This is me eating balut!

...I will send my camera card soon, I bought a flash drive today.

Dear Family,
I am so jealous of fly fishing and fall. Thank you for enjoying it for me. FYI it is still as hot as ever here and will be until the day I leave and will be probably forever and ever.
What a week. I survived though. To start off, conference was wonderful. I cried though the entire first session of Saturday. Mom, Dad thank you from the bottom of my heart for my love of conference but it sure makes it hard to be away from you on conference weekend. I really missed you all. I was craving apple crisp and waffles all day on Sunday, random. Interviews last week went well. I was able to be open with Pres. DeLaMare and we were able to laugh about some of the difficult cultural differences and get advice about how to politely refuse food. His advice blame the doctor. Awesome! I am still trying to find my place in this culture...still hard for me.
Also the food this week has decided that it will not stay in me, needless to say I have had a most interesting time eating crackers, rice, bananas, and Gatorade since Thursday. Everything else that I eat just makes me sick. I have talked to Sister DeLaMare about it when it first started and will talk to her again tomorrow. (We get to listen to Elder Jay E Jensen tomorrow as a Mission Devotional, I am so excited.) That has made the work hard this week, many of our areas are exceedingly poor some don't have a CR some don't even have electricity. I listened to Pres Monson's talk about gratitude with different ears this conference. Some of our teaching appointments are done by a single light bulb or lamps. What a different world I live in.
The work this week other than me running to CR's ["Comfort Room"] has been good. We had a set of 4 sisters decide to delay their baptism because of their uncle's death. Which left us a little sad...okay more than a little sad. But also we had 3 sisters step up and ask if they could move their baptism up to this Saturday, so we swapped their dates and happily have baptisms for the stake baptism. They are all amazing. I was on exchanges yesterday and got to lead the area, that was fun and very humbling. It is still hard for me not to understand and speak as much as I want to. I still have so so so so so so so so much to learn. I am coming up on 6 months on the mission, they say it goes faster after this point. Really?
Well Conference was amazing, beyond amazing. I sat there entranced by the English and the MoTab (yes MoTab) and all the white people, good grief we really are white. I got to answer a lot of questions about the Conference Center and who is who and what is where. That was nice to feel like I actually know something.
Well I think that is it for this week. Congratulations Megan. My heart goes out to you and please keep me in the loop. Congrats and marami-maraming salamat din para sa lahat [many, many thanks also for all] who have served, who are preparing to serve, and for those I get to serve. This is a marvelous work and a wonder! The church is true. Thomas S Monson is the Prophet on earth today and his words are for us.
I love you all
Ingat,
Sister Jensen

Fall??

Kumusta Family,

I am not even going to start with how much I missed you over conference weekend. No, we have not yet seen conference, we get it delayed this weekend. Although we missed the announcement that there was a rebroadcast of the Relief Society meeting, my companion and I found out Saturday afternoon just as it ended. Well needless to say there were two sisters standing in the middle of a road in Bagong Silang crying. We taught one lesson and went home to rest and recharge our phone which had died. Later that night we played Fairy Godmother. We invited 3 of our investigators to a baptism of Elder Smith and Arthur and while walking to meet us, the youngest's flip flop broke, the older sisters came to meet us and when we asked where the youngest (Siya, she's 14) was they told us she was home crying. We sent them running back to get her while we ran to find and buy new shoes. It seemed like we ran a long time before we found a tidahan that sold shoes, we finally found a place and thank heavens for inspiration we knew her size, payed for them quickly then ran back to get them. We replaced her shoes and then took a jeep-nee to the baptism which was slightly late because of us. Although in the process we won the hearts of their parents, they know that we love their daughters and are just helping them. Also the sisters are so excited for their baptism as well!!
We had 12 investigators come to church yesterday and two got lost and didn't make it, they took the wrong jeep. I know that the Lord blessed our fasting and prayers and for working through relief society meeting even when we were heart broken to miss it.
What else. Yes, I ate Balut! [Wikipedia says that "A balut is a fertilized duck or chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell... It is commonly sold as streetfood in the Philippines." - Emily] My companion said I ate it like a native, no gagging or anything. I was in a really weird mood when I ate it, like a tired whatever mood. So it turned out well. I also ate Cassava cake (rice something), Papaya, and Ube [purple yams] this week.
It has been a full week. The Spirit has been so strong in every lesson, I can't believe how strong, our investigators are wonderful they are really catching hold of their purpose and progressing. It is exciting to see and be a part of that, and to have so many at once.
I finished Jesus the Christ last week and our Search for Happiness this week. Inspired books!! Also I finished reading the September Ensign, wonderful messages about missionaries. What can I say other then the Spirit has really been so strong this week, even with all the rejections and all the discouragement, this church is so true and this work so necessary.
I am glad to hear that everyone is well and that you all enjoyed conference. I miss canning season more than you can imagine. I find myself doodling pictures of peaches and apples and tomoato plants. Yes my companion lovingly thinks I am insane when I described canning with the excitement that I get when I talk about canning. You know how excited I get.
We had our Zone activity today. We went to the top of a mountain and saw the city from up high. We also had a scavenger hunt, a spiritual one of course. It was fun.
I saw a shirt this week that I really liked it said "there are 2 things you can controll in this life, 1 your attitude 2 your effort." How true that is, in this mission I can have my line out in the water all day constantly reeling and recasting, paying close attention to those who strike, or I can put my line out in the water and wait. Well I am trying to be a diligent Sister and work hard.
I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and letters.
Ingat,
Sister Jensen

