The time is far spent, there is 8 days remaining                         

Hello family.

I’m on late this week because we had ERC at the mission office.  It’s like kind of a career/finding jobs workshop that took 6 hours!!!  But we were finally set free and so we are emailing now.  

   This week went so very very fast. Some of my batch going home is already packed...But whenever I think about it I just feel sick so I haven’t started packing yet.  You already know how much I dislike packing as it is haha.  Let alone when it means leaving the country.  Ahh wish me luck. But my companion is amazing as always and she is helping me out a lot. Because whenever my mind starts to wander she just laughs and tells me to focus.  It’s so nice because it has kept me working hard and not stressing about going home.  This week will probably be a different story.  It’s crazy when I go to plan appointments for next week and I realize that that will be my last appointment with that family.  :( It is so sad!  WHY IS AMERICA SO FAR AWAY FROM THE PHILIPPINES?  

    I guess it would be easier to leave if I was still struggling in the area. But this last week was so great.  Our investigators and less actives finally opened up and have started sharing their concerns. And we had 5 investigators at sacrament which was amazing because this whole transfer we have only had 1 every week.  And a whole huge less active family came to church!  So that was amazing.  And we are finding these awesome families and I’m super jealous of my companion cause she is the one that gets to stay and teach them!

    Good news!  Tatay molina is progressing super well!  He stayed for all 3 hours of church and he is really really working hard to keep commitments.  I just love their family and I get so much energy whenever we get to teach there.   

    Also we found this family today.  We oym'd a tricycle driver.  Actually he oym'd us.  He kept asking us for pamphlets that he could read while he was driving and finally we said we will just drop by his house and teach him while we’re at it!  So we did and we come to find out that he lives in a house with his whole family.  26 people live in that one house.  And there is only 1 bathroom.  There are like 5 different families that all have their own room and then they have a central living room.  I was so amazed.  These people are like my heroes. If they can all survive in that house with only 1 bathroom and not kill each other.. WOW.  That’s all I can say.  I just know that we have 4 people and 1 bathroom and that is too many. We take turns showering in the back laundry area haha. 

   Spiritual thought of the week.  No unhallowed hand can stop the work of the Lord. I know that is true. Think of how many people have tried...and never succeeded. Because God plan for us is perfect.  He even planned a way to protect Joseph Smith from false charges after he lost the 116 pages. <D&C 10>  He prepared a way for us. And one of the quotes I loved from the ERC this morning.  We watched a Mormon message and Jeffrey R Holland said "Trust God and believe in good things to come."  And when Elder Holland says it then we all know that we had better act.  So trust in God.  Trust that he loves us. Trust that he has a plan for us. And trust that we are strong enough to do all that we have to do to return to him.

   That’s about all I’ve got this week.  I’m super tired cause I couldn’t sleep last night. My companion was writing letters and had the light on...so that means I just layed there and thought about trunky things for like 3 hours hah. But I hope you all have a great week! Next week will be my last email day and it probably won’t be for very long.  You guys are the best!  See you all soon! And spread the word that my homecoming is on August 9 :) 

Mahal ko kayo!

XOXO from Noveleta!

--Sister Van Tassell

Sorry, this week with the Trek I got a little behind and posted this late.  I can't believe, her time is almost over, wow.  A picture of her companion she loves and it's funny with some of the translations.

Testimony Builder                                              7/12/15

Hello family!  Kumusta po kayong lahat?  So this is my last normal P-day!  Next week we have to go to the mission office and then the next week I will be packing my suitcases to come home!  What?  Yup it’s true. 2 weeks na lang! Has a year and a half really already passed? 

So this week was the start of the rainy season. And it came in with a bang. There were 3 typhoons that came close to the Philippines in just one week!  But None of them came close to Cavite.  We just got the rain. And we got a LOT of it!  It rained almost nonstop for like 3 days. There is this huge canal by our house and it almost flooded over. And if it overflows it means we would all be swimming.  Because Noveleta is a really low area so if it rains for very long it floods bad.  But we were lucky and it didn’t overflow. But the rain was soo hard. It was like showering outside….all day.  And one part of our area floods really easily.  And when it floods, all the canal water (sewer water) also floods. So it’s a little interesting. We did some wading for sure. But if the water was too black then we didn’t go in.  But there was no avoiding the floods. It only reached to a little above the ankle so it wasn’t too bad.  The only people who were outside were us missionaries and the people going to work in the factory. Rain or shine…missionaries are working.

