Hello. Its been a week...
Had a really awesome family home evening with the family we are working with getting back to church. The daughter (who has been the first to come back to church and now works with us every week) gave the lesson on faith. It was such a touching lesson as she pleaded for her family to hear her and follow the commandments. She cried and i sure did too! It was a very special moment in my mission.
Zone conference... or what we call it here, 'a revelatory experience.' It truly was a revelatory experience for me. Every time i take questions to such meetings (including church) i receive answers. We always promise our investigators and members that if they bring a question in their mind to church then it will be answered there. Its a really neat experience. I challenge all to do so. Every Suday can be a revelatory experience where you can receive personal guidance for things in your life.
Fiesta Time! this is where they celebrate the saints. Different times of the year there are different fiesta for one specific saint. I think this week was Saint Cruz. They celebrate by eating lots of food and drinking and singing for all hours of the night and day. Its sad how these celebrations are bigger sometimes than the celebrations for Christmas. It affects the work cause all your catholic investigators are busy with fiesta or anyone new you meet is drunk from the fiesta. We were able to find some that were available though. Next to our house, music played for literally 48 hours none stop. Many different genres. Friday morning i was listening to Jack Johnson during personal study and then by Saturday i got to listen to Chicago and Hotel California. Reminded me of home!
So at the beginning of the week i was thinking would Jesus Christ attend a fiesta? As members we dont have fiestas cause we dont worship the saints but we do recognize them as good people. I think i got my answer and i will never attend a fiesta again... So our apartment owner is a less active (back to catholic) and they had a big fiesta. His aunt, who lives there, is a very active LDS member still and she invited us to eat lunch on friday with them. We accepted the invitation. It was catered and very delicious... Friday night my stomach began to hurt really bad but it was bearable. Went to bed. Woke up at 1:30 and my stomach was killing! I cant even explain it. I went to the CR (bathroom). It was a not so wonderful experience! Most pain ive ever had going to the bathroom! This wasnt the end... I went back upstairs but as soon as i laid down it hit again! This repeated 3 times (going up and down the stairs was very exhausting since i was still partially sleeping). by the 4th time i decided to just stay downstairs. I would spend 15 min in the CR and then go out... read true to the faith or lay down on the tile then shortly return to the CR. The pain never stopped. By 3:30 (2hours later) i was able to go upstairs and sleep.. sort of. I kept waking because of the pain but luckily didnt have to go down to the CR. Saturday morning i text Sister Malit and she put me on the BRAT diet (banana, rice, apple, toast). And i just drank lots of water. So my conclusion is that the water (or ice they used) wasnt filtered. Ive drank unfiltered water here before and didnt have problems but im taking this as my answer to my question... Would Christ ever attend a fiesta?... NOPE!
Saturday afternoon was our Jubilee celebration. I felt a little better by then and we were able to attend. It was such a good show! It started late but it was ok. I just sat there drinking lots and lots of water. It was so fun to see all the youth and single adults perform their dances. Their costumes were so fun and their enthusiasm was inspiring. Our ward did the hardest filipino dance (tinkling). It is with bamboo sticks and dancing in between them as they are clapped together. I dont really know a better way to explain it but its really cool! The celebration was really long. It was funny cause after 4 hours we looked around at all the missionaries and you could tell by their body language what they were thinking... "oh man, we have been sitting here forever not being productive!" Us missionaries arent used to that! :)
We had more companionship exchanges this week as well. They were really good and i had such a fun time working with and learning from Sister Christianson and Sister Insong. I have seen a tremendous growth in Sister Christianson since the first time i was able to work with her. She is such an amazing missionary who really knows her purpose. It felt so good to teach with her because the Spirit was so strong! I love her! Then Sister Insong is so cute. I learned lots of language things from her and felt her strong dedication to the work. She is never lazy and a future leader!
Scripture of the week...Alma 5:26. The old mission president here and his wife came to visit and they spoke in church on Sunday. They were really good talks. Brother Elgren used this in his talk and it touched me.
Naghigugma gad ak ha iyo! Bagoha ang imong pag-istoryia ug magbago ang imong kalibutan!
Gugma,
Sister Carissa Jones
Monday, May 16, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
May 9 2011
This past week was a bit slower than the last but im looking at it as a test of faith. Even tho slow still many great things happened!
We had interviews this week which was probably my highlight. I really needed it! I received lots of revelation as i spiritually prepared to learn from the Spirit. Im not gonna lie... im really scared to come home. I love it here and my life is so nice and structured and i dont know... its just not quite as scary as the real world. But i learned what i must do to prepare and also how to go home with honor. I simple just need to live the Doctrine of Christ, there are specifics to me personally, but i invite you all you study the doctrine of Christ and see how you personally can be living it better.
