Hello! This is Sister Dilag. I am currently serving in the Philippines San Pablo Mission, San Pablo Zone. I am waiting for mission changes on my original assignment to the California Sacramento Mission.
I will give you weekly updates on my current mission. I will also attach interesting attachments! I hope this finds you entertaining!
Heads up! We are currently experiencing a Typhoon on our Mission. It is crisis like trees falling down, floods and strong winds. Mind blowing, right?! For this email, I will talk about the best parts of my week.
Teaching Appointments
We were able to have a few appointments with the Members and Part-Members. It was fantastic! I will talk about a few of them listed on bullets:
• A Granny on the Street
On the 31st, we were walking towards to our area which is not far from us, it was a walk-by to, “ADV.” I honestly don’t know the acronym of it, but it literally spells as it is! Anyways, I don’t want to make you laugh, but we followed our Area Book, which included a Map. It will navigate and show us to the Members’ Addresses. It was fun! It’s like using Google Map for driving!
We went to a few streets, to find Less-Actives and guess what we caught nothing, but we came across to this old Granny. She was sweeping all by herself, we thought of approaching her and get to know her abit. We approached and she stopped, we got the chance to talk to her conversationally. It went really well. Her name was, Lola Hermiña. I love her! She talks and talks about her life, and she happened to open up her fear for Eye Surgery. She will be having an appointment in a few days, and her faith withered by just imagining it.
And then, it snap me! It was a great timing to share a message. So as the night falls, we had the shortest lesson. We taught about, “Faith and Repentance.” As she was listening, she felt something as if it were a big air hugged her tightly. She then started to cry, I panic because we weren’t there to cry her up, but she was open to us and said, “Sisters, I missed this feeling of warmth.” It hit me, I knew it wasn’t us but the Spirit. Throughout the message, she wanted to learn and know more of the Gospel and of the Church. Yay! I love her!
• Torres Family
After our short discussion with Lola Hermiña, we felt a person behind our backs. To our surprised, it was Brothet Harvey! We’ve been looking all over for him on our area. He was surprised to see us, and asking a few as to, “Where are we going?” And I immediately replied him, “We were looking for you!” To his surprised, we went to his house and meet with his family. He has a nice house, with cute dogs too!
As we were entering to their house, we notice candles and flowers on a table set. We haven’t figured it out as to, ‘what it was.’ Brother Harvey said his Grandpa passed away. It was sadden, he talk about his Grandpa alot, and his excitement to come over to the States with him. I was really sad listening to it. Brother Harvey’s Parents were there too, I was listening to them mourning of their grandpa. Also, their expectations to go to California. I was hit by a truck. I knew it was a great timing to share about the, “Plan of Salvation.”
But! With little time, they had to accumulate their time to call their relatives. It was, ‘sayang’ and for real honesty, Brother Harvey was waiting for the Missionaries to teach them. He wanted his dad to listen to the missionaries and come over to Church. We are so close, yet so far. We set up an appointment on next week. Hopefully, we will have a discussion with them.
• Kawit, Hilario & Baliwas
On the 30th, we had a fesitivity with these families! It was a night of feeding and they love missionaries. They were so excited to meet New Missionaries in the Ward. We happen to have conversations with them. It was interesting they brought up the States. Again, I don’t know where this is coming but it was funny. I notice a bunch of Box Packages haven’t been opened for months! I laugh to figure out as to why. They want the Missionaries to help them to open the packages. Now we get it why! Haha! I love them! I love opening packages, it’s like opening a present on Christmas Eve! Timing right? I love a good opening of box.
We weren’t able to send out a message to them, because their house was filled with different visitors. They came from Cavite and others from Manila. We have no space to send out, but we were able to go out a check out their areas a bit. It was nice area, with a good amount of neighbors!
We happened to stop by at the Baliwas Residence and they were surprised to see us! We had a great dinner, and we laugh and talk a bunch about our lives. But! We went there to talk to Sister Rubi regarding on our Motives for the Area. We talked so long and we ended up reporting it to the Bishopric. It was a great meeting with her. I love the Baliwas!
• Briones & Gaw Family
On the 29th, we had service with the Briones Family, and we happened to help them on their top floor. So, funny story, never in a day the Briones Family went on to the top, ever since Sister Briones left the mission. Crazy! Like, “Why and How?” Sister Briones would messaged me up saying, “Hey Sisters! I need help on our house, can you come over to dust everything out?” I hesistated, “Yes!” It was a fun day! We had chats and talk a bunch of our missions! We were able to share a message with them.
We were surprised by the Gaw Family! They dropped by to our apartment to drop off a, Cake! I love a good cake after a long day of service. I love them so much! We’ll be having an appointment with them by next week! More to talk to them on the next email!
Mission Updates: Typhoon
What’s the update?
We currently experiencing heavy storms, winds and floods in our mission. There were two typhoons sweep on our mission, leaving floods on our apartments. We had a report on the Lopez Zone, the Elders had a wide flood on their inside apartment caused by the Typhoon, it was worst, but it was great to see them being happy with it.
I felt bad for our Missionaries experiencing heavy winds and storms on their areas. Good thing there were no reports on landslides or any kind. Phew! We are safe, that’s all that matters right now.
Random ‘Duo’ Phone Calls?
Funny again, the Young Missionary Leaders were so worried for our safety because part of our area fills up with water and gradually turns into flood. Which, it did happened but did not reach on our porch. Hehe! We call by Duo to check on our apartment. We laugh a few too, we realized because of the Typhoon we weren’t able to teach with our PSMs. We hope the Typhoon will passed by, and we could go back to our work.
You got a Package?
Yes! I did. I received a good package, and I would not tell you of the inside of it, because I jumped so high! I love the package. I was able to wear it a few times this week too. Sister Lohner drove to our apartment and drop by my package. She is awesome! I love her. She got excited to see it, I showed it to her!
Any updates on Sacramento?
I’m thinking of staying in San Pablo? Hahaha! I love the Mission and I would definitely stay here. I had my 8 months here, and it is hard to leave. I grew to love it and live within my teaching. I also thought of sharing a couple of talks to watch: “Obedience Brings Blessings, by President Thomas S. Monson, 2013.” and, “Called to the Work, by Elder David A. Bednar.” Those were good topics, I invite you to watch and read it. I bet you will love it as much as I do!
Another long email of mine. I appreciate your time on reading! I will talk more soon! I hope this made your day! ♡
Love,
Sister Dilag
Sacramento • San Pablo
