It's Official. . .

Guess what family?  I got my flight plans!!!!  I am officially going to the Philippines, crazy right?  Except as of right now we have a twelve hour lay-over in Los Angeles so the travel office said we probably will get new flight plans, but I am still excited anyway.  I will leave here on February 10 and get to the Philippines on February 12 (I am time traveling wahoo!).  I also have a direct flight to Manila which I am grateful for, so only 3 flights for this missionary.  And I am flying with all the missionaries going to my mission which will be nice.

Want to here something cool?  This week Janice Kapp Perry came and talked to us during relief society.  (They have all the sister missionaries gather in the same building for it.)  I had no idea she wrote every single one of my favorite primary songs ever.  She also wrote a new rendition of "As sisters in zion."  specifically for sister missionaries which is a really cool song.  Anyways we sang all of those songs for her and the spirit was soooo strong.  Most girls there were in tears by the end.  It really taught me the power of song to invite the spirit, I will definitely try to use that while I am in the field.

Yesterday we also had an english fast (or as my district calls it a Cebuano Feast).  I was really nervous for it, but it was actually a lot easier then I expect.  With creativity, I could communicate everything I really wanted to.  It made me feel a lot better about going to the Philippines in a week.  Also my crazy news, so Nate lied, it is not any easier for me to sleep while I am here.  Actually it is hard, most nights I don't remember falling asleep or waking up which is really weird but I know I have slept because there is no way 8 hours have past.  But it is totally fine because I am never tired.  ANYWAYS sorry about that tangent, but I was awake at 3 last night and I realized that I was thinking in Cebuano.  How cool is that! It just came.  I mean there is always the possibility that I was delirious, but I don't think so.  I have been trying to translate my thoughts into cebuano lately so it was really cool to experience that.

The church is true. I know it, I live it, and I love it.  And I hope you love it too!

Sister Hancock

Week 3

My Dearest Family Who I love so much!!!

So guess what, I met a sister from Bohol (an island in my mission) who was going to the orem mission, so she will be in logan.  We pretty much just switched places.  But it was so cool to meet her.  She was so short and she raised her eye brows to respond yes to my questions (they have that and other cool mannerism that you will probably get to witness when I get home from my mission), and in that moment I felt like I was in the philippines.  Okay not really, but It was still really awesome.

Who wants to hear my latest slip with cebuano?  Well during class we were learning about different conjugations and I asked if there was and ihi conjugation (which if you knew what was happening it was a perfectly normal conjugation, or so I thought).  Then my teacher asked, "what did you say" and I was like "Ihi" then all 3 of my teachers started cracking up and I had no idea why.  Well apparently to say it in a nice missionary way it was #1.  Who would have thought.  And to think I will have many more of these stories to come when I get to the feild.

So we are still teaching Lea which has been a really good learning experience for us.  I really wish I had facebook in my mission so I could stay in touch with her, but oh well.  She complains about how many missionaries facebook her, but I know she really likes it.  She is such a strong person and such a great example to me.

One thing I have also gained  a testimony of this week is the lord will give you in the very minute what you need to say.  We had a day were we were teaching lessons all day and literally had no time to prepare for any of them (which is especially hard in Cebuano).  But when we got in there in each moment we were guided by the spirit and we taught some of the best lessons we have ever taught.  In TRC on of the RM said in our review that he hasn't felt the spirit that strong in a long time.  It was so cool, and it gave me a testimony that god will help me meet what I am required to do.

I love you all and hope you are happy.  Like one of my companions said (sister Clegg) while we were studying the plan of salvation, " Can we just take a second to really appreciate that god has given us this plan to be happy, and if we follow it we will be happy.  How happy is that?"  Be happy and notice the miracles in everyday life.  I love you!

Sister Hancock

It's the moment you have been waiting for. . .

To my adoring fans,

First off, I love you!  

Second I guess I will start with a funny story before I get into the serious stuff.  Once upon a time there was a sister missionary, who wanted to SYL (speak your language), and she didn't know any insults.  So in a joking manner she called her companion the devil (because that is a word a missionary would know) in Cebuano.  Come to find out the devil is equivalent to the f word in Cebuano... Lets just say she is really glad she found that out before she got to the field...

Anyway, this week has been really great.  There has been less of an emphasis on the language because right now we are learn teaching techniques.  It has been a really great growing experience.  We teach two people in cebuano in the morning, and now we teach 3 other investigators, which is really crazy because we are always teaching.  2 of those investigator are not a part of the church, and they get paid to be investigators at the MTC.  The first one is Leah who has grown up in Utah her whole life and has a big problem with mormon culture rather then our beliefs.  She also has anxiety problems.  Some of the sisters in our zone were teaching her before and when they left she asked if we could teach her so of course we said yes.  Its hard because she really doesn't like when you try to teach her, but the spirit was really strong in our last lesson and after what she told us it is really easy to see that god is working in her life to bring her closer to him.  I am glad I get to be a part of it

The other on we are teaching is Sarah.  She is from New Hampshire and is going to BYU right now.  We eat dinner with her a lot and she is so funny because she tells us all these stories of discussions she has had.  Apparently she keeps and air freshener in her room in case she has elders teach her because when they get nervous they really sweat.  But it has been a really great experience teaching her and I love how I can feel the spirit as we testify of truth.

