October 21, 2013: They are so Excited to go to the Temple Next Year

Family!!!! It's kinda crazy you will all be together this weekend. That's weird to think about. Enjoy the wedding for me!!!! Enjoy being together. And don't forget to talk about how awesome I am and how much you miss me! :) 

I am so excited for Jason and Shanna!!! 

So this week has been great, of course. My companion has been really sick the past few day. We think she has a parasite but she is too stubborn to go get tested.. so hopefully we will find out today. So she was out for the count a couple days, but God is still blessings this area. We were only able to work for a limited number of hours this week but we were still able to teach more lessons than ever before! Isn't that crazy!? This is truly God's work. 

This week was a lot of fun! We went bowling with the other sisters last week.. don't worry I'm even worse here.. if that's possible. 

And we had a service project this week so we got to to do laundry in the river.. naglaba ako sa suba!!!! so fun. It's so gorgeous and peaceful too. It's kinda crazy to realize this is people's everyday lives. But it was fun to help. Humbling for sure. Oh, and while we were washing there was about 15 naked children playing in the water around us... that's how they all 'shower' in the river. 

Two other sisters in my house and I "showered" in the rain this week! it was soooo funny. It was pouring rain, so we grabbed our shampoo and ran outside. It stopped raining soon after we got out so we had to use a bucket a little too, but it was sooo funny. I love being able to have fun and still be me, and be a missionary too. I am truly enjoying my mission. 

We felt the earthquake, but everyone in our mission was very safe. It wasn't too bad, so nothing was damaged on our island. Sorry to worry you all :) 

I got Jas and Shan's wedding announcement this week... SO CUTE!!!! I loved it :) 

We had the mission tour this week with President Nelson and it was awesome! He and his wife are sooo great, and they know the Teixeiras, of course. I told them about Mom and Dad's mission and they were way excited. Their family is basically exactly like us and they reminded me a lot of Mom and Dad... you know what that means, Dad... get ready to be the area president of the Philippines ;) 

I have now been on my mission for 4 months!!! sooo only 14 left, that's a long time. but I'm excited about it. I love this place. Transfers are this week and it's possible I'll start training. Let's hope not... for that new missionary's sake! 

We had another baptism this week for Clifen! He is so great... His wife is already a member and they are so excited to go to the temple next year. I can really see him becoming a great leader in the church. Their daughter is 3 and I'm so happy she will now be raised in the gospel. 

Oh, I took family pictures for 2 recent convert families after church today and I'm printing them later. They aren't the best but at least they have something to hang on their wall now :) It's cool to still be able to use my talents here

And I rode on a jeepney to church yesterday.....next to a live chicken. Yep, that happened. And after church someone had a bag of goldfish next to me. What is this place? so funny

Pray that transfers go well. Pray for me to have strength to do this work this week and a positive attitude to do it. Pray for my investigators to read and progress. 

I love you all so much!!!!!

Love Sister Foote

October 14, 2013: This is God's Work and I Feel Privileged to be one of His Instruments

Here was an FHE birthday party.

So, that spider is actually a lot smaller than some of the others. Gross, huh?  

The lady in the yellow has a son that was Jordan Royal's mission companion. Crazy, right?

 

The sugar cane field is what life looks like here everywhere. 

Hello Family!!!!!! 

I got to watch General Conference this weekend and it was awesome! I loved it :) and you'll all be happy to hear that I did not fall asleep at all... I know miracles! Believe it. It happened! Oh and we watched it all in English... so yeah i don't even know why they translated it.. I'm excited to listen to general conference in Ilonggo when I get home.  

I went on exchanges this week with Sister Sanders... who happens to live in my house too. It was great! We had a great time and I learned a ton. She is about to go home and it was cool to hear her speak and really got me excited to keep learning, and keep becoming a better teacher. 

We had a great district meeting on Tuesday.. I love my district! .. and we talked about how life is like a downward escalator. if we are not always striving to step up, or keep climbing, to keep progressing then we will be digressing. We have to always strengthen our testimony of the gospel, to always be reading the Book of Mormon. We never reach a point of safety.. a point of we have a strong enough testimony we don't need to worry about it anymore. 

