Flooding in Manila

August 19, 2013

So there was no email from Jaclyn this week.  We weren't really worried.  Then we learned from a neighbor that the Philippines are experiencing severe flooding this past week.  The Cavite Province has been declared a calamity area.  We're not really sure where she is because she was going to be transferred this week, but the mission blog tells us that all the missionaries are safe in their apartments with running water and electricity and they will stay inside until it is safe to go out. 
Sounds like Sister Hamm will have a LOT to report next week - hopefully with some pictures and good news about the wonderful filipino people she has grown to love!

Links to news stories:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/manila-under-water-as-storms-and-floods-devastate-philippines-8773814.html

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/322917/news/nation/more-than-one-million-pinoys-affected-by-monsoon-rain-floods

Wala

August 12, 2013

Dear Family

Thanks so much for the emails, love and pictures.  Sounds like you are having fun on vacation. Thanks so much mom for the stories. :) It was so happy reading about the cousins.  I know you are giving them all my love. :)   Quick note that was cool... This week we took a little shortcut... not like Elder Hamm's shortcuts. :)  This was just a little path by this little creek.  But as we walked by it and crossed the bridge over the creek I was totally reminded of Groveland Rapids. I paused for just a sec to take it in and then wondered when you would be going there since I knew it would be soon. It made me feel close to y'all. Then turns out (of course, different b/c of the time difference.) I was at the creek Thurs and you were at the rapids Thurs. haha.  It's the little things in life.

 

So big news for this week is I am transferring.  Well at least 99% sure of that.  As we greeted everyone at the door to church I just kept thinking of how much I have learned from them (ward members), how much I admire each of them and how I will miss them. :)  But at the same time it is time for a change and the best part is-- Heavenly Father is in control-- just like always. So, Next week I will email you from somewhere different with lots of great newness.  Good things just keep coming!

 

So I got an article from mom this week in the mail about missions and how good they are for the missionary that serves. Well-- It's true that my purpose here is to further Heavenly Father's redemptive work and help His children come unto Him.... but Heavenly Father is sooo good at hitting two or three birds with one stone. :)  I have learned so much on my mission about myself and others and the gospel.  I'm so grateful for this opportunity to learn and to grow.  I know that as we all focus on the eternal perspective life can look SO different than we normally see it. It is so easy to focus on the little things of here and now and to get distracted from our eternal destiny and purpose here on earth. But if we take a moment to see the bigger picture every moment becomes an opportunity to do something good, to choose to be better, to look outside of ourselves.  I know that we all will one day return to Heavenly Father to be judged and I want to live for that moment so I can honestly say I did my best.  Of course that day will only be happy through the atonement of Jesus Christ but after the bad is taken away through Him I want there to be some good left instead of a blank spot where my life should've been.  :P

 

Love

Sister Hamm

Balis ang buhay

Hello,

Thanks for all the love and emails and letters.  I thoroughly enjoy them all. This week has been great, mostly normal, mixed with hard moments. Like when my favorite skirt got caught this morning and tore, but it just gave me the satisfaction of fixing it. :) haha. and also mixed with lots of good. Lets see-- we got a couple of new investigators that we are really excited about. They are a couple. The husbands family are almost all members and he has finally decided the church is true. They have an adorable little 1 1/2 month old baby.... so hard not to hold him!  Then we also got to visit a less active family.  They usually hide from us, but this time the father is home from working abroad and let us in.  It was a good visit although difficult because they had been offended.  We hope we did some good and that they felt the Spirit.  Heavenly Father was kind and a torrential downpour started right after we got under a waiting area for a jeepney. However, in the trike that we rode the water leaked in so I was soaked to the skin by the time we got out. Haha.  It was totally worth it because at that appointment we taught the word of wisdom (if you don't know what that is feel free to look it up on LDS.org or mormon.org cause it's great!).  It was great-- no problems with cigarettes or alcohol and then of course we said coffee... and the first word out of her mouth was "Bakit?" (Why).  But then the miracle happened.  After a very short (re)explanation about the fact that the revelation came from God she accepted it immediately and asked for the rest.  She was obviously prepared by Heavenly Father.  By the end of the lesson she said she was so grateful that she had learned this now so that she could receive the blessings of living it.  If we could all look at all of the commandments that way! All of Heavenly Father's commandments come with promises and I know they will be fulfilled and we will be blessed if we follow them. Plus we had an investigator come to church and she brought another investigator with her. :) Can't explain how exciting it is to see a person you care about walk up to church knowing they are qualifying themselves for more blessings than they have previously received.  Same with Less actives. My heart just leaps for joy because I know what a big step this is for them and I know all the joy they have been missing out on.  I thank Heavenly Father for the opportunity to witness people changing their lives.

