Tagumpay

May 6, 2013


Hello Family,

So as promised I am giving this letter a little more time this week.  Hopefully I have lots of good information to share. :) 

So dad asked how do the Philippines sound? Haha.  That is an awesome question, because it is kind of different.  Every morning, (I have now finally learned to sleep through it) around 5:30 the bicycles selling food start riding up and down the street honking a little rubber horn that they have.  I think the ones selling that early are mostly selling bread (pan de sal), it's pretty fresh and yummy but we prefer to buy it (the 2 times we have) at 7am. :) haha. Then as I am waking up at 6:15 I can hear the neighbors already out sweeping outside her house with a (walis tingting) stiff bristle broom. Most people here are very particular about their yards and are constantly out sweeping the gutters and streets and what not. :)  Then usually around 7 or during personal study a man with a deep voice starts calling out "Isda"! but it sounds more like Eeeeees Duh.  He is selling fish.  He usually rides a bike with a cart attached and the different fish are in different bowls and plates.  He has a pompom like object which he waves over the fish to keep the flies away as people choose which one to buy.  Sometimes we here cocks crowing and we hear a lot of dogs barking (but that's normally when we are out proselyting. haha)  We also here a lot of honking.  Kind of like New York or something.  People are just constantly honking for some reason or another. They also have traffic directors that  blow whistles or yell out where the Jeepney is headed so that people walking by can know whether they want to get on it or not.  The horns and whistles are what I hear right now (along with typing and cute little kids talking about computer games). So yep.  That's a little of what the Philippines sound like.  

What do they smell like?  Well that depends on where you are.  Right now out side our house smells really bad because there are 4 adorable kittens living under the car (non-functional) in our front area.  They are cute but the poop smells awful, plus they have killed 5 little mice now that are also under the car. Haha.  I'm just glad I can't see the rat that they must have tried to kill cause I found it's tail this morning while trying to clean up the poop. haha.  Ay Nako!  Sometimes you walk by a bread shop and that smells sooo good.  Then you walk past the fish which I actually don't mind that smell now. Sometimes you walk by wet laundry and that smells so good too. (Mabango is the word for a good smell)

I haven't seen any lightening bugs where I'm at but I know they exist on Palawan. :) Worst pest.... honestly I would say mosquitos (lamok).  I really despise those creatures and they are very hard to avoid.  Also there are earth worms living in the walls of our bathroom and they love to come out and lounge around on the floor and walls and in the toilet of our bathroom.  So they are kind of annoying, just cause they are gross and pretty much always there.  Something I have learned about ants.  If they are converging on something somewhat small, you just let `em alone.  If you try to kill `em they scatter and it just gets frustrating.  If you just let them do there work, they come, clean up whatever they found and then go back to wherever they came from. (we have had ants clean up dead earthworms and a dead cockroach for us.  It's awesome!)

My companion has been a member since she was 8.  Her mom served a mission but her dad didn't because he was a converted later. She is also the oldest and she has 4 younger siblings too!  But she got a sister. :)  She doesn't know how to cook that much but we are loving canned foods -haha- and the other sisters in the house are helping us learn better too.  I really like Tinola (I have no idea if that is the right spelling).  It has a vegetable in it sayote.. it seems to me like honey dew melon in color and texture (after cooked).  Not really much flavor on its own but yummy in Tinola.

We had some great lessons this week and we have really seen the hand of the Lord in the work. One of our investigators said to us... I want to wait and be baptized until I am old so that I can be really clean.  Haha.  It was a funny moment but a really good lesson.  She went on to explain her desire to know all the commandments of God so that she could try to follow all His commandments.  She also expressed how she doesn't want to sin again after baptism and we were able to share with her the beauty of the Sacrament and the perfect plan that God has set up for His imperfect children if they will simply meet requirements (that all can meet) and then try our best.  It was beautiful and the Spirit was so strong.  I was so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ so that we can return to their presence.

