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| Sister Olila and I bought a cake for Elder Antonios Birthday |
Well Hello there Family! :) Thank you for the emails,
Kari...I loved all the pictures! I hope everyone there
had a great birthday!!!
I don't know if I mentioned it in last week's email or
not, but last week we had a lot of rain...and we had
mga tulog or like leaks in our roof and some other
problems with our house. Something from the "CR"
or restroom upstairs was leaking...and we had like
this huge yellow puddle in our kitchen and by our shoes...
it was disgusting, it got to the bookcase too...we had
move it...it was just grose. At the same time we had
running down the inside part of our walls. We also
have several repairs that haven't been taken care of
at the apartment so...we did what anyone else would
do...we went "house hunting" haha Elder Engles
(senior couple here) gave us permission haha we found
some really nice places too...one even had a shower...
and a flushing toilet...I about died I was really excited. haha
we got a knock on our door (yes our aprt has a real door,
which is rare here :)) haha anyways, it was our parang
"landlord" he said, hey rumor has it that you're moving out.
haha here it is like no big deal, no offense, and you can just
pick up and move because...well for our situation I guess
what happened is a few years ago, the other mission president
before Pres Jensen asked Bro. Duke (they're really active
members at church here) to give up his house for the
missionaries, so they'd have a safe and protected, pretty nice
place...he willingly did it- so they are houseless...they live
out of their car (parked in front of the picture) and the
other half of the house, which is theirs too but it's
really small and they have a lot of children. Anyways,
I was very much appreciative of him, but that is why he
really didn't care if we moved or didn't move. But, he
has a brother that was excommunicated long ago, and is
now recently returning, and he said he doesn't want us to
be far from him, he wants us to continue to be there for
him, so he said to list all of the repairs and things that
he needs to fix, and he'd have someone over the next
day to do it for us. Well...so we're staying in our apartment.
Good thing too...I really didn't want to move..I hate
moving hah :)
One thing that I realized this week...of course I've
realized it the whole time that I've lived in the Philippines,
but it is how grateful I am for America. I am soo grateful
for my country. It was cute because Sis. Olila's goal is to
sing every song in the hymn book from cover to
cover, so we go in order when it's her turn to conduct
companionship study (we do this every morning) and
yesterday we sang "America, the Beautiful" and earlier
we sang "My Country tis of thee" and it brought
tears to my eyes, I am soo grateful for my country. I
don't know what I did to deserve to be born there,
why I was given as many blessings as I have, but I am soo
blessed. For everything...for a loving family, for my body
being healthy, to have a good education, to have...just
everything that there is in America. I am blessed...we
all really are.
Here in the Philippines they also celebrate July 4th...
because they love America. haha It's called "Friendship
day". haha :) I am praying that things are going alright
I am absent there...in the next 9 months, its kind of scary
not being there for the elections, I don't really know
what's going on in politics or what has happened at all...
which is all right...eye needs to be "single to His glory"
right? haha but...I can't wait to catch up when I get home.
It's funny here, everyone wants Mitt Romney to win the
election. They don't even know anything about him, other
than he's "mormon" haha but they all love him. eheh...
This week we were blessed to have fellowshippers at our
lessons! What a huge difference. Our ward missionaries
before, were only 19 years old, and they left on their
missions last month...so we had no more ward missionaries,
so we decided we needed to ask the ward members,
even though they're not called as ward misisonaries, to
help us. Because the less active members are all older
anyways, they need someone there who can really relate
to them. We visited one couple, Isidio & Beatrize Martinez-
they're older now, like in their late 60's or 70's. (ok mom
and dad don't get offended by that...hhaa here if
you're 60 or 70 its like...you look and act old) haha
anyways Brother
is soo cute, he and sister argue sometimes...like bicker in
front of us because brother won't pray, he says it's the same
if sister just says the prayer for them...haha it's funny..also
she bought him expensive glasses and he never wears them
because he doesn't like them...but we asked him to put
them on for us and he did, he is soo cute...we just told
him how handsome he was. haha anyways, we asked
bro. Dulatre & bro almoite to work with us that day and
they said yes, so bro. dulatre is in his late 60's...but he is
really strong and capable of ...everything, he works at his
farm still and is goin strong. haha when we have service
projects, he still volunteers...oh he's just great :) anyways,
when sis olila and I arrived at the house of bro. martinez,
he was wearing his under shirt, and short boxer
shorts. haha we just laughed...orch. haha. Anyways...
when bro dulatre showed up in his
nice pants and white polo shirt bro martinez excused himself
and then came back with his church dress pants on (still just
wearing his under shirt) and his pants were clear up to
his chest I swear...they were soo high...and he has a
pot belly...it was just...really really cute. It seriously brought
tears to my eyes it was soo cute. Sis Olila and I just smiled
and started to giggle a little to ourselves. It just goes to
show you that all the less actives need, is an example. they
need a friend, and they too will want to become good,
become active in the church again. We also noticed the
huge difference when members are present because
yesterday, we asked Sis. Lazaro to come with us, we
went to eh Hilario family, we've tried for 2 months (since
I've been here) to teach them. 2 times we've taught brother,
but sister hilario would not sit down or listen to us. Anyways,
don't know what exactly her problem is.Anyways, Sis Lazaro
used to be good friends with her, it made a huge
difference, because Sis. Lazaro, they said they were
sleeping inside their house, but because Sis. Lazaro is
friends, she just walked right in their house, said hey, we're
here to teach, i dont care if you're napping, wake up. hahaha
and they weren't offended cuz she did it jokingly, of course...
they sat down for the first time, and sister cried, the spirit
was really strong as we talked about faith in Jesus Christ,
and then shared 3 Ne 13- seek ye first the kingdom of God-
and don't think about if you have food, or water, or clothes...
all things will be added unto you. Their problem was they
didn't go to church because of work. gradually their heart
has been more and more hardened until they had no desire,
but the spirit was really strong yesterday.
We're hoping they come to church next sunday.
Speaking of next sunday we're excited because it's a special
conference here...just for North Luzon so the northern part
of the Philippines. We're thinking it's probably to announce
the ground breaking of the Urdaneta Temple...we're hoping
at least that's why. :)
Also...we were told yesterday that in August we have
2 apostles coming here! We're excited about that too...
maybe for the ground breaking. We don't really know! :)
This last few weeks I have really been praying, asking
for Heavenly Father to help me notice more of the "tender
mercies" from the Lord. I have been blessed, that my eyes
have been opened. He is all around us and in everything we do,
there is almost always a tender mercy. I am so grateful for
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the short time I"ve
been given to be here in Sto Tomas.
I love you all & pray for you
lagi...
xoxoxo
Love,
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