This week!

Hey yos! 

So another week of adventures for you!! Let's start where we left off though, The balut. It didn't happen. (yet). It turns out there was none at the party. darn my hide. someday I will someday I will! Before my training is over says sis R. :) 

While on the topic of food I would like to give you a report of what I ate this week. First of all on Tuesday we had splits with the sister training leaders in Daet. We went to Alvenos (a wonderwonderful place) and I randomly ordered (cause dats whut I dew!) I ordered this thing called pork sigsig, and when I said it everyone at the table was like "NO! NO!" But I said "STOP don't tell me what it is" and went on with the order.  It came (upon a midnight clear) wrapped in a banana leaf with a glove and rice. It was this scoop of creamy looking meat chunks, I ate it all it was delish!  It was sooo so so crunchy though, like a crouton from that place that has those really black croutons I broke my braces on once. I ate it all and then they told me what it was! GET THIS! I ate a PIG FACE!!  They were all so impressed and I did a victory lap around the whole restaurant high fiveing all the filippinos who doubted my stomach because of the color of my skin.

Next this week: I ate SQUID! LITTLE SQUID BABIES!! It was so inky black and slimy. But good man! We got it from one of our investigators who works at a meat grill stand outside her house. She gave us a bag of squiddies and fish for free! I have lots of pictures of that so stay tuned. Also do they have this thing called corned beef in America? It's SOOO GOOD I love it!  I eat it all dee time here :) on rice obvi. What else oh ya my fav thing to eat here is called hopia! It's so delish! It's like a biscuit thing that is flaky and chewy on the inside.  Sis R says its pork on the inside but I just can't believe it. It tastes like bananas to me and I eat the whole package before we get back from the store. It's a struggle i want moooooorrrrreeee! (I wanna be, where the people are...)

Ok as long as we are talking about animals, here's the weekly report on the ones i didn't eat (sadly) I'm thinking of calling this segment "Critter Tales" HAAAa get it because its punny! tails tales!?! HAHAHA Ok so I caught the frog in our potty and let him go :( he was so cute, but sis R hates frogs. I have pics don't worry. Then also there's a secret rat in our apt.  Secret because Sis R is scared of them and I am the only one who knows its living under her closet. HAHA I'm evil I just don't want to kill it. So I will keep you updated. Right now we're allies, me and the rat.  Soon I will murder him. Lizards- everyday everywhere. So many.  When I use the CR they are on the door and the ceiling. They camp out on my window and they click all the time. They're actually kinda cute (what the heck who am I?) OH I got the grossest pic of this dog its SICK! You've got to see how disgusting this creature is! Hahaha stay tuned. ALSO a kitten came and sat my by me in a lesson AHHHH so cute. What else, oh ya on the jeepneys men just hold their chickens. It's hilar. 

GOOD NEWS I'm so brave and massacred a spider! yea I did! With my shoe! It was nasty.  Blood exploded out of it and I don't want to clean it up so ya...... this is why I need a Matthew or someone to do the dirty work. Also I guess lice count as an animal, one of our recent converts kids are crawling with lice. I don't know how they are alive. They also crawl all over me (the kids not the lice) and they are so cute so I don't get them off. I might have a shaved head soon though because of it. MAN a lot of critter tales this week! 

Let's get to missionary work! So we had splits Tues with the STLS which was awesome! I went with this sister from New Zeal and she is so cool! We were in their area in Daet and there are so many great people there. She made me talk so much in lessons which was new, but I was amazed at how much I could say when unda presha! dun dun dun dudu dun dun! It was so good for my confidence! It turns out I'm doing awesome in my language says the stls which is news to me! Because I'm only around Sis R and other real live filippinos all day I sound like a dunce compared to them. But compared to the stls who are foreigners too I am doing great! They say to keep up the great work and I will rock it! Yay! SO good to hear something encouraging :)

Also fun fact on the ride to Daet for exchanges (we slept there too) I was carrying my bag and a pillow, and we all crammed onto the jeepney, and I look over and my pillow is shoved up this sweaty mans armpit. why. why. why. But its all too squishy on the jeepney so I couldn't rearrange so I slept my head in his pit. Sick.

So as far as the work goes! So our investigator with TB came to church! we went to pick her up and take her with us. Her son didn't come because he was watching tagalog pokemon. I don't blame him that stuff's hilarious. Anyways we visited her later and she liked it a lot! She has a BD in November I think and I hope she keeps coming! Our recent convert mother who's pregnant and investigator dad who live in the tarp house over the wooden bed (remember them?) Anyways the papa is getting baptized next week! And their daughter bebe who is 8! Yay they came to church too! I'm so excited for them! I wish I could talk to them more!

