Daghan ang akong pasalamat!

Maayong odto! Thanksgiving season is in full swing here! Actually jk, there is no thanksgiving holiday in the Philippines. But we did have a Thanksgiving fireside for all the missionaries here on Cebu Island last week aka big mission reunion aka lots of sisters screaming and hugging each other. It was great!

But yeah, I was asked to give a talk about one thing I was grateful for which was really, really hard for me. I think just in general I have been extremely blessed! But as a missionary you find that blessings and blessings just get heaped upon you. But I ended up choosing to talk about how grateful I am for the opportunity I've been given here on the mission to get closer to my Savior. I know sometimes I make it seem like missions are all sunshine and rainbows haha and alot of times it is! But any one who has served a mission knows that some of hardest trials you will face in life are the ones that you encounter on your mission. There are times where you are stretched and tried. And there are rare occasions where you drop to your lowest low and you are literally broken. But the beautiful thing about being broken is that you get to be healed and personally administered to by the Savior. The image of your Savior suffering for you in Gethsemane becomes clear and for just a few precious moments you stay there with Him. I have a firm and unmovable testimony that our Savior loves us. He will come to us in our times of joy as well in our times of deepest and darkest despair and He will stay with us through the night. I know that trials are the way that our Heavenly Father has selected that we get to know our Savior in a personal and intimate way. And as we come closer to our Savior, we slowly but surely become more like Him. I know our Savior understands every pain and He will carry us when we can't continue on by ourselves. He will heal us and make us whole. I love Him so much and I cherish these moments that I get to be so close to Him as I serve in His name for His church. I love you guys so much (: Seek out your Savior this week!

lots of love,
sister lauck <3


p.s. for pictures:
 me & sis.dala were together again! (while sis.tanner's in the background throwing snickers at people who had a birthday)

some of the american sisters crew! (me, sis.johnson, sis.wolfe, sis.niko, and sis.pinkham)

and the last is your shot of danao for the week!

"You Know You're A Missionary When..."

You know you're a missionary when you've lost all sense of current events and pop culture. After our Zone Training Meeting, one of the brand news sisters yelled to everyone, "Let's take a groupie!" Sis.Lange and I look at each and were like, "What the heck is a groupie?" Apparently it's a group selfie??? And then this sister pulls out her groupie stick! It's like a pole that can extend and you attach your camera to it so that tons of people can fit into the picture. My mind is blown.

In other news, the Philippines is still great! I don't think I've mentioned this, but Christmas celebration has been in full force here since September. I repeat, SEPTEMBER. As in everyone puts out their xmas tress and lights and xmas music is being blasted in the supermarkets. It definitely goes against my "no xmas music until after thanksgiving" rule, but as a missionary I'm secretly enjoying it (:

Do you know what else I enjoy? How kind and hospitable the Filipino people are! Wherever we go, there's always people yelling, "Hey Sisters!" or"Hey Elders!" (the people here don't know the difference). And it doesn't how matter how humble their circumstances they are, everyone's always so eager to feed us some snacks, almost always consisting of soda and some kind of cracker or cookie or chips. Granted at this point I never want to look at a bottle of coke or packaged junk food again, but I honestly do really, really appreciate how loving these people are! I really know I was meant to serve here and I'll take the excessive heat and bugs any day if it means I get to serve with such a Christ-like people!

So I had splits this week which means I got to take a 2 hour bus ride to Bogo to work with my STL, Sis.Layos! I always love the bus ride to Bogo because I get to ride along the coast and just soak in all of the beauty and hills and jungles of the Philippines. Except usually the bus is jam packed and there's no air conditioning and the windows are down so dust is constantly flying in your face. But I scored on the trip back to Danao and Sis.Layos rode in an empty bus with air-con. It was pure heaven! But better than air conditioned buses was....