On another note, this week Elder Bednard came and talk to us.  He came on christmas and just had missionaries ask question and then he answered them, so this time he answer some of the questions he missed.  It was so good to hear from an apostle of the lord.  Also my district has been sick all week and I am hoping I don't catch it.

I love you all!!!  This church is true and by living by it principle it is the only way to find happiness!  Keep progressing in you relationship with god!

The family member you love the most,

Sister Hancock

Kamusta mga pamilya!

Sorry If i didn't get time to write you personally back.  I had no idea how fast an hour can go by, it is crazy.  But I will try to write you a letter today if I have time.  Also sorry I told you I was going to write you yesterday.  They actually changed our schedule this week so my pday is now friday.  My schedule is I go to breakfast at around 7 then go to class right after, then go to the gym, then lunch, then class, then studying for the rest of the night.  Studying at night is hard because your mind is already completely exhausted from learning cebuano all day, so my zone has a hard time studying.  But it has been good because me and my companions are teaching an extra investigator at that time.  He is a gold tag investigator which means some gold tags are actually real investigators but I don't know if he is real or not haha.  But anyway he came up to us while we were walking and asked us if we would teach him so of course we said yes!  He said he felt like there was something we would teach him so it has been good.  His name is Jorge.

But the MTC is seriously so great.  I will take away any mystery you might see about the MTC.  Pretty much I just am in the same class room with four white walls all day.  But the spirit is so strong all the time I am learning so much!  Especially on the Cebuano part of things.  Whenever I get time to relax cebuano words just randomly run through my head. Sometimes I can even understand them haha.  I feel really good about how my cebuano has progressed through out this week.  We have been teaching lessons.  They are very simple lessons, which I am actually very grateful for because it helps me realize just how simple but deep this gospel is.  And by the end of the week we could understand what mildred (my old investigator who is now my teacher haha) was saying and after a lot of thought and creativity answer her back.  My companions and I have also been doing this thing where we can only speak in Cebuano in the mornings.  A lot of times we are confused what each other is saying, but eventually we get the point across.  

One thing that has really made my testimony grow is I can feel how much god has strengthen me while I have been here.  He has help me have the ability to learn more then I could ever on my own.  I sort of tried to study Cebuano before I was here and it took me forever to remember any words.  But while I have been here I memorized our missionary purpose in Cebuano in like 30 minutes I think.  I feel like Alma I think it was when he was talking about how in his own strength he can do nothing, but with the lord we can do all things.  It has really been a big testimony builder for me.

Oh and the Cebuano word of the day is C.R.  You say it like you would it english haha, it means bathroom ( it stands for comfort room).  And to say go to the bathroom you would say mag-C.R. It is seriously the most funny language every.  When you are counting you use cebuano numbers, when you tell time you use spanish numbers, and if its over 100 you use english number random right?  I love it though.  And I love the MTC.  But most of all I love you and keep you in my prayer.  Keeping working hard and sharing the gospel.  

Sister Hancock

Annika didn't have a Pday last week, but this was the letter she sent:

Dear Family,
I am writing for three reasons.  First and for most, I love you so very much, second both the mission president and my branch president greatly stressed writing you guys ASAP, and third being the forgetful person I am I forgot my temple recommend.
The MTC is serious way awesome! It is the oddest thing even though I have been here for two days I feel like I have been here for forever.  And don't worry even though I was sobbing when I left you guys I stopped crying when I got here and everything has been great.
My companions (I am in a tricompanionship) are some of the sweetest girls and have some of the strongest testimonies I have met.  I have already learned so much from them (I know it has only been a day and a half, but you have to remember I feel like I have been here forever). Sister Clegg is my first companion and she lived in Kaysville(she was really good friends with Rex haha).  Afterwards she went to BYU (Everyone in my district went to BYU even though they are from lots of different states.) She was originally assigned to Tacloban mission, but got reassigned to the Cebu East Mission.  She ran cross county in high school and is really a great girl.
My favorite part so far has been the language class.  It sounds so nerdy, but I have so much fun in it.  My teach is so animated and has so much energy that it makes the class really exciting.  Tomorrow we teach an investigator.  Wish me luck.  I still have to look at my notes when I pray, so hopefully it goes well.  Oh and Thursday is my p-day so you can expect an email then.  Today was supposed to be my p-day, but they didn't give us a p-day so we had additional studytime for a very long time.  We also didn't have a gym time so right now all I want to do is run.  I love ya guys so much and I keep you in my prayers.  Keep spreading the gospel by being the great examples you are and look for missionary opportunities cause the gospel is so beneficial to everyones life.  I love you sooooooo much!!!
Sister Hancock
PS My MTC address slightly changed because we are leaving earlier.  Probably because we now have to take a boat to Cebu after the typhoon, so more traveling wahoo ha ha !!!  I am excited to see so much of the Philippines!