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! I had a spectacular week! We had our Mission Tour with Elder and Sister Choi via Zoom. For this email I thought of typing down the events happened!
Events
• Mission Conference: Elder & Sister Choi
We had our Mission Tour on the 2nd of November to the 5th of November with Elder and Sister Choi. We had an amazing experience, listening to their talks about Missionary Work and After the Mission. The Interesting Highlight were circulated to, “Preach My Gospel” as a “Perfect Marriage Guide.” I know, it was funny at first, but it all makes sense as to, “Why Serve on a Mission.” But! I never thought about it in the passed months serving, so I have no clue as to where it is going, but every point layout on the discussion, made sense.
We had our Sisters’ Conference with Sister Choi. Sister Choi mentioned, “Men are Simple, and Women are Oriented.” It was interesting, we were brainstorming as to, “How can we help the Elders be Oriented?” The Sisters of our Mission answered, “Respect”, and “Caring.” Those were good answers, but Sister Choi was looking for a different answer. I couldn’t help but answer the her question, “We should remind the Elders on their Purpose and that is their ability to act on it.” Sister Choi was impressed, she paused me a few times and I replied her questions thoroughly. I had a great time. Our Meeting ended a little late, but it was a great discussion. It feels great to answer, I don’t participate or recite on Meetings, but it was a great experience (probably, won’t happen again? kidding, hehe).
We had our Mission Conference with Elder Choi and Sister Choi. We talked about the whole point of the Mission. We went to Preach My Gospel as a, “Perfect Marriage Guide” and went straight to, “Obedience” towards to end of, “Loving your Companion.” It all makes sense, like the whole mission teaches you to love your companion and to have a family at the end of your mission. It does make sense! It was interesting, I love Elder Choi’s statements, “It’s your problem, if you don’t get it!” and, “If you don’t like it, “Forget it.” It sounds chastising, but it was a tick in the head!
I honestly had a great time listening to the Mission Conference, I wasn’t able to write down enough notes on ths conference, but listening was worth it! I hope towards the end of my mission, I can apply these advices. Elder and Sister Choi were awesome! I hope to see them again!
• Temple Square Zoom Tour: Salt Lake City
After our Mission Tour, we had a Zone Invitation to watch and get a tour at the Salt Lake City Temple Square via Zoom. It was a great opportunity to see the inside of the temple, a few of it. We don’t roam around much, just the first floor and the fourth floor. We were able to meet and talk virtually with Sister Quindo and Sister Curtis. They are so lovely, these Sisters smile like Angels! Anyways, they tour us around. I had a great time looking on the paintings and sculptures. I love those! I enjoy their conversations with us, although it wasn’t enough the info, but they say it out clearly.
I thought for a minute the whole Mission was going to watch the Tour, but it was just our Zone. I had a great time, my companion was smiling greatly to see around the Temple. I honestly missed Salt Lake City Temple, it’s been a year and a half I last visited it! I hope I could visit again to see the indoors. I hope one day, you can come over to Salt Lake City to see it for yourself!
• Sunday Sacrament Services: First!
Oh! I had my first attendance at Church. It was great, I missed attending church. Holy cow! 8 months, I haven’t attend Church. Good thing, Church Sacrament Services are back! It was great to see other Members in the Ward for the longest time staying in San Pablo. They are all lovely and I enjoy talking with them. We had a good amount of conversations and we were able to set Dinner Appointments with them and service.
After Sacrament Services, we headed up to visit the Less-Actives along with the Ward Leaders. The Leaders in the Ward coordinate with us, we were able to visit a good amount of families in a far ahead area of ours. We were able to extend a BGD to a few of our Investigators! I was so happy with the help of Sister Abish Baliwas, Brother Arvin Maligon and all of the Leaders.
The most important part of my Sunday, I was able to feel that Spirit again. Attending Church was different. It feels right. I think my whole point is, it felt great to attend sacrament services and feel the spirit.
Mission Updates: Busy Week?
Were you able to roam around?
Yes! We were able to roam around our few areas. Our area is entirely huge and wide. Some parts do need bikes and some don’t need too. It’s kinda hard to distinguish places. Our whole area looks like half city and half province. I am surprised on it’s landscape. It is wide! We were grateful for the Members for providing a ride. We get picked up and dropped off to the places we wanted to go and visit. They are awesome!
Were you able to meet all of the Members?
A few, but not everyone. It is kinda difficult to distinguished if we met all of the Members, but based on our Area Book Map, there are a number of Member Records, but could be Less-Actives or moved to a different area. It is hard to look over. We weren’t able to access Tools, to figure it oit, but we’ll see. It was fun to meet and see the pioneering families in the ward. They are amazing to talk and share a bunch.
Were you able to set Dinner Appointments and Lessons with the Members?
Yes! I am so full, every time I will go to a Members’ House. My companion and I would be surprised on the amount of food they’ll feed us. I can’t refuse on their offering, I mean I could but I don’t want them to be offended or in Tagalog, “Tampo.” I wish there is a specific English translated term for, “Tampo.” But! Anyways, I had a great time with the Members, every dinner we were able to share a message with them. I love all of them!
Perfect Marriage Guide?
I laughed on Elder and Sister Choi’s discussion. It was awkward to talk about it on the mission. I bet the faces of each Missionary was surprised. I was surprised too! It’s not like we are thinking of those right? Kidding. I really don’t know, but it is good to know ahead of time to plan out your life after the mission. I guess choices will be tougher to choose, challenges will grow bigger and difficult to overcome and concerns will be hard to resolve. So, I guess the whole point of the Conference, was to understand our choices and reflected to it to God.
Alright! These all sums up! I had a great time typing down on my whereabouts! Thank you for reading, I do appreciate it! ♡
Love,
Sister Dilag
Sacramento • San Pablo