The special Area Philippines Broadcast!!!!! Last Sunday the entire Philippines got to hear from Elder & Sister Oaks, Elder Robbins, Elder Ardern, Bishop Causse . It was so neat because several times the speakers reiterated that what they had to say is exactly what the Lord would have the people of the Philippines hear. It's so great to be a representative of the living Church of Jesus Christ that is lead and guided by direct revelation from Him. It's so neat that I get to be an instrument in His hands and used so that people here in Danao get to hear exactly what the Lord would have them hear- His Gospel.  Revelation is such a huge blessing and really is the foundation of our Savior's Church. How neat that Pres.Monson gets to receive revelation from Savior about His Church and how especially neat it is that we, as a children of a loving Heavenly Father, get to receive personal revelation for ourselves. I love the sacred times that I get to receive personal revelation and I especially love getting to help my investigators receive personal revelation for themselves about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel. We're all just soooo lucky! And so loved! Nahigugma ko sa inyoha! Hope everyone has a superrrrrrr week! 

Sister Lauck <3

For the pictures this week:

1. Me enjoying the luxury of an empty bus headed back to Danao from Bogo

2. our zone "groupie"

3. My super yummy lunch I cooked - filipino style!

Kalag 2x

Happy Fall everyone! Everyone in the states soak up the cool weather, the colored leaves, and the pumpkin because there is no pumpkin here, the leaves are green, and it is still as hot as Hades over here!!!!

So Halloween is not really that big of a holiday here, so Friday was pretty low key, but the big holiday here in the Philippines is All Saint's Day, or "kalag-kalag" in Bisayan (: (hence the subject line) Basically everyone goes to where their relatives are buried and visit them/talk to them/eat with them. How sweet, huh?

My week was a little crazy because Sis. Salima was in Manila for a week!
She hasn't been feeling well for quite some time now, so she got a check-up and talked with some doctors. She didn't have much luck, but we're praying and crossing our fingers for her!

So while Sis.Salima was in Manila, I had a temporary companion, Sis.Layos! She was my STL back in my first area, so we already knew each other beforehand. It was so great to work with her again! We just teared it up and had some really quality lessons power packed with the Spirit. It was so fun and really so rewarding as a missionary to see your investigators slowly getting the Gospel and Heavenly Father's plan for them. We actually had a lesson that was pretty intense with an investigator who had been taught for awhile. He knew what we had shared with him was true in his heart, yet he denied the invitation to be baptized and would not commit to go to church because his family was of a different faith. Sis.Layos pulled out the big guns and shared 3 Nephi 28:34-35 (look it up and read it and it puts everything in context haha). I didn't know whether to laugh or be really scared, but the investigator ended taking it up pretty well. Usually as missionaries we usually try to take the kind and friendly route, but at times it's necessary to be honest and blunt. And if we are living obediently and doing our best, then we can exercise that authority as official representatives of Jesus Christ. But the cherry on top was that one of my favorite investigators Liza accepted the invitation to be baptized in December!!!!! That's like a big deal for me and I'm so excited for her (: Seeing one of my investigator's lives improving because of the Gospel is the best feeling in the world and makes up for the months of tracting with no success haha

I have zip time, but I love everyone! I love this work! I love my Heavenly Father! 

Lots of love,
Sister Lauck (:

P.S. I included a picture of my desk, just incase you wanted to see where I study for 3 hours everyday haha and then there's a picture of my apartment. There's Sis.Salima from Samao, Sis.Reineta from Kiribis Islands, Sis.Enlacinto from Surigao, Philippines and me representing the US (:

Koan!

Hey guys! I just got back from going to the temple in Cebu - needless to say, my life is great! The peace I felt inside was incomparable to anything else and I know that they are the house of the Lord (:

So about the email subject line - Everyone's Bisayan word of the week - koan! It's one of the most frequently spoken words here. And it literally means "whatchamacallit" haha which was so confusing for me at first because people say "koan" every other word and just expect you to know what they're talking about... when they're really just talking about nothing lolz this language.

