Monday, September 29, 2014

YOLO~(you only live once)

Hello everyone! So this week was National Family Week. So you could guess I got pretty homesick. But I kinda like when I get homesick cause then I have to throw myself into this work even more. We were able to get 16 new investigators!!! Like we found these new areas and they're poppin with lost souls ready to receive the gospel


(: so funny story one of our investigators was bearing testimony about how the Book of Mormon has changed his life to us and he says "I'm so glad I have this book to guide my life because YOLO" I died laughing!!! Oh I love this people. So also I'm basically a master chief at making top romen, pancakes, oatmeal and spaghetti. Its all I can make hahah oh yeah! So I found out this week that the area I'm in was just opened to Sisters in November last year and I'm the first Sister to train here. So yeah it now explains why the members don't really know how to help me. All is well thought we're learning together(:


The Jain family was baptized this week(: my first family baptism on family week!!! I was so excited. This family was so changed by the gospel. Like it was the most change I've seen so far. Brother Stewart, the father, was smoking 10 plus cigarettes and drinking several glass of alcohol a day the day before we committed him to stop. He was very confident he was going to be able to stop by the next day though, but we were pretty doubtful cause he failed to stop last time we committed him to a date. But to our surprise he stopped and hasn't smoked or drank again to this day!! That's when the rest of his family really started to change too. This gospel is so amazing and I'm so blessed to be apart of this work.  

Deciding to serve a mission was the best decision I've ever made. Its truly opened my eyes to the gospel. Like I've always known these things were true but being here and teaching it just takes on a whole other level. I don't even know if that makes sense? Anyways, so fun little cross reference I want to share with ya'll(: so in 1 Nephi 6:4-6 Nephi is just writing about his purpose and how its all about persuading man to come unto God and he writes what is only pleasing to God and what is of worth for us to know in order to be saved! And in Jacob 4:3 Jacob is talking about how hard is it to write these things but they do it just hoping that we will read it with thankful hearts!! I know I'm thankful for the words they have wrote for us. I know they're truly the word of God!! And I love being a missionary! 

Sister Schimbeck

 Here's some of the adventures I had here this week(: 
 Cute little girls that call me a barbie every time they see me haah 

Eating some yummy lugo  

 Heres some of the adventures I had here this week(: 
Family home evening for Mercy's birthday(:

 I've been trying to keep a good attitude but being a missionary is so hard. Especially this one day where I was missing you all so much and I couldn't concentrate. But then I found the cute note from you in my notepads and I was instantly comforted(: you do so much for me and I'm so grateful to have you as a father!!! I love you so so much dad. 

Sunday, September 21, 2014

A little Q&A~Sagay Zone

Dad: Where is Sister Cruz from?
Jacey: Bulacan, Philippines

Dad: Tell us about Sister Cruz: 

Jacey: Well she is hilarious. 
She is an amazing cook.
Her favorite line to say is "I'm so smart"
She burps more than any person I know.
Her burps are very manly too.
She's been bit by a snake before!!
She is the perfect example of exact obedience.


Dad: Tell us about your apartment/house/pad/hut/cave?: 

Jacey: We have a very nice apartment actually! 
It has a nice collection of movies that we can't watch
It has lots of secret rooms that I have tried to break into many times but its impossible. The mystery is killing me.
There lots of little ants running all over the place!






Dad: Tell us about some of your favorite foods so far, and least favorite:

Jacey: The fruits here are nuts. I love it!
My favorites are: mangos, filipino pizza, rambutan ,pig intestines MmmMM

Dad: Tell us about Sagay:

Jacey:  We walk and take tricycles to parts of our area that are really far away. 
I guess our area is considered small but I still think its big so I don't want to know what big is.

Dad: Tell us about a spiritual experience?