President Malit is so amazing! He always does things by the Spirit and i always feel better after talking to him. He has helped me to grow so much here on the mission. I realized in my interview as we talked that i really have become such a better person and im so much happier with myself than i ever was before. Its amazing i cant even describe it in words really.
Saturday it rained all day... as in storm gad! The wind was crazy! We were using our umbrellas more like shields in front of us rather then over our heads... really funny! Sometimes during ridiculous weather i just giggle and think, "what am i doing here!?" haha... i love it!
Scripture of the week... Helaman 14... As i read this this week i thought about the signs of the second coming. We are witnessing them right now. We need to make sure we recognize them for what they are. Side note... anyone have any guesses on who the 3 Nephites are?
Gugma Gad!!
Sister Carissa Jones
We had interviews this week which was probably my highlight. I really needed it! I received lots of revelation as i spiritually prepared to learn from the Spirit. Im not gonna lie... im really scared to come home. I love it here and my life is so nice and structured and i dont know... its just not quite as scary as the real world. But i learned what i must do to prepare and also how to go home with honor. I simple just need to live the Doctrine of Christ, there are specifics to me personally, but i invite you all you study the doctrine of Christ and see how you personally can be living it better.
President Malit is so amazing! He always does things by the Spirit and i always feel better after talking to him. He has helped me to grow so much here on the mission. I realized in my interview as we talked that i really have become such a better person and im so much happier with myself than i ever was before. Its amazing i cant even describe it in words really.
Saturday it rained all day... as in storm gad! The wind was crazy! We were using our umbrellas more like shields in front of us rather then over our heads... really funny! Sometimes during ridiculous weather i just giggle and think, "what am i doing here!?" haha... i love it!
Scripture of the week... Helaman 14... As i read this this week i thought about the signs of the second coming. We are witnessing them right now. We need to make sure we recognize them for what they are. Side note... anyone have any guesses on who the 3 Nephites are?
Gugma Gad!!
Sister Carissa Jones
May... Why is it already May!!
Seriously, this whole time thing is getting out of control. Its going to fast! I know that you all want it to go fast but maybe you could pray that it goes fast for you but slow for me :) i love the Philippines so so much! Sometimes i look around and think how in a short time i wont be able to see all these beautiful faces and flowers and plants and mountains and waters... it makes me really sad!
This week has been the busiest finding week ever in my whole mission... maybe even just the busiest all around! President has really been pushing finding new investigators cause nothing happens till we have people to teach. So we made a goal of 25/week (the standard of excellence for the mission in 20/week). And guess what! We had a good start last monday with 11! We went to a family we have been trying to teach for 2 weeks and finally the kids wanted to listen. Then they invited some friends! It was a 2 hour lesson but so good! With that group we were able to add a few more at our return appointment. They are fun group of teenagers to teach. They range from ages 10 to 24! Then every day we worked hard, filling any open time we had for finding and teaching! Every day we found at least 2 new investigators and by Saturday we had achieved our goal. We were hoping to get a few more on Sunday to exceed our goal but all our appointments fell thru. We were happy to have met that goal tho! Achieving goals is like the coolest feeling ever... im such a nerd but that ok.
Michelle, our AMAZING investigator, had her baptism on Saturday! It was so special. She is 25 and after her baptism she told us that she felt like a baby :) She is so happy to be clean and is ready to just continue moving forward. She was so prepared and is already receiving so many blessings. She will be a forever friend to me.
This week the Philippines began their celebrations for their Jubilee! (50 years of the church in the Philippines)! What an exciting time for them and i feel so bless to be able to be here at this time to experience it with them. The dancing and music is so fun to watch. They started in Manila and had a big broadcast. Our stake celebration will be May 15 here in Tacloban. Cant wait to go! Our youth have been working so hard on their dances that they will be preforming. Yesterday we had a Area wide broadcast stake conference. Elder Teh gave such an amazing talk about studying the scriptures. I hope that we all will make studying the scriptures a daily duty. Then Sister Beck spoke about families, Elder Cook talked lots about history and Elder Packer gave a great talk. He told us how he spent time in the Philippines during the war and right here in Tacloban he and another member held the first sacrament meeting (as of record) that took place in the Philippines. The people here felt very special.
