Monday, November 30, 2009

Famous in a small town...

Hello!!!

Happy thanksgiving to all. I know I'm late but I figured I'd let the turkey digest and then say it ;) for as many turkeys they have here you'd think they would eat it more but they really don't eat turkey here. I sure missed thanksgiving, especially going up to Vegas and eating my favorite potatoes and rolls! haha Transfers went well, I got my new Jr companion shes transferred from Panay island she was in her last area for 7 months! she's your typical cute, tiny little philipina and I'm really excited for this transfer. 1. i stayed in Handumanan for the holidays!!! 2. My comp is way good and 3. Sterling transferred to my first area in Valladolid and so now we are in the same zone again!!! I couldn't be happier :)

My area is really doing well, We've been working so well with the members and we are truly finding the elect right now everyone we talk to is really interested and progressing I'm thrilled it's going to be a great next 2 months!

So when the new missionaries came on Friday and I got to the meeting the funniest thing happened. They all already knew me...I was so confused they all came up to me and surrounded me saying "Sis Grant we've been waiting so long to finally meet you" Needless to say I was thoroughly confused. I guess 2 sisters before going into the MTC over 2 months ago found my blog and started faithfully reading it haha then while in the MTC their mothers would copy and paste my blog entries and dear elder them to them THEN they would read them each week to everyone in their 2 districts...hahah like my life here was some kind of adventure novel! Sterling and I almost died laughing, but I was glad my blog could help them learn more about the mission and help them feel more comfortable about coming here. I would be terrified after reading it personally, I assured them that the things that happen to me aren't usually normal so they didn't have to expect the worse haha. FUNNY!

Glad to hear all is going well at home and that everyone had a good, safe thanksgiving. I have a few baptisms lined up this month that should be nothing short of wonderful so I'll be sure to write about that. Hope you all are missing my Christmas singing and craziness during the Christmas season I've been looking everywhere for a cool Christmas ornament from the Philippines to hang on your tree mom hopefully I'll spot one and send with the package of the long awaited pictures I'll be sending maybe next week or the next.
Well Love you all so much and all is well here. Keep being happy and go to the temple lights for me :)

Love always,
Sister Grant

Monday, November 23, 2009

Nagapasalamat ko....

I am soo thankful for all of you and for the support you give me while I'm here on my mission and I know that Landry and Brock appreciate it too. When you get out on your mission you really realize all the things you had before when suddenly they are all gone....haha temporal things like for me, running water and dependable electricity, chocolate and cold weather. But of course also family time, Sunday afternoons and family vacations. I'm so grateful for the blessings the Lord has always given me. For our family and the way we live the Gospel and cherish our special pioneer heritage. I can't tell you how many times I get asked here if I have Pioneer ancestor and how proud I am to tell them of my family history. Heber J Grant wrote a book called Gospel Principles I think and it is incredible and has been passed around to many elders here and given them much needed guidance, how cool to know he is my great great uncle! I'm so grateful for the Gospel, of course being so in wrapped in it everyday you really recognize how important and necessary it is in our everyday life. It should be the focus of all our activities all our thoughts and especially in our homes. Depending on and trusting in the Lord is definitely one lesson I'm repeatedly learning here in the Philippines and I hope that all of you are given the experiences to learn this important lesson as well. He has given us everything we have and promised us sooo much more if we continue faithful and obedient.
I love you all sooo much and I will miss ya'll this thanksgiving (and Kathys croissant rolls) haha but I hope you all know how grateful I am for our family and for the blessings we have and for the blessings we can receive through this wonderful and perfect Gospel.

