Jaro is the BEST

Dear Family, 

How are all of you? It has been a wonderful week! Yesterday I tasted jackfruit for the first time. It is delicious. And yesterday was Stake Conference, and Elder Ardern of the 70 was there. And yesterday 5 of our investigators came to conference! And I got to sign to the ZLs investigator. And the work is HASTENING. In a nutshell, bala? 

Once upon a time, this area was not that progressive. But now it definitely is getting there. Sister Marchant and I have been able to find some amazingly prepared investigators in the last few weeks. Halimbawa (for example): Yesterday we went back to contact a man named Cesar who we had OYM'd, and his daughter Annabel was there. She is 20 and a math ed. major. She received the message so well. Wow. We taught all of the Restoration, and she was able to answer Cesar's questions. Cesar said that the priesthood of the Catholic church is just the pare (priests), but Annabel replied that they just went for school for that, they were not chosen by God like a prophet. She is really Catholic too, but she understood so well. I am excited about her. And then there is Tata. She was raised as a Jehovah's Witness/Catholic and now she is married to a member of Iglesia ni Cristo. But she doesn't really claim any of them and she has a lot of great questions. Last time we explained about the Apostasy, and I am excited to go back to her and share about the Restoration. The Spirit has definitely been leading us to the elect.

Leoandra and her son John Leo came to church. We taught Leoandra about the Word of Wisdom this week, and she accepted it with so much faith. She basically said that she already knows coffee is bad because she has seen how her father is addicted to it, so she will just switch to Milo (like hot chocolate) from now on. Faith gid. And she is so committed to come to church now. Jenny, one of Leoandra's neighbors also came. She is so funny.   

The members made yesterday possible. The Daquero family brought Angela with them. Mickey brought his asawa ("wife"), Rose, with him for the 4th Sunday in a row. And Sister Darlene picked up Leoandra in her car. The members are central to the success of this work. Converts to the gospel must endure to the end, and the members are key to that. 

Noemie is the ZLs investigator. They don't really know how to sign, so I'm gonna help them out tomorrow. But I got to refresh my sign language yesterday. It has been a while. She is really cute and it was fun to make a new friend. 

Well, people, I'm out of time. I love you all dearly. I know the Church is true. Being a missionary is the Best. I love this work and I love it even more when faith is shown by fellowshipping. Yes! 

Love, Sister Winward

Sipon/Ubo (cold/cough)

Hello my dearest family, 

How are all of you doing? I hope it has been a fantastic week and that Valentine's was fun. This was a sweet week!  I've been a little sick this week, and Sister Marchant has been medicating me with some herb thingy and cayenne pepper (yes, it burns) in a little potion. But anyway, I'm fine. I just have a cough right now. Why do I even mention this at all, you ask? Because this is the first time in my whole mission I've even been sick. And I've still been working every day. And it is funny because before my mission I was terrified that I would catch a parasite or get some fatal disease. No such luck. hahaha. The Lord is protecting me. :) 

Anyway, on to the good stuff. :) So! Angela (12 y/o) and Clarice (12 y/o) are two of the investigators we had at church this week. Mickey's girlfriend, Rose, also came. Yay! Leoandra didn't come. :( But, the good news is that we went right after church to find out why, and it was because she had to do some laundry and her kids were being sabad (naughty). I was surprised it was such a silly reason....so we taught her about the Sabbath Day and about the Holy Ghost and now she is committed gid to come every week. And to just do her laundry on Saturday. Guess what is AWESOME? We now have 3 investigators with a Baptismal Goal date, Cheryan, Angela, and Leoandra are all on date for March 29. Yesssss!!!!! We've been extending and extending and extending and extending BGDs for months, and these are the first ones to accept since the Vicente guy who was in love with us. Even though she did not come to church, I know she has a lot of real intent and she will definitely keep moving forward. 

I forgot to tell you all a cool thing that happened last Sunday, the 9th of February. So, we went to contact the mother of this little kid that we OYM'ed a few weeks ago. We gave JR, this little 8 year old, a pamphlet, and ever since he has been reminding us to go talk to his mom. So then we finally did. Her name is Shara, and we were surprised to discover that she is a former investigator who used to live in Iloilo city proper in 2012. When we showed up at her door, she went and grabbed her old Ang Libro ni Mormon and introduced us to her neighbor, Jeralyn, so we could share with her too. She wants to be baptized really bad, but she and her husband need to get married first, which is what held them back before. So, we are going to help them get that figured out and reteach everything, because she has forgotten a lot. It was an amazing finding experience. 

