Email #11: I just need to breathe every once in a while.

We love AIR CON !!!

So first I will answer your questions. We paid one bill but the other one is so expensive we have to figure that out first. Sister Sevia and I have taken the bills upon ourselves to make sure it is done. And well the rest I’ll answer in my email. But you’re going to New York?!?!?!? That is awesome! You guys will definitely enjoy it.

SO Monday we had a district activity. We watched FROZEN!!! Well most of it. We had to leave part way through it. And the Disney movies are starting... today for a zone activity we are watching Rio 2. Oh boy..... haha. It wasn’t terrible. But I am also

on my mission so that’s all I have hahahahaha!

So I got my package on Tuesday!!!!!! It was great!!! All the elders were excited because it said there was only food in it. So they were like-- here Sister Mayberry let me help you. You need help.  And I said -- not from you I don’t because they wanted the jerky. Haha. But that necklace!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it!!! It is great! SO pretty I want to wear it a lot but I wore it twice and all I do is sweat. So it is already yellow. So I am going to try to find cleaner for it. But I will wear it sometimes. I wish I could more but I don’t want to ruin it. But I love it!!!!!!!!! SO cute! And the ones for my companions. Such a  cute idea. I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So on Tuesday we went to a new investigator named Cristlyn. She is awesome. She is a referral from sister Jenny (ya another one!!!) She is so receptive and wants to learn more. She is great and I am so excited to teach her more.

On Wednesday we went on a search for less actives and we found a few. Brother Wilmar came with us and helped us find them. There are so many it is crazy! Wednesday was really hard. I didn’t understand alot.

SO Thursday was an interesting day. Sister Boulabon (the other sister) had to go to the mission office to make her decision about whether she was going to go home or not. And they (Sis B and Sister Lamson) have investigators they needed to see. So I stayed home with Sister B and Sister Sevia. So we went to the mission office then stayed home (Sister was also super sick) so I had like 5 hours to just study the language. It went so fast. I don’t feel like it helped very much. It just made me overwhelmed. There is so much to know and I don't know it. I got too frustrated. And it rained that day so it wasn’t super hot! Man this place floods bad! Within about 45 minutes it was like the road on the way to your school after a bad storm. It floods so bad! So that night Sister Leavitt (who is the sister training leader and also my lola which means grandma. She is Sister Sevia’s trainer) and I just cried to her on the phone. This week I got too discouraged about the language. It was probably the hardest week of my life. Really. And I just cried to her. She gave me advice. She said all it takes is time and prayer. I’m like I know-- I am but nothing is changing. And it was so hard. So I just cried.

Last week the ward had a swimming activity and went to a resort... Well Brother Wilmar’s nephew went and ran away and went to the adult pool where it is super deep. He is 8 years old. He was by himself and there were no lifeguards.  He drowned and died. Ya! At the ward activity. So sad. He was 8oyears old. SO Friday we went to his funeral and it was super sad. But the parents were less active along with the mother. And now they are all wanting to get back into the church. They came to church yesterday. It was so sad.

Saturday everyone in our house was sick. So the other three went and slept for a while and I stayed down and studied language for about 3 hours. So I had a lot of extra study this week. And that one was better than the first. I have to take it step by step. Then that night we went to a buffet because Brother Wilmar’s sons birthday was Wednesday. That was a good buffet! It’s weird they call it “eat all you can” while us in America call it “all you can eat.”

Sunday sunday sunday...... Such a hard day!!  During church the teacher called me out and said I was teaching the lesson on baptism and I was like --no. I have never taught it. Haven't had to yet so I have really focused my study on it so I have no idea how to teach it sa Tagalog. I was like -- no and every one was like yes and I almost burst into tears right there. And brother Marlon was so nice. He kept turning to me and saying kaya mo iyan (you can do it). He was so nice but Brother Wilmar saved me and said Sister Mayberry chorister and if there are questions Sister Mayberry will answer them. It was so scary and I was so upset.

So after that we went to the cr (bathroom) and I just cried. It was terrible. So hard. Then we went home and now all 4 of us are sick. So we all slept until we had a meeting. And then went home and rested. Sister Sevia is super sick! Then we had FHE with Sister Jenny’s family.  Webster (their son who finally decided to listen) and Rondave (their neighbor who we are teaching!!!! And he came to church) were there and it was so much fun!!! They are my favorite family. We always joke around and it is great. I love going over there.

