Ako si Sister 'Big Head.'

June 25, 2012

Epistle from the Philippines #9 - Ako si Sister 'Big Head.'

Wingapo! That's not Ilonggo, that's Pocahontas language for hello!

Thanks to Mom, Dad, Kalenn, and Gil for emails! Much love to all of you! Kalenn asked for more info about the work and the people we're working with, so here you go!

This week has been exciting! On Saturday we had a baptism! The Barrios family, a mother and her two kids were baptized. Sister Rosina and I, and now Sister Rondina have worked very hard to teach them, and now they are happily members of the church! We hope the father will come around though. On the same day we had a child-of-record baptism, the 8-year-old daughter of a less active family we've been teaching. The father baptized her and everything. I was so excited. We're still working on the mother in helping her regain a testimony.

We do a lot of that here. We visit people and remind them of God's plan for them. Some people hide. Some people pretend to be asleep. (THAT one was funny. We can see the woman of the home lying on the floor napping, and we announce ourselves, but she just doesn't move. Then her daughter starts poking her and trying to wake her. Nothing. She just pretended to be asleep.) People lie about who they are. (Real life example, changed name: "Excuse me, where is the house of Melody Pond?" "Oh, she lives over there." We go over there. "Excuse us, where is the house of Melody Pond?" "That house." He points at the house we just left. "Are you sure?" We ask. "Yes." Sigh.)

Many people like to practice their English on me. One particular little boy in our Ward recited the following to me this week. He's seven.

"Yellow, your hair.
Your eyes, blue.
Your nose (whispered) big."

Later he continued.

"Your hands, big.
Your shoes big.
Your feet too."

Thank you, little boy. Thank you for pointing out the obvious? My body is bigger than yours.

Let's talk about my nose. Although I thank my lucky star everyday that I did not inherit my father's nose (sorry, Dad), I've always been a little self conscious about my nose. Here, the people love it! They envy my nose because it is long and not flat in any way. I think people have beautiful noses here, but most people wish theirs were more like mine.

This week a bunch of kids we walked by stared at me (nothing new) and they all started saying "Dako!" which means "Big." One of them was nice enough to say "Dako ulo" which means "Big Head." Thanks kids.

Okay, here's a story. Two weeks ago today, Sister Palai (our housemate from Kiribati) and her comp Sister Boncales went to Bacolod because Sister Palai needed to have surgery in Bacolod. She's fine, but they had to stay there for a little over a week. For the time they were gone, Sister Rondina and I became responsible for their area as well as our own. We visited some of their less active members, recent converts, and investigators. On that Sunday, which was Father's Day, we attended both church services, and we were speakers in both sacrament meetings. We went to both ward council meetings. It was a long day. Sister Palai came back, but President Tobias decided to transfer Sister Boncales out, and give Sister Palai a new companion, Sister Malana. She's very nice, and tall for a filipina! She's from northern Philippines, and she's a very nice housemate thus far.

I taught Sister Rondina about solstices this week (since Midsummer Night just passed, and there were fairies abound). She'd never heard of it. I explained that in places not near the Equator, the sun rises and sets at different times depending on the time of the year. On the longest day of the year, the sun went down here by 6:30... like it always does.

I'll be honest, sometimes I miss things like being able to listen to popular music. I amaze myself with the music that comes to mind. Today it was The Music Man.

English words and phrases I've contemplated recently.
- Cowlick. (Origin: Your hair looks like you've been licked by a cow.)
- Firewood. (Wood that you use for fire. Descriptive.)
- Fly. (An insect that flies. How original.)

Love sincerely,
Sister Kelli King

Hey Joe!

June 18, 2012

Epistle from the Philippines #8 - "Hey, Joe!"

Salutations once again!

