Week 66 in the Philippines - "crazy week!"

How are all of you doing? I hope you're all staying nice and cozy and warm:) I hope dad had a marvelous birthday! 

So this week was pretty crazy. Sister Snow and I were companions for just this one week, which was actually so awesome. We met so many new awesome, receptive investigators and loved serving together! We were so sad it only lasted for a week:( we got the call yesterday that both of us were transferring, the sisters in Pontevedra got pulled out, so now there will just be elders there. 

It was sooo sad to leave my family in Pontevedra! I love them so much, but I know that Heavenly Father's plan is perfect and if I just trust in Him, there's no need to stress:) My new area is back in my first zone! Bacolod North Zone, sa Talisay. My new companion is cute Sister Rispicio, who has only been out for one transfer. I'm excited to get to know people in my new area and work with Sister Rispicio! 

This past week, I really learned the importance of opening my mouth and just talking to everyone! I read a talk addressed to missionaries that said that every time we open our mouths to talk to someone about the gospel, it shows an act of faith. And that is something I have been working on developing-- my faith in Christ because that's how miracles happen! Just through talking to people in our path, we met so many people that were willing to just sit down right there and talk to us! Maybe it's because of this wonderful Christmas season!  
But most definitely the highlight of this week was the baptism of Tatay Ernesto!!!!! Oh man, I love him so much! His baptism went so well. It was amazing actually how organized everything was this time. It was cool because when we asked him who he wanted to baptize him, he suggest three different people. So we asked one of them and he was sooo touched! Then one of them he requested, gave a talk. There were so many members that came out to support him. Everyone was so excited for Tatay because a lot of them had met him or at least heard about him for a long time now. 

Back when elders were in the area, they used to teach him because his son is a member. So now he finally fully accepted the gospel and was baptized. He was sooo happy!!! Now he is so pumped to share the gospel with his family and reactivate the less-actives around him. So this week we met and taught his wife:) I'm so happy or him. I love the fire in recent converts to share the gospel! 

Well, yesterday we got to watch the Christmas Devotional, and I just wanted to share an insight I had. It was actually while they were singing "Still, Still, Still", which was sooo incredibly beautiful. As they were singing, it made me think about how important it is that amidst all the craziness of life and everything we have going on around us, we should stop and take time to notice the beauty and holiness all around us, in everything that we do. We should pause to recognize and remember who we are and to "be still and know that I am God".  We are so blessed everyday with all the beauty all around us, all the amazing people all around. 

I love you all so much! Thanks so much for your love and support and for being so amazing.

Merry Christmas!
Love, Sister Malyon

Week 65 in the Philippines - "wow!!!"

Hi family!!!

Oh my goodness!!! Annie got baptized!!!!!????????? What??? I had no idea she was progressing! Oh my goodness, Jonny pots where have you been? I need an update!!! What happened with her conversion and everything? I am so curious! When I read that she got baptized, it brought tears to my eyes! I don't even know her, but I've been praying for her and I just feel so happy for her! Please congratulate her for me:)

That's so cool pots that you got to baptize her! You're already a missionary, even before you leave on your mission. That's so awesome. wow. Pots! Tell me everything please! I hope that experience makes you even more excited to serve a mission! I bet she'll be so supportive because you see how much everyone needs the gospel! 

Wow, conversion is truly such a beautiful miracle. Tatay Ernesto is getting baptized this Saturday and I have been able to witness the majority of his conversion process, the changes in his countenance and is his life. It's been so amazing to watch. It's so amazing to witness people accept the gospel in their lives and see the results, the changes that come from them coming closer to Christ, feeling of his love and approval for their choices. Tatay is so much more happier these days than when I first met him back with Sister Laulu. 

Actually, thanks to the fam, we got to bring him Christmas yesterday. So I hope you don't mind, we ended up giving him the little Christmas tree you sent me and the nativity set. I took a picture to show you that I will send next week. We can't send pic at this shop. His face glowed with joy when we gave him the Christmas decorations. He lives all by himself, in his 60s, in this tiny, broken down little house. It's so dark and cramped, but the Christmas decorations made him and his little home light up so much! 

