58......

Sister Kassidy Ariel Norman

Philippines Angeles Mission

F. Tanedo Street

Barangay San Nicolas

Tarlac City, Tarlac 2300

Philippines

58 Is the number of bug bites i have...on my left leg...i was too lazy to count the rest of them...My legs will never look the same!!

Anyway.. today we had a Budol fight which is just like a table with banana tree leaves laid out then there is rice, chicken, fish, tomatoes, bananas, pork, and different sauces just piled high and everyone just digs in with their hands...it was great. One elder was like "ahh! i forgot to wash my hands!" ...he was kidding..then the sister i had been eating next to was talking and i overheard "Yeah i'm like really sick..i can't stop coughing" so i started laughing....she wasn't kidding....so  Here's to my last meal (not to be dramatic or anything).

This week we had exchanges again! It was great! I was with my Lola (granny) in her area in Munoz. We found a family that have such a great desire to learn about the truth. We also taught a family who's story is sort of crazy. They live in a "house" that is made up of plastic signs, towels, and torn blankets; one of their sons has cancer, none of their (5) kids go to school, the parents don't know how to read, buuut they find comfort in the gospel and really want to be baptized and even though they aren't "learned" they are so wise and full of conviction when they share their testimony! I love seeing the gospel bring happiness to people no matter what their situation is. I really enjoyed learning from my Lola Sister Scholl. She is an amazing missionary. I hope to be half the missionary she is one day!

This week i've made friends with lots of animals...one was a little goat, a couple kittens that were the size of my hand (one fell asleep in the palm of my hand), and a little duckling....so obviously it was a good week..

Oh ya some pretty cool foods too.. There is Mr. Keso which is cheese candy..it was actually really delicious. I also had cheese Icecream (These phillies love their cheese). OOO and last but not least CHICKEN INTESTINE...mmm mmm mmm. it was uh  .. interesting....someone from the ward wants to have us over for Bukid Mice...or field mice...yummy.

OOooo one of my favorite investigators just got her marriage licence today so her wedding is SET for the 31 of jan and her baptism (along with her fiance's and cousin's [other golden investigators]) is set for the 14th of Feb! yay! :) I'm really excited for them! they are such an amazing family!

So thats my fun:) Ooo for these next month i am focussing on Conversion and Testimonies and The Atonement, and Overcoming addictions/bad habbits....i'd love to read your testimonies or thoughts or stories on any of these:) Love all of you!

-sister Norman

 No Edits :)

Mountain

So I am deciding to start off with my group message today. This week has been crazy. One night, while we were in our furthest area (bukid or out in the middle of nowhere), Macatcatuit, there was a black out! It was really cool because there is literally just fields everywhere and a few houses so we got to see the stars suuuuper suuper clearly. I made empanadas again...they were really good. I took them to Zone Training and they seemed to be a hit! So...the mountain i climbed...was a literal mountain...and it was terrifying...it was actually like 2hours ago. I still have dirt all over my face/back/ hair/ legs/ arms...etc.. so here's the story:

For our zone activity we went hiking. It started off great. But eventually we all got spread out (Not with our companions!!) so we stopped to wait for them. after about twenty minutes we called them before we started our climb up the mountain.. (we had hiked really far in but we all wanted to hike up the big mountain!).... When we called they said they were already half way! So we were like "Ok!...they must have found another trail... we'll meet them up at top!"....that was NOT what happened. what we thought to be a trail turned in to what was clearly just forest/jungle. It was too late when we figured it out! Sister Scholl had climbed up a steep loose dirt-y climb, to the right was Elder Headman steadying himself on a tree, I was near Elder Headman holding on to a vine for dear life, Elder Kilts was right behind me waiting to help Sister Dalley up, then Sister Dalley behind him trying to dodge the falling rocks (A huge on ended up hitting her strait in the face.... It came to a point where Sister Dalley got to a point where she couldn't really make it up on her own so we had to help bring everyone up with finding a branch that wasn't covered in termites or thorns and pulling them up to us.. As we got to where there were vines and tree stumps we held on and looked down what we had just climbed up; there was no way we could get back down! (it was seriously strait down! i have no idea how we had made it up!) So we decided we could still make it to the top to meet our companions and the rest of the group. As we went further up, the harder it got; there were loose rocks and dirt, thorns, and steep climbs. When we got to the top, it was clear we were not at the same spot as the others. We decided to stop, pray, put alcohol on our arms and legs, and get some water in us. Then we started on the trek down. We all tried to stay super positive...we even talked about how the enabling powers of the atonement are so relevant here! We all helped each other. After a long, rough, tiring way down (mostly just falling and helping each other up), we finally found the trail. We were so happy! ALMOST BACK TO OUR COMPANIONS. It wasn't until I saw Sister Salem until i really was so thankful to have made it back. I learned a lot out of this misunderstanding and tailless hike. I will NEVER leave sight and sound of my companion. I don't think I have been so worried for her! I don't really know how to explain the details of this hike other than it was sort of terrifying but since we are servants of the Lord and  we all put our faith in him and in the atonement of Jesus Christ, we made it back safe. It was amazing because even though we kept getting hurt and tired and scared, we all stayed so positive and helped one another. We all enjoyed the beauty of the jungle around us and remembered the enabling powers of the atonement.

