Monday, December 30, 2013

This is where i live:):) Mine is the Yellow one.


This is where I Teach every day..



Resent Convert Sister Lyn Lyn I love her


Hello Family

Hello Family :)
I hope you all had a great Christmas :) It was so neat being in the
mission field for Christmas! You really focus on the true meaning of
Christmas. On Christmas Eve we got invited over for dinner at a
members house for the first time since i have been here. Im pretty
sure me and my companion both got food poisoning...Christmas day we
went out to teach and we were out for about 30 minutes and we both
felt so sick! We spent Christmas day in bed sick.. it was not fun, but
were feeling much better now :) Nothing too exciting happened this
week, it was a really busy week with Christmas so we didnt have alot
of time. I had my first exchanges with the sister training leader
Sister Person, It was fun i learned alot! We went to our area called
site the other day and we wanted to read some scriptures and stuff
before we started teaching so we sat down on this bench.. next thing
we know, there were literally 25-30 children around us. There were at
least half that were old enough to be baptized so we taught them about
the restoration and taught them how to pray hahaha it was seriously
the weirdest moment of my life. There i am in the middle of the
Philippines on a bench teaching 30 Filipino kids about the gospel. it
was so much fun :) Also this week we taught the Mortales family and
all 5 of them committed to be baptized!! Were so excited for them :)
Funny story, the other day we were teaching in the bamboo huts and we
always go to the furthest away house first and then come back to the
other houses. We did that but little did we know that someone died
there and Filipinos have a weird superstition that if you walk past
the house of the person that died you bring bad spirits with you, so
as we came back to teach our other investigators they knew we passed
the house of the dead person and literally NO ONE would let us in
their house!! We had to go to our different area for the rest of the
day haha it was so weird! This week its New Years and Filipinos are
really into Fireworks. President Lopez is making all the missionaries
be in their houses at 5:00pm new years even and new years day because
its so dangerous with all the fireworks. Im a little nervous about it
haha but we will be fine! Well i hope everyone had a good Christmas. I
Love my mission and im so grateful im here. I encourage you to all
strengthen your relationship with Christ. Read 3 Nephi 11-28 This is
about the 3 days Christ spent in the Americas. I have learned so much
about Christ and how we can become more like him. I love you all and
hope to hear from you soon!
Love Sister Leifson :)

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

3rd Baptism Anthony he is 16 I love him


Merry Christmas from the Philippines

Baylie
Hello Family! 
Merry Christmas! It seriously does not feel like Christmas at all! Yesterday we were walking down the street dying of heat because it was like 100 degrees and we were eating ice cream. I thought to myself... im in the Philippines on a random island in December eating ice cream. haha such a weird thought! Well this week was great! i love my mission. i am so blessed to be in such a receptive area. We had another baptism this week. It was for Anthony. It was so amazing he is just so great! he is the 16 year old i told you about last week. We are so happy for him. This week was so great.. We got a referral from the Elders for the Torno family. We were in the area where they live and we were teaching. We were planning on trying to find them sometime that day. We were on our way to one of our investigators house and we walked past a house that we walk past all the time and sister foote has always wanted to share with them but the timing has never been right. as we walked past sister foote turned around and asked them if we could share, they said yes. We introduced ourselves and i was about to say the prayer and i asked what their last name was... They said Torno! They were the referral we were suppose to find it was so amazing! We were definitely led to them be the Spirit. We had another referral from the elders for an 86 year old man from Australia (who speaks english) :) His name is Chester. He decided to stop and talk to the elders about our church. He agreed to let us visit him. We met him and he is seriously the sweetest old guy EVER! We taught the restoration and he agreed with all of it and knew that it was all true. I was able to tech pretty much the whole lesson because it was in English! it was so amazing! I committed him to be baptized on January 18 and he grabbed my had and said "Yes of course i would love to be baptized!" such a great experience! I love him :) Also we got some referrals for a new area called site. We decided to go there last night and find some of them. We went and it was unreal. They said there has never been missionaries in that area before so everyone wanted to hear our message. We were there for less than 2 hours, taught 4 lessons and got 14 new investigators! it was so amazing! People just crowded around to hear us. we cant wait to go back tomorrowwhen we have more time! I seriously love it here so much! I am so grateful for the opportunity i have to serve these people. My testimony has grown so much, i want to stay here forever :) We bought a mini Christmas tree and Christmas lights and decorated our room this week. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and remember the true meaning of Christmas. I love you all! 
Love Sister Leifson :) 