Also, we got transfer calls last night and another transfer already flew by but no worries because I'm not going anywhere and neither is Sis.Salima! We're here to stay in Danao for another transfer together (: We're both excited! I haven't had a companion for more than 1 transfer except my trainer and Sis.Salima said from her experience that if companions stay together for 2 transfers they usually want to strangle each other their second transfer because they get tired of being with the same person for 24/7. But we're all good haha no strangling will be going on here!

So if anyone is worried if I've changed too much here on my mission, have no fear! I'm still as clumsy as ever haha we had a District Activity last p-day and we rode up to the top of this mountain where there was this huge field and we just played capture the flag! And me being me, I ending up getting this huge cut on my leg because I slid and fell haha but the activity was great and our district decided that we needed to start doing some morning work-outs because we're all a little out of shape....

We also got to watch General Conference last week (the broadcast is delayed a week out here)! It was so awesome of course and I really loved the reoccurring theme of supporting and sustaining our prophet and apostles to lead the church because they are chosen by God and receive revelation from Him. I love getting to teach the people here that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints is literally Christ's church that He still leads through the prophet and apostles. I just think it's so cool how Christ's church is run on revelation, from the revelation that President Monson receives on behalf of the church from the personal revelation that we encourage our investigators to have so that they can know for themselves if what we teach them is true. I know I sound like such a missionary haha but I just love to teach the simple truths of the Gospel to others! I really do have the best job!

And the cherry on top of all of this was that Sis.Lange came back to Danao on Monday! She was companion-less since her companion was going home. So Sis.Lange has been tagging along with Sis.Salima and I teaching lessons. And the best part is that Sis.Salima and Sis.Lange were companions in the MTC so the 3 of us have all been companions with each other. It's like one happy sandwich of sisters!!!!!

That's about all I have time for this week, but I want everyone to know:

1. I love you guys! ALOT! 
2. I'm really grateful for your support, prayers, and examples. I'm benefeting from them big time over here (:

Ayo ayo akong mga higala!

Love, 
Sister Lauck

9 na, 9 pa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kamusta man! 


Guess what happened this week? Sister Lauck hit her half-way mark in the mission! I don't even know where the time went.... seriously!


In other news, it rained ALOT this week. The rainy season here in the Philippines has kicked in with full force! I personally enjoy the rain because it means I'm wet because of water and not wet because of sweat. (I know, gross. It grosses me out too) And also because we are guaranteed lessons! We are always let into every house we ayo at when it rains because these kind hearted Filipino people take pity on these soaked sisters! The people here in the Philippines kind of have a fear of rain - even if there's not a cloud in the sky, everyone here always carries an umbrella with them. And they have a pretty strong belief that if you get a little wet from the rain you're destined to come down with some crazy sickness. There's been quite a few times in my mission that I've been caught in the rain without an umbrella and I just got totally soaked and when I arrive at a member or investigator's house they completely freak out and wipe me down a towel and are offering me their clothes so I can change haha these people here literally are the sweetest! I sure do love em (:


Sis. Salima and I had a pretty cool experience this week! We were out tracting when this girl stopped and asked us, "Are you guys Latter-Day Saints?" Sis.Salima & I were like, "Yup, that's us!" Turns out this girl Joann was an inactive member of the church who had recently moved here to Danao. Though she hadn't been to church in a while, she had a desire to return back to church and had been praying for a sign or opportunity to do so. And then she ran into us! It was so cool to be used as an instrument of the Lord to achieve His purposes! And it was such a testament to me that Heavenly Father is so mindful of us! Time and time again throughout my mission I've had my own personal experiences that reaffirm to me:


1. Heavenly Father has a PERFECT plan for us, with an ultimate goal to become like Him and return to our home in heaven.
2. He knows just what we need to experience to help us achieve His plan.
3. He will help lead and guide us and give us every means necessary that we need to return to Him


That's basically the why and what of the Gospel. How great is that! As children of God, we have so much to be thankful for, so much to live for here on earth, and so much to look forward to (: I love getting to share this message with everyone here in Danao! Missions are not always sunshine and rainbows, but knowing that there's people prepared here to receive a message like this makes all the little bumps worth it! I love my Heavenly Father! It's such a neat experience to get to know Him and strengthen my relationship with Him as I serve in the Philippines. I love life! And I love everyone so so so so so so so so much! I can feel the prayers, the love, the support for y'all and it definitely is helping this sister missionary! 


