Camping and Quading

My brother Brandon and his kids...minus Tyson who had a tummy bug, and I and my kids...minus Missy who is on her own 18 month adventure, took a trip down to Florence for an overnight trip. We also brought Lola the sheltie, KC and Caesar the shitzu pups.

This is what I learned about quading...you want to be the person in front otherwise your face is sandblasted. Another thing I learned is if you're quading with ME, you want to either be in front of me for the afore mentioned reason, or behind me because my upper arm flab acts like mud flaps and keeps debris from flying at you. You just don't want to get TOO close behind me or said mud flaps will slap you silly.

Love staring at a fire while camping.

Coyotes started barking and whooping it up very close to our camp while we were sitting around the fire. I immediately feared for the furkids.

We rode the quads to the train bridge and tunnel.


This is a cool picture, it should be on the front of a book or album or something.


Brandon brought a $5 rope, I think he got it at the dollar store. We tossed it over the bridge and made a swing...of sorts.

Then we invented rope ballet






Some people should never do ballet...just saying.


The babies kept themselves busy chewing on sticks











Is it me...or do they throw like girls?

This that and other stuff

I suppose it's time for an update. I'm so far behind on my blogging I think I'm ahead!

I've been doing...stuff. I was never much of a cookingbakingdofunstuffinthekitchen kind of mom. I hope to be that kind of grandma. Kiki and I have discovered we enjoy doing stuff together.

Our most recent project was making these yummy caramel/chocolate dipped pretzels.


It was our first time making them...we made some mistakes and learned that pretzels break VERY easily. Especially if you are impatient and don't take care lifting them.



We made MORE mistakes...like you can spray as much cooking spray on a cookie sheet as you want...the chocolate sticks anyway and requires a chisel to lift them off which means MORE broken pretzels...if you're impatient and don't lift gingerly. Note to self...cooking spray for caramel, wax paper for chocolate. Don't worry about all these broken ones though, I have at least 2 for breakfast each morning.



We finally had some success and we both shared with our friends at work. We will not be making these again for a long time.


For Valentines Day we made Rice Krispie Treats dipped in white chocolate because rice krispie treats alone do not have enough calories.



These were also taken to friends at our offices.



We also made many of these



And turned them into this and shared THEM with our offices as well. If we keep this up we'll ALL have muffin tops



In February I became a grandmother...of sorts. Meet KC (for Kiki & Curtis)on the right, and Ceasar (for Little Ceasar's Pizza) on the left. KC is full of spit and vinegar and rarely slows down. She beats up on Ceasar endlessly or until he's had enough and gives her what for. She is curious and busy. Ceasar is laid back and doesn't have a care in the world. They are shaping up to be great friends. You can read more about them HERE

I have 2 of these chairs that have a home at the island in my kitchen. Rarely are they used for sitting at the island. I use them as a stepping stool when I need to reach things way up high. They also are used as extra seating around the kitchen table or any time we need....well...extra seating! I noticed one of them had a tear in the plastic and upon further inspection, notice someone had actually scored the plastic in a checkerboard pattern...what the?! I decided to do something WAY out of my realm of creativity. I re-covered them myself. It took a few weeks of searching fabrics to find a pattern I both liked and had all the colors I wanted. Each chair took about an hour.



I think they turned out pretty good! I have noticed though, I don't want to use them for a spepping stool anymore, I'm not putting dirty shoe bottoms on my works of art!


I'm also intent on creating a "C" wall. I'm stealing the idea from my good friend Jenny(who just had the most ADORABLE identical twins) she did an "O" wall, you can see it HERE I don't have a wall that big to work with but I do have a few C's collected. Now all I need to do is decide how I wan't my family room arranged so I know which wall to put them on!

Driving in Phoenix

Only someone from the Phoenix area would understand and the really funny
thing is that this is all so true!

1. 'Phoenix' actually consists of Scottsdale, Chandler, Tempe, Mesa,
Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, Tolleson, Avondale, Goodyear, Litchfield Park,
Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun Lakes, Surprise, Laveen,
Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, and half of the Mexican border.

2. The morning rush hour is from 6:00 am to 9am.
The evening rush hour is from 3:00pm to 7:00 PM.
Friday's rush hour to Flagstaff starts on Thursday morning.

3. The minimum acceptable speed on most freeways is 85 mph.
On Loop 101, your speed is expected to match the highway number.
Anything less is considered 'Wussy'.

4. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere.

For example, cars/trucks with the loudest mufflers go first at a four-way
stop; the trucks with the biggest tires go second. However, in the East
Valley , SUV-driving, cell phone-talking moms ALWAYS have the right of
way.

5. If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be rear ended.


6. Never honk at anyone. Ever. Seriously.
It's an offense that can get you shot.

7. Road construction is permanent in Phoenix .
Detour barrels are moved around for your entertainment during the night to
make the next day's driving a bit more exciting.

8. Watch carefully for road hazards such as drunks, dogs, barrels, cones,
cats, mattresses, shredded tires, rabbits, vultures, javelinas,
roadrunners, quail, and the coyotes and bob cat feeding on any of these
items.

9. Dunlap and Olive are the same street.
Peoria and Shea are the same street.
Mesa Drive and McQueen are the same street.
Stapley Road and Cooper are the same street.
Apache Blvd. in Tempe is Main Street in Mesa which is Apache Trail in
Apache Junction.
Also Glendale Ave. becomes Lincoln Drive.
Jefferson becomes Washington, but they are not the same street.

Maricopa Freeway, Papago Freeway and the 'I-10' are the same road.
SR202 is the same road as The Red Mountain FWY, and is the same as the San
Tan Freeway.
I-17 is also called The Black Canyon Freeway as well as The Veterans Memorial Highway.
The Superstition is also known as US 60.
The 101, 202 and 303 remain a large mystery to most of us.
It is not yet determined if there is a Red Mountain and a San Tan or just
a Red/Tan Mountain Freeway all of which is the Loop 202.
The SR51 has recently been renamed to Piestewa Freeway because Squaw Peak
Parkway was too easy to pronounce.
SR101 is also the Pima FWY except west of I-17 it's the Agua Fria FWY.


Lastly, Thunderbird Rd. becomes Cactus Rd. -- but, Cactus Rd. doesn't
become Thunderbird Rd. because it dead ends at a mountain.

10. If someone actually has their turn signal on,it has been 'accidentally activated.'

11. If you are in the left lane and only driving 70 in a 55-65 mph zone,
you are considered a road hazard and will be 'flipped off' accordingly.
If you return the flip, you'll be shot.

12. For summer driving, it is advisable to wear potholders on your hands.

13. Please note that there are many, MANY more issues to the phenomenon of
driving in Phoenix --like the 4-cars-through-a-red-light rule -- but these
will at least get you acquainted with our unique life on the road.

** HOWEVER *** THE MOST DANGEROUS THING ON THE ROAD ARE OUT OF STATE
DRIVERS!!!
We "lovingly" refer to them as Snow Birds.

Let's talk clearance

First of all let me just mention that I've created a blog of Melissa's mission.  It's just posts of her letters and whatever pictures she sends.  The link is to the right if you're interested



NOW, let's get down to business!  Can I just say that Target has the WORST clearance.  It drives me insane when something is posted as a clearance item and it's 30% off...30%!...really?  Don't waste my time.  Sometimes things are marked less than a dollar off and they have the nerve to call it a clearance.  Note to Target...Clearance means at the very LEAST 50% off, mark it 75% and I'm all over it.


Now lets talk about their store brand.  I once bought their lotion that said "compare to Jergens"....so I did.  After a week of using the stuff I sat down and typed an e-mail to Target.  I told them that I took on the challenge of comparing their store brand...like it says on the bottle...to Jergens.  I told them that if they put something like that on their brand the contents should at least be comparable to what they are challenging.  I then suggested they change the name of their lotion to..Dry itchy Skin in a Bottle..I mean, let's call it what it is.  I never heard back from them.

When mean yes!

Hopefully soon this child of mine will send some pictures I can post. Until then we are left only with her inspiring words.

