103 Things/ It's more fun in the Philippines!

 

Hello my beautiful people! I'm coming home. For my last e-mail here's 103 things I learned here in the mission field. There's so much more. I'm so grateful to the saints of Negros and for their example and love to me and for everything Filipino and for my Father in Heaven and the greatest gift I could ever be given. 

Some news too! The Flores family was confirmed this Sunday! It took the whole sacrament meeting! Sister De La Cruz and I were the speakers and we both spoke for just one minute :) 

ALSO! Do you remember when I pumped water for a family in Bacolod and then we taught them and they came to church? Well the ENTIRE Jara family was baptized just this weekend!! Biggest miracles. WATER SAVES SOULS. Also shout out to Sister Adams love that sister. 

1. To speak Hiligaynon

2. To speak the language of the spirit

3. How much Heavenly Father loves His children

4. How to see miracles everyday

5. The importance of obedience

6. That every moment is a teaching moment

7. How to trust in the plan

8. How to be a Pinay

9. How to eat SO MUCH RICE

10. How to be a companion

11. How to recognize the spirit

12. How to stand up for the truth

13. How to teach in the pouring rain

14. How to give your heart to God 

15. The importance of accountability

16. How to really repent

17. How to cook Tinola

18. That God does His own work

19. How to give a talk with less than 5 minutes notice

20. How to study the Gospel

21. How to forget yourself and get lost

22. How to cook adobo

23.What unconditional love feels like

24.The importance of family

25. Which trees have edible fruit

26.How to wash clothes by hand

27.How to receive revelation 

28.How to have eternal friendships

29.How to celebrate Christmas in September

30. How to eat rice with my hands

31. How to share a burden

32. How to become best friends in 5 minutes

33. How to ignore banana spiders

34. How to be patient

35. The power of prayer

36. How to talk to God

37. How to follow the spirit

38. How to teach someone else Hiligaynon

39. Filipino text language

40. What it means to be diligent

41.How to trust and sustain the Lord's servants

42. How to eat ANYTHING

43. How to not get lost in a place you've never been

44. How to Bible bash

45. How NOT to bible bash

46. That you SHOULDN'T Bible bash

47.How to bear pure testimony

48. How to heal

49.How to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ

50.How to walk with God

51.How to be successful

52.The importance of pronunciation

53. That God can play beautiful music through a broken instrument

54. How to catch rats

55. How to just wing it (by the spirit)

56. How to see others as God sees them

57. How to joke in Ilonggo

58. To invite others to come unto Christ

59.How to weep

60. How it feels to have efficasent oil in your eye

61. Not to pour efficasent oil on your head

62.How to REJOICE

63. How to overcome fear

64.What it really means to have faith 

65. How to almost drown a rat

66. And then cry about it

67. How to eat 3 meals in one night

68. How to clean and gut a fish

69. How to catch baby frogs

70. How to talk to anyone

71. How to cook rice anywhere

72. How to wait

73. How to not be alone for 18 months

74. What it means to be humble

75. How to cook curry

76. How to say Goodbye

77. How to take a bucket shower

78.How to be bold

79. How to be a neat freak

80. How to call others and yourself to repentance

81. The elect can be found everywhere

82. How to rescue, lift, and love

83. That my parents were always right

84. How to eat every meal with a fork and spoon

85. How to have JOY

86. What to do when your companion gets dengue and how to be their nurse 

87. How to train at zone conference

88. How to bring souls to Christ

89. The importance of integrity

90. How to be best friends with all the Tatays

91. How to FEAR NO MAN

92. How to Go in the strength of the Lord

93. How to walk through a typhoon or a flood

94. How to teach anyone anywhere

95. How to submit my will to God's 

96. How to climb a mountain to find His sheep

97.How to be the tallest in a room

98. How to have peace in this life

99. How to have no bad days

100. How to ride sidesaddle on the motorcycle on the tricycle

101. How many people you can fit in a tricycle

102. What it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ 

103. How to stand as a witness of God at all times in all things and in all places

I love you all so much. See you on Thursday!