well thats my excitement for the week..here are some pictures

One is of the group where we stopped and prayed for guidance. One is the View while treking down, and one was a selfie of me and the mountain i just [literally] got over:)

Sister Kassidy Ariel Norman

Philippines Angeles Mission

F. Tanedo Street

Barangay San Nicolas

Tarlac City, Tarlac 2300

Philippines

mmmmm...mice...masarap!

Yea...we went back to a house we had OYM'd to see if we could teach them again..they were cooking so we were like " Hey we would love to help.." then. when i looked down to see what kind of meat they were cooking i allllmost screamed because i saw a mouse in the meat! ...well a mouse tail...tails...and a few heads...and fur... yeah..they were gutting and preparing FIELD MOUSE! i don't think i can sufficiently describe the relief that came over me when they said they didn't need our help....Next time i will look at what they are preparing before asking to help...anyyway...

Happy New Year all! 

so much happened this week! i don't know where to start! hmmm..well last Monday we had to travel to Tarlac for a test my companion had to take for English. Tarlac is a pretty big city with an SM...i'm not really sure if that stands for shopping mall or super market...the super market as in the shopping mall...anyway...i bought REAL CHEESE! it was so exciting...i also got soy milk and bacon! it was like Christmas all over again!.. 

OOO i also mad empanadas...like Chilean ones...and just cheese ones...SO MASARAP! (masarap =yummy) ooo i got to help someone catch her chicks that got out of their cage..that was fun...and she listened to our message afterwards! yay! 

oooo and for the 31st we had to come home early. Thats when we made the empanadas...we also had the candy my roommate's mom sent her and we also had French toast, bacon, eggs, soymilk, and hot coco..it was magical. After dinner we went to the rooftop and watched fireworks! People here buy fireworks that would NEVVVER be allowed in america..they set them off anywhere and everywhere so when we were on our rooftop we had some literally right above the rooftop of our neighbors...i thought i was going to die...but it was amazing...in every direction we looked at midnight, there were huge fireworks! it was awesome! and yes...in my photo i AM wearing a big sweater...it was like 78 degrees...my body now thinks that is freezing. 

This last sunday in sacrament they asked me to play the piano...i did it...it was sort of amazing since i don't know how...but i did it! that was literally a miracle...i played I am a Child of God, Love at home, and There is a green hill far away. craaazy! so i'm the new pianist...yay

We held an FHE for our investigating family that is getting baptized soon. It was crazy huge..the photo of the big group is us at fhe. Other investigators came, recent converts, the bishopric, and just members! it was such a blast! in one of the games i lost and the consequence was that i had to sing a song in front of everyone so i sang Make a man out of You from mulan...everyone seemed to like it...even though my voice is virtually gone right now and i was adequately awkward... 

Oh ya! keep Guimba in your prayers...

ok so here they sell the huge big fireworks on the sidewalk riiiiiiiiiight next to the street and riiiiiight next to each other and 2 drunk guys threw their cigarettes and landed on a firework and set it off so over 15 stands blew up. lotsss of injured people and 3 children died. it was quite a tragedy for..any sized town..but especially for this small poor town. It ruined a part of their elementary school too. it's really sad.

anyway...It's been a pretty good week other than that. I got to see a lot of people come together to help rebuild and help the family who lost loved ones. 

anyway...love all of you! happy 2015!

-sister Norman