Sister Masters in the Philippines

Dear tanan,  This past Saturday marks 100 days until Christmas. So just so you all know, Christmas is coming soon, the Philippines knows whats up and they already have lights up and are playing Christmas music :)  This past week, it rained so hard because of storms coming through and we couldnt even go out for a couple hours tuesday. A few people have been asking what I live in and I live in a little apartment and we cook with a gas stove and have no oven :) Saturday I was cooking mashed potatoes (from scratch!!! I even found an easy gravy packet) and we ran out and we were blessed to have a sikad driver help us bring the propane back and forth with his sikad (a bike connected to a little side cart thing for people).  A typical day for me is filled with walking on dirt paths and seeing the beach right on the side of some people we teach and houses with dirt or bamboo floors and bamboo and concrete homes. The people are always kind and very happy to learn I speak H...

Hello all :) Quick update cause I dont have much time :)  I am happy and the Philippines is wonderful. It rained 2 days this week and we were SOAKED even with our beloved umberellas that we use rain and shine. I am still getting sunburnt despit the constant protection from the umberella (I think from the sun reflecting off the cement) but I am still happy :)  This week we had a Mission Tour which is where all the missionaries from the whole Iloilo Mission came together. We were blessed to have a general authority of the church come and speak to us, Elder Schmutz and after this conference, I felt ready to go out and serve the Lord with all my heart might mind and strength (Go Doctrine and Covenants section 4! :) ). So we had the sister training leaders from Kalibo come down and sty at our apartment (They are serving on the other side of the Panay island speaking Tagalog) and it was good to learn more about true conversion. This past week I studied Mosiah 4. I encour...

Hello dear family and friends, So this week was good as usual. My favorite part was seeing our recent convert to the church pass the sacrament in his only white shirt and tie. He now has the priesthood and I could not be happier. All the hard things we go through out here in the mission field cannot beat down the joy I felt seeing him use his priesthood authority. Another recent convert will be baptizing his 2 younger this September 23rd with our 3 other investigators. Although we are not getting as many new investigators a as we used to get, we have had stronger, more interested (progressing) investigators who are truly trying to know if this gospel is true. It is incredible to see them come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ and have so much more joy in their lives.  This past week was my birthday (thank you for the birthday wishes) and I am now 20. My companion made a cute "Happy 20th Birthday Sister Masters" Banner and I got to eat some spaghetti from Mcdonalds tha...