Magandang Hapon!! (good afternoon)

Well, I made it 4 weeks in the Philippines...does someone have one of those watches that slows time down because it is definitely crawling haha!! I feel like this month has lasted forever!! I can't believe everything I have gone through so far. So the highlight of this week was going on exchanges with Sis McCormack--an American!! We had the best 2 days together!! I stayed at her place and we just had so much fun...and worked stinken hard too! We really had to rely on the Spirit because we didn't have native companions to fall back on, so if we wanted to be understood you bet we called upon the Holy Ghost to be there! We got 4 new investigators and contacted a lot of people!! That is more work than we each do in our individual companionships! So many crazy things happened though, if you can imagine--2 young American girls who don't know the language or the culture lol!! We got served tea (we're pretty sure it was, but we drank it all cause we had just extended the baptismal commitment) and cow skin (SICK!!!!). I also extended the baptismal commitment to a member lol, wasn't informed before hand that he was a member and it was his mom that wasn't--but he was answering all the questions right and when i asked if he knew it was all true...i committed him to be baptised...oops! It was way fun and sooooo good to be with someone who understood everything i was saying and feeling!!!! It gets so hard being with a companion who has no clue what I'm going through and i have no clue what she is going through!

When I got back from exchanges, I was very depressed lol..that was a rough day. Sis Rivera had a lot on her mind and I thought she was getting annoyed with me so I was just feeling so sad and alone. That night I had a major break down (by myself cause I didn't want sis Rivera to see me) I just didn't know why I was there and didn't feel like I was doing anything or making any progress. When we went to bed that night I said the prayer and then after sis Rivera asked me if she hurt my feelings. So this is funny....I asked her the question "when?" however, in Ilacano when means "yes" haha so when i said when, she apologized and gave me a hug then turned to say her prayers. I was really confused for a little while then realized i just told her yes. Which, i guess my feelings were hurt but i wanted to know why she thought that. Anyway i thought it was pretty funny and the next day we worked everything out. Holy cow, so many ups and downs on a mission!!! My emotions can't handle this!

I've started taking bucket showers...they aren't bad, I actually like them. Dad, you would love the water saving that goes on here haha! We pore water down our toilets, take bucket showers and wash our own clothes! The water bills are SUPER cheap! Another cool thing about this place, instead of knocking on doors, cause usually there aren't any, we say "tao po!" which means "people are here!" its pretty sweet! The work has been rough lately, none of our investigator have had time to meet with us and none of them are going to church. I really don't know what this place needs but we are praying so hard to know what to do! Sis Rivera said the city is a little tougher because there is a lot of pride in people's hearts. But at the same time, I know there are hearts out there that are ready, we just need to find them! Crazy, i asked the bishop how many ward members there are--500, and guess how many attend--100, on a good day, about 80 when its rainy. inactivity is a huge problem here! We need to work so much with our recent converts to make sure they have a solid testimony and wont drift away easily.

My teacher at the mtc told us that in order to become fluent in a language the statistic is that you need to make 2 million mistakes....dang. To me that means that you can't be afraid to make those mistakes or else you will never get there. And I think that applies to all aspects of life :) So just get out there and do it, right?! So I was reading yesterday 1 nephi 8, lehi's vision and found a cool contrast. in verse 30 it talks about the people who were steadfast and when they reached the tree they fell down most likely in gratitude that they had made it--their journey had meant something to them. Then in verse 34 it mentions people falling away. That made me think about life. When times are really hard and we think we can't do it anymore (which happens to people more than we think), do we fall down to our knees and ask for the Lord's strength and support....or do we fall away because we just can't do it anymore? It makes me think of the quote at aunt shawnie's house..."when life gets too hard to stand, kneel" that is so true. The Savior suffered and died for us so that He could walk each of our paths with us at the same time we walk them. We need to remember that He is right next to us, all we have to do is reach out and lean on His arm for the support we need. How much I love Him and look forward to that day that I can fall at His feet and worship and praise Him for what He did for me personally. He is my strength and my light and His invitation is not just for me, it is for all. The message I bear is not my message, it is His.

Family and friends, I love you so much, thank you for your support and prayers--I know those have gotten me through the hard times :)

Mahal Kita!!!
Sis Carroll

Mabuhay from the Philippines!!!

So why did the chicken cross the road?? Lol, the other day we were on a tricycle ride to an investigator's house and had to come to a stop as a chicken crossed the road, I laughed to myself then asked Sis Rivera that question...she just smiled--pretty sure she had no clue what I was talking about! I had to just keep that one to myself! Communication gets a bit difficult at times between sis rivera and I...I can't fully express my feelings and what I am going through because she really has no clue. I just keep praying that she remains patient with me, and for the most part she is every single day! I'm starting to try and use more Tagalog in my teaching which means I don't say very much but sis rivera understands and always does a good job of teaching most of the lesson. I just sit there and smile at the people a lot. I hope they know that I love them and care about them--that's why I am here. Some people just sit and stare at me when I'm talking, others knod their heads and smile and try and help me with words and sentences. Oh boy...one day I will really appreciate this haha! For the most part, I love it...every minute of it and at the same time, it's the hardest thing in the world i've ever done!!

