Week 23

Dear Family,
Wow, I didn't know about the change in ages for missionaries... what
exactly did they say?  I guess by the time I read your reply I'll
know.  Last night as I was teaching a lesson about following the
prophet, I realized that you were all watching General Conference at
the exact same time... I so longed to be with you all... but I know I
will get to watch it next week.  I am so excited to listen.  I was
able to watch the General Relief Society Meeting on Saturday which was
so good.  I love the new RS General Presidency!  I Think that's
awesome though about the change!!! There's a need for more
missionaries... :)  I just got chills, haha.  The world is being
prepared for the second coming!!  This last Sunday was our first
Sunday with sacrament meeting in Panay and it was such a good
experience.  I can really see that the people here are being prepared
to receive the gospel and the members who have gone astray will come
back.  Missionary Work is so, so important.  There are so many members
here that are sacrificing so much now to go on missions.  One of the
members of the Bermejo family who works with us often is preparing to
serve a mission and we have been helping him and others to prepare as
best we can.  Our recent convert, Rodolfo, also wants to go, but he
doesn't know how to read.  He only went to school for 1st grade.  We
have been helping him as best we can to learn to read so that he can
have a good mission experience.  But I know that the Lord can use
every person's help, no matter what their circumstances.  Every person
who has the knowledge that we do has the responsibility to make these
things known to others. Think about this statement.  "Someday everyone
will know what you know.  And, they will know that you knew it."
During one of my personal studies this week, I studied a talk about
the ABC's to an abundant life.  Attitude, Believe, and Courage.  These
three things make all the difference!  I could expound on these
things, but I don't have time, haha.  As I have tried to apply these
things into my work and to help others as well, I have seen how it has
affected everything around me.  Another thing I read this morning from
the Liahona is "Heavenly Father is only a prayer away and the Holy
Ghost is within whispering distance."  I know that these words are
true.  They can hear you even when no one else can.  Never hesitate to
ask them for help or to thank them for the blessing which you have
received.
I love the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. As I have been
studying them daily, they have been becoming more and more meaningful
to me.  I never appreciated them the way that I do now.  I think when
I was younger, sometimes I felt bored while reading them, but it's so
exciting when you read a scripture you've read maybe a thousand times
and then all of a sudden it makes sense... and then the next day you
read it again... and you learn something entirely different.  And then
each scripture begins to connect to all the others... and each chapter
to each chapter... and then the book as a whole... you begin to
realize what it is you are really holding in your hands... I know that
the Book of Mormon is the Word of God.  We are SOOOO blessed to have
it.  Search, Ponder, and Pray every day from the scriptures, and I
KNOW you will be blessed.  I KNOW you will feel the love of God and
will feel closer to Him and be able to recognize His hand in your
life.  This church is true.  We are here for a purpose.  Don't forget
your purpose here on earth.  And don't do ANYTHING that would keep you
from returning to God's presence.  Repent Daily!  Study Repentance.
Learn how to repent.  Learn the commandments and follow them!  Ponder
frequently the Atonement of our Savior and Brother.  If we understand
that, there is no way we would forget to pay our tithing, or have
family home evening, or do home teaching, or to keep your food storage
up to date, or to exercise and keep your bodies healthy, or follow any
other counsel we have been given.... of course none of us are
perfect... but we can do our best and repent and set goals to CHANGE
when we fall short.  I just thought of a ton of things that I need to
repent of right now. :-)
Gutom gid ako! :-)
Love you all,
Sister McClellan

Week 22

Hey!
I've been in the field for 3 whole months now!  I thought I would be a
much better missionary by now, haha.  Oh well, I have a feeling I'll
never be where I would like to be. It's a lifelong process... :-)
I'm getting a little nervous for the day Sister Swarna leaves me,
haha.  She's my nanay in the field (mother).  I am her bata (child).
She's finished raising me (I'm finished with the 12 week training
program), but it's time for me to be on my own... I'm a little excited
and nervous at the same time.  Just like in real life, huh? :-)  Of
course I won't really be on my own, I'll have my new companion, but I
will have to remember where everyone lives and all about their
situations in life and how to help them and I'll really have to use my
Hiligaynon so much more.  It will be good for me.

