Week 60 "Totoong kulay ng buhok mo atay?"

Week 60

"Is that the real color of your hair?" I was getting my hair cleaned today and I think every single worker asked me that question. There were like 7 of them surrounding us, just sitting around chatting....they all left their patrons and everything to come look at my hair. Best thing of my life...of course we got all of their addresses to scout them out later and teach them :)  I love the Philippines oh so much.  Nicest people ever. 

Dear Fam and Friends, 

This week was a good one :) We had so many fun things going on and mostly I feel like we just taught and taught. There isn't a better week than one full of teaching about the gospel.  Being a missionary is so awesome. But we first started out with exchanges...we had 2 this week which finished us up with the transfer.  We had a lot of fun. 

Haha funny experience with exchanges. Sister Craig caught the fever, death sick but we had exchanges so Luby stayed home with her and I went out with Sister Ta'ofi from Australia. So we tagged team their area and ours, it was tons of fun. But it was our last appointment and of course I lost the phone/forgot it at the house and didn't get the text that Sister Craig and Sister Lubas went out to work. So we get to our last appointment and Sister Lubas and Craig are already teaching the lessons....haha we just joined in :) so we just crammed 4 missionaries into this little house and had a great lesson. :) We had a such good time. What a great day! 

Exchange with Sister Ta'ofi--on a Jeepney

We taught the Tripulca family and the Tatay actually stopped drinking for a few days so we could teach them as a whole family.  It was SO cool to teach a whole family and the Tatay is super interested.  We watched the Restoration and the kids loved it. We are going over there with the Bishop hopefully this week. So we hope we can have them come to church this Sunday :) So awesome. 

The Tripulca kiddies

We had a lot of cool finds and exploring in our area.  So we hope we'll be able to just see God work his way into the hearts of the people here.  But I am super excited for what's to come. 

We have transfers this week...I can't believe its already been another transfer...time is going by SO SO fast. I hate it!! :) 

Finish off with a spiritual note....I was flipping through the Book of Mormon during sacrament.  I just was feeling like I needed a little something extra to work on this next week. And so I flipped through and then I picked a random chapter and verse. And it so happened to be in Alma 32...and in verse 8 and 15 how we need to be "lowly of heart" and not "compelled to be humble."  It just reminded me that humility is such a holy attribute.  It kind of just felt like an answered prayer.  So often times we feel like maybe we need signs in our lives but often times i think we just need to be a little bit more humble and just a little bit better than we were yesterday.  

Scared for this week and whats gonna happen if I feel like I need to be more humble...wish me luck on that one haha :) 

Have a good week everyone! 

Love, 

Sister Zarbie--new one I heard this week (barbie and zarbock mixed) 

In our area :)

Pics with the Montana family...this little old lady is sooo sweet

Montana Family

Front view of a Jeepney

Rear view of a Jeepney

The Llarenes fam :) They are recent converts

We found Zion!!!  In the Philippines!  Who knew?

Week 59 Greenwich Pizza and No Sleep

Week 59

I am convinced Greenwich Pizza is the best and I am living off no sleep right now because of exchanges...so life is gooooooing good. 

Dear Fam and Frenz, 

Hello everyone...and another week down. I feel like I was just sitting at the computer like yesterday and here we are again. This week was a good one and a busy one. We had a lot of fun things happen and little by little we are seeing changes in our area...sometimes it is literally like an iceberg melting but hey progress is progress, am I right? 

So it was the death exchanges this week, we had 3....and I just love the sisters in our zone. They are super awesome. And pretty sure I learn more from exchanges than they learn from me. But the funnest part about having leadership in the mission I think is that I getta pick everybody's brain and steal their teaching skills in lessons while we do exchanges. It really is fun to get to know the sisters here. We had a lot of fun this week :) 

Exchanges 1, 2, & 3 this week :)

We had some development with James and Sara this week. James is super funny...he tries to make our lessons super deep and calls us preachers. Its kinda fun. They weren't able to go to church. Hopefully next week. I love their family. 