Thank you thank you thank you for sending those sweet decorations and I really hope it's okay we gave them away. I promise that they are in good hands:) You helped make someone's Christmas that much more special!

Also this week we had Zone Training and Sister Lazan I were praying so hard that we would figure out something we could do for the training to help our zone in boosting their morale and excitement for the work. Our zone has been struggling lately and the last training we had was so sad. Everyone was so down and there was so little participation, so this time we wanted to do something different to wake them up! Mom's cute package saved the day! 

Once again, I hope this is okay with you mom! We were inspired by the advent, so we implemented it in our zone training. We ended our training early so we could so a little activity to get our zone in the Christmas spirit. We gave each companionship one of the cool stars mom sent (there was a perfect amount), so we went around and each companionship read the scripture verse written their star, gave their insight about the title/name of Christ and then we had written up a bunch of Christmas songs on slips of paper and they had to draw one out of the bag and sing it. 

It was a complete success. Thanks to mom's package and thoughtfulness, the level of morale in our zone increased so much! Everyone was way happy and so pumped up! It was a total 180 turn around:) Thank you so much mom! We took a picture for you with the missionaries holding up their stars.

Well, I have a new companion again! Her name is Sister Snow, from Provo, Utah. We were so shocked when Sister Lazan got the transfer call last night. President Lopez is full of so many surprises haha. I'm grateful to still be in Pontevedra and excited to work with Sister Snow!

Love you all tons and tons! Merry Christmas! Happy Sami Klaus Tag!

Love, Sister Malyon

Week 64 in the Philippines - "Merry Christmas!"

I totally forgot to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving last week! How was it? Sounds like everyone is still all spread out! Crazy. I wonder when the next time will be that we all get to all be together again as one crazy happy family:) And no, I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving this year, but I wished Sister Lazan "Happy Thanksgiving" Thursday morning, so at least I still remembered the holiday in my heart haha. 

Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!! You lucky duck daddy poo! One year older and wiser too! Happy birthday to you!:) What are your plans to celebrate the incredible, life-changing event of your birth??? I'm sure grateful for your birth! I hope you have a fabulous day and everyone makes you feel and know how loved you are. 

Well, this week I went on exchanges with Sister Rosario in Binalbagan. It was so neat because before going out to work, we set a specific special goal for the day, which was to find a new family to teach. And guess what? We did! I have such a testimony of goals, faith and miracles! 

We tried going to a few appointments, but they weren't home, so then we were walking and decided to OYM (open your mouth) a home that we were approaching. A couple with their son were sitting outside their house, so we approached them and started talking to them. Sister Rosario asked them if they knew where the Lopez family lives (making up a name just as an excuse to talk to them...) and they started explaining to us how to get there. So then we asked them if we could offer a prayer for them before we moved on. They happily agreed, let us in and then we got to offer a quick message to them. 

They are this cute couple with one little boy and they were so interested! It was awesome too because the father has relatives who are members, so they have connections and support! They asked us what makes our religion different than others, so we left them with a Restoration pamphlet and they agreed for us to come back:) It was such a testimony builder to me that there are so many of God's children prepared all around us and we just need to open our mouths in order to find them. 

Also this week Sister Lazan and I had a neat experience. So the past few weeks we've been struggling to figure out how to best organize our time in this area. Our area is sooo big and we spend a lot of time traveling and have a hard time focusing on people to help them progress because we're so spread out. We decided to have a companionship fast to seek for guidance as to how to move forward. And guess what? We received our answer last night. 

We had just finished planning and had been discussing this past week and how we both feel like we need to be doing things different. We then decided, from reflecting on the different progress from different parts of our area, that we need to focus on Sua and the area close to the chapel. We need to stop trying to cover this whole huge area and instead focus on the progressing areas for now. 

And then, we got a call from President Lopez who was addressing some of our questions that we had for him and he gave us the same answer about our area! He told us that to be more effective we should focus on certain areas. It was a blessing to receive such direct guidance that confirmed our thoughts and made us feel so much more at ease about moving forward in this area. 

