Week 2

KUMUSTA KA KAMI!!!???

This weeks has been pretty eventfull!! Lot's of fun things and LOTS of spiritual things! SO I have just chosen favorite stories to share with all of you.....

So our "investigator" Mildred? Guess what.....She is now our teacher!The whole time she has actually been our teacher. She was just playing an investigator she met while serving in Tacloban! Her real name is, Sister CLAIRE Brinton! She's super dope!! She was the only girl in her whole district! SHe gets married in May to her fiance she met at the Y. So typical! :)

Elder Agavale and Elder Kaafi have never seen snow before! So they, and Elders Toluta'u from Tonga, Elder Kafusssi from Tonga, and Elder Drauva from Fiji, had the time of their life in the snow!! We all did!

Last week, I touched base with how Sister Hogge is homesick. Well, it got really bad on tuesday and wednesday. She wrote to Presidnet Capik, telling him she was gettign homesick, he met met with her the next day. I would find out the day after that, that all she was planning on calling home that night and going home. In her meeting with Capik, she shared her feelings and he siad something that turned everything around, That she was called here by God. HE needs her. She is the tool that is needed for Him to touch the lives of the people in the Tacloban Mission. But More importantly, that it was the ADVERSARY that was pushing her shoulders down. Making her feel unworthy to serve. Wanting to stop. Give up and go home. It wasn't her, beating up on her self. The next day after she told me this, she received a priesthood blessing and was able to call home to her family and tell them how she was feeling. She is now as happy as ever and the adversary has no place in her life now. She still misses everybody of course, but now she is able to bare, and take it day by day. Rather than looking so far into the futrue.

Brother Pasikala and Brother Young are so spiritually in tune and know exactly what we all need. Friday and Saturday night, was just that. Brother Pasikala, shared so much with us and us with him. He shared a scripture with me while in missionary coaching. He asked me what got me to this point and why I wanted to serve. I told him the whole reason I wanted to serve, was to let people know that their Heavenly Father loves them! Loves them so much that He has a plan for them. That He loves us all so much that He wants us to be with Him again! AND I JUST WANT TO YELL IT TO THE WORLD! :) Isaiah 52;7 and D&C 128:19. Everyone needs to know that! They are loves by someone so infinitely, and He doesn't ask anything else from us, but that we love Him and His Son, repent, and stay obedient. "Come unto me" is all He asks, and in returen, we receive so much more!

Brother Young as well shared so much with us! We had so many lesson plans that night he felt so inclined by that Spirit that he just told story all night. Stories of spreading the Gospel and How it has blessed his and others lives. We had a testimony night as well. Elder Agavale, Which I swear, he is like my brother or cousin, we are thick as thieves! But, he shared a dream he had with us where his grandmother and he were in heaven and she shared scripture with him. Somewhere in D&C telling him he needed to get people to prepare an repent. No joke, I had heard this exact story before! Same setting, same people, all of it.I can't even tell you how much deja vu I have had here! Well, I can.... EVERYDAY! Everyday something happens where I feel like I have done this before, or this is familiar, all that. Hahah, everything in my life has definitely led me to this! This is the thing that I need to be doing with my life. The Lord answering my prayer that I need to serve, just proves it! But having a feeling, that you have known all these people for your whole life, our guess is pre-existance. We all have such a bond together! I love my district so much! Hahah, we are all so spiritual, but most of the time it is jusy flat out hilarity! Elder Muir saying, "Nailed it!" after everything awesome! But now saying, "Gilangsang siya!" because thats what it is in Cebuano. Or Elder Kaafi, saying he feels the spirit and falling asleep. Or my companion saying, "I'm so glad that my first companion is a dork!" Hahahaha, it just makes it all that more awesome!

Well, It's about that time again! Elder's are freaking out becaue they can't write home to their "MUMMYS!!" :) I love you all and am so grateful for all that you have done for me! And hey, There is a thing called SNAIL MAIL. Y'all should try it! OR even DearElder! Hahah, I love you guys!!!!!!!!! 

Week 1

KUMUSTA EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!

The MTC is freaking awesome!!! I love my district and branch!!!! We are hilarious!!! Most of us our Polynesian too! Hawaii, American Samoa, and Tonga. We have an Elder from New Zealand and Australia too. WE ARE AWESOME!!!!! Let's just leave it at that!

Guess who my companion is...... Sister Hogge!! The girl I met on the Filipino Mission Facebook page! YA!! Dude, she and I are the best together! We crack up laughing at each other all the time! Sometimes in devotional, or watching the Joseph Smith movie..... not the best things to be irreverent in, I know. But hey, I did tell you we are the most hilarious and funnest and most awesome branch :) She really misses Sacramento and her family, I keep telling her they love her and are all super proud of her and she and them will receive AMAZING blessings from her service. She's just homesick is all!

I would send pictures, but my camera isn't working on uploading these pictures onto their system. Neither are a couple Elders in my branch. Acca-weird!

Lemme tell you 'bout my district!!!!! So there is me and Sister Hogge, who is from Sacramento. Then there is Elder Call from.... Some where by Logan. He's also our district leader. And his companion Elder Muir from Australia! Hahah, they are hilarious! I'm picking up on Aussie lingo too! Twit, banggers and mash, sweet-as, there's more but I don't have very much time! We mostly just mimic what he says! Well... I DO! He's helping me with my accent! And we help him with his! Then there is Sister Lindsey from Eaglemountain and Sister Pettijohn from Oregon. They are adorable! Super innocent mo-mo type! Then there's Elder Agavale from American Samoa and his companion Elder Kaafi from Tonga. THEY ARE HILARIOUS!! Kaafi always falls asleep! And they get the giggles all the time and then we all go off! We are learning I promise!

Our teachers are Brother Pakisala, from Hawaii!! Graduated from Kamehameha even! Served over in Cebu. And Brother Young, from Provo. He says, he's really old! He's 24. He can play 30 -something instruments!! They are super fun and I wish they would have taught me in high school. They know how to teach!

We had an awesome testimony meeting on Friday and Elder Muir shared an amazing scripture, Alma 29:9 LOOK IT UP! Typical missionary scripture! And Brother Agavale shared an amazing thought. There are three names on your tag. Yours, The church, and Jesus Christ. Your's and Christ's are the same size. Meaning we should always strive to be like him! And Elder Call shared a thought too. Our nametags are engraved, not printed. We need to engrave the gospel into our life! Super amazing!! 

I saw JD! Got a picture with him at the map too!! For those who don't know, he is my cousin.... he took me to prom my Junior year. He leaves the MTC today for Latvia!! His language is super confusing! I really wish I could upload pictures right now! I need a card reader super bad!

Other highlights....SUNDAYS here rock!! Awesome lesssons, temple walks, relaxing, all of it. OH!!!! And I have't cried! Like at all! I mean, Spiritual stuff like in relief society and class things, ya. But Not from homesick stuff. I love and miss you guys a ton, but ENough that it's not constantly on my mind!

We have our first "investigator" (a temple recommend holder/ LDS person who acts like an investigator) Her name is Mildred and she only speaks Cebuano. GET THIS......... I GOT THE GIFT OF TONGUES! From what Sister Hogge says, I was speaking it fluent-ish! We were teaching her about prayer and she asked about how and I totally bore testimony, told her how, and why and... OH MY GOSH!! IT WAS AMAZING! Highlight of my week I'd say! we've began to teach her about repentance too.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!! GIHIGUGMA NILA!!!!!! I wish I could tell you all more! But, Elder Muir and Agavale are hackling at me! These guys right?? Hahah :) PS WRITE ME HANDWRITTEN PLEASE!!!! You know the address :)