So our area is huge and the names of the streets and Phases help emphasize that fact :) The subdivision is split into 8 different phases (think of like all the different waterfields in Missouri). Each phase is classified with a different category for the street names. Fish, fruits, veggies, places, space, etc... Lets just say every day i take a universe tour. I can go from Pilipinas, to San Francisco, to Los Angeles, to New York, to Texas, to Jerusalem, to Israel, to Saudi, to the Milky Way, to Saturn, to Jupiter, etc. Its great... but very tiring!! :)
Ok so scripture of the week... 2 Nephi Ch. 33. Last night we used this in a FHE as we talked about the counsel from Elder Teh about reading the scriptures. We went around and had every one saying why that reading the scriptures was important to them (no one could repeat something already said). There were about 20 of us and at first they thot it would be hard to not repeat but by the end it wasnt at all. Everyone had great simple reasons and we could have gone around the circle again. I love the scriptures! They are such a blessing and a strength in my life! Reading helps answer my questions and brings me more in tune with the Spirit so that he can answer my questions. What a blessing. Remember what Nephi's last words were... "I must obey" And WE MUST OBEY too if we want to be happy and free!
I love you all so so much! Remember who you are... who Heavenly Father created.
Gugma Gad,
Sister Carissa Jones
This week has been the busiest finding week ever in my whole mission... maybe even just the busiest all around! President has really been pushing finding new investigators cause nothing happens till we have people to teach. So we made a goal of 25/week (the standard of excellence for the mission in 20/week). And guess what! We had a good start last monday with 11! We went to a family we have been trying to teach for 2 weeks and finally the kids wanted to listen. Then they invited some friends! It was a 2 hour lesson but so good! With that group we were able to add a few more at our return appointment. They are fun group of teenagers to teach. They range from ages 10 to 24! Then every day we worked hard, filling any open time we had for finding and teaching! Every day we found at least 2 new investigators and by Saturday we had achieved our goal. We were hoping to get a few more on Sunday to exceed our goal but all our appointments fell thru. We were happy to have met that goal tho! Achieving goals is like the coolest feeling ever... im such a nerd but that ok.
Michelle, our AMAZING investigator, had her baptism on Saturday! It was so special. She is 25 and after her baptism she told us that she felt like a baby :) She is so happy to be clean and is ready to just continue moving forward. She was so prepared and is already receiving so many blessings. She will be a forever friend to me.
This week the Philippines began their celebrations for their Jubilee! (50 years of the church in the Philippines)! What an exciting time for them and i feel so bless to be able to be here at this time to experience it with them. The dancing and music is so fun to watch. They started in Manila and had a big broadcast. Our stake celebration will be May 15 here in Tacloban. Cant wait to go! Our youth have been working so hard on their dances that they will be preforming. Yesterday we had a Area wide broadcast stake conference. Elder Teh gave such an amazing talk about studying the scriptures. I hope that we all will make studying the scriptures a daily duty. Then Sister Beck spoke about families, Elder Cook talked lots about history and Elder Packer gave a great talk. He told us how he spent time in the Philippines during the war and right here in Tacloban he and another member held the first sacrament meeting (as of record) that took place in the Philippines. The people here felt very special.
So our area is huge and the names of the streets and Phases help emphasize that fact :) The subdivision is split into 8 different phases (think of like all the different waterfields in Missouri). Each phase is classified with a different category for the street names. Fish, fruits, veggies, places, space, etc... Lets just say every day i take a universe tour. I can go from Pilipinas, to San Francisco, to Los Angeles, to New York, to Texas, to Jerusalem, to Israel, to Saudi, to the Milky Way, to Saturn, to Jupiter, etc. Its great... but very tiring!! :)
Ok so scripture of the week... 2 Nephi Ch. 33. Last night we used this in a FHE as we talked about the counsel from Elder Teh about reading the scriptures. We went around and had every one saying why that reading the scriptures was important to them (no one could repeat something already said). There were about 20 of us and at first they thot it would be hard to not repeat but by the end it wasnt at all. Everyone had great simple reasons and we could have gone around the circle again. I love the scriptures! They are such a blessing and a strength in my life! Reading helps answer my questions and brings me more in tune with the Spirit so that he can answer my questions. What a blessing. Remember what Nephi's last words were... "I must obey" And WE MUST OBEY too if we want to be happy and free!
I love you all so so much! Remember who you are... who Heavenly Father created.
Gugma Gad,
Sister Carissa Jones
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Happy Easter from the Philippines!
hello po!
well with not writing last week i have lots to fill you in on. Ill try to be fast but thorough...
Sister Blonquist went to Sogod! It is in the south part of the island. We have divided to conquer! She is with Sister Schneider, which is totally awesome! I cant even begin to describe how much i love her! We lived with her in Tanauan forever so yeah...
I had to say goodbye to Sister Barroca which was very hard. I love her so much! Cant believe she isnt in the mission anymore. Going to the airport to say bye got me really scared to come home... cause it will come so fast! Later today i was thinking as i walked and looked up at the beautiful sky over the green mountains.... the thought came into my brain... "Im prepared to meet my Maker!" For the first time in my life i can honestly say that i am prepared to meet my Maker. It was a really cool moment! The mission has changed me for the better. Im still Carissa or CJ or whatever... im just a better version with lots more knowledge and direction!