I'm so grateful for God's involvement in our lives, personal revelation, the people He sends to help us and all the resources He has given us to receive His guidance---fasting, prayer, studying the scriptures, leaders, companions, friends, family, patriarchal blessing...etc 

Speaking of patriarchal blessing, has Jonny gotten his yet?

Well, one little story from yesterday...So we had Branch Conference yesterday, which was awesome because everyone and their dog showed up haha, and I was the piano player. The power went out during the last speaker and I noticed it but didn't make the connection that the piano wouldn't work. The piano is electric. So it was time for the closing hymn and when I hit the keys, no sound came out. I was frantically trying to push buttons and replug in the chord to get it to work when the brother kindly goes "Sister Malyon, may brown out subong" or the power is out hahahaha Oh yeah...forgot... 
Well, there goes for off-in-space Sister Malyon:)

I love you all so much! Keep being strong! Hold on to the iron rod and don't let go!:) I hope you're all staying warm hahaha. Happy December! Woohoo! Christmas spirit!

Love you tons and tons, 

Sister Malyon   

Week 63 in the Philippines - "SALAMAT!"

This is in Sua, our far area where we have a special sacrament- Me and Sister Laulu

This is SIster Laulu and I on the beach. We found a less-active, Brother Ernie who is in the picture, that we met for the first time here. He lives on the beach and works as a seaman/fisherman.


            
Here we are walking on this path that goes through a rice field, there are rice fields on both sides of the path, to get to our appointments!

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  This is also taken in Sua with Mount Canlaon in the background. I'm standing in a sugarcane field! I carry this cool fan around because it's always hot!:) 

Hello family!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE HALLOWEEN PACKAGE!!! I'm pretty sure I'm the most spoiled missionary ever! You are sooo cute! Thank you so much for thinking of me and for sending me delicious goodies that helped me introduce some American Halloween candy to my filippina companion:) Also thank you soo much for the pictures you sent of Christ that I can give away to people! I know they will all be soo happy and grateful! Thanks a ton! Also your card was awesome. It made me smile real big, especially Kylie's creative poem;)

Sister Lilibeth got baptized!!!! Oh my goodness I love this cute family soo much! So in the picture you see Sister Lilibeth obviously dressed in white and then her husband, Brother Rex, is crouching down holding their baby son and then their daughter, Aleah is in pink. Brother Rex used to be a less-active member, but just returned! Meaning he is fully active again:) And now his wife just got baptized and they are the happiest, cutest family ever. 


Yesterday at church, Brother Joemil showed up wearing a button-up shirt and tie for his first time:) Elder McWhorter helped him tie the tie and he was all proud for finally looking the part:) He gave the opening prayer and while he was sitting on the stand, Sister Lazan and I could just see him being a future leader of this branch (that will definitely become a ward shortly:) He came to church with his three adorable daughters and the cutest thing happened when church was over-- I glanced out the window and happened to see the four of them walking home in the rain. Brother Joemil had untucked his shirt and spread it out to cover the heads of all three of his daughters who were all walking right next to him. It was just a tender moment to see such love between a father and his daughters:) 

He told us earlier this week when we taught missionary work, that he wants to focus on sharing the gospel with the rest of his family before sharing it with others. I know that his wife and son will come around in time!

I'm so grateful for the gospel and the hastening of the work at this time. I know we have so much we need to do to help prepare the world for the Second Coming, prepare God's children for the coming of Christ. I remember hearing in the MTC that the world is definitely wicked enough for the Second Coming, but not righteous enough. I'm so grateful for all your support and love! Thanks for being so amazing and for blessing my life!

Love you all tons and tons!
Love, Sister Malyon 

Week 62 in the Philippines - "one more pic"

This is from our fun FHE at the Espinosa home on Monday!

Love ya tons!