This week was very hard. The past week and a half have been the hardest of my life really. I have cried more this week then I probably have my whole life.  But I am here and I made it through. I know I have to be easy on myself and take this whole language thing one step at a time.  I know I can do it. I am promised that in my blessing. I just need to breathe every once in a while.

So Sister Boulabon went home. She was home sick. She left this morning. So now we are a tri-sum. And have the whole entire ward until June 4 which are transfers. It will be interesting.

Well Momma I love you so much and I love dad and Lena too!! Oh guess what? So binibini is a word and you pronounce it (be-knee-be-knee) just like Lena. It means lady like binibini Mayberry. I thought it was funny!!

Goofing around before Sister B left.

This sister's home is the whole box. 

FHE with Jenny's family & neighbors.

YUM!  It's so expensive here !

Email #10: It is interesting how I had that hard of a morning and then Heavenly Father reminds me of why I am here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! MAHAL KITA!!!

So to answer your questions first.  Yes that was the right investigator whose husband died. And Jamie the one with diabetes is still super sick.  Like about to get a limb cut off any day but he isn’t in the hospital anymore. He was there for 2 days I think. It is so sad we give him lessons and he just cringes during them. 

So this week was an interesting week. On Monday I found out that my package arrived. So because I will see the zone leaders tonight I will get it tonight! I am so excited!!!!! After pday was over we went to find out some information about this recent convert. We ended up giving lessons with 2 less active families. Which was great! They were both on our list of people to find. The ward has SO many less actives -- so that is a focus. We were so excited!!! Then we went to a member’s  house. They are wealthy here. When we walked in on their flat screen (What?!?!?!? you don’t see those here) was the voice. Adam Levine died his hair!!!!!! YUCK!!!!! I was shocked haha. They said they watch Survivor and Amazing Race every year! From Season 1. Haha.  And she gave us lemonade!!! That was nice to have ahh. And cupcakes from her business. So delicious!

Tuesday we went to Jamie’s. He is so sick like I said. But man realized how much people respect missionaries. They fed us dinner. They are the family that always gives us food. If they are about to eat they make us eat before them. If we come after they eat they buy us muffins and soda. SO this time we came before they ate. And they made us eat after the lesson. Jamie ate with us. And when we was done he looked at me cringing in pain. And he said, “May I please?” In regards to leaving the dinner table. I was like wow this old man who is in severe pain asking my permission to leave. I was like, “Of course -- go rest!” They respect us here so much!

So the ward mission leader is a trike driver. And he offers us rides. SO on Thursday he went and he drove us around and we didn’t have to walk! It was great!!!! We met this man named Kenny. He is so good at English.  He only spoke English. He is a stoke victim. He is open to religion. But he just kept going off. It was like him sharing thoughts and then random talking from us. And at one point he asked us, well telling us, other missionaries (from other churches) he asked them -- if someone was going to kill you and there was a gun and a bible -- you are telling me that you would chose the Bible over the gun. And the missionaries just walked away and said we will pray for you. Then he was talking about this guy that after reading about Daniel and the lion’s den decided to try it because he thought god would save him -- but he died. I said you have to be realistic with your faith.  Yes God could have saved him but you have to be realistic. Then about the gun I said that I would choose the gun. But if the choice was to deny my religion or get shot - I would get shot and die.  I know it is true so I won’t deny it. But if it is just a random gun and a random Bible and a random guy -- choose the gun. He said,  “You know what Sister Mayberry?  I respect you because you are honest. Who ever taught you did a good job because you are honest and realistic. Your preachers did a good job.”  I really liked him haha.  I want to go back. He has been taught by MANY missionaries though.

We went to a member’s house Wednesday for her little son’s birthday. He loves us missionaries. After dinner we google mapped Arizona because they wanted to see what it looks like. Did you know that they have pictures of the houses now?!?!?!?!? I was like what?!?! That is a picture of my house. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?  They were shocked at how brown it is. Haha It was super funny.