We have a baptism on Friday for Clifen. I am super excited. His wife is a member and they have a 3 year old... she is so cute, she cooks me "food" during our lessons... But they are so excited to be sealed in the temple and he is just awesome. He always testifies during our lessons, its awesome. 

We went to an investigator we haven't taught in a few weeks (and we had only taught one lesson before) and she said she has been reading the Book of Mormon with her daughter. She said she read whenever she is having a hard day or they have a problem and she feels peace and even gets goosebumps. It was so cool to me that she felt prompted to turn to the Book of Mormon during trials and she found peace. There is so much power in the Book of Mormon!!! 

How is the wedding chapel doing??? Tell everyone I say Hi ok? I miss that place. I miss my camera.... but this work is SO  much more important. It is incredible. This is God's work and I feel privileged to be one of his instruments. 

The scripture I really liked this week Alma 38:2 God wants our steadiness and our diligence. It is more important that we consistently do what is right, consistently turn our lives to Him than to have one perfect day. or one awesome super powerful experience. 

I finished decorating my scripture journal this week.. on the front it says, "My everyday testimony: I developed my testimony in small ways everyday and not but one miracle moment." It is so true. It's awesome to always be able to feel the spirit when we read the scriptures. 

I am super excited to get the Ensign of General Conference. I loved it.
A few random quotes I loved:

"Live in the spirit" 

"Blessings could be a great capacity to act and change our own circumstances" 

"There is yet a place for you here. Come join your talents with ours. There is room for you in this church. Come and join with us"

**"The church is designed to strengthen the imperfect and the struggling!!"

"Make scripture reading part of a regular routine and the blessings will follow"

"Live by faith, hold fast to hope, and be compassionate to others"

"There is an urgency in sharing the gospel"

and lots more..I loved Elder Scott's and President Monson's talks. 

I love you all so much! 

Sister Kimberly Foote

October 7, 2013: We Can Always Find Something to be Grateful For Or to Complain About

This week we had zone meeting, follow up training, and fingerprinting for our visas. It was all good times. I really enjoy seeing other missionaries; it's a lot of fun and it's cool to see there are so many of us all teaching these wonderful people. 

At zone meeting Sister Vansluten (love her!) came up to me and said she is always excited to see me because I'm always so happy, that I always bring so much happiness to a room. How sweet right!? She goes to BYU too, and we are so excited to be friends after our missions too :) Wouldn't it be so fun if we were ever companions! 
Speaking of, transfers are in 2 weeks!! So I'll be all done with my training. if I had to guess I'll be staying in this area and Sister Rosdahl will be transferred, but who knows.

Sometimes I just think life is so funny! I just start giggling about so many funny things that have happened. It's great. One of the funniest things of the week was when we were teaching fasting and they just were not getting it. So the 3rd time around we were explaining... "when you don't eat or drink" and were about to say that's called fasting and you receive blessings, but our investigator shouted "We die!!"uh.. yeah that's true. ok... uh... it was so funny! 

We went to Rosario this week. It's my favorite area. Everyone has bamboo huts but its awesome. They are sooo kind! And everyone is just so happy. We are just gonna baptize the whole village! :) Wait, but wouldn't that be awesome if we did?? We have like 25 investigators there. Anyway, so we were teaching and there was like 10 kids all playing with me. Oh they are so cute! They would put leaves in their hands and put their closed fists in front of me. I would open them and act surprised to see the leaves.. and they would just laugh so hard and run and get more. we played that game for like 20 minutes. haha. They are so awesome. These kids just need some attention :) And the area is so awesome because all of our investigators are keeping their commitments! They are reading!!! We came back after our first lesson and our investigator, Pia, is in 1 Nephi 9! and Reynelda was in 1 Nephi 15! Awesome right? Its so obvious if they are reading the Book of Mormon.

And we had to move the investigator class to the bigger room because so many investigators are coming to church now... so awesome right??
In other news... I killed 3 huge spiders again this week. So fun ;) 

Some things i have learned this week: 
Number 1. Once again,  we can always find something to be grateful for or complain about. And how important it is to be kind, to be optimistic, to show gratitude. Like on Saturday we had to go to the chapel to get fingerprinted for our visas. There was a lot of missionaries there so we had to wait for like an hour. But it seemed like such a blessing to me!! 1. We didn't have to go to some government building and wait in lines and pay money to get this done. 2. We got to see all the missionaries and had time to talk to them. 3. The office elders and senior couples did so much to make sure it all ran smoothly
It just depends on what you look for :)

And number 2. I have been blessed in my patriarchal blessing that I will be able to influence others, so I need to do that. I need to always find ways to be kind to others, to build and lift them. To take time to see how their day is. :)

And 3. The worth of EVERY soul is great in the sight of God.

