Sulit Talaga: The Longest Word Ever: pinakamakapangyarihan

The Provo Temple in fall.

Nov. 11, 2011

Hey Hey!!!!

This week was another great one. Just got back from the temple. Sister Sharp's Mom sent her a bunch of family names she wanted done at the temple, so we all took them and did the work. I think next week instead of doing a session we might go and seal them together. BTW kind of have a question for you Mom...she was wondering can we seal them together? On the card it says they can be sealed if their parents work has been done first. Um...how do we make sure that that work has been done? How does that all work? I knew you'd know the answer...you're the family history queen :) She has 4 sisters so Sis. Morton, Sis. Ycmatt, & Sis Sharp & I were all going to go and be the 4 sisters and get sealed. How awesome would that be? :)

Well...Pretty much I'm freezin like crazy 24/7. All of the Elders make fun of me. They have a joke about everything, because my backpack is soo huge and I'm so short...we were busting up laughing because Elder Westenschow made the comment that the sizes they make are Maternity, XL, L, M, S, Petite, and then Allen size. hahahaha It was hilarious...I really never thought I was that little...it's just that they're growing boys!

Mom, thank you for posting all of my letters and making sure they're up to date on my blog, I really appreciate it! I know that it takes forever, so thank you soo much! Also, I hope you travel safe in the snow. You are in my prayers, as always. Oh, how are things going with the phone plan? Everything ok? Let me know if you need anything/ or need info about anything. I heard they made an iphone for Sprint...thats pretty sweet. Kenna is happy I'm sure! :)

So...17 days left!!!!! Oh my goodness It is soooo CRAZY!!!! I'm in trouble...that's for sure. But oh well, I've already embraced the fact that I'm sure I'm going to get to the Philippines and be like...what the heck were they teaching me in the MTC for 2 months...this isn't tagalog! haha :)

So lots of great things happened this week, like every week. On fast sundays here at the MTC they have a Mission Conference where the leadership all talks to us for 2 hrs. Then we break and have a district mtg, then eventually go to sacrament. At Mission conference it was really interesting, Pres. Mcliff mentioned a statistic that really stuck out to me: Our church is increasing at a rate of 54% per year. If we continue even at 30% our church membership will be at 68 Million by the year 2080. If it continues at 54% we'd have 264 Million members. How crazy is that? 2080..I could maybe still be alive...but that would be insane. That is so many members! So awesome!! He also talked about the Standard of truth and jokingly asked who had that memorized...I actually kind of do...because of Dad :) I love the standard of truth!!

We will be getting our travel plans this next week I think, kind of crazy...and becoming more real! Every night we all get together which I think I've told you before. But the other night all of the sisters in our zone, and in the other zone that we're such great friends with, all of us sisters got together just in our hallway and sung hymn 220: "Lord I would Follow Thee" again...thought of Dad...his favorite song :) There was such a great feeling there! We have also been practicing "A Childs Prayer" every night too because all of the sisters in our zone (8 of us) are going to be singing in church on sunday! I'm excited about that, that's one of my favorite songs. Such a basic, but very important message in that song. "Heavenly Father, are you really there? And do you hear and answer every child's prayers. Some say that heaven is far away, but I feel it close around me as I pray. Heavenly Father, I remember now, something that Jesus told disciples long

ago. Suffer the children to come to me. Father in prayer I'm coming now to thee. Pray, he is

there. Speak, he is listening. You are his child, his love now surrounds you. He hears your prayers, he loves the children of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of Heaven". LOVE IT!

Last night at TRC we had to teach our first 40 minute lesson. usually we do 2 20min lessons. It went well I think! Walking out, we were getting ready to head back to class and this Filipino guy yells: "Hey Sisters!" We turned back and it was one of our first investigators we taught together as a companionship a few weeks ago. He said "There's my two favorite missionaries!" He asked how we were and we said good! He just said "Hey, i want you to know the thing you taught me about prayer, I used it in my lesson at church on sunday! We taught him in our lesson a few weeks ago about prayer and then had him read the summary under: prayer. Which, btw, if you haven't read it, I would highly encourage it, because it is SO great! Anyways, it was such a simple thing but it really hit me. First of all, that made me happy he even remembered us, and I really could not believe we actually shared with him a message that affected him. Even in our poor, broken up tagalog, he still was able to not only get a message out of it, but take that message and share it with others. I got teary eyed, (not shocking...this happens at least once a day haha) but I really was soo excited! :)

It hit me really hard yesterday too, we were talking about tithing, and practicing teaching with each other. It hit me that some of these people don't even make $4 a day. That is insane. And we're telling them that it is a commandment from God to give 10% of that up. That of course, is how that could be interpreted I know that God could have his church progress with or without or funds that we contribute, but tithing really is put into place for our own good and benefit. It blesses us so much, and it is a trial for many. I just know that it is going to be a huge leap of faith on the part of the Filipino people that I teach, but I also know that God will provide a way. We may struggle by paying tithing, but we will be blessed. so much, that, as the scriptures say, there won't be room enough to hold it.

Well, I can't think of much else to share with you. I love you all so very much!

The word of the day is the longest word I've yet found in the tagalog language it's: pinakamakapangyarihan. I found it like my 2nd day here when i was reading the scriptures and it scared me to death. All it means is: almighty!

Sincerely,