Sister Zollinger 

Beautiful in White

 

The Flores Family is baptized!! It was a perfect baptism. When Nanay Eufemia came up out of the water she cried and said "Oh thank you Lord" it filled my heart. Allen cried when

she shared her testimony and she said she knew they had found the right path to get back to the kingdom of God. We had the baptism right after General Conference so a lot of members were able to attend and the spirit was strong. President Sumagpao came too and since La Carlota is a district not a stake he was able to preside which was special to me. 

General Conference was wonderful. I like what Elder Oaks told us to do- Teach Doctrine, Keep the commandments, Love one another, and GO to the Temple! I also loved the focus on having Joy and that we don't need to be perfect we just need to intentionally try really hard! I also cried every time they talked about the youth. I felt so much Heavenly Father's trust in them. When Prophet Nelson was talking I just remembered all the young prophets and how much Heaven trusted in and helped them- Mormon, Samuel, Joseph Smith, etc.. I'm so proud of the youth. I wish I was a better youth but I just hope they know their potential to do good and to build up the kingdom of God. 

Also this week April's son Jhaeden turned one and we had lunch with them and Jhaeden got to eat lots of cake it was a ball. I'll miss them so very much. 

It's my last week here in the mission field. This is still my motto- not just until I take off my tag but until the very very end. “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; … the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

See you all next week for one last email :D

Love you all

Sister Zollinger

 

It's Milling Season in Sugarcane country

 

BACOLOD PHILIPPINES TEMPLE!!!!!!

This week was a whirlwind. The best whirlwind ever!

Here's some highlights

BACOLOD IS GETTING A TEMPLE! Best and biggest miracle ever! We cried in the pews at church yesterday

The Flores family all passed their baptism interviews and will be baptized this Sunday after conference! They're so excited and we're so excited!

I had my last Zone Conference this Friday and got to give my departure testimony. I cried and felt the spirit. 

This week I had exchanges with Sister Robertson and it was a blast! We saw so many miracles in one day. We showed the Restoration video to one of their people and she plugged it in to the biggest speaker ever and I'm pretty sure their entire neighborhood heard the voice of God the Father. It. Was. Epic. :D 

I had a few days of pretty sad sad depressed moments every time I remembered going home but I got a blessing and I'm better now :) Lot's of mixed emotions but all is well. 

I'm so excited for the future of the Bacolod Philippines Mission. Being a part of the Lord's work in this part of the vineyard is the greatest gift I've ever been given. 

 

Love,

Sister Zollinger

It's a water buffalo!

Big Happy family

maayong adlaw sa tanan! (good day to all)

This week Sister Dansie and I started jogging! Tatay Fernando's memory isn't doing so great so we run to his house every morning to remind him of his commitments and what day it is so he can go to church on the right day. Honestly it's been so fun and it's a blessing to see him progressing even more! The other day we taught the people in the house across the street from him and he knew we were there and he waited outside his house for an hour just so he could give us a gift of lansones (fruit) before we went home. He was so happy it was precious we love him so much. We met a lot of his kids and relatives and got to refer them all to the first branch sisters so that was really exciting! 

The Flores family accepted a baptismal invitation and date! They'll be baptized after General conference on the 13th! (one week late here) We had Family Home Evening with them on Monday and taught about The Family: A Proclamation to the World. They loved it. We ate dinner with them too and after dinner we asked them if they felt they would continue in the church and they said yes so we said well if that's how you feel we should probably invite you to be baptized! Sister Dansie got to extend her first baptismal invitation to 7 people and they all accepted. We skipped down the road after that. I'm crying just thinking about how happy we were :) 

Later in the week Nanay Eufemia got sick (the grandma of the Flores family) and on Sunday evening some members came with us to give her a priesthood blessing. Also when we got there Allen's husband Arnel was home again! He said he was excited and gave his permission for his family to be baptized. Anyways we taught Nanay Eufemia about priesthood blessings for the sick and then she got a blessing. After the blessing she smiled so big and shook hands with everyone in the room! Then she sat down again and started crying because she said she felt so happy. She told us that she had never felt that kind of joy before in her whole life. It was beautiful. She's 78 now and super excited to be baptized. 

April and her kids joined to choir for family week and they text us everyday good morning, good afternoon, and good night. It's so cute. We had family home evening with them too this week and taught them how to use the Come Follow Me manual. April and I had a really special conversation about the Holy Ghost and how it helps us to be comforted at all times and we shared some experiences we've had. 

