the week

Hey everybody! Such a good week! It went by so fast I feel like I was just emailing! So sorry this one is going to be kinda short :)

First of all THANKS to the Jensens and Sister White for writing me! Aww! So so nice! I loved it! They are the best! I hope they receive extra extra blessings for being so kind to little old me :)

Ok first of the week: last Monday we went to heaven to eat. It was actually called "Catherine's". It was the weirdest thing, we drove in the longest tricey to this ocean side place that was all abandoned, and then there was Catherine's, right on the beach and so freaking fancy! It was like top notch resort status! We walked in and there was no one there, but such beautiful landscaping and spirally stairs and a swimming pool and palm fronds and tropical hut chair things and sand and it was like ghost town in there. We ate THE BEST FOOD of my life. It was unreal. There were cheese fries, yep that happened. And a burger from the gods. Complete with a fresh mango shake. Pictures ensued. It was so crazy expensey but so so worth it. I think it's off season vacation because it's rainy season and a weird time too for Catherine's. Anyways it was eerie, I was like "where the heck am I?' the whole time. anyways.

That night we hired a street urchin to clean our garbage outside ehhhhhhh :) We had like 10 bags and dogs got into it and it rained all over it all week and neither of us wanted to deal with it :) :) :) It was so gross. I dont know if I've ever witnessed a grosser garbage experience. Like really, there were worms all over the place. It's ok its so sanitary now and I promise to never let it get that bad :) We paid the little boy with my precious oreos :) But the next day he broke into the elders and stole 2000p! So sad for them! He was their little friend and he betrayed them. He had this nice new bike and they were like "where did you get that" and he's like "uh my dad!' but his dad has no work. Little twerp! Our apt is safe it has 3 locks don't worry.

This week we were punted a lot, did lots of walking and lots of talking. Tracting is so funny, it's either "ok whatever" or the people frown and say "BAKIT?" which means why. I just sort of kick my heels and give them my best angel smile and am so drippingly sweet to get in LOL.

This week I finally caught the mouse! I think it was living in Sis R's closet! It took me AN HOUR to catch that guy he's so fast! I was so mad at it at the end of the chase I was inhumane. (Don't let Abby read this) I finally caught it running down our curtains and had it in a bucket....then I sprayed it with poison then....yes I drowned it. It was kinda sad actually, it was jumping so high in the bucket to try to escape his watery grave. Stupid thing started drinking the poison water. I just thought "FINE if you want your lungs to burn more than they already will, DRINK UP!!!"  I was so mad at him. But also compassionate. It was def an angel/devil shoulder moment as I murdered the little guy. He's dead. Sis R took a pic :) DON'T WORRY I totally sanitized after and I'm safe and all that.






What else. Oh we had chicken liver at dinner appt that night. It kinda tastes like tart grainy playdough. I'm actually not that big of a fan. I still ate a decent helping, my stomach is amazing.

 

We went to Circle K for the first time after stake conference! I was like yay I'm in America! Until I wasn't. I got a shomai and ube ice cream. HA! So funny I was eating the ice cream waiting for a jeep and this little dirty street boy comes up to me and starts begging for a lick!  He wouldn't leave me alone and was grabbing my arms and whimpering......sounds cute but actually he was like 13 and a half NOT CUTE.  I didn't give it to him because I wanted it! And he was way to old to be acting like a baby. And I was almost done with it.  Anyways I just ignored him and then the jeep came. It was crazy. I started to get on but he wouldn't let go of me!! He was grabbing my arms and not letting go.  I was like "no no!! sorry no!!" and finally escaped his clutches. Then a sound came out of him that was not from this world.  The most terrifying shriek was sounded (ps we were in an echoey tunnel to make it worse) and he wouldn't stop!!!! Oh my gosh so scary!! Finally we started to drive! Little twerp! Then there was no room in the jeep literally, so I sat on sis R's tiny little bones eating my cone as eeeeeveryone stared at this huge American girl eating a melty ice cream squishing someone. I felt like buddy the elf- so overgrown and so unwanted. My head was all curled up and touching the roof. I could continue the story, it gets more awk and embarrassing but I will cut it there for now. It was just not good :)

