The drought is over!!

Maupay na Aga! 

Kamusta Kamo ngatanan?! The drought is over! For the past 4 days the heavens opened up and it has been pouring. Even though it is not that fun to work in, I am SO thankful for it because the people (including us) have been struggling in the lack of water. But not anymore!! Hopefully it will keep up. :) #blessings

This past week we have been so blessed to be able to hear from the area 70, Elder Bowen and his wife! They visited Tacloban Mission and even came to Catbalogan! My area! Half of the mission came and received a training in our chapel. I learned so muc about the Abrahamic covenant, House of Israel, oath and covenant of Priesthood, and Baptismal Covenant and how they are all interconnected! I think these are really subjects that a lot of members don't know a lot about and I challenge each one of you to do some research! LDS.org, or more importantly the scriptures! Look in the Index or read True to the Faith. We are all entitled to so many blessings through the covenant of baptism but our own personal righteousness is what determines if we are enabled to receive those blessings or not. 

He also taught about False Limitations. He used an analogy about fleas. If you put fleas in a jar with a lid on it, over time the fleas will stop jumping so high that they hit the lid. They will continue to jump, but never any higher than where that lid is, even if you take it off. The fleas are able to jump out, but the don't. They have false limitations. Really all of us have false limitations in our lives. We can really DO and BECOME so much! But we don't because we come up with excuses and doubts. I know that Moroni 7:33 is true. Through our faith in Christ we can do or become ANYTHING in this world. It is overcoming those false limitations we have set on ourselves. Heavenly Father knows our true potential. We have to put all of those doubts and fears aside and BECOME who He knows we can become. Every single day of our lives we have been given thousands of opportunities. We have freedom of choice. We all have limitations and some of them are real, BUT most are false and we have to break through them. You have to choose for yourself, each and every day, what you will make of it. 

That is definitely something I have learned on my mission, especially because we get up at 6:30 every morning and go to bed at 10:30 every night. Our days are long, but go by so fast! I have seen first hand how we can accomplish SO much in just ONE day! It's amazing. 

I think I have already quoted this once but it's good so I will again. :) 

      "Every day we are given a choice: To wake up and chase our dreams or to stay asleep and continue dreaming." 

Let's make the most of each day, and look around us to see who we can help along the way. 

I love you all! Take care always! Remember who you are! A child of God. 

Sister Healey

Part of my district (missing 2 elders)

Funny story: so we were in this investigators house (same one I emailed about before) and all of these kids came out of nowhere and joined in the lesson. It was SO loud and almost no one was listening. But after the lesson. after we took this group picture, their house broke. haha! It was so bad! Because there were too many of us and it was just made our of some bamboo. I felt so bad but sister was just laughing so I'm assuming it is ok..

In a waiting shed in one of our areas, out working

 

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Happy Fathers Day!

Maupay na Udto!

Kamusta kam!? First of all, I just want to say Happy Father's Day to every single father figure out there! And especially to my dad, "The best dad in the universe" Thank you all for all of your hard work and sacrifice to provide, lead, and guide the generations of this time. And I love you dad. :) 

This past week flew by. We had two exchanges! Tuesday was with the sisters assigned in San Joaquin, a newer area that opened just a few cycles ago. Sister Fajardo and Sister Lizardo, they are both from Luzon so they are native Tagalog speakers. My companion for the day was Sister Lizardo. She is the same batch as Sister Pongyan and Sister Sulunga. It was fun and I had a few flashbacks from when I was training Sister Pongyan in Naval. Friday we did exchanges with the Catbalogan 2 sisters! Sister Arais and Sister Bombasi! My comp for that day was Sister Bombasi. She is Filipina but grew up in Indonesia. It was such a fun day. I love being an STL and being able to meet so many different people. 

Our mission president Maurer joined our District meeting Tuesday with his wife and fresh RM son. Afterwards, Sister Maurer went and worked with us for one appointment. It was such a cool experience. We went there in the mission car, which was a LOT faster than a pedicab or tricycle. When we climbed up to this investigators door, it turned out she wasn't home. BUT her grandma was and we were able to talk our way in the door and share an on the spot lesson about the Plan of Salvation because this Lola's husband and son have both died. So there we were, three white foreigners, sitting in this little oven of a house, and it was such a good lesson. Even though Sister Maurer couldn't really understand what we were saying, I would translate for her, then she shared her testimony of how there is life after death. How families really can be together forever. The spirit was so strong and this little old Lola started tearing up. She understood the English. The Holy Ghost really is the teacher, not us, and the spirit can speak all languages. 

Saturday we went out to Brgy. Pupua to visit the deaf people. The old 80+ Lola and Lolo, but we found out that last Sunday, Lola told Lolo that she was really sick and probably going to die soon so he was going to be on his own. This little Lolo gathered all of his clothes, borrowed some pamasahe (travel money) from his neighbors then took of for Calbayog so he could sell all of his clothes to buy medicine for his wife. If that is not true love then I don't know what is. 

