Oct 28th " I love the people here so much! They always say to us that they know God placed us in their lives."

So this week has been quite an interesting one, and many eventful things happened.

To start out with the bad/weird.. we have been to the hospital twice this week. One being I got an infection on my foot. kinda gross sorry, but it happened lol. So we went to the doctor, and he gave me medicine and said if that didn't help, I might have to have surgery... it has healed (:
THEN.. my companion the day after got a really high fever of 102, a sore throat, an infection on her leg, and felt so weak she couldn't move. Yesterday we went to the doctors, and they gave her medicine and she slept most of the day. It was so weird not being able to go to church, but we had the other sisters make sure our investigators and members knew what had happened.

But she is getting better, and we both are on meds, so it’s great (: hahaha

Now to the good stuff:

This week we had a mission tour and Elder Arndern, from the Quorum of the 70 came to our mission. It was a very good day and we felt so inspired afterwards to work even harder and testify strongly of the Gospel. He really emphasized trying new finding techniques that will fit the Naga Mission, so this week we are going to try some new things.

On Monday the Elders showed us an investigator they had taught in our area and it was an awesome first visit. He has read the whole Tagalog Book of Mormon and now is reading it in English... so we are excited to teach him. He knows so much, and wants to keep learning.

Another family we are teaching was sick this week, so they were not able to attend church, but we were teaching over there and her friend was visiting and also her cousin and she invited all of them to come to church with us. We met this family while searching for a less active, and she keeps saying she is so grateful that we found her, and asked her to help us find the name we were looking for. We have been so blessed for looking for the Lords lost sheep, or those who were members, but are not coming anymore. Every time we look for someone, we find someone else that is ready, or wants to hear our message.

One sister this week told us she felt something special about us when we had asked her if she knew where a member lived. She asked us for all the pamphlets and a Book of Mormon and we have visited her many times since then. She believes Joseph Smith is a Prophet, and wants to know as much as she possibly can about him. She told us she doesn't share her life with many people, but she really opened up to us, and we were able to help her feel a burden lift off her shoulders. I love the people here so much! They always say to us that they know God placed us in their lives.

(Ariel this is for you). One investigator, Ariel, has been so fun to teach, and he really desires to know if this church is true, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. We watched the Restoration video with him, and he told us he has been reading in the Book of Mormon. I know there is so much power in the Book of Mormon and if we read it, ponder it, and pray to the Lord to know if it is true, He WILL answer our prayers, if we sincerely desire to know it.

Another experience we had this week was we were looking for a less active (surprise) and found his brother. He invited us in, we sat down thinking he'd go get his brother or family, and he said "Okay, you can start now". We started laughing. He was just all ready to hear our message. We told him we needed another woman to be there for us to teach the lesson, and he went outside to look for one. He was so eager to listen to what we had to say. It was awesome!

Despite the sicknesses, and hardships we have faced we have had so many successes and know that even when we are weak the Lord can use His servants to make miracles happen. I have faith and know with my whole heart that Christ will come again. We will return to Gods presence again one day, and this is because of His perfect plan and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. One day we will be free of sicknesses, and trials, but this time here on earth is our time to learn. I love the Gospel, and being a missionary. I love you all. xoxoxox

Oct 21st, 2013 I have seen the Lords hand it this work. I have been a witness to the Lord hastening His work, and through making weak things become strong.

This week has been one of the best weeks on my mission. I have never experienced the Lord work through me so much, so often, and felt so involved in the work and that I was witnessing so many successes/miracles. We were able to have 3 investigators at church, and 2 of them brought their two cousins with them.  We have found 6 less actives this week that have not been visited in years, and 2 of the investigators that came to church just said out loud "I want to go to your church this weekend". You can imagine the big smiles on Sister Rodericks and I's face! We have witnessed the Lords hand in our lives so much, have felt guided to the people the Lord knows are ready, and we have so much joy in doing so. I have been so blessed this week I cannot even try to express my feelings in my letter. I have seen the Lords hand it this work. I have been a witness to the Lord hastening His work, and through making weak things become strong.

