Bukid, Beaches, Small Dipper

Okay... I don't think I'll be sending pictures because this Internet Shop is super sketch... So until we find a better one.. I'm sorry about that too because Aloguinsan is a BEAUTIFUL AREA! As in! We have bukid, we have white sand beaches, and everything in between. It's hands down the prettiest area of my mission. And, it's close to my first area! I asked the STL's that on our exchanges if we could maybe go and visit my Recent Converts from Toledo! 

My companion is Sister Corachea, she's 23, she's a med tech, she's from Batangas, which makes her my 2nd companion from Batangas. She's in her follow up training, so she still uses a lot of Tagalog, but I'm learning a lot from her! I love her! 

Wednesday: my last day with my beloved anak, Sister Angar. We (sister angar, sister perez, and jen) all went to People's Park and took a bunch of pictures with all the miniature buildings. You feel like a giant in People's Park, it was a lot of fun! We went to the Reantuco's for the last time and they fed me my favorite for dinner, misua and sardines, and pusit! I cried leaving their house. And then we went to Joy's and I had to say goodbye to her, and I cried there too! I love the people in San Carlos, it's such a beloved area to me. 

Thursday: I got up, did my last minute packing... lingered around the house waiting for the ZL's to come pick us up... they took us to Pantallan and we all did like an assembly line with the luggage to get it all onto the barge. I spent the ride on the barge talking to Sister Biolena and Sister Kahoalii, it felt like 2 transfers ago when the three of us were riding to Cebu to pick up our anaks, and now we are all done training. The mission is dali kaayo. 

I met Sister Shirley (the follow up trainer of my anak, she was on her way to San Carlos) and I told her "take care of sister angar!!!" I met Sister Corachea in Toledo, and she immediately asked me if i was hungry at we went to mcdo. That is the RIGHT QUESTION to ask your travel exhausted companion. We got on a jeepney for an hour to go to Aloguinsan, and then called the Elder's to take my luggage upstairs to our apartment, so very nice.
That night we walked to the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE BUKID in the PITCH BLACK DARK with only flashlights, to get to an investigator. the upside of it was that i caught a firefly. it's the first time i've seen one in real life.. i think, anyways it was cool. 

Friday: everyone thinks i'm sister quinney, it takes them about 5 minutes to take a good look at me and go "OH you're new!" well mao gani!
We finished an appointment and went down the side of this mountain to FTE and there's all this white sand and clean clear water and it was magical gyud!
We visited our IBD Cyrus, and are helping him prepare for his baptism next week. He's 10 years old but he's so serious some times it makes me laugh. 

I was trying to explain the constellations to S. Corachea and so i mentioned about the Big Dipper and the little dipper and then later that night we were walking home and she looks up and goes "oh, it's the small dipper!" I laughed so hard!
There's a part of our area, you stand on this bridge and look out to the water and it's like 4 different colors of bright blue it's so pretty! 

Saturday: Cyrus had his interview for his baptism and he passed so he's all good to go!
We went to an appointment at a less active's house and they were trying to get me to impersonate Jennifer Lawrence from Hunger Games. 

Sunday: We had a successful PEC after church. I was pleased, things seem to be working here in Aloguinsan branch. 

Monday: Nanay Coring came to work with us! she's so good, she loves to work with missionaries even though she's in her 70's! She walks all over with us, and never complains! #rockstar
We had a wala'y klaro zone council. nothing was counseled, so i'm confused as to the point of it. all we did was eat so i think it just constitutes as a lunch.
The Elder's called when we were planning and said they were going to stop by the apartment on their way home and give something to us. so i said jokingly, if it isn't food i don't want it. it was a white chocolate toblerone! I was like, "WHUT?!?" BUOTAN!!! MABAIT!!! NICE!!! 