I think about what I can do to help these people all the time, they are so poor!  But really these people need self reliance. If we give them money or food or something it will just be gone the next day. They need jobs and to be self reliant. There is a self reliance class and center at the stake center but idk how much it is utilized. For now I'm eating pb like crazy :)

We had stake conf which was good :) The first speaker's topic was retention of new converts but at the end she was talking about how glad she was that Brad and Angelina were married--marriage is still in! And then she was talking about the wonders of the internet and now she has an exciting life even at age 75. LOL. Another guy sang the first lines of "I see my mother kneeling" at the end of his talk- totally unrelated and we had no warning that he was going to sing right now- then stopped because he forgot the words, and sat down. leaving us on a total musical cliffhanger. "I see may mathur nee-leeeng wif ar family each day .... hmmm hmm hmm " sit down. What the heck this place is the best.


Tagalog is getting easier maybe? idk I just take it a day at a time and not really judge my progress. I'm trying to forget about it and stop worrying. Hopefully with that approach at the end of my training I will be able to speak and not worry!

I love Sis. R, our comp is so great! she's my real friend now, I love her! It's good no probs!

I'm sorry I don't have a lot to say about the work or our people or lessons or anything, we watched the Restoration movie last night with Bro R and his family. I was surprised about how much I could understand! I think I even dreamed in Tagalog partly :) I felt the spirit so strong, I always do when  watch that movie!  The gospel is so so true and Joseph Smith is a true prophet! I know it with all my heart! I am so grateful for him for restoring this gospel that gives me and everyone else the opportunity to have eternal happiness! God is so merciful and good! I am so grateful that he has a plan and that I get to be a part of it!

Sorry this week wasn't the best email- maybe next week will be better! I love you familyyyy!!!! I miss you guys a ton and pray for you ERY DAY! I love you love you loooovvvveee youuuu!!!!

-Sister McGrath

oh oH OH its MAGIC!!!

Hello!!! Hi!! What's cookin!!! It's time for another episode of my life!  Grab your loved ones and some popcorn! Gather round the hearth! 

This is how they drink soda here. Out of a bag with a straw. HAHAHA

SUCH an awesome week! I'm so so so happy right now!! Wait actually it was really hard, haha but so good at the same time! This whole week it rained. and rained. and raiiiinnnedd.  It's so crazy here, everyone's houses are flooded, and the people who have dirt floors are out of luck because its mud bath time. I love mud. But I have to be careful here because worms....they go into your feet and grow in your tum tum and you might get sent home.  Sis Reeder gives us a deworming pill at our year mark don't worry ill get those suckers out!

Food: lots of hot dogs and rice this week in tomato sauce. Sounds gross? It's not! I love it! I eat so so much here of everything it doesn't matter what it is.  I wasn't picky before but I've reached a whole new level of un-pickiness. OH there's this DELISH dried fish here! You cook it and love it and its so salty you cry! idk if I'm really an expert at cooking fish yet because whenever I cook them their eyes bubble up, get all white, then EXPLODE!  Haha it's so funny.  Also the fish heads are still my fav part of the fish. Also last night we had a miracle! We couldn't go shopping for groceries last Monday so we have been starving/food storaging it up. But last night our stock consisted of a can of sardines, a frozen piece of ham, powdered milk and a moldy cucumber and that's it.  No rice :(  We were just going to fast haha but then a member texted us DINNER APT!!! AHH! I was basking in the plentiful rice! I ate so much I was going to explode. I needed to waddle home. I'm still full now.  I love love love food.

I ate ALL THIS PB THIS WEEK! so so soooo much! I wanted to eat it all so I can buy another one from Sister Beth to help her financially :) And its sosoooo good I hope she has more. It's so sweet and runny and it tastes like pure sugar :)

Oh why do I use up so much of my precious time talking about food! I'm sorry.  So a weird culture thing- if you are pregnant you have to wear a towel on your head when you go outside in the evenings. HHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAA its hilarious! whenever I see anyone with a towel on their head- man or woman or child, I say to Sister R "Hey look they're pregnant" HA Sister R is like "No they're not...kasama that's a man" and then I say JOKELANG and we laugh and laugh.  Or I do at least. ;)

What else OH I am so sick of being stared at.  These people have no shame.  The other day we were waiting outside of a house for our investigator and some girls came by and literally stopped and stared for like 5 mins. 5 mins is so long when you are like that with someone. I asked them how they were doing, what their names were, nothing. Just stared.  When I would talk or move or blink they would go "awhhhH!!!" head to toe up and down staring staring staring. It's so AWKWARD!

