Week 58 - Training 4 Zones

This week was good! Busy, busy, busy! We went to Bacolod last Monday for the birthday celebrations of Sister Nanlabi and Sister Dela Cruz who are two sisters with us in the house. We had quite the experience hahah it was quite a day. It was a ton of fun but probably the most tiring day ever and when we went to teach a lesson at our recent convert's house, they fed us dinner and we spent the entire hour of eating laughing because I was so loopy hahha. The lesson we taught was interesting to say the least. I was dead tired.

Then on Wednesday, we had zone conference which was held in the same building as my first four transfers here in the mission, which brought a lot of flashbacks but it was good to be back! Maybe I will start and end my mission going to the same chapel for zone conference. But yeah, Sister Regacho and I were the ones that trained at zone conference, which this zone conference in the south is made up of 4 huge zones contrary to the other ones of three small zones so needless to say, there were a ton of missionaries. But it all turned out well and I think that will be my last time training at a zone conference which is okay with me hahha. It is stressful! Especially with President watching you... BUT President Sumagpao was making his training for the afternoon session while we were speaking and he totally said at the beginning of his training that he got his idea of what to train on from something I said! So that was cool and he gave me a shoutout! So his whole training was based off something I had said in my training(: So I think that means we did a good job!

Then on Thursday, we had exchanges and I led the area and my companion was Sister Dansie, the new trainee in our apartment. I had a lot of fun cause I got to be reminded of how training feels and it makes me excited to hopefully train another missionary in my last remaining transfers! I love training even though it's tough! But Sister Dansie is so sweet and super smart. I got to reminisce on my days when I still didn't really understand what was going on most of the time and you just kind of stay quiet and let your companion do all the talking. It's crazy how fast time flies cause that doesn't feel like very long ago to me. Weird!

Then Friday was I think that funniest, most insane adventure experience I have had here on my mission. So this whole week it has been POURING rain like it's been crazy and nonstop. And there is one of our areas (I think I have sent pictures of it) where we are required to cross a river, and climb a muddy hill to get to the house of the people we teach. Well, we went to go to them but the river had flooded and was up to our waist in height (when it usually is up to our ankles) so Sister Regacho said there was a round-about way where there was this bridge we could cross. So we went around and oh my goodness it took 1.5 hours to get there and we were walking through ankles high mud and streams and slipping all over the place and by the end I was covered in mud up to my knees and even on my skirt. I took some videos that I'll try to upload but it was so funny hahha we were dying. By the end, our whole bodies hurt, we were sweating like a pig, and we were covered in mud and we had scratches all over the place. So yeah I have some pretty good battle scars from that experience. We eventually got to the house and thank goodness cause they were there and we taught them and they were amazed and touched by the effort we put forth just to get to their house. It helped us to explain how important they were to us! It was a good lesson and then we rushed to get back and Sister Regacho and I both were like "No way are we going back the way we came" and so we just crossed the river which was wasit-deep and we got soaked but it took 5 minutes instead of 1.5 hours haha. Then we pulled up to our lunch appointment with the other sisters and they were like Woah what happened to y'all and we just laughed. It's hard to explain in words what we went through but let's just say we were laughing the whole time! Missions are great.

It's also been a great week in the work of the Lord. The son of the two recent convert's of ours totally asked us when he could get baptized which we were so excited about. We came home and started hopping up and down like crazy people because we were so excited! His name is RJ and he is so awesome and has just barely gotten out of his shell as we have been working on building a relationship with him so he doesn't hide from us every time we get to his house. So now he has a goal date set for September 14 so hopefully everything goes well! He has no problems with the word of wisdom and has already come to church twice so we are just working on building his testimony of Jesus Christ so we can make sure he is converted and baptized for all the right reasons and in the right time! I love this work! That family is seriously so close to my heart. They are so fun and such good missionaries too! RJ has already been inviting his friends to come to church. He's so awesome!

That's all I got for this week, but stay tuned for next week! Hahah I love y'all and miss y'all and hope this week isn't too stressful for y'all. I will pray for you all continually!!!