Week 62 in the Philippines - "hey there fam"

How are all of you cutie pies doing? Thanks so much for the emails this week! I love hearing from you so much:) Wow, well this week was crazy! I'm sending you a picture of when we went to Bacolod this week and ate at KFC hahahahaha with the two cute sisters that are the only other sisters in our zone, Sister Kumar and Sister Rosario. On Wednesday, we were in Bacolod at the mission home for the leadership meeting with Elder and Sister Ardern. It was sooo neat. I felt soo lucky to get to attend! We learned so much from him as he praised us for the work going on in Bacolod Mission but at the same time inspired us to work so much harder! I learned so much about ways I can improve. It's so crazy. I feel like I need to stay on the mission for another 5 years so I can implement everything I need to work on and become the best missionary I can be! There's so much I need to improve on! But I guess that's how life is; there's always room for improvement and we should constantly be striving to be better, right?:) 

So after the meeting on Wednesday, we stayed the night at a sisters apartment in Bacolod because we had mission tour all day Thursday, so that's when we got to go out to dinner.

It was so much fun Wednesday night to be with other sisters! And then Thursday was amazing as well. I just felt so spiritually uplifted and enlightened this week from being with so many missionaries, hearing of their experiences, and also with a General Authority- feeling of His powerful testimony and witness of the Savior, hearing from him the Lord's will for us in the Bacolod Mission and along with that, receiving so much personal revelation. I love being here so much! We are so blessed to know of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  

One thing I took away from this week, is how important it is to attend church. That is something I have studied over and over again and learned so much about since being on my mission because it is one of our biggest struggles here, getting people to church. Well, I'm sure it's a struggle all over the world. I have gained so much appreciation for mom and dad and their effort to get our whole family to church every Sunday. I'm so grateful that I was raised in a home where Sabbath day observance is so important! Sunday is not Sunday without going to church! I am working on noticing the blessings that have personally come into my life from living such commandments, so I truly testify from my heart, from experience, the blessings that will come to those we teach if they keep the commandments as well. One blessing in our family that has come from keeping the Sabbath Day holy, is how close we are to each other. We couldn't go play with friends, so we played games with each other on Sundays and did other meaningful things together as a family. so awesome. 

We also had a baptism this week!!!!!! It was so beautiful! Brother Steve is awesome. His wife, Sister Rhodora is also awesome:) She's a recent convert and has been praying so hard for her husband to accept the gospel and to change. Brother Steve mentioned in his testimony how he remembers when one day Sister Laulu and I came to teach their family, and normally we just focused on Rhodora because Steve would kind of come in and out, sort of pay attention, not really interested...but one time we looked at him and told him straight up that the gospel was not just for his wife, but him too. And from then on, we focused on him and he focused on applying the gospel to his life. We witnessed so many changes in him and his family. They are so much happier! Brother Steve's confidence has increased, which is so cool to see, even in a grown man. 

We also had the coolest experience this week. So we have this investigator, Brother Ernesto. His son is a less-active member, but doesn't live with him. Brother Ernesto has been taught by missionaries for a long time, well they stopped for a while, but we started teaching him again a couple months ago. He had never been to church, but read the whole Book of Mormon before and loves it. We have been working so hard to resolve his concerns as to why he wouldn't accept a baptismal date and go to church. Early this week, we prayed so hard and let the Spirit lead our lesson with him as we addressed how to receive answers to our prayers. And then Saturday night, we felt prompted that we needed to go back to him to get him to come to church. It was so amazing! He committed to come to church, finally! And the next morning, we arrived at church early and he was already there! He was sitting by a member who was already fellowshipping him (YES!) and he looked so tidy in a button up shirt and a huge smile on his face! We were soooo happy! He ended up having such a good experience at church and we just know that this is his time. So many miracles are happening here! It's just amazing:)

Well, that was a long email. haha I just love you all so much and hope and pray you are happy and seeing the beauty of the rain rather than waiting for the rainbow:) I read a quote from Pres. Uchtdorf about that so don't go thinking Sister Malyon can come up with wise sayings like that haha. Don't worry, I'm still looking forward to wearing my crazy, mickey mouse robe again:) I love the work of the Lord and how involved He is in our lives. I love my Father in Heaven and my Older Brother Jesus Christ so much and hope they can see that through my life. I love you all!

