Tuesday, February 9, 2016

The One With The Effort - Feb. 7, 2016

Because I actually took the time to pre-write this email like I used to, so y'all get a little more to read this week ;) 
Good morning!

This week has been... I can't think of a good word, so I'll just make one up. It's been frabbledinkuswomply. This week we've been trying to contact all the OYMs from last Blitz day, and that's been an adventure. We've found a few people to teach by asking them where the other people live, but all the other people who were "SO ready and incredibly accepting" are hiding from us ;) ha. People. Baka pangit kami. Ayos lang. BUT! We're making a lot of progress in Lebueg (one of our baranggays). 2 of our investigators in LeBueg came to church yesterda! :D Hoorah! Now to see if they're willing to go to Urdaneta for Stake Conference next week... #therealchallenge. 

Also one of our investigators has a giant rooster. Roosters are weird. Speaking of animals, Lola had puppies!! I love Lola :) and her babies :) There's four an we got to name them. The black and white one is named Hamlet, the white one is named Pinky (but no Brain cause there's only one white one), the dark brown puppy is named Taps, and the light brown one is named Burts. Taps pooped on Tapusoa. I laughed. 

I guess this email isn't too much longer than the other ones, huh? Ayos lang. But hey! It's already the last week of the transfer! Ano ba?? That was speedy. Also I make really good mac and cheese. Tonight we're making ramen :) but not the silly packaged ramen. Reeeeeeal ramen. Well, mostly real ramen.

Enjoy these cute animal pictures :) and also pics from our hike the other day. The picture of the blobby thing is from the fabric softener that turned into a monkey when I poured it in the laundry bucket .

Love you all <3

-Sister Burton (Pinakamaganda)





The One With Nephi - Jan. 31, 2016

This week I've been trying to follow Nephi's example by being more obedient. Because it's SO HARD waking up in the morning O_o we had interviews with President Deyro this week and I told him I'm exhausted by the day before I even get out of bed. He said it's probably orange-level stress. Ha. So during personal study the other day I came across 1 Nephi 20:18, which made me think about the things I need to work on to recieve the promised peace. Aaanyway, I've been trying really hard to get out of bed on time this week and exercise, and it's been great! I don't get exhausted til like, 3 or 4! Hooplah!

We had the Blitz in our area this week, so that was great :) the elders kept asking where they were supposed to go and I'm like "Uuuuuuuuummmmm I have no idea. Ask Taps." But they found lots of new people for us :) Hoorah for Israel! 

Strom and I watched most of the Joseph Smith movie and Joseph and Emma are my OTP.

Love you all :3
-Sis.B.

The One Where We're Relentless - Jan 24, 2016

And soooooo tired O_o Last week was Relentless week in our zone. Then it was announced that this week is Relentless week too... we're tired :) anyway! The work is still going. We had an OYM blitz last friday and there's anti-drug signs everywhere and one of them said "Prohibited Drugs Lead To Hell. Beware." and it made me really happy. I hope everyone's had a good time lazing on a Sunday, lazing on a Sunday, lazing on a Sunday afternoon :) *insert electric guitar solo* I cut my hair yesterday. 

Well, Strom and I cut my hair yesterday. We had no idea what we were doing, but it's okay cause it's fun and I don't have a mullet anymore :D oh frabjous day! Calooh, callay!

Also sometimes I give Voldemort hugs to old ladies because they don't hug me back when I hug them and I'm like WAT I DO NOW. Ha.

This week has been tiring. BUT our less active members are starting to come back to church and that makes me happy :) Hooplah! 
Yep. 

Love the work, love the Lord, love you all :)
Que je crois en toi :3

-Sister Burton
(Pangalawang-Pinakamaganda)

Please enjoy these pictures of us being cute and the tortillas I made and cute animals and things :) 






The One With All The Animals - Jan. 17, 2016

This week has been great :) new area, new people, new animal friends because ONE OF THE MEMBERS HAS MONKEYS. And cool lizard things that I was told were alligators but actually they look like komodo dragons. And one of our less active members has the cutest, sweetest husky :) I love animals. ALL OF THEM. Except insects and spiders. They aren't animals. They're tiny demons. Well, maybe not the scary-as-heck weird squishy ant bug things that are tan and have moth wings and fly with their bodies vertical instead of horizonal and have weird little club feet and grashopper legs... I think those are fairies disguised to look like nasty bugs.

