Sulit Talaga: Sa Wakas...Nakapunta na ako sa Baguio!!!!

Sis. Thea Baro- wife of Bishop Baro

Feb 3, 2013
Hello Family....
Greetings from Baguio...Yep... Pres. Monahan gave us the okay to come to Baguio....they asked me what my 'valid reason' was to travel that far away, why I needed to come...and I just said...um...to buy souvenirs I"ve served in Baguio Mission, but I haven't yet gotten to actually go there." The Zone leaders just laughed and said...thats not really a valid reason- i don't think Pres will let you go. Well...what do they know. President said Yes, we can go! haha :) I thought I was going to throw up on our way here....I got so 'car sick' cuz Baguio seriously is like going up provo canyon...its Beautiful...and I love it...but its like we went to the very tip-top of the mountain....i'm just lucky I didn't throw up in the bus. haha It is sooo beautiful!!!!! And I'm seirously in heaven right now. Their "SM MALL" is HUGE and its like America...only its an outside walls. They don't have any air conditioning....or any ways....its an outdoor mall because its soo cold here in baguio. I have to say...its cold...but its like a summer day in utah cold. haha...its not super freezing here if you catch my drift.

This week....was such a great week. We got soo much accomplished, and we worked soo hard! When I first got here, Sis. Leuluai and her trainer were visiting the SAME less actives like 4 times a week, and then their Recent Converts every day. Lets just say...they do NOT need to be visited that frequently. Once a week is just fine, as long as they're still progressing. Maybe 2 times if they're struggling. Anyways....its totally been like open area, because until now, there are a ton of parts that Sis. Leuluai hasn't yet visited. She said Her trainer would just hang out at the returning members' houses....or the members and rest for a little bit...basta...lets just say the work wasn't as I think it should have been. Sis. Leuluai is soo funny...I just lover her. And I love it too, because she's american...she's been updating me on all the changes that have happened over the last year or so...and lets just say, I'm kinda scared to come back home...it's gonna be like i'm a foreigner all over again.

Pres and Sis. Monahan made a surprise visit to Sevilla this week, he came and visited our house, and sat in a little bit of our studies...they are soo great, I absolutely LOVE them. But...I do Have to tell you I was a little nervous when he said, Sis. Allen, don't be surprised if this next transfer, you'll be training again. My mouth just dropped...and he just said...don't look at me like that...I know you're up for it. haha It was soo funny...and he told me he's excited for me to go home. He said he's excited to hear what my parents have to say about my thick accent when I go home. I just laughed and seriously asked...I have an accent?!
....to add to that...we had stake conference, and Sis. Leuluai was talking with one of her batch mates...whose trainer was an american...and now his follow up trainer is a pinoy..He said when he was training he and his trainer would just talk in english...and that his tagalog didn't get any better. When Sis. Leuluai was telling me about their conversation they had...she said that Elder asked her how her tagalog was...expecting her to respond like...oh yeah its totally gone down hill, we just talk in english. And she replied...it's going great. He asked her if we spoke enlgish in the apartment....and she said NO. She's like...'sometimes i just look at my companion and i'm like...she's white...why is she speaking like that?' haha she says my english most of the time doesn't make very much sense, and when it's english i have an accent. hahaha I don't know what i'm gonna do. But i'm really trying to just talk in tagalog to her...because I don't want that to happen to her (where she doesn't learn anything or her tagalog gets worse), I want her to be fluent so she feels more confident in her teaching and communication skills.

We went to a barangay (which is like a town) called Santiago....and I felt like I was in Baguio...it was straight hills...it was soo steep...we got such a good work out...I loved it...hahaha but it was crazy we have walked miles and miles every day for this last week. We have found 16 new investigators...and found 7 more less actives for the first time...All of which came to church this last sunday. Every less active appointment that we had this last week- they all came. Sis. Leuluai was like...wow...I didn't know missionary work could be like this. Ah...I love Sevilla. We are seriously witnessing so many miracles every day. The other night when we were laying in bed getting ready to sleep she just said to me. "My body has never hurt this bad before". haha I just laughed and said...thats when you know you're doing your job right. haha I love it....the spirit has been soo strong at every appointment. The leaders here, especially our Bishop and his wife, Bishop & Sis. Baro are sooo masipag...or diligent at their work. Bishop stayed at the church till 11 oclock last night...and he spends every saturday and sunday there. Sometimes he works with the missionaries, and he is such a leader. I know that if we can just work with them, we will see many miracles here in Sevilla. Our first miracle we saw, is I asked Bishop if we could invite a represnetative from every auxilary to sit in MCM meeting to coordinate with them, and he said YES, and told me it wasn't a problem...not to mention I asked him if would could start training for the ward missionaries, so they could start teaching the recent converts. Because we have a lot of recent converts here- 9 of them...so if we get the ward missionaries to know how to teach and they can take over those appointments; so that will free up 9 teaching slots for us to work on the investigators and less active members. Oh man, the standard of truth really has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing.
I love you all and pray for you always.
Love