Mission Homecoming talk

 

So apparently I'm technologically impaired and can't get the video to load to the blog. Luckily there are enough step by steps that I got it onto youtube. So you can view it here.

You may need to turn the volume up since I was sitting about 2/3 back in the chapel and just using my phone.  :)

I'm coming home, coming home, tell the world I'm coming home!!

Oh man! My last week.... and it was a doozy! When we last heard from Sister Schultz.... I was in Laoag. Turns out that I missed my bus back to Ballesteros that day, so Sister Cabato and I had to spend the night in Laoag again.... perfect.... we were supposed to have exchanges the next day. Luckily there was a bus that was going to leave the next day at 3AM... so we took it. Dropped off sister Cabato in Sanchez Mira and I picked up Sister Purificacion and we made it back to my area around 9:00 Am. I took a quick shower and then it was off to work! Probably one of the craziest exchanges that I have ever been on. We had sooo much to do! We taught some lessons in the morning and then had to go to an appointment that we had with the mayor for a wedding that we are planning.... then we had to check on the apartments that we were supposed to move in and drop off some mission mail to the district president. We got back to the apartment a little after lunch..... so I cooked and washed my laundry while she updated the area book (let me just remind you that my whole mission has been washing laundry by hand) at this point, my laundry doesn't get too dirty.... which is good, because when I wash it, I don't think that it gets too clean:)

Back out to work. We taught all of our appointments but when we got to our last appointment, with the Juan Family, the one that I love, Only Christopher was there..... so we told him to call his brothers and sister...... 30 seconds later we hear a stampede of people coming.... there was about 30 kids all between the ages of 5-18 that all wanted us to teach them.... so we taught them all. Don't worry that whole area now knows what tithing is, what the word of wisdom is, and they know how to bear their testimony:)

 Exchanges from day one... COMPLETE.

Next day I had to wake up early to prepare a training hat I was supposed to be giving at ZTM that morning. Crazy! They assigned me "a part" from the training..... well I didn't actually label my noted from the training, so I had no idea which part I was actually supposed to do.... but I was pretty sure I knew, so I just planned something awesome. 

ZTM. I was the first one to give my part of the training... oops... I accidently summarized the whole training:) haha but luckily that part that I went the most in to depth about was the part that I was supposed to give:) hehe. After ZTM, Exchanges again:) This time with Sister Shrack in Ballesteros, It was great! We taught the Juan families again:) I love them so much! They at this point are preparing for baptism on Saturday.

President calls that night. We have to go do paper work for the new apartments.... sigh. Oh yeah, and we have to re-split the area with the branch because they are adding elders to this area. Perfect. So we get a hold of the landlady, all the paper work is done. Friday. 

We start weekly planning and get through our other studies. Then it's off to the church for a meeting with the Branch President. Got the area split and it was back home. Did about 30 minutes more of weekly planning and then we had to go out to work. Worked.... taught the Juan family:) We watched the testaments:) They loved it!!!! I love them!!! There again was about 50 people at their house for the movie:) Which is good because we invited them all to the baptism on Saturday!

Saturday- Woke up early to finish weekly planning.... only I just ended up packing and doing more laundry while my companion did something else. We working in the morning and had some really great appointments. The baptism is at five. SO we had studies and then went to go to the church. Got almost all the way to the church when the office elders call that they need to pick up my suit case. Back to the apartment. Get the suitcase and we are back to the church. On the way there we saw... ELDER REBER!!!! Yay! He is in my batch! I love seeing my batch! 

 Got to the church and there was a ton!! of people there! and probably 20 of them were investigators!!! The baptism was AMAZING! It was so great! I'm so thankful that I stayed the extra 3 months to see my family get baptized! I love this family so much! I cried like a little baby when they were baptized and then when I bore my testimony at the end:) And then again when they bore their testimony:) Tears of Joy:)

 Finally Sunday- The day of rest..... or so you thought. Sunday was a great day! They were all confirmed and because the newest best members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Right after church Sister Cabato hopped on top of a jeepney and rode to Camalanuigan:) Surprise! President let us ride on top of the Jeep and go to visit my Recent converts in Cam! I didn't get to see them all, So I was really sad:( There was four that I didn't get to see, But I did get to see little Julia Hazel:) She's so adorable! WE stayed for a total of one hour and then it was back to Ballesteros! Slept for one hour in the van that we were in, and then went straight to work when we got back to Ballesteros. Taught and then had accountability:) Sigh.... breathe for one second, then back to packing... brown out... no lights. UGH!!!! 

Today- Woke up early, packed, the Elders came and we moved into our new apartment. It's now 3:30 and we have an activity at the church at 5.... Maybe I'll just sleep on the plane....