Another fun moment was that our Relief Society president invited a family to attend church.  We waited at the door for our investigators as she waited for the family she invited.  It was fun to have someone to share in the joys and disappointments of missionary work.  My companion kept assuring her that they were probably just running late.  And sure enough, they showed up and it was a wonderful experience.  So glad that she got to feel the joys of missionary work.  I know that this is His work.  I know Heavenly Father always looks out for us.  It's amazing how even if the day is hard if you just keep pushing forward Heavenly Father often blesses us with an apointment that literally makes everything worth it! He is so merciful!  Have a great week and enjoy His blessings!

Love

Sister Hamm

 

Nagkasalisi

Sister Hamm and her new companion

April 29, 2013

Dear Family,

Thanks for all the love and emails.  Things here are going well.  I am extremely short on time to write this week and I blame Josh's email which was awesome but long. haha.  I hope the picture I send will make up for the short email.  I hope you can see the picture f me and my new companion.  :) 

So this week was great.  The Lord has really been blessing us.  I thought 9f a few more luxuries...  when the other sisters cook for us.  Not only is their cooking delicious but it also saves a lot of time. :)  I ate canned luncheon pork this week and loved it. haha.  Yes Kayla- I like spam. :)

My companion and I have been trying to be more bold this week.  It has been fun to set specific finding goals to help us be brave.  It is like a fun game... we set a goal the night before to share with (example) one modestly dressed female, a man with a watch and wearing a polo shirt.  Or we both have to share to one female and one male before a certain time.  It has been really cool to see the Lord use  our goals to lead us to people.  In fact, there was this one man we talked to because he fit a requirement.  He walked away from us mid sentence but mumbled to talk to the group behind him.  So we did.  Turns out the group behind him contained 2 less-active members, one of which we had a really great cnversation with and ended up telling us how much she wants to come back to church and gave a beautiful, teary-eyed closing prayer.  Such a wonderful blessing from Heavenly Father.

I know that blessings come as we stretch ourselves and do all that we can.  I hold to my previous statements the best things are usually preceded by something hard.  I love you all so much.  Stay safe and have a great week!

Love

Sister Hamm

Binawi tapos ibigay

Dear Family,

Thank you for all of the emails.  It is always so wonderful to hear from all of you. It really is a strength to me and I thank you for all the good news and the little details.

Life here is good.  Missionary work is great.  It's amazing how such little things can bring such great joy.  There is this less active that we visited for the first time 2 weeks ago who was really reluctant to let us in and listen. So we went back for the 3rd visit on Thursday and oh my goodness!  She welcomed us in with a smile and was so happy. I was thinking, "what in the world? this is great."  Then as we sat down she went and grabbed her Book of Mormon.  She had read the first 2 chapters.  I don't know how long it has been since she has read the Book of Mormon or if she ever had but it was clear that she was totally changing because of the Spirit she had felt while reading.  It is so amazing and beautiful to see.  My heart was literally soaring the whole lesson. :)

Training is going well.  I swear Heavenly Father just knew I needed the extra hour of comp study to work on my teaching skills. haha.  We are having a great time learning from one another and helping each other improve. Since we are in the 12 week program we have a focus each week for comp. study-- lessons and teaching skills mostly.  It is a good direction but we also practice teaching and making lesson plans for our teachees.

Personal study is up to me.  I usually spend about 20 min in the Book of Mormon and then 30 minutes in PMG and then 10 minutes preparing for lessons we will teach. It is such a great time of day. Just wish it was longer. haha

My Tagalog is coming along. Sister R is helping me a lot.  I can usually say what I want to in a lesson but my grammar when asking questions still trips me up a lot.  I am excited to keep learning more and hope to be a lot more fluent.  It is weird going from a non-native speaking companion to a native speaker b/c stuff I thought I was saying fine she keeps laughing and telling me to pronounce different.  I'm glad I have a Filipina companoin again so I can improve better.

The food here is good.  I was thinking I do miss real chocolate sometimes-- like snickers etc cause it costs like half my food budget for the week. :P But Halo Halo is a great substitute.

What do you consider the best luxury you currently enjoy?