Had a cool find this week...the Tripulca family. We were walking in our area and I just decided randomly to take a different root that is the longer root, Sister Lubas wasn't too happy about that one...but we went anyway and we saw Sister Tripulca outside her house and she approached us and said that she has never seen missionaries like us by her house and she was super excited to see us and so we taught her and her kids 2 times this week.  Love when prepared people are put in your path. Its soooo cool :) 

Irene our recent convert has been having some issues with her husband the last couple of weeks...so we decided to turn into marriage counselors this week. Whipped out the family proclamation and everything haha.  Guess what??? her husband went to church yesterday.  He has been in and out of being Less Active since Irene was baptized. So that was so awesome to see him at church.  

Me-Me and Rionna...a single mom and her daughter are doing great.  We had an awesome lesson with them about prayer this week.  

Overall it was a good week...we are going for the little successes and our investigators are just building their faith block by block...I am proud of them.  Joshua is doing good...I think he is my best friend in the ward haha. :) 

To finish off with a spiritual thought is from Sister Pablico...our trainee in our stewardship. And she was asking me about what keeps me going on the mission even when I am tired...and I just sat there for a second but then I thought about it and the word ENDURANCE came into my head. That sometimes if we just do things not for ourselves but do it for God...he gives us that endurance we need. It brought Alma 37:36-37 that says "let all things be done for the Lord," and "Counsel with him." And I am convinced if we do those things, he really gives us the strength we need. Even if its as simple as having the strength to be a missionary everyday :) 

Thank you for the love and support! 

Love, 

Sister Zarbock  

Week 58 "Marayong Adlaw"

Week 58

"Marayong Adlaw" means good day in Visaya...Sister Lubas is trying to teach me her language and this might have been one of like 5 things that stuck. Good thing I only have to learn one language haha :)

Dear Family and Friends, 

Hope all is well and everyone had a good 4th of July. Mine consisted again of me singing the National Anthem at 6:30 in the morning and wearing a blue skirt and red shirt...yeah that was all my festivities for that day.  Hope all of your's was a little bit more festive than mine was haha :) But anyway this week consisted of a lot of change and new things..but on a mission I have learned to accept and invite change.  I think it's fun to live life always changing so this week was a fun one. 

First off we got a new mission president this week...President Fermanis and he is super awesome. He is from New Zealand...and their family is so fun.  They have 6 kids and brought 2 of them to the Philippines...their youngest boys. We gotta work with him a lot at MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) and he is just a cool guy. Super different than President Ostler but I am excited to get to know a new family and work with him more.  When someone asked in our "meet the president" meeting how he and Sister Fermanis met...in about like 10 seconds he told us they met and then he went on a mission and then everything gelled together and they got married...and the look on his wife's face was SO funny. He clearly answered the question wrong...if anyone of you become a mission president one day tell how you met your wife in a better way haha :) 

New Mission President--President Fermanis from New Zealand

New Mission President's wife

Had a lot of good experiences and finds for the week. I think the best part of the week was for sure seeing Joshua pass the sacrament for the first time...it is the funnest thing to see your recent converts progress in the gospel!  Love that kid...he told us after he was glad that he didn't spill the water tray...whooop Joshua for the win!

We had a super funny lesson with a new couple...James and Sara. Sara is a Filipina and James is from Africa. So our lessons are like a big combination of English/Tagalog...its so fun.  She reads the Book of Mormon in Tagalog and he reads it in English. Haha best thing of my life...we will teach them again tonight. They weren't able to come to church yesterday because of an "all day birthday" party for their baby turning one...its kind of a thing to do that here. 