Last week we had zone conference and let me just say...President Odjers is so amazing!! As he taught us the spirit was so strong, he is a very humble and loving man. I was able to talk with him one on one and he asked me how things were going. I said I like it....but its so hard. He asked if I had any homesickness and I told him yes. He said that is totally normal, it is an inevitable feeling. He said he had those same feelings when they first came to the Philippines. He promised me it would get better and he said in the mean time, if i ever needed to talk or take a break from anything i could get in touch with him and sis odjers and they would come to me and talk or pick me up and take me to the mission home to make some cookies for an hour just to get everything out. I felt so very cared for at that point. He told me they were there for me if i ever needed anything...he wanted me to feel good about things. He also asked about the language and I said I do most of it in english right now and asked if that was okay...he said that was perfectly fine!! That was all he could ask, he even gave me permission to do it becasue the Spirit is what really matters. I walked away from that meeting feeling so so happy! I had been feeling like I didn't matter at all, that I was just an object that the Lord was using for the people in this area. We're told to forget about ourselves and that it's not about us, it's about the investigator and I truly believe that but as time went on I was feeling like I wasn't important at all. And then I would feel bad when I would think about myself or home or how hard this was. It was a vicious cycle. However, during that meeting with President Odjers I felt like I did matter very much. I felt so at peace and loved by President Odjers. That night during my prayer just before bed I asked Heavenly Father if that was how He felt about me and I got an overwhelming feeling of comfort and confirmation that I meant the world to Him. He let me know that I was being taken care of and though this was hard, it was worth it and it was only for my good. He let me know that He was with me during everything and that I could do this. Let me just say that 10:30 is my favorite time of day...haha and not because its bedtime, but because I get to talk to God one last time before the day is over and talk to Him about everything. I always go to bed with peace in my heart. The bible dictionary defines prayer as the time when the will of the child and the will of the Father are brought into correspondence with one another. How very true that is. Each time I pray, I feel that my will is swallowed up in His and I feel a renewed sense of "I CAN DO THIS!!" Pray is truly amazing, the Lord does "abide with [us]" during our prayers.

So, I am determined to enjoy every single day and every single hard moment! As I tell myself that I enjoy something that is hard I realize how much I do actually like it haha. And if I dwell on how hard it is...guess what, it gets harder lol, funny concept. What we get out of our trials are what we put into them! I am just going to let this time run its course and in the mean time, I am not going to waste any of it wishing for something in the future. I had a dream last night that my mission was over and I couldn't remember anything! I do not want a hallow year and a half because I kept waiting for one thing to be over with only to wait for the next thing to be over with.

The work here is going strong....people's hearts are ready for the gospel the problem is that they don't have any sense of urgency to live the gospel standards. Getting people to church is like pulling teeth, especially on rainy days!! A lot of people have testimonies and they pray every day, but when it comes to going to church or reading their scriptures, they don't see the NEED. And boy is there ever a NEED! The only way for us to receive revelation for our lives is through prayer, scripture study and church. We need those things as a foundation to protect us from Satan and his many attempts at destroying us. I get a little discouraged at the fact that they don't understand that. We really try and emphasize it and they seem to get it and we commit them to living the gospel and to do those things...and then when we follow up at our next visit, they haven't changed anything. Inaku!! They are sure great though, the people. So nice and funny! I do really look forward to becoming more apart of their culture!

Haha, those three 9 yr old girls....one of them has a dad that's not active, the other's family doesn't want anything to do with it, and the 3rd one with a baptism date, her dad just started taking the discussions and we are going to try and commit him to baptism this week...he seems very receptive!! Speaking of baptisms...i dont think i mentioned that we had a baptism the day after i got here! That was pretty cool, it was an older man and he is just the sweetest ever, he always feeds us marienda's and is just so nice everytime we come over to teach his daughter! And as far as overweight filipinos...there are some that are heavier but they mostly just have big bellies--from all that stinken rice which i told sis rivera that i can only eat it when we have meals at member's houses!
This week we are going on exchanges with sisters in the next area (one of them being the american who has only been here for 6 wks longer than me) and guess who I am going with.....the american girl! haha, somehow they trust us to be put together for 2 days not knowing the language. I think the district leaders or whosever in charge feels like we need to talk to one another about things!! Haha, im way excited!!!!

