September 22nd Know the Lord is mindful of us, and we must do our part to feel His presence in our life.

Hello family and Friends;

This week has flown by so fast it is insane. My time as a missionary is so short.. I am still not fluent, but it is getting there. I have learned to take it step by step, word by word, and try to just do my best, and it doesn't hurt to just try.. if I say it wrong people usually help me anyways and they don't mind.

This week we had  very fun FHE (Family Home Evening) with this family that lives rally close to the church. The father is less active, and the teenage children, but the mother very active in the church. We had the WHOLE family there, 7 kids total, and it was so fun. We played games and made a"title of liberty" banner like in Alma 46:12 for their family. And I may or may not have made no-bake cookies to share (: aka my favorite, and the one cookie I know how to make with ingredients here and no oven. I must say they were delicious! But it was such a night, and it was good for them to all be together, and focus on their families spiritual needs. 

We went less active searching his week... I call it scavenger hunting, because it can literally be so hard sometimes, and we just ask around if people know them, then they say oh down there.. then we ask people down there and they say back there. Joke lang, but really it can be quite challenging at times, but awesome when you are able to find people. One quite funny, really cool experience this week from looking for less actives was we were told, oh she lives right there, so went there asked the daughter for her mother, went in, sat down, and then realized the woman we are talking to is not a member of the church. She was so nice, but spoke Bicol mainly, but luckily we had a member with us who spoke Bicol. We taught her a little lesson and she said we could come back and share to her family again. Kind of funny how you look for someone, and are led to someone else. Totally the Lords hand in His work.

So this week we had interviews with our Mission President, President Reeder, which were in Goa, so I got to go back to my birthplace (aka training ground). When there, Diane, the investigator I was so close with in Goa, had her baptismal interview... she passed, and I got to see her come out of the room after May have started crying so much.... tears of joy (which believe it or not i really don't cry here very much- I am more tough skinned). But ahh we hugged, and she freaked out that she got to see me. It was the best moment. Her baptism is this Saturday, and I got permission to go to it since it is a 15 minute bus ride away. I didn't tell her though, so it will be a surprise (: ahhhh I am so happy for her. Her life has changed so much, and it has been the best experience to have been able to witness the change in her and see the glow she has from it. 

I may have had a very very bad cough at the interviews, so Sister Reeder told me to go to the doctor. I got my blood drawn in the hospital.. what an experience haha. They doctors’ offices and hospitals are a little different here than back home, but I felt safe and it was sterile. It is just a virus though, no worries... I am getting better. 

Another amazing experience this week was we were punter like no other and it was only 6:45pm, so I said okay... let’s go tracting. I felt we should go down this back path that I had been wanting to go down, and we went all the way to the end of it... got barked at my this huge dog, and this baby started crying so we turned back around. I was praying so much in my heart to help us know where to go, and we passed this one house, and I prayed to know if we should go back, I felt a little prompting... go back to them, so we did. And we met this family who was having their weekly Bible study with a young adult from their church. They welcomed us in, and we all talked about Matthew 6, and then they asked us to share our message. It was such a quiet evening, which is so rare here sometimes, it was the perfect environment to teach and share our testimonies. We felt we should share how the Book of Mormon and the Bible go together so perfectly and that Christ shared many of the same sermons in the New Testament and in the Book of Mormon also. It was an amazing experience and we are excited to go back there this week. 

So last week I mentioned the referral from a member we taught about missionary work, and we were supposed to meet with them on Monday, well they may have canceled due to rain, but we met with them last night.... BEST LESSON! They are seriously so awesome! I love teaching them! The girl, is 22 and her boyfriend a little bit older than her, but they are both so awesome! They ask so many questions, but they are perfect questions, and all literally can be answered through the Book of Mormon or the knowledge we have as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have really come to realize that the biggest questions of this life, or little things that people wonder about can be answered through the knowledge we have as members. We know the answers to questions of the soul, we know our purpose in this life, where we came from,  what we need to do to return to our Heavenly Father, and where we go after this life. Ahhh I am so happy to know the truth, and so happy to share it with people. I think I was probably non-stop smiling in the lesson we taught them. That was one thing my companion told me this week actually is that I smile a lot in lessons and Ii started noticing that I do. I really am so happy to be a missionary. There are hard times, but there are moments that make every hardship worth it for sure. 

I am so happy and really have been feeling the lords hand in my life here in Lagonoy. I hope that this finds people well, and know the Lord is mindful of us, and we must do our part to feel His presence in our life. I love this gospel, this church and I cannot wait until General Conference.

 xoxox