Me and Sis R when we taught mish prep wednesday

The men are worse. (This is by the ocean, remember all the people are creeps there). I hope someday I wont be judged by the color of my skin but by the content of my character.

PEOPLE STORIES: SO! Lets start. One of our potential investigators had a baby 3 days ago and we went to visit her! We climbed up her broken splintery stairs to the smallest room ever. All that was in there were a couple boxes, her, and the new baby asleep on a pillow. That's all. No crib no blankets, no pacifiers no disposable diapers no nightlight no changing table no toys (HA) no nothing that you would find in any American baby's room. The baby was SO cute he's so precious! I looked at her looking at him and her eyes were watery. She told us looking down that she already has 6 kids and she doesn't know how shes going to feed them let alone this baby too. She tried to abort him by drinking this really strong tea stuff because she couldn't afford him. We didn't teach a lesson but left with a prayer, I said it and the Spirit was so so strong. Really, I think it was the baby's angelic presence :) I prayed for them to have food tonight, for her husband to have a job, for them to have peace in their home, idk what else but it was really special. Uh. Ouch my heart. 

We had 45 free mins because we were punted so we went tracting for the first time! We are so so busy we never have time to do that. It was so cool! We talked to 3 people. The second one- oh my goodness. She lives right by the road in a room- not a house but a room. It's so tiny, the walls are fabric sheets and the square footage is enough for maybe 4 people to sit cross legged and be cramped. It's crazy. She's 21 and has 1 baby and her husband is a jeep driver. We were there for about 2 mins and I was telling her that our message will bring her peace and answers and she can feel God's love and stuff like that when HER TOO! Her eyes got all watery and she said that her life is so so hard and they haven't had food in a while and they are so so poor. Oh my goodness. My heart! No amount of mission prep classes or advice from anyone could have prepared me for how many times my heart is shattered. Every day there are so many moments- smash smash smash. I cry in my prayers every night for them, I'm tearing up now thinking of all of their faces and how incredibly hard life is here. Another one of our investigator's sons got hit by a tricey, we went to visit her and there were kids everywhere crying and all over her, her husband stopped by to get a bottle of alcohol then left with his buddies. The look on that mothers face- she started to tear up too. AHHHHHHH it hurts!! It hurts SO BAD. 

baptism!

A good story- we had a baptism Saturday! For May and Christian and Kim! It was so neat!  Haha baptisms are so so different here, the speakers are barefoot, the opening prayer is by a young woman, it's all very thrown together. We sang A Child's Prayer again (WHY) it's so bad with the split part- I only have one voice and can't lead the boys AND the girls. "PRRAAAYY he is THEEREE....are you REALLy there!" It's crazy. But we made it through! May said she felt so clean and Christian and Kim too. awh :) Now we have to work on her husband! 

There is so soo SOO much more and so many people I could tell you about but just not enough time! (p.s. not all of our investigators are so poor, there is a wide range of wealth here still, but prob more than half worry about getting food day to day.)

What else- oh I printed those family pics you sent last week and everyone that looks at them exclaims that Mom is so pretty. They all do without fail! Maganda mama mo!! Wow!! So there we have it!

This morning we woke up at 6 to go play vball at the church (who am I) with the missionaries and the YSA and members. I guess they are on break from school....and work? idk what these people do all day. It was fun, my arms kill, I got us some points, what more can you ask for on a Monday morning?

I'm so happy here! we were riding in a tricey back from vball and I was like "YESSS!!!" I love it I love life I love being a missionary! It's so hard! I love it! Mercedes is awesome!