                                 

Before one appointment the rain had stopped and everything was dry for a while and then when we were almost done teaching it turned on again. It was literally like someone turned on a faucet. And by the time we prayed and got out of the house the little street was like a river.

We went to follow up on the Molina family because they didn’t come to church. And we went in and saw a pack of cigarettes on the couch!  And I just about died.  I was like nooooo way!  But he told us that that day he had only smoked 2!  So we were really happy. And we gave him a picture of Jesus Christ so that he could look at it when he felt like smoking.  And for the next few times he just had it in his pile of books. But then when we came this week we saw that he had stuck it up on the wall. We were so happy!  And he was telling us about the things he read in the Book of Mormon. And asking us questions.  And he’s just super awesome.

Those are the highlights of the week. A lot of rain! A lot of people telling us that we were teaching a bunch of false doctrine. And not very many people that came to church.   But were still having a great time here in Noveleta teaching people and trying our best to help them understand the beliefs that we have. And the whole thing is helping me to realize what I believe in and how I know that it’s true. I just would like to share with you all that I’m so thankful that I know that this church is true. That I know that families can be forever and death is not the end. I’m thankful that I know that God still talks to his prophets in our time and that he prepares us for the things we need to know…as long as we are willing to listen. I know that the Atonement is real and is for every single one of us. I know that our weaknesses are coming from God and it gives us a chance to put our trust in him and have him pull us up and help us change and become like him. We just have to keep giving it our best and I know that our best is enough. So keep pushing forward.  I love you all and I hope that you have a chance to share your testimony with someone this week. 

Keep on keepin on. 

Mahal ko po kayo!

XOXO from Noveleta

--Sister Van Tassell

It’s JULY!!!!!!

Hey how’s everyone doing over there? Or wherever in the world you may be.  Happy 4th of July.  We didn’t actually even do anything to celebrate it. I thought about it on July 1 I think and I sang the star spangled banner to my companion and I craved hamburgers, watermelon, and potato salad! But on the actual day I didn’t think about it at all.  And in answer to Nami's question...I haven’t seen an American flag in quite a while haha. So maybe I’ll just have to be double patriotic next year. :)

So this week there is a typhoon. But it’s not going to hit us. It is going to hit up north. But it has been raining almost nonstop for the past 2 days.  We went into a lesson and then it started raining super hard and when we came out there was a flood!  It was only about up to the ankles but the water was super nasty and almost black. We were going to just wait it out and see if it went down but it looked like it was going to keep raining and we didn’t want to end up swimming home so we just went.  It was pretty darn gross but we survived.   Our area floods really bad when it rains hard.  So if this rain keeps it up for very much longer were going to be out of luck!  We already were out of luck yesterday cause if it rains...not many people come to church. So we only had one investigator...but that’s better than nothing.  Good thing tatay molina is so awesome :)

This week we also got to go have a mission activity. We watched Meet the Mormons and we were all supposed to get a flu shot. But then the word got out that it was optional....so we chose not to. Shots or no shots...I will always choose no shots.  So we just ate cake and hung out.

One funny story. We taught a family this week and they said we could come back on Sunday. So yesterday we went back to them and knocked and the boy came out and said oh hi sisters. Wait a minute.  Then he went back inside and talked to the mom.   (Who isn’t a fan of us) and about three minutes later we see him hang a blanket up in the window so we can’t see through. And then the door closes.  And they just pretended that we weren’t even there.  I guess that’s one way to avoid the missionaries! haha oh my goodness crazy stories. 

Then. We went back to the family that should be baptized before I leave.....and I don’t think it’s going to push through. :'(  It was the day that we had set the goal as 0 smoking...and then we walked in the house and found a half empty box of cigarettes on the couch.  We were so sad. But he’s still improving. He’s gone from smoking a whole box a day to about 3-4.  So I’m still super impressed with him.  But I confiscated the remaining cigarettes haha. And we just went home and cried.  And the lesson that we can learn here is that conversion can’t be rushed.  It can’t be squeezed in before you go home.  We were lucky enough to find him and be able to see him progress so far...And hopefully he will continue to progress and be baptized.  Whether I see it in person or not. We had a lesson about the Saviors atonement and how he said 'not my will but thine.'  And that took on a whole new meaning to me.  

Another cool thing that happened this week was finding our referral!  We got the referral 3 weeks ago from the elders. They had talked to her on the street and sent her name and address to us. And we had tried and tried but she was never at home!  But just last night we just felt like we should try again.   No one answered but her neighbors were at home so we talked to them and asked if they knew her.  They did and turns out that her house was actually two doors down the other way!  The address that the elders had given was wrong and we had been trying for 3 weeks at the wrong house!  But I’m just thankful for my companion reminding me to work till the end. Cause at that time it was pouring rain and we were soaked. But we decided to ask the neighbors instead of just going home and taking an early night... And we found her!  And she is super cute and seems interested!  