Hangtud sunod!
Sister Lauck (O:

Picture Time!!!!

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since I've been able to write! Email time flies and I have way too much fun writing all of my favorite family and friends and before you know it time is up haha but............

Basically I'm still here in Danao!

My new companion is Sis.Salima, 23, and from Samoa! She's way fun and she's definitely helped me add a little Samoan to my language repertoire (: And even though my favorite Americana Sis.Lange transferred, Sis.Salima & I still get alot of stares coming our way haha somethings never change.

I'm still happy, healthy, and loving my calling!

 Pictures are worth a 1000 words, right? Enjoy these pictures in absence of an email haha but I'll fill you guys all in next week (: 

I love each and everyone of you guys! Everyone enjoy fall and especially General Conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amping!

Sister Lauck (:

DAGHAN SALAMAT!!!!!!!!!

Okay, wow, I feel loved! Thank you thank you thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously though, it was the best feeling ever to get on email today and have like 50 emails waiting for me. Especially when you're a missionary, it's just the simple thought from friends and family that counts. Basically, I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It never ceases to amaze me how blessed I am (: I scored in life! I'm definitely replying to everyone, but if I don't get to it today, I will on Monday!

So yeah, my birthday was great! The night before the ward had a little party for me, and then on my actually birthday, it was Sunday, so I fasted and taught lessons and just did normal missionary things. And then I got home and made a huge plate of ramen for myself and then me and the other 3 sisters in my apartment sang and ran around and threw candy that I got my from package at each other. Yeahhhhh, you definitely have to make your own fun when you're a missionary haha

In other news:

-Sis.Lange and I found out there's microwavable macaroni n cheese at 7-11. It's a big deal for us!

-People always ask if Sis.Lange and I are literal blood sisters. Because we're both American. And we look so alike? Not really. But also, parents here always tell me I look just like their daughters. Apparently I look like everyone's sister over here.

- Some ward members asked to help out with this free vaccine clinic here in danao! They had Sis.Lange and I stand out on the street giving directions to the location of the clinic. Except no one would listen to our directions because they were just yelling "Americanas! Americanas!". That happens alot. 

- Sis.Lange and I were tracting and we started going on this path heading out to a fieldy area, but then the kids started yelling "Don't go over there, there's a dog that will bite!" Here's the things about kids in the philippines. About 70% of them are really nice and super sweet and just want to get a high-5 from you. But then there's 30% that always yell lies or really mean things at us and make fun of us. So Sis.Lange and I didn't really give much thought to what the kids said, and went on our merry way. But then....... there was a dog.... and he started barking and started running towards us and then Sis.Lange and I pulled the "maybe if we stand completely still he won't bite us." Thankfully doing that, paired with feeding him our crackers and snacks, did the trick! Turns out those little kids were part of the 70%.

That's all of the fun things that happened this week! But the cherry on top was getting to introduce an investigator of ours to the Book of Mormon this week. She had like 30 deep, what is the meaning of life type questions. And it was so cool to teach her that the Book of Mormon, coupled with prayer and pondering, could answer all of her questions. I know that book is true! I know Heavenly Father lives and loves us and has a plan of perfection and happiness that He needs us to follow. And reading the Book of Mormon is definitely something we need to experience in order to gain all of that happiness! Love everyone from the bottom of my heart!

Sister Lauck (: