The Cat

That title might be interesting for you.. what could I mean by the cat.. well... that story happened yesterday.. but lets go back to last week. 

Wednesday: I finally found tuna in WATER which may not seem significant to you all, but here in the philippines they like to can it in oil. not my favorite. I plan on purchasing more today as well.
Thursday: the holes in my shoes are now officially too giant to wear without the street burning my feet. This was the last day I wore them. I have scorch marks on my feet. We ate at a members house, she always makes really good fish.. and there was GULAMEN!! The jelly stuff I'm always telling you about. I love it. its great. There was a disco thing at the plaza right by our house this whole week, they were blasting taylor swift. It was torture. 

Friday: the only good thing about the disco was the cotton candy man was there every day. tender mercies.. pure sugar with artificial flavoring. The clouds were soo scary that night, it was like black with dashes of red and there was a ton of lightning. All of that fun stuff. 

Saturday: I began a doctrine journal. it has pictures. It is beautiful. I will show to all upon my return home! We took a jeepney to Buntod so we wouldn't have to walk the several kilometers straight up hill. It was a wise decision.
this old tatay tried to convince me he was 46 years old. PAGSURE! his 44 year old daughter just kept laughing. His name is phillipe. He's really funny. 

Sunday: I woke up with a really bad headache... And I experienced teaching gospel principles class... in visaya.. I'm pretty sure I can do anything now. jokes..
That night we discussed filippino folk lore.. crazy, it's so insane. There's a lot of interesting monsters. I'll explain when I come home. When we sang the spirit of god, the spirit was so strong no one wanted to talk when it ended. The spirit just lingered in the air. 

Monday: Zone Interviews!! the talks by president and sister mccurdy were really good. It was about threats, the story of the native american boy and the snake "you knew what I was when you picked me up" bitaw.. Our interviews were supposed to be on tuesday but they ended up being that night. I was also able to split with Sister Beyer for probably the last time before she goes home in two weeks. I am so privileged to have the opportunity to work with her. She is an amazing missionary, and has taught me so much. 

Tuesday: THE MOST CRAZY DAY OF MY ENTIRE MISSION! It started with the cat.. We were studying and there was this cat that kept meowing, and I was getting really annoyed, thinking how the owners (our neighbors) needed to quiet it, but finally sister k walked to the window and saw it sitting on our back patio. It had climbed in through the labahan. We tried to force it back through but it refused so we had to dump it over the fence in front of the house. 

Then we got a call from the presidents wife saying I needed to go to the hospital and have blood work done because I accidentally read the prescription for my medicine wrong and took way too much (it was normal, my blood work, dont worry). Sister K couldn't look when they did it, she was like "THE NEEDLE IS HUGE!" it really wasn't. I'm used to giving blood. no sweat.
The trike driver that took us back to the church kept saying how americans are so rich, and everyone has a job there, no one is jobless, he wouldn't listen when I tried to tell him there were struggling people all over the world. 

The jeepney we got home had this really crazy guy we sometimes see in San Miguel, he smelled terrible, he kept asking me if I had a car, and getting in my face about it. and then later when we were in San Miguel he comes out of NOWHERE! with an ice pop in his hand, and starts asking me a ton of questions. WE HAD TO RUN AWAY FROM HIM! 

There were other things, but I'm out of time. The mission is always really exciting. I love my mission.
love you,
-Sister Katrina Dunn

"For the people had a mind to work"

Hello2x. How goes the American life? Chada? I hope so.... Well, I have a really good personal study I want to share so I'll go through the week fast. 

Wednesday: After email i saw a young white man, i was astounded. It was extremely shocking. We bought a bunch of stuff for our 72 hour kits, we tried a new grocery and it was way cheaper I was like "where have you been all my life?" 