So Russel got baptized this week!!! It was great but oh my heck. SO the water turned off at the church. But they have a big tank of water outside. So my whole district had to take buckets and bucket by bucket fill up the tank. It took an hour and it was tiring. BUCKET BY BUCKET!!!!! It was crazy!!! But fun haha! I am such a clutz.  By the end the tile was so slippery.  So I had two buckets in my hand and I slipped and got soaked and everyone was laughing.  It was super funny.  I was like -- of course it would be me. I always have to embarrass myself.  It was great. And this week I fell down the stairs....... well slipped. Only like 4 stairs but I fell hard and I had a HUGE bruise on my butt!!! Like every color of the rainbow!!! It was bad an hurt so bad!!! I am such a clutz!!! SO that night we went to go see Russel and guess what?!?!?! His younger brother decided he wanted to be taught. His name is Webster. He is so hard headed. We invited him every lesson and he refused every time. He would come to family home evening but that’s all. SO hard headed. But HE IS LISTENING NOW AND HAS A BAPTISMAL DATE !!!! We are so excited!!!! I can’t even stand it!!! And the rest of the neighborhood (all family) said that if Webster gets baptized they would listen and get baptized to. They have bets on if Webster would get baptized because he is so hard headed. It is great! I am so excited!

SO yesterday hahahahahahahahhaaha --so we thought we lost our key to our house.  We looked everywhere. SO the senior couple came over and gave us a new lock for the gate.  He looked at the door lock but said he didn’t want to mess it up. So he kept it on. So we had a problem -- one key for two sisters and the other sisters were leaving before us. So we took the key but first I climbed up the house to see if we could make it because we were going to give the sisters the key and we would just climb up haha. Well I made it. It was fun! So we ended up just taking the key. But then we found our key!!!! So when we left we were trying to lock the door and it wouldn’t lock or twist. It was messed up from when Elder Rigby came and looked at it. So we locked it from the inside and Sister Sevia went to the balcony door, kept it open and climbed down the house. When we got home I climbed up! Haha it was funny. So the senior couple has to come fix it today because the door doesn't shut if it isn’t locked. So I’ll send you the picture of the ghetto lock. It’s great!

This week I had a really bad day. I don’t know what day it was. But I was crying and it was probably the hardest since the first few days. It was hard.  But you know -- it is interesting how I had that hard of a morning and then Heavenly Father reminds me of why I am here. Sister Boulabon, the other sister, is going home this week because of homesickness. So we will have a threesome until June 4 which is transfers. But the same day as my meltdown I talked to her and told her that it is hard.  I have had the same thoughts as you. But told her why I am staying and all this stuff and it was a reminder to me why I am here. Why I am staying and all that stuff. So it was good for me because the same day that was hard, I was reminded why I am here. It was great!!!

SO MY LANGUAGE IS GETTING BETTER. Still so hard and still don’t feel like it is but Sister Jenny said my pronunciation is getting better. The first day I met her it was hard to understand me and now I say things how they are supposed to be. And they sound so much better. It is great haha. I got a kindergarten lesson from her this week on how to pronounce things too. So when I learn new words I can say them right haha. It was fun. Russel was making fun of me because it was like I was in kindergarten haha.

Well momma I love you tons!!!!!!!! Have a good last week of school.

LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Mayberry!!

Russel's baptism
May 17, 2014

Buckets for the baptism

Lost keys --  looking for a new
way to get in the apartment

Email #9: Mother's Day Phonecall

We got to talk to our girl last night.  It was wonderful !!  And……. HORRIBLE!  It was so good to see her smile, to hear her voice, to just TALK to her face to face for a few minutes.  It was so incredibly difficult to say goodbye after 45 minutes.  The time went by so quickly.  She was emotional, especially when she saw the cat.  HA!  She DOES love that thing more than me !!  She said that she is doing really good, but that it is VERY difficult.  She confided in Chad her frustration over the language.  She told me that it is hard, but she went into more depth with Chad.  He said that she gets called names and made fun of ALOT.  Ugh!  HARD!  Chad was able to help her I think…..  and give her some good advice.  Chad swears to me that it is all very normal.  And, every person I've known that has gone foreign has said the same thing to me.  "Ya…..  that happens."  It will just all of a sudden get better.  But - she loves the work.  She had a rag that she constantly swiped at her sweaty forehead.  It was so cute!  At first I thought it was for her tears….  but no.  It was for the sweat!  It was very hard to say goodbye.  She was like, "I gotta go."  But - she didn't want to say goodbye.  So - I finally just said, through my tears, "Ok - Kenna.  Here we go.  1, 2, 3…. " and hit the button.  Then I laid down on the carpet in the living room and cried.  But - hey….  only 7 and 1/2 months before I get to do this again.  Chad said that by the next phone call she won't be homesick at all, or be emotional.  Ah!  But….  I WILL!   Later she did email me this short email about her week.  

