Christmas in the Field! Caroling and Baptisms :)

 Helllllooooo from the Philippines!!

This week has been fantastic!  I got to skype with my family for Christmas, which was absolutely AMAZING.  It was so good to see all of them!!  It made me wish we could skype more often lol.

Christmas eve we had an early curfew, so it felt like we only had half a day of work.  We were planning to give service to our investigators and help them even out their yard, but when we got there they were already finished.  They didn't want us to do anything to help, but we just were persistent and found something to do.  They use wood fires to cook, so we found their scrap wood and their machete (they don't use hatchets here) and started chopping wood.  The machete was really dull, so it was a good thing that most of the wood was rotten lol.  It was difficult if we got a hard piece; I felt like I was trying to chop through a rock lol.  But it was fun to be able to help them :)  After our work that day, us four sisters had a Christmas FHE.  It was so much fun!  We even got to see a couple of fireworks before we went to bed.

Christmas day was so good!  We had our weekly planning in the morning, then got invited to one of our members houses for lunch.  Then we met up with the elders in our district, did our exchange gifts, and went out caroling to our investigators.  It was so fun to do that with all 8 of the missionaries in the district :)

On Saturday, we got the best Christmas present... Our investigators got baptized!!  It was so amazing!  They're life is so hard right now, but when they bore their testimonies, they talked about how they were starting to feel the blessing of the gospel in their lives.  They both cried when they were confirmed, and in Sunday school, the husband told all of us how grateful they were for the blessings they're feeling.  I love being a missionary :)

1 Nephi 17:50 And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.

God never loses sight of our eternal potential, even when we do.

I love you all!!  Happy New Year!!

XOXO

Sister Pectol

Christmas Skype :)

Merry Christmas!!! December 22, 2015

Christmas Conference, Mudslides, and Counting Down to Christmas!

Hello everyone!

This has been a really busy week, but it has been so much fun!  We got to go to our Christmas Conference on Thursday, which was great!  We had some spiritual thoughts and then got to play games.  We all got tshirts with our names on it, which was awesome, but I was a bit of a dunce and ordered the wrong size.  So I just looked like I had a hoodie on over my dress lol.  All the zones there did a conversion skit, and as part of ours there was a little bit of a love story.  So, guess who got called to be the main character?  Yep, yours truly!  With my district leader as my "fiancee"...awkward!  Actually it was really funny, but I got stage fright so bad I almost forgot everything I was supposed to do lol.  And then watching President Revillo join in the games with us with Sister Revillo directing was the best!  

Because it's close to Christmas, we've been dealing with the normal Christmas weather here--namely, pouring rain all day everyday lol.  It wouldn't be too big of a deal, but we have a lot of investigators that live on mountains.  I have definitely been practicing my hiking skills the past week haha.  We've had fun slipping and sliding all up and down our area XD sometimes by the time we get to their house, we're almost soaked through and have mud splashed up to our knees.  (Sometimes I think the elders have it easy, because they climb too, but they at least do it in pants.  Sometimes it's really hard to hike up a slick mudslide of a hill in a skirt....)  But, all the hiking is totally worth it because we have investigators that are going to be getting baptized on Saturday!!  We have worked (and climbed) really hard to help them be ready, and now they've had their interview and are ready to go!

Believe that God is in control.  There is no need to be stressed out or worried.  This quote is a little ironic to me because I got it off of a glass plaque that I accidentally broke in the store (I'm so smooth) then had to buy.  But, I think it's really true :)  He's taking care of everything, so if we do our part then there's no need to worry :)

Deuteronomy 8:3  Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.

Love you all!!  Take care! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

XOXO

Sister Pectol

Happy 12 Days of Christmas! Caroling and Aswang Stories

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  It's a little early, but I'm excited :)  I can't believe that yesterday was the first day of Christmas; time is going by so fast!