Gulp - Conference Without You

Hello Family,
I am not sure what to write this week, it has been a long full week. With Sister Santos we teach about 9-12 lessons a day and are always tracting and OYMing. [Open Your Mouth-ing. It's a contacting mindset that if you open your mouth to talk to someone about the Gospel, it will be filled. -Emily] It is awesome. President DeLaMare suggested that I be more assertive in this area. I am trying. As for the work, we basically started from scratch when I got here, not sure why but we have been tracting like crazy. We have found a lot of new people that are progressing, one family stopped us on the walkway and said that they wanted to go to the temple. We started asking questions and found out that about 4-5 years ago they took lessons from the Elders and for some reason stopped, and their young daughters remembered going to the temple and when they saw us they came up and asked to be taught. We gave them Books of Mormon on Friday and the feeling there handing their 3 daughters (which are now upper teens) their own BoM. Wow, what a feeling. They texted us on Saturday if it was okay to bring their BoM to church with them on Sunday. How amazing! Temple tour on Saturday was good we just took a taxi with 3 of our investigators, no getting up at 3:30am like in Morong. Unfortunately on the way back the traffic was horrible, again with the no rules really, try having a whole mass of cars from one direction trying to get into a single lane...ulg...so we were all feeling car sick and one of our investigators kept throwing up which honestly did not help at all.
Oh well, the church is still true.
Another investigator taught us about Enos and testified of the truthfulness of the BOM, the spirit was so strong in the work this week. I feel like a missionary, every night I am dead tired but feeling the Spirit, I know that we have a lot of work to do here, Kaya namin!!
Tracting is different here, in Morong it was more provincial and here it is just a mass of houses and houses where I didn't think one could fit. Some of them are so small, so so so small. I am learning that with the Spirit is doesn't matter if they live in a mansion or in a little tiny basement house with cement walls and dirt floor the Lord still wants them to hear the gospel. I have been experiencing some interesting smells which knock all appetite out, and some sights and sounds which astound me. But again the Church is true, I didn't get called to the Philippines to be comfortable. I was called here to work, and that means forgetting myself, forgetting that I am uncomfortable and focusing on loving the people I am around, trying to understand their Tagalog and address their needs. That is when the work goes better, when I am able to do more, when I am happier. I still have a long long long way to go.
Happy Conference everyone. I am not even going to start with the waves the homesickness that I have been feeling every time someone mentions conference. Sigh. The Church is true. I will be able to watch some of it next weekend with our investigators at our stake center. I love my new ward though. I loved Morong as well but there are a lot of SA [I think this means Single Adults. - Emily] here and they are really helping me with my Tagalog.
Happy News. I was asked to speak at a ward baptism on Saturday so we went. For the special musical number there was a girl who played the violin. My heart about died of joy the first violin I have seen in the Philippines. After the baptism I asked her if I could play it, for an hour I took requests from the children's hymn book. There was no shoulder rest which made it slightly difficult for me, and it was out of tune at first. I showed her how to tune and explained some other things she had questions about, then I just played for the members. I started in a different room because I didn't want too much attention but after a while most of them had come to listen. I know that I had help from the Spirit as I played. For not really playing in 5 months I was able to play every song they requested on the first try. By the time that we really needed to get back to work my soul was so happy. I can't even begin to describe the joy that playing again, being able to share music with others help others through music again...amazing. Actually a lot of those in the ward ask me for help with music, either piano hymns or theory for their classes. It is just another testament to me that I am supposed to be here in the Marikina 3rd ward.
Well that is about it for this week. Everyone was out partying yesterday because it was the 1 year anniversary of Ondoy [the typhoon]. We hear about it a lot because this area was one of the most effected by it. A lot of drunk people. Lets just say after an event yesterday we then met up and went to work with 3 SA helpers. I have never been so glad for RM's who come with us to work. YAY work with missionaries.
Oh also I got a handful of letters today. Thank you all for your letters that you send. Yes Valerie your pouch mail made it through, thank you. I haven't read them yet, haven't had time but I am so excited. I LOVE MAIL!!!!!!
Enjoy conference, the fall leaves, crisp apples, the cool beautiful mornings that just testifies of God, all of which I miss a lot. Again The CHURCH IS TRUE!
I love you all.
Sister Rebecca Jensen