Thursday: We had surprise exchanges. The set of sisters that were supposed to go got sick, so we took one for the team and rearranged our schedules so we could go. We committed another woman to baptism on September 5th. We're building it from the ground up here. We taught our IBD and her daughter was showing us her samurai outfit. It was so cute. During the opening song we were singing called to serve and then 'Let it Go' from frozen starts blasting behind us. If you think it's easy to sing hymns while Idina menzel is hitting notes like that, you are wrong. After the prayer Dancing Queen starts going (which started a 3 day sequence of ABBA playing every where we went), but the worst was yet to come. During the closing prayer, my ALL TIME FAVORITE SONG 'Wake me up before you go go' by Wham! starts playing. Satan has no mercy. We went to dumaguete station to try to catch a bus to Siaton. You would think there was a zombie apocalypse it was so crowded/ the way people were running to the buses. They are merciless. They were throwing things through the windows. It was very exciting. We had to wait for like 5 buses for the crowd to wear down. Finally we were like "WE'RE GONNA BE LATE!" ran past the 'no passengers allowed beyond this point' sign and sprinted to the next bus, securing seats. 

Friday: EXCHANGES!!! I exchanged with Sister Curameng, she is so much fun. She is a dilligent missionary, and wonderful in Visaya. We taught a woman who was mad that children run around at church, and their parents don't control them. She was on fire.
Sister Beyer was kind to me that night and shared her chocolate peanut butter with me. Thank you. It was fabulous. 

Saturday: we got up and caught a ceres bus back to Bacong. On the bus Sister K just turns to me and goes "we have a baptism today." We were in awe for just a few moments. We whitewashed this area, we started teaching her. It helps me realize I can do anything with the Lord by my side.
I had forgotten my toothbrush for exchanges and so when I got home I spent like 20 minutes brushing my teeth. It was magnificent, the minty zing was just what i needed. 

We taught our IBD the last lesson. She's ready to go. We met back up with her that night at the church for her baptism. The whole family came to support. Her testimony was beautiful, I almost cried. After she sat down her 3 year old daughter climbed on her lap and said "Why are you crying mama? Why?" and she just looked at her and said "Mommy is just really happy right now." It was all in visaya but i thought I'd translate it for you. It was one of the sweetest moments here so far.
Sunday: Jackie's confirmation, and our other IBD came to church. It was lovely. In class we had to discuss about priesthood and Sister K was assigned to talk about apostles and she says "Naa sila'y yawa - I MEAN YAWEH!!" We lost it laughing. yawa means devil, yaweh means keys... it was so funny. 

Monday: Ceres likes to be slow, so we were late to district meeting. We bought rambutan (lychee) it was sooo delicious. We ate so much of it.
I was proposed to twice that day. Very exciting. 

Tuesday: There was really loud thunder the night before. It was cool. We hiked the mountain. We will be so strong by the end of this transfer. That night we got caught in a storm, so we ran to the chungie and sat with one of our less actives who sells balut. She had extra seats for us, it was really nice. This country is so beautiful. 

Okay, my study that I loved so much takes us to the story of Nehemiah from the bible. He goes to rebuild Jerusalem and save the Jews .Other people don't like that so much, so they try to trick him.

"That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief."
His response for me is perfect.
"And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?"
I am doing a great work. Why should I come down to you?

President Dieter F Uchtdorf says in one of his talks: "Nehemiah refused to allow distractions to prevent him from doing what the Lord wanted him to do. It is easy to become distracted—to become focused on one burned-out light bulb or the impolite acts of unkind people, whatever their motive may be. But think of the power we would have as individuals if, in response to every temptation to lose focus or lower our standards—the standards of God, we responded, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.” "

I mentioned a few weeks ago about all the temptations around us. About resisting them. This talk stood out to me so much, also the attitude of the people that helped him.

"So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work."
For the people had a mind to work.
Let us all have a mind to work, so that when the adversary comes a knockin', we can confidently say: "We are doing a great work, and we will not come down!"

I love you all so much, have a fabulous week!

Love,
Sister Katrina Dunn

Kini Lao

Sorry, it's going to be short and sweet usab. I apologize if you were expecting something else...
Wednesday: I cleaned the house.. it was disgusting. I don't think sister missionaries have cleaned there in years.... or maybe I'm just paranoid by the mess that was left to us when we first got there.
Our IBD has a study journal! I was overjoyed!! 

Thursday: Zone training meeting in Siaton, ceres bus drive for hours. Cue car sickness hahha... It was really good. It was all about not getting discouraged when punted, something I constantly struggle with. 