Sister Quimson is my companion... filipina! I love her! She speaks lots of tagalog which makes my brain hurt cause im trying to sort like 4 languages in my head but im learning so its good. We only speak waray waray or tagalog so its good. My english will just get worse now :) but thats ok. Sister Quimson is from Calamba, Laguna on Luzon.(close to Manila)
We have been really busy with the work! Trying to find and teach and find and teach some more so we can have baptisms!
We have awesome investigators right now. Many i feel i knew before this life. Brother Junie is one of my best friends... very stubborn but man do i love him! We have many others but one is Michelle! She is receiving baptism on Saturday! She is always studying and understands everything so well! She told us the other day that she wants to go on a mission! She is the best! And so is the Maglana family (which is where we teach Michelle). They always feed us and just are awesome!
We are making progress with some returning member families. I was able to share my mission decision story with a family and also hear their tesimonies. They have really grown since we began visiting. I love them! One of the girls bore her testimony about scripture study... at first she didnt like to read cause she said that she could never understand. a few visits ago i told her to pray before she reads so that the Spirit can help her. She said she was trying to study for the assignment that we gave her on scripture study... she still wasnt understanding and then she remembered what i told her... so she prayed. She then understood as she read and she was excited! She decided to start over her Book of Mormon reading just last week and now is already in Alma. She was explaining the stories perfectly.. i just wanted to cry i was so happy!
We had a birthday party at their house with last week and man was it a party! Tons of delicious food cooked by Sister Maglana! She made this upside down pineapple cake with may have been the most delicious thing ive ever tasted in my entire life (other than Grandma's rolls, of course!)
We had our National day of Service here in the Philippines on Saturday so we cleaned the nearby elementary school. It was fun... i mainly just carried around a trash bag for people to dump the leaves in and then took lots of pictures! We had a really good turn out! Our recent converts and a few investigators came! YAY!!
This last week was Holy Week... Many people are busy or out in the bukid. It kinda stunted our work but that didnt stop us. On Friday (Holy/Black Friday) we were allowed to stay in our apartments because not much transportation (everyone rests because its the day Christ was crucified). We were able to work in the afternoon cause our appointments were close!
So Happy Easter! No bunnies here in the Philippines but i was able to really focus on my Savior and all that He has done for me. I love Him and i know He loves each and every one of us! The songs in sacrament were so great and i felt so close to my Savior, Jesukristo. Many of the catholics here focus so much on His death (even reenacting it every year) but i glory in that He lives! I know that He lives!
Scripture of the week... Mosiah Ch.4. I have always said that this is my favorite chapter... in a lesson with a less active family we read it and i actually realized just how much i love it and really for the first time totally understood why i love it! Hope you enjoy it as much as i do!
i love being a missionary!! Whoot whoot!!
Gugma gad,
Sister Carissa Jones
well with not writing last week i have lots to fill you in on. Ill try to be fast but thorough...
Sister Blonquist went to Sogod! It is in the south part of the island. We have divided to conquer! She is with Sister Schneider, which is totally awesome! I cant even begin to describe how much i love her! We lived with her in Tanauan forever so yeah...
I had to say goodbye to Sister Barroca which was very hard. I love her so much! Cant believe she isnt in the mission anymore. Going to the airport to say bye got me really scared to come home... cause it will come so fast! Later today i was thinking as i walked and looked up at the beautiful sky over the green mountains.... the thought came into my brain... "Im prepared to meet my Maker!" For the first time in my life i can honestly say that i am prepared to meet my Maker. It was a really cool moment! The mission has changed me for the better. Im still Carissa or CJ or whatever... im just a better version with lots more knowledge and direction!
Sister Quimson is my companion... filipina! I love her! She speaks lots of tagalog which makes my brain hurt cause im trying to sort like 4 languages in my head but im learning so its good. We only speak waray waray or tagalog so its good. My english will just get worse now :) but thats ok. Sister Quimson is from Calamba, Laguna on Luzon.(close to Manila)
We have been really busy with the work! Trying to find and teach and find and teach some more so we can have baptisms!
We have awesome investigators right now. Many i feel i knew before this life. Brother Junie is one of my best friends... very stubborn but man do i love him! We have many others but one is Michelle! She is receiving baptism on Saturday! She is always studying and understands everything so well! She told us the other day that she wants to go on a mission! She is the best! And so is the Maglana family (which is where we teach Michelle). They always feed us and just are awesome!
