member from Mississippi and had a very strong accent.  He stopped coming to church because he didn't understand what anyone was saying and felt
like it was pointless... the only part of church he understood was the sacrament.  We tried to help him as best we could, but being at a party... we couldn't really teach a lesson ;D  but we know the elders have been visiting him at his home.  The house we were at though was probably one of the biggest houses I have ever seen... and right on the beach.  We were able to get a few addresses of people though and have been trying to contact them all and teach them.  It's been fun.

Another good experience.  Sister Geraldine, one of our good investigators, had a concern about being baptized because her family were all of a different religion.  This last week we had the opportunity to teach her father about baptism.  We were really not expecting his response.  When we first began teaching him a few weeks ago, if we invited him to church, he would just say that he was going to go to his church, but this last time, we taught about baptism from 2 Nephi 31 and he accepted the invitation to be baptized! And he said that he and Geraldine would both be coming to church.  The spirit was so strong in that lesson and Sister Aurelio and I had big smiles on our faces as we left.  Then Sunday came... and they didn't come.  But you don't need to know that part, haha.

We are still enjoying this work.  We continue to visit all these people and help them to build their faith.  And once their faith has increased to the point where
they come to church or keep other commitments, their faith will continue to increase because of their exercising of their faith and keeping of their commitments.  And they will be baptized. :D

This work is really satisfying.  Of course we also have a lot of disappointments and challenges, but that's to be expected.  We will never give up.  We won't stop trying, even when the mighty winds come
and the fiery darts of the adversary, etc. come. We are doing what we can to raise our warning voices. We are calling the world to repentance :D  Like Ammon, Alma, and my other heroes in the Book of
Mormon. :D  It's awesome.
Love you all,
Have a wonderful week
Sister McClellan