Jacey:  We're teaching a family that will be baptized next week. And Brother Stewart he had alcohol and smoking problems it was one day away from the time he was supposed to stop and he was still smoking 10 plus cigarettes and drinking a couple glasses of alcohol a day so we fasted for him. He was able to stop his vices the next day and has continued to stay clean to this day!! yay

Dad: 1-10 scale how's the language coming? 

Jacey: 3

Dad: Have you talked in Sacrament or done other responsibilities in church?

Jacey: I spoke in sacrament the first Sunday I got here. And I'll have to speak again this Sunday. And every fourth Sunday. The ward is mostly recent converts so they are scared to accept callings and all that kind of stuff so we also teach the gospel principles class and a temple prep class.

Dad: Do you write in your journal? Jacey: Yes

Dad: Anything else?

Jacey: That rat was in our house?!?!!?!? Ahhhh gorss. Its a baby compared to the rats here though. Seriously they're insane here! 

Our member attendance at sacrament was 201 last week and its the most they've ever had! We have about 15 investigators each week at church and 30 or so recent converts. 
My district is just great. Its me and sister cruz the sister training leaders and 2 sets of elders. 

They're all so funny and just wonderful examples. all the elders are Filipinos and then the sister trainers are Samoan and american. Dad I just love you so much. Thanks for all you do and have done for me!! 


 No Filipino Rat


 What I eat most days




Time to "Shine"~Splits and Headstands

Week six here in the Philippines and I'm half way done with my training. Its so crazy. I don't like how fast time is going by. So Filipinos I learned love karaoke. Like they don't have much but they all have a karaoke machine. And they love to sing to the most over played most annoying american pop music. Very loudly I might add too. Good thing missionary work makes me so exhausted or I would have a hard time falling asleep at night. I've also learned Filipinos standard time. There's Mormon standard time, and then there is Filipino standard time. Like our baptisms for instance we're supposed to start it at 4 but no one shows up till 5. And then church starts at 9 and no one shows up till 10. They're some funny people! I truly love the Philippines.  

So we went on transfers this week (3 picture). 


I got to go with Sister Fanene to her area and it was a totally different teaching experience than I've ever had before. I loved it. Okay before I left for my mission everyone was telling me to be myself, make sure you always stay yourself and I was just like well yeah who else am I gonna be? 
 (-Exchanges with Sister Fanene...the Filipino standing next to me told me that after he gets baptized we're going to get married in the temple. Haha he was so drunk)But I didn't realize until I went out with Sister Fanene that I wasn't being myself. I was trying to be my trainer. Sister Fanene showed me that you can be yourself and an awesome missionary at the same time! I've never felt the spirit so much when I taught and I didn't realize it till later that night when I was praying that its because I wasn't trying to pretend to be someone else! It was a beautiful self discovery!! Like at this family home evening (2 picture) I spun on my head (it was for a game, I didn't do it on my own free will). I went into a head stand and started running around spinning on my head, butt up in the air and 
                                                                                         

everything. Yeah, I'm myself again though and it is truly making the change in my relationships with members and investigators. I was called here because of who I am. So glad I could remember that this week!

Our baptism this week was Sister Shine! Her mom is the relief society president and her boyfriend is serving a mission. So we always thought she was a member but when we tried to talk to her about something church related she told us she wasn't a member. (-Quimbo family home evening(:) We were like what?! Why aren't these people sharing the gospel with you!! We taught her about the plan of salvation and she just cried the whole time (her father pasted away) "if I would've known about all this I would've joined the church years ago" she told us. It broke my heart that she was held from this truth for so long because everyone was too scared to share the gospel!! 

Don't be scared to share it could change someones life!! yeah. So I just know this church is so true. I see it changing lives everyday and I'm so blessed to be apart of this work!! I love being a missionary! And I love you all have a wonderful week!

Sister Schimbeck










-Me and Elder Welton! My batch mate! We're both in Sagay area and both have a Cruz as a companion and we both think I'm the funniest person we've ever met.