We tracted all day. There is a member family here, and their daughter is TERRIFIED OF US! But she finally started warming up to us, she's so cute. But she runs from us, we don't know why... her mom tells us it's because my companion looks like another missionary she was scared of, and I have white hair sooo... 

Friday: weekly planning, We hiked up a mountain to buntod. Usually we would ride a motorcycle but they got banned so we have to walk now. It's straight uphill and take about 1 1/2 hours so yea.. it's a hike. During the hike there was a man cutting banana trunk for his cow and I asked him the name of his cow, but he said it didn't have one, so i named his cow for him. He started laughing really hard.
A woman ran out of her house at us and basically said "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? I have been waiting for missionaries to come back for months!" so we taught her. She's really good.
A group of high schoolers said I was "so white" or "puti kaayo" yes, yes i am.
Our last appointment of the night, i watched as their chicken flew into a banana tree and refused to come down... very interesting. 

Saturday: We went to a service project but when we got there the elders delegated us to do the cooking while they handled the 'hard stuff'. thanks. Oh and the branch president asked me when we were eating "have you tried the fish?" and i said not yet so i tried it and it was pretty good and he said "It's called kinilao" and I was just like "cool" and then he looked at me funny and said "Do you know what kinilao is in english" i shook my head no and then one of the boys walked by and said "raw." I don't know how I couldn't tell, but I ate raw fish. It was really good. 

We were teaching our favorite nanay about the book of mormon and she starts reading the introduction and then says "I can't he'll get mad." and I looked at her and asked, "who will get mad?" and then she started telling us that when he found out we were teaching her he came to the house and yelled at her. It's her pastor. He's american. doesn't speak visaya. Has this really long hippy beard. He takes a translator around with him.
She said we could come back though, success.
Our IBD passed her interview! 

Sunday: 2 of our investigators were at church!! yay!! and i got really sick
Monday: my sickness continued, but we still had to take a bus to siaton for DM.
That night one of the members fed us grapes. I haven't had grapes in so long. It was fabulous.
Tuesday: we hiked to buntod again, call us crazy, we're just going to be so fit.
We went to an LA's house and on the way there we convinced this group of men to give us free buko, so they climbed the coconut tree and got us some coconuts, cut it open for us, and let us drink it. It was amazing. 

I fed a duck out of my hand. Scary. their beaks are surprisingly hard.

Wednesday: today...

Also Tuesday, the 14th happened to be the days i'll go home in a year. I board a plane July 14th, 2016 to come home. One of the elders in our district decided to be really sassy and said "you only have a year left" and I said "Hey! I'm still new!" and he just laughs and said "You may be new, but you only have a year left." 

Here everyone get's scared when you talk about going home.

Anyways, i love you all, stay safe, make good choices!
-sister katrina dunn

6 Months

I realize now that I have promised a lot, so I left plenty of time to write, ayaw kabalaka (don't worry). Take it back now y'all...

Wednesday: I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it is July... No. I refuse to accept that. Also I owe another 2 mass happy birthdays, I am a failure. Happy Birthday to Sawyer and Mallory! Shout out to the two of you, even though you're tiny tiny. 

After email we went to McDo for lunch, obviously. I'm not missing out on a chance to have MSG and deep fried chicken. No way. When we were at Robinson's (it's like a giant mall, it doesn't belong here, it's TOO American, we are always wildly uncomfortable there) we went into the Department Store to buy something really fast and there was all this popular country music playing and we were just gritting our teeth to get through it haha, we ran out as fast as we could. When we were in there we saw a white family and we were entirely too overwhelmed. Sister Beyer pointed them out and said "It's a family." We watched them for a few minutes, it felt like we were in a zoo. Very weird feeling seeing other white people. 

When I was checking out my groceries there was an Australian man in line in front of me who declared to me that he was from the "Queen's land". Bully for you brother...
That night the Bayawan sister's stayed with us because the next day was....

Thursday: TRANSFER DAY!! Very exciting! For everyone but us, we ain't going anywhere. But it's okay, we have things to do in Bacong right now. People to find, to save, the whole shebang.
I split with Sister Serapian who is fabulous! She's from Luzon, she's so cool. And she FTE's like no other, she bears testimony with such power and authority, I was insanely impressed. 