Tuesday: Nay Coring worked again, (and she's going to work on thursday daw) Sister Corachea made me lunch #BLESSED. she made dulingan (fish) and monggo beans with pork chop and then we had latu (seaweeds) in vinegar and onions. SO DELICIOUS!!
Iris took us on a short cut, and we found another beach. They are popping up everywhere here! I'll try to send pictures at some point in my life hahah.
I love Sister Corachea, we are ALWAYS laughing, she's so much fun! There's never a boring or quiet moment! She thinks I'm crazy haha, but it's okay! 

I know we are going to see miracles in Aloguinsan this transfer!
I love being a missionary!


-Sister Katrina Dunn

Seashell

They are currently playing Lady Gaga's best hits in this ghetto Gaisano and I'm getting a headache. I used to think I liked Lady Gaga. No, I don't actually. Took a while to figure that one out.

Sister Quero gave me this massive seashell from Sipaway.. It made me think of something from ZTM. What you see may not be what you hear. Open your spiritual eyes and ears :D
This week was interesting. And fabulous, but my life always is.
News Update: I am officially caught up on my journal, but that partially has to do with the fact that Sister Larsen went home, and I'm not overly chica'ing with anyone.

Wednesday: Sister Larsen's last p-day. Go big or go home. I picked up the pencil skirts I had made. She made them 4 inches shorter than I wanted... It's at a questionable length. The struggle is real. I bought a pair of knock-off Ray Bans, because they were cheap and no one is ever going to know the difference in America. We had a shirt made, it's fabulous. And we went to the Merkado and I saw a guy there that had worked with me and Sister Conjelado in Toldeo A YEAR AGO! and he remembered me. Wut?!? Also, I took a nap. P-day success. 

Thursday: We were tracting in San Jose and we met 2 cows named Sofna and Asnar. You might not think this means much, but it does, because they were HALF HOLSTEIN. American's take holstein cows for granted, but when they don't exist in the Philippines, and neither do the words "fresh dairy" it means quite a lot. Also I saw baby turkeys, and if you think baby chickens are cute, you should see baby turkeys.
I mention all these things because on Thursday there was much walking and much punting and I'm trying to focus on the upside. That night when we walked up to Clark's house I could see through the kawayan that he was reading the Bible I got him for Christmas. He's so awesome. 

Friday: Sister Angar ROCKED weekly planning. I was proud. A member told us a story about how 2 snakes got in a fight and one of them died, and so the other one went and got tree bark and then brought it back and used it to heal and bring the snake back from the dead.... and as a result of that she bought a serum made from this tree bark that would heal all her wounds but then she used it all to help her neighbors and she doesn't have it anymore. 

Saturday: ZTM. Burgers and Beer (its the name of the restaurant, I'm not drinking beer I promise), all in all a good morning. But then we went to a lesson with one of our investigators, and after talking about the "wheat and the chaff" in ZTM i saw it in person. The whole lesson her son was yelling from the other room. "WE AREN'T GOING TO CONVERT SIS, STOP TRYING SIS!" and he was being really rude and sarcastic. We invited him to join but he was like "I'm busy." yea he was busy giving us a hard time
We ran into our american again, the one that debated with me last time as well. The pain NEVER ends I swear. But he was at least nice this time. He was buying a beat up 1976 Honda Motorcycle, he restores them as a hobby. He was buying it from our investigator.
My last night of chica with sister Larsen, it was sad. 

Sunday: in the morning. in the mourning. I wish I could explain my feelings whenever Sister's that I love go home. It's really difficult. But we had to say goodbye.
We got pretty punted by our investigators. One of them was having a celebration for her baby's baptism that we walked in on, that was awkward. Note to self, avoid awkward moments. 

Monday: Junnah worked with us. It was fabulous. Having an RM work with you is so effective. because they know how to teach, and the share just the right amount. 