A lovely run and some dating advice

This week... this week I went on exchanges with sister Mckim! She is from Australia and I love her so much! She is so great! This week we had three of our baptismal candidates move their dates to later, but I'm okay with it, because the Juan family is still getting baptized! They are so cute I love them so much! The branch loves them so much too because they live so far away and are so poor that they cant afford the tryce to come to church and so every week they walk to church even though it takes like fifty minutes and it is burning hot. On fast Sunday the members all got up to bear their testimonies and they were all just crying because they were so inspired by the Juan family! Then we had an fhe at their house and a whole bunch of people came and the father finally joined in! He had such a good time he was just laughing and he loved it! He said that we could start teaching them:) I'm just so happy! 

This week we also had mlc. It's always stressful when you have to travel to Laoag, but this time stress was gone. After five hours of trainings in the morning... or four... idk basta its really really long, we got to go and have games at the local stadium... where there was a track.... so I may have gotten to run a full mile:) all by myself:) it was so great! granted I'm a little fatty and it was really hard for me haha but it still felt so good! yes! Then we had a crazy what the heck is this moment at fhe that night.... the APs gave us a training on.... "how to have a quality date"... like an hour long training. It was so weird... but very amusing. one week till may day! I love you all!

The miracles of the mission

This is going to be a pretty detailed pretty great blog, so read closely. (it's detailed because I didn't have any time this week to write in my journal, so now you get the FULL story:)

 

When we last left off I was feeling a little bit down about my baptisms being cancelled and moved until after I leave. So let's continue from there. So on Monday we went to an FHE at the Sengson Family's house. I love that family they are so great! It's a single mother with 15 children!! Holy Smokes she is so great.... and they are all active. Anyways we were playing games and Sister Cabato kept getting texts during the lesson. I tried to read her emotion to see what was happening and I couldn't really tell.... then we leave the fhe and all that she says to me is, "Sister you have to jump up and down okay?" me being the obedient missionary that I am just started jumping up and down and then I said, "Wait, why am I jumping up and down?" And then she said that Rubelita can still get baptized!!! she's the one who said that her parents thought that she was investigating a different church and so she couldn't get baptized.... it turns out that her parents were just kidding.... actually they are members, and she really could get baptized:) I was so happy!!!

Tuesday: I had exchanges with Sister Storey-who I love by the way- she is from Kaysville and she is just soo funny. Anyways we had a really great day of teaching and came home from lunch. While I was cooking lunch, we got a phone call. It was President Barrientos, I'll just write you a little bit of how the conversation went.

Me: Hello Po President!

Pres: Hello Sister Schultz! How are you? Are you on exchanges right now?

 

Me: Opo (yes) President.

P: Do you have exchanges tomorrow?

Me: Hindi po (no) President

 

P: Okay that's good. So, Sister Schultz, tomorrow, you will need to come to Laoag. You will be flying out tomorrow.

 

Me: (Automatic tears) What?

P:Yes, we have a problem with the visas and so you will travel here early in the morning tomorrow.

Me. No.... (bawling) president... no,,,,

P: Sister Schultz listen; okay you will take the bus tomorrow to Laoag and then you will meet Sister Woahn, Elder Taukei, and Elder KNowles and you will all be flying out of Laoag to Manilla tomorrow.

me: (Still crying) But president... we have baptisms... 

 

President: Listen Sister I'm not done yet. You will be flying to Manilla, but you will only be staying for two days and then you will return here to Laoag. Don't worry you're not going home yet.

Me: Alah! (there's no translation for that) President!

President: Laughing- you're okay Sister Schultz okay? I'll call you later.

 

WORST. FEELING. EVER!!!

It was at that moment that i am really grateful for my real release date:) And that I'm not going home yet:)

 

Needless to say, it wasn't the best day for exchanges that I have had. Then that night I packed really quick and in the morning I took the early bus traveling to Laoag (5:30 AM) I had to travel by myself which at first I was like Aw! Sweet! I'm traveling by myself! By then after like 5 minutes I got really really bored.... and I had no one to talk to. couldn't sleep, even though I was way tired. We made one stop about an hour away from Laoag (it's a five hour bus ride) and when we started again I Was out! The bus driver had to wake me up in Laoag. I got off of the bus and was very disoriented... and I had no companion. I have been to Laoag very few times in my mission, so I was really unfamiliar with everything. Luckily you can just jump in a tryce and tell them where you want to go and they will take you there. I went to the mission office and then just waited and waited and waited for 3 hours! Until they finally told me to go and meet Sister Woahn at some taco place in Laoag. Meanwhile Sister Woahn has been waiting at the taco place for a while now and decides to come to the mission home. We missed each other. Haha 

    Turns out that my tryce driver didn't know where the taco place was, so he just stopped at a tryce terminal. The other drivers swarmed my tryce and I was surrounded by a bunch of men talking to me.... uh... help! I called the office and they told me how to get to the taco place and then the driver took me to.... not the taco place. I was done being with him though, so i just got out. 

   I walked to a security guard and just ask him "uh... do you know where the tacos are?" Stupid question in English, it sounds a lot less dumb in Tagalog, but it was effective:) He took me to the taco place! only... no Sister Woahn. I decided to just wait. I waited for about 15 minutes when sister Woahn came:) I love Sister Woahn. We ate and then just talked for ever, and finally at 6:30 we all met up at the office.