We are making progress with some returning member families. I was able to share my mission decision story with a family and also hear their tesimonies. They have really grown since we began visiting. I love them! One of the girls bore her testimony about scripture study... at first she didnt like to read cause she said that she could never understand. a few visits ago i told her to pray before she reads so that the Spirit can help her. She said she was trying to study for the assignment that we gave her on scripture study... she still wasnt understanding and then she remembered what i told her... so she prayed. She then understood as she read and she was excited! She decided to start over her Book of Mormon reading just last week and now is already in Alma. She was explaining the stories perfectly.. i just wanted to cry i was so happy!
We had a birthday party at their house with last week and man was it a party! Tons of delicious food cooked by Sister Maglana! She made this upside down pineapple cake with may have been the most delicious thing ive ever tasted in my entire life (other than Grandma's rolls, of course!)
We had our National day of Service here in the Philippines on Saturday so we cleaned the nearby elementary school. It was fun... i mainly just carried around a trash bag for people to dump the leaves in and then took lots of pictures! We had a really good turn out! Our recent converts and a few investigators came! YAY!!
This last week was Holy Week... Many people are busy or out in the bukid. It kinda stunted our work but that didnt stop us. On Friday (Holy/Black Friday) we were allowed to stay in our apartments because not much transportation (everyone rests because its the day Christ was crucified). We were able to work in the afternoon cause our appointments were close!
So Happy Easter! No bunnies here in the Philippines but i was able to really focus on my Savior and all that He has done for me. I love Him and i know He loves each and every one of us! The songs in sacrament were so great and i felt so close to my Savior, Jesukristo. Many of the catholics here focus so much on His death (even reenacting it every year) but i glory in that He lives! I know that He lives!
Scripture of the week... Mosiah Ch.4. I have always said that this is my favorite chapter... in a lesson with a less active family we read it and i actually realized just how much i love it and really for the first time totally understood why i love it! Hope you enjoy it as much as i do!
i love being a missionary!! Whoot whoot!!
Gugma gad,
Sister Carissa Jones
Monday, April 11, 2011
WhOOt WhOOt for General Conference!
Dear Family,
I wrote you a letter today so i wont say much about conference other than that we all have lots of guidance given to us and we need not take it for granted. It amazed me how the talks were so personal! I love conference! We were able to watch all 4 sessions of conference... and we heard that priesthood was phenomenal!! I cant pick a favorite... there are too many but the one that especially touched me, in which i surely did cry, was Elder Richard G. Scott's humble, touching and inspired talk. The weirdest part of confernce was seeing the scenery... not gonna lie i kinda had forgotten what America looked like!! I looked for Christina and Josh (thinking they would be in the choir) but i never saw them... maybe i looked too hard. Ill just have to go back and rewatch them when i come home so i can see their faces. What an amazing experience that must have been for them two!! Tell them both that i love them and they did an amazing job singing. The music touched me along with the amazing talks.
This week was busy... we seriously worked so hard despite the fact that we got punted one schedule after another. I got sick friday night (dad we had the same sickness... weird!). I had a killer fever (100.5 F) after saturday watching conference but i couldnt stay in the house and rest. We went out and taught. I felt myself almost collapse a few times as we walked but i can honestly say that i felt angels beside me holding me up. I know i received that blessing through faith and diligence. I felt a little yucky sunday as we watched sundays conference but the fever was gone and now i just am stuffed up a little... nothing big.
The Shortcut Kids... its kinda like the Buttercream Gang... We love these kids and they LOVE us! This whole 400 meter walk we just have this parade of kids. Teaching them is like this giant sweaty ball of dirt but its AWESOME!!
We have a group of young girls that are all cousins that we are teaching. They are great! Their parents arent allowing them to go to church or get baptized even thought the 5 of them want to but no worries, lots of praying and fasting will change open their hearts and hopefully we can teach each family.
We have a really good new investigator, Michelle. She is smart! This week she was looking thru the Preach My Gospel of her fellowshipper and copying scripture down in her phone to study later... WHAT!? How often does an investigator do that after the first lesson? Talk about AMAZING!!
I received really special news this morning! At 1am a little baby was born in Albuera. She is the daughter of recent converts that i was lucky to begin teaching and was able to go back to Albuera to attend their baptism as Sister Blonquist and i traveled from area to area. Im humbled to say that they named the baby after me and Sister Larsen. Her name is Carissa Kay Casero. How neat is that!? She is going to be just the cutest little filipina around!!
We just found out about transfers two hours ago. Sister Blonquist will be leaving me... im SUPER sad! I love her and have learned so much... i feel like not enough! We just have to move forward with faith... even when its hard. Pray for her to feel the comfort she needs in her next area. i love her so much i cant even put it into words. i cant wait for you all to meet her!
Scripture of the week... 3 Nephi 27:21,27,33. We are Latter-day Saints! What manner of men ought we to be?
I love you all! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true!