Tuesday: We went to one of our investigators who is quite elderly. she told us that she was upset because last night her husband came home drunk. I was about 100% that her husband had passed away so i asked her, "nay, diba namatay imong bana?" and she's like yea, but I fought with him last night?" so Sister angar asks her "in your dream?" and she's like "no, last night, but he died not that long ago.." so we were really confused. and then she asked us where our third companion was and we were really confused because it had only ever been the 2 of us to come and teach her, but she was certain there was 3 of them. 

Anyways Transfer calls came and I'm going to Aloguinsan which is known for being a hard area. I'm follow up training again. It's an area just south of cebu so I feel like I just went full circle in my mission. I'm right back where I started. Sigh.. when I work with the STL's it will be in my first area, which could either be a blessing or a curse.. 

Anyways... I'll just keep smiling. I love being a missionary!
-Sister Katrina Dunn


This is traditional clothing for festivals in the Philippines. The Quero's let me try it on.

Bunyag #4 sa San Carlos

For lack of a better title that will have to do, I'm drawing a blank right now. My creativity skills have taken a graceful swan dive down the toilet. Bah, I'll improve one day! 

Wednesday: there was a poorly structured zone activity that the ZL's didn't really even come to, so I don't know what happened there. Sister Larsen and I just kicked a soccer ball back and forth. My coordination skills are on point!
We found all of these jeans at the house so we did a little bit of acrobatics while trying to put them on... when you've been eating deep fried foods for over a year and only been wearing skirts things like 'skinny jeans' are not physically possible. 

Thursday: MASSIVE BROWN OUT!! Life was not fun, and when we went home in the night it was so creepy, it was pitch black and there was this one abandoned tricycle on the road with just an eery blue light shining from it so THAT wasn't fun.
Junnah and Annalie came to work with us, and i somehow got suckered in to Junnah trying to do my eyebrows, but she did it dark so i felt like a clown hahahha, it was fabulous. 

Friday: i made the anak start week 11 early, so she led weekly planning.
these little kids were being loud during a lesson, playing with this plastic bottle, so when they threw it on the ground I picked it up and hid it, and the little boy got SUPER mad at me and went to tell his aunt, (we were teaching the grandmother she didnt even care... and neither did his aunt) so i gave the bottle back to him and he HIT me with it! The little stinker hit me with a coke bottle. I just started laughing.
we went down this abandoned road, looking for these people for the elders, come to find out later, it's super dangerous out there so it's a good thing we survived. #blessed. 

Saturday: we got a call in the morning that there was no water because of the huge brown out and the reserve water had been used to water the grass at the church, so there wasn't going to be water for the baptism, so we were freaking out, not sure what we were going to do, we tried to find a clean beach to go to, and we were stressed all day, and then an hour before the baptism was supposed to happen, the water came back on!! SUCCESS!!! The baptism was super nice, I've been working with him for 4 months so i was happy to see it come together. 

Sunday: I gave a talk in sacrament meeting and i got a little bit teary eyed. I love San Carlos. Hooray for dinner appointments!!! Lumpia and chicken!!! 

Monday: We got to help translate for a temple recommend interview, it was super nindot nga opportunity. It was a long day, the Dunne's were nice and gave us a ride home from Trozo, so shining moments to them!!
It's always weird when the STL's leave for MLC, the house is always so mingaw! 

Tuesday: PUNTeD gihapon.. our golden investigator is avoiding us:( i don't know what happened. I managed to do a weeks worth of laba in only an hour and a half, i think i should get an award!

Wednesday: just going to go pay our bills. It's sister larsen's last pday in the mission field so we are going to have fun, relax. I'm sad, I don't want her to go. It's always really hard saying goodbye to missionaries that i love!! 

Anyways: I love being a missionary!!
-Sister Katrina Dunn

#TIGER

I'm experiencing a truly difficult moment right now. In the location we are emailing they are blasting Paramore music and, the struggle is real. (Honestly it took me a really long time to write that sentence because I kept making English grammar mistakes). But alas, I will make it through. #strong. 