Always,
Sister Grant

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Zions Camp

Well they say that Zions camp was the Lords way to prepare the men he needed in the future through challenges and illness they were proven faithful and prepared for the next challenges of their lives... well I have now gone through Swine Flu, frequent lack of conciseness and seizures. I've had violent food poising, floods, fires and now....drum roll please. Rabies. If this is my Zions camp I'm pretty nervous for the next half of my life! haha Yup you guessed it of course I would get bit by a dog and need 9 (count em 9!!!!) shots which could be easily compared to a dadgum pvc pipe the needles were huge! I got bit on my ankle and one hole was pretty deep. dumb dog. It was an accident I didn't see him laying down behind me and I stepped on him then he bit my leg. When I got to the doctor it was pretty funny he just looked at me and said sis grant why are you always in here, and why can't you ever just have the regular flu or something? hahaha he said you must have the worst luck ever! I told him actually considering my comp is a nurse so she knew exactly what to do and the fact that I got bit by probably the ONLY dog in the Philippines with a full shot record I think I'm pretty darn lucky! he just laughed so everything is good now no need to worry but that was an exciting happening this week...We went back and hiked Mambukal again today and it was a blast and my leg held up real well :) The work is going really well we had our Zone Conference last Tuesday and it was Awesome! the training was sooo useful and I sang in the choir of course which is always wonderful. Glad to hear all is well at home and the holidays are coming! I'm so excited to have Christmas here I hope I stay in handumanan for the holidays we have soo many activities and baptisms lined up but we'll just have to see. Thanks for all the emails and I'll write next week about the stuff i need or want in the package your sending. Love you all! Miss ya ;)

Always,
Sister (accident-prone) Grant

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Same old same old

Well Same ol same ol here, This week was good we had a lot of good referrals to follow up on from our ward and they all turned out to be really good. We had a really fun big family home evening on Monday in ward 1 and the turn out was great. We had lots of our Less Active member families that we've been visiting show up so hopefully within a few weeks they will be fully reactivated. No life or death experiences this week but every day in the mission is life changing. The people here are just so wonderful they are so kind and receptive to the spirit, its no wonder the work is progressing so much here.I heard a rumor that we will get to go to the Cebu temple on the way home because The Manila temple will be closed. I hope that is true we hear so much about Cebu all the time it would be exciting to actually go there. I haven't heard from Elder Stradling (For those reading this he is our cousin who is serving in the same mission as Brooklyn right now) He is on the other island with my dear Sister Fairweather but hopefully I'll get to see him soon I hear he's doing really well though which doesn't surprise me he tore it up in his first area! Well no time sorry but I love you all and loved all your emails thank you. I can't believe Ben is home! Man I miss that boy, I laughed so hard to hear Jeffy and Jared and Beana are all back together as long as they remember the crew ain't complete with out B! Love ya all,

Always,
Sister Grant

Monday, November 2, 2009

Todos Los Santos....

So this week was a good one as usual, I just love it here. Yesterday was such an exciting sabbath full of events and new experiences haha. Sunday morning Jeffrey Palma was baptized. His wife is the one who just had her baby while we were watching General Conference. It was wonderful of course to see him join his new family in membership in the church and they set plans and goals to be sealed in the temple one year from now, Love it. :)
Yesterday was Todos Los Santos, Spanish for All Saints Day or Araw ng Patay, Day of the dead in Tagalog. Its the big tradition here in the Philippines. On Nov 1 everyone and I mean EVERYONE sleeps in the cemetery on sat night and all Sunday they walk around the cemetery and light candles and do a bunch of activities to remember the dead. The food is incredible! There is sooo much! I was sooo full haha With the help from the ward we set up a booth and had all these really cool posters all about family history, the plan of salvation and the restoration. It was AWESOME! we got soo many referrals and met so many Less active families and new investigators.

I borrowed a violin from my Mission Pres who actually plays himself...! and Played to draw the people in and invite the spirit it was such a cool experience for me. One of our investigators Theodore, had a brother get shot last march he was only 24, it was really sad and he's really been struggling with it. He has been our investigator for a while and he's been struggling getting over his gambling problem. At church yesterday in the investigators class they talked about temple work and why its important we do the work for the dead. Perfect topic for the days celebrations so last night he showed us his brothers grave. He sat down on the dirt right in front of the grave and just stared at it for a long time as he lit the candles, he looked up at us and said.."sisters, I know he'll accept the gospel in the spirit world" I smiled at him and said " I think so too" then he looked back at the grave and said with tears in his eyes "If he's accepting it there, I need to accept it here so that I can be baptized for him in the temple right?" We just smiled back and told him that's exactly what his brother and Heavenly Father want him to do right now. It was soo cool, watching him make that personal mental commitment in his mind to change and to do whatever it takes to be baptized both for him and his brother. I love this work!! Happy to hear all was safe, fun, and well during Halloween I love you all so much!

Always,
Sis Grant