So all of you know my wired eating habbits haha and you will never believe what i have eaten here! 
-I LOVE bananas here! i hated them at home 
-Wheat bread! haha its so good here! 
-Menudo
-Sweet and sour chicken
-RICE haha so much rice! 
-Watermelon and mangos are amazing here! 
-Also there are these things here called Chungys.. People go to the store and buy stuff then sell it out of their houses. its so if you forgot something at the store you just go to your neighbors chungy and you dont have to go all the way back to the strore. its really weird haha 

More random things about the Philippines: 
-If you have a job here you wear a really fancy uniform. Its because jobs here are really hard to get so if you are privileged enough to have a job then you wear a uniform. Like the girls at the grocery store wear these blue knee length dresses and heels. its really funny. Also the girls at McDonalds wear a pencil skirt with a really dressy shirt and a little hat :) its so cute i love it! --When you eat no matter what your eaitng you use a spoon in your right hand and a fork in your left and you use them both to eat haha its cool! 
-Everyone here thinks we are like gorgeous haha so they always like stare and stuff and the other day we were at our investigators house and she was pinching my cheeks like i was a baby and then she told me i looked like a girl power ranger! hahaha it was the weirdest moment ever! 
-Awkward moment of the week.. We were standing on the side of the road waiting for the jeepney and there was lots of traffic, the car that was right in front of us had like 5 people in it and literally every single person was staring at us, then the tricycle drivers were all honking and smiling and there was a guy riding in the tricycle that was probably 15 ft away from us and he was looking at us thru binoculars!!! hahah it was so funny!

Monday, December 16, 2013

I LOVE the Philippines

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOM EVER! I hope you had a great birthday! :) Wow! This week was amazing! We saw so many miracles. So there is a boy here named Anthony. He is 16. His mom is catholic his brother is baptist his dad is Mormon and he had no idea what religion to choose. Sister Foote has been teaching him for 5 months since she got here. He comes to church every single week he just wont make any commitments. Last week i committed him to be baptized. He said he would think about it. On monday we were in the middle of the lesson and out of no where he said "Sisters when can i be baptized?" We were sooo happy!!! He is going to be baptized this Saturday. We asked what made him decide and he said he read the Book of Mormon and knew it was true and that he needed to be baptized! We are so happy for him. Also last Sunday we were on the tricycle on our way home from church and we asked the driver jokingly if he went to church. he said no and we invited him to come to our church if he wanted. He was really interested. He wanted us to come teach him. His name is Mark. We went to his house and his brother Airoll and Airolls wife Cherel were there and wanted to hear the lesson. We taught about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. It was a great lesson. We gave them all their own book and they said they wanted us to come back the next day haha so we did. When we went back they were so receptive! We taught lesson 1 and then his mom walked out of the bedroom holding a Book of Mormon and said "what time is Church?" We were so surprised! They are such an amazing family and just want to know everything about the gospel. Every Saturday we have a basketball clinic because basketball is super popular here. We invite investigators and members to come every week. This week Mark and Airoll invited all their friends. We had 12 new investigators at basketball which is like unheard of! it was so cool! We did a Chapel tour after so they could feel the Spirit in the Church. While we were in the room with the baptismal font we told them about the importance of baptism. We invited them to our baptism later that day so they could observe. Arioll didnt understand it was just to observe and he was like "I am so exited to be baptized! What time does it start? What do i need to bring? hahah Then he told all of his friends to come back at 3 so they could be baptized! We had to explain that the baptism wasnt for him..he had to come to church first and get the lessons before he could be baptized. Haha People here are so willing to hear the gospel. Im so grateful for that! A few days later we were trying to find a house but we couldnt find it. We walked past this house and there was like 7 people sitting outside talking. We walked past and at the same time me and Sister Foote had the impression to go back and talk to them so we did. We taught about how God loves all his children no matter where they are at. We told them that the reason we are here in the Philippines learning Hiligaynon is because the lord care about them and wants them to hear the gospel in their own tongue. They were also receptive and asked us to come back again. All together this week we found 19 new investigators. The Church is growing so much here its so great! I love being a part of it. We had another baptism on saturday. Her name is sister Mylene and she is so amazing! Im so greatful for this experience i have learned so much in such a short time. I have realized how important it is to bring Gods children back into the fold. The people here are so humble. As we sit in their little bamboo hut with a dirt floor and no chairs or tables i just think of how amazing it will be for them to enter into the Celestial kingdom one day! I want to be there to see them all with their families and loved ones forever! So some more random things about the Philippines: Everything they sell at the grocery store is in packages, not boxes or jars. Like mayo, laundry detergent and pasta sauce all comes in packages its so weird. There is no such thing as traffic laws here or traffic police. There are no lanes on the roads or anything so everyone just drives really fast and dries wherever they want its scary!! The money exchange is way different from U.S money. Every two weeks we get our money and its 2,600 pesos and that is like the equivalent of $85 dollars in america. its so crazy! Like to ride the tricycle its 10p so in america that would be .25 cents. They work for like nothing here its so sad! Well i hope everyone is doing good! I miss you all so much! It doesnt feel like Christmas because its like 100 degrees here but thats okay! I love it here! Have a good week everyone! Love Sister Leifson :)