To start out we have found 6 less active members this week, and almost all of which have not been visited in years, one almost 10 years! Our area had not been focused on for a while, therefore many people had not been found for a very long time. Many other names we found information on, either that they moved away, or had passed away, but in our attempts to find members, we also found people who were ready to hear the gospel.

When searching for one less active, we found their nieces and nephews, and they welcomed us in to their home and we were able to have an amazing lesson about the Restoration of the Lords church. We have been there twice this week, and the 22 year old boy has been reading in the Book of Mormon.

Another miracle was we were looking for a less active, and we decided to ask a tindahan nearby if they knew them, turned out being the man we were looking for (:
He welcomed us in, and I can testify that we witnessed the light of the Gospel come back into this man’s eyes! We were reading a scripture in Mosiah 5 with him, and he just started having things he had known flood back to memory. My companion was testifying that she knows this church is true, and his face lite up and he started talking about his testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. I couldn't help but shed a couple tears there, and he couldn't either. The Spirit was so strong, and he asked us to return on Sunday morning. He has a lot of things keeping him from coming to church, but we hope we can help him return and feel fellow shipped there. What a powerful testimony to me that the Lord can really use us missionaries as His instruments to bring comfort, and joy to His children.

That same evening we taught a family, and the daughter, and her husband (who is not a member  but she is). We invited them to come to church, and their little 3 year old said "I wanna go to church.". They came yesterday, and what an amazing day to come, we had the Primary Program, so all the little kids were up there singing their hearts out. It was a very good Sunday (:

This week we had the Young Women’s President, Ivy work with us twice. She is preparing for a mission, and is so fun to have around. She helps us understand what’s going on if we don't haha. On the day she came with us we found 2 of the less actives. One who when we walked up, looked surprised and when we asked for Nancy... she said "Bakit? (why haha). She also was so hesitant to let us in, but it ended up being really good. She said she has been hiding from missionaries for years (: The other she is the only member  has 10 kids, and says she wants her family to be sealed in the temple one day... hopefully we can teach all of them! Then when talking to a Barangay official (kind of like a city worker for the neighborhood), he said to us, oh my wife is a member but she lives in America for her job, she was one of the names on our list (:

We also had a referral we have been trying to find this whole week, and in the search found one amazing investigator, who asked for a Book of Mormon and every pamphlet we had.

One day we were punted by our investigator, so we went around their area, and felt we should talk to this man sitting on against a house on his phone. Turns out he is the equivalent to a FBI agent in the Philippines and asked us so many questions, also asked for a Book of Mormon and said he would read it. We had a great conversation, read a little from the Book of Mormon, and he gave us his contact information saying if anyone tried to hurt us, or try anything to call him. So pretty much we have a police officer friend now in case of emergencies.

One other less active we found this last week, when we went back to visit her, her daughter was there. She is my age and works for the daily news here. We asked her if she had ever been to church, or read the Book of Mormon, and she said no.. but then proceeded to say, "I want to go to church this week and see it". So yesterday her, her younger sister and their two cousins came to church and sat by us. We were in shock and felt so blessed so many people were at church through our finding efforts, and the Lords hand in His work. The Elders in our ward were like, "What did you do, bribe people?" haha. It was such a good Sunday, and it was a blessing to see the fruit of our hard labors.

I was reading in my scriptures this morning and read this is Alma 26:

35 Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful. Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.
 36 Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.
 37 Now my brethren, we see that God isamindful of everypeople, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

I love this work. I feel like Ammon did. I feel a great joy that nothing else can bring. I feel so blessed to be here in this area, and Sister Roderick and I are having so much fun. I love her, and am so lucky to be her trainer. She trains me half the time haha. She is very quick to learn words, and maybe by the time her training is done will be where I am at! I know the Lord needed us here, and we needed this area also.