Because it's December, a common thing here is that people will go caroling to get a little extra Christmas change.  So yesterday, us missionaries and the YSA group here went caroling.  But, of course, we weren't asking for money.  Instead, we told the people that we had something to give them.  We would sing our Christmas song, then me and Sister Cuales would go forward and introduce ourselves and give a short introduction of our message.  Then we gave them a Restoration pamphlet and scheduled when we could come back.  It was a lot of fun, and was a great way to contact people; we were able to get several return appointments for next week, so we were very excited about that :)

I've also been hearing a lot lately about the Philippines legendary monster, the Aswang.  Sister Cuales is from a part in the Philippines where supposedly there are a bunch of aswangs, so she's told me a lot about them.  Most of the time the stories don't bother me too bad, but we were in an appointment with one of our less actives and she started talking about a trip she'd taken when they'd heard the aswang and so were all scared.  No big deal if it was daytime, but it was our last appointment.  Which means it was well after dark.  And then we had to walk through a pitch dark forest to get back to the main neighborhood!!  Sister Cuales made me walk first so that if there was an aswang it would eat me.  I'm telling you, I felt the love.  Luckily, there weren't any aswangs, so we made it safely XD

God does not ask more of us than we are able.  You will be surprised at what you can do because the Lord has called you.  This is so true!!  All of us have a special calling in life, and all of us are here because we can help someone else.  Sometimes it's really hard, and we don't know how in the world we can make a difference.  But I know that we will never be given a challenge or a task that we can't do with the Lord's help.

Moroni 8:21  I speak it boldly; God hath commanded me.  BOOM.  Yep, that's what we missionaries do :)

I love you all!!  XOXO

Sister Pectol

New Companion! Hiking, Lost Transfer, and Looking for Boyfriends....

MY CHRISTMAS PICTURE

Hi all!

This week I learned that when you're talking to Filipinos, it's not a good idea to tell them you're single, because they will instantly tell you that you should marry a Filipino and that they know some great guys.  Yikes.  That's not quite why I came to the Philippines lol.  Maybe I'll just start pretending James is my boyfriend.  What are little brothers for, right? XD

I had a bit of a tragedy this week too.  I lost last tran

sfer's planner :(  For those of you who don't know what a missionary planner is for, that is our calendar for an entire transfer, and it has all of our lessons and the information of those that we're teaching and notes and all sorts of stuff.  I'm pretty sure dropped it when we were in a tricycle and didn't realize until later.  It's pretty much heartbreaking; I feel like I lost all of last transfer!  I keep praying for a miracle that somehow I'll be able to get it back.

And I met my new companion this week: Sister Cuales!  She's super sarcastic so I think we'll have a great time :)  but I think I about killed her the first couple of days.  Our area is very mountainous, and we do a lot of walking.  I'm used to it by now, but she isn't.  And for her, my walk is very fast (it's so weird to always be the tall one), so she's really been getting a workout the past week haha.  Our area is huge, and I only had one transfer to learn it, so honestly we've spent a lot of time lost just trying to talk to people to get new investigators haha.  Oh the joys of missionary life XD

Exodus 4:12  And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.  I started the Old Testament last week, and as I was reading the story of Moses I was really hit.  Moses wasn't an eloquent speaker; it was really hard for him to be able to really communicate to people.  But this is what God told him.  I love this because it really shows that no matter what, He won't leave us alone.  I have experienced that here on my mission, too.  I know that when we are doing His work, He will be with us and He will guide us in our speaking.

Everyone, regardless of his or her decisions, deserves our message.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone.  No matter what our mistakes are and no matter where we've been, I know that through the gospel we can change and become our best selves.  Heavenly Father gave us this gospel so that we can return unto Him, and this isn't just for people who are perfect.  This church is a hospital that helps us heal our spiritual sicknesses and wounds, and I know that when we do our part, we can gain that new start.

I love you guys!!

XOXO

Sister Payton Pectol

Payton: Transfers! Thanksgiving, Sickies, and Laundry Skillz

Our zone activity - bowling.

We went to the birthday dinner of one of our investigators, and yes, that is a whole pig.

What happens when I forget that I actually have an extra pair of shoes.

Same dress but different days; last night we taught a lesson to one of our poorer member families.

Hi everyone!!