I didn't get to describe my new companion to you last week, so I'll do that. Sister Rondina is 26 years old. Her birthday is next month. She is from the Tacloban mission area in the Philippines, and she is cute. And clean. She flosses after every meal. When I thought that I looked funny next to Sister Rosina, I sure was proven wrong when I inherited a Sister Rondina. Sister Rosina was about... 5'2" or 5'3." Short, but not insanely so. Yesterday I asked Sister Rondina how tall she was. She didn't want to admit it at first. "Are you 5 feet?" I asked. "Four foot nine" she answered. I'm nearly a foot taller than her. Yesterday we looked into the mirror together, and boy do we look funny. Let me rephrase. Boy, do I look funny. I'm a freakin' giantess. She's been on her mission for 11 months. She's over half-way done.

This week we're doing another volume of the Observations of the Philippines series.

Here is a list of the things about me that people make comments about/envy/like/etc.
- My hair (Stroked frequently)
- My puti skin (puti means white)
- My arm hair (I've been stroked/picked at many times)
- My mosquito bites (My legs look like I have the plague)
- My singing voice (I'm the only one around who has actually had vocal training, so they sort of laugh at me. Also, they think I'm in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir)
- My mole on my forehead
- My pimples
- My Left-handedness

Okay, this one merits a full story. Weeks ago, we were at a member's home eating dinner on the floor. When eating on the floor, you're not expected to use utensils, you can just use your hands. Well, I, being left-handed was eating my rice and fish with my left hand. The woman sees me and starts LAUGHING at me, like a nervous laugh. Everyone starts looking at me. I KNOW why she's laughing. I know the social faux pas I'm making. In this culture you use the left hand to wipe your bottom after you use the toilet. Eating or doing anything with your left hand is considered gross. The woman makes the comment "Sister King REALLY likes the fish!" This is what she really meant: "Sister King REALLY likes the fish [if she's eating it with her poop hand!] I get all self conscious, and switch hands despite Sister Rosina's and my pleas to everyone that I'm left-handed.

As I didn't makes clear before, there IS toilet paper here. It's just... not as important. Most people don't keep it in the bathroom regularly. Public restrooms (unless they're nice establishments) either have none, or have a single dispenser of toilet paper outside all of the stalls where you can take as much as you need before you go into the stall. In some places you have to pay extra for your toilet paper. I buy toilet paper at the grocery store. Not in bulk, but one roll at a time.

That's how people do a lot of things here. Since people are so poor, they can't buy a whole lot all at once. This includes cell phones. Here, everyone has a cell phone, but you pay as you go, basically. There are little stores/stands all around town where you can "load" more texts and more talking minutes. People rarely talk on the phone. Everything is done through texts, including our communication with the District Leader. We just text him the weekly report of our efforts.

For those of you who don't know the hierarchy of missionaries, here it is. Think of a mission as a country. The Mission President is in charge, like a president. In each mission there are zones. Think of those as states. The Zone Leaders are governors. Each Zone has districts, think of those as counties. The District Leader is like a county executive, and reports to the ZLs. Each District has areas, think of those as cities. The lowly missionary (like me) works in an area. The Philippines Bacolod Mission has 11 zones. Nine of the zones are Ilonggo speaking, two are Cebuano. Sister Rondina just came from spending 6 months in a Cebuano speaking area, so she's been having fun relearning Ilonggo.

Speaking of which, I wasn't called on my mission to speak Tagalog. I wasn't even called to speak Illongo. Or English. Or Spanish. It's kind of all of the above. Here's how I understand it. Ilonggo is the language of the people. That's what they talk to each other. In school, they learn Tagalog and English. Ilonggo has a lot of Spanish in it. Anyway, when people talk, it's what I like to call Taglonggolish. When people talk, Ilonggo and Tagalog aren't considered different languages, they're just synonyms of each other, used interchangeably, since everyone speaks both. People also try to speak English to me. I get wished "Good morning" at night all the time. To the joy of my teachers at the MTC, they call me Joe also. They think all white people are named Joe.

Love,
Sister Kelli King

What did your mother tell you...

June 11, 2012

Epistle from the Philippines #7 - What did your mother tell you...

Salutations everyone! Thanks Mom and Dad for writing me about your trip to Maui! You're to only ones who wrote me this week... but that's okay! I forgive you all. Except you. Why aren't you writing to me?