Jovelyn is doing good and we were able to teach her live-in partner this week too, his name is Roger.  We knocked on the door and caught him reading the plan of salvation pamphlet...they are super awesome :) 

But to finish off with a spiritual thought is one from a funeral we went to this week for a member in our ward. He died of a heart attack...sad situation, but he lived a nice, long life :)  When we got to the funeral, everyone was of course sad...but there was just a feeling of peace in the room because we really do believe that our life is not finished after this one...the promise in Alma 11 that we will even know even as we do now..and it helped me put my life in perspective that we need to really live our lives right until the end like Brother Vicente.  

Grateful for the gospel and this opportunity to serve. Have a good week everyone! :) 

Love, 

Sister Zarbock

Love this gal!!!  Sister Singer at MLC

Sisters at MLC--Sister Niu the Samoan is moving to Utah

Sister Bito...Filipina is my kapatid cause her nanay is Sister Holzworth :)

Sister Wolcott is my bestie 

This is my old kabahay Sister Otuafi, she goes home in a few weeks.

Back in my old stomping grounds to eat some lunch after our meet the president meeting 

Went to a funeral in our ward and I ran into an MTC couple--it was so
funny cause when I first met them I spoke literally not a lick of Tagalog :) 

Week 57 "Sister Zarbock is the Bomb"

Week 57

So we were walking out of church and our kabahays have the ward after us and they saw us carrying a huge thing of spaghetti home that one of the relief society sisters gave us and she texted us saying that "your word is the bomb.." Sister Lubas didn't get it...so I was trying to explain it to her. Like its a good thing...and she just goes "Sister Zarbock is the bomb.." haha it was sooo funny. I just laughed and laughed and laughed. 

Dear Family and Friends, 

I hope everyone had a good week this week.  It was a good one for us..we had a lot going on with Zone Conference and stuff...and it was officially the last Zone Conference with President Ostler. We are so sad to see the Ostler's go but I am super excited for the new President. We will see him this week at MLC.  I love new beginnings, fresh starts...so I am excited :) 

This week was super awesome as it goes for the work because Joshua was finally baptized.  This was kind of an extra special day for me because I just love the kid so much. And his mom was actually able to attend the baptism too...she bore her testimony and it was SO sweet.  I think sometimes members try to over complicate the gospel a little bit...but the gospel is just so simple. Grateful for Joshua's baptism. He also received the priesthood on Sunday so he gets to pass the sacrament next Sunday. So happy for him and his family.  That was probably my favorite part of the week. 

Joshua's Baptism :)

Joshua and his mom

We had Zone Conference this week too...and it was super awesome to hear the Ostlers testify of their experiences in the Philippines and their years of service here. Something that I really loved was that Pres. Ostler talked about "receiving gifts", that when we are baptized we aren't just GIVEN the Holy Ghost but we need to RECEIVE it in our lives. And you know...I have realized that more than often in my life that that is actually the case with a lot of things. The gospel is a gospel of agency. And the spirit was so awesome at Zone Conference, grateful for the opportunity to serve with such amazing people. 

Zone Conference lunch

My besties at Zone Conference

The Coron Sisters that I love--Sister Gabriel and Sister Mislos

Ran into Sister Petras at Zone Conference :)

So it was fast sunday this past Sunday...and Sister Lubas and I have really been needing new investigators so we prayed to find 2 families that we could teach.  I have such a strong testimony of fasting because later that day we found 2 families that literally just fell into our laps. Super grateful for that!  A little update on our friend Jovelyn...she is just chatting with her husband about us and if he approves...so she is kind of on pause at the moment. 

But to end with a spiritual moment is about being a 100'er. I loved this thought from Zone Conference.  It was actually President Ostler's son who spoke about. He talked about no matter where we go in our lives we need to be 100 percent invested into our lives and be "perfect" at trying.  It gave me an extra desire to be a better person and missionary.  The gospel is awesome. 

Love you all, 

Sister Zarbock 

This is Jovelyn

Sister Lubas with her new English scriptures :)  Thanks Jules!

More Zone Conference pics

The Adduru's at Zone Conference

Sister Seumalu..new STL