I think the biggest thing that I'm learning more and more each day is
how to love.  I have to love everyone!  And sometimes it's not easy to
love someone who has different standards and beliefs than you do, but
it's not until you soften your heart and love them, that hearts are
changed, your own included.  I don't know if that really made a lot of
sense... it's so complicated... I have to think about others and love
others with all my heart and not think about myself at all for the
work to be as good as it can, but in the process... I am being changed
without even realizing it... and realizing that I need to change
myself... without focusing on myself... hahaha.  I'm confusing myself
now.  It's so hard to explain.  But after changes start to happen, it
becomes easier and easier to love and to help others.  Anyways... I'm
sure at least some of you kind of understand :-)  especially those who
are married.

Sorry I'm so bad at writing good emails... I have such a hard time
thinking about what to write about.  And the time goes by so quickly.
I love your letters though!  Thanks for everyone who's written me.
I'm sorry I'm so bad at writing back.  There is seriously hardly any
time.  I think Preparation Days are just as busy if not busier than
every other day, especially because it takes so much time and energy
to wash laundry by hand.  I'm not complaining though :)  I really like
everything about this place. I could live here forever!  :)
I love you all!

Heidi

Week 21

Hey!
It's been a good, busy week!  We have a lot of new investigators with
baptismal dates.  The main test is whether or not they come to church
which a lot of them have problems with for financial or other reasons.
 If they aren't coming to church, they can't be baptized, so it's a
difficult situation.  But we have a lot of hope for these people.  We
are planning on starting a sacrament meeting in Panay in just a couple
weeks so I'm hoping that once we have that established, many members
will come back and the church will grow so fast there... my dream :)
Yesterday, we had 6 investigators at church though, which was super
exciting!  I hope they continue to come every week!  Church attendance
is SO important!

So to clarify from last week about the woman who died from our ward,
She stayed in the chapel for several weeks and I'm not sure why, but
they had a funeral service for her every evening for a week... one for
each ward I think.  We went to the one for our ward on Friday, the one
for ward 3 on Wednesday and the one for everyone on Saturday.  The
burial was finally on Saturday too.  I hope that makes sense.

That's so exciting that you guys were able to attend the Brigham City
Temple dedication!  I remember the one for the Newport Beach Temple,
but no others.  I was sad that I missed the Kansas City dedication.
It was just cool to be able to help out with the open house there at
least.

So, our recent convert Karla is doing so well!  She's worked it out so
she can come to church every Sunday and she just received a calling as
young women secretary which she is super excited about.  I am so happy
for her!  We just showed her how to pay her tithing this last Sunday
too and she is so willing and happy to start doing that as well.  It's
so great!  And Aillene and Rodolfo are doing really well too.  They
are still super active and attending other activities as well.
Rodolfo is preparing to receive the priesthood and become a deacon!

I never know what to write about...
Good news, I no longer have a problem eating coconuts... I think...
but I'm still not a big fan.
We have to travel everywhere in our area.  It takes about 45 pesos to
get from our apartment to the area where we go the most often.  And
another 45 back.  I think our support goes down a lot faster than
other missionaries here in the Philippines.  Sometimes we make that
trip a couple times in one day if people's schedules don't work out
any other way.  It also takes a lot of time.  But I really don't mind.
 I love driving past all the fields and watching all the people.

Oh, hey, I still haven't seen a picture of Everett!  I want to see him!!!
Anyways, that's all for now.  My time is running low.  I am so
grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve.  I am learning new
and important things every day.  I am so glad I made the decision to
serve.  I think it's the best decision of my life so far.  There are
so many lessons I didn't even realize I needed to learn and here I am,
learning them. :)
Love you all!
Sister McClellan

Week 20

Maayong aga! Kumusta kamo?

This last week was so exciting! Rodolfo was baptized on Saturday and confirmed and sustained yesterday in Sacrament Meeting. We are so happy for him and he really understands that he's started a new page in his life.  We've been really working with one less-active family
and because of them, we have so many people coming to accept the gospel. One of the sons, Tomas, just came home from his full-time mission, so their family has really been strengthened by him now as well.  We've been helping another son, Esmunro prepare to serve a mission as well, and he is really doing his best to start now.  He is the one who referred his friend Rodolfo to us.  Esmunro was able to baptize him on Saturday, having received the Priesthood immediately before the baptism.  Pretty cool.  And now he is helping his girlfriend listen to us as well.  Our other investigator Valentino is living there as well, and we were able to help him and Esmunro's Sister be married on Wednesday, which was a really good experience.
Sister Swarna and I got to be witnesses for their wedding, which was pretty cool. Valentino is planning on being baptized in a few more weeks. Aillene, our recent convert is also living at their house, and she is still progressing. I feel like I spend so much time there at that house, but it's just lesson after lesson to each of them, and they all love to stay and listen even when they aren't the one being
taught.  They are such a good family.  Sorry, reading back, that sounds really complicated... oh well.

