MTC Email #4: I learned the HAKA

Sis. Vaka
(What the heck are they doing???  And - are those Hot Pockets?????)

WHAT?!?!?!?!? LISA GOT RELEASED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am shocked kinda.  It’s time but still…. What is her new calling? 

So yes – Sis. Dryer is going to Cavite also. We are the only ones in our ZONE going to Cavite. My roommates are going to San Pablo. There is another zone that is going to Cavite with us.  We play volleyball with them at gym. So -- funny thing. All the questions you asked are on my list to tell you. So every day at gym we play volleyball.  It is way fun.  Some are good -- some are not so good.  It’s a good mix. I now have my jump serve down which is way fun! I am doing pretty good. It’s just fun to have a good time and not worry about anything. So my normal day schedule is:

                        6:30               Wake Up

                        7:45-8:15      Breakfast

                        8:15-9:30      Language Study

                        9:30-10:30    More Language or Getting ready for Teaching

                        10:30-12:45  Class

                        12:45-1:15    Lunch

                        1:15-4:15      Class

                        4:15-5:45      Gym

                        5:45-6:30      Dinner

                        6:30-7:00      Daily Planning

                        7:00-8:00      Personal Study

                        8:00-9:00      Companion Study

                        9:00-9:30      Language

                        9:30-10:15    Get ready for Bed

                        10:15-10:30  Quiet Time

                        10:30             LIGHT’S OUT !        

So it is a pretty full day. TONS of studying – that’s all I do but that is okay! 

The food is all okay. I am still eating -- haha. We had like a shepards pie with mash potatoes, chicken, corn, and cheese and it was SOSOSOSOSO good! And they have HUGE rice krispies all the time!!! Best ever!  BUT..... I have gained weight. It’s hard not to -- they have so much food! But I’ll lose it all in the field -- haha. I don’t really know what the worst thing I’ve had is. There hasn’t been anything that was terrible! IDK haha

I did get the package. The skirt for me I have to send home because it’s too long. I can’t wear maxi skirts. The girls have no idea it was us. They think it was the branch president’s wife. SO we are in the clear. One of the shirts is Sister Vaka’s new favorite shirt. They liked all the stuff we gave them.  THANKS SO MUCH!!!

Did you call the place for my w-2 forms on the 5th? If not can you do that today????

So everything at the MTC is funnier. It is weird --well not to me haha but everyone else. We will watch church movies and everyone thinks it is the funniest thing ever and I’m like ahhhh okay then.

I LEARNED THE HAKA!!!! Sister Vaka taught me. SO me and Sis. Dryer are pretty much poly by heart! Haha. It is fun and the polys are like, “What?!?!? You white girls be doing that?!?”  It is great to see their reaction!!!!

The others in the other district left this morning. It is weird. They have become my best friends and it stinks because I probably won’t see any of them again but they are such good friends. I love everyone of them! It was so hard to say goodbye. I am sick AGAIN!!! So I gave them all elbows and not handshakes haha. It was seriously  SO SO SO SO hard to say goodbye. It is going to be so hard when I leave. 

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?  ‘I get my flight plans on FRIDAY!!! Already!!!!!! It hasn’t been long enough to get them I feel like! It is crazy!!! But ya -- so next week I can tell you them. SO about calling home. Sis Dryer is having her parents send her a prepaid $20 phone card with like 5 hours of minutes on it and using that. I think you should too because then I know that I will have a phone because it is sometimes hard to find a free phone. I can use it at Salt Lake and call again on a layover and I know that for a fact I will call. I think you should -- it will be easier then if we miss a flight or get delayed I have that to call. Then I’ll just throw it away after I am done since it will only have a little bit of time on it. I think it is a great idea!!!!

I already told you my most spiritual thing that’s happened. The called to serve crying thing. Idk Sometimes when people testify I get goosebumps -- well that happens alot but not any like huge experiences. Just TONS of those little ones. And the coolest person we have seen is Elder Holland from last week. Everyone has seen someone from the 70 rather than the 12. I will definitely keep letting you know if we get someone super cool!!!

So we  have had this investigator -- her name is Joy. She is 18 and her brother joined the church ( in reality it is our teacher but she acts like an investigator she had).  She was super shy at first but this week she said she would be baptized -- so YAY!!! And another one we have is Andrew (22 from Atlanta and in the air force academy --grew up with Mormon friends -- again one of our teachers) and we were talking about modern day prophets because he asked us about the word of wisdom. At the end, out of the blue,  he said, "I cant be baptized because I have a girlfriend and we have sexual relations and we are not married. " we were like Ummm....... blank face…  we didn’t understand what he was saying in Tagalog at first so we had to play charades for a bit but we ended up getting it.  So we told him that prophets have received revelation about that and we would love to teach him about that next time we come. So our next lesson, which is tomorrow for him, is about the law of chastity in Tagalog. The leaders that just left are like,  “We haven’t even taught that yet.”  So we definitely have a challenge but we can do it!!!