I love the Lord with all my heart and I hope everyone can make the time to thank Him for all that He has given us.
Sister Webster

October 13th, 2013 I love the Lord. I love Him with my whole heart. His work and His Glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, and I am on His errand to help in that work.

Well this has been one of the craziest weeks on my mission thus far, but I have loved it and never felt so lost, confused, uplifted, stressed, and loved in all my life haha (mixed emotions right? (: )

Our new opened area is Canaman D, which means there are 8 missionaries in our ward!!!!  4 Elders in our ward, the Assistants to the President (AP), and two other Elders, and we have the two Sister Training Leaders living with us, Sister Simbol and Sister Sanft.

We live in the middle of Naga City. Like no joke there are so many people here, and our area is still HUGE! I forgot to take a picture of our apartment, but it is by the huge cathedral here in Naga, down this alley way (no worries the alley way has a gate, and is a boarding house for girls, so it’s so safe). It is just weird to have alleys here, and we take our laundry to a laundry mat, and there are malls, McDonalds, banks, supermarkets... etc... So quite a switch for me and I am somewhat having culture shock adjusting to the city life again. I feel a little overwhelmed and miss the rice fields a bit, but there are pros and cons to both for sure. I think I went from the smallest town in the mission, to the biggest hahaha.

My companion, Sister Roderick, is awesome! She is from Washington D.C area, 19 yrs old, went to BYU and was Pre-Nursing, and we have some people we both know at BYU. It’s quite funny to find these connections all across the world. She left the MTC last week, and came here. So we are both non-fluent Americans walking the big streets of Naga City, but it works out great. We have no teaching pool, and very few people to visit so we will be tracting and looking for less active members all this week. Tracting is not my strongest suit, but by the end I'm thinking I might be more comfortable doing the tracting.

Last week, was really hard to say good bye to some members and I admit I cried a decent amount, but I seriously just have to make sure I can come back one day and visit them. They may or may not be expecting me to come back (:

I gave the rings that Sister Johnson had given to me and told me to give to little girls in the Philippines. I sent some pictures. They loved it! And everyone wants to order them now haha. Let Kulei know (sorry if that’s wrong spelling)!

We had one experience last week in Lagonoy when we were visiting a potential investigator and she invited us in and started asking us deep doctrinal questions about Abraham and Sarah, and I was so lost, but I realized, and tried helping her focus on the facts that there are many mysteries of God that we will never know in this life, but we must build our faith on His gospel and the things that do matter most. This really caused me to reflect on my testimony and how what really matters is the basic things I do know, and have felt are true, not all the things I don't understand or have yet to understand. That’s what's amazing about our church is even the apostles are learning every day, and don't know all the mysteries of God. We must put the effort into studying though if we want to grow.

General Conference was amazing. We got to watch all the sessions and they were in English. One favorite, I cannot remember who said it exactly, but it was the talk that mentioned the grandma saying... "why was I given a grandson who is in prison, and makes these bad choices?" and I have been asking this week "why was I given this open area, and my companion just left the MTC and I don't know how to get around this large city?", but like the revelation the Grandma  received the Lord knows I could and would love this area, and my companion. He knows what’s best. He knows why people are placed in our lives. He knew I would do my best, and could do my best here in Canaman. Even if it is really hard, and I don't always make sense when I speak Tagalog, He believes in me, and He trusts me that I can.

One miracle that I already have been able to be a part of was we found a less active member, Nelly, who has not been to church in 20 years. She may not be able to come church at the moment due to persecutions, but I have never felt so strongly in my mission that we were where we needed to be, and things fell through because we needed to find Nelly. I know she felt the Spirit, and she testified that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of God with tears in her eyes.