So quick review of this week. Probably the saddest week yet....

We had a few lessons this week, Not alot which was sad. But our investigators didn't really progress at all this week. The saddest is May Fransisco. We had to drop her. She isn’t progressing and we had a member come with us and because she was there May decided to tell us what she really thought.  She said she doesn’t like it – doesn’t want it - doesn't like the steps for prayer and won’t get baptized. But when it is just Sister Sevia and I she said she believes and knows it is true.  SO we said thank you and left and won’t be going back. IT was so hard!! I don’t want to drop her but we have to....

We also had interviews with President Tye. He gave us TOOTSIE POPS!!!!  I was so excited.  They are one of my favorites!!!!! It was good. Sister Tye had to talk to both Sister Sevia and I instead of us by ourselves because we have so many medical problems. My feet, my dehydration, Sister Sevia’s back. So we felt bad. But it’s okay. My medicine will help with lots of water.

Oh and guess what? We got a new sister in the apartment. Sister Bodota was emergency transferred and we got a new sister.  Sister Bulabon. Bodota was having companionship problems and got transferred. This sister is super nice and helps me with my Tagalog haha.

Sister Mayberry

New sister

cowboy hat -- I felt right at home !!

Little kitty - made me miss Tinker

Family Home Evening

Email #8:Xhyrus was baptized!!!

 

Xhyrus baptism
May 3, 2014

Magaling Ka sa Tagalog!!! Talaga!!!

Xhyrus was baptized!!! His dad was able to baptize him.  It was so cool!!! He was really happy and so was Jenny. It was great.  I was so happy. Greatest feeling ever! I can’t wait for Russel to get baptized. Their younger brother Web Web came to the baptism and church the next day (which was a big deal because he has refused to meet with us.) I am so excited.  Hopefully we can start teaching him!!

So I will be calling next Sunday about the same time as I am writing this. We will probably come about 10 so 7-8ish your time. I am so excited too!!! And ahhhhh MY KITTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh and thanks for the pictures!!! I am so proud of Chad!!! I haven’t gotten anything from you yet but tomorrow we have a zone meeting and that is when I would get stuff.  So we will see.

So this week was really really weird. Monday after we had p-day we had FHE with Jamie  (which by the way is pronounced HI-ME) and his family. It was so frustrating. The sisters were late.  Brother Wilmar who planned it was late. They prepared food that sat there for a while because everyone was late. Brother Wilmar wasn’t prepared and had to take time after he got there to prepare. It was annoying and we had little time because since everyone was late curfew was coming up.  Brother Jamie left half way through because his diabetes was hurting him so bad he had to leave. He was in so much pain! It was terrible to see! And on Thursday we found out that he went to the hospital. He comes home today so we will see how he is doing this week.

Tuesday it rained!!! And Wednesday!!!! I like it because it cools down a lot when it rains! We went and visited May. The one whose husband died. There is something holding her back and we don’t know what it is. I want so badly to help her but I just cant. We have tried everything. On Sunday we even went and picked her up for church like we said and we got there and she said she wasn’t going. We were so sad. I do not know how to reach her...

Another family is the Mariano family. It is the nanay (mom) and 4 children.  The husband doesn’t want to listen. We have been teaching them from the first day we got there. They have been learning for a while but hasn’t been super receptive but hasn’t turned it down either. So we visited them Tuesday and Saturday and invited them to church AGAIN.  But this time SHE CAME!!!! It was great but she had to leave part way through 2^nd hour because of her litttle baby. But she came!! So excited.  And then we visited her after church too. It was great!! So excited when they walked in!!!