Hot Hot Hot

Hello Family,
Guess where I am? Marikina 3rd Ward. An actual ward, how awesome is that? I live in an apartment with 3 other Filipino sisters and my companion is Sister Santos from Isabella. She is pushing 5 feet tall, and I am pushing 6 feet and am the tallest sister in the Quezon City mission. I found that out about 6 million times at transfer meeting. Needless to say there are a lot of stares and there were a lot of chuckles when we went to hug up front after the transfer announcement.
I am happy here. My Tagalog has improved 10 fold here, we practice and talk and laugh and eat and talk, talk, talk. There is still a ton that I don't understand, especially when they speak fast, but oh it is so much better. My companion and I sing in just about every lesson and that I love. We teach a lot of lessons daily. There hasn't been an American sister in the 3rd ward for quite some time so all of the people stare again and call out barbie or princess or Americana, but this time instead of feeling awkward or weird I smile and answer back in Tagalog. That is fun. Sometimes the people let us into their house because they want to know why an American is trying to speak Tagalog. Plus with the height difference we get a lot of looks. Sister Santos is loving it, she says that tracting has never been so easy. I am glad that she is supporting our differences and using them to strengthen our companionship.
District Meeting was awesome today, Elder Smith (who was in my last Zone) became our District Leader, its nice to have him as a friend already. Also Elder Arthur that I met in the MTC is his companion, so I feel completely comfortable.
As for my eyes, Mercury Drugstore stopped carrying the prescription that Sister DeLaMare gave me on Thursday but today we went to a mall for lunch and I was able to get it there. It is the one that starts with a G, I can't remember the name. Hopefully it will help. Luckily I didn't get pink eye like Sister Miras, she got it bad and rubbed her eyes a lot so it spread to the other one and needless to say our last day together she wasn't very happy. Sigh. I hope she is happier now. Sister Santos' old companion and I just swapped places, she went to Morong and I came to Marikina. Sister Santos' first area was Morong/Tanay (they were combined then), so I have more to talk about.
I am so completely jealous of all of you and fall weather. Sigh. Here in the city, well here it is mostly all slums so it is really really hot. Hotter than Morong, actually. Also more polluted, I wipe black off my face every night. But the people are so humble, a lot of them are still having a hard time building back up from last years Undoy, [Undoy is the name of a deadly 2009 typhoon. Think of it as a Filipino Katrina. - Emily] which I didn't hear about a lot in Morong but here almost every person mentions it. I can't believe how oblivious I was back in America, yes I was swamped with school but how could I not learn more about this. The people here are so amazing, so happy, I am so grateful that I get to help teach them! Even if I am sweating more than I thought was ever possible, fun times!!!
What else?? Oh tomorrow is my 5 months as a missionary mark, woot!
Oh we have lunch everyday as an apartment, that is fun, I am learning how to cook native dishes. When I get home I am going to hopefully be able to give you a little taste of what food here is like. I hope you like soy sauce and vinegar and a lot of meat.
The Church is True!! Go to the temple as often as you can, the blessings are eternal.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
I love you all.
Sister Jensen

Side note. Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I have done. I was excited to leave but being able to only say goodbye to one family (Sis Miras wouldn't go inside because there were kids, so I was on splits with 2 young women) it was so hard to tell them that you are leaving. But the church is true no matter who is teaching them. It was hard but at the same time a wonderful feeling to know that they really were sad that I was leaving, to know that in some way I have helped them in their lives.

MORE INFORMATION ON SISTER JENSEN'S NEW AREA:
(THANKS, WIKIPEDIA!)

The City of Marikina (Filipino: Lungsod ng Marikina), known as the Shoe Capital of the Philippines, was formerly the capital of the province of Manila during the declaration of Philippine Independence. Located on the island of Luzon, Marikina is one of the cities and a Metropolitan municipality that make up the Metropolitan Manila Area, the National Capital Region of the Philippines. It also belongs to Eastern Manila District of Metro Manila's four districts.

Marikina City is located along the eastern border of Metro Manila; it is bordered on the west by Quezon City, to the south by Pasig City and Cainta, Rizal, to the east by Antipolo City (the capital of Rizal province), and to the north by San Mateo (also in Rizal). It is approximately 21 km. away from Manila.

