EATING ANTS!

So this week blew by! Its September already!! My goodness. So this week has been awesome. I discovered lots of yummy foods! First off they have banana ketchup and it is glorious. I put it on everything, literally. And like they have so many fruits here. Did you know there are more than just one kind of mango? Yeah theres like a zillion. Bananas too! They have the cutest little baby bananas that are so yummy(: they just eat rice with everything too! Like we'll eat spaghetti and rice for a meal. So at a dinner appointment this week a family fed me pig intestines. Guys, it was so good!! They forgot that americans don't do well with that kinda stuff so they didn't tell me till the next day haha it was so funny!

I also poured myself a big bowl of cereal for breakfast one morning and I was reading my scriptures at the same time so I didn't realize till I was almost done with my cereal that it was ant infested. I WAS EATING A BOWL OF ANTS. They got into my box of cereal I guess. So yeah lots of fun food experiences this week. People feed us all the time and Sister Cruz is so happy because people don't like to feed americans because they're usually so picky. I'm not a normal american according to her haha its okay. I've discovered a way to shower too!! If I hold my pee I go faster and I don't think about how cold it is. I'm a genius!! Oh one more thing that happened so me and Sister Cruz were just walking you know like missionaries do and these boys whistle at us so I just ignore them but Sister Cruz, she turns around and says 'indi kami nga mga ido!' (we are not dogs) it was the funniest thing of my life!! She doesn't get sarcasm so I'm trying to teach her that right now and it like so sadya!! hahaha I love her. I'm a giant here. I literally get clothes lined by the clothes lines. I'm just following Sister Cruz and she is so short she doesn't have to duck for anything. Like its ridiculous.

  

I'm starting to understand more and more of whats being said. I just can't figure out how to say anything thats not gospel related. Yeah God is testing my patience with this one. Nothing is more frustrating than learning a language. We have been teaching about eternal marriage and temples a lot this week! I love teaching about this. Temples are a beautiful thing. I can't wait to be able to go again! Everyone go for me!! Its an amazing privilege having a temple so close. I love this work. Seeing the gospel change these peoples lives is such an amazing thing to watch! You can literally see their countenance change (does that even make sense?) all I know is I love it and this gospel. "How well we know that Lord makes a difference in how well we follow His voice" I'm experiencing this right now and its the coolest thing! I love strengthening my relationship with God and I'm truly coming to know Him for myself. Alma 7:23 this verse is crazy awesome and what I'm working on right now! Thank you everyone for all the support and prayers!! They mean so much!! I love being a missionary!!!  

Sister Schimbeck

So just where is Jacey?  Her area is is called Sagay and according to Google Earth it is right here:

COCK A DOODLE DOOO! and Hollister

This week went by so fast oh my goodness!! And I've already been out for two months today. I can't believe it. Sometimes I can't believe I'm really here and that I'm a missionary. Like I'll see our Elders walking down the street and I'm like oh my gosh missionaries! And then I'm like oh yeah, I'm a missionary too. Its the best feeling. I love being a missionary!!

So I'm getting more adjusted to everything here now. Washing my clothes today didn't kill my knuckles! Its all in the technic (ps I can't spell anymore because this language is frying my brain so, sorry) Sister Cruz is teaching me how to cook! Oh and if anyone of you want to send me some yummy, easy recipes I would totally love it!! The people here are so easy to love. They're so kind and happy. And if you guys are wondering what happened to hollister, it over took the Philippines. They love Hollister here! haha and counter strike. Like I email in this public computer lab and all I hear in the back ground is "fire in the hole" oh it brings back memories! This weather is a lot more rainy this week. And it gives a whole new meaning to when it rains it pours. Like sometimes we have to walk in puddles up to our knees! But I love hearing the soft rain on the tin roofs during lessons. Its the best(: roosters aren't the best though. Like we'll be in the middle of a very spiritual lesson and then a rooster goes COCK A DOODLE DOOO and like ruins the whole thing, for me, its normal for everyone else. Jesus said love everyone but I just can't get myself to love these roosters. 