No one seemed to know what we were supposed to do so they just said. Here's your ticket just take a tryce to the airport.... by ourselves again! Get to the airport. Get on the airplane and it's off to Manilla! Go off the airplane, and.... no one was waiting for us (what? What are we even doing here) Sat around for like 20 minutes and then finally found our driver. He took us to the hotel airport (which is where I stayed when we came in) and had a really nice dinner at like 11PM and then took hot showers (that was nice) and slept on real mattresses in an aircon room:) (that was also nice:)) in the morning we got up really early and took a van to the embassy. We got there.... no one was waiting for us again. (what is this?) haha so we just grabbed some forms that we thought looked right and filled out the paper work and got our pictures taken and stuff. Then we called President and we were like.... uh.... is this what we are supposed to be doing? There is no one here. He called his people and someone came over. Turns out that we never had to do any of that stuff.... just get fingerprinted and sign some forms.... then we were done. 7 hours before our flight was supposed to leave!!!

The driver didn't want to take us to the temple, but it's closed when we actually go home, so we bribed him to take us... as in.... we paid him a lot to take us.... then we couldn't stay long, but we took some pictures and then left, stopping to get some krispy kreme donuts:) Gotta love Manilla! got to the airport....waited....flew back to laoag:) no one was waiting for us.... so we took a sketchy bus to the mission home.... no one was there. At this point we have no money at all because it's close to the end of the month and since we were all leaving, our support got cut. So we couldn't even afford to go home. SO we found a mango tree and had mangos for dinner:) Elder Knowles sat down to eat his mango and completely ripped his pants! It was hilarious!!! Sister Woahn and I saw the whole thing happen and we were just dying with laughter! About five seconds after they ripped, in pulls President Barrientos:) Oh priceless:) Stayed the night over in laoag (Another Hot Shower) and in the morning had interviews. 

I told President Barrientos about the Juan Family and how we had to move their baptismal date to the week after I leave because of word of wisdom problems... I may have cried... and he said, "Sister Schultz are they ready?' "opo President."

"Okay" He said, "they can get baptized right before you go home:)" I was sooo happy! And thus we see that the Lord works in mysterious but marvelous ways!!!

Rode back home by myself:) It was freezing cold and my window was broken:) Got home and now we are back in business:) 

 

This week... TIN TIN came to church! Tin Tin is our investigator that is in a wheelchair, she has hypocephalus and NEVER leaves the house. We have been trying to pick her up for the last month and she finally was able to come today!!! I was so happy! The branch basically attacked her with hugs and love!!!:) I'm so happy:) We had 20 investigators at church today:) if one bad week can bring that many blessings then I guess that enduring is definitely worth it!

Love you all! I will see you all in 17 days!

 

I forgot to bring my camera today.... so no pictures. Maybe next week... or you can just look at Sister Woahn's Blog.

 

Just push him in

Well, well, well... which would you like me to start with, the good news? Or the bad news? Well I will start with the bad news so that we end on a happy note. So we had a ton of baptisms lined up for before I left, and I LOVE them all so much! I'm so attached to them all. Well, six of the 11 that we have were a family... and they are all over 12 and the other day we taught them again about the Word of Wisdom....kill me now. :'(
5 out of the 6 of them have participated in some sort of word of wisdom issue in the last week (Coffee, cigarettes, or alcohol.) I was heart broken.... because it means that we have to push their baptism to the week after I leave instead of the week before:( I cried like a baby. As in the whole rest of the night :( They are still excited to get baptized, and they are preparing themselves better now, so I know that it is good for them, I'm just very sad:( Then our baptismal candidate for next week was all ready, then her parents magically figures out that it was the LDS church.... how they missed out on this through the whole process is a little beyond me, but they have forbidden her the get baptized. I kind of feel like, "What the? Why!?! Satan hates me!" It's so unfair! I worked so hard and I was so obedient. My heart is broken.
In kind of better news though! Spencer was baptized! He was the one that was deathly afraid of Elder Seumanutafa.

Well we were really nervous about the actual ordinance of baptism because he is soo shy. But he went straight into the water with a big smile on his face. ITS A MIRACLE!!! I said, then he got baptized... yes!!! BUT!!! his dad said the wrong words.... and his hand didn't go under.... NOOO!!!!! They told him that he had to do it again and he just started bawling and ran out of the font. Then the dad was ticked and he left the church all together. Meanwhile in the bathroom, Sister Cabato, Spencer's mom and I are all trying to convince Spencer that it's not his fault and that they just have to go one more time....  now he's screaming that he doesn't want to go again.
Both his parents are members so his mom said that he had to go again. We had the other baptizer waiting in the freezing cold water and got Spencer to the stairs of the font.... still kicking and screaming. The baptizer is bobbing up and down in the water to try and help Spencer see that it's not so bad and that he can do it. But he still doesn't want to. (Oh by this time we also cleared all of the people out of the room so that it was just the two witnesses and his family) and the mom finally just says to the baptizer, just grab him and do it or he'll be really upset and never get baptized. I felt sick! I didn't know what to do:( He  was clearly ready and wanted to, but he was just so shy. Finally they got him into the water and baptized and when he came out he was completely fine and happy. It was a little reassuring, but I still felt like I was forcing someone to get baptized. The next day at his confirmation though, he was fine and just as happy as could be. I think maybe I have an ulcer now. Haha well, maybe not yet.... but another baptism like that and I just might.