I want to end with this scripture that I found during my personal study and thought it fit quite nicely:
"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life"
3 Nephi 5:13

Alam ko na nabubuhay and Mananubos ko!

Mahal ko kayo,
Sis Carroll

Getting the hang of it

So for now it would appear that my blog has turned into the missionary blog. I would go through and correct all the typosm punctuation and capitalizations but, well, I just don't want to. Missy is well versed in proper english, grammar and punctuation but she has a limited time for e-mailing so she doesn't focus on correction and neither will I.


Kumusta Kayo!!

So like the subject states, it's only been a week but if feel like it's been soooo very long!! Things are getting better each day haha, I didn't realize how many emotions were connected with a mission! I am able to understand a little bit more as the days go on...I just have to remind myself that i've only been here a week. I tend to get a little frustrated with not knowing the language or what's going on around me but that is perfectly okay because of coarse that stuff wont come for a little while! Anyway, it's really has been good...I like it here, it's growing on me :) I'll start with the crazy funny things that have happened before I get into the spiritual growth i've experienced in just one week...

First, let me just talk about the transportation for a little bit....talk about extreme go-carting!!! So mostly when we need to travel a longer distance or get somewhere in a hurry, we take a tricycle...a motorcyce whith an attachment. There are no street lights or stop signs or cautions....it's all open ground for anyone to drive anywhere haha! There's the occasional dotted line down the center of the street pero, that's only a suggestion. Everytime I ride in the tricycle I feel like I am on the go cart ride of my life!! It's like dodgeball mixed with go carts-- no joke! It's actually quite fun! There are also horse drawn buggies everywhere, i have yet to ride on one but really want to! And of coarse the jeepney'--which are just like the pictures on google! They are awesome! Most of the time though, we walk everywhere. Everyone is really close that we teach except for a coule people live out in the bundoks! Which is BEAUTIFUL!!! I took some pics today and hopefully can get them sent out either this week or next week! It is so so so green and full of plants of all kinds with HUGE leaves and colorful flowers. Seriously family, you have to come pick me up!!!!! By the end of the day though my feet are swollen and blistered--i wouldn't have it any other way :)

Doing laundry is interesting...the natives do it so well and make it look so easy, pero...it takes some skill which i will need to acquire! I like doing it though....it gives me time to think about things! My clothes feel funny when they dry though and so do my hands...then they peel! So let me just say that my hopes of losing weight here...not gonna happen! These Ilocano's know how to cook and it is sooo yummy and soooo fattening! Everything is fried and I definitely eat rice at every meal! I am going to have to tell Sis rivera that i'm only going to eat rice once a day because i am already gaining weight! Haha i weighed myself at our investigator's house (three 9 yr old girls) and it said 60 kilos which i don't know what that is in pounds but they were like "oh sister you are heavy!!" Awesome! So please let me know what that converts to :) It's funny, the people here say what they think about you not intending it to be offensive but they are just very blunt and open.

There is A LOT more english than I expected...most everyone understands at least a little english which is both a blessing and a curse. I am grateful because we can understand one another most of the time, but i also dont want to rely on english...i really want to learn the language and have to use it! But for now, during my part of the lessons its about 5-8 minutes of english and 1-2 min of tagalog! They conjugate so many english words too its quite funny. And everyone, whether they are members or not, calls each other brother and sister. It's pretty cool. Anyone we meet we call them brother or sister and everyone knows us...i feel like a celebrity! All i hear is "hi sister!" It's so cool. Everyone is so nice. And one thing that I will need to get used to is there sense of time....basically, they don't have any! Time does not exist, we will plan on specific times to go to people's houses but that all goes out the window, we just show up whenever and they are usually always there just chillin. Church always starts late and ends late but no one seems to notice or care. It's soooo different. I always want to be right on time and efficient but it really wouldn't do any good!