Gugma gad,
Sister Carissa Jones
I wrote you a letter today so i wont say much about conference other than that we all have lots of guidance given to us and we need not take it for granted. It amazed me how the talks were so personal! I love conference! We were able to watch all 4 sessions of conference... and we heard that priesthood was phenomenal!! I cant pick a favorite... there are too many but the one that especially touched me, in which i surely did cry, was Elder Richard G. Scott's humble, touching and inspired talk. The weirdest part of confernce was seeing the scenery... not gonna lie i kinda had forgotten what America looked like!! I looked for Christina and Josh (thinking they would be in the choir) but i never saw them... maybe i looked too hard. Ill just have to go back and rewatch them when i come home so i can see their faces. What an amazing experience that must have been for them two!! Tell them both that i love them and they did an amazing job singing. The music touched me along with the amazing talks.
This week was busy... we seriously worked so hard despite the fact that we got punted one schedule after another. I got sick friday night (dad we had the same sickness... weird!). I had a killer fever (100.5 F) after saturday watching conference but i couldnt stay in the house and rest. We went out and taught. I felt myself almost collapse a few times as we walked but i can honestly say that i felt angels beside me holding me up. I know i received that blessing through faith and diligence. I felt a little yucky sunday as we watched sundays conference but the fever was gone and now i just am stuffed up a little... nothing big.
The Shortcut Kids... its kinda like the Buttercream Gang... We love these kids and they LOVE us! This whole 400 meter walk we just have this parade of kids. Teaching them is like this giant sweaty ball of dirt but its AWESOME!!
We have a group of young girls that are all cousins that we are teaching. They are great! Their parents arent allowing them to go to church or get baptized even thought the 5 of them want to but no worries, lots of praying and fasting will change open their hearts and hopefully we can teach each family.
We have a really good new investigator, Michelle. She is smart! This week she was looking thru the Preach My Gospel of her fellowshipper and copying scripture down in her phone to study later... WHAT!? How often does an investigator do that after the first lesson? Talk about AMAZING!!
I received really special news this morning! At 1am a little baby was born in Albuera. She is the daughter of recent converts that i was lucky to begin teaching and was able to go back to Albuera to attend their baptism as Sister Blonquist and i traveled from area to area. Im humbled to say that they named the baby after me and Sister Larsen. Her name is Carissa Kay Casero. How neat is that!? She is going to be just the cutest little filipina around!!
We just found out about transfers two hours ago. Sister Blonquist will be leaving me... im SUPER sad! I love her and have learned so much... i feel like not enough! We just have to move forward with faith... even when its hard. Pray for her to feel the comfort she needs in her next area. i love her so much i cant even put it into words. i cant wait for you all to meet her!
Scripture of the week... 3 Nephi 27:21,27,33. We are Latter-day Saints! What manner of men ought we to be?
I love you all! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true!
Gugma gad,
Sister Carissa Jones
April 4, 2011
Its April...
My companion and i are asking ourselves when Easter is... no one has talked about it and they dont have too much to celebrate it really so we have no idea.... WEIRD!
So last week it was still raining profusely last week but this week, luckily, it has slowed up. The whole one payong thing isnt working to well cause we both just end up half dry and half drenched. Or i where my rain jacket which doesnt keep rain out after so long of rain :)
We met lots of new friends these last two weeks! Mainly kids. They just love us so we love them! We have a whole little crew that follow us around. Some even come up behind you and just hold your hand as you walk down the street. Its really tender. They are such cute little children of God. We have fun teaching them with pictures and stories. Since missionary's thing is extending commitments, last week i committed them to do service for their parents (like clean or wash dishes, etc.)
Had a neat experience teaching the Restoration in candle light. I guess there is a world wide energy conservation hour done every year... didnt know about that the first 21 years of my life oops... but the Philippines is big on doing it. It was last Saturday (March 26). We taught a family during that hour... really neat and spiritual experience.
This week Sister Blonquist and I were able to invite two different companionship to come work with us in our area. This allows us to better train and learn with the other sisters in the mission. Its so fun! We love getting to know all the sisters and learn from them. We may be the ones with the calling to be the leaders and do the training but it always seems that in those types of positions you are the one that does the learning and you grow tremendously! I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity that Heavenly Father has given to me to learn and be a better missionary.
So this week was April Fools Day... awesome... the elders, not gonna lie, got us so good. They had us for about 20 minutes thinking that Elder Bednar was her in Tacloban.... There is much more to the story but only a few choice will here that so just remind me after the mission sometime and ill tell you... maybe. Touche to the Elders!
