award for best mission mom goes to............Sister Hiatt

Hi Sister Kearl, just received this text from Elder Kearl regarding his tooth.

"so earlier at the dentist she finshed removing the cement and is going to clean out the infection next wednesday at 11. Still no pain and its not loose (or ever was). Its all going smoothly!"

I asked him why he thought it was loose and if he was on antibiotics.


He wasn't sure why and he isn't on antibiotics.

As we so often we say, while we shake our heads wondering why - "it's more fun in the Philippines!"
All I really can tell you for sure is he is happy and highly efficient and effective!

I hope your day makes more sense than most of ours.
Love ya
Sister Hiatt 

"if you are complaining about your life, it's bc you are thinking of yourself" hinckley

riding paul's bike

hi mama,

kamusta po nay 

what the the lake is frozen?! so epic! and JDs fam with shipleys? what a throw back! 

yeah, so the tooth hole is back from the grave! sall good tho. no pain, just trips to the insane nice, funny and friendly dentist. she spent like close to an hour and half trying to get the old tooth filling out, with a cancelled appointment earlier. she's been to edmonton a ton too.  her daughter is studying at U of A, SW she says  crazy hey?  if you are stressing about my tooth, now is a good time to stop. i might need antibiotics at some point. 

do not fear

nothin too crazy this week. we managed to catch one of the mice, named him chow chow and then let him free the next day instead of killing him bc thats what Jesus would do. he ended up dying anyway. RIP chow chow.  maybe we are mouse free now. but sidenote....there's no cockroaches here either. 

chow chow catch

chow chow the mouse

after the Senior couples left w a discouraging apartment grade, we created a sophisticated daily and weekly chore rotation. last monday, we scrubbed so hard and as per usual loved it!! the apartments getting pretty clean w some big changes. when in doubt, scrub it out. 

heard a quote for all of you from an amazing talk called "living after the manner of happiness" by Hinckley. basically, if you are human,  you should read it. he drops a piece of gold by mentioning "if your complaining about life, it's bc you are thinking of yourself". well said. 

also had a powerful week teaching repentance. i realized how great it is teaching and it is going to be weird returning and not trying to change everybodies life for the better through the good news we carry. being a missionary you can say some pretty bold things. ran into lots of LA's and said "God needs you to repent". so much love, tons of tears. its the best. love teaching seriously.

one more thing is something Elder Bednar said to us in a missionary broadcast. "your testimony is your life not your words". basicaly if you say these things are true, thats great. but you have to live your life because there true as well. PREACH!

that should be about it. life is moving along. just hit 6 months in the Philippines mark and rolling up on 8 months since leaving your nest. life.

hymn, 144, Secret Prayer

" when sailing on lifes stormy sea, mid billows of despair,  tis solace to my soul to know god hears my secret prayer"

TATAY KEARL 

round 2 with satay

cute, right 

no shoes, no problem, 80 year old going strong 

making chocolate

sunday morning walks 

rixie red

pretty

update on tooth

Sister Kearl,

I believe he has antibiotics, he's doing well, happy and totally engaged in the work.

He likes the dentist, feel optimistic.

We'll keep you updated. 

Sister Hiatt

never ending tooth saga

Hi Sister Kearl, 

your son returned to another dentist in his new area to get his tooth looked at again.  It is loose.  It will take a few weeks again.


He loves the dentist and is talking to her about the church.  He said to tell you she used to live in Edmonton and her daughter attends the same school his dad went to.


He ask if you could deposit $250.00 Canadian to his account so he pay for the procedure etc and have a little extra to treat his new missionary companion- very nice of him.

If you have further questions, you can email or call anytime,


Love you, Sister Hiatt 

receptive with a return appointment

receptive with a return appointment

hi mama,

nay! buhay pa! lifes going good! the past 3 days we have had a lunch and dinner appointment. truly the promised land.

so i finished reading dans mission book. time for round 2!  loved that book. great kid. 

a little bit more about my area, our house is a couple minutes walk from the chapel and there are an insane amount of members on the street! super fun! theres a couple youth in the final phases of their mission papers so we work w them everyday! very fun and sunny! 

and about the house. so we had a surprise apartment check and.... they were not stoked. but tons of love still! in dupax we were pulling off perfects!! 

but yeah timmy was talknig about cockroaches in our emails and joel mentioned he had a couple too. before my mish i thought that would freak me out but in dupax when i was washnig my clothes there was always a couple running around when i would rage on my yellowish white shirts, it was nice to have something to distract me. but yeah, cockroaches don't faze, super chill house mates. and everywhere has like salamanders on the walls but they are your friends bc they eat flies n stuff so you invite them in. but other than that we've had mice! but back home that stuff freaked me out but its been fun having them around. occasionally they pop out and it is fun trying to keep track of them. basically i'm shocked that they don't faze me anymore! you just adjust. but then he started eating the cereals you sent! so Elder Castro managed killing 3 with a broom! the kids a whiz. i only thought there was one but the fact that we've killed three explains a lot.