Monday, December 9, 2013

Pictures of Sister Leifson and her companion Sister Foote

Sister Leifson & Sister Foote in the jungle
Jungle from her email
Sister Leifson & her companion Sister Foote
My first week in the Philippines!!! Wow! where do i begin.. so the plane ride here was 21 hours and it was the longest plane ride of my entire life! My wheel on my suitcase broke in Detroit so that was fun trying to pull that thur the airport haha but the Elders were nice to help me. We flew from SLC to Detroit, then to Japan then to Manilla. We stayed at a hotel in Manilla for a couple hours then went to the airport at 6:00 am and then flew to Bacolod. It was so crazy! We got to Bacolod and President Lopez picked us up and we went to his house. We had lunch and meetings and interviews. we stayed there till around 6:30pm then they took us to a hotel to sleep for the night. I went to sleep at 7:00pm and woke up at 7:00am the next morning i was SO tired!! They picked us up and took us to the Church to meet our new companions! My companions name is Sister Foote SHE IS THE BEST! I am seriously so grateful for her. she has been so nice and has helped me with everything. Everyone that knew she was my companion told me how lucky i was because she is so great. The lord knew i needed someone who would help me adjust. She is from Vegas and she has been here for 6 months. So after i met here they took us to our house, it was so much nicer than i expected. Its 3 stories and two other sisters live with us. We have a normal shower (its not a bucket) but its still freezing cold. Its actually really nice considering its SO HOT here! So we put my stuff away and then went to the grocery store. I had no idea what i was doing so we didnt get much. All i have ate since i have been here is frosted flakes and french toast haha were going to the store again today and i will find some more stuff i like. They really do have alot of the same things that we have in America its just not the same brands. So i was worried about the food because i thought we would be eating at members houses alot but we eat every meal at home or we eat out, Sister Foote said she has only ate at a members house once since she has been here so that makes me feel so much better! So after shopping we had 10 teaching appts. I was so nervous! I seriously had no idea how poor these people are. You will never understand until you come here and see it. Every house has a dirt floor and is made out of bamboo. They usually have around 5 people living in a one bedroom hut, its so sad. My second day here sister Foote decided to take me to the craziest place she has been since she has been here hahah IT WAS CRAZY! we walked past some houses down a little trail that literally led into the Jungle.. Yes i live in the jungle! And we walked thru the trees and there was a big river by it and next thing i know.. Were crossing this sketchy bamboo bridge! it was so scary.. we crossed it and walked thru the jungle a little more and finally made it to our investigators house. We didnt know, but her house had been affected by the typhoon and all the walls were caved in. we tried to see if she was home but were pretty sure she had to move :( It was cool for me to think that even people here in the middle of the jungle need the gospel and that Heavenly Father hasn't forgotten about them. We usually teach outside here because most of the houses are too small for all of us to fit in. We always take out shoes off if we do go inside which kinda freaks me out because of all the bugs. I saw my first GIANT SPIDER yesterday and i thought i was going to pass out! We were in the middle of a lesson and i look over on the wall and this spider was running across it. It was literally the size of a baseball! IT WAS SO GROSS!!! I said a prayer that i wouldn't freak out or start crying and right then Sister