Missionaries in Paradise

Maayong udto! That means "Good noon!" It's noon as I write this, so there you go.

 Every week of the mission field has adventures to bring. This week Sister Molina and I had to joy of exploring Sipalay, our new area. I'm pretty sure that Sipalay is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. This is a resort town. Tourists come here for snorkeling in ship wrecks, white beaches, and a gorgeous sunset every night. This is the kind of place my parents would like. But at the same time, it's very humbling. For example, of course, right next to the beach are the homes of the very poorest of people. There are only 4 public internet cafes.

Fun fact: Internet Cafes are almost always filled with young people who wish to spend what little money they have on  playing video games.

 This week I learned a fun lesson about watching what I say to people. You see, many/most people love to talk to me/see me, because I'm American. Others resent me. Yesterday I politely asked, "How are you?" to someone on the street. "Pigado," she said. "Poor." Next time, I'll just say "Good afternoon."

There in America, it sounds like everyone is starting up school again. In the Philippines school is already going. The school year started in June. Not that it really affects me much. Fun fact lang. 

I don't really know what to say about this week, except that I've had the opportunity to develop a lot of character. Hopefully for the better. When you're a missionary, Satan wants to hit you with everything he's got. His best tool of destruction is discouragement. He can get anyone with it. I've refocused my efforts, and I'm doing my best to do the work.

Missionary work has an interesting balance of things. Here's a Sister Molina acronym for you all. In our priorities we should always have JOY: Jesus Christ, Other, Yourself. I also have to consider the fact that in order to serve the J and O in JOY, I have to refine myself. I need to spend the time learning the language, and keeping myself close to the Spirit. Without the Spirit, we cannot teach. We should not teach.

 Okay, here's the funnest fact of the week. TRANSFERS! This transfer went so fast (maybe it's because I was transferred twice?) They switched things up this transfer: Instead of waiting for a phone call, we simply checked our emails. So this next transfer, I will be staying in Sipalay, but Sister Molina will be transferred! My new companion will be my dear friend, Sister Palai! If you recall, she and I were in the MTC together, and she was my housemate in Sagay for 2 transfers. It's very, very likely that I will be her senior companion. SENIOR COMPANION. Transfer information will be confirmed later today via phone. I'm honored at this responsibility. I have a feeling that this next transfer will be just as trying and character developing as each of my transfers have been thus far.

Missionary work is first and foremost... work. It's hard. It's also so fun to have success, to have this time to lose myself in the sharing of the gospel with the people of the Philippines. It's a wonderful honor.

It's time for scripture sharing! This week, I found great comfort/meaning in the following:

The Book of Mormon: Alma 5:7 & Alma 7:22. I feel like my whole life I've been asleep to my duty to God. I (We all) have a responsibility to share to good word today and always.

Ether 12:27 - At times I feel like all I have is weaknesses. But with humility and faith my weaknesses can become strengths by the power and love of God.

The Doctrine & Covenants: Section 6 - The Lord's words to Oliver Cowdery are so loving. I love how he talks about talents. I LOVE the last few verses of the section. To earth and hell I say "BRING IT ON! I can take it!"

 Uh, that's all I guess. You'll hear from me next week on Monday, and hopefully I'll hear from you too!

 Thanks for the prayers and thoughts and love! I need them all!

 Sincerely,

Sister Kelli King

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful

August 20, 2012

Hello from Kabankalan again! Sister Molina and I came here to withdraw money again. It's truly amazing to me that the closest ATM to the southern part of the island is so far away. Thus is life.

So something unexpected happened this week. President Lopez decided that we were too beautiful for Inayauan, so Sister Molina and I were transferred to a new area. We are now assigned in Sipalay, (see-PAUL-eye), the neighboring area to Inayauan. So although we are  farther away from civilization (Bacolod) the city is actually more developed. Inayauan isn't even a city; it's an extension of Cauayan (Kauaian) which is the neighboring area to the north east. Sipalay is nice. If you look at Sipalay City on Google Maps, you'll see the LDS church near the big intersection east of the town. We live near there. If you can see the church, you can see my house. Wave hello!