Exciting news!  My companion Sister Swarna has a few more months of her mission left, but instead of finishing it here in the Philippines, she's finishing it in India. They are again opening missions there for sister missionaries to go.  So, for the last few months of her mission, she will be training two missionaries to serve in her home country. She is so excited... and honored that the first presidency and quorum of the twelve apostles chose her for this responsibility.  Her family received a personal letter from Thomas S. Monson... she's disappointed she only got a call from the Mission President, haha.  I'm going to miss her so much!  And... I'm a little nervous to be leading this area, but I know God will help me.

Something I learned this week, is that no matter how much you think you already know something and have had experiences and think you understand, you can always learn more about things and sometimes you even realize that what you thought you knew wasn't exactly right.  My understanding of the gospel is increasing daily. Also, you can learn something new from everyone you meet.  I have had to humble myself so many times already during my mission.  We were teaching one sister yesterday with 4 kids and she had no food for them.  It was heartbreaking, but it was also a positive experience to be able to testify that I knew that no matter what challenges she has, the gospel of Jesus Christ can help.  Oh yeah, we also attended 3 funeral services this week for the same woman.  It was a really busy week!

Then yesterday I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting, all in Hiligaynon.  I think it went pretty well.  We also did a ton of musical numbers...  I can't even remember how many musical numbers we've given.  So, you all know I'm using my talents out here :)

I know that this is the true church. As members of the church we all have the responsibility to share the gospel with others.  Even if you can't serve a full-time mission, you can and should still be a missionary.  Fulfill your callings, be a good example, pray for others, share your testimony.  :)
Thanks everyone! Love you all!

Sister McClellan

Week 19

Hey loving family,
I'm attaching two pictures, one with the whole mission and Elder
Bednar, the other one from our Zone Conference.
This week was good.  Brother JR passed his baptismal interview
yesterday and will be baptized this coming Saturday! We also have
another investigator, Valentino who has a baptismal date for September
29th, but first he needs to be married and the plan for that is this
Wednesday.  So we're excited for him as well. There will also be a
funeral service for a member of our ward where we will be speaking, so

it will be a very busy week for us.
Our area is progressing! The ward is planning opening a sacrament
meeting in Panay for the members of our ward who can't make it to
church because of travel expenses. That will really help our work
there and helping our investigators to attend church.  Hopefully it
will continue to grow in Panay until they can have their own branch
there.  I am really excited for this.  It will probably start in
October, right after transfers, so I will probably have a lot of
responsibilities with that.  Every Sunday, I will be attending both
church meetings.  We are so happy for this because there are so many
members out there who would really love to come to church every Sunday
if they had the funds.  We are always teaching our less-active members
that God always provides a way to obey his commandments, but it is a
really big trial of their faith.  We believe that the people in Panay
are really being prepared.  They are such good people.

hmmmmm.... ano pa?
It's exciting to be so involved in the workings of the church.  I
never expected missionary work to be like this.  In all my previous
wards, I didn't realize whether or not the missionaries were very
involved or not, but we are working to help the church out here become
much more organized.  In a couple weeks, we will be giving trainings
for visiting and home teaching and for ward missionaries, and we are
always trying to help the leaders in holding meetings and everything
that they do.  The church is really coming together.  I am so grateful
to be a part of this work.  My understanding of the way the church
works is becoming much more clear.  It's really neat.
The church is true. The book is blue. So read it. :-)
I love and miss you all,
Halong!
Sister McClellan

Week 18

I survived!  Hahaha, your letters make me smile so much! :-)
The whole story... it all started one evening.  We came home from work
and started our planning for the next day.  All of the sudden, around
9pm, out of nowhere... my companion asked me if I could feel a
shaking. I stopped writing and we got really silent... and alas, I did
feel it.  It was very small though. The other sisters upstairs didn't
feel a thing, haha.  It lasted pretty long though!  I haven't felt an
earthquake for years and years, so it was still pretty exciting for
me.  The fact that Jarom felt it too makes me happy... close to him in
some way :)   We haven't really heard much about it except that it was
like a 7.5 or something like that.  It didn't affect us at all.  I
hope those it did affect are doing alright.

