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...

Dear lovely souls, This week went by fast and we have had very nice cool weather (comparatively speaking) due to the oncoming possibility of typhoons. Im not worried though and Im in the Lord's hands and it's all according to His will.  My favorite investigator (I dont think we shoul dhave favorites) was baptized this past Saturday and he came to church in a white shirt and tie and even received the  Aaronic priesthood. I am so proud of him and the joy I feel after teaching him about our Heavenly Father's plan for him and the Restoration of Christ's gospel was so incredible. It was an incredible change to see this 18 year old boy go from uninterested to now having such a strong desire to serve a mission and enter the Lord's temple. I have to admit I am slightly sad I do not get to teach him any more, but the joy I feel in being part of his journey of taking the steps to be back in our HEavenly Father's and Jesus Christ's presence is so incredible. So...

Hey yall :) So this past week was slow with the work. We talked to over 190 people and taught a lot, but the area I live in had a fiesta and that meant that all people were either drunk, busy cooking, or eating. But that also meant that we ate 6 meals at other people's houses and missed 2 dinner appointments because we were waiting for Kyle to be interviewed for his Baptismal interview.  GOOD NEWS:  Kyle gets baptized this Saturday and it has been so incredible to teach him everything and see his conversion to the gospel. He used to hate praying and went from not really talking to us to telling us about everything in his life and showing us magic tricks haha. He told me yesterday as we were sitting in gospel doctrine class at church that he wanted to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with the youth (he just turned 18- hes in high school) and that he wants to serve a mission. Sister Yang-ed (my companion) dont knw how he changed in 3 days, but he even taught ...

Dear family and friends, This past week, we talked to 170 random people and found incredible people as we shared the great way to pray and talk with our Father in Heaven. Whats the most incredible thing is talking to people who who have only ever done memorized prayers or done sign of the cross and so they pray and all the sudden they feel the Spirit as they pray from their heart. We have 2 new investigators that said they felt something they liked (we explained that was the Spirit which testifies of the truth of the restored gospel we are here to teach them). SO HAPPY.  Me and my companion have found unity!! We are more open with each other and she and I are experiencing miracles ever since we opened up with each other on friday. We are happier and even after proselyting 10 hours in the sun, we are still happy. We were blessed to meet a catholic family that the mom was wondering why there are so many churches and which one is the right one... WE HAVE THE ANSWER!! Her 22 ye...

The language is improving. People tell me that I am the most talented or best at the language so soon they have heard.. Which is a pretty cool feeling, but my companion doesnt do language study with me cause philippinos dont really feel the need to so occcaissionally I do it alone but its hard to do it alone. I write down words and listen for them later. To be honest my companion doesnt seem to work very hard, but its progressing... The investigators are good... I am starting to realize they need more straight forward questions like "Why are you taking lessons with us?" How do you feel when you read?" or "If you dont read, theres no point in asking if its tyrue cause you wont get an answer its true if you never read it. You must read" etc... the filippinos dont ask these and the Lord says in the scriptures that we must be bold with love and so I guess thats why he needs me here. My comp is always surprised and a little shocked everytime and looks at me with a s...