Wow, I just realized that you can't even see Inayauan on the Google Map. Here's the coordinates: 9.899657,122.43443. The green lot you see in the picture is where the LDS chapel will be built in the near future.

Sipalay is beautiful. The main part of the city is right on the beach. The rice fields and coconut trees are also very beautiful.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We didn't get transferred until Friday morning. Tuesday was Sister Molina's birthday! We celebrated by having a family home evening at the Branch President's house. We had a spiritual thought, played games, and we ate dinner. For dinner, the Branch President's wife made a delicious chicken dish. I took a scoop of the food, and I took a bite out of my piece of chicken. My chicken reminded me of the consistency and taste of fish eye ball. It was at that moment that I realized that I was eating chicken head. Of all the pieces of chicken I could have scooped, I got the head. BLEEECH. Fun fact: It's somewhat hard to detect chicken head, because the beak is cut off. Overall, I guess you could say that I've topped off my chicken eating experience. 

As are most of the branches and wards here, the area in Sipalay is very big. A least, it seems big to me because the transportation is so slow and (in my Filipino eyes. I've had to adjust my way of thinking about the worth of money) expensive. We're living on a budget! I'm proud of us. Sister Molina and I last 3 weeks without having to withdraw, and we still had left over money.

The branch in Sipalay is struggling with church attendance. That's why they brought us in. We're the Sister missionaries. We can do anything the Elders can do in 3/4 of the time. And we can do it while wearing a skirt. 

Before I forget, you all (or at least my Mom) need to add President Lopez as a friend on Facebook. His name is Marlo Lopez (his middle name is Oliver-something) and he posts pictures of the missionaries on Facebook. There's a great one from our ocean-side baptism 3 weeks ago (I hear). It's in black and white. President Lopez says that the missionaries should not add him as a friend. The relatives only. So go ahead and add him, and see if you can find me!

In Sipalay Sister Molina and I inherited a baptism! On Saturday, a young man of 16 entered the waters of baptism after a long struggle  of getting his Dad to give his consent. It was really fun and sweet. He cried, and the Spirit was really strong. I forgot my camera, so I'll send pictures next time. 

I am actually picking up this language. It's weird. I can actually understand a lot of what people are saying. Sometimes someone will use a big word, and I'll think "Oh no, I big word." But then I realize, "Hey wait... I know what that word means! Cool!" Sister Molina has been a very supportive companion to me. We'll do good in Sipalay, I know it!

Thanks for the love! Keep writing. Send pictures! Send packages! Send prayers most of all.

Pagpalangga ko pirme (My love always),

Sister Kelli King

P.S. Here's a joke we (Sister Molina and I) like to say to people.

Q. "Ano ang tawag sang cuto sang calbo?" "What do you call the lice of a bald man?"

A. Homeless! 

(Yes, the punchline is in English. If they don't understand, we explain, "Kay, wa'ay sila balay! They're homeless!" "Because they have no house! They're homeless!" 

Fun stuff.

Eating pride chicken

Sister Molina and I during the baptisms in the ocean, in the rain.

The 11 baptismal candidates and their supports, pre-ocean. We're standing in front of the meeting house which is just a house.

This is a pretty good depiction of our area. This is a rice field during a beautiful sunset. The town isn't even a city. It's just a little cluster of neighborhood close to the highway, as well as a few offshoots that go into the mountains and the fields. It's pretty peaceful. The only time it isn't peaceful is between 5 and 6 in the morning. We live close to a Catholic church, and almost every morning they play the same music at the same time, and we always wake up to it. Sometimes someone is also playing rock music at the same time. Disturbance of the peace much?

The mysterious goats chilling out in the shade of our house after having left the yard, but they came back because it rained.

Sent: Mon, Aug 13, 2012 12:38 am

Hello once again! It's good to hear from the people whom I've heard from!

I haven't done a language lesson, so let's do one now!

In Ilonggo, yes is "Oo" pronounces o'o'. When I first learned the word, it sounded a whole lot like "uh-uh" which in English means no. It also sometimes sounds like "uh-oh!" I still have to ask for clarification sometimes, especially if my companion or someone answers non-verbally and merely hums "mm-mm." In my language that's a no. In their language it's a yes.