It was a really great week here in the Lord's Vineyard. 

Palangga ta kamo tanan. Halong (We love you all)

Sister Zollinger

Alfonzo the terror dog

Tatay Fernando has a puppy. I don't have puppy feelings towards him. 

Hello!!! 

April and Jace were baptized and confirmed!! It was the best. Jace was so excited and also he loved the baptism clothes and was doing karate moves while we were outside taking pictures. It was so pure. They were so happy and it was so cute to see them bear their testimony together. Looking back I think the most influential thing in April's conversion was that her oldest son Justine just got to go to the temple this year. (Two of her kids and her dad were baptized about a year ago) Once we got her talking about and focused on that she progressed so fast. I love the temple. We're trying to help everyone focus on that right now. Also they're joining the choir for family week at the church and I'm so excited! 

Allen and her family came to church again! The pastor from their old church wants to go back to their house again but Allen said she's going to tell him that they're not going to go there anymore. She wants to keep going with us and progress in the gospel :) I'm so excited for her. We're having a Family Home Evening with them later. Alllen's husband works in Iloilo and he came home for a few days this last week and we got to teach him! In two days in like 4 hours we taught him all of the first three lessons and about the temple. He had so many questions and they were all so important. We accomplished what we wanted to though and he is fully supporting his family to continue in the church! He also said he'll find the church closest to him in Iloilo :) After we left I guess he told Allen that he believed our message right away because of two things. 1) That we taught that we aren't born in sin from Adam and Eve 2) That I said I knew the truth and I would be selfish if I didn't come and tell others. I'm really hopefully that he'll continue in Iloilo and that their family can be complete and go to the temple together. :) 

Tatay Fenando's memory is hurting a little and he thought yesterday was Saturday and didn't come to church. He did come and watch April's baptism though and he loved it. We're trying to find a good time to meet with his wife too because he really wants her to go to the temple with him but her work schedule is so crazy. We're praying for a miracle. 

Vince came to church! Remember a few weeks ago the story with the two cotton balls and I lit them on fire. Well yeah the next week we went to pick them up for church and no one was home. One of the daughters ended up coming with us though but Vince left to go fix a roof... Anyways we hadn't taught him at all in like 3ish weeks and he just showed up yesterday to church with his youngest son! We were so surprised. He said he's bringing his whole family next week. OH the joy. 

I really really love being a missionary. It's the most joyful thing you could ever do. Honestly people always say it's hard.. but for me it's not really hard at all. It's joyful and it's not necessarily easy but it's not hard. The only really hard thing for me is living life without the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I did that once and that was really hard. But when we have a knowledge of the Plan and we're walking down the covenant path with an eternal perspective.. it's not hard it's happy! 

Happy Birthday Mark! I can't believe you're 30. 

Anyways I love you all. See ya when I see ya.

Sister Zollinger

Heavenly Father is Good

Hello!

April and her son Jace are getting baptized this Saturday! They walked to church yesterday in the pouring rain just so they can get baptized this week. I'm so proud of them. The baptism excited never dies. It's so incredible for me to see the conversion process over and over again and the purity of a new testimony and what they'll do to show their faith. Yay!

Fernando is still coming to church every week. It starts at 8:50 and he gets there every week at like 7:45. I'm so amazed

by him all the time. The only problem is his memory is struggling a little and he forgets a lot of the things we teach him so we're just trying to teach him every day and do lots of review. He's so excited to be baptized it's so fun. We watched the Restoration video with him in Tagalog and he thought the people were actually speaking Tagalog he was so amazed it was wonderful. 

Allen's family wasn't able to come to church this week because her husband came home from Iloilo to visit them and then their pastor from their old church showed up at their house and he knew that they had come to church with us. We taught about temptation and how Satan shows up when we're getting close to the truth- How he showed up to tempt Jesus right after he fasted and other examples like that. The spirit was so strong and Allen said they're going to keep going. She's praying so much right now to know God's plan for her and where the truth is. We might invite them to be baptized this week we'll see what the Spirit says. 