So I'm slacking on my journal, again. But I'm at least only a few days behind, I'll catch up later today. All is well. 

Wednesday: Haha, the support didn't come in till waaayy late so we had no money for groceries so we just went back to the apartment and Sister Larsen and I put funny captions on a bunch of pictures and were dying laughing. When there was finally kwarta naglakaw me didto sa Gaisano, kay wala'y lain. 

Thursday: The STL's had exchanges so we had lunch together. It was a slow afternoon, we got pretty punted, so we did a member visit to encourage missionary work. Then later we had an OST with a really nice nanay, I saw her through the gate so I just started talking to her, and then I asked her where the entrance was and then I just walked right in and we sat down and taught. 

Friday: We went back to our Nanay with the broken arm. poor thing. We stopped by one of our LA's as well but she was selling at her tindahan so she wouldn't let us teach her. Next time na lang... We went out to Castillo and Christian wasn't there so we were only able to teach Cristale Mae. And then we went to Gemma, she's still looking for a fish net hammock for me, I'm so happy! She's so thoughtful! She's going to look in Zamboanga when she goes. On the walk home we saw Larry and their little baby, the surgery is finished!!! His cleft lip is gone! I'm almost cried I was so happy! We just high fived because we got to be a tiny part in the whole process. 

Saturday: Exchanges with the favorite!! Sister Larsen and I worked together! We went up to Palampas and had a blast!! We taught Nanay and Tatay Ruben. It took me forever to get them to smile for the picture. They're so cute. They had this CR that the walls had gotten knocked down in Typhoon Yolanda so there's just this random toilet in the middle of their property so whenever missionaries go up there we have to take a picture with it hahah but I'm not going to send it :D 

We went to Nanay Carmen later in the day, and she's fabulous. She made us all these banana treats (ever since then she sends home little bags of food for us with the STL's) #HAYAHAY.
We had a busy afternoon, almost got debated with by one of their investigators but we followed the spirit and managed to divert him. I think he's progressing again.
#TIGER is an inside joke, but it applies SOO WELL to life and everything that happens when you get 2 foreigners walking around together in San Carlos. 

Sunday: I've started decorating the INSIDE of my planner hahah, it's looking fabulous. We had a boy come up to us in church and saw he wants to be baptized (it's exciting these things never happen for me), we still have to meet his parents and ask if its okay if we teach him. And hopefully teach his parents as well. 

Monday: We found a GOLDEN JUD investigator. She's hard core, she's so cool. Her major is Marine Engineering and she swims for 5 hours a day, and in her 3 year she's going to be dropped out of an airplane into the ocean and she has to swim to shore. She has so many questions and she's so receptive.
We had an apartment check after district meeting, kulbahan!! The Dunne's were kind and worked with us! I love working with them, they have such good testimonies!
There's this boy in our area, he's 16, and every time we see him he's NOT on the ground. So far we've caught him hanging in the gutters, on a roof, on a tindahan, in a banana tree, on a cement wall, and in a mango tree. It's so funny, his name's Jason we're just like "Hey Jason". 

Tuesday: Raymart told us this fabulous knock knock joke in visaya that I will have to say when I come home, although I'll be the only one that understands, but we died laughing. His baptism is this saturday! IT'S A GO!
Junnah worked with us, she's an RM, and she is FABULOUS! She's such a good teacher. we taught some REALLY GOOD lessons. We taught this one OST and I had this moment where the spirit LITERALLY spoke through me, I don't even remember what I said, I didn't even think about it, it just happened, and the woman just started opening up to us about her life. It was awesome!
We went to our RC's house and her teenage nephew comes out wearing a kimono it was so funny. It reminded me of New Girl with Schmidt is always wearing a kimono. 

Wednesday: We did grocery this morning before email, and there was some fear because the power is being shady today, it keeps browning out.
We have a zone activity later today, hopefully it will be fun.