What do most people eat for breakfast?
Well for those of you who don't know-- people here get weak if they don't eat rice in a day... and usually they have rice 3x a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Which is why meals here are usually what they call "ulam" which is any dish you can eat with rice. So sometimes they will have spaghetti or pancit or soup and that is not ulam but pretty much everything else is. So telling from the smells floating up to us as we do laundry; most people have dried fish, hot dogs, or eggs with rice for breakfast.  Sometimes they will have pan de sal (bread!) with the hot dogs or a spread. Sometimes pancit, which is like ramen noodles but without the brooth and come in lots of different flavors. mmm.
 

What is the thing that they do that seems most different from how we do it in the church here?
Well, not much. Something is that FHE is very regimented.  It isn't like just you get together and have a lesson and game and then dessert.  One, it is usually accompanied by dinner. "Dessert" isn't like a big thing here. haha. Plus there is a program in which there is always opening remarks and closing remarks. All games must have a "punishment" for the loser and is the "punishment" is usually preforming a talent in front of everyone.  It's lots of fun! The only thing I still struggle with sometimes is the opening and closing remarks. haha. oh, and of course dinner happens after the FHE is over, not before it starts.
 

Do they eat popcorn there? 
YES.  I love popcorn.  It is one of my new favorite snacks.  During weekly planning we eat a bag of carmel kettle corn (the kind you buy at wal-mart or safeway, not the kind at a fair).  I also make popcorn on the stove at least once a week. Usually just salt but sometimes kettle and I tried cinnamon once. It was okay. :)
 

 Do they have shave ice?
Shave ice is probably a no but they have lots of shaved ice.  They use it for halo-halo.  Another popular thing is bananas in a cup with some sugary juice with shaved ice or canned corn in the juice still in a cup with the shaved ice. That is called Maiz con yelo.  But for you spanish speakers it isn't maiz (maze) it's more like My-eez.
 

Is the music you hear people playing US, or Philippine and is it in English or Tagalog?

A little bit of everything.  Well, it is a lot of US music. (I'm guessing Avril Lavegne has a new song... something with "down" in it over and over haha) There is lots of the new stuff but also a lot of 80's which is a sinful pleasure for Sister R and I. :D Then there are also Filipino songs in English and Tagalog. I actually have a couple of favorite Tagalog songs because they play all the time so even though I've never played them I know a lot of it. So yep, really mixed although most frequently new American music.

No big spiritual thought this week.  Just keep moving this work along.  Never forget that those around us, everywhere are missing out on blessings we are enjoying so don't be afraid to share.  Also the fact that Heavenly Father's whole goal and thus ours as well is to bring as many of His children as He can back to Him to live in everlasting happiness and this is only possible through ordinances available in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  So be brave and share what you have, or ask to learn more if you aren't yet a member, I promise you won't regret it.

SO that is it for this week.  Hopefully, this email makes up for none last week.

Love,

Sister Hamm

Not much time

July 29, 2013

Thanks so much for the pictures. They are all so wonderful.  I love seeing your faces.

Thanks for the spiritual thought , so true.  That is my goal this week.  Do the best I can to be what He wants me to be. So I will answer your questions next week since I am out of time (my favorite month may just be Feburary).  haha  More to come next week. 

Love you so much! Miss you. 

Sister Jaclyn Hamm

PS-- Bring them in from the plains-- sometimes we sing Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd for comp study... I love that song... sometimes when it get to "wadnering out in the desert, hungry and helpless and...."  I sing hot instead of cold.  Cause that is life here.  haha So I will bring them in from the burning plains. :)

Pioneer Day

July 22, 2013 

All the Sisters in our Zone

Hello Family and Friends,

Thanks everyone for the mail.  I promise I am working on writing back to all of you... it just takes time. :)

Well it's been another great week! Mostly routine but the happy kind of routine. We had an FHE on monday which was fun and then we had a service project where we started to pull weeds but then turns out they just needed to be trimmed so we switched to that but there were only two.... machetes.... so mostly the elders just took turns while we raked or.... played with their bunny and hamsters. haha.  Anyway, it was nice and the investigator seemed grateful so hopefully it helped. :)

Random facts...