ps. I just fund out that my very first RC just got his mission call:)

Just keep praying

So this week has been a really great week:) I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Copeland:) She is from Tennessee and she is so great! It was probably the least stressful exchange that I have ever been on before:) And also.... I LOVE my area:) Every appointment is the greatest ever! My stress levels right now are way up.... but not because we cant find people to teach.... its because we can't find enough time to teach all of the people that we are supposed to get them ready for baptism:) We have investigators that have come enough times to church and are keeping their commitments, but we haven't taught them all the lessons yet.... as a consequence, right now March 8 is looking pretty stressful.... we have 1 wedding and 9 baptisms planned for that day.... just keep swimming:) the water is looking pretty good after all.
On that note, we have a baptism coming up this Saturday and it was by far "THE MOST STRESSFUL INTERVIEW EVER!" Spencer is a 9 year old part member who has the gospel down solid. the problem? When he first meets someone, he WILL NOT TALK to them. We reviewed the baptismal interview questions with him and he was set to go, but once he got into the Interview with Elder Seumanutafa, he just froze.... he wouldn't talk.... then he hid in his shirt and started crying. Elder Seu.... called us in to talk to him and it took us an hour of teaching and running around and bribing until we finally got him to pray in the hallway while Elder Seu... sneakily listened in. His mom had to pray first in Ilocano, then I had to pray in English, Then Sister Canato had to pray in chubakano, then he prayed in Tagalog..... there was a lot of praying. After his prayer, Sister Cabato and I had to do the interview questions while Elder Seu... still hiding around the corner just listened in:) He passed!

Well then yesterday at church he was mad at the world and didn't want to be there.... more stress.... so we changed our plans and took snacks and the testaments movie over to his house to try and patch up his feelings towards the missionaries and church:) Mission success! At first he was really mad that we were there, but then once we started the movie, he was back to being our best friend:) Now we just have to make it through till his confirmation on Sunday:) Just keep swim.... oh I mean praying:)

Schultzy Gmae

okay sorry this is going to be a super rushed one! Nothing too great
happened this week! Except we had 10 investigators at church. It is
great to come into an area and have none and get it up so high. Our
biggest problem right now is trying to find enough time to teach all
of the people that want to get baptized! Hopefully they all get
baptized before I go home:) In other news:) I only have 38 days left
until I come home. "someday" is finally here! It's a lot different than
what I thought that it would be, but this version is WAY better! :)
And in final news Did you know that in the amount of 19 months you can
have 2 babies? I did it:) haha not literally:) but another baby was
named after me this week:) Her name is Schultzy Gmae:) Pictures to
come when I'm not using caveman computer:) Love you all!

Count down has just begun!!

So this week was really good I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Baguio (which means strong storm):) And it was good. I have been really really sick for the past 3 weeks, but it's finally starting to clear up. While we were on exchanges, Sister Baguio made me some really delish juice to help my throat:) She's so kind:)

I have also discovered the blessings that come from patience this week. PATIENTLY waiting for the water to heat up before you take a shower:) And then taking your time showering because you actually enjoy it:) I love hot showers.

We have kind of been teaching this one investigator named Lanni, but haven't been able to really focus on her.... she's all ready for baptism, we just have to teach her.... fail on our part, but at least I will have at least one more baptism before I go home:) When we teach her, we can't teach her at her house because she lives really really far away... so we teach her in a chicken shop. You get creative sometimes on your mission:) In my first area, we taught an investigator in a tobacco warehouse.... uhh.... I'm just sad that we weren't teaching the Word of Wisdom that day.

We also have been having a lot of brown outs (which is the Filipino way of saying power outage) so that other day we taught a whole lesson (the ten commandments) By the small light of a cell phone. After we said the closing prayer, the lights came back on.... curse you Satan.

Tomorrow officially marks the start of the last transfer of my mission:) I will be home in 6 weeks:) I won't lie.... I'm FREAKING EXCITED!!!!! I just jump up and down all the time and tell the other missionaries, "I'm going home! I'm going home!!" I'm still working hard, don't get me wrong.... I'm just way excited to come home:)!!!!!!

Remember that one time that I came to the Philippines and it was burning hot.... I can hardly remember that time because right now it is freezing cold!!! I actually bought a blanket that other night.... it's so cold that we cant even sleep without blankets..... that's a little ridiculous! But at least I sleep peacefully at night now:) Love you all!!!! 42 days:)

Success!

I forgot that it wasn't normal to:

-Shake hands with someone when you first meet them.