Days just go by super fast. Everything blends into one. We often say something was last week -- oh wait no it was 2 days ago. Nothing changes. Just the same routine everyday. So sorry if it is repetitive. 

So experiment for you. Cross your legs -- your right over your left. Find the point where your legs hit. Now imagine a rash right there. Yep – that’s me. I have a RASH from crossing my legs too much!!!! It is terrible and hurts..... i

By the way just to let you know I LOVE SISTER VAKE. I have been pretty sick.  I have a bad cold.  And last night I left the room at like 10:45ish to go to the bathroom and blow my nose and cough and just be sick. She follows me in there and made sure I  was okay. I love her!!!!! She is such a sweetheart!!!!

Give Lisa my LOVE !!!!!

Well Momma I love you --Mahal kita!!  Have a wonderful week and I love you so dang much!!!!

SIster Mayberry

Sis. Tryon sent me a CTR ring in Tagalog
LOVE THIS !!!!

Yup - they were hot pockets !

These are the missionaries that left
Love them !!  Miss them !!

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A Note from Mom:

Don't you just love it.  Check out the HAKA you tube video to see just what "Those white girls learned !!  Leka would be so proud.  

The package she's talking about is this:  About a week ago I got a letter saying "Mom - I need your help…."  She explained that she and Sis. Dryer wanted to get her roommates some more clothes (they didn't have very many).  She asked me to take money out of her account and buy them some things.  So - what do I do……  Taylor, Aubrey, and McKenna to the rescue.  I called her friends.  "Would you want to help?"  I asked.    "Yes PLEASE"  is all they answered.  So - they went and shopped and it was in the mail 2 days later.  Thank you girls --  SO MUCH !!!  Pretty special.  Love ya ladies !!

What is The Haka Dance?

February 17th MTC Email #3: Holy Heck of a Week!!

Where do I even start????? UGHHHHHH

Our zone leaders offered blessings to us during our meeting with them so myself and Sister Dryer got one. It was good. Not really a comfort one but kind of a wake up call one.  Which was great -- and some comfort. It was good though haha. On Sundays our branch leaders come which is basically Bishopric. And during Sunday District Meetings one of them come in. During ours he said a little birdie told him that Sis. Mayberry blossomed this week. I was like ummm okay thanks?!?!? Haha but it was definitely good. OH MY HECK!!!!! ELDER HOLLAND came last night. His son was our devotional speaker so Elder Holland came to introduce him. He only spoke for like 4 minutes but it was seriously so cool!!!! And we were ushers last night so we got to tell people where to sit.

Thanks so much for the package. We are going to put it in a box and give it to the mail office.  Anonymously unless something fails epically. 

I LOVE LISA!!!! Tell her I love her to death please!!!!!! 

The MTC is a roller coaster for sure. Your emotions change so fast. It is crazy!!! But it has been so much fun!!! More fun than I had thought it would be!!!

MY MTC IS HALF OVER!!!! I am so excited to leave!! But nervous because of the language.  It is kinda hard. SO get this -- if I say Pinipatay (i think i conjugated it right but not sure haha) ang mga tao ng tagapagligtas that means people killed the savior but if I say pinipatay ng mga tao ang tagapagligtas  that means the savior klled the people.  Did you see a difference in those sentences?? Yep it is so small. Difference between ang and ng. That one letter can totally change the meaning of the sentence and be really bad to say in a lesson. It is kinda hard haha. But I love it.  I am so excited to get there so I can learn the language!!!!

I need...... a foot pumice thing. The bookstore doesn’t have it and my feet need it so bad!!!!!  Different socks. The socks I got for my flats are like nylons and they stink.  I need like normal ones. If you know what I am talking about.  Haha if not that’s okay. So my crocs... they are too small they don’t stretch out at all.  So I will have to just get some when I get there.

THANKS SO MICH FOR THE BOX!!!!  My zone loved it! I gave the bubbles to my district. My zone all loved the candy!!! Elder Cook took about 15 fun dips and Elder Dougal took like 5. They all loved it! It was definitely a hit! I love my twizzlers!!!! I have missed those for sure!!! And thanks for the stuff I needed. AND MY PICTURES!!!!!!! I miss that cat so much! She looks way better in those pictures than the last picture that I saw!!!!! Everyone was like --tell your mom thank you!!!! It was a big hit!!!!!

