Life in Fairview

Hey y'all. Hope you're having a great week. I'm still loving life as a missionary here in Fairview.
This week my little sister graduated, I can hardly believe it. Time flies by. This week I will start my sixth month of my mission here. It's weird to think that even though I'm gone, living a completely different life, life continues to move on at home. People get taller, voices deeper, faces older, walls get painted, furniture rearranged, front lawns landscaped, new pets bought, new babies born, it’s all so easy to lose track of. I'm so thankful for such a wonderful group of people emailing and writing me, taking the time to update me.

Yesterday I gave a talk in church about prophets. Yes, in Tagalog. I practiced and worked on it for three days beforehand. I stood up at the pulpit and was shaking like crazy. But amazingly, the words I desired to share just came to my mind and out of my shaky lips. At times I was amazed by the fact that I could articulate the thoughts in my mind without first thinking of them in English. It was an amazing experience...but I'm thankful it's over. 

This week it will be over 104 degrees with 98% humidity nearly every day. Wow, it's hot. The work is moving along and we're teaching some amazing people. Every day feels like the longest day of my life, but every week goes by a little faster. Being a missionary is the single most fulfilling thing I've ever done with my life. Despite being absolutely exhausted and so hot all the time, I would never trade it. The people here are incredible and the language makes a little more sense every day. My Heavenly Father is changing me, I can feel it and I love it. I know I'm becoming the person I need to be.

I love you all!

Sister Cork

Mother's Day

This week I said goodbye to Sister Plame and welcomed Sister Oliphant to Fairview. She's 22 years old and from Pleasant Grove, Utah. She goes home in July, so this will be her last area. She just stepped down as a Sister Training Leader and I am so thankful to have her as my follow-trainer. We have a lot of work ahead of us, because we dropped many overdue investigators. Our teaching pool is small, but we're ready to work hard to find new investigators. We are really praying for the people of Fairview, especially the members. I've been chosen to be the lead teacher for a five-week English seminar. So send some prayers my way, because I don't know if I'll leave the people here speaking better English. Sister Oliphant is so great at helping me understand and improve in the language. I'm thankful to have an American be able to teach me the language because she had to learn it once too. I'm thankful for her ability to understand how I feel in this stage of learning. She runs a pretty tight ship, but I'm not complaining. Exact obedience was the first companion goal we made for ourselves. We know that if we're exactly obedient, everything else will fall into place. I'm excited for this transfer. I love the people of Fairview and want to leave it a stronger, prosperous area. We have a ton of finding work ahead of us, but I'm ready. I'm ready to make Fairview a little bit better. There is so much potential here, we just have to search for it.

Have a great week and Happy Mother's Day!

Mahal na mahal,

Sister Cork

Service is Key

Hey y'all!

This week we realized what an influence members have on those we teach. This Saturday Sister Jannet will be baptized. Yesterday was her 6th Sunday at church. We have requested that the auxiliary leaders make a special effort to include her. After sacrament meeting our bishop told her how eager he was for her baptism and that he knows she'll be a special new member in our ward. Our Sunday School teacher knew she was shy, so before class he asked if she would pray, giving her time to prepare. The Relief Society President brought her to the front of the room and introduced her during third hour. She sat with her appointed fellowshippers and chatted with the women about her family. During ward council after church we discussed which ward missionaries would help us reteach her the lessons. It was so refreshing to see a ward functioning just like it should. I am so thankful for the members of the Fairview ward who have been so kind and inviting to our investigators. When I first arrived here in February, fellowshipping was a problem. Members were reluctant, busy with their own lives, or just plain lazy. But now, after lots of member visits and lessons about our duties as members of the church, they have really stepped up to the plate. I am so appreciative of their willingness to grow and make changes to keep their baptismal covenants through inviting others to come unto Christ.

Saturday was National Day of Service and we went to Sapamanai where they normally experience 7-15 foot floods each year. I’m interested to see how that will go seeing that I work in that area. We did demonstrations on how to prepare a 72 hour kit for their families. It was really hot and slow, but eventually people listened and were interested. Our ward members worked hard and helped us to share the gospel with people as well as help them prepare temporally.

As usual, I love being a missionary. Despite challenges, trials, and impossibly hot weather, this work just gets sweeter. This week our mission president said to us, “When the temperature outside is 38C and you get punted at every appointment; when you get bitten by a dog and lose the cell phone; when you break your tooth and run out of money, just keep putting one foot in front of the other in faith, diligence and patience. Patience is refraining from complaining and murmuring in the midst of challenges and difficulties. Faith and fear are opposites. Faith is setting aside fear in order to do whatever the Lord requires, and it is doing it over and over and over again until the Lord decides it is long enough. Our challenge is to act diligently in faith and patience until we accomplish the will of the Lord. It is then that miracles will occur.”

Be patient, be diligent, be happy!

Sister Cork

My little buddy! He gets so excited when we visit his neighborhood each week. Their neighbor is getting baptized this weekend and while she was being interviewed we threw a whiffle ball and ate ube ice cream. He is so darling!