We visited one of our investigators in SacSac and she had done her reading and she started talking about Priesthood and explaining it to us, my jaw just dropped. I was so excited. Halfway through the day Sister Serapian and Sister Beyer went to Dumaguete to pick up their new companions. Sister Koyamaibole and I just spent the rest of the day tracting. 

Friday: I decided it would be a good idea to hike up a mountain into the bukid to find new investigators... bad idea diay. On our way back down though we started talking to this old Nanay and she asked us if we shared with people in their houses and we said yes and she just says "Follow me!" and we followed her into the woods to her little house and we taught her. (We were able to teach her again on Tuesday, she's super buotan." 

So earlier this week I discovered a man who sells cotton candy, but he is a tease because he only showed up ONCE! I have looked for him practically every day since but he decided to slink away into the shadows, or sell his cotton candy in greener pastures aka outside of OTHER elementary schools than the one by our apartment. 

Oh by the way, there was 3 typhoons here this week, the wind is so kusog! (strong) it was interesting to be sure. The rain likes to do what it will, I had to change halfway through the day on Sunday because I got SOO MUDDY! 

Saturday: Independence day! I encourage all of you to go eat a burger and like 10 hot dogs, and as many BBQ chips your stomach can hold. Because I cannot. I did splurge a little bit and bought a bag of cheesy Doritos... almost as good. Sister K thought it was called America day... basically. Another day of pure tracting. We hiked up into the bukid and when we were FTE'ing this family I found this long stick of bamboo and used it the rest of the time we were up there. Bamboo staff = fabulous.
There was this girl struggling to carry buckets of water so we helped her carry them up the hill to the house. We just talked to the woman who lived there, but we went back on Tuesday and were able to teach their entire family. It was awesome. Tracting is hard, but it can pay off if you do it right. I know the word tracting sounds scary for young people preparing to serve missions, but here in the Philippines, it's awesome, because everyone is nice. 

Sunday: Our IBD was at church, so success! The wind that night was so strong our last appointment for the night practically kicked us off her porch so that she could go inside and barricade the door hahah, it was all good though. 

Monday: We took a jeepney out to Siaton for district meeting because they changed us from Dumaguete zone to Bayawan zone. I'm not sure why, but it's okay. 2 really nice nanay's from the ward in Siaton made us lunch, it had pineapple and this sweet pork that practically fell off the bone. So good. On Thursday when we go back for Zone Training Meeting we requested Bicol Express, my absolute favorite (don't worry mom, I'll cook it when I come home, my bicol express if amazing).
The whole rest of the day was rough, tracting and only 1 lesson, but we got Chooks-to-go for dinner so all is well. 

Tuesday: my 6 month mark on the mission, we celebrated with chocolate soymilk. also the day of miracles. zzUsually it is my least favorite day of the week. Not this week. Our less active in Poblacion was home, so we were able to teach her. We were then able to visit the nanay that invited us to her house on Friday. We also were able to teach a family, an ENTIRE FAMILY. That is a big deal to me. One of our investigators who wasn't progressing before is FINALLY progressing, and they had chocolate ice cream and the ice cream place after weeks of only mocha crumble. I will strive to change by attitude about Tuesday. 

Well, that was this week. This morning was same old same old, with studies and riding to the Internethan. So... I promised a personal study:)

I'm currently studying Doctrines of Salvation, I exhort all of you to read it. Joseph Fielding Smith does NOT beat around the bush. I read the chapter on the plan of salvation, and focused my study on opposition and our purpose in life. He said "this life is the most vital period in our eternal existence. It is filled with awful responsibilities and dangers". Think about that, our eternity is resting on... eh, 70-80 years of time. GAMAY KAAYO. So we need to learn. The good and the bad. "Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other". Believe me the temptation to do wrong is out there, it's pretty dang prevalent. I'll just close this email with a quote that my trainer always said to me: "If you don't want Satan to tempt you, don't act interested!" 

I love and miss you all!
-Sister Katrina Dunn-