On Saturday, we did exchanges. Sister Orkin came with me, and Sister Marchant went to Jaro 2. Sister Orkin is a Filipina from Palawan. It was great to work with her. I was really humbled and made grateful for all that I have. When the Lord says "ye shall prosper in the land" all throughout the scriptures, He really means Sister Winward's life. We went to teach an investigator who lives in a falling apart bamboo house, and Sister Orkin said it reminded her of home. She lives near the beach on a little island and her dad is a fisherman and her mom is a maid. She worked as a maid for all 5 years of high school, living in someone else's home, away from her family. I know the sacrifice she must have made to be out on her mission is enormous. I was grateful for the opportunity to get to know her and to help her develop her English skills. She asked me a question I thought was really funny, she said she had only heard it before and didn't believe it, but I know she was really wondering if it was true or not. She asked if there is a tradition in America where one day every year we throw away everything in our house and buy all new things...refrigerator, TV, laundry baskets, dishes, everything. Whoa. I think we may have a reputation for being wasteful. Yikes. (I'm still proud to be an American, but I am definitely learning a lot from these Filipinos, that's for sure.) 

Something funny last Tuesday, We were riding a jeep with Leoandra and her kids on the way to the ward Valentine's party. We met Madeleine, and her mom, Ana, from the UK. Madeleine is on an 8 month volunteer trip here to work in a school up north. It was cool and a little weird to have an English conversation on a jeepney. It is always entertaining to run into another white person. haha. 

I hope you are all doing well. I found a verse I reeeeally like in my OT reading the other day, Deut. 8:2. We may not always understand why the Lord is testing us, but He does. And in the end we will be stronger and we will be thankful for the experience even if it is hard at the present. Even if it takes 40 years for us to understand why. 

I love you all soooo much. Thank you for your prayers. Halong pirmi! 

Love, Sister Winward

Sister Cassie Winward

What LOVE means to a missionary

Dear Family, 

How are you all doing? I hope WONDERFUL. Thanks for the Valentine's package. It brought a smile to my face. Happy Valentine's Day! 

Yesterday, our area made some great progress! 7 investigators came to church, and two WHOLE Less Active families came as well. The investigators were Rose, Leoandra, 3 of Leoandra's kids, and her niece, and our investigator/neighbor girl, Clarice (the one who showed us around the muddy rice fields a few weeks ago). Yayyyyy!!!! 

A little about LeoAndra, She has 6 kids (age 14 to 2). We have been teaching her since I transferred here. She is amat-amat reading the BoM. Her husband is super receptive, but he is ALWAYS at work, so we've only ever taught him once. She is really cute. Her house has lots of pink in it. She has an 8 year old daughter named Cassandra. Yeah! 

We taught Cheryan again this week (we try her all the time, but she is hardly home.) But she is diligently reading and praying. She agreed to come to church again on Feb. 16. Yes! Guess what is super impressive? We gave her the Word of Wisdom pamphlet as her assignment last week, and she read the whole thing (she even looked up the scripture references in the back), and she tried to quit coffee on her own just to test it out. She said she didn't drink coffee for 2 days, but then she felt really weak, so she gave in. Impressive though right? She did all that on her own, we haven't even taught her WOW yet. Boo-yah! She's still trying to get an answer about if this really is the true church, but she is doing her part, so I know the answer will come. :) 

So, before my mission I always heard that Obedience and Hard Work are the most important things. While those are very important, I think one thing definitely trumps them both. Love. More specifically, Christlike love. Because if you Love the people, you will then want to be the best missionary you can for them, which means you will be obedient and you will work hard so that miracles can happen. Love is the reason why it kills me when people don't come to church to partake of the blessings from church attendance. And Love is the reason why I was overjoyed yesterday to have our investigators and the other area's Recent Converts, and the LA families there at church. Yes!!! I love the Lord, Jesus Christ, and I want so badly for people to accept Him and His complete gospel and His Atonement into their lives. And because He loves us, He never ever gives up on us. He will keep helping us live His gospel and keep His commandments and put one foot in front of the other on the path to eternal life forever. I am so thankful for that knowledge. That is why all the challenges are worth it. Love. 

I love you all so much! Happy Valentine's Day! 

LOVE, Sister Winward

Tunga!

Dear Family, 

How are all of you? I am doing well. This email is called "tunga" because that means half or between. It is utterly terrifying that this is my halfway in the mission week. Seriously. I miss you all and stuff, but I'm pretty sure I never want my mission to end. EVER. You can all just move here if you want to see me again. ;) joke-lang. 