This week was TRANFERS! On Monday night we the four Sisters of Sagay took the bus to Bacolod and had a slumber party at the apartment of my MTC companion, Sister Arnold & her companion, Sister Molino. The next morning we went to the chapel by the mission office and we received our new assignments. I am still in Sagay, but I have a new companion. Her name is Sister Rondina. Yes. You got that right. I went from a Rosina to a Rondina. Want to know what's even funnier? Sister Rondina's last companion was Sister Aquino (pronounced a-KEEN-o). So King & Rosina and Aquino & Rondina became King & Rondina. Sister Rosina has successfully completed her mission, and she is home now.

This week has been fun because I have had the opportunity to teach Sister Rondina about Sagay! She's never served in Sagay before, so she doesn't know the people or the places or anything. She is 11 months into her mission, so she is still lively, unlike Sister Rosina who was slowly dying as the last 6 weeks went by.

Okay, so here's a story for you. On Wednesday when I was cleaning out my ears with a Q-Tip, I twitched while the Q-Tip was in my ear, and I accidentally pushed it in really far and it hurt. And there was a little bit of blood in my ear.  And I was sad. I did my best to keep it clean and dry for the next couple of days. I cleaned the wound with alcohol and cleaned out the ear canal regularly. It didn't hurt too bad, so I knew that I didn't puncture the eardrum. But I worried about infection, so we told the mission Mom, Sister Tobias, and she made an appointment for me to go to the doctor. Today. We went to Bacolod today. The doctor said I scratched the ear canal only, and he prescribed some ear drops for me to help the healing. It's already doing much better. No more blood. What have I learned? Don't accidentally scratch your ear canal with a Q-Tip.

I am not serving what many of you might think of when you think of a typical LDS mission. I know that my parents, relatives and friends who have served missions have fond memories of walking or biking around, knocking on doors, and trying to get invited in to the homes of complete strangers. Well, I have never done that in my life. Here the church is like a skinny tree with too many branches and leaves for its britches. The majority of the members of the church here (80%) are inactive or not practicing their LDS faith regularly. I have never entered the home of someone whose name we didn't already know. We have our contact list. It's called the Ward Directory. The Ward Directory and Referrals. We go around to people who don't go to church anymore, and invite them back. From these intercourses (teehee) we also come into contact with part-member families. That is one way we get investigators, potential members of the church.

This week we had Stake Conference. All the wards and branches in the area met together on Sunday to hear our special speaker, Elder Ian S. Ardern on the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. His picture is in the Ensign magazine, check for yourself. He and his wife are from New Zealand, and they were very nice. It was Elder Ardern who actually first compared the Philippines to a tree. That imagery has truly inspired  me in my mission. My job here is not merely to make more branches and leaves (members). We have those. What we need here are a strong trunk (more priesthood holders) and stronger roots (deep conversion of the members to the doctrine of Christ).

Serving a mission is such an amazing experience. In my own daily scripture study and experiences my faith is becoming so strong. When we visit these inactive members of the church, I just want to give them all my faith so that they'll understand how wonderful and crucial the gospel is to a happy life and an eternally happy afterlife. But I can't. I can't force anyone to read the Book of Mormon. I can't make them pray. I can't  make them come to church. It is their choice. For one reason or another they joined the fold, and for one reason or another they left it. It just breaks my heart thinking about it. Struggles can and very well may arise from joining the church, but guess what? It's worth it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is worth the effort and worth whatever persecutions may rage. This is His work and His glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men.

Life is good. It was really hot this week. Oh! While I was at the doctor today I got to weigh myself! I have lost approximately 10 pounds since the MTC. Not bad, Potter! I told Sister Rondina, and she was worried for me. "You need to eat more food!" I urged her, "No! This is good! I was fat before. In fact, I want to lose MORE weight!" Strangely enough, I actually have to watch what I eat here. The members of the ward love to feed me. So do the house mates.

Gotta go. Much love. Write me!