Likewise, the word "wa'ay" means "nothing" "none" "without" "don't have" and "not here." But at first it just sounded like people were asking me "Why?"

To go along with what I just said, many of the Filippino languages have fewer words than we have in English. This makes the language both more and less effective. For example, the Ilonggos call "today" "subong nga adlaw." Subong means now, and adlaw means day. Nga means that. Basically they are saying "The day that's now." Not effective. But if they want to say "church attendance" they say "pagsimba."

Root words are awesome. The Filipinos have a variety of suffixes and prefixes that change the meaning of the root word. Let's take "simba" for our example. No, I'm not talking about a lion who takes his place in the circle of life. In Filipino (they use the same word in Tagalog, Ilonggo, and Cebuano) "simba" means worship. Mag makes things a verb, so "magsimba" means to worship, or essentially, to so to church. "Pag makes it a thing. "Pagsimba" means the act of worshiping, or in other words, church attendance. -han makes things a place. "Simbahan" means place of worship, or church. -hon makes it a person. "Simbahon" means a person who worships. There are more, but that's just an example.

In many ways, I've sort of had to dumb down my sentence structure in order to learn this language. I constantly ask my companions "How do I say this?" and frequently they'll use a different word than what I wanted to use. But that's how THEY (the people I'm teaching) would say it, and that's more important.

This week, I found new initiative to learn the language. I've been faithfully writing down the words I hear in a notebook. I ask my companion for the definitions later. I don't have an Ilonggo to English dictionary, so I sort of have to ask people for definitions. After several days of flashcards, and writing, I started to get impatient with myself.

Last month, when President Lopez was a brand new mission president, he came to use, and gave us some council from the Bible. Jesus Christ taught that if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. He gave each of us a mustard seed, and he had each of us write down our "mountains" on a piece of paper, which he then took, and read, I assume. On my paper, I told him that my biggest trial was learning the language. As of just recently, I've realized that my mountain is much greater than learning a language slower than I'd like. My mountain is pride.

I know I am weak, and I pray for help frequently. The problem is not that I can't ask God for help, but that I find difficulty in asking people for help. I also hate to look like a stupid American who can't speak the language. But guess what, people don't think that. It's all me. I'm afraid of embarrassment. I don't want to make mistakes. I want to be understood. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be understood, but there is something wrong with not trying, and accepting help when it's offered. Recently in my weekly letter to the mission president, I told him that my mountain that I need to move was different from what I originally said. I pray that with the help of my companion, my leaders, the people that I serve, and especially Heavenly Father, that I'll be able to move my pride, and experience more success and joy in my work. After we finish with the Internet today, Sister Molina and I are going to eat some fried chicken of behalf of my drive to overcome my pride chicken.

And I am having success, don't get me wrong. I enjoy my area a lot. The recent converts especially are so faithful and fun! We had a Family Home Evening with them on Saturday afternoon (that's when they were available) and we watched the Restoration video, and played games. It was great. I taught them my favorite game from the MTC, "Handa, kilos!" I'll be sure to teach my family that one when I get home from my mission.

I learn a lot from Sister Molina. She really likes acronyms. For example, she tells me that we need to be HOT: Humble, Obedient, and Teachable. I testify that that is true. I need to be more HOT.

Speaking of hot, it's been really hot this week. I don't think it rained all week. What the heck, this place has worse mood swings than I did as a 13-year-old.

Love to you all always! Please keep writing! I love to hear from you!

Sa akong pagpalangga (with my love),

Sister Kelli King

Carest thou not that we perish?

Sent: Mon, Aug 13, 2012 12:38 am

 

Hello once again! It's good to hear from the people whom I've heard from!

I haven't done a language lesson, so let's do one now!

In Ilonggo, yes is "Oo" pronounces o'o'. When I first learned the word, it sounded a whole lot like "uh-uh" which in English means no. It also sometimes sounds like "uh-oh!" I still have to ask for clarification sometimes, especially if my companion or someone answers non-verbally and merely hums "mm-mm." In my language that's a no. In their language it's a yes.

Likewise, the word "wa'ay" means "nothing" "none" "without" "don't have" and "not here." But at first it just sounded like people were asking me "Why?"