What else so the investigator who gave us the squid and fish is awesome! She has these two adorable kids 10 and 9 and they teach me Tagalog words :) She's come to church the past 2 Sundays and has tons of questions. At first when we were teaching her she was just kinda listening, no questions, we would leave but now its like "what's the celestial kingdom? what's fast sunday? what's young womens?" and she has all these questions! You can tell she's really interested and wants to know. Also so so SO awesome she told us that if she heard our message when she was a teenager she would have liked to serve a mission. HOW COOL! When thou are converted strengthen thy brethren right? She's awesome I hope she continues being awesome until her bap date.

Also another one- I asked for a referral from two other investigators and they gave us the name of this girl. We went to visit her and she's awesome! She's 19 and has a baby, but looks like 30. Anyways she's super willing to listen. She told her friends who referred her that she wants to hear our message and be baptized. We just literally walked into her house and began teaching her. I have a feeling (ok i know) that that is rare for missionary work, even in the ppines sometimes. I love Mercedes :D

This Saturday we had family day! That means all the wards in the stake come to the Mercedes branch, everyone sits outside in chairs under tarps and chairs in the scorching heat and watch people play games, do nothing, talk, whatever for hourrrrs. It was from 7-5. Whaaatt its crazy.

Anyways it was fun, I got a bad sunburn (my fault, I have sunscreen mom I just forgot to put it on), our investigators kids taught me words all day. I would say "any iyan sa tagalog?" they would say "SUN! or UMBRELLA!" They taught me all the parts of the body.  My ulo is going to explode there is so much to learn. I have pics of that too :) So ya! Good week! lots of learning, lots of teaching, lots of mistakes in tagalog, but hopefully progression! It's hot here and it's happy here!

More adventures!

 Here's these kids who were running in circles around me!! THEY ARE SOOOO CUTTEEEE!!!!!!!! It kills me!!

OK! Who wants to hear about another week's adventures in the ppines!?! OK GOOD! I actually don't know where to start. We are super super busy, and because I'm in training we have 2 hours of comp study that takes forever when we could be teaching! Ay! its ok though i need training! Ok so what can I say I don't even know?

First about some of God's creations. There are so so so many frogs here, and I found the cutest one in my bathroom! AH! he was presh. Also there are just kittens running around here. Its taking all my willpower. It's so hard. I want to adopt them.  Also a million dogs but they are so gross and flea bitten. Hmm I kill so many ants and roaches all the days. Hmm one flying roach landed on my head in a lesson and i didn't even scream, i just grabbed it out and threw it on the ground.

Here's the streets I walk!

GUESS who's eating balut tonight!?!? ME!!! at bishops house! His daughter is having a bday party and its time. "this is my tiiiimeee to shiiinee". Anyways I'm excited.

Our area: so the people are doing great! We had 5 of our investigators with baptism dates come to church!! YAYYY!! we were so excited! They have to come to church 4 times before they can be baptized and people hardly ever come to church. One of our investigators has TB and is so so sickly, she and her son are really willing to listen though and the have a bd but haven't come to church :( don't worry we sanitize after we go there, apparently its contagious!

Here's us in a trycee on the way to church!

Language: still hard, still trying! Its killer! Agh I don't know what to say. I'm trying not to judge my progress (or de-progress) all the time, because when I do that its not good. But I am progressing, slowly but surely! One investigator was trying to ask me something and he was using hand signals for death and burial, idk what he was saying but it was so funny! The people here are really sweet though. well, ok, they laugh at me, but then they say its ok and understand. Its really hard but I'm up for the challenge! Hopefully it will come. I understood more in church yesterday which is good? Ah i try not to think about it.

What else can i tell you? there is so much but i cant think of anything now!

To answer your questions mama: yes i am getting enough to eat. in fact my kasama told me yesterday I'm getting fat. HAHAHAH!! Filipinos are so blunt its hilarious!

a delish pineapple! the lady just carved this little guy right up for me!

I love the food here and things that are gross before like hot dogs are like manna from heaven. I'm trying all sorts of things, like fish heads! So good and crunchy! I'm actually not sure what I'm eating but its good. After district meeting we go to a restaurant called Alvenos! its so yum you get a little glove and eat with your hand out of a banana leaf. ROCK ON! I'm totally adopting this way of life when I come home.  No dishes! You just throw away the leaf! These people are so wise.