I had a moment of fear yesterday, I don't have a lot of time left...
San Carlos is GROWING! We are seeing so much progress here, we are overcoming and winning!
I love being a missionary.


-Sister Katrina Dunn

Millennials

I didn't write in my journal all week so I don't remember what happened.
Wednesday: i went to ukhay2x with Sister Larsen and she found a rockin batman t-shirt. 

Thursday:I had exchanges with Sister Perez, it was a lot of fun, we had a crazy day and ended up teaching a preacher of another church, who wanted to debate, at least he was nice about it. I learned a lot from Sister Perez, she's actually my batch going home, so we have the same amount of time left in the mission, it's so weird. Nanay Tessie asked for a copy of this picture so I'm going to print one for her. 

Friday: We OST'ed right off the bat. She's really sweet, we had a really nice lesson with her about the Restoration. She's 19 years old.
The Dunne's took us out to the Castillo family, all the little kids were excited to see them. That evening we had the interview for Raymart's baptism, he's all ready to go. I'm so excited for him, and to see all the progress he's made. 

Saturday: We practiced our song for the zone conference. Sister Larsen coerced me and Sister Anger into singing for the zone conference. We had a lesson with one of our nanays. She fell and broke her arm and they dont have money to go to the doctor so she's struggling right now, we're trying to help them figure out a plan.
We found another LA family, and they came to church on Sunday! We were so excited when we saw them walk up! And then at night was the baptism of Nanay Carmen, her story is amazing, but I don't have time to tell it right now. We went to support her, she's the RC of the other branches sisters. She made a ton of empanada and lumpia nga gulay so we were eating good! 

Sunday: we found a new investigator named Christopher. He's searching for the truth and he seems really good. We're excited to see how he progresses. 

Monday: District meeting. we went back to some of our other investigators, and were able to help them, we've had some really good spiritual lessons with them.
We found another new investigator, named Benji who is also searching for the truth. We are finding a lot of new miracles lately, it makes it exciting. 

Tuesday: Zone CONFERENCE!! I sang "I know that my redeemer lives" and probably embarrassed myself to the moon and back.
It was a really good conference, we watched the devotional from BYU hawaii by Elder Nelson, it was super good. We are true millennials! 

I love being a missionary!
-Sister Katrina Dunn

YOMO

Yay!! Congratulations to Savannah!! Japan! That's incredible! Come join me here in the ring of Fire hahahh, you'll love the tropics, it's the best place to serve. Maybe I'll see you in the airport or something on my way home, we pass through Japan hahah, no... I think I miss you by just a few weeks, darn it :D Well, it'll fly by regardless. I know mine has!

Wednesday: I picked up my dress. I had another dress made for me, it's fabulous. She made it a little too loose, so me and Sister Larsen joke that it's my bag dress, but I still pull it off fabulously.
We took the Dunne's to the market to help them get fruits and vegetables. Since they are foreigners, people like to rip them off, we were trying to make sure that didn't happen.
We taught a boy about his covenants, he was baptized on Saturday. He's a child of record, his mom has such a good desire to go to the temple. 

Thursday: punted! punted again! (i was trying to make it sound like the line from Lion King). We went back to investigator, oi! She was so gahi! I couldn't believe it!
We taught Raymart (our IBD, he's the only member in his family joining the church) about his baptismal covenants, it's almost his baptism! 

Friday: Our LA's baby got bit by a puppy, which is apparently a cause for concern.. I heard that they are more likely to carry rabies, I don't know if that's true, maybe it is... One of the other families we teach, one of the boys had this creepy book called the Dollhouse Murders and he kept asking me what the big english words mean. 

Saturday: I taught my companion the word gullible by managing to convince her that there was a cat in the house. She fell for it hahha, it was pretty funny. We didn't have any small change to pay for plete so we had to walk everywhere, that can be remedied hopefully soon hahha, today perhaps. The boy was baptized, but there wasn't enough water in the font so it took a few tries to get it right. 