Me and sis R in a tricey to church

I'm still here for another transfer as well as Sis R., one elder in our district is getting transferred and he cried and cried in his testimony because this is his favorite area and he doesn't want to leave. I'm in the promised land baby!! Well, in the words of Kip "nothing elssse seems to come to mind" (anyone? anyone? obscure movie quote points to ME!)

I love you all so so bad, I miss you all so so bad, I love it here so so bad. AH I wish you could all come and spend just a DAY with me! Just one day! You just can never know everything- even with emails and pics. I wish I had a pic phone and could just send you pictures all the week and you too. I miss seeing your faces! I LOOOVEEE YOUUU mama and dad and han and matt and liv and ab! I love you so so much! I miss being able to talk to you all whenever I please :''( Have a wonderful week, if its Halloween send me pics! I forgot it was October and I totally forgot what day Halloween is! Be something awesome! I have so many ideas if you are stumped! OHH just thought of one! Hannah! Be ME! Make a name tag and carry an umbrella and pamphlets and wear a skirt and be so so sweaty and wear no make up and crocs. All the boys will flock to you ;) JOKE BIGGEST JOKE

fwum yowa deawwy bewoved

SISTA MICKEYGGEE!

PS for lunch we are going to a place that apparently has hamburgers AHHHHHLELUUH!!! then shop shop! yay! 

Chloe Marie Internet

Hey there!

Ok so about my week! Highlight was definitely General Conference!! AH i loved it! I will start from Monday though. We had FHE with two families, it was really fun. I gave the lesson- the same one at my baptism with the hard boiled egg you color on and then peel because you're baptized and pure and all.  My Taglog translated into English was "this egg like you. the color like sin. when repent you and baptized you, become clean!!"  HA oh its so bad :''''D oh well.

 One super amazing lady named Sister Beth is our recent convert. She's the one with the rat and the kids, you know the one. She is so crazy strong, probably the strongest person I've ever met! Everyday she walks and walks and walks to find her kids food. She walks to Daet which is really far, we take a jeep for like 10 mins to get there. They are so so poor and her kids are always hungry. We went to teach her and asked her how her prayers were going and she just broke down and cried because she was never expecting all the blessings in her life after she joined the church.  Some lady gave her a bunch of jars of peanut butter to sell that she can make 10 pesos off of each and she cried because she said no one has ever trusted her with something like that before. She is so strong, even when the Relief Society members of the ward offended her at an activity because they didn't share their rice (GAHWSHHIERJFJEJ!!! SO MAD) she still comes (walks) every Sunday to church and she's just amazing.

Ain't it purdy?

 A cool verse i found was Alma 37:44-45.  "For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.  

And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise."  Eternal bliss is as easy as following a compass. Really!  It's so easy and the way is so clear to have eternal life and eternal happiness, all we have to do is follow. We just cant get lazy because its so easy. We still need to take the little things seriously because they determine our final destination. Even if your off a few degrees you can end up somewhere completely different like our good friend Deiter told us a while ago. 

Another investigator story- so we are teaching this kid John.  Our recent convert Rocky sort of took him in. Rocky's brother in law found him selling brooms in Daet.  He doesn't know who his parents are because he grew up with his grandparents only.  They passed away and now he's an orphan. He's 14 years old and kinda shy. He has the most beautiful smile, really. We taught him lesson one and he's super cool and smart.  We asked him what his expectations were for our visits and he said quietly that he wants to change his life. He wants to change and be happy. AWHWHWHWHH I almost cried for this poor sweet kid! It hurts!

These are 2 kids who are getting baptized next week- they are so cute! they are the ones that teach me tagalog words :) On the chalkboard it means "sister mcgrath is really really white" haaa thanks kim :)

Kim again reminding me of my skin color

 So general conference! I only got to hear 23 talks out of idk how many because of bad connection. I cant wait for the Liahona magazine to come out so I can really read and study the messages. On Saturday it was missionaries only in the chapel haha. Then Sunday was CRAZY! Mercedes ward hired 3 jeeps so people could come for free to Daet. it was so crazy packed but we had a lot of investigators come! We left at 9 though, and it started at 9, then we got there and it was all full so we put our investigators in the Tagalog room and went back to the packed chapel to watch it in English sitting on the stage in the back.  I tried really hard to listen but there was so much going on. We ate rice in a room afterwards and then the afternoon sesh was back to just missionaries. 