Number 4.  One of the biggest things I have learned is to enjoy life. Enjoy it! Every day. Even when things are hard, figure out how you can enjoy that too. Don't wish away your days waiting for better ones to come. That is something I always did before my mission. but now I just love every moment.. I'm even working on loving weekly planning haha :)

This is truly God's work. I can't even express how grateful I am to be one of His instruments. Especially here in the Philippines Bacolod mission.  I know this is exactly where I need to be. I feel so blessed to be able to help people come closer to Jesus Christ. What a blessing it is to serve a mission!
I love you all so much!!!!!

Love Sister Foote

September 30, 2013: God Blesses Us When We Do What He Asks

This week has been great. Hard of course, but good :) 

So funny things of the week. We were teaching like 5 investigators outside, but we focus our planning all on one of them, LynLyn. So we're excited to start teaching, I say the opening prayer and when we open our eyes like 5 kids are missing and so is LynLyn. Apparently during the prayer a visitor came so she had to leave. We were very confused.

Everyone here wants to have lighter skin so ALL of the soap in the store has whitening in it... that is definitely something i don't need so its hard to find any good soap. 

We had some Takway earlier this week.. it's actually a root but people eat it. It was super good but we all started having itchy swollen throats so we panicked that we were dying.. haha. But the good news is apparently that just happens if you don't cook it enough.. so I'll be eating that again later. hmmm Now that I think about it maybe it's a bad idea... 

Yesterday I was about to eat breakfast and I saw a spider bigger than my hand on the curtain... great times! Really more excitement than anyone needs in the morning. The spiders here are so gross! and so big! 

We had a big ward fhe night on Friday and it was so good! So many people came and everything. When we left one of the 3 year old boys yelled, "Bye Bye best friend" to me. It was so cute! 

Ah, we are about to have a brown out so I have to go all the sudden. This week was great though. We had our baptism this week with 3 investigators. It was awesome. They are so great and its so awesome to be apart of someone changing their life. One of them was telling us yesterday about how they didn't have enough money to buy food for the day but they paid to go to church anyway, and then miraculously they were able to get 30 pesos so they could buy food too. God blesses us as we do what he asks. 

I have been helping a girl in our ward prepare for her mission and it's so awesome. I'm so excited for her. She is incredible. And the super exciting news of the week! Novemeber 2nd Elder Neil L Anderson is coming to our mission!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited :) 

I love you all!

Sister Foote

September 23, 2013: We are Able to Be Instruments in God's Hand Even Though We Have Weaknesses

So you'll never guess.. this has been another great week :) Every week is, if we decide it is. I have a quote in my room that I love "Every day is not good, but there is something good in everyday"... which makes everyday good right? 

We haven't had a ton of success yet with facebook. but we are getting there. We are friends with like 1000 people already from all over the world. so we'll see what happens. 

And my toe is great. looks beautiful! It healed quickly.. either because of all of your prayers or because a member made me soak it in guava leaves (apparently its a miracle stuff haha). People are always telling us to eat weird leaves and stuff. 

We went to one of our investigators houses/huts and the little boy who is like 4 ran up to me. "Ginbasa ko!!" (I read) you did? really?? Yes! He was so excited.. pretty sure he didn't read but it was awesome. 

My companion and I went on splits with the ward members and so I went to visit a few of our investigators..  I accidentally ended up going to a birthday party haha.. benefit of not understanding the language. And then taught all of them after. then went to another house (that was on my list) and taught them lesson 1 and it was really good and they were really listening. I also taught the Belleza family... and so did she. an hour before I did.. but they didn't even say anything!! So they got 2 lessons in 2 hours, awesome. 

