Dead Toes and Pants

pictures:

*Sister Cabanilla, Shaina, and Sister Stewart 

*A couple of Sister Stewart's favorite families

*Pinaglabanan Shrine of Mabitac, Laguna...a historical place of the American and Filipino battle field (World War 2)

*Her new style...ugly sandals and a bandage

*Stairs to Mabitac, Laguna Catholic church (127 steps)

sydney.stewart@missionary.org

Magandang araw sa ating lahat!! Today is a beautiful day here in the Philippines. This week was interesting. My companion, Sister Cabanilla, is such a good missionary, it's insane. Everyday I just feel so uplifted and moved by the testimony she bares in our lessons. Hopefully her skills will rub off on me a little bit!

So before Sister Ferrer left, we visited one of our awesome friends, Brother Bryan. His father died and we went to view the body and offer our condolences (which is a very common thing to do, whether you know the person or not).

So here in the Philippines, when someone dies, they keep the body in their house for about 3 days to a week. They eat and do everything as normal right there with their loved ones. They say it's a way to feel like they are still there for a little longer.

With Bryan, we went in and were talking and visiting. I'll try and translate this in a way that makes sense...

Bryan: "Sisters, I have a sin against you."

Us: "What? We doubt it!"

Bryan: "You know the pants that you gave me to be able to wear to church? I used them on my father."

So last week, Bryan told us he didn't have any clothes to wear to church so our zone leader, Elder Douglas, gave him pants and a shirt. Now the pants are in the ground on someone that we don't know!! 

Sister Cabanilla, Sister Doney, and I are now in a trisome and will be for a week. Sister Obusan, Sister Doney's trainee, has some health issues and is now in the missionary recovery center, so please keep her in your prayers!!

Love you all!! Oh one more thing, my toe is infected. It started with intense pain and then blew up into some sort of boil. But I felt pathetic because my toe was so painful that I was limping!! It was wild that so much pain can come from a little toe haha. So I now have to wear these ugly sandals for a week while I'm on my meds. I have all these pills now and this medicine I have to put on it... it's a pretty high maintenance toe. 

Anyways, that was my week. TILL NEXT WEEK, AMERICA!!!

Sister Stewart

Transfers/Baptism ni Dominic

***Mail & packages haven't been making it to Sister Stewart. 😢 Her address is being changed to:

Sister Sydney Stewart

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Antipolo Mission Office

Ligtasan St., Brgy. San Roque

Antipolo City 1870, Philippines

My buddy Dominic got baptized on Saturday!! WOO! 

I am staying in Siniloan!!!!! I was shocked! My roommate is becoming my companion, Sister Cabanilla. She is from Laoag and reminds me a lot of my sister! She is going to be training me as an STL. Wish me luck haha and most of all, wish her luck!

Work is fun. Being a missionary is seriously a blast. It's kind of awesome that I speak Tagalog too. Sometimes it hits me that I'm speaking another language and I'm amazed by how much Heavenly Father has helped me. It goes to show how often He helps us and how often we forget!!

I love you all. Let me know what I can do for you!

Sister Stewart

Undas

pictures:

*at the cemetery with Shaina (her sister died a year and a half ago and her headstone is the one on top)

*doesn't everyone meditate in the middle of the street at night like Sister Stewart and Shaina do?!?

*Sister Ferrer and Sister Stewart do a LOT of walking in their rubber shoes 

email:

sydney.stewart@missionary.org

snail mail:

Sister Sydney Stewart

Antipolo Mission Office

Ligtasan St., Brgy. San Roque

Antipolo City 1870

Philippines

Magandang araw po sa inyong lahat!! Kamusta po kayo? Masaya ako dito sa Pilipinas!!! Nakikita namin ang maraming himala at biyaya araw araw. 

Ok, sure, I'll speak English... How are y'all?? I'm just chillin' here at an internet cafe in the Philippines. This week we had Undas, or All Souls Day, on November 1. This is like their Halloween but completely different. It's pretty much a party at the cemetery. It's awesome! They took a couple weeks before to deep clean the grave sights and get it all ready, and then on the 1st they cook a ton of food (because food is everything here) and they live at the cemetery for the whole day. Some people stay for the whole night too. It was really cool because they all put candles out and flowers so the whole cemetery just lights up! I made my companion walk through the cemetery with me:) I was overwhelmed with joy just seeing all these families together so happy. It seems like half of our area is a cemetery, by the way. Each grave sight is like a house. So it looks just like a neighborhood but nope... it's all cemetery. Some are literally like mansions. 

Anyways, other than that it was a pretty normal week (but also not normal at all, of course, because we are missionaries in the Philippines). We had another service project at Brother Armando's land and it was awesome as usual. 

I love you all! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

Sister Stewart