Marikina was given the title the "Shoe Capital of the Philippines" because of its notable shoe industry. Shoemakers in the city recently finished creating the World's Largest Pair of Shoes and it was only recently that the Guinness World Records recognized this feat. The Shoe Museum located in the city is the home of the famous shoe collection of the former First Lady Imelda Marcos, shoes of the world leaders, past presidents, famous celebrities and persons, shoes of different countries around the world etc., and contains the largest collection of pair of shoes in the world.

The people of Marikina are amongst the most disciplined in the Philippines. Marikina City is considered as one of the healthiest and livable cities within the Asia-Pacific, and it is also the most industrialized and business-savvy city in Metro Manila. Marikina City is one of the wealthiest local government units (LGU) in the Philippines in terms of current assets, cash in banks, share of internal revenue allotment (IRA), gross income and gross net income. The city features many spacious parks, tree-lined streets, bikelanes, boulevards and commercial areas. Despite the latter, most of the city is classified as residential.

I am now done with 2 transfers

Dearest Family,
I am glad to hear that Emily's Birthday went well, I really missed you all that day. Really. Ashley when I get home I want to bake with you in the kitchen for hours. I miss ovens, and real stoves, and cooking in general...sigh...that time will come, just not for the next year and some.
I cannot believe that I am done with my second transfer. How time flies by. We did not go to district meeting or transfer announcements today because Sis Miras woke up with conjunctivitis [pink eye]. I warned her about touching her eyes so much with it going around. But either she didn't understand or didn't want to listen. Either way it was a very tense morning for me. I got up to get read to leave by 7 and so I have just been reading Jesus the Christ since 6:30 this morning. We got the call, I am being transferred. I about dropped my book, me, not her. She has been the one preparing, washing all of her clothes, sheets, taking pictures, saying goodbye. I am thoroughly unprepared packing wise but my heart is excited for a new beginning with a new companion and new area. I love the people here and they have been wonderful in accepting me and helping me adjust, but hearing that I will be transferred - it just feels so right. I am sad to leave with a baptism next week, but as long as he is baptized it doesn't matter the missionary that is there supporting him.
Yes we do get to watch conference, I think it is scheduled for October 8-9, but I am not sure of any other details.
What to say. There are so many things going through my heart and head right now. Oh I wanted to mention about last weeks mention of Jane Eyre and musical songs, I am trying to repent to this week I have tried to imagine or think about BoM prophets or Bible stories. It has been interesting trying to remember the stories then I try and think about them in Tagalog. It is a challenge but makes walking a little but more interesting. Also I have after each lesson I pray that thank Heavenly Father for help with what I have been able to say or teach, and I have noticed that instead of getting so down on myself about the language or feeling that how I taught one principle wasn't how Sis Miras asked, I feel a lot happier and the spirit is a lot stronger.
Suggestions for missionaries coming to the Philippines or going on a mission in general. Here is my advice: Get over bugs and the fear of bugs. And sing every song in the hymnal and be able to sing them without a piano. Especially those near the back of the hymnal, these people here love to sing the strangest hymns.
This is the Lord's church on the earth today, He leads, He guides. More than ever today I know that the Spirit can calm hearts, when Christ appeared to His apostles after His resurrection He started by saying Peace. How true that is, He is the messenger of peace, this gospel is one of peace and love and hope and joy. Helping other people see that and accept that in their lives is amazing, I know that I have just begun my journey here and already I have seen so many people accept this gospel and find that peace, and joy and love. This is the good news! I am so excited to start new, I hope and pray that the rest of my mission will just get better from here on out!
I love you all.
Sister Rebecca Jensen