Aaaanyway. The work is still going good :) we just need people to come to church on Sundays because, you know, that's vital :) Go to church. Dooo iiiittttt. Lots of new investigators this week, it's great ^_^ AND! We went to Cute Nanay's birthday party on Saturday. She's the mother of one of our less active members, and she's SO CUTE. She's a little raisin lady and she doesn't understand Tagalog either cause all she speaks is Ilocano, and she gives me a big hug every time she sees me and she always wears an old lady mumu. We learned how to say I love you in Ilocano just for her :) haha "ayayatin ka!"

Anywho, that's pretty much my week :) not much to report... I apologize for the lack of information you're probably wondering about :) But I'm buhay pa. 

Mahal ko kayoooo!
-Sister Burton!

The One With The SIX MONTHS - Jan. 10, 2016

Well this one will be short and mostly pictures :) but the 8th marked my SIX MONTH MARK :D HOOPLAH! That's pretty exciting :) 

Also! It's almost mango season and I'm so excited and probably I'll eat so many I won't want mangoes ever again for the rest of my life :3 yasss.

Did you know I really don't like palabok? I just thought I'd let y'all know. I thought of it today, and I was like "Hmm... palabok is icky."

The work is still going good :) we only had 1 investigator come to church yesterday, BUT all of the less active members we visited this week came to church! :D hoorah! I was so happy ^_^ Life is good!

-Sister Paige Laretta Burton








The One With The Reunion - Jan. 3, 2016

Because STROMBERG AND I ARE KABAHAYS :D Hoorah!!! 

Transfers were this week and I've been transferred to Binalonan. It's great :) my new companion is Sister Tapusoa :) she's way cool. Also! New Years was an adventure, cause everyone feeds you all the time here, apparently. We went to 3 houses and got fed 4 times before lunch... Ha :)

Know what's fun? New Years resolutions :) it's the time where everyone decides on something they want to do better this year. Great, eh? It's too bad we tend to give up as soon as we mess up. But you know, that's where the Atonement comes in :) I think sometimes we think of changing our lives as a one-time, big step; and if we don't succeed at first, we go back to what we did before because it was easier that way. But I've noticed that true change, true repentance, can be a long process. It's doing your very best, but it's okay if you mess up a little sometimes, because Heavenly Father know's we're not perfect. But He also knows that we have the potential to be! So when we do mess up, we rely on the Atonment of our Savior, and we keep doing the best that we can :) and little by little, we'll get to where we need to be. Like backing out of a really bad parking job :D I know, because I'm terrible at parking.

Love you all!
-Sister Paige Laretta Antoinette Francesca Marguerite de la Grande Buche Burton 

The One With The Silent Night - Dec. 27, 2015

Merry Christmas! I guess Silent Night is my nickname now... it's cause I don't talk. But it's okay. Anyway! Christmas was great :) We watched movies and ate food and I made cookies and we had a grand old time :) 

Also on Christmas Eve we had the Christmas initiative at the mall, where Elder Dahle and Elder Dromey put on a concert and we went and OYMed to EVERYONE and we showed church videos and stuff. We had -maybe- a hundred people show up over the 4 hours it was going on, and most of them were members, but that's okay too. We still found people :) 

Malyn and Manilyn were baptized this weekend! :D Hoorah!! Except we waited for Malyn at the church on Saturday and she didn't show up, so Bro. Marny went to their house to see where everyone was and they were like "We can't find her, she's probably at the palengke somewhere." So.... Manilyn was baptized on Saturday. We went to Malyn later that night and told her she could be baptized in the morning, and she was so excited ^_^ so she was baptized Sunday morning. Also she stole my camera and took a picture of her little brother peeing on the steeple of the church... WHY -_- Children. 

Aaaanyway... Someday I'll be strong enough that I can punch really hard underwater so I can punch a shark in the face :)
Love you all! Merry Christmas and happy New Year!!

The One Where Everyone Freezes - Dec. 20, 2015

Hello po dearests! This week has been cold :) I love it! It rained for like 2 days straight and I was actually cold! I mean, I've been cold here before but that's because of the aircon at the stake center so that doesn't count. But we got home on Wednesday night and I wore a hoodie and it was the best <3

Also! I finished the Book of Mormon this week :) first time on the mish! Hoorah! Finishing the Book of Mormon is awesome, especially when your family is the best and sends you Jaffa Cakes :) Scriptures and Jaffa Cakes should go hand-in-hand, because scriptures make you happy, and Jaffa Cakes taste like happiness. Like the feeling you get when you take the first bite of shepherds pie! Just like a hug for your soul :3

Speaking of food, the promise that if you open your mouth it'll be filled is so true ;) haha! SO many dinner appointments this week! Ano ba?? Anyway. It's great.

So remember two years ago when I went to the Messiah sing-in practice and I was crazy lost and couldn't sight sing to save my life? Still bad at reading music. BUT. The song we sang at that particular practice was For Unto Us a Child is Born, and guess what MoTab sang at the Christmas Devotional? Yep! So my kabahays downloaded it and it's all they listen to. I think at first it was one of those songs where you listen to it cause you think it's silly, and before you know it you know every single word. At any rate, we've listened to it on repeat at basically every opportunity, and we're ready for the sing-in now. SO READY.

Also there's a Peanuts movie? Why was I not told about this?? Y'all are supposed to tell me about important things that happen :P I had to find out from a Happy Meal board at McDo. But I forgive you.

In happy news, Malyn and Manilyn are getting baptized this weekend! Hooray! Manilyn is Waken's little sister, and she's awesome :) and Malyn is... Malyn :) haha it's been a long time in the making but it's finally here! And she's SO excited! I made her a dress for the occasion :) I have to fix it though, I'm still way bad at guessing neck hole sizes... 

Also yesterday Sister Montenegro was like "Hey, recite the Young Womens theme" and I was like "Ha yeah, okay." Cause after reciting it every week for 6 years I know it by heart, right? So I started off "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places, as we strive to live the young women values, which are: Faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. Ask and ye shall-- WAIT." Missions change you :P haha! 

Love you all!
-Sister Burton

(I'd send awesome pictures but my card reader has passed on :P)

The One With The Truck - Dec 13, 2015

Hello po everyone! 

This week has been great :) even though I'm sickly so my brain feels like mud and coughing isn't fun. But CHRISTMAS! I love Christmas :) Christmas Conference was wonderful and I love everything AND WE WATCHED PRINCE OF EGYPT AND MY HEART CRIED FOR JOY. And the Christmas Devotional was wonderful too :) someday I'll audition for MoTab, I think. Will I make it? Ha. Probs not. But I'll audition :)

Apparently the other sisters' investigators call me Sister Mahinhin... haha! One of them has a huge crush on me. He's six. Ain't that just the way.

Adventure/Miracle story! Let me preface this by saying that the bread truck is my FAVORITE truck. Heavenly Father sends it our way whenever we're punted a lot so that I can get a chocolate crinkle (or two or three...) to cheer myself up. So this last Saturday we had to get to MCM but we were in our far area and it was dark already and we couldn't get a trike. So we're standing there waiting and I jokingly said "Hey maybe we'll see the bread truck!" cause we'd gotten snacks from the bread truck earlier. So we're standing there waiting and then THE BREAD TRUCK DRIVES BY. And the fellowshipper we were working with stops it and got some cookies, then the bread truck lady was like "Hey! Hop in, we'll give you a ride!" and they took us to the church :) we were like 20 minutes late because we were stopped every so often by people wanting yummy pastries, but it was a Christmas Miracle :) 

The end :)

The One With The Week - Dec.6, 2015

Still alive :) this week has been weird. I was asked if I'm related to Cliff Burton from Metallica... I was like "Um... I dunno. Probably." Ha :) also the mosquitoes are back and it's #theworst. But I'll live. My hair is growing, which is good, except I have a yucky mullet but the rest of my hair isn't long enough for me to even it out. So pony tails every day for like the next month :) haha! 