On Saturday the Bustillo Family was baptized!! They have been waiting for a long time to be baptized because they had to wait for their 5 year mark together. Here in the Pilipinas there is no divorce so a lot of people either don't marry or are not able to remarry. There is a special rule here, that if a couple have been together for 5 years (and are not able to marry because of a previous spouse) and are interviewed by the mission president and found worthy, then they can be baptized! SO they were baptized! It was such a happy day. They were just glowing after the baptism and were just so insanely happy. I am so blessed to have been able to be a part of their special day. 

I know that this Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. It has changed mine. I am so thankful that I have had this opportunity to be here in the Philippines and to have met these people. They have changed my life as well. I know that if Jesus Christ is the center of our lives, no matter the problem or challenge, we can overcome. We can endure and even enjoy. That is the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It has no limits. 

Love you all. Take care always! Until next week! 

Sister Healey

Bustillo Baptism

Exchanges 

Sanico (investigator) family

Bustillo kid JohnAlbert. This little kids just ran up to us (Sis. P and me) and grabbed our noses randomly. haha because they are so much longer than their flat little Filipino noses.

Sister Prudencio,Sister Healey and Tagalog (what we use because no Waray waray) Book of Mormon.

Count Your Blessings!

Kumusta Kam? 

This is week 2 in Catbalogan and it is seriously so pretty! These past two weeks have been pretty fun other than the current drought here. Water is really scarce here so it's been a big challenge for the people here. Most of the people can't bathe or do their laundry. Every other night the Elders come to our apartment and help haul the water in buckets up to our 3rd floor apartment. We are just lucky we have water. I will never take running water for granted again. I have seen how much it has affected these peoples lives first hand and I know that there are thousands of people around the world suffering as well. We really need to stop taking so many things for granted. Instead of complaiing all the time, take a step back and really count your blessings. 

This past week there was one day that we had 8 lessons! We also had exchanges with the Borogan sisters! My companion was Sister Garcia from Florida. The investigators here are awesome and hopefully we will have a family Baptism this Saturday!

There is this really old deaf investigator couple that we taught this past week. Tatay was probably the cutest old man I have ever met. Sister Prudencio and I almost lost our voices from practically screaming the opening hymn "I Know My Father Lives." Then as we were teaching about baptism, I showed him the picture of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus and asked him what he saw. He just giggled then told us it looked like two people dancing. Then we all started laughing. He did not believe us, especially when we told him they were standing in water. When I invited him to be baptized he said he was scared of drowning. We assured him that there would be someone to help him so he would not drown. He is SO funny. In the upper 80,s. I'm so excited to go back to them this week. 

That's all I have time for this week, but I love you all! Hope you are doing well! Remember to count your blessings! 

Sister Healey

CATBALOGAN, SAMAR

Maupay na Aga! 

Guess what . . . . I transferred!!! I got the call Tuesday morning from our mission president Maurer, so Tanauan 1st was "whitewashed" which means 2 missionaries are transferred out and 2 new in. I have been assigned in Catbalogan, Samar and am currently an STL (Sister Training Leader). It is like the District/Zone Leader equivalent for Sister Missionaries. I am speaking Waray Waray still but it is a little bit different here! I'm now a 3 island mission!! Woooo! The San Juanico bridge from Leyte to Samar was so pretty. :) 

My new companion is Sister Prudencio from Gilbert, Arizona, USA, so we are two Americans. haha It make things really interesting. We get a LOT of attention and people are always speaking English to us. It reminds me of when I first got here and during my training. Catbalogan is beautiful. By far the prettiest place I have been so far. It is a mix of mountain sides and coastal so we spend all day long climbing cement stairs. haha I almost passed out the first time. My legs were shaking and face dripping, but man, when we got to the top it was worth it. So pretty! To quote my Companion, "We are in one of the prettiest places in the world and people don't even know it." Pictures don't do it justice. 

My neighbors now are Sister Arais and Sister Bombasi! Sister Arais was my STL back on Biliran and now I am her STL here in Catbalogan! They are both super sweet and fun. 

This has been one of my most exhausting areas so far, but I have never been happier. Serving the Lord and our brothers and sisters, helping others become happy despite all of the trials life throws at us makes all of the bug bites, sweat, and tears worth it. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us. I know that is true with all of my heart. That is why He sent His son Jesus Christ to suffer and die for us. So that we could be happy. So that we could enjoy our lives. So that we could return to live with Him again. 

That is our message. I am so blessed that that is my life right now, sharing that message. 

Hinay kam perme.

Sister Healey

 Investigators: the Lourdes Family.

 The kids are adorable and they stand at the door every

time we leave and say ‘byebye’ until we are out of sight.

A gigantic (still living) dragon fly

So beautiful!