Cristelda.  Idk if I have told you abut her (maybe called her Christy) but she is a friend of Sister Jenny and she is great. She wants to learn everything  about the church and Tuesday during our lesson I taught her about the Book of Mormon. Her son came in and was listening but he didn’t want to join in. So we asked her if she comes to know it is true will she get baptized.   We gave her a date and then asked if she had any questions. He perked up and asked,  “If I am going to be baptized -  shouldn’t i know everything.”  I was like WHAT?!?!?!??!? You are listening!!!! And so Sister Jenny and Sister Sevia talked to him about the Book of Mormon and another question and I talked to Sister Cristelda about America.   Haha she had questions. But it was great because her son really does want to learn.  Then when we went and taught Xhyrus and Russel,  he joined us! And again he had questions and he was writing down questions he had for us. It is wonderful to see!!! I think there is a lot there!!!

Thursday Thursday Thursday.....  So our waterbill is due the last day of the month and last month the other sister went to go pay it on the 1st and they were denied. They were told that they have to go to Las Pinas to pay it because it is late. So we thought they would do that.  Haha Nope. They didn’t.  So the same thing happened this month. The bills are the responsibility of the sister who has been there the longest, which is neither me or Sister Sevia. So when we found this out we took matters into our own hands. We paid the electricity -- which was on time but the water is now 2 days late and hasn’t been paid for 2 months. We got a notice that it was going to be shut off. So we text President Tye and told him.  He gave us permission to go and pay it. We had no idea where it was so we went to Bacoor where you have to go to get anywhere. We asked around.  Someone said to take a certain jeepney.   So we went and the jeepney driver had no clue so he ended up taking us past Las Pinas. We were super close to Manilla. The airplanes were about 1 minute from landing --  Almost touching the buildings. It was crazy! And we asked and no one knew how to get there.  So then someone helped us but then we had to wait for a jeepney and there were NONE coming.  It started raining. Pretty sure we were either on the outskirts or out of our mission. So we get on that and then that one doesn’t know either.  So then someone gets on and tells us it is in this mall. So we go in and it isn’t there.  Noone knows where we’re supposed to be.  By  this time it is already 5 and they close at 5.  We have no idea how to get home. No idea where we were. So we go to the jeepneys and we see a bunch of elders and were like --dang it!!!  But they were really nice and helped us get home because they were going to the mission office.  From there we could get home. But it took the whole day! 0 lessons because when we got home we had FHE.   It was definitely an adventure. It was fun though!

So this weekend was fiesta. It celebrates Christ. On Friday morning (we didn’t get to see) people were dancing in all the streets and there were lots of fireworks.  Friday there were parades of bands and again lots of fireworks. It was crazy!! Lots of HUGE cross displays everywhere and virgin Mary. It was definitely different. SO it was hard to teach because everyone was at the fiesta. But we managed with a few lessons. It was crazy for sure.  We started our fast on Saturday at noon.  I have decided that fasting is the sign for everyone to give you food. We went to an investigator who owns a restaurant and he gave us soda and food while we watched the parade so we didn’t eat it or drink it. We just left it and then asked to have plastic (they put everything in plastic so you take it with you).  So we did and then a member tried giving us food and was mad when we told her we started our fast already.  So we took it in plastic too.  Then we went to the 7/11 where all the poor kids beg for money.  We gave them all our food. They were happy! Haha.

So I can tell my language is getting better. I have been able to understand a little bit more this week and I have been able to say a lot from the beginning. Just understanding it is tough.  But I can see it improving -- finally!! I know I am hard on myself...

Until Skype next week :)

Sister Mayberry

"Alam ko po na totoo ang aklat ni mormon. Isinalin ni Joesph smith ang aklat ni mormon sa pamamagitan na kapangyarihan ng dyios. Tumawag ang dyios ni Joseph smith sa propeta. Alam ko po na kung magbasa ng aklat ni mormon at magdasal na nakakatanggap ng paghahayag para sa sarilli mo. Ito ay totoo. Alam ko po na ng buo puso."

"I know that the Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith translated it through the power of god. God called Joseph smith to be a prophet. I know that if you read the Book of Mormon and pray,  you will be able to receive revelation for yourself. It is true. I know that with my whole heart."

Can you believe I made a
scripture case???

Why does everyone want to feed us on
Fast Sunday?????

Dang - these busses get close.
We weren't even getting on.