There have been some pretty crazy rain storms here. Bagio. but according to a ward member, the storms don't really hit bacolod as much because people here pray more. haha. The streets were flooded a few times but we were still able to work. Missionary work stops for nothing ;) 

Ok so the important things. We have 3 baptisms this weekend! I am so excited!!! Fernando and Analiza Ramos and Clysyl Villarete are all getting baptized. The Ramos family is the one with the cute boys. Oh how I love these people. It's incredible to see how the gospel changes people. 

Get excited for pictures next week :) 

We had all day zone conference this week and it was awesome! I love hearing from president. I was so inspired. We have so much to improve on, but the work is really progressing in this mission. Weekly baptisms are possible. Our mission president has so much love for us. We are all so grateful for him. I am soo happy at zone conference. Like i couldn't even hold it in. I got to see almost my whole mtc district and they are sooo great! And Sister Cruz that used to live in our house :) Love that girl!! 

The Assistant talked about how the gospel can change lives and doing our personal study diligently shows how much we love God. And then he showed us a picture of him before his mission and now.. he looked emo and miserable before. I NEVER would have expected it. He is an incredible missionary now and he talked about how that has happened through the atonement. The gospel is so real! God loves us!! He just wants to help us!! 

We taught Brother Mansueto again and he has a problem with the Word of Wisdom. We told him it might be hard to stop and he interrupted us and told us that through the Holy Ghost it would be easy. He knows that the Holy Ghost will give us strength. He has only had 3 lessons.. but he is incredible. He said he always reads scriptures everyday and prays before and after so he can understand. And he prays before church to understand because he actually speaks Cebuano not Ilonggo or English. And he understands. Oh and apparently he is speaking Cebuano but my companion and I understand him. Miracles!! 

ok time for scriptures. 

2 nephi 22:11 "Notwithstanding my weakness" We are able to be instruments in God's hand even though we have weaknesses. He knows us perfectly and yet he calls us on missions or gives us callings anyway. He knows what we can do. Don't doubt it, just trust Him

Mosiah 5:3 "and we had great views on things to come" Dad I felt like you would love this scripture. Through the gospel we can have eternal perspective. And because of that we can make better choices. we can realize that our trials are for a reason. 

Mosiah 7:19, 33 "He will deliver you" When we turn our lives to God. When we do what He asks, He delivers us from our sins, from our past, and helps us become something more through Him

So I have just been thinking about how incredible the Book of Mormon is.  Reading the scriptures everyday makes everything else fall into place. I have seen it so clearly in the lives of my investigators. If we show God we care enough to read His words (even though it is just reading a book) miraculous things happen. We are truly changed.

I have been reading the Book of Mormon trying to know God and Jesus Christ more. Looking for their characteristics. Their mercy and love. The Book of Mormon is a book of Hope! God is so forgiving. Look for it, its incredible :) It is truly through reading the Book of Mormon that we can come to know our Savior and then once we know Him we naturally become like Him. 

Something that Steven talked about a few weeks ago I have found to be so true. My life isn't about me. It is truly when we lose ourselves in loving and serving others that we find ourselves, because there is more of us to find. 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your support and love. This gospel brings true happiness. 

Love, 

Sister Foote

We also read an awesome talk as a mission this week called In the Strength of the Lord by Elder Bednar. It's all about how we need to ask for strength to be better and handle our trials instead of asking for them to be removed. We are studying it this month for our mission tour next month. It's really good. I recommend it. 

September 16, 2013: There are Always Things to be Thankful For

This week has been great. There are always things to be thankful for. I have really learned that while I've been here. Sometimes you just have to look harder ;) 

So this week was pretty exciting. We had a tricycle driver give us a fake number and address..so we could teach him. Then later that night he followed us. But the ward member was very kind and helped us. Then we had to go to the police station the next 2 days to report it. At first it seemed really bad, but its actually kinda a good thing. we are now best friends with all the police men and the ward members have really helped. They have talked to the president of the tricycle drivers and a couple other people and made sure to look out for us. So we are actually safer than ever :) See it was a blessing after all. So mom seriously don't worry!

Oh and while we were there the police men asked if they could have pamphlets and they said they'll ask the chief if we can just teach them all there. So this week we might be teaching at the police station. Awesome huh??

So this week we taught Brother Cliffen, he is so great! We testified about repentance and then asked him if he had any questions.. he responded by testifying that everything we said is true and how great his desire is to repent and how excited he is for his baptism... it's like he is our 3rd companion testifying with us. It was awesome. He is so great!