The work is still going good. Haha one of the little Tatays in our ward was talking to us the other day and he was saying that I need to marry a man who can provide 3 meals a day AND snacks in between. I'll have to keep that in mind, I guess. :P Haha he's also way old and was saying "I want to die soon, cause I'm too old. I think I want to die soon." and we're like "... yeah, okay, Tay."  and then when we left we said "Take care!" and he said "I just told you I want to die and you're telling me to take care??" He's a funny old man :P

Anyway, miracles really do happen every day :) this whole week we've been walang-investigators, then yesterday Heavenly Father was like "Here, have THREE!" so that's good :) they're cool. I like them.

So I really like coloring books now. The super intense complicated ones, ya know? And I was thinking, it's a lot like the work (or life, really). Sometimes it seems like there's SO MUCH to do, and it's really overwhelming, but if you take it one step at a time, piece by piece, you make something really pretty and you just build on what you have already. Iyan lang :) keep being wonderful, you wonderful people :)

Enjoy these pictures of a sour-thing tree and the things we do when we're bored.





The One With The Leading - Nov 29, 2015

Top o' the mornin'! 
Let's see... this week has been... good. I wanted to use a better adjective but I can't think of one. It's been good. We had exchanges on Wednesday, and I led the area for the first time, which is pretty exciting. I guess technically I've led before, but that was with A-Cruz so she already knew everything anyway :P haha. Anyway, Tuesday night we met with the other sisters at CB mall, then Sis. Leyte and I went back to Villasis. So Wednesday I led and we got punted a lot but it's okay because we also OYMed a lot :) and I made Salted Caramel Cloud 9 cookies and they were AWESOME. Then Thursday we went to Manaoag. And it took like 2 hours, then we got to the house, I got A-Cruz, and we made the trek back. AGGE. Sometimes I really dislike long rides. But it was airconditioned so I guess it's alright. I bought cheese -REAL cheese!- last week and made grilled cheese sandwiches and it was heaven. And Kelly-Dog had puppies!! They're perfect. And remember Ham the pig from next door? He's a girl. And also had babies :)

Also we taught a funny old man on Friday. His name is Antonio, and he LOVES the Bible, which is great :) Except one problem- he basically can't hear me when I talk. Ha. My voice is too high, so he can't hear it very well >_< it's like high school all over again. 

Aaaanyway. As you may have noticed by now, the Church has a new... what's the word? Christmas thing :) good enough. Initiative!! And it's really great, because #ASaviorIsBorn just for us :) A lot of the time we focus on the fact that Christ died for us, but how often do we reflect on the fact that He was born for us? He was born here on earth and lived for us, showing us the path to Heavenly Father. He was our perfect example of how to treat others and how to become really, truly happy :) With this Christmas season right at the door, take a little time (or a lottle time) to think about why our Savior was born and how He lived for you ^_^