Sister Robertson

Here is video of us slogging through the mud on our way to our appointment...

bacolod is the city of smiles!!

Teaching and training at zone conference

there is a garden at the mini zoo also

this was the river we crossed which is up to our hips in depth

this happened multiple times on our journey to that one house. what an experience

this is how they make coal- just a fun fact hahha

this is the birthday lunch we had at some super fancy restaurant it was all soooo yummy

hahha this is a funny story. my philipino companion microwaved beef jerky and basically almost broke the microwave and it came out black and hard as a rock- do not recommend

this is a philipino thing- its coconut juice!

my companion (:

my mission child!!! we saw each other at zone conference and we tried to recreate our picture from her first zone conference

we are happy cause its sunday!!

my la carlota family!! this is rj on the left who asked us when he could get baptized

some of the people we teach came to church for the first time and they were so happy!

we got some fancy bread at SM and we were happy cause we were sooo hungry

this is my favorite person ever his name is ritchelio and he reminds me of bob marley in how he looks but in how he acts he is an angel. we love him.

Week 57 - Teaching at the Zoo

Magandang gabi sa inyo lahat doon!

I hope everything is great and happy over there and the first week of school was not too stressful! I am praying for all those who went back to school!

Last Monday, Sister Regacho and I got to go to a little "mini zoo" that one of our recent converts works at. It is called that cause it's a place with a bunch of animals that were imported from different countries and different places- some from Africa, some from the Amazon River, some from Australia and so on. It was way cool and we got to see everything from eagles, parrots, snakes, a HUGE fish from the Amazon, tortoises, stingrays, to crocodiles. I was amazed hahha.

But the thing that really stuck in my mind was we were going to leave and just kind of talking with the guards that watch over this mini zoo. We were chatting and then of course the two guards started asking about us and who were were and then we got to sit down and share with them the first discussion. I left just thinking about what had just happened. This was of course on preparation day when we could have gone to this mini zoo just for fun and recreation and enjoyed ourselves. But as a full-time missionary, you kind of learn how to go anywhere and teach the gospel. You see opportunities to share the gospel no matter where you are and what you are doing.

It is a wonderful time in a person's life to be on a mission because you get to see how normal everyday things can lead to gospel conversations. Our name tags definitely help because they make people curious but I think it is a great principle and skill to learn how to strike up a simple conversation about the gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone who sits next to you or anyone you talk to. Everyday I go walk the streets in the Philippines and talk to tons of people, even for a few minutes, about my purpose as a missionary, and through that effort, lives have changed or even days have been changed for those who we talk to and sometime never see again. I don't know. It just got me thinking how cool it is what I do everyday. That I can go to a zoo and strike up a conversation with the guards there and then share about the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. I am doin' a pretty cool work if you ask me (:

We also had another baptism this last Saturday which was quite a touching experience. First of all, it was so hard to even get it to work cause we needed a speaker, someone to preside, someone to conduct, someone to baptize, and two witnesses. Well, other than the one getting baptized and her mom, three other people attended and we made it all work. Sister Regacho ended up being the speaker and then the other three males who attended took part in doing the rest of the responsibilities. It all worked out in the end! But even though we were few, the spirit was so strong.

Ana Marie Dalisay is who got baptized and her mom is a recent convert and her brother is on a mission. Her testimony after her baptism was the most amazing thing ever. She explained that she, at first, was tired of the missionaries constantly coming to her house and always asking the same questions if she had prayed about our message and if she had read the Book of Mormon. She didn't understand why it was so important until she actually tried it one night. When she prayed, she went to bed right after and had a dream. In that dream she was kneeling on the beach and she saw how beautiful the view was. She then saw a vision of the Book of Mormon and had a story of the Book of Mormon played out in front of her. She then saw a family come together and explained how happy they looked. She basically received revelation that everything we share to her is true.