Ah. So talks I loved: Jorj Klebingat! (link) His was awesome!  I loved how simple and matter of fact he was about his bullet points. I am really going to try to become really really good at repenting and forgiving :)

Magaaaanda!

Then- ELDER HOLLAND. (link)  Oh my goodness it was like he was reading my soul! I felt everything he said in his talk so personally! Ugh I was crying in it because it's one thing to think about poor people when you can't really see them and another thing entirely when you are sitting next to them and teach in their "homes" and can see first hand how hard their lives are. Oh my goodness. It is so true, there is so soooo much poverty. I feel almost daily, what can I even do, I'm just one person. I know I can't solve their problems, or even help them very much. I loved the quote from mother Teresa about the drop in the ocean. "What we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean, but if we didn’t do it, the ocean would be one drop less."  I felt so strongly that, not just now, but after my mission and for my whole life I need to give so much of what I have away.  And serve in every possible way.  Just this week 3 of our investigators came to us asking for help and for money. It is so hard to tell them that we can't help :'(  I just want them all to receive the gospel because it is the most important and best thing they can have in this life, and its free! For everyone! Anyways I loved that talk and can't wait to read it again.

Then President Monson! (link) I loved his of course! I liked how he talked about walking the path that Jesus walked, and that it means through the good and the bad. A lot of times we think it means just being kind and nice and you know, like Jesus. But he suffered so much and went through so many other things other than just being nice. In our lives we have to walk the whole path that he did, not just when its easy or convenient.

And finally this morning! So we went to the beach for a district activity! we left at 6:30 and took a boat to an island, then a long tricey ride to the beach area, then walked on it for forever. I was in jeans (oh my goodness it has been soo long and it felt so weird! like, something was touching every surface area of my leg with every step! I forgot how to walk! agh!) but I got the super soaked. :P   We played "games" like signs and tag and stuff, ate some chips, kinda chilled, then walked back. The crooks of my arms are sunburned and that's all. What the heck? Anyways most of my pics this week come from da beach :) enjoy!

What else- oh ya I gut fish with my bare hands. #barbaian

I don't know what else to tell you, there is so much more I wish I could say but not enough time to go into all the details. I want to tell you about all of our investigators and people but I just can't :( Oh well I'm keeping a really good journal. Partly because its kinda lonely, and when I write in there its like I'm talking to someone who knows me. Because it's me. How lame am I?  Really though, I rely on prayer more than I have ever before out here. It's kinda just me and Heavenly Father out here, he's the only one who can understand me (my language and my heart) and I need to talk to him all the time. I pour out my heart at night and I know he is listening. I'm so grateful for prayer.  Even though I feel really alone, I know I'm not.  I'm doing ok though don't worry. This is just super hard but I can do it! 

Love Sister McGrath

It is really raining SO hard but in this picture you can't tell. Dumb. It was really crazy rain I swear.

Rats, Fish, and MickeyDees!!

GoooooooOOOD MORNING AMERICA!!! Hows life on the other side of the pond? I had a wonderful week as always here in the wonderful land of the ppines! Who wants to hear some stories??

First of all, I'm sorry if last weeks email was too graphic. Haha. What can I say, its my life :) I will try to add in more of a variety of experiences, not just the gut wrenching ones :) But I will still put some of those in there too, we cant have you falling asleep!

To start us off I will tell you about food! my fav! This week i ate at good ol McD's! YES! I took a picture. It's so funny, there is rice alll over the menu. Big mac...with rice. rice rice rice. and rice. I inhaled my french fries it was glorious. I missed those babies. Also this week we had lots of fish- I'm quite the sea food expert over here (not really) But its sooo good fried and boiled and everything! On rice of course. I'm really good at not eating the tiny bones I'm quite proud :) the heads are delish too. 