A letter from one of my favorite MTC teachers, he's the best!

 National Day of Service, Fairview Ward at our chapel

 No makeup, no worries. Omner and I taking a break from the hot day

 Digiman & Sister Cork, sounds like a Pokemon huh? He's so naughty, but we have tons of fun together. His parents and three older sisters were all baptized last summer.

 Palambok, yum!

 Chicken feet and brains! Not my favorite!

Because of Him...

If y'all haven't seen this video it's pretty spectacular

Easter

Hey y’all! This week was great, it always is. We worked hard and we got a lot accomplished. We found several less-actives that we were unaware of and began teaching a new family of investigators. We are working hard to hasten the work of the Lord here in Fairview. Sister Plame and I had a long, heartfelt chat on Monday and really got to understand each other better. When I first arrived her tough-love style of trainer was a huge adjustment for me, but I look back on the experience with a grateful heart. I am thankful for her consistency, obedience, and diligence as a trainer. This week we talked to an investigator who has now completed four Sundays. We were worried that she didn't have a testimony and full understanding on the doctrines. She has a very shy, quiet personality and rarely asks questions. As we sat in her humble home she bore her sweet testimony to us and expressed her desire to be baptized as soon as possible. We are so absolutely thrilled. Her quiet, yet powerful testimony will bless the lives of her children. We are eager to see Sister Jannet be baptized soon. I absolutely love her family. Her kids sit and play with my hair and hands while I teach. They’re darling and they love when we visit. I’m excited and happy to see them progress in their knowledge of the gospel. 

Easter week was pretty different here. It was Holy Week all week long. The stores were only open for five hours Monday-Thursday and then closed until Monday. There were huge parades, festivals, and gatherings. Massive pictures and statues of Christ blocked main roadways. In three places in my area a reenactment of the crucifixion was performed, complete with temporary crucifixions. We thankfully avoided those areas though.  Our Easter program included two speakers who spoke on the importance of focusing not so much on the brutal death of our Savior, but on his Resurrection. They did a good job and I understood most of what they said.

My words of the week are: makapagpaalibadbad (nausea) and manggagawang nasasanay (assistant). Pretty long words for such short English words. I understand more Tagalog every day, thank heavens. That is definitely an answer to earnest prayers. I have to be really patient with myself, but I learn a little more always. Hopefully by the end of this great adventure I’ll have it down.

I love you all lots and lots.

Sister Lindsay Cork

PS: It's 105 degrees here right now. Enjoy that air-con for me!

My new best friend. She showed up on our porch on Monday and I have been feeding her. 

 Wawa Dam in Montalban. The most beautiful place, I wish pictures could capture it better. There's tons of caves here where they put Japanese prisoners and sealed the entrance. Besides that gruesome thought, it's truly beautiful. It's amazing the way people live here. Tiny bamboo huts that float on the edge of the water.

Pictures

 

Sweet little baby who was blessed last week.

 Green beans, squash, coconut milk, and quail eggs. Yum!

 This dog is so mean, probably because he needs an eyebrow wax. He only barks at me, no one else.

 Masarap! This is toasted siopao. It's a hot roll filled with pork.

Part of my area, Santo Nino Barangay, it's beautiful here.

High Spirits

This week seemed to fly by. This week was truly one of spiritual highs. I had the opportunity to attend zone conference, zone training, the temple, and all sessions of General Conference. I was filled with gratitude throughout the week for the wonderful opportunities I have to be a part of such uplifting activities. Each night before going to bed I have enjoyed rereading my notes from the previous week and setting new goals for myself in my planner to improve each day. I am so thankful to have a living prophet to lead and guide my life on this earth. As I watched General Conference for the first time I felt a small tinge of homesickness. For the past two years I have attended several sessions of Conference and to see the familiar place I love so much pulled at my heart. But instead of feeling homesick I decided to feel grateful for the opportunities I've had to sit in that wonderful hall and hear the words of our leaders. I realized that most faithful saints in the Philippines will never receive that opportunity and I sat humbled and grateful for my blessings. I am so thankful for General Conference and the guidance it provides me. My favorite talks were Elder Holland’s about persecution and defending our faith because firstly I grew up in the South and secondly because that’s what I do here every day. I really liked Henry B. Eyring’s talk about the inheritance we leave to our children, made me wonder what I want my children to know about me. And I loved Elder Ballard’s talk about follow up and missionary work because afterwards tons of members came to us asking to set up appointments. Nothing like a little kick in the pants by an apostle of the Lord to get people motivated. It's amazing how they speak just to you, yet they're speaking to millions. It shows how alike we are as brothers and sisters on this earth. We all have individual situations, yet we all can be uplifted, edified, and personally touched by the same words. I am so thankful for the amazing gift I have to attend the temple every six weeks and involve myself in ordinances for those who have already passed through this life. I am so thankful for the leaders I have here in my mission and the wonderful insight they provide me during conferences, training, and meetings. This week my heart is full of gratitude, what a lucky sister missionary I am.

Mahal na mahal,

Sister Cork