The rain is so sweet!! I just want to walk everywhere in it. Sis rivera always tells me to get out my umbrella but i never want to haha. it really hasn't rained too much yet, it's only the beginning of rainy season. The weather hasn't bothered me much, it does get hot but i really dont notice it. My skin loves it but my hair is so crazy!! A few days ago we were teaching 2 the first lesson and it started to rain so those 9 year old girls were holding our umbrellas as we taught--that was so cool!!! And that same night, I definitely got peed on by a little boy lol! I was standing on the porch and noticed my foot was the only thing getting wet and look down and yeah there was the little boy going to the bathroom! I just had to laugh.

Interesting fact: I counted how many times we pray in 1 day just for fun....we say 16 set prayers while we are in the apartment and then add to that 2 prayers for every lesson which is anywhere from 2-10 lessons a day....needless to say, a mission is 1 long prayer. it's quite amazing, i can feel the spirit really directing my prayers. The first time I heard sis rivera pray i was like holy cow that was really long, what did she even say and who was she praying for?! Now, I can see that there's no way you can just get on your knees for 2 minutes and accomplish everything that's needed in one prayer. I love praying! And I really love and value my morning study time. We do personal study for an hour, then comp study for an hour, then language study for an hour...that's a lot of studying and it goes by way to fast! This morning I was remembering the time I put into studying when I was home, some nights I'd read my scriptures for 2 minutes and call it good....how could I ever think that was sufficient to learn all that the Lord had in store for me. I LOVE reading the scriptures now and can truly see the fruits of my efforts in studying for that amount of time. I have learned so much. 2 days ago I was studying about unity and happened upon D&C 35:13-15 ( i think those are the verses) and it talks about the Lord calling upon the weak things of the world to thrash the nations by the power of his spirit.....oh boy Heavenly Father definitely knew that I needed to read that. I have felt so weak and so unlearned ever since coming here but I realized from that scripture that the Lord has called me in my weakness and that's how He wants me. He promises me that he will be my support, my shield, and will preserve me...and then that the meek and humble will have the gospel preached to them. That was a big confidence boost. I am nothing of myself, but with the Lord, I am everything He needs. Then yesterday I was studying unity again and came upon another verse that had the phrase "weak things" --He really wanted me to get the hint haha. You know, before coming here I had full confidence that I would learn the language, I wasn't worried about it one bit. However, it has been the hardest thing to keep that mindset. I find myself thinking "how am i ever going to learn and know what to say??" it almost seems impossible at times. I want so bad to express myself to the people we teach and for them to understand. As I was thinking that yesterday the scripture "trust in the Lord...and lean not unto thine own understanding" came to mind. My own understanding says I can't do this, it will take forever...but the Lord's understanding is that he called me to this work so he will provide a way. So as long as I remain humble and seek his will with the language and not my own, the language will come without even realizing it. I thought that if I prayed for the language to come quickly only because i wanted to be a better instrument in the lord's hands, He would see that i had a good desire and grant it to me. But my mindset has been changed. I realized that maybe it isn't the Lord's will that i learn the language quickly, maybe it is his will that i struggle with it for 6 months, or a year, or the whole time i'm here. I really wasn't seeking his will at first, i was seeking my own. I know i've only been here a week haha but i don't want to make any excuses for not being productive and for not being diligent. Now, I am going to accept whatever will come...I was thinking that this is my first area for a reason, im not supposed to be fluent in tagalog here for a reason. maybe there is someone who needs to see me struggle.

This hasn't been an easy week, but from a quote by elder holland "how could we think this would be easy when it was never, ever easy for [Jesus Christ]" --not a direct quote but something along those lines. Im grateful to be here and can't believe I still have 16 months to go lol!! I am looking forward to the many great experices ahead. We are teaching a 14 yr old girl and in her closing prayer (which was in english) this is one line she said that i'll never forget "I promise that I will be a good child to you" She is getting baptized in a few weeks and has the strongest desire to learn from the book of mormon. How impressed i was with her simple prayer....she is only 14 but she truly knows her relationship to her Father in Heaven, that God who created her. She is an example to me of a disciple of Christ, it is my prayer that I can be like her and promise that Lord that I will be a "good child" to him.

So....I failed to mention that I only get mail like every other week, including dearelders.....so mom, the best way now to communicate with me is through email, not dearelders haha. I wont get mail till this wednesday :) Everyone else can write me dearelders but mom i'd like to hear from home every week lol so you can email me--i have an hour now! And sorry if i don't write to people very much, my pday's are limited on time since i now have to hand-wash my clothes :) I will really try and get a few letters out though every now and then!! Thank you all soooooo much for your prayers and support. Oh and ps what is kiki's email address?!