Ok now about Women's Conference!! We took 2 of our recent converts and one investigator on a jeepney to Daet stake center to watch it, we walked in and there were 2 ladies and it was half way over! NOO! We watched the last 3 speakers so at least I got to hear Utchey. I was so sad we missed it all and they couldn't replay it because it was being broadcasted from Manila. AWH! SO funny though afterwards it was the BYU vs Utah State football game to the tune of those really fast piano hymns on lds.org. It was all tackle tackle tackle sweet hour of prayer. Oh the irony.

Anyways I loved the temple presentation thing! How cool was that! I loved hearing about how women from all around the world were blessed by the temple. It's so true, we all are so so different but we are all united by the blessings of the temple. That one lady who lost her 6 kids? UGH! I am so so so so so grateful for the temple. I loved Utchdorf's talk about how the commandments are like rain and and umbrella is like sin. It was such a good true analogy! Our investigator really liked it! Same with our rcs :) It was so good I cried a little when it was over though. I crave it! I want more! (luckily I get more with gen conf) It's hard when I'm kinda the only one in charge of making sure I learn and have a spiritual uplifting experience, I cant really rely on church because I don't understand a whole ton and its so so loud and crazy and quite stressful actually. I'm used to a steady diet of one devotional per week thanks to byui and its been hard to go so long without :) but its ok!

So funny story, we were teaching our rc (the one whose kids have lice) and we were sitting on stools outside and her girls were playing inside. They were being super loud and noisy and we were all ignoring them. Then our rc was reading a verse and I look over at sis R and her eyes are huge looking towards the window. I look over and the little girl is squeezing this huge white and black rat!! HAHAHA!!! She was holding it so tight and slamming into the windowsill up and down singing "do de do do da!" and it was clawing like mad and it looked so disturbed.  My goodness it was so hard to not laugh, in fact it was too hard. Yes. I did. I burst out in laughter and interrupted our recent convs Book of Mormon reading. We all looked and she told them to stop and it was so funny. That's what barbies are here in the ppines, rats :)

We had zone training which was good, it got us super motivated to work even harder! 8-8 every hour for the Lord! We're going to do great things! They talked about how important it is to love the people and have charity, lots of good stuff I cant summarize it all now. Also I got to eat this red fruit thing that's spiky on the outside. Also me and Sis R matched with polka dots YAY mother daughter matchies!

So we had a baptism on Saturday!! Yay!! I'm not counting it as "my first baptism" because its not my baptism, it was bro R's. and his daughter's. It was their decision, their choice, and missionaries are just a guide to the waters of baptism. And I had such a small role, I can barely talk anyways and just came in the picture for the baptism. Anyways it was still cool. He's the husband of our rc who lives in the tiny tent bed house.. Aren't their kids so cute? The one who got baptized turns 9 next month. Her jumpsuit was so huge I felt so bad! It was so different from my baptism, no pretty white dress, no foods, idk it was a lot different from America. But it is still the same baptism and ordinance and I am so so happy for them! Now they can be sealed as a family next year if they are worthy! SO COOL!

The ysa and missionaries sang A Child's Prayer (it was the worst thing my ears had ever heard during practice, but with someone plunking piano chords it was ok I guess) man that two part split though. whoow we made it. Baptisms are cool here because the whole ward comes, kids and all. It's really a ward family here, it doesn't matter if you are old or young, its not weird to go hang out with each other or talk to each other. They didn't have any money to come to church the next day. He gets paid at work on Sundays for the week, but he decided not to go to work to keep the Sabbath day. We paid for their fare to church so he could get confirmed.

So sad story now: last night we went to one of our super strong recent converts to teach him enduring to the end, but he wasn't there. So we taught his wife who is our investigator. She is super great, she knows everything, she comes with us to teach this 19 year old guy and helps teach the lesson and all and we don't know why she wont be baptized. Anyways during our lesson he came home with our 19 year old investigator Norman and they were BOTH DRUNK! ARE YOU KIDDING?? She told us this is why she wont get baptized because her husband promised to changed but then does stuff like this. I was so mad at him. Our rc dragging down 2 of our investigators!! ARHGHUEHTIH!!!!KHFJKEHW!! We are mad at him. But are having FHE with them later tonight. So we will see how that goes. We gave Norman a word of wisdom pamphlet haha.

That's all for this week! Bye bye family I love you!!

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!!!)