More about a day? wake up 6:30, "exercise", shower, eat oatmeal, personal study one hour, language study one hour (where i fail to teach my companion lesson one, her face is always so scrunchy because I'm doing so bad. wheew.)  Then we go teach one or two lessons in the morning, come home for lunch, have 2 hours comp study, then go out and teach till dinner! We are so busy and its always a problem of deciding who to spend our time on out of all the people we have to teach.

Here's my yummy feet!

I'm doing good! At the end of the day my feet are so dirty, my back hurts, and I'm so so sweaty but my face hurts from smiling so much. I am always smiling over here! I am so happy! Life is great!

THE KIDS!!! Oh my goodness the kids! I'm the first white person they've ever seen and MAN am I getting attention! Every time we walk down the street its "Hiii WHATS YOUR NAME!?!" This week some kids came and surrounded me and were running in circles around me :) I wish I could talk to them! None of them can say Mcgrath its so funny:) its "mgrat" or not even anywhere close. At church they surround me too. These two little twins stand on my feet and I bounce them up and down- it actually kills my feet but its so worth it! these little kids are angels and i love love love them!

 Look at this adorable baby of our investigator at church! she had a sucker and she is soo so so so so ojtihjojshr cutye.

Here's me with an umbrella

The beautiful ppines!

Here's what Sunday looked like with 2 Liahonas and some pb!

I'm all wet- No its not from sweat this time its because I'm fresh out of the bucket actually :)  and ya this is my life! Isn't my ppines shirt so cute i got it from the airport :)

I'M HEREEEEE!!! IM ALIVEE!!!

MOMMMMEEEYYYYYYYYYY DADDEEYYYYYYY it is so so so so so good to talk to you!! Ah i am tearing up! It's like Christmas!! better than Christmas! I am so happy. Ok. Ok. Where to begin. I guess where we left off, from the airport. MAN that seems like years ago!! i will try to remember it all but forgive me if i can't.

So we flew to Tokyo. I got the coolest fattest sumo man key chain EVA I love him. We were only there for like an hour so no sightseeing ;( EXCEPT i used the coolest toilet EVA!! it had so many buttons!! you could press them to change the sound of the flush! you could make a fake flushing sound if you are uncomfortable with bodily noises! You can turn up the volume on that sucker! Then WATER SPRAYED ON MY REAR! wow. it was an experience. i was laughing in there, crying in there, screaming in there, i came out and hung my head in shame. "hi.......everyone.............uh........ ya i'm new here....."

MAN WHY DID I SAY THAT I'M WASTING PRECIOUS TIME! (Not really we get 2 hours to email on p-days WOOT WOOT!) But that wasn't important. Next. MANILA MTC!!So we were there for 5 days to do processing for our visas. 

the view of the ppines from my manila mtc window

We had to go to the most ghetto "government establishment" that looked like a run down DMV with a million Filipinos to scan our fingerprints.I took so many pics of the way over there.

This is on the way to the immigration place. Manila is the craziest city ever.

ANyways the best thing about the Manila MTC was  I SAW GRANDMA WELCH!!!!!! DID EVERYONE HEAR ME!?!?! IIIIIIII SAWWWW GRANNNDMAAA WELLLCHHH!!!!!! AND GRANDPA WELCH! It was the craziest thing of my life. So i got to go to the temple only ONCE in my entire stay here in the Philippines, and it just so happened that when i was walking out of my one and only session on a Tuesday afternoon- grandma welch and grandpa welch were walking in with some members from Indonesia!!! It was so insane!!! I turned and saw grandpa welch and just stopped in my tracks. Wait. hold up. "izz this the reeeealll lyyfee, is this jus fanta-c??" Then gma welch came around the corner and I'm pretty sure what followed was way too loud for a holy place ;) we ran to each other in slow motion and hugged at least 20 times.

I even got all teary (who am i?) it was just sooooo goood to see a familiar face!! a familiar grandmotherly face!! we got a picture, did she send it to you? anyways it was the best thing ever.










That and also there is a secret shiny white tunnel underground from the mtc to the temple.

then i ate the bestest food ever. then me any my district laughed so hard (about the office episode where Kevin spills the chili- go watch that clip on youtube AHHHHH I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard! AH HA! A HA! MY SPLEEN!!) And it was a fine day to be alive.