We had a really really great week. First... Joey received baptism! His original baptism date since the first time we taught him was April 2 Then the member he is close with would be out of town on the 2nd so we moved it to the 1st two weeks ago. But then last week he had an unexpected seminary that he had to drive his boss to so we were going to have to push it to the 9th. We prayed all week that his seminar would be canceled! All week when we visited he said it was still on... then on Friday when we visited he told us that it got canceled! And That Sister Millama (the member friend) wasnt going to leave until the 3rd! I wish you could have seen our bright faces and how quickly we pulled out our cell phone to call our ward mission leader. Luckily 2 elders in the ward also had a baptism so all worked out perfectly! We have been focusing on EXPECTING MIRACLES! And look!... A miracle happened.
Second reason that it was a great week was that a less active family came back to church after 2 years. We both felt very impressed to visit them one night and we did.They realized then how much they needed to come back. Theirs' is a VERY difficult situation but they exercised their faith and it was amazing! They invited us to come pick them up so we did. We showed up at 8 and everyone was about ready. At 830 we got into their multicab which wasnt starting. The clock was ticking and things werent looking up. We all bowed our heads and offered a vocal prayer. We were then able to find another multicab and get to church. We were 10 min late but were able to all sit and partake in the sacrament still (thanks to all the confirmations which took up time at the start :) ). Im so glad to be a missionary and be a part of this great and marvelous work!
I cant even believe its April and ill be home in 3 months! Like thats absolutely insane! Agi Daw!! PasPas an panahon. Damo nga nahibaroan ngan damo pa nga moabut ha ak ha tulo ka ulanhing mga bulan nga anaa pa ak ha misyon. Napapasalmat po ak ha gugma ngan pasensya ha Diyos. Magilub ak hasta ka hasta!
Scripture of the week.... Helaman 5:1-12... REMEMBER!
Gugma,
Sister Carissa Jones
My companion and i are asking ourselves when Easter is... no one has talked about it and they dont have too much to celebrate it really so we have no idea.... WEIRD!
So last week it was still raining profusely last week but this week, luckily, it has slowed up. The whole one payong thing isnt working to well cause we both just end up half dry and half drenched. Or i where my rain jacket which doesnt keep rain out after so long of rain :)
We met lots of new friends these last two weeks! Mainly kids. They just love us so we love them! We have a whole little crew that follow us around. Some even come up behind you and just hold your hand as you walk down the street. Its really tender. They are such cute little children of God. We have fun teaching them with pictures and stories. Since missionary's thing is extending commitments, last week i committed them to do service for their parents (like clean or wash dishes, etc.)
Had a neat experience teaching the Restoration in candle light. I guess there is a world wide energy conservation hour done every year... didnt know about that the first 21 years of my life oops... but the Philippines is big on doing it. It was last Saturday (March 26). We taught a family during that hour... really neat and spiritual experience.
This week Sister Blonquist and I were able to invite two different companionship to come work with us in our area. This allows us to better train and learn with the other sisters in the mission. Its so fun! We love getting to know all the sisters and learn from them. We may be the ones with the calling to be the leaders and do the training but it always seems that in those types of positions you are the one that does the learning and you grow tremendously! I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity that Heavenly Father has given to me to learn and be a better missionary.
So this week was April Fools Day... awesome... the elders, not gonna lie, got us so good. They had us for about 20 minutes thinking that Elder Bednar was her in Tacloban.... There is much more to the story but only a few choice will here that so just remind me after the mission sometime and ill tell you... maybe. Touche to the Elders!
We had a really really great week. First... Joey received baptism! His original baptism date since the first time we taught him was April 2 Then the member he is close with would be out of town on the 2nd so we moved it to the 1st two weeks ago. But then last week he had an unexpected seminary that he had to drive his boss to so we were going to have to push it to the 9th. We prayed all week that his seminar would be canceled! All week when we visited he said it was still on... then on Friday when we visited he told us that it got canceled! And That Sister Millama (the member friend) wasnt going to leave until the 3rd! I wish you could have seen our bright faces and how quickly we pulled out our cell phone to call our ward mission leader. Luckily 2 elders in the ward also had a baptism so all worked out perfectly! We have been focusing on EXPECTING MIRACLES! And look!... A miracle happened.
Second reason that it was a great week was that a less active family came back to church after 2 years. We both felt very impressed to visit them one night and we did.They realized then how much they needed to come back. Theirs' is a VERY difficult situation but they exercised their faith and it was amazing! They invited us to come pick them up so we did. We showed up at 8 and everyone was about ready. At 830 we got into their multicab which wasnt starting. The clock was ticking and things werent looking up. We all bowed our heads and offered a vocal prayer. We were then able to find another multicab and get to church. We were 10 min late but were able to all sit and partake in the sacrament still (thanks to all the confirmations which took up time at the start :) ). Im so glad to be a missionary and be a part of this great and marvelous work!