Alright I dont know how to answer this without sounding weird but... probably Merienda's.  Little afternoon snacks that are a big deal here so we get them pretty often.  Free food.  Yay!  That and tricycle rides... but we are having a hard time getting the drivers to not rip us off. :) 

Love you lots! Sorry no more time.

Love,

Sister Hamm

Binabago

April 15, 2013

Dear Family and others,

I love you all so much! Thanks for the emails and letters.  I actually got a package this week.  It was very unexpected and I assumed it was an Easter package... but turns out it was my Valentines day package!  Tyler asked when I got it in his note :) the answer is April 9th. haha. Just a little late.  But still wonderful... and delicious.  It was weird to have a note written by Josh before he left for the MTC. :) Thanks for the love!  I enjoyed the little paper heart confetti and the candy hearts helped the missionaries stay awake during conference. :)

So this week was really busy but good.  I wrote in my journal last night about how Heavenly Father gives us what we need when we need it. (some people may already be arguing this statement in their heads) But honestly, if we are living righteously, I know we get what we need when we need it... however in some cases this rarely lines up with what we may want. :) I am just so grateful that Heavenly Father knows perfectly how to give perfect gifts to his children.  He has a perfectly calculated plan for each person on the earth and His plan is calculated so that if we follow it and use our agency wisely, we will progress into the perfect person He knows we can become.  Such a beautiful plan.  Along those same lines Mom mentioned how the temple helps us "feel like everything is going to be o.k."  I want to tell everyone that that is because it will be.  It may not be now or even in the near future but, if we follow the commandments and God's plan, everything in the end... at the final judgement will be okay. We can enter the kingdom of God and receive eternal happiness. You may wonder how that works when some family members (because of their choices) don't seem like they will be there with us, or like it is such a long time to wait. But in the eternal perspective we know that God literally wants more than anything else for us to be happy. So come whatever may, as long as we use our agency to be obedient, we are promised we will be happy in the end.  I honestly don't know how, but I KNOW with all my heart that if we obey Him we will be happy, happier than we can imagine now. :D

To answer some questions: I have not found a place yet that sells cinnamon raisin bread but only craved it once the other morning when I smelled something like it coming from the neighbors house.  Something interesting-- not sure I mentioned this before but all the houses here are so close together (like sharing a wall) and many times windows are left open all the time so you can hear and smell a lot of what goes on.  While cooking in the kitchen I am often..serenaded... by the teenage girl who lives behind us singing at the top of her lungs. Haha.  It's fun as long as the song is alright. Although she has yet to sing EFY or hymns. :)

As far as I know there was no reenactment of the crucifixion nearby us but some did take place in the Philippines.  The only thing was the processions that repeat hail Mary's and whatnot.

My new companion is actually from the same general area that my trainer was from which is currently the Cauayan mission (pronounced like Hawaiian with a C Cawaiian).  She has been speaking english only at her home and she said it has been difficult to switch to taking about the gospel in Tagalog but trust me she is great.  So yes her Tagalog and English are both incredibly good. She younger than me but only be 6 months, so not a 19 year old. :)  Crazy part is she was companions in the MTC with one of the ward missionaries that worked with us often on Palawan! Small world.

My favorite part of the day... well that depends on the day but lots of parts are great.  Showering, personal study and bedtime are probably the top 3 followed closely by the time we get to spend with my favorite investigators, LA's or RC's and the time when the sun sets and we are out walking to our next apt while kids are playing everywhere. :)

I will probably be a part of Cavite mission. I have been away too long because all the pronunciation help is coming from people or things here in the Philippines. Ca-veet-eh. Ca soft a like Kah.  not like any of the english words I can think of. sorry. Hope that helps.

They also sell kamote on a stick also dipped in brown sugar.  Kamote is kind of like a sweet potatoe.
Love you so much!

Love
Sister Hamm

Pictures!!!

Sister Hamm and Sister M at the Manila Temple

April 8, 2013

Hello,

Thanks for the wonderful letters and for forwarding Josh's letter and pics.  I have so much to tell you this week.