Sunday: One of the members we are working with is sad because her husband won't come to church (nonmember). That's one of our projects right now. We went to this other woman who LOVES to talk, I closed the lesson and she didn't hear me so Sister Angar had to close it again hahah, it was pretty funny. The Dunne's are fabulous and fed us a break the fast dinner of sloppy joes! I had 3. Yea, get on my level. And then I had 2 slices of chocolate cake. You only mission once. #YOMO

Monday: We found baby goats! So of course we picked them up and took pictures. On Tuesday we found another BRAND NEW BABY! HE was so cute! So many baby animals. This day though was kind of the day of creepy people, we kept running into creepy jud people, at one point we had to run hahah. There were guys outside of our apartment cutting coconuts so we bought some from them, because I miss buko juice! 

Tuesday: Our fridge had been stinky from some fish so we finally ate it, and the fridge already smells better. We got SOO punted, it's crazy. We practiced the interview questions with Raymart, so that he's ready to go for his interview this weekend. 

Everyone's doing like trunky talks hahha, this time will fly :D But I love you all!
I love being a missionary :D
-Sister Katrina Dunn

Debate

Okay i need to bang this email out pretty quickly.. I'll just start by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN AND SAVANNAH!! Hey savannah, I got my mission call two days after my 19th birthday, you're just like me! And Jordan, 34 isn't THAT old. You're still quite young, never fear.

Wednesday: i got sized for my dress by my mananahi, it should be done today! we'll go pick it up later. I also found this AWFUL twilight coloring book, it was made in china, i'll attach a picture.. it came with badly photoshopped stickers, so i'm laughing pretty hard. it was a scheduled fun day so we went THRIFT SHOPPING! 

Thursday: our less active force-fed me beco, it was pretty good but it made me feel kind of sick afterwards, but I'm alive, and it was worth it.
I GOT MY PACKAGE!! thanks to the lovely Dunne's for braving the sea and going to cebu to get it for me. shout out to debbie and my mom for all the goodies, we're loving it here at the house. especially the peanut butter. 

I also received the christmas card from the ward. brother sykes wrote in visaya, i was so excited! I was like "WHAT?!? WHO KNOWS VISAYA!! oh wait he served here hahhah, it was cool, i really appreciated the ward for doing that for me.
we convinced our IBD and his best friend to perform the chacha and tango for us, they are pretty good! 

Friday: PUNTED!! for three days i'll have you know... mahirap talaga if i'm using tagalog. A drunk man approached me, he had his address tattooed on his chest so he wont get lost. he tried to convince me his drink was 'original wine'. not sure what that means. we were just laughing, and then we just walked away. 

Saturday: feeling pretty discouraged, getting punted pretty badly. pressing forward regardless. our less active opened up to us about his past, we're working on helping overcome some pretty heavy obstacles.
A woman that tried to debate with me started to pet my head. I was not happy. 

Sunday: 2 of the YW were nice enough to work with us. Another person debated with me, or tried to. I refuse to debate, i just testify and leave it at that. spirit of contention will do NOTHING. the YW showed us around to a lot of the members, so that was really awesome, we have a better understanding of the area. 

Monday: We got to listen to the missionary broadcast, it was really good. I feel really blessed that the apostles felt to address us. It was really inspiriing, ive been trying to apply it to my work here. i've seen a huge upturn in the work since then. 

Tuesday: I got debated with, by 3 more people. I just listened quietly to them. The longer i get in my mission, the more difficult people i meet. I'll talk more about it when I come home, it's hard not to get flamed up over it. 

I just want to say that I'm grateful that the gospel has been restored in it's fullness on the earth. everything else is just a whisper, smoke, fragments of what we actually need. We are blessed to have prophets, and apostles today, and more than all of that, the book of mormon. the bible and the book of mormon truly work together. 

I love being a missionary!
-Sister Katrina Dunn