So the manila mtc should actually be called like "boot camp" or something because its cra-z strict! every morning at 6 we would all GET IN FORMATION outside on the front courts, in gym clothes, call off, and then do group exercises. whattttt the heeecckkkk!!?!?! me and my fellow provoers were dying it was so ridiculous. But the FOOD was so good. Weird but good. I would always eat it all and get more. RICEEEE YUMMMM idk what else to tell you.

Oh ya there is a cockroach infestation. Really in the entire Philippines.  But espesh the mtc.  So one night (me and sister t were comps and in a room together) i was trying to keep my cool, there were like 10 giant ones crawling all around the ground, and even though my bed was like 1.3 feet off the ground I was cool, I was cool, until I pulled the blinds closed and they CAME OUT O' THERE and crawled all over the wall by my face. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.

a roachey

I grabbed a sheet and moved to the top bunk. Sis T was laughing at me sooooo harrrddd!!! she was just sitting on the ground packing her stuff, and they were crawling all over the place! when they would crawl on her legs or up her back (!!!!!!I KNOW RIGHT)))) she wouldn't even flinch and just pick them up and throw them back on the floor. She's a brave soul. I asked her if she was scared and shes like " Hevenly Faytha know my trial" AAHHAA shes a crack up. But ya that's all i have to say about the MTC. we had classes and stuff too it was great.

OK THE FIELD> the good stuff. So we flew from Manila to Naga on the rickety crickety plane, got off at the "airport" and met Pres and Sis Reeder!! They are the best!!! then the plane lost our luggage. So I didn't have it for a day.  Anyways because we didn't have our luggage we couldn't go to our areas, so we had to stay the night over at the Naga sisters apartment.  There were 8 of us in a 4 person apt, it was crazy.  We just slept on the floor with a little pad thing. It was rough. But the next day was better! Anyways President and Sister Reeder are so so nice! The mission home is like a palace here in the ppines! its SOO NICEEE. anyways then i got my new companion!!! She's filipino from Manila!

So shes a city girl filipino and is roughing it out here :) She's so nice and so mellow and calm. She helps me so much with everything. She speaks pretty good English which is such a blessing. I'm so glad to have her. 

So my area is in Daet and my town is Mercedes! ITS TAGALOG SPEAKING THANK GOODNESS!!! One of the few in the Naga mission.  All the others have dialects and speak Bicol or something else. I'M SO GRATEFUL SO SO SO MUCH TO BE HERE!! SO Mercedes, how do I begin to even explain this place? I don't know how to start. It's so so very poor. There are no stores or anything  here.  We take a tricey to Daet for groceries and there are a ton of stores there.  And men selling dead chickens under the bridge. And everyone stares at me. I'm so whiteeee. but they have an SM in Daet and tons of food. I bought so much of it and will be cooking a nice little feast for us everyday. No milk though, lame. BUT they had a tiny stick of real cheese!!! it was so expensey but I needed it. (ha). Anyways Mercedes. right. so people live in shacks, or little houses, they are very resourceful here! Everyone is so happy and nice and it is such a family culture here. I never am scared for my life when we walk home down muddy back ways its great.

The weather. OH MY GOODNESS THE WEATHER. Nothing could have prepared me for this humidity. Nothing. It's like nothing I've ever felt. It's like you can't get any air in your lungs the air is so thick. It's insane. I'm always drenched in sweat, my fan is on 24/7 (no ac:)) and I am just so so so sweaty. But good news its the rainy season! Which means that rain comes down so hard and then 10 mins later it stops! and everywhere is flooded! and the air is COOL!! I love it. I mean I'm still always always sweaty, but at least I can be cool and wet!

My beautiful home! It's seriously like a palace when we walk in after teaching people. 

So our house is so cute! its just me and sister R here.  There are 2 other sets of elders in our area. 

I am so blessed and so fortunate to have this.

We have a fridge, a gas stove top with two burners, and a rice cooker!  That's all for the kitchen.

Then the potty! Its a room with a hole in the floor for the water to drain out, then we have a bucket with a scoop for our shower, and a toilet with no flusher and you just scoop some of the shower water in there to flush. I even bought some tp. The shower is SO NICE.

I looveeee itttt. I wake up drenched in sweat and then just squat in there and pour the icy cold water all ova myself! It's so wonderful! I never want to leave it. I will include pics of our apartment stay tuned.