Mahal ko kayo nang sobre!!!!!

sis carroll


mom:
Thank you for sending my email to bishop jones, im sure he appreciates that and he is able to send it to other members of the ward!! And can you please get me the recipe for no bake cookies :) and maybe some other simple food recipes that i can make for sis rivera and give her a taste of america! Also, for a package which doesn't need to be sent right away...rubber gloves and floride rinse from the ortho office, have kiki get me some please!

First E-mail from the Philippines!

Kumusta pamilya at mga kaibigan ko!!!

Where do i even begin??! Well, I made it safely to laoag, that's a good start right haha! So, we got into laoag around 7pm Wednesday night along with an lds family who was picking up their sister missionary...and it was a good thing they were there because the mission pres wasn't expecting us but they were there picking up the family! I guess salt lake told them we weren't coming until Thurs morning, but all turned out well, we were taken to the mission home (which is SUPER nice) and we waited around for training to finish (they were training our new trainers) and then we all had pizza together. It was so crazy to believe I was there...the mtc seemed like a very distant dream. All of the trainers were really nice, all of the sisters were Filipino and only 2 elders were American. After dinner pres odjers let us go to bed early thank goodness because we were EXHAUSTED! The next morning we waited around for some new missionaries from the manila mtc to arrive and while we waited we had our interviews with pres odjers--i love him and sis odjers!! Full of energy and very nice and welcoming. one of the sisters told us that they are way cool and down to earth, she said we could talk to them about anything. Once the new missionaries came we had an introduction meeting and learned about the mission and got to know each other, then we had dinner then it was testimony meeting and then we got to go to bed early again. The next morning we had breakfast with all of the trainers then met together to find out our areas and our new comps!!!

So my trainer is Sis. Rivera, she is Filipino and speaks English but not very well...lol we have fun trying to talk to one another! And I am staying in Laoag for my first area...Laoag 3rd ward, its about 15 min away from the mission home. At first I really wanted to go far away out in the boonies...however, am i ever grateful that i am here!! we got to our apartment at about 1130, on Friday...i suddenly missed home, even the mtc very much haha! i could not believe what i was going to be living in...and the city was crazy--everything was just like i thought and just like what was described to me but you know, no one can ever be fully prepared for something like this! We got right into the work, we started planning for the day and the week and sis rivera told me what parts of each lesson i would do and which ones she would do--crazy!!! We left the apartment around 5 and went to some "appointments" haha, you don't really make appointments here, no one has any sense of time, you just kinda show up at people's houses or randomly see them walking around lol, its unbelievable. we were able to teach a few lessons and i did the best i could. We taught one girl who is 9 yrs old, actually there are three 9 yr old investigators and when we taught them they kept laughing at me trying to speak Tagalog and they wanted me to say the opening prayer and laughed through that...awesome lol. I'm not gonna lie, that first day I just wanted to cry and go right back home. I thought that once i got here i would automatically love it and not have any problem with culture shock, i was very much mistaken, i wasn't ready for this!

The next day my feelings hadn't changed much, all during personal study i just wanted to cry then when we did comp study sis rivera asked how i was and i started crying haha! i told her i was very grateful to be here and that she was my comp but that this is harder than i thought and also i was frustrated because i couldn't help her with the lessons, i said a couple sentences and then just sat there having no idea what anyone was saying, especially since everyone was speaking ilocano!! she cried with me lol, what a sight! Even after the crying session i still wasn't feeling any better but we went to the church building and Heavenly Father gave me a tender mercy....There was another sis missionary there that left the mtc 6 wks before me so i knew her a little bit and she came up and gave me a hug (which didn't help the wanting to cry situation) and she kept asking me how i was and i told her ever since i got here i had been on the verge of tears. She was so helpful! She said we were in the same district for one thing so we'd see each other once a week and she told me that she didn't like it at all for like 3 weeks but one day she just woke up and realized that she loved it! Talking to her gave me a lot of hope! It's not that i hated it at first, it was just really hard to be here. It's good to know that i have someone close by who knows exactly what I'm feeling!