Love, Sister Malyon  

Week 61 in the Philippines - "pictures finally!!!"

Hey family!!!!

I'm excited to send you pictures because so much happened this week and pictures speak louder than words:) First of all, I love my new companion, Sister Lazan, sooo much! Just like Dad said in his email, she does match my desire to work super hard and we get along so well:) We are so excited to do all we can to help this area grow and become stronger! We are working on helping the branch become a ward, so we have lots and lots to do!

The first picture I attached is from this week in one of our areas that is right along the beach. We freaked out when we saw this amazing sunset and had to stop a to take a few pictures:) Seriously, I still can't believe I get to be in the most beautiful place ever! Can you believe this sunset? 

The second picture is from when we had a dinner appointment this week with the Sioco family. Brother Jeno, branch missionary, and President Castaneda, are also in the picture. I'm sure I've talked about the Sioco family before because three of them are all recent converts. They are so great. We talked about the priesthood this week and Sister Sioco shared how much peace she feels in her life knowing that her very own husband holds the power of God to bless their family. 

I think I totally took that for granted growing up! I feel so extremely blessed that I was raised in a family with the priesthood and that cutie bum dad was always worthy to exercise the priesthood to baptize me, to give me father's blessings...etc. 

Brother Don Don and Sister Jennifer got married!!!!!!!! Friday was their wedding and it turned out sooo well! In this picture, Sister Rhodora is in the purple dress. She is Jennifer's best friend and also a recent convert. She was the one who originally referred, quite a few months ago, the missionaries to teach Jennifer. She's been like their biggest fans in this whole process of getting them married and baptized:) The cute little girls were the flower girls haha. The wedding was actually super simple though in the chapel and it was so neat because there were so many non-members who attended, friends and family of the beautiful bride and groom:) 



Brother Jeno is in the picture all ready for the baptism because Bro Don don and Sis Jennifer both got baptized right after their wedding! haha it was sooo awesome. Of course, we had a separate program for the baptism and everything just turned out so well. Sister Laulu got permission to come attend, which made them really happy:) 

And then on Sunday, at our special sacrament in Sua, Don Don and Jennifer were confirmed the gift of the Holy Ghost and Don Don was ordained the Aaronic Priesthood, office of a priest. It was such a special meeting and the Spirit was so strong and I just felt so much joy and love in the cute little Semillano home with our 35 members/investigators who attended in Sua. We actually needed someone to pass the sacrament, so brother Don Don exercised his priesthood the same day he was ordained and passed the sacrament! It was so amazing and he was glowing! Oh goodness, I just love this work so much! 

Saturday was Brother Joemil and Sister Mary Grace's baptism! It was so wonderful! Their whole family came, which was so awesome. Sister Marian, the mom, has been supportive but not interested for herself, so we were surprised when she showed up! The same goes for the older son, Joemar. But we know that they will come around as well and one day in the near future, the whole Gamarcha family will be members:) I wish you could've all seen Brother Joemil's face when he came up out of the water. I don't think I've seen anyone happier than he was! He was just beaming and gave Brother Jondel, who baptized him, a huge hug! It was so cute. He also bore such a powerful testimony and shared a verse from the Book of Mormon that he loves, 3 Nephi 15:9, and had found in his personal scripture study. so cool. 

Well, that was our incredibly exciting week! Now this week we have a leadership meeting with the Area President, Elder Ardern, on Wednesday, then Mission Tour with him on Thursday and then Brother Steve is getting baptized on Saturday! This work is hastening and so amazing!

I love you all and keep you in my prayers! I hope you feel the excitement of these times when the Lord truly is hastening His work.

I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only and true way for us to experience true, deep and lasting joy here in this life and in the next. I know that Heavenly father loves each of us for who we are, with all of our flaws and weaknesses and gives us the opportunity to change and improve each day through His son, our older brother, Jesus Christ. 

I love you all! 

Love Sister Malyon