She awoke from that dream very thought-provoked and wanted to seek more truth. She said that after that she hadn't stopped reading the book of mormon and noticed that every single question she had or everything she had been wondering about life was answered through that book. She explained that if she was struggling with one thing, she would pray and read the book of mormon (at a random place I may add) and it would happen to be the exact chapter she needed to read for her to be comforted and for her questions to be answered. She expressed that she received a testimony for herself that the Book of Mormon is true, Prophet Russell M. Nelson is called of God, Joseph Smith is a true prophet that helped in the restoring of the true church of Jesus Christ to the earth, and lastly that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is led by Jesus Christ. She explained so much more that I wish I could just copy and paste her testimony because it was just beautiful. I was very moved and touched by it. She is so converted and we are over-the-moon happy for her!!!

Also, there is one guy we are teaching named Ritchelio and he is the BEST!! He has as long of hair as me and wears a rainbow beanie and has an earring in one of his ears but he is a spiritual giant! He is a referral and if I would have passed him on the street, I would not have seen him as someone in desperate search for truth but he totally is. He isn't from here but works here so he literally has no house and totally looks homeless if you see him in passing. He lives on a bench with a cover and he sells cotton candy for a living. Hahah he's so cool. We taught the restoration to him and it was such a good lesson because before the lesson he literally described his situation and it was like the situation of Joseph Smith. He has joined lots of churches and he has concluded that none of them are the true church because the fruits of their church are not in line with how God would act. He says he just hasn't felt that they are the one true church of Jesus Christ and they feel more like churches of people. He was so touched after we related the story of Joseph Smith to him and he wants to come to church! He doesn't have any pants to wear, so we are going to search for some because he says "Well I could come to church in shorts, but I want to respect the house of the Lord by wearing the best clothing I can find!" He's so sincere. His heart is in the best place to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. I see Joseph Smith in his situation and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he is excited to read it because he reads over and over our pamphlets that we have given to him!

Also the BEST surprise happened to me yesterday when I got to sacrament meeting, I was talking with some of the members and some of the people we teach, and then all of a sudden I saw two young men by the door of the sacrament hall waving to me!!! It was Rinel and Leonil FROM BAGO!!!! They were part of the Alegria Boys and they visited me yesterday at church and it was the BEST surprise ever I almost cried!!! It made me feel so special and they said the others wanted to join but said they had no money to make the trip. Aw it made my heart burst though I was so happy. I miss Bago and my family there!! And that gave me a little piece of that.

Anyways, this is the work I am doing everyday and it's the best! I am happy with the fact that I have everyday to give my all to my Heavenly Father by giving the best news in the world to people who desperately need it! Missions are way hard and it's crazy how up and down they are but it's the best growing experience one can have. Missions are marvelous(:

Love you all! Miss you all!!

Sister Robertson

one of the people we teach works at a mini zoo so we got to go and it was so cool! Here is a big tortoise

exchanges with sister jadaone!!

sister tagpuno!! my child! (meaning, I trained her)

sister anne's baptism!!! the best ever

the couple that got baptized two saturday's ago brought their son to church!!!

RINEL AND LEONIL who came to visit me from bago!! Rinel says that was the first time in FIVE YEARS he has worn a white polo. The best ever.

i took a picture of our area so yall can get an idea of what i walk through everyday

Week 56 - Another Week in the Vineyard

Magandang araw! Kamusta kayo?

This week was a great, happy week! I totally missed talking to y'all last week. Last Monday was a bit stressful as all the lines in the whole city of La Carlota went out due to the severe storms. There were like 3-4 typhoons that followed in a row and it was called a "super typhoon." It was crazy windy and crazy rainy and a little scary at times. It was focused on central bisayas which includes Negros Island. Anyways, it seemed to pass so we have had a few sunny days, which was nice.