-Eat 6 times a day

-Drink Soda out of a plastic bag

-People just touching you.... squeezing your arm, or rubbing your head.

-People saying what ever they want to you: You're fat, why do you have pimples, you're beautiful..... on and on.

 

This week was a really great week:) We were able to see a small miracle:) We haVEN'T BEEN HAVING A LOT OF SUCCESS WITH HAVING INVESTIGATORS AT (uggfg!!! I hate capslock!) church but this week we worked our butts off and we finally had 10 investigators at church!!! Yes!!! The church is true!

We still don't know what the deal with the visas is.... so I still don't really know when I am coming home:) Oh well:) Sana I get to see all of these investigators get baptized though!!!!

I am ridiculously sick right now. Maybe I'm dying. But it's fine. Just keep working and the Lord will bless you right?!?! That's what I am goi9ng to go for:) Sister Shrack made no-bake cookies this week.... so life is still good.

Got my 72-hour  kit all finished finally. Don't mind the fact that I'm almost done with my mission here. Just give me praise:) That's all that I ask:)

ZTM was really good:( We did a training and even though it was probably the most boring topic that you could give a training on (reporting and accounting) The missionaries seemed to have a lot of fun:)

I was able to go on exchanges this week with Sister Incognito:) She's the best! I think she's had like 70 baptisms or something on her mission.... she's crazy good.... I've only had like 5 haha well a few more, but still! Man she's good. A little crazy, but so great!

Bowling and chest x-rays

Well I can't really remember anything from this last wee cause MLC was so fun.... so I will just tell you all about MLC.

We have to go down to Laoag every first Monday of the month for leadership training and this was my first time to go.... possibly my last:) So on the way down I rode the bus with 12 other missionaries:) One of them being Elder Reber (he was in my district in the MTC) When we got there on Sunday night, we stayed in the Laoag 3 apartments.... I was sooooo excited because I was going to get to take a hot shower.... well it turns out that the Laoag 3 apartment is the only one in the whole apartment complex that DOESN'T have hot water..... story of my life. BUT it was really fun staying there with A) Sister Woahn- My first companion B) Sister Sabio- My first trainee and C) Sister Walker my second companion..... looks like Sister Smith will probably be getting a call soon haha joke lang.

 The next morning (yesterday morning) We headed to the stake center for the trainings, where I got to see Elder Ewell also.... he was also in my district in the MTC..... AND!!!!! SISTER TAUTI!!!! I love Sister Tauti!!!! She is the greatest! She is going home next transfer.... or is she? Nope. It turns out that they have problems with our exit visas.... so she is actually going home 3 weeks early. I cried.... many times. 

The trainings were really fun and then afterwards we all went and ate at Robinsons. I Saw my old investigator there!! Love her!!! but!.... she told my I was really fat... not true.... still love her.

Then we went bowling.... not like we do in the states.... it was literally like a shot put that you rolled down the lane. It was way fun! I didn't get past 50.... I suck:) but lets be serious, who really IS good at bowling like that? No one.

Then we had more trainings and went home:) I told all of the younger missionaries about the time I left my companion and ran after the bus because I left my wallet on it..... still such a great story.

This morning I had to get a chest x-ray.... don't worry I'm not dying, we all have to get them before we go home.... since I only have 9 weeks left, it was time.:) 

9 is the magic number:) We will see if it changes:)

Frozen showers and Skype calls

Well today..... amazingly.... is hot!!!! As of right now the skies are clear and out laundry has a chance of maybe getting dry for once! That would be nice not to wear wet clothes and wet shoes for once:) I had to give that elders jacket back, so I'm glad that it is starting to get warm again:)

Although the weather is warm.... the bucket showers are still... not warm. I imagine that the showers that we take here in Ballesteros, feel something close to what falling off of the titanic would feel..... but every single day!

We finally saw some progression in the area this week. We were a little tired of not having anyone progress or come to church, so we decided to bag everyone and contact all of our referrals.... the standard for new investigators in one week is 8.... we might have gotten 29. It worked a little, we had 3 investigators at church!!!!

The other sisters have been having a lot of success on their side of the area and have been having a lot of baptisms.... I think that I have sung more musical numbers here in the last two weeks than I have in my entire life!!! But as long as it is for a baptism, I guess that it is okay.

We had to check the elders apartments this week..... the apartment wasn't bad.... but man the travel was a pain in the butt! It took us six hours to check on the apartment!!! We are so poor now!!! I can't imagine back when it was Sister Woahn and Sister Tauti checking all of cagayan! Yikles! That is a lot of travel! They are great examples to me!!!

So..... I GOT TO SKYPE WITH MY FAMILY THIS LAST WEEK! It was really great but really stressful! I was supposed to skype with them at 1 pm.... we had district meeting an hour away until 12..... then we went and checked some other elders apartment, then we waited for a jeepney.... and waited.... and waited....FINALLY it came. Got to the Ballesteros Junction and got in a tryce. OF COURSE we had to be the FIRST inside of the tryce.... they wait until they have 8 to leave. more waiting...... after 45 minutes.... finally left. SLOWEST TRYCE EVER!!!!!!!! we were barely moving. I was thinking "can I get out and walk please? It will be faster."