We have so many people to teach here. Like I thought I got to know all them and their names and everything and then we plan for this week and its a whole new batch of investigators! I'm so grateful for it though!! We can just do out thing and teach(: no worries about trying to find all the time! Sister Mercy and Miles were baptized this Saturday!! Mercy grew so much just in the time that I was there to help teach her. Her testimony about the restoration is so solid! I love it. Her conversion to the church is helping her mom reactivate too so its like double the reward! We also teach a family that has been recently converted and they are so strong and wonderful! And so funny too! They like to make me eat all these Filipino foods and watch very closely how I eat everything and then laugh because it is so different. They use spoons as knifes here! Haha the children here are like my favorite ever!! They're so sweet and loving. Whenever they see Sister Cruz and I they run to us to shake our hands. I'm now known as Siser Taylor Swift Schimbeck. Literally everyone calls me that. Haha 

I grow so much everyday here and learn something new about the gospel everyday. Serving a mission is the best decision I've ever made. I don't know how many times I've said that already but it is so true. I still struggle very much with the language but just teaching this gospel and bringing its light into these peoples lives makes it all worth it! Alma 26:16 awesome scripture! My favorite of the week. Can not say the smallest part which I feel, all the glory goes to God! This is His work and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. I love being a missionary!!

Sister Schimbeck

Philippines Bacolod Mission
Galo St. between Lacson & Mabini
Brgy. 22, Bacolod City
6100 Negros Occidental Philippines
(for those of you that have been asking for my address I finally got it!) 

Welcome to the Philippines!

I have so much to tell all you that still actually read this email!! Haha okay so when we got here we stayed in the Philippines MTC for five days (Friday-Tuesday) this MTC was so much more different than Provo! It was hard adjusting to the time and weather change too. I'm always sweaty and sticky here. Its the best (nacho libre voice) so yeah kind o a miserable time. Also Manila, where the MTC is, is so different from Bacolod!! Well I'm serving in Sagay at the moment. Manila was very dirty and crowed and like not at all what I was expecting when I imagined the Philippines. Luckily Sagay is though(: so beautiful!!! Okay so the driving in Manila is crazy. They have no traffic laws and jaywalking is okay. So yeah its nuts. There are no accidents though because there are no women drivers. It should be like that everywhere I think. 

So in the MTC we learned about that Philippines and I want to share some stuff I thought was cool. There are over 170 languages here. And it is the third largest English speaking country (good for me) they are the text messaging capital of the world. Yeah its true too. They text all the time. I saw a cop driving and texting. They are very social and love to eat. I finally know why I was called here, I'm social and love to eat, match made in heaven! Haha but Flipinos are so fun! They have lots of sass when they talk like its hilarious! They also love Americans. Like really love them. I will never get sick of hearing "hello beautiful american" or "you're so pretty" because as some of you guessed my hair and this humidity don't mix well. I look like a troll. And I don't wear make up because I'll just sweat it off. So even when I'm feeling so ugly their nice compliments just make my day(: I get asked if they can have my picture all the time too because they think I look like Taylor Swift or Brave. Oh I love these people!! 

My kaupod is a Filipina and she is so sweet!!! I just adore her. She is so patient with my learning the language. And is such a great teacher. I'm learning so much from her. Its been a culture shock being here though. Everything is different. I shower with a bucket (its freezing cold water which you think would feel good because its so hot but it feels the same as showering with cold water there, cold and no fun),

I wash my clothes by hand (my knuckles are literally rubbed raw, it hurts so bad!) I have to try and cook with this foreign food (this is thee absolute hardest part about the mission for me, I don't know how to cook) crazy bugs and animals running around everywhere (there are geckos all over the walls and ants on the ground and chickens running through lessons) and obviously the language (I can't understand them, I think I learned the wrong language in the MTC) Its so hard learning this language because when I try to speak it instead of helping me and correcting me they're just like 'Sister we can understand English' so yeah its hard. 

A mission is the hardest thing I've ever done. Ever. But it is the best thing I've ever done too. I can't even explain it. I love these people and this place and I'm so blessed to have been called to serve here! I grow so much everyday in the gospel. I love that I get to strength my relationship with God everyday and get to know Him better. I love seeing the atonement everyday in my life. He is truly watching over us and helping us in everything we. "Every true strength is gained in a struggle" He wouldn't give us the trials we couldn't overcome and through the atonement and His help they will make us stronger. I feel it everyday being here! Ether 12:27 he will make weak things become strong. This verse has comforted me so much these past few days!! I just love the scriptures!! And I love you all! I'm sorry I can't email you all back!  

Love, Sister Schimbeck

Mission Office Photos

We are so lucky Jacey's mission president up loaded over 400 pictures of her arrival to the Philippines, it was almost like being there. Here are a few of the ones he took:

Sister Schimbeck with Sister and President Lopez

The August 2014 Batch

Sagay Zone Conference Oct. 28, 2014 

Sisters Schimbeck and Cruz

Sagay Zone Conference Oct. 2014 

Getting Sleepy?