I got to attend yet another MLC (mission leadership council) where we talked about true success. I have probably talked about this before in others of my letters cause I truly believe it is the hardest part of missions- measuring your success. Numbers are constantly thrown at us and constantly measured and counted and looked at and talked about. It sometimes feels like numbers, numbers, numbers. But true success is of course measured by your commitment as a missionary to devote all your time, all your mind, and all your energy to this work. Which is also a hard thing to measure, so sometimes it feels easier to measure your success by numbers. But the Assistants to the President reminded us that true success comes from working our best everyday and being able to come home and say we did our best and we will do better tomorrow. I think that goes for all people, not just missionaries. Life is hard, but if we are trying our best everyday and then being willing to become better the next day through true repentance and a humble heart, that is all Heavenly Father asks of us.

Also, after MLC, there was kind of a funny incident. So there is a bus company that is the most used bus here on Negros. It is called Ceres Liners. Ceres for short. So apparently, this last week they had some time of misunderstanding in their family (the family that owns Ceres) and they totally messed everything up for the entire island of Negros because of their fighting. They, for two days straight, did not let anyone drive Ceres buses and everyone just got stranded in the places they were at. Like seriously, some people couldn't get to work or school because of the pride of this one family. So yeah we totally got stranded in Bacolod (all 30 missionaries that attended) and we, including some others, were able to be driven by the Assistants to our prospective areas, but others had no choice except to sleep in Bacolod. Anyways, there is this one thing that people say here ALL THE TIME that "if we only had money, all our problems would go away." And there was one family we were talking to and they had this epiphany that "Oh I guess having a lot of money causes more problems than having very little." (Because the Ceres family is one of the wealthiest families here in Negros). So yeah just sunk in that I wish everyone here would understand that, coming from a first-world country, I have been able to see that money is not happiness. Family and the gospel of Jesus Christ are the only sources of true happiness.

We also had three baptisms last Saturday! It was a great day because these people are truly converted to the gospel. Letecia, Rhodroa, and Rodolfo all got baptized and bore the sweetest testimonies. Brother Rodolfo gave me a special shoutout in his testimony which was sweet and touched my heart. They have all been taught by the missionaries for a long time now. There has been so many missionary companionships that have come and gone without success to get these three in the font and get baptized. I really have felt special as I have felt that Heavenly Father let me be the one to witness their baptisms. All three of them had something go wrong the morning of their baptism and all three of them thought their baptism would not happen, but all three of them got on their knees and prayed for a way and answer to their prayers to be able to continue with their baptism. And they saw miracles. Satan is so good at trying to stop the work, but we as missionaries are reassured that no one or nothing can stop the work of the Lord! It will never stop!

I miss my old area, but have already started to see miracles here so I know this is my time to be here. I was able to see Sister Garcia at MLC which was really fun. I miss her lots and she expressed how much she misses me. I was also able to see Sister Tagpuno, who I trained, cause I am now her Sister Training Leader, so that was way fun. It is cool to see the fruits of your efforts on your past companions especially those you trained. I love this work! I am learning every day. I am growing to be better everyday and praying for y'all to feel the same kind of happiness I feel everyday! I love y'all! I miss y'all! Have a fantastic week!

With lots of love,
Sister Robertson

district conference!

our baptism! the one on the left was the one who baptized the three on the left

we made a TON of fried rice and it was soooo yummy!!!! my favorite!

sundays best(:

rhodora, rodolfo, and letty! the best ever!

my child!!! sister tagpuno! shes the best!

sister aleria! we went on exchanges! shes so cute!

the grass me and my companion hid in while there was a huge storm hahha

THE TWO BOYS ON THE RIGHT ARE TWO OF OUR RECENT CONVERTS FROM BAGO THAT WENT TO THE TEMPLE AHH the besttttt feeling as a missionary

the youth that went from bago ward to the temple

here are pictures of our house!

Our bedroom

Our living/dining room

Our hallway

My apartment study desks

Week 55 - Still Adjusting

Maayong gab-i para sa inyo!!

I hope you all had a great week full of happiness and love(: Sorry in advance because I do not have much to report on from this week. I guess that is what happens when one is transferred cause I don't really know the people yet and don't really know the area very well yet but maybe next week I will have more to report on.