Finally got to town and got to Skype with my family:) It was the greatest part of Christmas:) Last skype of the mission:)

Christmas here was something a little different.... seeing as how it was pouring rain and we still went out finding:) But our meals..... were plentiful. Every house that we taught at felt that they needed to feed us..... ugh!!! I was soooooooo full! I've never eaten so much in my entire life! We had 5 lunches and 3 dinners! I thought that I was going to puke!!!!! we ate: Spaghetti, Pancit, vegetables, fish, rice, graham cake, noodles.... and so so much more when we got home, we all looked at each other and just said.... would it be okay with everyone if we didn't cook dinner tonight? needless to say.... it was fine with everyone.

Everyone thinks that Sister Shrack and I are twins.... we are both white.... I guess that basically qualifies us.

The branch missionaries threw us a Christmas party! It was really great and we had a lot of fun!.... Another Musically number.

Love you all! Love Sister Schultz!

That moment when:

-I stopped worrying about not having tissue at the public restroom because I was busy worrying about how I had to go to the bathroom.... on the floor!

-You wear wet clothes everyday because they wont dry in the freezing cold wet weather.

-You dump a bucket of ice water on your head and scream.

-When you are walking into the kitchen, see a cockroach run across the table, but still continue doing what you were doing.
-You realize that it's not actually normal to walk across a river on a small branch to get to your appointment on the other side.

Merry Christmas

This week has been really great! As you all know, I was transferred to a new area. I really really miss Paoay. But I am excited to have the opportunity to be serving her in Ballesteros. Especially with Sister Gadiano as my companion:) She is the greatest! It is complete black and white change from the last companion:) Although the  companion is super great.... the apartment could definitely use some serious TLC. I've been scrubbing the walls since I got here, and I still can't tell what color they are really supposed to be.

We have one investigator here that is really ready for baptisms, Sister Sheryl. She is so great and she really wants to be baptized, she just cant see the relation between coming to church and being baptized... it's kind of an important part of the whole process.

OH!!! Here in Cagayan.... they call it America..... Why? You might ask.... It is FREEZING COLD HERE! It's always pouring rain and everything is frozen! How did this happen!?!?! I thought that I was in the Philippines! My feet are always soaked and wet and covered in mud. I finally stole one of the jackets that an Elder was wearing yesterday until I can buy one for myself. Poor Elder.... But at least I'm warm:) No packages for Christmas:( That's sad:( but at least!.... Sister Shrack is going to make no bake cookies.... I'm okay with that.

Everyone here thinks that Sister Shrack and I are twins.... not surprising since we both have red hair and white skin.... but still....

This week.... I want to watch Christmas in Connecticut.... I would say that that is mission appropriate.... I would watch it at a baptism:)

The Quotes that I always quote for Christmas all come from the Grinch who Stole Christmas. If you haven't seen it... repent. "Merry Christhmas Martha Mae" "The fires of love." Thith looks like a precious family air loom.... woopsy!"

Things that have become normal to me in the Philippines:

-Riding Side saddle on the back of a motorcycle

-Showering with a bucket

-Flushing with a bucket

-washing laundry... In a bucket.

-Cooking everything in a wok

-Going out to teach people with wet hair

-Men peeing.... anywhere and everywhere

-Wearing flip flops inside the house

-Sweeping everyday and still never getting the floor clean.

I had to think really hard about those things because they are so normal to me.

I hope that you all have a very wonderful Christmas!!! I will see you all for St. Patrick's Day!

Transfers, transfers

This week: Well!!! Where do I start!! I will start at Christmas Conference! It was amazing! I had sooo much fun! Man there were people there from all over the mission... as in the whole mission was there! That was the first time that the whole mission has been in one place since I have been on my mission. When we first got to the shindig, we had a really nice devotional! I was hoping that we were going to watch the Grinch who stole Christmas.... it didn't happen:( Sad day. But the devotional was really great. Afterwards we went and played sports!!! yes!! Oh yeah! I forgot!!! I hung out with Sister Tauti all through the conference:) Then when se played sports I hung out with Sister Woahn and Sister Lainhart. She is also from Idaho and she is way awesome. At night we had a really nice dinner and then we did skits and dances. Our zone was the BEST! Best in lahat.... or best in all:)

Then this week Shidel came to church!! Man!! I LOVE SHIDEL!!! She really has come to be like my sister while I have been here in Paoay! I Just love all of the people here so much! I am going to miss them all! That Is right I got transferred. I will be going to y new area tomorrow in Ballesteros. Sister Tauti served there and she loved it. I know it will be great, I just will miss Paoay so much!!!! But this transfer will make the next 3 months go by really fast.... that's right. I come home in 3 months. That's so soon! My dad got my travel information this week! I am pretty excited! My family is getting excited and I think that that makes me more excited than I am:) My new companion will be.... I forgot haha I was trying not to cry. That's what girls do when they get transferred:)

I read a really great article in the ensign this morning so I will share my knowledge with you all now:) well it was four different stories and they all were talking about how they had a plan A in their life. They were going to get married after their mission. Or get a job. Graduate from school, or study abroad or something. Anyway, in all four of these stories, their "plan A" fell through and they had to resort to their "plan B" in the end their Plan B ended up being better than they ever could have thought that their Plan A could have turned out. The quote at the end of the article said, "Sometimes when our Plan B is God's Plan A put into reality." ooooo chills:) I like that:) Enjoy!