So our investigators: we teach a lot (sister R teaches a lot, i can't speak) and have lots and lots of work to do. I extended two baptismal invites to two different families and they were just like "ok". I was all "well, when you come to know these things are true....WAIT WHAT?" I don't know how I feel about it though. It's like, I'm not sure if they are understanding what a huge important step this is in their lives. Its like cheating or something. I just want to make sure they understand what they are doing, you know? the less active stats are that 80% of all baptized members are inactive in the ppines. CRAZY. anyways its going to be a huge challenge making sure people are really truly converted. We never schedule appointments, everyone's always home, we just stop by and they are there. So different from America when people have so many things to do and places to be.

our church- it's so small, there are like 4 rooms and a tiny tiny chapel area

So this one family we are teaching live so poor, their house is a big wooden bed, with a tarp tent over it and some boxes and junk for walls. the floors are mud, and when we go to teach we all sit on the bed. The mom is 8 months pregnant (our recent convert) in there and has 5 kids. They have some pigs right outside their tent that smell delish.  Anways we went there last night and taught about the law of tithing and the law of fasting. What. am. i. doing. I just wanted to cry, how can I ask this family to give up money and food? All i could do was promise them blessings, but man. it was rough. In church on Sunday (which they couldn't afford a tricey so didn't come), the bishop was talking about tithing and he said "Where much is given much is required". And THEN continued on to not use that as an excuse like, we have nothing so nothing is required, but to say that they need to be willing to give up things. I am so in shock. These people are so so humble. BTW the bishop lives across the way from us. The first time I met him I walked out of our stick-gate into the dirty street and this barefoot skinny man was there SURPRISE he's the bishop! (PS his voice sounds like Korihor on the testaments movie) he's an RM from Hong Kong. wow. He's so cool.

tryice selfies

The hardest part about everything is the language. It's the only problem I have about all of this. Bucket showers, rice and hot dogs for food, bugs, humidity, no milk, hand wash laundry, its all ok with me I JUST CANT SPEAK! It's so incredibly hard. I am trying so hard but I'm so bad and so so weak. I pray all the time for the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues. I can understand more than I can say but I still can hardly get the gist of what people say. HHHH its really frustrating. I'm trying to be patient. All I want is to be able to say things to these people! I have such a wonderful incredible message that will help these people inside my head and I can't get it out to them! I mean, I can say some things but not a ton. Sister R is a life saver. Anyways ya. I bore my testimony on Sunday, it was so rough haha :) but the people are all nice and smile anyways!

I can see though how I am going to wholly and completely love this life and calling when I can speak. I love these people, and I am so so lucky to be here. It is an honor to serve them.  I will work my hardest and best to help these people. It is such an honor.

I don't know what else to say! I'm happy! happy happy happy! the language is hard, but the life is great! I am working hard, I am eating my vitamins, I am smiling all the time (smiles make up for how terrible I am at speaking) I don't know what else, everything is good, I have everything i need (more than), I don't need anything, and don't worry about me! I'm just fine and happy!

I love you all so so much! It hurts how much I miss you all but I don't want to come home! I'm just trying to take it one day at a time. Ok pictures here we go. (i took like none of Mercedes because I'm so self conscious of my camera and I don't want to look like a tourist, i will try to get more though. Most are from the manila mtc and even Provo before i left. Provo feels like centuries ago!!!)

I'M ALIVE!!

SLC Airport--Philippines here we come!

Hello!!! I am alive! I made it!! WE are in Quezon City/Manila right now for 5 days at the MTC here for processing for our visas and stuff. Then we will fly (?) to Naga on Wednesday and start the real deal! The Manila mtc is RIGHT ACROSS from the manila temple! Its so pretty! we get to go there tuesday! Also today we are going proselyting from 2-6 with a real missionary who is serving here. BOOHYAH im so excited! In manila everyone speaks english so i think its going to be ok. im excited to see what a REAL live lesson and street contact is like, no more of this roleplay stuff.

So i like, lost a day of my life and all, i have no clue whats up and whats down, but i actually don't feel THAT tired right now. I'm doing good, I found 2 giant cockroaches in the shower, for breakfast we had rice and some stuff on top of it, an egg, and a roll with cheese sauce! It was DELISH! I'm still all with my district from Provo here at Manila so nothings really changed except our location. Its pretty hot and humid here like the people tell me, but my skin has never before been so moisturized ;)

Anywhoo everything is good good good and everything is so new, so I'm excited to get over this first stage and get this philippines stuff down. Also when we stopped in Japan I got the coolest keychain of a fat sumo dude. I don't think i will get to email you again until Naga, and idk when the pday is there but probably on monday, so i guess i will talk to you then! I'm going to have so much stuff to say and I'm sure this next week will be one of the craziest in my life, but I'm excited! Alright, goodbye now!
Love Chloe