News!

Well it's about that time. Pictures!! Yay finally! I've got quite a few pictures that I want to send so this will be mostly pictures. But I've got a couple of things to share before these. First, progress with some investigators! Unfortunately with Kathleen, there has been little to no progress. She is still in Manila. She went there for Christmas and ended up getting a job with GMA (a huge TV network in the Philippines) and hasn't been able to come home yet. It is way exciting that she got the job! She is writing for some sort of childrens something haha I am really not sure. But we haven't been able to teach her, she hasn't been able to go to church, and I am pretty sure she is still stuck at 1-2 cigs a day :/

     But on the other hand, Nardz is totally progressing! We were able to meet with him for the first time this week since the holidays. It was great catching up with him and we planned to teach him the word of wisdom but the lesson ended up being about the sabbath day because he had some questions about going to church. He said that he had a conflict because he is about to take the board exam for his nursing studies and he has review for the exam every sunday from 8 am to 5 pm until march! Crazy right? Also he has paid like 10,000 piso or almost $300 to be in the review and if he were to miss too many, he would get kicked out. So we told him he would need to sacrifice. That if he put the Lord, and keeping the commandments first, that the Lord would provide a way for him. So he came to church for the first time this week! Also, when he walked up to us, the first thing he told us was that he went to his review that morning to ask his teacher if he could get excused to miss reviews here and there and found out that his teacher was in the hospital from a very serious asthma attack. And so for now, no review until the teacher recovers! Pretty crazy huh?

     Okay I better get to the pictures now but I also just wanted to share some news. First, we got Elders in our ward! Elder Smiler from NZ and Elder Macababayao from Manila. Or like Sister Tanner calls him, Elder Macabababy haha. They are going to be such a huge asset to our ward because we have a lot a lot of less active young men and priesthood holders. They've got a big job in front of them but we are so grateful to have them. And yes that means 6 missionaries in one ward that doesn't get more than about 60 members at church each week! It's a party haha.

     Also, this week I will be finishing my training! We have transfers this Friday and I received a call from President Balledos on Thursday night asking me to be a trainer this transfer. What? I just finished my- what? Do you really want me to do this? Haha it will definitely be an adventure and I am nervous. Very nervous. But I am excited to work hard with my trainee and the Lord to make our companionship as successful as possible! 

     Lastly, thank you so so much to all of those who have been sending me letters and such. Special thanks to Aunty Ben and the young women! Aunty Bev! Aunty Cathy! And Aunty Shirley! I will be working on letters to write back to them all. Sorry if it takes a while though!