Foote asked me to bare my testimony and my mind was blank haha all i could think about was the stupid spider! But it was fine and im still alive. So the language is coming okay. One good thing is that every single person in the Philippines knows English :) i love it because i can pray and bare my testimony in Hiligaynon but if i dont remember a word i just say it in english. its so nice! So some funny things about the Philippines.. some of the Filipino people have never seen Americans before so i stand out like a sore thumb.. EVERYONE stares at you and the guys hit on us all the time. They always ask for our number and they say "Guapa Ka!" Which means your beautiful haha its really funny! The jeepney is just like a bus but there is just long seats along the edges and they literally fit 20 people on there and no one here knows what personal space is so its no big deal. The tricycle is a motorcycle with a cart welded to it. It has a little seat on the front that holds 2 people then a basket thing on the back that should only hold 2 people but there is usually about 6 back there haha its so much fun! I love riding on them. Our house is far away from our area so we have to ride a jeepney and a tricycle just to get there. So i had a baptism on Saturday haha her name was Delia. she is so great! i only met her once before her baptims but i love her already. We have another one next week as well. This is such a great area.. everyone here wants to hear the gospel. We never go tracting, but people just contact us on the street and want us to teach them. We were on the jeepney the other day and there was a man on there and he said i think your the ones who are teaching my neighbor.. will you come to my house? its so amazing! I went to my ward for the first time and Church in the Philippines is so weird! haha they do everything in english, people wear whatever they want because they dont have money for nice clothes and Filipino people are never on time so every meeting starts like 20 minutes late haha. I got to bare my testimony and tell the ward how happy i was to be there :) We had 17 new investigators at church on sunday it was so cool! I LOVE the little kids here!! they are so adorable. It breaks my heart because they are usually naked because they have no clothes and they are always so dirty it so sad. They love us tho :) when you walk into a group of bamboo huts kids come running from everywhere to stare at you! haha you say "up here" and they love to give high fives its so cute. I wish i could hold them and take care of them. it breaks my heart! oh ya..I washed my clothes by hand today.. that was pretty cool haha Some random things about the Philippines: -No one expects us to speak hiligaynon so when we walk by and say "maayong aga" (good morning) they like freak out and say "you speak Hiligaynon?!" its really funny! its like my favorite thing! -Everyone is related.. -There is no such thing as birth control here so there is little kids everyhwere! -There is no such thing as birth control for dogs either and there are millions of dogs everywhere! but they all have rabies so you have to be careful. -There are spiders and bugs of all kinds everywhere! I hate that haha -There are also lizards and frogs everywhere haha i like the frogs they are cool. - Every mother here breastfeeds, but they dont cover up when they do it. its really disgusting! they dont care who is there or where they are at! haha and all moms breastfeed no matter how old their child is because they dont have money for any other food. The people here are so nice tho!! im so lukcy to be in such a great place, they may not have anything but they are so humble and nice. I have adjusted so good! The lord is definitely helping me! I love it here and im so grateful im here! i love and miss you all and hope to hear from you soon :) Love Sister Leifson :)