Love,
Sister Kelli King

Another one bites the dust

June 4, 2012

Epistle from the Philippines #6 - Another One Bites the Dust

Hello friends and family! Aloha to my parents and siblings who are in Maui right now. :P

This week has been a pretty exciting one. On Saturday we had a triple baptism! My first baptisms as a missionary! Two 9-year-olds and a 17-year-old girl have entered the fold. I was so excited. As excited as I was for our investigators, I was actually giddy for Sister Ombao's and Sister Palai's investigators. On the very same day they baptized a family of four. But before the baptism there was... a wedding! Right in the chapel. The couple couldn't be baptized without being married first, so they had a marriage ceremony, and then immediately had a baptism after. I love weddings! And I love baptisms! That was a good day.

Sister Rosina and I started teaching a new family. They were a referral from some members of the ward. Before we even taught them for the first time, the woman of the home had already been to church, and she was attending stake choir rehearsals, not to mention the ward activity on Friday night, and the baptism on Saturday. She lives spitting distance from the church, so that helps a lot. She and the husband are both very inquisitive. They are hungry for knowledge and also spirituality. It's awesome and I love it. The thing I'm a little sad about is that Sister Rosina won't be around for the baptisms. That is because I am killing her tonight, possibly tomorrow.

In missionary lingo, to "kill" a missionary is to be their last companion before they finish their mission and go home. Today is Sister Rosina's last day in Sagay. Within the hour, actually, we'll be taking her stuff and Sister Ombao's stuff to the bus station, and we are going to Bacolod. In the morning Sister Palai and I'll be getting new companions, and we'll come right back to Sagay picking up where we left off. Our "dead" companions will fly home to Lezon (northern Philippines) on Wednesday. Sister Palai and I are only one transfer old, but starting tomorrow we will be senior companions in the sense that we will be "leading" the area. We know the people and places, while on the other hand our new senior companions don't, so much of the work will be dependent on us. I will still need my new companion to lead in most of the teaching.

This week I taught some lessons mostly on my own and mostly in Ilonggo. It was terrifying and enlightening to know how awful I am at the language. But at the same time I can see how I've progressed. It's very frustrating not being able to say what you want to say. VERY frustrating. But I move on. In the last few days I let Sister Rosina teach most of the lessons, not because I didn't want to teach, but because these were her very last teaching appointments as a missionary, and I wanted to enjoy them.

This week has been particularly rainy. This has resulted in some cooler weather which I haven't minded at all. Is it monsoon season? I do not know these things. Someone tell me these things.

Okay fun stories of the week. Hmm....

Right before we came to the internet cafe, Sister Rosina got her haircut in a little hole in the wall sort of place by a cross dresser/tranny. Those are pretty common in the Philippines actually. I see cross dressers in the commercials and game shows on tv (not that I'm watching tv...). The haircut seemed different from the ones in America. First the guy/girl combed Sis. Rosina's hair through with globs of goop I'm assuming was a shampoo of some kind. Then he/she just left it there to sit for like 10 minutes. Then the person washed it out in the sink, and proceeded to dry and straighten Sis. Rosina's hair. Then he/she cut it. The cutting was dead last. Well, whatever works.

The one-eared cat has found a home in a suitcase a missionary left under our kitchen sink counter. Note: our kitchen sink is outside. The cat isn't allowed in the house. But he sleeps in the suitcase, and it' so cute. Whenever we get close it gets scared and jumps out of the suitcase and runs away.

Our next door neighbors listen to the same album of music ever night. It's this Filipino singer who rivals Bugs Bunny as the most nasally singer I've ever heard. Seriously though. Think Bugs Bunny, but lower it a few pitches, and you've got this guy. His music is Spain/Mexico inspired. Lots of trumpet. It's very odd.

American Catchphrase of the Week - "See you later, alligator."
No one says it here, so I've taken it upon myself you say it whenever we leave a place. Well, not EVERYTIME. But I sure do think it. American clichés and sayings are so silly.

Madamo pagpalangga! (Much love!)
Sister Kelli King