January 31, 2011

BOOM number two... Jan 31

What a week! Not even sure where to being... kinda cause i forgot what i said last week. Well the assignment in the office is great but its a little hectic. love it tho!

Ok so originally we were going to build the area up around the mission home/office/church and invite the sisters to work in our area and that is how we would train them. I cant believe my Savior trusts me to train all the sister missionaries here... what an opportunity and privilege. I will grow more than ever! We were unable to obtain the apartment that we were hoping for so the office elders are on a desperate search for an awesome apartment for us. As for now, we live in Tanauan with Sister Christianson and Sister Schneider. We love them so much!! Since we are unable to really work much because travel is one hour in the morning... about 2 hours at night from Tanauan, for the month of february we will be travelling the whole mission to help the sisters in their areas! Sadly we wont be able to drive (driving is crazy here and we are all like the daughters of President and Sister Malit). This will be an insane month but Sister Blonquist and i are so willing and ready! We both feel that Heavenly Father has a lot for us to learn and we really need to be in tune at all times to be guided as we fullfill this assignment!

The ward here is amazing! Except for the fact that they all speak tagalog... so President challenged us to learn tagalog and waray waray! oo po! Sister Blonquist has been in waray waray before so she helps me a lot. Im picking it up pretty well! Just little things are weird getting used to like really everyday phrases that just come out in cebuano. i love waray tho, its interesting. Tagalog i can understand what they are talking about but speaking it would be impossible at this point. I love having the confidence to learn a language. As i trust God i truly know that i can do anything! i love that ive learned to rely on my Heavenly Father in all aspects of life. At times i look at myself and am amazed at how much i have changed for the better. i love it!

We have been able to a little work in the area. And the little work is great!! We have a baptism of two little girls this coming saturday. Also, a 21 year old male that was baptized by the elder on dec 18th, hadnt been coming to church since his baptism. So we caught him at his house twice this week and guess what!? He came to church and we able to finally get confirmed after a month had past from the time of his baptism! The Elders were so happy and so were we!! And during the lesson with him on friday he had an earring in and so we reminded him of the law of chastity and he took it out immediately! It was so saweet!! i love missionary work!!

This week we will being travelling. First in Dagami (which is next to Tacloban) and then to Catarman, Mondragon area (you can look on the map i sent home). That is the furthest north you can go in the mission! We are excited. Luckily the Assistant Elders (Hawkes and Cabrera) will be driving so we wont have to take public transportation. Hopefully next week i will have some fun exciting stories!

BTW... im freezing in the office! The air con is not my friend!... how will i ever live in America again!? yikes!

Scripture of the week... Alma 16. This is Alma going to the Lord in prayer to ask if what they plan to do is according to His will. Anything we do, or any decision we make we should finalize it with God. This will help give us courage to push through the task when it gets hard because you will look back and remember that God approved. If He approves, there is a way to accomplish the task. No need to fear. So if you have a question, go to Heavenly Father.

Gugma Gad,
Sister Carissa Jones