I had an interview with President Sumagpao this week. I always really treasure those. It's wonderful to see how we've both changed since we got here the growth. I know it's divine design that he's my mission president. Heavenly Father is so good to me. 

I love you all.

Sister Zollinger

 

 

kunti na kimbit na lang uuwi na po ako

Sugar cane... my dentist might be upset. But it was good!

Fernando has officially been to church 3 times! Also he is living all the commandments necessary for baptism so his baptism will be on September 28! We're so excited and he's so excited. He loves church and he always shows up like an hour early before anyone else and just waits outside the gate. He's so pure.  

Heavenly Father led us to the biggest miracle family ever this last week. Well it's been a few weeks in the making but they're incredible. In full: We went to follow up with a young mom we had taught once but she really wasn't feeling it and it was in our "punted days" when we were first opening the area and struggling with our teaching pool foundation and stuffs.. So like three days before that we walked by this huge group of teenage girls and talked to them for a second and they all said Sister Dansie is Taylor Swift (literally everyone everyday says that)  anyways back to the punted day we decided to keep working on the road where the young mom was and one of the girls  (Mary Jane) we had talked to was standing outside so we talked to her again and asked if we could teach and she said yes but there's lots of us is that okay and we were like yeah that's great! Then we taught her grandma, aunt, and tons of cousins and they were all SUPER receptive. Her aunt left and went back to her real house in another area.  We kept coming back for her cousin Adona (The one with the cool experiences about prayers)  and she was super receptive but eventually she left too so our plan was just to come back for her grandma and then ALLEN came home! She had been in Iloilo visiting her husband because he works there right now. Anyways we taught her a quick lesson about faith and why it's important to have a specific religion and she really got it. Then we came back and taught the restoration and she CRIED and said she's been searching for the truth her whole life and she knows this is it. 

Then she told us her life story and we all cried together. The next lesson we taught we followed up and asked if she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and if Russell M Nelson is a prophet today and she was like yeah of course God always has a prophet how could we know what God's word or the gospel is for the world without the prophet. Also after every lesson she thanks us like 10 times and hugs us and says we're a blessing from the Lord for her family. She's the most elect person I've met in my life. Also she LOVES the Book of Mormon she said it brings her so much peace and she always reads before bed because it helps her sleep so peacefully and she has no worries before sleep. OH my goodness our hearts are just full of gratitude we're so excited for them. This Sunday all 7 of them that live at that house came to church. And Allen found out that her best zumba buddy is a member haha! The Lord is with us. 

Anyways it's transfer day again. Sister Dansie and I are staying together. We're super excited for the harvest this transfer. April and her son, Fernando, and the Flores family (Allen's family) are all progressing towards baptism this transfer and we're so EXCITED! 

Something funny this week and also kind of extreme. We have this family in our farthest area who have been taught by the missionaries on and off for like 2 years now. They have so much potential and they love the lessons and they read and pray and stuff and believe what we teach is true they just can't get themselves to church on Sunday. So this week we taught a really bold lesson about the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy. So I got two cotton balls and soaked one in rubbing alcohol and said the alcohol was church attendance. The other one we left dry. Then we lit them both on fire and said it was the adversary, sin, and temptation. The soaked cotton ball stays clean and white but the dry one burns and turns black so fast. We asked Vince (the dad) what happened and he said "nasunog siya sa impiyerno" which means "he burnt in hell." Yikes hahah. I think we got the point across though. But they still didn't come to church so we're going to try something different this week hahahah. Maybe we'll pick them up next Sunday. Missionary work is so fun. Don't worry we're like really good friends with Vince. When the people know you love them there's no such thing as 'too bold' :) 

Sister Nanlabi and Sister Zollinger

Sister Nanlabi went home today! I cried like a baby like 6 times. She's a legend and a personal hero. I'm so grateful everyday for all the disciples of Christ I'm surrounded with. Also it's officially the start of my last transfer. That's all I have to say about that though. ANYWHO. I love this work and I know it's an eternal work and a wonder! 

I love you all and I love the Lord. God bless you this week. 

Sister Zollinger 

P.S Volcano and the Garden of Eden

Sister Dansie and I decided to find the last house in one of our areas and we did and the guy was super receptive and this was our view on the way there! 

Sugar cane harvest

Garden of Eden

Volcano