Week 69

yay, we had another baptism! Brother Vicinte was finally baptized and he was more than ready and excited.  It was so great when he shared his testimony and almost started crying.  And the best part... Brother Romeo, our other recent convert was the one to baptize him.  It was a great opportunity for brother Romeo to exercise his Priesthood and serve God and his friend.  It was a super happy day. :D  And I'm excited to see both of them continue to progress in the gospel and have them accept and magnify important callings in the church :)

After that we had a Branch Family Home Evening.  We actually had several investigators attend which was awesome! Denmark, Jr, Ofelia, Sister Delacruz, Katkat, and also many members and recent converts as well.  It was so much fun! We gave the lesson and the games for everyone and the relief society provided some good food for everyone. I'm so proud of this branch. :D  

So.... I have some sad news (for me) but it's okay, really!  I believe it's meant to be, haha. There was a mistake in my request to extend and so I will for sure be going home in October. That's just way too soon!!! President Aquino told me after Zone Conference on Wednesday that he did everything he could and the final answer was no. :(  So... yeah! I'm just praying now that I don't get transferred because that will be my very last transfer and I really would love to stay in this area and help all my progressing investigators with baptismal dates! I want to stay and see them all be baptized! Transfers are just 2 weeks away! :(

The mission is seriously the best thing ever. I'm pretty sure that I say that every week, but I'm not kidding. I don't want any of you to think I'm just writing the good stuff and keeping the other stuff quiet... because I really am enjoying every minute of my mission. I heard someone say once that if someone says that their mission was really the best two years, they are lying... but I don't believe that's true.  So far... this has been the best 16 months of my life. :D I'm sure there will be other times in my life when it gets better... :D but so far.... oh man.  It's all good!!! :D I have nothing bad to say about it right now! haha.  And it's not just because we had a baptism... even when no one's accepting the message, it's great... as long as we're doing our best. :D

Oh, this morning our district went to the zoo!  It was pretty cool! It didn't have any big mammals or anything... mostly just birds and fish and cats and dogs... which was actually kind of sad... but there were some ostriches and some spotted deer creatures... and some dead snakes... and some live ones... it was great! hehehe. :D

ummmmmmm..... I really want to be writing more of my spiritual experiences... so this week I'm making it a goal to keep track of all of them so I have a more spiritually uplifting email to send next week, haha.  Because they are happening all the time... I just have a hard time recalling them...

oh, and I have lots of pictures to send, but earlier when I started this email, there was a brown out, so we only have a little time now before our FHE tonight... so you'll have to wait until next week. :D Sorry!!!

so anyways, love you all and I look forward to seeing you all again... don't worry, I'm not getting trunky yet... just excited, haha.  :D

halong!

Sister McClellan

Week 68

We had a wonderful week this week!  Our Zone Training Meeting went well and we were able to think of some fun activities to do with all the missionaries. Wednesday we went on exchanges for training purposes and I went to City and stayed with a sister there, Sister Ili, who is Samoan.  She is awesome and it's cool because she almost looks Filipina.  Some people are surprised when she starts talking because she has a unique accent.  It's nice in City... but I'm sure glad that my area is Oton, haha.  City is sooooo different!  The people are super nice and everything, but I like all the fresh air and fields and ocean that I've been lucky to have in all my other areas. :D

So, we're super excited about the next few weeks.  We have baptisms scheduled for every week!  This Saturday is finally brother Vicinte who is super prepared and excited.  Then next Friday will be brother Reynaldo! yay!!! and then the next week, two young men, Denmark and JR, who are both awesome and I'm sure they will both become wonderful missionaries some day.  We have several others scheduled for the month of September as well.  This work is super exciting!!!  

I don't know if I mentioned this already, but if you remember, in Antique I had an investigator, brother Freddie who is deaf and didn't know how to sign or read, but was coming to church every sunday.  Sister Aurelio and I had some fun trying to teach him the lessons. Well, I was recently informed that he was baptized!!  that's so exciting!  I don't know if he learned to sign or read, but I'm glad he was finally able to be baptized because I know he's been wanting to for a long time.

I can't express how much I love this gospel.  I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true and living church on the face of the earth and I know that this is true because I have received a witness from the holy ghost on many occasions. I can't deny what I have felt and know.  I know that God lives and loves each and every one of us and He is closer than we sometimes think.  He is watching over us and I know that if we continue doing the things that we know we should, we will be able to live with Him and our families again someday.  If we don't... we won't.  It's so simple.  And I know it's true.  I know Jesus Christ is my Savior.  My knowledge of His Atonement for me is what drives me to work my hardest every day here in the mission field and what encourages me to continue to strive to become like Him.  I love Him.  And I know He loves me.  And... that makes me happy! :D I don't think I've ever felt such joy before for such a long period of time... I would feel joy like this after a day in the temple or after a great personal study or devotional or something, but this joy has been with me for the last 16 months and it keeps growing brighter and brighter :D.  It's an indescribable feeling! :D  service is a key to happiness, I totally recommend it to anyone who ever feels anything other than joy :D

Love you all!

SIster McClellan

Week 67

Why is it that I'm always like giddy happy whenever I'm writing these emails? Anyways... I'm just SOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy right now! Life just couldn't get any better right now!  I've never had so many investigators come to church. We had 10 investigators plus several children and others who aren't yet investigators.  Our sunday school class was overflowing and I was fighting back tears of joy, haha. (I'm still fighting back tears of joy just thinking about it, haha) Our recent convert, brother Romeo passed the sacrament yesterday which was so wonderful to see.  And brother Reynaldo is completely over his Word of Wisdom problem and for the first time, his wife accompanied him at church. He's been praying (and maybe fasting) so hard for that.  Hopefully the two of them will be able to be baptized together on September 7th. I am so happy and so excited for them.  Goodness, this mission just keeps getting better and better!  We also have found several new investigators who have cars and are excited about us coming back and sharing more.