I cant even believe its April and ill be home in 3 months! Like thats absolutely insane! Agi Daw!! PasPas an panahon. Damo nga nahibaroan ngan damo pa nga moabut ha ak ha tulo ka ulanhing mga bulan nga anaa pa ak ha misyon. Napapasalmat po ak ha gugma ngan pasensya ha Diyos. Magilub ak hasta ka hasta!
Scripture of the week.... Helaman 5:1-12... REMEMBER!
Gugma,
Sister Carissa Jones
Friday, March 25, 2011
March 21, 2011
We thought wrong about not getting affected from the Earthquake! Our weather was so so SO intense this week. Im not joking... it rained non-stop from tuesday till saturday. And then it also rained sunday. And im not just talking a light rainfall... i mean BUCKETS! The entire Tacloban area was flooded. Even other areas in region 8 were bad. Mainly all the little areas around Tacloban were way bad though. I never knew what a flood meant until this week. Our area was the worst out of all the office areas. V&G is classic for flooding when we get lots of rain.. but that flood is like 2 or 3 inches in the road. By Wednesday night there was a foot of water in the road and the really bad part of V&G was 1 meter high! The highest the standing water reached was by Thursday morning. Even tho it continued to rain, the water slowly went down. Only the really bad parts are still a little flooded but those evacuated were able to move back in today. We had landslides in some areas too!... so many people were evacuated because of the flood. Our apartment owner said he was lived here for 7 years and there has never been standing water outside on the road. Outside our house there was almost a foot on thursday morning! Another lady in the ward said that this is the worst in 30 years! Only one other time it was high but not to the point of evacuation.
On wednesday night we decided to go contact an old investigator but soon found that God sent us in that direction for another purpose. We spent 30 minute helping our bishop and his family move mattresses and other belongings to the empty upstairs apartment that their house i attached to. When we got there the rain was only like a few inches outside and just starting to come into their house. The youngest boy was brushing it off the porch with a broom. After those 30 min the water was 2 inches throughout the entire house! It was rising SO fast! We were drenched and stopped by the Malits to get some hot water to wash our skin (cause there are diseases in standing water). We had no stove at that time to heat water cause we are still getting all moved in to the new apartment. They were so nice and fed us a yummy dinner and then drove us home (even tho we live down the street) By that time the water in the road had gone from 3 inches to 6!
The next days were crazy! We tramped through the flooded streets trying to help people. Sister Blonquist got some cute purple rain boots! None fit me... guess all the filipinos got to those sizes first.. hehe. On saturday we went around with members and delivered relief goods to families that were affected and needed help. It was awesome! I love helping people!
Sometimes riding on the pot2xs were like we were in a water park! It was super fun and all Sister Blonquist and i did was laugh! It was like we were in the ocean as we rode and walked around! Waves were created from the cars and other pot2xs. They even washed up on us a couple times and we got soaked! Sister Blonquist and I joked all week saying, "Hey!... its raining!"
Made enchaladas for lunch for all us missionaries in our ward... oh my... mmm, mmm, mmm... SO GOOD! It was a nice perk to the crazy week for us all!
Scripture of the week... Alma 37:38-47. this week i compared the Liahona to a patriarchal blessing... pretty cool!
Gugma gad!
Sister Carissa Jones
On wednesday night we decided to go contact an old investigator but soon found that God sent us in that direction for another purpose. We spent 30 minute helping our bishop and his family move mattresses and other belongings to the empty upstairs apartment that their house i attached to. When we got there the rain was only like a few inches outside and just starting to come into their house. The youngest boy was brushing it off the porch with a broom. After those 30 min the water was 2 inches throughout the entire house! It was rising SO fast! We were drenched and stopped by the Malits to get some hot water to wash our skin (cause there are diseases in standing water). We had no stove at that time to heat water cause we are still getting all moved in to the new apartment. They were so nice and fed us a yummy dinner and then drove us home (even tho we live down the street) By that time the water in the road had gone from 3 inches to 6!
The next days were crazy! We tramped through the flooded streets trying to help people. Sister Blonquist got some cute purple rain boots! None fit me... guess all the filipinos got to those sizes first.. hehe. On saturday we went around with members and delivered relief goods to families that were affected and needed help. It was awesome! I love helping people!
Sometimes riding on the pot2xs were like we were in a water park! It was super fun and all Sister Blonquist and i did was laugh! It was like we were in the ocean as we rode and walked around! Waves were created from the cars and other pot2xs. They even washed up on us a couple times and we got soaked! Sister Blonquist and I joked all week saying, "Hey!... its raining!"
Made enchaladas for lunch for all us missionaries in our ward... oh my... mmm, mmm, mmm... SO GOOD! It was a nice perk to the crazy week for us all!
Scripture of the week... Alma 37:38-47. this week i compared the Liahona to a patriarchal blessing... pretty cool!
Gugma gad!
Sister Carissa Jones
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