To go along with what I just said, many of the Filippino languages have fewer words than we have in English. This makes the language both more and less effective. For example, the Ilonggos call "today" "subong nga adlaw." Subong means now, and adlaw means day. Nga means that. Basically they are saying "The day that's now." Not effective. But if they want to say "church attendance" they say "pagsimba."

Root words are awesome. The Filipinos have a variety of suffixes and prefixes that change the meaning of the root word. Let's take "simba" for our example. No, I'm not talking about a lion who takes his place in the circle of life. In Filipino (they use the same word in Tagalog, Ilonggo, and Cebuano) "simba" means worship. Mag makes things a verb, so "magsimba" means to worship, or essentially, to so to church. "Pag makes it a thing. "Pagsimba" means the act of worshiping, or in other words, church attendance. -han makes things a place. "Simbahan" means place of worship, or church. -hon makes it a person. "Simbahon" means a person who worships. There are more, but that's just an example.

In many ways, I've sort of had to dumb down my sentence structure in order to learn this language. I constantly ask my companions "How do I say this?" and frequently they'll use a different word than what I wanted to use. But that's how THEY (the people I'm teaching) would say it, and that's more important.

This week, I found new initiative to learn the language. I've been faithfully writing down the words I hear in a notebook. I ask my companion for the definitions later. I don't have an Ilonggo to English dictionary, so I sort of have to ask people for definitions. After several days of flashcards, and writing, I started to get impatient with myself.

Last month, when President Lopez was a brand new mission president, he came to use, and gave us some council from the Bible. Jesus Christ taught that if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. He gave each of us a mustard seed, and he had each of us write down our "mountains" on a piece of paper, which he then took, and read, I assume. On my paper, I told him that my biggest trial was learning the language. As of just recently, I've realized that my mountain is much greater than learning a language slower than I'd like. My mountain is pride.

I know I am weak, and I pray for help frequently. The problem is not that I can't ask God for help, but that I find difficulty in asking people for help. I also hate to look like a stupid American who can't speak the language. But guess what, people don't think that. It's all me. I'm afraid of embarrassment. I don't want to make mistakes. I want to be understood. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be understood, but there is something wrong with not trying, and accepting help when it's offered. Recently in my weekly letter to the mission president, I told him that my mountain that I need to move was different from what I originally said. I pray that with the help of my companion, my leaders, the people that I serve, and especially Heavenly Father, that I'll be able to move my pride, and experience more success and joy in my work. After we finish with the Internet today, Sister Molina and I are going to eat some fried chicken of behalf of my drive to overcome my pride chicken.

And I am having success, don't get me wrong. I enjoy my area a lot. The recent converts especially are so faithful and fun! We had a Family Home Evening with them on Saturday afternoon (that's when they were available) and we watched the Restoration video, and played games. It was great. I taught them my favorite game from the MTC, "Handa, kilos!" I'll be sure to teach my family that one when I get home from my mission.

I learn a lot from Sister Molina. She really likes acronyms. For example, she tells me that we need to be HOT: Humble, Obedient, and Teachable. I testify that that is true. I need to be more HOT.

Speaking of hot, it's been really hot this week. I don't think it rained all week. What the heck, this place has worse mood swings than I did as a 13-year-old.

Pictures:
1) Sister Molina and I during the baptisms in the ocean, in the rain.
2) The 11 baptismal candidates and their supports, pre-ocean. We're standing in front of the meeting house which is just a house.
3) The mysterious goats chilling out in the shade of our house after having left the yard, but they came back because it rained.
4) This is a pretty good depiction of our area. This is a rice field during a beautiful sunset. The town isn't even a city. It's just a little cluster of neighborhood close to the highway, as well as a few offshoots that go into the mountains and the fields. It's pretty peaceful. The only time it isn't peaceful is between 5 and 6 in the morning. We live close to a Catholic church, and almost every morning they play the same music at the same time, and we always wake up to it. Sometimes someone is also playing rock music at the same time. Disturbance of the peace much?

Love to you all always! Please keep writing! I love to hear from you!

Sa akong pagpalangga (with my love),

Sister Kelli King