I also had an epic spider-killing experience.  I've seen 3 or four giant spiders in the last few days... one of them was in our house... and it was huge and was carrying a huge egg thing filled with babies.  I tried to kill it with permetherin, but it escaped and I ended up just hitting it with the empty bottle and the egg exploded and baby spiders went everywhere... they all died in the spilled permetherin.  It was pretty gross and I couldn't get the image out of my mind for hours... at least I got the whole thing on video... :)  You'll see it when I come home, haha.  

Let's see... what else happened... tomorrow, Sister Peralta and I will be giving a training in Zone Meeting again... so please pray for us, because we aren't quite prepared yet, haha.  We've been having a few sleepless nights trying to come up with good ideas.  It will all work out, but prayers would definitely be helpful.

Today I was talking to our Mission President, President Aquino and he asked when I was going home.  I said December, and he looked confused... he said he thought he had seen me on the October list... I explained what had happened and he was like... well would you like to extend? I said yes please! And he said he'd work it all out, so I'm super excited... I almost lost my chance to stay! And I didn't even know I was still on the October list.  So... yay!!! I get to stay to see all the changes that will be happening in November! 

The mission is. the. best. No regrets. It's full of excitement and joy and love.  I think that's one thing I've learned the most about here on the mission. About love. How to love and how to show love for others and for God.  I've even gained love for myself :D  how to accept love from others... it's become easy to love.  Even when others are doing palakpat things or when they are so different... it's easy to love them.  I've learned more about God's love and every day I learn more.  Love is so important and it's awesome!. :D  I love you all!!!! 

Sister McClellan 

Week 66

something's wrong with the keyboard. i don't know how to fix it, haha. anyways...

this week was really crazy! i was really sad to see sister butler leave but i know she was excited and ready to go home, so of course i'm happy for her.  but because she left me on tuesday morning, and transfer meeting wasn't until friday, i didn't have a companion for three whole days.  i was very lucky to have a member work with me so i didn't have to be in a threesome with the other sisters. it would have been fun but i wouldn't have been able to help the investigators in my area!  so this member, sister ilona, is waiting for her mission call and we got it worked out where she could even do studies with me and plan with me and sleep at our house... so she really got to see what missionary life is like. i'm excited for her!  so friday was transfers and i was asked to do a musical number... i did something that i've always wanted to do... haha.  i'm not sure if it was really allowed in a meeting like that, but no one said anything... i got the other sisters in my zone to sing with me and we sang come thou fount... and during part of it i did a little beat boxing... just a nice soft beat, nothing weird... i thought it sounded nice... it got a lot of smiles from the elders :)  hehe.  so my new companion is sister peralta.  she is from manila and is turning 28 this month.  but she looks younger than me, haha.  she is a very skilled missionary and i'm excited to work with her.  she's very sweet and i've enjoyed these last few days with her!

so brother reynaldo... goodness i love him so much. so, shortly after he got a priesthood blessing from our branch president a few weeks ago, he started improving dramatically in his word of wisdom.  every day he was going down... from 10 cigarettes a day to 8 to 6 to 4 and then he got seriously sick. after he got a blessing last week for his sickness, he went to the hospital the next day.  he stayed there for a couple days. when he came home, he was feeling much, much better and he said he's pretty sure he's completely overcome his word of wisdom and it won't be coming back.  it was really hard on his body stopping his addiction all of a sudden, but through the help of priesthood blessings, he was able to do it quickly. once he got sick, he never had another cigarette.  his sickness was actually a blessing! i really admire his faith and his determination to stop, despite how hard it was.  i've had many investigators who have expressed the desire to stop their addiction, but i've never met someone who tried so hard so quickly to stop.  usually the response is amat-amat lang. or it will take some time... and yeah, they really want to stop, but he really put forth action and exercised his faith and we were able to see a miracle.  in just a few weeks, he has completely overcome his addiction. and his sickness is gone. he came to church yesterday with a smile on his face.  i think he'll be ready for baptism on his scheduled date, sept 7. :D  now he and we are all praying that his wife will soften her heart and accept the gospel as well.  she keeps saying that she will someday, but something is holding her back... she's procrastinating... so we would appreciate your prayers as well :D

congratulations mom and dad that you were chosen to extend your mission! that's awesome! i was hoping i would have the opportunity to see you guys as missionaries there in nauvoo. i also will be extending. so i will be coming home in the very beginning of december, i'm not sure the exact date yet. wow how time flies! part of me wishes i could stay here forever... and part of me is starting to feel ready to go home, haha.  i have a feeling that when the time comes, it will feel like the perfect time. :D

i love you all soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much and i pray for you all every day! and i am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to spend the rest of my life and all eternity with you so make sure you all stay worthy! okay? we are coming into some crazy times with lots and lots of temptations... it's going to become harder and harder to be a member of this church... the work is hastening... on both sides... satan does not want the work to progress... of course we know the work will progress whether he likes it or not, but we can't let him get to us.  we have to stand strong... 'be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works.' that means ALWAYS!  so get up and get to work!!! today! :D love you all!

sister mcclellan