I love the Lord. I love Him with my whole heart. His work and His Glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, and I am on His errand to help in that work. I know this church is the restored church of Jesus Christ, He lives, and through Him we can be saved from our sins, if we are willing repent and give our will to Him. I love this new area, I am excited to serve here, and I hope this finds you all well and happy. When life gets hard, look up (:
xoxoxox

God is right here with us to bear the burdens along with us. Oct 6th 2013

Well we found out transfer announcements:

I am transferred! Big surprise! I did not see that coming, I totally thought I would be in Lagonoy longer, not just am I transferred but I am going to be training, and opening an area (: ahhhh I was a little freaked out when we got the text message from the zone leaders telling us this, but I am really excited actually for this new chapter, and this new adventure. I know it will be hard but I know the lord will help me so much :)

This week has flown by but it also has seemed like forever really. We were able to have many members work with us this week, and can I just say what a blessing that is! If you can go out with the missionaries to work with them, go! It has so many benefits, not just for you but for them, and the people they are teaching. It is so much better to have members there to support what we are teaching, and plus if all they know is Bicol, they can translate for us (:

We had one csp this week (community service project) where we pretty much went into this forest, cleared the area, and dug up a garden spot to grow goolay (vegetables) for an investigators family. I loved it. I may have been eaten alive my mosquitoes at 7:30 in the morning ha-ha, but so worth it. i worked alongside the investigator and we were having so much fun chatting and she was telling me of recipes i could try here (which i tried one today- making burger patties out of a banana heart [puso ng saging]- ha-ha it worked out pretty well). But i have just loved being able to work outside and help people not just through teaching, but serving them. We have one more csp Wednesday morning before i am transferred.

One crazy, somewhat scary story... (No worries mom i will not be going back to this area and neither will sisters. we switched areas with the elders now)

But we went to go look for some less actives in a barangay we have never been to, and it ended up being further out then we thought it would be. but we found the less actives house around 6ish right before dark, and talked with her, before we left she told us she would have her husband follow us back to the main road because it is a long walk, and there are no house, or lights, and turns out there had been some attacks there..... We were like yeah we need someone to come with us. we started walking, and then it started pouring, I mean pouring rain and the brother was on his motor, and told us to hop on, but it is against mission rules to ride motorcycles (door to door is what they are called). we felt so bad, we were pretty much running in the pouring rain, feeling terrible for this poor guy we just met, getting drenched, in fear because of the lack of light, and creepy attack story, but we made it to the area that was lit and it ended up being okay. I just feel like we owe that nice brother a big plate of cookies for suffering the pouring rain. This may not sound very interesting to you, but we were freaked out hahaha

Well, enough with the scary... but one little sweet thing this week. We have this 81 year old nanay that we go and visit, and she was so cute this week! we were sweating a ton by the time we got to her house, and she sat us in front of the fan, smothered our faces with kisses and put baby powder all over our faces and backs hahaha (baby powder is used here by everyone for sweat). It was the cutest loving thing. She is such a sweetheart. 

I had a really special experience this week. We were teaching this mother in one of our far areas and she has always been so cold towards us, almost as if she is mad at us or something. We went to go talk with her daughter, but she had a fever, so we shared with sister a scripture, Mosiah 24 9:16. I have never felt the spirit testify to me so much of what i need to say to her. I asked if she felt the lord answers her prayers, and it was almost like the flood gate opened, she poured out her mind, and heart telling us how there have been so many trials one after another, and often she worries how she is going to feed her kids. She is bitter towards God right now, and has not been feeling his love. We were able to provide her comfort and help her know that she is not alone. She is still not so sure, but I felt so much love for her at that moment, and that the Lord truly is here for her and loves her so much she just needs to rely on him more, and have trust that her trials can be lightened, if she does her part. I know I cannot relate to many of the trials people face here, but I know I can help them feel loved and that God is right here with them will to bear their burdens along with us. 

I know the Lord is here for us. I know that we are each his children and he loves us so much. I know this church is true and I am so grateful for modern day prophets. If you can, watch general conference sessions online at  lds.org.

Goolay (Vegetable) Spot aka  Garden

 I know you won’t regret it (: xoxoxoxo