Well guys I love you so much!!!!!!! I love it here.  I feel the spirit practically all day!!! Oh and in my blessing Elder M said basically word for word what my setting apart blessing said. So ya!!!

Mahal Kita! Alam ko po na propeta ang Joseph Smith. Naniniwala po ba ako mapagmahal ng Dyios. Nagdasal si Joseph SMith alam totoo, Makinig and Dyiod sa atin. Mahal na mahal. LOVE YOU!!!!!

Sister Mayberry  

See Mom - I really am trying to look CUTE !
(I told her that I didn't want any frumpy sister missionary pictures.  HA!)

This is Jenna's card she drew on her notecard.  Love it !!

Letter to Dad

Daddy,

I love you!  You are the best Dad ever.  I miss you tons.  This has definitely been the hardest thing that I have done.  I have already wanted to go home like 8 times.  It is so hard.  Especially when everyone speaks Tagalog to you.  But we are all getting better.  Sorry Dad, but I'm definitely not coming home soon.  It has been so much fun.  We go to the gym every day.  I either run or play volleyball.  It is super fun.  A lot of the Elders are pretty good.  And some of the girls too.  It is so much fun.  I love it.  I have been doing so good at eating too.  There has not been one day where I skipped a meal.  I even ate a navajo taco that had onions and chilies and tomatoes.  And, I ate it all.  I have been eating things that I would never eat before.  You would be so proud.  Haha!  The Spirit here is amazing.  It has been so much fun.  Well Dad --  I love you and miss you !  I am so lucky to have you in my life!  Mahal kita (I love you !)


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A note from Mom:

For all of you who know Kenna - you are chuckling at the vision of seeing her eating onions and tomatoes.  We all know what's happening here …..  it's the power of the call.  It brings me back to not  more than two days before she left.  She had a taco that had an "accidental" onion in it.  One onion mind you.  She threw the whole thing out!  FUNNY!  Oh - how things change.  We teased her that the real reason behind her call to the Philippines was so that she could get over her "food issues".  Well - a miracle is at work here friends.  : )

MTC Email #2: We can only do what we can do but the lord will make up the rest.

Yes I am getting emails. I have gotten some from Taylor and Aubrey. It has been nice. Oh and Rylee. And I am getting  the dear elders. You can always send me dear elders. They are my favorite thing! It is nice because our district leader gets them and passes them out. And it is nice to get one. My mail is:

Sister Mayberry

PHI-CAV Mar 10

then whatever it says on the website. The 10th is my offial leave America day. 

SO ya the provo temple is weird. It all goes into a circle. It is very odd. I'm not sure yet if I like it. And you stay in the same place. Which is super weird. THE screen is so high -  it hurts your neck. It hurts from looking up so long. But the chairs are so comfy so that's a plus. Today we did initiators. Which I enjoyed -- I like them. 

Chad was right. You are going to get sick at least once at the MTC. I got sick this week. It was terrible. I had a sore throat and a runny nose. On Wednesday when we were at language class I felt as if I was going to pass out. So during personal study I went and slept and my companion studied. It helped alot though. I felt a lot better after that. The elders were super nice and asking if I was okay. However.... when we were gone the zone got together because one of our zone leaders left. He went to the President and told him that he was unworthy and they sent him home. I guess he will be able to go back to the same mission if he decides to go back out. It was a very sad day. We all loved him and he was so much fun! But I am glad he is taking care of things. 

GUESS WHAT -- GUESS WHAT -- GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?  So we had 5 lessons altogether with our investigator Ace. On the 4th one we asked him to be baptized and he said no because he didn't know if it was true. SO we told him to pray again. The next day we asked again and again he said no. So we went on with the lesson about baptism and he asked us why we were baptized and how do we know it is true. And we bore the heck out of it!!! And at the end we asked again and he said YES!!!!!! Out first investigator said yes and if he was a real person he would have gotten baptized!!! It was so wonderful! I was so happy! it is crazy because we will have a lesson prepared and then the spirit guides us in a different way! And because we studied our lesson and know the vocab we were able to just teach. With the help of the spirit of course. I feel as if our exact obedience has blessed us. We are trying to be the best we can be and it pays off. We can only do what we can do but the lord will make up the rest. And we definitely felt that in our lessons! It was such a happy day! We now have 2 new investigators. I am excited!