One more week

Hello Family,

Happy Labor day!! BYU won, and the U woot!
Happy Birthday Emily!!!!
Life is going well, I am feeling a little better, thank you all for your prayers. Today is Sis Miras' 25th Birthday. We went to a waterfall for Zone activity and had some sort of chicken BBQ...it was interesting and very tempting to get into the water but we didn't. Anyway a lot of you have mentioned Jane Eyre, which is funny because I have been pondering that story as well, occasionally a song from the musical will pop into my head or while we are walking up the street and the exhaust fumes are covering the street I look at it billow and pretent that I am Jane on the moors. Fun times. I am trying to make life more of an adventure than a endurance trial. I think of my cold showers in the morning as prep for backpacking trips, we play cockroach hockey each night, anyway I am trying to find ways to make things more fun.
I finally got a new fan!!! I love being able to sleep and not sweat all night!!! Although I don't sleep very well anymore, I wake up a lot...this morning it was a combination of the roosters and jeep-nee horns. Sigh.
Merry Christmas. They start their christmas celebration September 1 because they don't have Halloween or Thanksgiving they just jump straight to Christmas...a little soon for me especially since my brain still thinks that it is July. We get up every morning to the same green the same heat, the only difference is the amount of rain we get each day.
I have been listening to my music a lot, music really does wonders to heal the soul. I am already through the batties of my CD player, luckily I have extras. Thank you again for the music and speakers.
Oddly enough as I feel better and feel like I am trying to work harder and the language is seeming a little more understandable the work seems to be slowing down. Brother Jun smoked and is feeling really discouraged about trying again to quit. We have had a few move away for the next 42 weeks to work. Sigh. They don't tell us they just are gone and their families are like "didn't they tell you they are working in ... for the next ...weeks." We had 2 at church last week. There are a lot of sick people around here now and that has caused many to miss coming. We did get a referral this Friday who is golden, he is 16 and after we taught the restoration we stayed there for the next 35 minutes just answering questions of the soul, he was asking questions like what happens to someone who doesn't accept the gospel in this life. Awesome!!! He accepted a baptismal date! People like him make it worth it.
Well Sis Miras wants to go celebrate her birthday at the members' houses, we are late because the activity went over. Sigh.
I am working hard.
I love you.
Sis Jensen

Zone Conference

Dear Family,

Thank you for your prayers this week, they have helped a lot. We had zone conference on Tuesday. That was a lot of fun, since the First Presidency changed Interviews and Zone Conference to every other Transfer, that was my first one, seeing that we had interviews last transfer, also there are only 2 Zones that come so it is more personal. We talked about the new 8 topics of focus that they are adding/emphasizing from Preach My Gospel, it was amazing. The spirit was strong and I got a lot of support and comfort from it, driving home I felt all new and refreshed. I also got to sit in the front of the Jeep-nee for the first time...yay for not being squished in the back! Another fun part about last week is we stayed in Cainta so Sis Miras had her friends to talk with, we also went to eat and they wanted rice and meat as usual and I found Pan De Manila...masarup! ["Masarup" in Tagalog means "delicious". And I'm pretty sure that Pan De Manila is a bakery chain in the Philippines. - Emily] Needless to say I rode home with a big backpack, your package (I didn't open it until we got to Morong) and 2 loaves of whole wheat (as whole wheat as the Philippines comes) bread. Happy Day.
Well this week has been slightly discouraging. We had an elder diagnosed with an ulcer this week, he is in my district, I finally have a bread eating buddy! Not fun though his is a lot worse, he has been throwing up blood, which concerns me a lot. Anyway I was able to help him understand what he is feeling and what he can eat ect...he went to the hospital but still was fuzzy on some points. I miss speaking Med, it makes me so happy. Also because of his drastic change in diet and now eating the way I always have, I have been getting a lot less grief for my crackers, bread, and water. So I am sad to see Elder Robbins suffer but he is helping others see that I am not just a weird American.
The work went really well this past week, we invited a lot of people to baptismal dates, some accepted some didn't. When we tried to use our new skills to resolve concerns to help them accept, we discovered who were really our progressing investigators and who just liked to visit. We have one that has been taking lessons for 4 months now and she finally said that she has no desire to join she just likes us...sigh, so we told her that we couldn't come see her as often, but then she came to church on Sunday. Also Brother Diaz after 14 days being smoke free, broke down and smoked. What hurt the most was that he did it right after our really spirit filled lesson about the Priesthood where he committed to becoming worthy to hold the priesthood. We were so excited after that lesson and when he told us yesterday that he had smoked it is like your heart dropping into your already throbbing stomach... ya not fun. Also last week we had 12 investigators at sacrament meeting, this week 4, odd how we feel the spirit testify more powerfully and our companionship is more unified and opposition has ramped up as well. The work goes on though, there are still people to teach, commitments to extend, and souls to save.
Well I think that is about it for the week. Oh my fan died the other day, luckily the weather has been cooler with the wind but still dead hot in the apartment. I seriously woke up a puddle and have melted everyday since...Elder Sibley said that he would get me a new one with in the next week or 2...sigh...
Alam ko po na totoo ang simbahan, at ebanghelyo. Buhay si JesuCristo! Puwede tayo maging mas malapit sa kanya sa pamamagitan ng ebangheylo ito! Alam ko na nakikinig ng Diyos lahat panalangin at sobrung salamat ako para sa malaman ito. Kaya namin iyan!
Mahal ko po kayo.
I love you,
Thank you again for everything.
Sister Becky Jensen