Congratulations Mckenna and Joshua!  I'm so proud of you both for
getting baptized!  I hope it was a very special day for you both.  I
hope you wrote all about it in your journals so you can remember
forever how it felt and why you chose to be baptized.

And this week Sister Wignall from Orem, UT joined us, straight from
the MTC.  She was the first group to go through learning Hiligaynon
and I feel like she has such a head start than I had when I got here.
She's so so nice and she's letting me borrow some of the resources she
got from the MTC which has been a huge help in the language.  We're
excited to have her in the apartment.  My language has improved
tremendously in the last few weeks.  I'm really participating a lot in
the lessons now... and I've found that my English is beginning to have
issues... even now it's becoming hard to think of the correct words.
So I hope this doesn't sound too awkward.

The work is great!  Very, very, very busy :-)  Ahhh!!! I almost forgot
the MOST EXCITING thing ever!!! I met Elder David A Bednar!  He's my
favorite apostle ever!  We had a question and answer session with him
and he is so amazing.  The spirit was so strong and I learned so much.
 And at the end, he shook each of our hands.  I might never wash my
hand again! Haha, joke lang.  Afterwards, he had the same type of
meeting with the YSA's of the Panay Island.  We had to travel home, so
we couldn't go to that, but we were very happy to hear that one of our
investigators attended.  He had a really good experience. Elder Bednar
and all the apostles are real apostles called of God.  I will never
forget that experience.  How many times in my life will I get to shake
hands with a mission president, apostle, member of the presiding
bishopric, member of the 70, and their wives.  It was a very neat
experience.

One thing that really stood out to me that I want to share with all of
you is the importance of keeping your covenants.  At baptism you make
certain covenants, which includes keeping ALL the commandments of God.
 When you go through the temple, you make other covenants.  If you
have been sealed in the temple, sealed to your children, but you
aren't keeping the commitments that you made, that sealing isn't
valid.  For example, if you aren't paying your tithing, you don't
qualify for a temple recommend.  If you aren't worthy to enter the
temple... what do those covenants you made mean to you?  Don't let
something that seems like no big deal keep you from being with your
family for eternity. It's not worth it.  I would encourage you all to
study all the commandments of God and the covenants you have made more
thoroughly so that you know how best you can keep them.  Of course,
none of us are perfect.  But just remember to always be striving your
hardest and continuously trying to improve yourselves. Because of the
sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us, we have the ability to repent and
be forgiven.  I pray that we all will use the atonement in our lives
and strive to become better and repent daily! I'm so glad I have a
family that has taught me that from the time I was born.  I am so, so
blessed.  I love the gospel so much.  Thank you for your love and
examples to me.

Continue to lift where you stand!

Halong kamo!

Week 17

Kumusta kamo?
I just spent forever trying to send a few pictures, and then they failed... so bummer.  At least hopefully you'll get a couple.  Karla and Aillene were baptized on Saturday! It was so good!  Actually the power went out that morning, so for some reason the water wasn't working and we had to fill the baptismal font with expensive mineral water!! That is how important baptisms are :-)

This week has been super busy! Preparing Karla and Aillene for their baptisms and traveling all the way to Panay every day... and now we have a couple new progressing investigators also in Panay.  JR is a member referral (21 yrs old) and we have been teaching him and he has a baptismal date now too.  He's really good.  He doesn't know how to read, but he really believes the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  We've been having his member friend read his assignments to him and hopefully he is teaching him how to read.  He's a really good investigator.

We had a zone conference this last Thursday and then Stake Conference this weekend.  And tomorrow... we're traveling to Iloilo to see Elder Bednar!!! I'm so excited to listen to him!

One of the pretty pictures I'm sending today I took this morning after we went fishing.  The big rock in the middle of the water is where we were fishing off of.  Don't worry, we didn't have to swim to get there :)

Congratulations Amber and Scott!!!! and Claire! and Everett!  I can't wait to see pictures!!! (hint, hint :-)

Thank you everyone for your prayers. They really do help!  I'm also praying for each of you all the time! Enjoy life!
Love you all!