The language is hard. BUT I LOVE IT!!! It really does feel as if I am supposed to be learning it!  I understand the grammar more and remember better. I am so excited!!!!! I can't wait to be able to speak it!

I don't need garments because I can get them here. But my team Cori shirt has a whole on the arm. So in my dorm I can wear it for bed. But if I go out anywhere I can't wear it. 

The devotionals are pretty good. I am so exhausted that sometimes I have to doodle to stay awake but I still pay attention. I love them though!

Don't do too much work Mom!!! Take it easy! I am not there to make you sit down haha. Tell Kacie to Dearelder me and I'll send her a letter back!!!   She touched the cat?!?!?!!? What is going on in the world?!? Haha. 

Well Mama tell Chad happy birthday i sent him a card though so he should get it soon. Tell everyone I love them and dearelders are wonderful!!!! I love everyone have a wonderful week!!!!

LOVE SISTER MAYBERRY 

Sister Dryer my companion

My District Sisters

My leaders love me --  little gift.

MTC Email #1: The MTC is great, hard, terrible ...wonderful

Oh my gosh they RUINED Tinker. She looks so ugly!!!! I am so sad!!!! NEVER LET THEM DO THAT AGAIN!!!  Haha. I miss her for sure. I miss all of you - don't worry. Kacie's letter that she gave me was super sweet. I sent her one back but I had to send it to you guys because I dont have hers.Can you dear elder me hers and nanas please. Salamat! (Thank you)

So it's weird... there is snow. It is a very strange thing. It is not too cold. I actually really enjoy the cold. It has been nice. And BYU icecream is like a HUGE deal. And I have NO idea why. It isn't even like super good. But everyone loves it. I need my nail polish. I forgot it haha and a nail file. And my Cori Jane shirt has a whole in it :(  I never wore it either :(  

SO my companion is Sister Dryer from Layton Utah. I LOVE HER. We get along so well. She is such a happy person -- I love it. We have similar personalities in the fact that we like to get things done. It is nice,. She is so fast though! She like runs up the stairs and I am always behind haha. But I like her. She reminds me of Taylor mixed with Lisa. And she likes the boys too. It is so very strange. Haha. But everything is good. I love my roomates too Sister Woodruff who is related to Wilford Woodruff. And then Sister Vaka. I LOVE THEM TOO! I love my district.  The elders are awesome. Elder Cook and Elder Vilingia. They are so kind and care so much about us. It is wonderful! Then my zone OH GOSH I love them. There is another district with 4 sisters and 2 elders. Then another district that is all Elders. They are all so astig (awesome)!!! They always are so nice.  We all sit at every meal and occasion. They always try to help us with our Tagalog. They are great! 

Yesterday was super hard. My comp did something and it kinda set me off. So I was in a bad mood. I felt like I was going to puke -- Which happens like every morning. But this time it was really bad. I was SO tired. Then she did that and I was like I'm done. It hit me then that I won't see any of you for 18 months!!! I just wantesd to cry. I was like, "Why am I even here? I want to go home. I know I can't but I want to. I hate this."  It was terrible. Then we had companion inventory where we talk about out relationship and she apologized and warned me that it is one of her "things"-- so then I was fine. Then we went to sacrament with our zone and everything that can be said in Tagalog is in Tagalog. The testimonies were really cool. Then at the end we sang Called To Serve but in Tagalog.  And I started crying. I couldn't even sing because I felt so strong. I know that I am supposed to be here. Learning Tagalog. NO matter how hard it is. Because it is. It is the hardest thing I have ever done. Like seriously so hard!!! But I knew at the moment that I'm here for the long run! It was such a great experience. I mean I cried and that is weird. It was an incredible experience. 

We taught two lessons already!!! The first one was okay for me. My comp had a HARD time. Her part she couldn't do. But my part I was able to say that I know God is our Heavenly Father. I know that God loves us. And asked him if he believed and he said oo(yes). Alam ko po na Dyios po ang Ating Ama sa langit. Almo ko po nar mapagmahal po ang Ating Ama Sa Langit.  Then I was able to pray. After that my comp was super super sad. But the next night (saturday) we taught better. We taught him about Joseph Smith and how to pray. It was awesome!

We went to the temple today! Provo temple is weird! I like Mesa haha. It was good though. Hard to stay awake because I am so tired. I love walking to the temple though! 

Well the MTC is great, hard, terrible, wonderful, everything you can think of. I love Tagalog! I really do. Well I love you all!!  Ingat (Take care!) Mahal Kita 

Sister Mayberry

I can't send pictures because I do not have an adaptor.  I have to get that today. We just found that out. But don't worry-- I have some to send you next week!