Sunday, September 14, 2014

I Can't Sing!~Week 5 in Sagay

Next week is my follow up training! I can't even believe how fast time flies by. This week was so much better!! It didn't rain as much and just like it was good(: haha but when it does rain, filipinos run around with bags on their heads! Hahaha it the funniest thing every. These people are just so different from Americans and I love it. Like this one lady asked me to sing the Star Spangled Banner for her haha it was so awkward cause I can't sing. Oh that's another thing they just assume all white mormon girls from Utah can sing so I have to do special numbers all the time. Their poor ears. They're the most beautiful people too, I don't understand why they like white skin so much! Okay so another discover, I now understand why missionaries always get married right when they get home. Having a companion is like being married. You cook together, clean together, shop together, you tell each other everything and you have to worry about your kids (investigators) all the time like this is what I imagine being married is like. And its wonderful. I want to be companions with Sister Cruz forever.
Sister Cruz's broken shoe! haha 

    So I noticed and I don't write a lot about my investigators. Probably cause there are way too many to write about so I'll just tell about them when they get baptized(: the baptism picture attached is the Quimbo family(: Brother Moreto and Sister Myrna the parents with their grandson Brother Mel and then Sister Jovelyn their daughter that is now a returned less active(: The Quimbo's son, Joeben, was a member. They were taught as a family years ago and Joeben and Jovelyn were the only ones to get baptized, Myrna and Moreto weren't interested at all. Brother Mel is Joeben's son. Joeben just died in July so Myrna and Moreto took Mel in cause his mother left him. Yeah so they were just in a really rough place and let the missionaries teach them again. They were hooked after we told them that they could see Joeben again! They are the best ever. Whenever we would go to teach them they'd always have food for us and they would call us their angels! Oh I love them! All our investigators are just so great.

Quimbos baptism(:

We're teaching a lot of them how to read right now, its so fun! Gods hand our work this week amazed me! He gave us so many new investigators that are so ready to receive the gospel!! I can't wait to see what happens(: I love this work, I love this gospel and I love being a missionary!!! I love you all too thank you for all the prayers(: stay fresh.

Sister Schimbeck 


Family home evening with recent converts(:

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Come Back Gary!

Yeah Merry Christmas. It starts in September here! Haha this week was hard as. It was one of those weeks that I was asking myself several times what am I doing here? Don't worry I was able to remind myself why(: I made a miraculous discover this week. Oreos. I FOUND OREOS! Real life American food. It was glorious. I ate the whole package in one sitting and I'm not even mad. So living in the Philippines is kinda like camping I've decided.They don't have cars here. They drive motorcycles or ride tricycles (motorcycles with seats on the side you know?)
and they burn their garbage so it always smells smokey. And then at night some people don't have electricity so we use lanterns or fire for light. And to top it off showering with a bucket reminds me of camping. But I like camping so its great! It rained like everyday this week. It was really miserable. SO muddy!!! I adopted a pet snail this week too. Gary. I tried to get a picture of him for you guys cause he is huge! But he was too fast and my camera couldn't focus.. He ran away yesterday though:/ 


I really love being a missionary. We had a lady who were teaching ask us if we could come and give her friend some advice. These ladies are like in their 50s and they want our advice. Its not our advice though. We just teach the gospel. Man I love it. It changes lives!! I see it everyday(: 
Sister Carmela 
was a great example of this change. She was so very shy and would hide from us when we would come to teach her family. As time went on she would be waiting at the gate for us to come teach her. She can't read but she has the strongest testimony of the book of mormon!! Her sister would read to her every night. She never dared to pray out loud for us and now she wants to say the opening and closing prayer. Haha I love this work. These people are amazing. They barely have enough money for food but they all pay their tithing. Their faith is so inspiring to me!! "There is no more compelling work than this, nor and which brings greater satisfaction" I love this quote!! Its the real deal. I'm so thankful that I was called to serve a mission!! I'm learning more and more about this gospel everyday! I hope you all have a wonderful week and I love you. Stay fresh! 

Sister Schimbeck