This has been another great week in PQCM!  But our transfers are tomorrow, and we got a call from the zone leader this morning saying that Sister Mainit is going to transfer :((((  That's the good and the bad thing about transfers.  The good thing is you meet lots of new people and learn a lot from them, but the bad thing is if you and your companion have an awesome transfer together, it's hard to have a transfer.  But I'm also excited to learn from my new comp :)

So, it was Thanksgiving this week...yeah I really couldn't tell.  It's not exactly a thing here, so we just went out and worked our normal schedule.  And because of how hot it still is here (always), when I saw it was Thanksgiving it didn't really even register lol.

We had the opportunity to give service to one of our investigators this week, which was a lot of fun!  Which is a little surprising, because our service was helping her wash laundry.  I can definitely say that even though I'm not Filipina status yet, my paglalaba (laundry) skills have definitely improved lol.

I had a lovely cold this past week, so that was oodles of fun.  And let me tell you, even though it normally is just fine to shower with, cold water is definitely NOT healthy for headcolds lol.  That wasn't very fun.  I actually ended up boiling water to add to the bucket for my shower.  It felt great; I'd almost forgotten what a warm shower felt like hahaha.

Last week I finished the New Testament!  As I read the accounts of the Savior's life and the miracles that He and His apostles performed, I just felt so grateful to be a part of His restored church, that has that same priesthood authority to perform miracles. :)

The yearning you feel for something better is a yearning to come unto Christ.  President Henry B. Eyring

Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Sometimes we can't physically see the Lord working in our lives, but I've learned that if we just take a step back, we'll be able to recognize that He is truly in control, and that all that He does is for our benefit.

Love and miss you guys!! :)

XOXO

Sister Pectol

I Shook Hands With Apostles!!

Hi all!!

It has been another amazing week here in the Philippines Quezon City Mission.  We had a special treat this week; we had an apostle/missionary meeting, and had the opportunity to meet Elders Neil L. Andersen and Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  As in, I SHOOK HANDS WITH TWO LIVING APOSTLES!!!  Experience of a lifetime guys.  Both the apostles and their wives spoke to us, and it felt like everything they said was exactly for me.  I got to participate in the choir, and we sang a really pretty Tagalog/English rendition of Called To Serve.  It was an amazing day.  The picture is us four sisters that live/work together here in Morong Branch :)  It was the only time that all of the PQCM missionaries were together in one place (even the Mindoro missionaries got to fly in to the mainland for this), so the apostles agreed to get a picture with us.  I unfortunately don't have a copy, but maybe it's on Facebook :)

And I also gave myself a haircut for the first time!!  We never have time on pdays to go to the salon (and I'm kind of paranoid), so I just did it myself, Filipina style!  It didn't turn out too bad, actually.

I found out last week why being a nurse is not my calling in life.  Sister Mainit had a headache, and asked me for some Paracetamol--you know, Tylenol.  Well, being the genius that I am,  I mixed up the generic names.  So, instead of giving her pain medicine, I pulled out an anti-diarrhea from my medical kit.  Then later that day, when I gave here the right medicine, she asked my why it was different 

My quote this week is, of course, from our meeting with the apostles.  At the end of his talk, Elder Andersen told us, We will testify in your behalf before the bar of God one day.  And then he ended his talk by blessing us all.  It was amazing to hear as he blessed all of us missionaries collectively with the things that we need to hasten the work of salvation.

I had the opportunity to give the workshop in our district meeting on Wednesday (yikes!)  and I decided to give it on the stripling warriors, which is one of my favorite stories.  As part of it, I read from Alma 57:25
And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss ofblood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army,THERE WAS NOT ONE SOUL OF THEM WHO DID PERISH.  I chose the stripling warriors because I think that they are such an example to us of the kind of people that we need to be in order to be our best selves for God.  And the reason that not one of the stripling warriors was lost was because of their obedience, diligence, virtue, and humility.  They were faithful and strong in what they knew to be true, and they stuck to their covenants.  I know that as we do thise things as well, we will be given strength too; so that so matter what trials come, there won't be a single one of us who will perish.

I love you all!!  Have a fantastic week!

XOXO

Sister Payton Pectol