People here love menthol. (Okay, now I can't remember if I've already told you this) Anyway, so many candies here have menthol. A sister offered us mints in church the other day and I popped it in my mouth and then it was like Oh no. Immediate cough drop taste that was so overwhelming my eyes almost started watering. They have mentos here with menthol and just lots of candies.  You have to read the labels.  Plus, you know the vic's vapor rub stuff well that have different brands here but they love to use it for headaches, coughs, runny noses. They just smear it everywhere.  It always reminds me of when mom put it on my feet when I was really sick over Christmas break. And of Nanie for some reason. Anyway, just a fun cultural insight.

Also people don't have lawn mowers here.  So for big grassy areas they use machete type blades to cut the grass.  For small areas they use scissors. Yep, women sit and cut the grass with scissors (more like the clippers we use for cutting bushes in the states but with scissor handles and normal scissor size).  The area is huge but big enough that when I see them I am thinking... no way would I do that. haha.

So of course it being pioneer day here's a thought (sorry bammer you will hear this twice.) So one day this week I was so sleepy and exhausted, so was Sister R. One of those times when you are so sleepy you just want to lay down in the street and take a nap.  Then suddenly I thought about the pioneers. And how they were so tired and so cold that they just wanted to lay down and sleep in the snow but if they did they would freeze to death. I thought of how hard it must have been to not just give in, to just lay down and call it quits but they kept moving with a perfect brightness of hope that a better life awaited them. Then I thought of the story of the little girl who was walking in the snow when a rescue wagon came by. Now I'm not gonna get this all right but it was something like this... they said she could ride in the wagon but they kept going so she had to run after it and she was yelling for it to stop so she could get in but it just kept going.... and just when she was about to give up they scooped her up in a blanket and sat her in the wagon. Only later did she learn and understand-- they had to make her run so the blood would get pumping in her body so she wouldn't freeze to death while riding in the wagon.  It gave me the strength to go on happily as I thought of that little girl and all the pioneers pushing on even when they must have been soo tired.  And then I though of how that is how life is. Sometimes things seem so hard, or unfair, or we don't understand why they are the way they are.  BUT Heavenly Father knows and He sees the bigger picture. We just have to keep running and when we don't know if we can run anymore, He will always be there to help us.  When we look back on our life we will see that the hard parts, the running, was to make us stronger, to strengthen our faith so that we would become stronger and better prepared for the future. Trials are our chance to become.  So as you are running through the hard part of life don't forget, there is ALWAYS a purpose and if we endure it well we will be blessed.  There are blessings waiting for us that we simply cannot comprehend but I do understand that they are worth ANY sacrifice we have to make to attain them.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying all the luxuries we have. I am so happy to be here and thank you for your love and support that helps keep me going.

Love you,

Sister Hamm

I threw my tag on my desk one morning before I went to shower and saw Sister Hamm and the Book of Mormon and the Conference Liahona and it was like....cool :)  I'm a missionary. 

Nagpasalisi

July 15, 2013

Hello Family,

Well this was a great week.  It started out with a zone activity. This may sound lame but we got to watch a movie! Rise of the Guardians. And yes I am a missionary and even without trying the gospel analogies just kept coming.  It was great cause everyone else was missionaries too so once in a while you'd hear "apostasy" or something like that.  It was a lot of fun. Then we also got to play outside in the grass.  We played a Filipino version of leap frog where all the other players jump over one person and its like reverse limbo where the one person goes from crouching to bent over to less bent to standing.... Okay so none of us did the standing cause it seemed a little risky but it was a fun game.  I also got to play ping pong which brought back so many memories of ward prayer and college. haha.  It was way fun.

Then on Tuesday we had zone meeting. Yep all the same people from Monday. Then Wednesday we met President and Sister Tye (so pretty much saw the whole zone again. haha) 

So Sister Tye is great.  She was very down to earth and really nice.  She said she is more comfortable with the Sisters because she has 5 daughters. The only funny part is she didn't mention her sons but President Tye did so I know they exist. haha. It was fun to be adjusted to the culture and have her ask about stuff because it is still new to her.  It took a while but I am adjusted and I love pretty much everything here so I know she will too.

President Tye was also very nice. His son actually served in the DC south mission... I think he said 2005 maybe...  Anyway, we had a good interview and I am excited to serve with him.  It was weird though, later that night realizing that President Stucki is no longer my mission president.... I don't know it was just weird.