Last Wednesday, we did exchanges, Sister Daroy came and worked with me. She is fairly new, Sister Rappleye is training her. We had a good day and it was fun to get to know her more. She's from Pangasinan, PH, nearby where Sister Mendez is from. 

Last Monday, right after I emailed, Sister Marchant and I had an interesting grocery shopping experience. So, we're going through the supermart as usual, and this dirty little kid comes up out of no where and starts pushing our cart around for us. At first it was weird, but he was persistent, so we just let him help us around the store. His name is Carjun and he is 10 years old. I'm sure it looked bad, a poor little Filipino kid being the shopping assistant of two 'rich' 'kana. But we just went with it. We bought him some apples and biscuits. It was just one of those moments when reality hit me (for the umpteenth time) about how poor a lot of the people are here. As we got onto the jeepney with our bags of groceries, we saw him quickly eating the biscuits. I'm pretty sure he was starving. I just wanted to take him home and give him a bath and a safe place to rest. Sometimes I forget to be grateful for the smallest things. Like a clean glass of water or a bit of food. Or a soft pillow. Or screens on the windows. 

This morning (and last Monday too) we went for an early morning jog. Not just anything would get us out of bed at that dark hour to go for a jog. Brother and Sister Flores prepared us breakfast. YUM! And we had the chance to get to know some of the YSAs better too. We had curry last week (Yes, for breakfast). Rice is a breakfast, lunch, and dinner thing around here. We had spaghetti and squash soup this morning. They are such generous people. I'm glad I get to meet Brother Flores, because he is at sea most months out of the year. 

We found out this week that Cheryan has been studying with the Baptists for 3 years and she is planning on being baptized Baptist next month. Um, how about, NO? She is still doing well reading and praying for the truth, so we will continue to guide her to it. I don't know if I mentioned her 12 year old neighbor, Angela in my email last week. Angela also went to church with Cheryan, and she is making good progress too. She has been studying with the baptists too, but she asked her parents if she can be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints, and we got to meet with them and teach them for the first time on Sunday. It was good, they are receptive. I am excited for Angela and her family. :) 

This week was a little challenging, but I find that it is refining me and humbling me to have to rely on my Savior more. This is truly His work, and He will not let us fail. I am so grateful for that knowlege. And for a knowledge of the fullness gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it is true! I love to study it and live it and share it with others. Being a representative of Jesus Christ is the BEST. 

I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Love, Sister Winward

Sister Cassie Winward

Philippines Iloilo Mission

The Book of Mormon changes hearts!

Dear Family,

Kumusta na kamo? Maayo gid ako! I have the BEST experience to share with all of you today! But first...

So, once upon a time, Sister Winward finally got frustrated about her area. I never thought it would happen. I've really been trying to have patience and endure, because (gani) missionary work is supposed to be challenging. But we just haven't seen much progress for the last while. So, after being punted all of Monday evening, I was just so frustrated with things. But, of course, I didn't give up. I kept having faith. Prayed really hard. Trusted in the Lord. And just hoped that things would get better, if not now than in the future.

And then, on Wednesday, we went back to teach Cheryan  for the third time. We gave her an Aklat ni Mormon the first time we taught her, then the second time she hadn't read because she forgot, so we emphasized that it was really important for her to read it. So then! On Wednesday, we followed up on her reading in the Book Of Mormon, and she had read ALL THE WAY TO JACOB in like a week!!!! 146 pages.WHAT???!!!!! It was awesome! I almost couldn't even talk, I was so shocked and so happy. She is totally golden! She told us how she felt like she related to Nephi because she had a good family and her life didn't really go how she had planned because she had to drop out of her Social Work course. And then we challenged her to go to church and to be baptized and she totally accepted. No excuses. It's definitely not us doing this. It is all the Spirit and the Book of Mormon. So she came to church, was really well fellowshipped, and then the RS lesson was about fellowshipping, so she was super included. It was great. During Sacrament, I gave her some papers for her 4-year-old daughter to draw on, and she started taking notes. She's so studious. I love her so much! The Book of Mormon is a key to conversion. Read it. It WILL change your life.

One of our other investigators, Shirley (the one that talks a lot), is so cute. I'm pretty sure she's gonna be a future YW president or something. She is always fussing over us. She doesn't want us to get attacked by dogs or tired from walking in the sun, so they always give us a ride in their tricycle. She scolds us frequently for walking all the way to her house from the highway. It's not even far. "Just text me when you get off the jeep and we'll come pick you up!" haha. I figured out that part of why she talks so much is to help her reason things out in her head. So, after we taught about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, she just talked it over again to review and to keep "Propeta Smith" and "Propeta Thomas" straight. She is 52 but she still looks like she's in her 30s. And she only ever finished elementary school. But she is sagad at Tagalog, and she just learns from everyone around her.