This week I taught Sister Crook how to eat a fish. with her hands. She likes it now!!! I'll miss that Sister for sure when I leave!

Have a merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep on keepin' on

well this week there isn't that much to report. I feel like I am being obedient but Satan is just dragging me down. Why is success so hard to find and then so hard to hold onto? This week two of my RC's decided that they don't want to come back to church:( One of them moved to Manila and the other one runs from us whenever we come to teach her:( My heart breaks a little.

Studies are really good. It seems like no matter where I decide to study, the Nest thing I pick up always relates to what I was just studying. Gotta love the way that the Lord works sometimes:)... or don't, but either way you are going to have to endure it, so you might as well just learn to love it!

Not much else to report on this week. We had AN AMAZING MOVIE NIGHT AT TH ECHURCH THOUGH! we had ten investigators come! Success! We watched 17 miracles.... but then the next day at church we only had 3 investigators come.... and only one of them had come to movie night the night before:(..... but! I love the two new investigators that we have! They are older and they actually live in Canada they are just visiting their family here, but they are soooo funny! I love them so much! I hope they get baptized! Oh I hope I hope!

16 down... 3 to go.

Missions are hard

This week was really eventful? If by eventful I mean that nothing really happened, than I would be about right. We worked a ton and we have really been focusing on being exactly obedient and doing everything that we are supposed to, but we just aren't seeing a lot of progression in the area. Missions are hard. Even now, there are so many trial and troubles that always find their way in no matter how long you have been in the mission field. Time seems to creep by slowly until you realize that you have been teaching investigators that you love for months now and they haven't progressed.
Christmas is coming up soon, Another snowless Christmas, washing clothes by hand in a squatting position for hours and instead of roasting chestnuts on an open fire, it's actually your skin melting in the blistering heat. But despite all of the trials and heartaches, I am soo happy that I am where I am. I finally hit that point in my mission where you stop wanting to go home and you start dreading it. Don't get me wrong, I'm still DANG excited to see my family, but I don't want to leave this place. My home away from home. I truly love the people here and if I didn't have to b with the same person 24/7 all day everyday, I probably wouldn't mind staying here. But having companions that you don't pick yourself?.... I'll trade it in any day. Preparation for life.

Today marks 100 days left in the Philippines.

Kumakaway kaway Paoay

This week has been really good! We have been working really hard and fasting and praying for people and we have seen some good progress in the area. Of course there is opposition in all things, but This week I was really thankful for the members of the branch. Last week we gave talks in church about fellowshipping people when they come to church and this week we had a lot of less-actives and a few investigators come to church and the members really stepped up and took charge of everything. I was really impressed. When we came in they all hugged our Less Actives and sat by them and same with our investigators. Then last night, while we were teaching one of our investigator youth, ALL of the young women came to invite her to an activity and to invite her to join in seminary. Carole Abucay and Athena Baroweden headed the project, but it was very well-organized and I was very impressed.
I hope that the members can really see the change that comes from the Christ like qualities that they are showing.

This week we were supposed to have an activity/fireside at the church and watch a movie and stuff, BUt not of the leadership came so I guess it's bawal to have a fireside without presiding authority, so instead, we just watched a good church movie and then everyone went home.... at least the movie was inspirational.

Still working hard. we all have weaknesses, I just hope that mine don't keep me from doing what I am supposed to be doing with the time that I have left on the mission and with my mission here on the earth.

Chicacorn

This weeks funny story is probably not all that funny to anyone not in the Philippines.... but it's kind of like those "everything is funnier at 3 o clock in the morning" things... bologna sandwich! 

Anyway we were teaching on of our progressing investigators.... of course we had a plan and everything and before we started teaching her, the nanay came and gave us a huge bag of chichacorn.... not the most delicious stuff and she poured us a huge bowl of it and made us eat it... it was kind of gross to tell you the truth. Anyways we taught the lesson and while we were teaching we were just thinking.... she is getting this way to easy.... wow she is so smart! After the lesson and the day were over we got home and realized that we had taught her that lesson just a few weeks ago. We were like, UGH!!! Why did we do that.... and we were tired so we thought that it would be a good idea to talk in a British accent.... so we are freaking out with accents and stuff and we just get super quite after asking why we did that. Then All of the sudden my companion (who is Mexican so that makes it ever better) Yells out, "It. was. the. CHICHACORN!" It was so funny we were laughing so hard! Now whenever something goes bad or wrong we always so... it was the chichacorn!!!   haha baloney sandwich!