So confession time-- this is not false humility, I have never felt so inadequate in all my life than I have on my mission.  Not in a discouraged or poor self-esteem way but just in a humble- I have no skills without the Spirit kind of way.  This is (in my opinion) good because the Spirit is the true teacher not me and it just helps motivate me to always do my best since I know only giving it my all and my very best is enough.  

I found out Sunday that I am TRAINING starting Thursday !!  I can't even explain how I feel.  Nervous a little, excited too.  I am grateful for the opportunity to serve God and continually strive to be worthy of the Spirit and increase my skills.

Some cows in a field that we walk through

Other news that may interest you.  Activities on P-day are limited because time is so tight.  Last week we had a Zone activity to a "beautiful spot" but we actually took a wrong turn and Sister M. and I had to come back early (before we reached the place) for an FHE.  But it was all good.  I really wasn't disappointed at all plus I got to wear jeans....  It was a really hot day but it didn't matter.  Wearing jeans felt sooo good after so long not wearing them. haha.

This is "up top" where we do our laundry

So right now is summer here.  It is hotter than.... well I don't know what... but it is hot. I have now given in to using an umbrella to hide from the sun like everyone else here. :)  It isn't as cool as the shade of a tree but it takes the bite of the sun away. It is also summer vacation here.  The let out last week and will return to school in the middle of June... which is also when it will start to be less hot again. :)  It isn't as humid as Virginia here but it has some days that get close.

Another fun fact-- I now know what it feels like to be bit by fire ants. Luckily I only got a couple of bites but it is an interesting sensation.

People here have cars but only some people. Many others just use public transportation.  I have honestly reached the point where it is weird to picture a life without tricycles. haha.  They are really quite wonderful.  The most popular cars are hondas and toyotos. haha.  And vans kind of like our old green one but new and white.

Well, I am really short on time today. Sorry.  Heavenly Father is over all.  He has a plan and if we can just manage enough faith and self-control to follow it He has promised that we can be happy forever in His kingdom.  I know that the gospel is the only sure way to be happy in this life and have peace now and in the life after this.  I love you all.

Sister Hamm

First time since the MTC that I have worn jeans!  It was like
 85 or 90 degrees out but it felt so good to wear jeans!
I'm holding a banana cue.  Fried banana on a stick! 

maanghang :)

April 1, 2013

Dear Family,

Whew.  Feels like I am constantly rushing.  Rushing with emails, with preparing for the day, getting to appointments, planning, updating the area book, writing in my journal.  It's like we are constantly running, but it's good to be busy.  Luckily, my companion likes to sit and eat so we get to breath during lunch. :)  This has been a great week!  One-- Dad asked in the letter last week-- the Manila temple is actually right outside the Manila mission boundaries (haha) BUT we still get a temple day once a transfer! Yay!  (Sadly this might change when we become Cavite mission on July 1st, we will see.)  So this Thursday we got to attend a temple session (sadly this means we lost an entire day of proselyting, but of course it was worth it)  It was absolutely wonderful.  The temple is such a great place to feel the love of Heavenly Father and peace His gospel brings.  Such a wonderful reminder of why we do everything we do in this life.  It was also fun because we got to see lots of the other missionaries including my previous zone leader and an Elder from the MTC which was great cause like Josh said-- they are kind of a second family for 2 months. SO yea.  Best Thursday ever.
This week has also been good because we have lots of investigators that we are really excited about.  The disappointing thing was that even though it was Easter Sunday hardly anyone came to church. :(  There were fireworks Sunday night and the Catholic church was packed.  Ah. Oh well.  At least people were remembering and worshiping Christ.  The neighborhoods were relatively dead on Friday and Saturday.  Lots of stores and tindahans (little shops) were closed for the holy weekend and everyone was inside watching passion of the Christ and then Jumangi in Tagalog. It was weird to see so few people out.

You will be happy to know there is a wonderful family here who has been feeding us like twice a week or more.  They are very sweet and her food is delicious.  Although I did have liver one time and let's just say... no where near my favorite.