We had interviews with President Aquino and a cooking demo with Sister Aquino last Wednesday, too. President Aquino said to make sure I send their love to all of you and thank you for sending me here to serve a mission. (Mom and Dad ARE the best.) One person from each apartment had to cook a meal to demonstrate their cooking skills. (I was calling it the Hunger Games...) The Philippines Area Presidency wants to make sure the missionaries know how to cook and aren't just eating pancit canton (like ramen noodles) and mang inasal (a Filipino bbq restaurant) all the time. Sister R. cooked "Salsa Manok" for our apartment's contribution. Yum. On Saturday, I went Olive Garden style, and made my own version of Eggplant Parmesan. Not bad. We are definitely introducing Sister D. to all kinds of wonderful American recipes.

You know what's funny? I still have moments when I can't even believe I am here. I have to like pinch myself to remind myself that it is not a dream. I really am here, in the Philippines, serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the BEST.

I love you all and I really hope you all have a great week. Remember to have charity for every person you meet. Lift where you stand. Halong pirmi!

Love, Sister Winward

Higko! (dirty)

Dear Family, 

How are all of you doing? Thanks for the emails. So the bad news is that not a single investigator or less active came to church. :( We were so sure!!!  This week will be better. On to the good stuff.... 

On Friday we (tried) had a CSP. We wanted to work in the garden of one of our investigators. She didn't go, because it was sprinkling rain, but her husband was harvesting some "lobati," so she had Lea Jane and Clarisse lead us to where the garden was. Yeah...we had no idea what kind of an adventure we were getting ourselves into. We scaled two concrete walls, and walked/slid/slipped through a huge shared farm. Halfway there, we gave up wearing shoes because they just made it harder to balance on the little raised mud paths. We provided endless entertainment to our two little "guides." We slid our way across a bamboo bridge. And then we finally got to the little garden, harvested a little bit (while standing in 5 inches of mud), and then it was time to go back. I learned three things from this higko (dirty) experience. 1) Being a Filipino farmer should be an extreme sport, 2) I am SUCH a city girl. As in. and 3) I should NEVER have complained for working in our garden growing up. That was cake! haha. 

Last Tuesday we gave a combined training about "Finding." We used 1 Nephi 2:20 for part of it, which I really like because you can replace the word "land" for many other blessings. This is what we used: "And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to 'an investigator' of promise; yea, even 'an investigator' which I have prepared for you; yea, 'an investigator' which is choice above all other 'investigators.'" Finding golden investigators starts with our own obedience. :) I love the scriptures. 

Speaking of...I have been studying about Moses this week and the children of Israel. Go Exodus! Moses really was able to perform miracles and lead the Israelites because of his humility and faith in the Lord. He never gave up, even when everyone (including the people he was trying to help were against him). That is a comfort to me. Our area is challenging. The last baptism we know of was December 2012. But I know that no effort to share the gospel is wasted. So we continue in faith and never give up. Because these people need the complete truth. They just don't realize it yet. 

There is this one part active/part less active family in our area. They are awesome. Brother is the Elder's Quorom president, and his son, John Leo, is the Ward Mission Leader and he is preparing to serve a mission. Sister is super good at cooking. Ariane reminds me of Emily. Queenie and Jane are HILARIOUS. They would get along really well with Rachel and Emily. We started teaching them about the Restoration yesterday, but then we started talking about how blessed we are to have worthy priesthood holders in our homes, and then Brother was exhorting his daughters (John Leo was at work) to marry worthy priesthood holders in the Temple. It was really sweet. And really entertaining, because they are all so funny. I love them. 

So, I've been developing a love for cooking. I was alright at baking before, but now I am finally learning to like stove top cooking (with FIRE). You really learn a lot of skills on a mission, in every aspect of life. It is the best! I made Arroz Caldo with black rice last week, and I want to make eggplant parmesan (like at Olive Garden) this week. YUM. Sister Yang and Sister Marchant have opened my mind to the many possibilities. They are so sagad at cooking. 

Oh, also, transfers were last Thursday. We stayed put, but Sister Yang transferred, and now Sister Rappleye is training Sister Daroy (a Filipina). She is a sweetheart. The house is definitely quieter without Sister Yang around though. I'm glad I get 6 weeks more with Sister Marchant! :) 

Love, Sister Winward

Pictures!