We had retention and reactivation this week, where we go out and work with the memebrs to teach less actives and recent converts... have I ever told you that I love Paoay?.... cause I do! They are just so great! Maybe this will be my last area....

I had to give a talk in church yesterday ... I chose to do it in Ilakano.... it was hard.... but they all understood perfectly... I didn't.... but they did haha.

for anyone that is interested, I only have 114 days left... that's 16 weeks... see you all soon!

I'm alive

To start off with just so that everyone knows, I am fine, my area wasn't affected at all by the typhoon. We didn't even see a rain loud it was clear and beautiful here! I really love it here, and we are still praying that all of the other missionaries over in that area of the Philippines are okay and safe.

My new companion is Sister Rico and I love her! She is a little ball of energy!  Definitely miss sister Smith, but change is good and hey! I only have 2 transfers left after this so who can really complain!?!! 

I played with a monkey this week... he is my new best friend!

On Sunday we had no power at the church! It was a long hot day! And at the very end... yes right after the closing prayer, the power came back on... curse you Satan!!!

We were followed by a creepy man with a machete this week... don't worry we ran away and escaped, so it was all good! I'm just glad that my companions is good at running! That's definitely another plus about our companionship! We go running every other day! I am so happy!!!

Sister Rico fell off a tryce this week... she is for sure my companion now!!! Love you all! Have a great week!!!

Typhoon Yolanda

Thanks to all of you who have shown concern for Julie during the Typhoon that has hit the Philippines, we just received this e-mail from the mission -
Greetings,
We would like to let you know that the typhoon Haiyan(locally known as Yolanda) did not affect any of the areas in the Philippines Laoag Mission.
All the missionaries here are safe. Thank you for your love and support.
Sincerely,
Philippines Laoag Mission
#50 Buttong, Airport Avenue
Junction Tangid Road, Laoag City 2900
Ilocos Norte, Philippines

Please keep the missionaries and the people of the Philippines in your prayers. There was a lot of damage and thousands and thousands of people are displaced or homeless from the destruction caused by the storm.

Again, thank you all for your concern

Halloween and transfers

The news of the week is transfers.... we were all completely shocked! We thought for sure that I was going to be transferred and that Sister Smith was going to stay and train.... sister Smith is training alright, but I am the one staying and she is opening an area and training! I'm so proud of my little child, she's growing old so fast! Hahaha I will now be companions with Sister Rico, she was Sister Walkers (My second trainee) companion in the MTC. I'm excited she is soo nice.

This last week we got to go on splits and it was really great! I worked with one of the LA Sisters in the branch and Sister Smith went with one of our fellowshippers, it was really good and I think that it helped pump up Sister Smith's confidence even more in herself that she can totally do this training thing! We actually ended up teaching a ridiculous amount of lessons this week, but even at that our progressing investigators and investigators at church dropped significantly:(

We have a zillion dinners this week... seeing as how transfers were coming up... luckily we have a really great lesson to teach to members so it was relatively easy.... except that we had to eat a ton... so much for that diet.... I got so fat. Most of it too was this weird sticky rice thing.... we probably each had about 4 pounds of it, its a traditional treat for all saints day.

All saints day is crazy here.... and then mix that in with the crazy elections that we had and the ridiculously strong bagio/typhoon thing that we had this week and it all mixes in for a pretty interesting week.

There is an old convent here that is abandoned and all creepy and stuff and they did like a haunted house thing with it and people from EVERYWEHERE came to participate in it! It took us like two times as long to walk home as it usually does. Fun Stuff.

On Thursday after district meeting we had lunch as a district and they told us that we had to go straight home and just do studies for the rest of the day because there was a big bagio coming.... not really seeing it, so we all went to lunch and spent a REALLY long time at lunch, that was fun:) We all had empanadas and just talked forever!!! Returned to our area and were doing studies, when the house began to switch, the roof to hitch and suddenly... okay I clearly don't know the words to that song off of the wizard of oz... but if I did! that would be exactly what happened to us! The lights went out the wind was so strong and it poured rain!!! It was crazy! So we barely got through weekly planning before it was dark, then we read about leprosy in Jesus the Christ by candle light in a creepy voice... it was our way of celebrating Halloween and getting scared! It was really fun!! We had a ton of candy too.... and tim tam slams.... delicious!
Some stupid man named nelson called us about 50 times at 3:30 in the morning one day.... so we got a new number.... but we are definitely sleep deprived this week.
Our baptismal candidate didn't come to church yesterday, we even went to go and get her after sacrament meeting... she wasn't there... hopefully that means that she has a grood excuse! She better or I'm gonna be ticked!

We taught a big group of like 20 year olds.... sister smith and I just thought how weird it is that a group of 20 year olds would spend their night listening to the missionaries teaching about the plan of salvation on Halloween with no lights....