Every other day was pretty much normal... Regular routine sprinkled with little miracles... like people reading the Book of Mormon, feeling the truth, ward missionaries to work with us, surprise eating appointments, riding on the back of the trike at night after a rainstorm so it was nice and cool.

Dad's questions: 

"Does that mean that you walk past farms?  What is growing in their fields?  Do they have livestock there?" 

So I am in "province" area but it is still pretty much city.  We don't walk past farms usually. There are a couple of big grassy areas but some are unused. Others have pineapple growing or fruit trees like jackfruit. There is livestock. In these big open grassy areas that seem pretty public and unused.  But the cows and sometimes bulls graze there.  It's pretty funny though cause in some neighborhoods they just wander around. These big cows just walk around and poop everywhere on the sidewalks and in the street. Sometimes they walk right up to people's gates and start eating their plants. haha.  They are fun to see and sometimes we walk right by them. haha.  There are also lots of roosters that are tied up in front of peoples houses.  I think it is mostly because fighting cock is really big here.  They don't seem to really use them for food or raising other chickens.

 "How do people react when you tell them you are from the US?"

Most people expect me to be American.  When we walk by sometimes people will say "Cana" for Americana.  So when people ask they usually aren't really surprised.  I met someone the other day who is a seaman and he said he goes to Norfolk Virginia a lot.  That was fun.

"Who is your favorite non-full time missionary you have met?"

Not sure if this means anyone not a missionary.... I dont know there are so many I love.  Our new relief society president is so smiley all the time and always comes up and talks to me. Brother P. is the best example of a member missionary I have seen and stopped by this one investigator for 4 weeks every Sunday to invite him to church without us even asking. He is super. We have lots of great ward missionaries that work with us that are also way nice and fun to be around. Investigators, less actives, ward members..... there are so many people I love here!

As for spiritual thought.... It may seem like no big deal but it was literally a thought from the Spirit during our companionship study the other day so here goes....  I finished sharing about my scripture reading and a talk I had read from conference when it was like; I used to think that if I was choosing the right, doing my best to be worthy and attend church and go to the temple and that whole biz. that I was doing good, I was living right.  But now I realize it's not enough! It's simply not enough to live in your only little bubble.  Doing everything you are supposed to is kulang (not enough) if you don't help others to do the same.  Yea, I know you're probably thinking you already knew that.  But it was like seriously a light bulb moment for my companion and I.  We knew it before but as the song about Enos goes, I felt in my heart, what I knew in my mind. SO there it is. Our whole goal in this life is to become like Jesus Christ. Not just be good but literally become like Him.  And pretty much all of His life was spent serving others. I know that when we serve others we will be happier and as we help others live the gospel by magnifying our callings, doing our visiting teaching, and lifting the hands that hang down, we will come closer to Christ and it will become easier to do what we are supposed to be doing.  I know this is true.  I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not just the only true church but literally God's kingdom on the earth.  If you are not a member you are missing out and I invite you to learn more.

Have a wonderful week, hopefully full of service.  Love and miss you all.

Sister Hamm

oops! No blog email

July 8, 2013

Well the email window doesn't want to work and I am super short on time so no blog email this week.  Know I love you and I am happy, and safe and having fun here.  Be safe and always follow Him.  I will be praying for you all.  Tell my brothers I love and miss them! 

That is so cool, dad, about your chat with mission buddies.  There are definitely people here I want to touch base with.  My first district leader is now my zone leader and it's nice to have him around again, mostly just because it brings back memories and shows me how far I have come. 

Sounds like you are working and playing hard.  I am super jealous of raspberry cupcakes (and the bluberries) and may  buy some sweet bread today. :)

I haven't met President Tye yet but we have interviews this Friday so we will get to meet him and get to know him a little there. :) yay! I'm excited.  It's weird how the work just keeps moving even though there are big changes happening all around me. It's cool though... kind of like how the gospel doesn't change.  And I am almost positive transfers are same.

You all can share the gospel in different ways - like Josh and I.   Just sing the "You made me wanna be brave" song and bear your testimony like, "yea, I'm so glad I get to be with my family forever, or oh yea I read a really good talk from a church leader about that, would you like to learn more.." like that. :) haha.  I know it isn't easy but if we do our best we will be blessed.   

Love you so much! 

Sister Jaclyn Hamm