Well I was really excited to send pictures this week and then the computer and my card malfunctioned... so bummer.  Next week hopefully. Sorry, really short on time this week and there were no questions to answer.  Love you all lots and miss you.
Love
Sister Hamm

:)

March 25, 2013

Dear Family,

I feel like I have a lot to say this week, I hope I can remember all of it.  First the small things-- Um, I'm jealous because ya'll get to watch conference a week before I do. Sayang (too bad). And I'm sad because I realized early this morning that I will have to wait until next week to hear about Josh's first week in Mexico b/c of the international date line! Bummer-- but that's okay. More excitement next week. Random-- I bought a certain bread last week and something about the way it smelled took me back to Grandma Hamm's house every time I opened it.  Crazy right?  It was so fun.  Everytime I ate bread I was in Grandma Hamm's kitchen with all the grandkids eating their 5th roll half an hour after dinner with Grandma Hamm laughing and rolling her eyes, or we were preparing sandwiches for the hike.  It was fun to remember (don't worry, it wasn't trunkie just a happy memory).  BYU in NIT. Bleh.  Have to say I'm disappointed. :( Must be cause one of their biggest fans hasn't been at their games. haha Jk. Great inventions: fridges, freezers that defrost themselves, dishwashers, microwaves, toaster ovens, gas stoves, washing machines, flushing toilets, electric fans, air conditioning, using alcohol as hand sanitizer.  Some of these things I have, some of them I do not but they are all very wonderful! :)  Also wonderful is the public transportation here.  I have come to love it even though it isn't exactly reliable for time or price. haha. Tricycles and jeepney's are now my fave. 

So it is Holy Week and on Saturday every street near the Catholic church was full of people making these really pretty leaf sticks (okay, I really can't find a good word for them) for palm Sunday. Sunday the traffic was a little worse than usual but not bad.  Apparently this weekend will have parades.  We will see what happens. :)

Thanks for the notes from Brother B's lesson.  Really good thoughts there.  Reminded me of the song "Give me your eyes".   In the MTC someone spoke about having a worms and a birds eye view of the work.  It is true.  When you look at it as God does and as a big, eternal picture it is so thrilling and motivating. To know that there are people out there just waiting to "come into the fold of God" is so cool and makes you want to tell every person you see just in case they will listen.  Of course you also need the worms eye view, the up close and personal of the work. You can't just throw information at them and hope they get it. We have to make friends and relationships and introduce the gospel in such a way that people are willing to listen and can understand.  Good thing we have the Lord's help because this is not always easy. Keep up the good effort, I know the Lord will eventually guide you to someone who has been prepared.

I really liked his line, "attitude adjustments are available." haha.  It is so true.  Through scripture study and prayer I know that we can change.  Heavenly Father can literally change our hearts if we are willing to sacrifice our wills to His.  It is so beautiful and I have seen it so many times. 

So I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve.  I love almost every minute of it.  But I had a moment the other morning (as I was pondering one of our recent converts who is now inactive) where I thought, "I can't wait till I can just go back to worrying about my own salvation." haha.  I repented because really I am glad I get to serve God and help others.  It is truly a privilege. But the thought that followed was about mothers.  I want to say thank you to my mother and also applaud all the mothers out there. We have been told by prophets how important the role of a mother is and I thought at this moment about how much they have to worry about the spiritual, as well as temporal, needs of their children. It is such a burden (I'm sure) to try and teach the gospel in a way they will understand and motivate them to act and worry about helping them return to Heavenly Father.  Thank you for the sacrifice you make and work you do to help you children learn the gospel.  As in missionary work-- no effort is wasted! (Even when it may have seemed to go in one ear and out the other :) ) Thank you also to fathers who support their wives and teach their children and preside over their families righteously. 

That being said.  This week has been awesome.  We have really seen the hand of the Lord in the work.  We have had a good time finding some new people to teach.  Some people here know people who are "mormons" or they know a lot about mormons and then others have never heard it and after we tell them the full name of the church and the nickname "mormon", a couple of minutes later they will ask us if we are catholic or Jehovah Witness. haha  So grateful for this opportunity to share His gospel.  I love and miss you all.  Enjoy the Easter weekend and don't be afraid to share the message of this gospel if you feel prompted.

Love,

Sister Hamm