on a more spiritual side, i met a man i never want to forget. his name is paul and he has had it rough since birth. his body has some issues meaning he can't control his legs (knees and down) and can't use his right arm hardly at all. super hard to explain his body but he gets around by crawling on his knees with like pvc caps on them (his legs are folded in half, like feet touching his thighs) and his left hand. or he will drag himself on the dirt floor of his house. the members built him a tricycle hand crank bike for getting around. he bikes every sunday over 5 kms to church. and seeing him crawling around at church makes me literally feel guilty standing up. the thing about his bike is he lives at the bottom of a rough bumpy dirt road. so we taught him and sung to him "be still, my soul". after the opening verse, we were all pretty much in tears and then we shared DC 101: 35-38. the spirit was insane. hard to explain what this man means to me. my whole mission has been worth it to meet him. 

i never want to forget this man, paul

another cool experience was to interview 3 people for baptism (responsibility of a district leader). 1 on 1. tagalog lang. all three took close to an hour and all were very different and special. the first was a 12 yo who blew me away with his desire to get baptized and knowledge from the lessons.  we were in a very cool location surrounded by jungle and a cool view. then his mother, testified how grateful she was for you for raising me in the church and giving me that blanket of safety even when i maybe didn't want it and how important that is for her son. again some tears. i love interviewing. 

this week has been spiritual almost every lesson. saw tears from lots of people. w so much love,  i told a LA lady "you need to repent and come back to church". 

sorry, but these once a week letters don't even cover 10% of the mission experince. my journal maybe 50. theres just so much. 

ugh love it.

hymn 124 Be Still, My Soul

"when disappointment, greif, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, loves purest joys restored."

"thy best, thy heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to  a joyfull end" 

TATAY KEARL 

asia

3 tatays 3 snakes

ere day here

street vending bc the misions cheap on us

25 kilos cuz we hungry

tricys here have mirrors sooooo like a filipino SELFIES 

first dunkin donuts here

family find 

mice kill

i hope some trials come quick so i don't waste my time

hi mama

currently in the craziest net shop. i'm talking over 100 super high tech computers in a big hip shop w insane chairs just chalk full of asians playing crazy asian computer games. this place is getting me going!! 

so first off, my anak (child) is a champ and i'm in the utah of the cauayan mission! he has perfect english and classing filipino mission hype. just loves being a missionary. he's insane cute, sometimes we will be deep in the scriptures and we will just say like "yeaaaaahhh" with a fist bump. he's constantly saying stuff like "we can do it" or is always saying "thanks so much". sometimes some people will shew us away and he will say "aww man i wanted to teach them so bad". he's the man. 

so we are opening the area of Alicia (Ah-lesh-ah) ward in the Alicia stake. the sister missionaries who belong here are so hardworking that there area split into 2. super strong ward with over 230 in attendance and full callings with dedicated members. they love missionaries and we love em back. i've had a meal appointment every night and 2 on sunday. the bishop is a spiritual powerhouse and almost teared up when saying how grateful he is that we came to help. the wards helping us get to know the area and people. on our first day this 70 y/o man spent 5 hours walking around with us and showing us around. he loves working with the missionaries. tuscany ward has got to step up its game. 

it's pretty weird opening an area. for example when we arrived in alicia sentro we had to ask a random tricyle driver where our house was and luckily he knew! i have roommates as well called Kabahays. they are younger then me in the mission and ones training his comp. so 2 tatays and 2 anaks. they are obedient, super fun and even funnier. just firecrackers. ones first name is Rixie Red so that pretty much explains him. 

the area is a little different than BamBang. no mountains at all. flat as far as the eye can see and our area goes to some pretty weird, small and depressing towns. 

its dang hot and i often quote will ferrel by saying "that heat is tremendous". pretty much the northern mexico of the philippines. super cool working with a strong ward and learning how to work effectively with them. 

pretty cool sitch because everything is fresh! the comp hasn't been touched, the area hasn't been touched in like 6 months, and even the area book with records of investigators has like 2 records. so everything is ours for the molding. completely our style which is cool. 

so i thought i would deal with the usual uncomfortable adjustment process like i have in the past in the MTC's, my first area and when my tatay left but it has been honestly a blast every minute. this is what people mean when they say "the best 2 years". couldnt be better! 

and to close and top it off i got your package and christmas letter! the family christmas letter is gold and a trt. cherish. and the trts in the package were a trt.

my fav is dans book you sent (side note from julie:  i made a hard cover book with all of dan's emails and pictures from his mission in micronesia guam). i've read it every free minute i get and can't get enough. love that guy. quite a bit of tagalog in there which is neat. and it was cool reading what dan said about his companion, Elder Garcia's family, especially because i met and taught them in my last area. 

but i can't help but ask for a few more things INCASE you send another package. actually all i really need is cheap things from the LDS store online and you could just ship em for free to the mish. so some small leather hymn books and gospel photo books would be great for members and other missionaries. also tagalog triples for Recent Converts ($5). and i would LOVE a small quad with a flap for me. blue if you can do that. i have a list ill bring next time and i kinda hate asking for things but i know you love sending things soooooo.....

i hope some trials come quick so i don't waste my time! if you aint learning what are ya doing? am i rite??!?

Hymn 196 - jesus, once of humble birth

"Once a meek and lowly lamb. Now the Lord the great I Am." 

Tatay Kearl 

update from mission mom

Hi Sister Kearl 

Your son has completed his root canal and all is well and he is ready to train.

His new area is close to the dentist but not expecting any problems.

President said today in training that "Elder Kearl is sharp, on the ball and a great missionary."  He is happy, healthy and enthusiastic about the work.

We love him!

Thanks for 'training' him up well.

Love Sister Hiatt