Church was very interesting...it was 1/3 in English, 1/3 in Tagalog and 1/3 in ilocano haha! Quite amusing! They had me get up in sacrament and bear my testimony in my broken Tagalog--again with the tears, i swear I've never wanted to cry so much lol and i don't even know why! i just told them all that i couldn't speak very well but i loved them haha. I have progressively started liking it and loving the people. sis rivera is amazing, i couldn't ask for a better trainer. She is very patient with me and i can tell that she really wants to help me. She has been here for 6 transfers already ( a very long time) so she knows the area very well and the people all know her and love her. The ward members are all really nice and understanding and want to help me as well. Some of them also are quick to give me suggestions on how i can learn the language and what i said wrong but i know it's out of love and a desire to help me lol! There is a less active family, the Guillermo family, that we go to a lot and we taught them on Saturday night. Sis rivera had me teach them about faith and hope from helaman 12:4 so i said a little bit about it and shared the scripture then sis rivera asked them something about hope and one of the daughters answered and started crying during her reply, eventually the whole family was crying (even their 8 yr old boy) and so was sis rivera! What was even going on?? i had no idea, i could really feel the spirit though and the love that this family had for one another. It was interesting too, that morning i just started studying helaman 12 and then shared what i learned with sis rivera. then when we planed what to teach this family she told me to share that scripture. I truly feel like i was guided by the Lord to study that. And then guess what?! The mom was at church yesterday! This work is so amazing and the had of God is definitely in these people's lives. We really just need to help them see that.

Well, you probably want to know about my apartment and the city....there's no place like home, that's for sure! The Philippines is so so beautiful and green!!!! Other parts...not so much like our apartment for example..its very old and dirty, however i think it's nicer than other ones i will have in the future! our bathroom is about as big as the Gerbers shower...actually it isn't even a bathroom, i would call it a shower with a random toilet and sink put in there. There's no divider so when we shower the whole bathroom gets wet! and the toilet, yeah that's just gross, there is no lid or even a seat! but hey there is toilet paper haha we have a health poster from the mission home up in our house and it says to ALWAYS use toilet paper....awesome that it needs to say that. actually, we were at one teaching appointment and i used the bathroom and there wasn't toilet paper and it didn't flush at all! There are bugs all over our house, not very many spiders but plenty of cockroaches! and there is a goat on a leash across the street and a rooster on a leash around the corner which is the funniest thing!! I will get a picture of that one day for sure, its just on the side of the street in front of the church building! And i can't believe how most of these people live, just brick walls and sheets and tin roofs, dirt floors kids running around everywhere. But they are happy, life is hard but they're happy. I get called beautiful a lot haha. We'll just be walking down the street and someone will call out "sister you are beautiful!" I haven't eaten anything too weird yet, sis rivera cooks for us all of our meals...some things id rather not eat but i don't want to hurt her feelings. last night i ate a chunk of fat...mmmmmm!

I really feel like i will be loving it in no time, so don't worry about me :) i just laugh to myself sometimes at the things i see and feel! The Lord is with me no doubt about that, i have seen Him use me already and it makes me excited for when i can be more of an instrument in His hands. The church is definitely true in all parts of the world, God's language is universal, thank goodness! He knows and loves ALL of His children. I am in Laoag speaking tagalog for a reason, of coarse it would be much easier for another filipino to take my place and have me back in the states in a comfy way of living, but God has all wisdom and power, He knows the beginning from the end and my trust is only in Him. I know that I will be able to look back on this and be grateful and be able to see the fruits of my many labors. Thank you so so so much for your prayers and love!! It is truly a blessing to be here!!!

I'm sure there are so many more things i could say but time is up, i will maybe be sending pics next week!!! And guess waht, you can still used dearelder.com!! Sweet huh!? Talk to ya'll soon!!!

Mahal ko kayo!!!
Sis. Carroll

Finally!

I've just updated and still have a post from our Mexico Trip and Kiki's engagement in the making.

Another graduate

Coco graduated from Mesa High on May 27th. Graduations are boring for the most part but we sort of hooked up with the people sitting next to us who were from Venezuela. Those people know how to party! My sister woohoo'd for their graduate so they whoohoo'd for Coco, Ruth, and Dr Hamberlin's daughter McKenzie. We even got invited to their after party....with a DJ and everything and lots of food...."but no frijolies" we graciously declined But told them we would always remember them.

We are so proud of Coco. She got through these past 13 years with a lot of blood sweat and tears but she persisted and never gave up. You go girl!




I'm a little concerned about the date on this photo.




These are some of the pictures her sisters took for her graduation announcements