My week was good. It was sad though. I had a pretty hard time adjusting to my new area from my last. I just really miss it and am really trying to focus on my area right now and help it the best way I possibly can. But I cried almost every single day this last week hahha it's been a hard adjustment as I said earlier. But I have seen a lot of tender mercies from the Lord here in this area and He is slowly letting me know and understand why I am here and what my purpose is here in this area. I am not sure if I will be in this area for more than one transfer or not which kind of bums me out too cause I recognize that I will be able to start a lot of things but not be able to finish them, but again, the Lord will provide exactly what needs to be done. I know I was sent to this area for a reason so I will just search for that purpose throughout this next 6 weeks. :)

This week was crazy with rain. Not sure if theres like a typhoon or something but the rain was WILD. There was one day, I think last friday, that Sister Regacho and I were walking from one appointment to the next and we literally heard the rain coming before it came cause it was moving so fast and so strong and so we pulled out our umbrellas and good thing we did cause it started POURING. But it didn't take very long for our umbrellas to be of absolute no use to us as the wind was crazy strong and so the rain was literally going sideways. We were laughing so hard cause we couldn't walk because the wind was pushing so hard against us. and our umbrellas were flying everywhere (surprised they didn't break hahha) and so we finally decided to step off and hide under some tall grass. So we waited there for almost 15 minutes being blown this way and that by the wind. So yeah, we were soaked and freezing. There was one member that lended some jackets to us and I totally wore it even though it looked ridiculous cause I was sooo cold! We came home after a few more teaching appointments and I got on the one long sleeve shirt I own here and the one pair of pj pants I own here and some socks and tried to warm up. Hahha it felt so silly to be cold in the Philippines but that's the truth. I get cold every night especially in the rainy season. I am totally acclimated to the weather here and I will totally die if I experience TRUE cold in America hahha. Cause it was probably like 70 degrees yesterday and I was so cold!

One scripture that touched my heart this past week was Alma 37:45. It was I think on Monday right after I had transferred and was having a pretty hard time and just sitting around trying not to cry. I got down on my knees and prayed for strength. I asked to be comforted and help know why I am in this area and how I can help. I asked for a way to feel better from my Heavenly Father and then I closed my prayer, opened my scriptures, and the first page I flipped to had this scripture highlighted: "And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring out fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise." It was no like grand miraculous answer that I received, but I received comfort just as I had asked for. I had picked up my scriptures for council, and the first scripture I read explained that if I rely on the words of Christ, they will bring me out of my vale of sorrow. That's pretty cool to me. Heavenly Father was and is aware of me and knew I needed that scripture. Not sure why I highlighted it in the first place, but I know I did it so I could read it that Monday. I love this gospel. I love the Book of Mormon cause it answers the questions of the soul. I was able to use that experience to bear a powerful testimony that night to a few sisters that needed a reason to read the Book of Mormon. I was able to share how the Book of Mormon, that very same day, answered the question I held in my heart. I think it touched them, and it certainly touched me. This gospel is true!!

That's all I've got for this week. Stay tuned for next week hahha. Sorry it was a boring letter but hopefully I will have some things to share next monday! Halong and stay safe over there! Love y'all to pieces.

Sister Robertson

right before i left and right before i cried a lot:( this is my second family!

my familyyyyy. i miss them.

some of the people we teach just had their baby!!! it is darling!

A sweet family that we teach. The one with the minnie mouse on her shirt is a new person we just found that asked how she could join our church! the best!

hahhah me in my ridiculous looking jacket that was way too big for me but i was so cold i didnt care!!

this is how people cook in the philippines if you were interested

this is the famous fruit called "durian" its known for being the smelliest fruit in the philippines. Its quite gross smelling and the taste isnt that much better to me hahha but others love it

1- this is one of our areas that requires us crossing this stream of running water and walking on veryyyyy slippery mud. 2- this is my companion after she had just slipped big time and was quite muddy from her knees down. The things we do for the work of the lord!!

Leonil wore his jersey to church hahha i didnt even notice until after church and i was like aw thats pretty intense effort hahha