We taught our recent convert Clarren this week. She had just gotten the Gift of the Holy Ghost and she said, "I finally understand what you were trying to explain about how the Holy Ghost really feels." It was so cool. 

We went to my favorite family, the Ramos's and they are so great. We gave the little boys some rumbutan, a small tropical fruit, (like 40) and they ate the entire bag during our lesson, they were so excited. And they had a little squirt gun they kept shooting us with. It was hilarious. I love those boys so much. I sat with them in sacrament meeting because they just come to sit by us and it was quite the adventure trying to keep them quiet. but they drew 'lovely" pictures of my companion and me. I'll have to send one home ;) 

I have simply loved studying the Book of Mormon this week! my theme for this transfer is Alma 27:27  And they were among the people of Nephi, and also numbered among the people who were of the church of God. And they were also distinguished for their ^azeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly ^bhonest and upright in all things; and they were ^cfirm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end. I want to be that diligent. I want everyone to know what I believe just by seeing my face :) 

And I was reading in 2 Nephi 11 about agency. I realized we had to come to earth, be away from God and have choices so we could CHOOSE Christ. "We have to experience hard trials so we can experience the need for faith in Christ"

Oh how i love you all so much! God loves His children. He desperately wants to hear from us and I know He listens while we pray. How incredible that we have to opportunity to speak to the most powerful being in the universe anytime we want to. I know that if we really focus while we are reading the scriptures we will receive insights. We will become ever closer to Christ because we learn about His characteristics (his love and mercy) and in the process become more like Him. 

(This is the entrance to my neighborhood. Did i mention its beautiful here?)

Love, 

Sister Kimberly Foote

September 9, 2013: As We Lives the Gospel, We Find Happiness

Merry Christmas!!! Starting September 1st it is Christmas time in the Philippines. Awesome right? We have been singing Christmas songs with our investigators all week. Crazy eh? These people are awesome. 

So a few weird things about the Philippines that I love. When people don't have any 1 peso coins left for change, they give you a mento. For real. because those cost one peso. I haven't figured out why they don't' just have more 1 pesos instead of buying mentos for backup, but whatever. It's awesome. 

When you are walking on the streets you say good morning ect to everyone. At 5:59pm you say maayong hapon.. good afternoon and at 6:00pm exactly you start saying maayong gabi.. Seriously if you are 2 minutes off people look at you like you're crazy. It's awesome. 

People are always shocked if we say anything in Ilonggo and if we say even just Ano ini?..what is this? they say Wow.. sagad ka sa ilonggo! "wow you are so talented at ilonggo". It's hilarious. The only other Americans i have seen since I've been here are other missionaries. People just love to talk to us.  It's great. When we go to new areas we have literally 20 people follow us around. The little kids LOVE giving high fives. I have alot of fun with it. I love the little kids. 

So, I started walking again on Saturday morning. It was a hard week not walking but I was able to study a lot from the scriptures and study the language. It helped a lot and I'm excited to start sharing the scriptures I found and using the language principles.

We taught on Friday and Saturday in bamboo huts with dirt floors. Apparently there are like 4 parts of our area like that. It's incredible that people live like this. Their whole house is smaller than our kitchen here and way smaller than my bedroom back home. But truly things do not bring happiness. It's relationships, it's faith, it's who we are developing into. 

We were able to teach our investigator Cliffen this week. He is never home and we can never teach him but I suggested we just stop by his house and he was home! It was a miracle we taught him a great lesson and he is super excited for his baptism. And then he came to sacrament meeting on Sunday even though he had work. When he walked in with his family I was almost in tears. And he is reading the Book of Mormon. It's so awesome to see how the gospel blesses people. I was able to testify to him about how the gospel can bless his family, how they can feel God's love in their home, how he can be a good example, have guidance to raise his daughter, and have the priesthood to bless his family. It was awesome. 

As we live the gospel we find happiness. We feel peace. We become more like Christ.. by the fruits of the gospel I know that it is true. 

Ether 12:41 Seek that Jesus. As we seek Christ He guides us and helps us become like Him. 

I love you all so much!!! Thank you for all your support and love! The church is true. God is our father. 

Love, Sister Foote