So this week was good and fast. I feel like a lot happened!  I’m sure that more things happened but I can’t remember them hah. So next week ulit!  Take care and I’ll see you in less than a month. :)

--Sister Van Tassell

Air con or no air con that is the question  6/28/15

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the emails and pictures and stories this week.  I loved it!  Sounds like a whole lot is going on! 

Here in Noveleta not too much is happening. 

The best part of the week was going on exchanges...not because I like exchanges....but because it was my VERY LAST exchanges of my mission. SO that made me super super happy to know that I never have to do that again haha. 

Um what else.  We had stake conference with one of the 70.  Elder Villanueva.  There were some pretty good talks.  It was a bummer because it was in General Trias which is about an hour away from Noveleta. So our investigators weren’t able to make it. Which is too bad because it was a really good meeting.

This week, one of the things that I loved was teaching with sister Mendoza.  Like I’ve said before, she is a super awesome missionary. She always seems to have energy even when I feel like I’m running out. And we work together really well. I feel like I’ve noticed this week that our lessons really have the spirit.  Last transfer I was really struggling and I didn’t feel like there was much room in this area for progress. I honestly kind of just wanted to come home.  And one thing that really helped me was one of the sisters told me to just find something to love. It doesn’t matter what it is but find it.  So that’s about the time when we found the Molina family.  And they started me back on the right track. I guess I remembered I wasn’t here for myself. I was here for others.  And it’s funny because were helping them but in reality, they are helping me.  And I tell sister Mendoza every time we leave their house that if every investigator that we have was like that family I would probably never come home. And from that time on I’ve just tried to love all of our investigators that way. Not all of them are accepting but they all have a chance to progress.  

And it makes me laugh cause one night we were talking and we decided that missionaries kind of lose the meaning of the word 'No.'  Like if you are asking for a return appointment and they tell you no...A missionary hears something like 'maybe next week.'  Or if they say that they are never going to change religions or never going to pray....a missionary hears that they have a concern that we don’t know of yet.  I love it. I love the good attitude that missionaries have.  Attitude is everything.  Our mission president always says how we shouldn’t say the word hard. Cause if we say it is hard then it is. So might as well just say that it is easy.

Arghh the air conditioning just shut off in the computer shop.  That is a bummer.  I guess that’s my signal to wrap it up.  We’ve only got 4 more emails.  Woah!  :) 

See you all soon!  Have a great week! keep on keepin on. Attitude is everything

--Sister Van Tassell

I LOVE MY DAD

Happy Father’s Day sa inyong lahat!  Today I’m super excited to email because this week has been a great week.  Let’s just start with transfer day.

So this transfer day a member was nice enough to give us and our luggage a ride to the mission office.  This was a huge blessing. Because riding a mini bus with about 10 big bags.....I don’t even know how to explain how much of a pain that would be.  So we rode in this nice old red van...that overheats really.  We had several pit stops on the side of the road waiting for it to cool down enough to get started again.  But we made it there safely and now it’s just another story in the books.

  Sister Picar got transferred and my new companion is sister Mendoza.  She is my 'niece'  here on the mission.  Because sister Lizada (who is my nanay) trained the missionary that trained her.  So her 'nanay' is my 'sister.'  There you go. That’s my family history from the mission. I hope you understand. But she is super super awesome. I’m very excited to be able to have her as my companion for the last transfer of my mission. We’ve only been together for like 4 days now and I’ve already learned a lot.  Cause last transfer I felt like sometimes I would catch myself thinking that I’ve been out for a long time so I’ve got a pretty good idea of how to do things and do them well.  And then she became my companion and she’s just such a great missionary. I realized that no matter how old you are you can’t get comfortable with where you are at. You always have to try and improve.