The One With The Fairy Tale - Nov 22, 2015

Good morning po!
This week hasn't been too terribly eventful, so not a bunch to report... but I did learn how to make lugaw. Well, cheater lugaw. It's cream of chicken soup with rice and soy sauce and calamansi. It'd be better with cilantro but I haven't seen cilantro in forever and a half. Also I made more cookies. I love cookies. I know we probs won't need to eat in heaven because immortal and stuff, but I hope we'll still eat there anyway because I really love food. Except seafood. And smelly green mush (sorry mum). 
Anyway, this week has definitely been a bit of a patience tester, because... well, I love Malyn, but sometimes AGGE. She's a handful (bucketful, poolful...). But she's getting a lot better at praying, and she's excited to "apat simbahan" so she can get baptized. She's an adventure for sure, but it's okay cause she's helping me develop Christlike attributes ;)
Also this week I've been thinking about The Princess and the Goblin. There's a part in the book where Princess Irene really wants to show her great great grandmother to her friend Curdie. But when she goes to introduce them to each other, Curdie can't see the grandmother. When Princess Irene asks why he wasn't able to see her, the grandmother says something to the effect of "He didn't see me because he didn't want to see me. Even if he had seen me, he wouldn't have believed it. He would've passed it off as a dream." And I thought about how that's so applicable to us. There are so many times that Heavenly Father blesses us in our lives and we just choose not to recognize it. We take for granted the many blessings He gives us every day and wonder why He doesn't play a bigger role in our lives. Silly, isn't it? It's up to us to want to believe. It's up to us to have the faith to look for the things that happen every day that are blessings in disguise. So let's try this week to have a bit more faith and really SEE :)
Much love, 
Sister Burton!




The One with the Malawakang Punting (and the birthday) - Nov 15, 2015

This week has been ridiculous :P pretty much Sunday through Tuesday we were punted on almost every lesson we'd planned. Then Wednesday was good cause we got a new investigator for my birthday! Then Thursday through Sunday were fairly unproductive too... it was weird. Like, we've never had this many plans fall through. Also sometimes we get to their houses to teach a part member family and the investigators leave... Tatay George saw us see him and escaped out the back before we got to the door. Eesh. Anyway, this week will be better :)

The language is coming a little better, but sometimes people say stuff that I would normally understand but I'm just like "I can't *plllbbbbt* understand *pppllllbbbttt* your accent *plllbbbbbbttttt*" so they think I don't speak tagalog at all. But it's fine, I'm making progress X) Anywho...

I'm really good at making cookies now. So I made chocolate chip cookies for my birthday :D speaking of which, my kabahays surprised me with loud noises and decorations and cake when I woke up on Wednesday. Twas fun :) except I tasted like morning and looked like death. But I had chocolate cake for breakfast :) 

Anyway, something I really liked from my studies this week was Helaman 5:6-7 where Helaman is talking to his sons, Nephi and Lehi, about their namesakes and how he wants them to be good like the first Nephi and Lehi :) and it's really important for us to remember that when we're baptized, we take Christ's name upon us. So we should always be trying to live in a way that we honor the name that we've taken upon ourselves :)

Yep yep!
Stay classy
-Sister Paige Laretta Burton

The One With The Opera - Nov 8, 2015

They were playing opera in National Bookstore last P-day and it made my heart so happy <3 I think it was Barber of Seville? Anyway, I love opera. Someday I'll be the Queen of the Night. It's fine.

So yeah, still alive!! This week has been pretty good. Pretty hot though. My 5 years of Princess Festival did not prepare me for this. Nope nope nope! Also my body was like "Hey know what'd be fun? Getting sick. Because that's the BEST!!" so I've felt a bit yucky and my brain has been mush and I've sounded like a dying cow. But other than that, good week :)

Maribel is getting baptized this week!! Hooray!! It's been a long time in the making, but we survived!! 

Also I'm staying in Villasis and Sis. Antenorcruz is still my comp so she's stuck with me for another 8 weeks :) Ha!

The ants still don't leave us alone. I went to make a peanut butter sandwich the other day and there were ants in my peanut butter. INSIDE THE JAR. 5 of them. Like, EXCUSE YOU, WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT. Anywho. Ants are dumb.

Sister Naua and Sister Smith got transferred, which means we've lost our altos. And that reminded me of a thing. Sometimes we don't feel like our part matters all that much, and we feel like we don't make a difference. But there is always someone listening, someone who needs the richness that we bring to the song that is life :) So when you're feeling like you can't do much, or you feel like giving up because you aren't needed, just remember that the melody isn't all that great without the harmony :) We need the altos, we need the tenors, we need the basses, not just the sopranos. Because otherwise it's just a lot of high notes without anything to bring life to it :) Just keep on being you, because you bring a lot more joy to people's lives than you might realize ^_^ Iyan lang.