 So this week we went back to the Molina family.  I just love their family. It absolutely makes my day when we get to go to them.  Cause they are just super awesome.  We’re praying for a miracle that they will be able to be baptized before I go home. But if not I hope that they will continue to be taught and to progress. This week the son said that he knows that our message is true! and the dad said that he knows about 70% sure.  I’ll take it!  :)

So I’m listening to some EFY songs right now and looking at pictures and doing the whole trip down memory lane thing. But I think I should probably stop cause its getting me really sad/worried about going home. I’m super excited for my batch's turn to come to get to get on the airplane home...but then again I just don’t know how excited I am to leave this place where you feel the spirit so strongly and you get to do the Lords work every day. I’m definitely not a perfect missionary and I hope that I can make it through without regrets. And all in all really miss you all. But maybe it’s just the fact that you don’t know what will come next.  But that’s part of life. Moving on and upward. :)

So I’m still going to count down and I still show all of your pictures to all my companions and I tell endless stories about the things that you write to me and the things that we do.  And I hope you’ll be patient when I do the exact same thing with all the people I’ve met here haha.  That’s about all I’ve got for this week. Take care and enjoy every day you have.  

XOXO from Noveleta

--Sister Van Tassell--

We are never forgotten.

Hello everyone.  So I was too stressed to write this email because I was worried about transfers. But now we have the call. I’m staying but my companion is transferring. My new companion will be Sister Mendoza.  So now I’m not as stressed anymore and I can focus on the email.

So this week was long and busy! We had X-rays, zone meeting, and zone conference. So that means a lot of traveling. It was exhausting!

I think I already told you about X-rays last week so I won’t tell you again. I don’t want to bore you.

And then we had a bunch of meetings. They were really good but also really exhausting.  They asked me to talk in Zone conference which is in front of half the mission!  And they didn’t give me any time to prepare! They just called me up.  So I was super duper nervous. But it went ok.  It was just about preach my gospel. So I talked about faith. I’m not sure why I was nervous cause I’m usually ok with talking in front of people. But the good news is that I survived. :)

This Sunday was really exciting.  One of the families that we are teaching came to church!  We were pretty darn happy.  I hope they had a good time.  The part I worry about is that that Sunday there was a broadcast from Salt Lake. And it was all in English. So I hope they understood haha. But I think they did. And there was two really good musical numbers so I hope they felt the spirit too!

This week I think I just want to add that we are never forgotten. So last night I was super stressed.  Super super super stressed. Me and my companion struggled and then someone said "hey Joe!"  (which you know about if you’ve ever served in the Philippines) And then I got home and things just didn’t get better and I went outside and prayed and then was reading the liahona and hoping to find a talk that was just for me. And then you know what else happened. The hammock that I was sitting in fell down.  And then an ant bit my arm and it hurt.  Haha and all the little things of the day just added up and I still hadn’t found a talk in the liahona that fit for me so I was about ready to give up. Just those times when you can take it anymore. And then I flipped the liahona open and I read a talk from conference. I can’t even remember who it is from. But all I remember is that it said how he was here because he loves Christ  (oh it was from President Uchdorf)  And he said he’s not here for worldly reasons. He’s there because he wants to be obedient and show his love for Christ. So then I just thought about why I was there on the mission. I’m just like 88,000 other missionaries that are trying their best to be the best missionary they can because they know that is what Christ wants from them.  And it’s not easy. But no matter what happens....we make it through. That’s the cool part. We make it through. We learn and we grow and we improve and we are blessed for our willingness. :) And we are never forgotten. I know that is true.

That’s all I’ve got this week. And you may all officially start counting down on Wednesday cause that is the start of my last transfer here!!! Crazy huh!  Love you all!  Have a great week! 

Sister Van Tassell  

The end is near

Hello family. Sorry my email is late today. We just came from getting X-rays. All of the missionaries that go home in July had to go get x-rays.  I think it’s for TB or something. But it was in Manila so we are all kind of exhausted. But it was fun to see all of my 'batch' and catch up on what is happening to them.  Missionaries are crazy when they get together haha. And loud.  But it makes things fun.  

   So this week was a little bit on the downward slide when you compare it to my last few weeks. But it wasn’t an awful week.  So you all remember our investigator that read and came to church and made us all so excited.  Well this week we taught the word of wisdom and were super energetic and tried to help him find a way to overcome his struggles.  Well the next thing you know he is avoiding us and stopped reading and didn’t come to church.  He said we are forcing him to change things that he has done all his life and he doesn’t want to be a part of it anymore.  So that was a little bit...no a lot rough. But we’re definitely not giving up on him. Because his wife told us that he is still praying. So that means there is still hope. But I think we’re just going to go back to basics.  Yeah buddy. The joys of missionary work! 

On the good news...one of the tatays we are teaching came to church!!   He came even though his family wasn’t able to. It was super exciting because he’s not one to go to church too much. But he has been really open every time we have taught him. And he asks so many questions.  So that was defiantly a highlight of the week. 

What else happened?  Not much. We went to the beach to celebrate my companions 1 year mark. We just watched the sunset. So that was fun.

We walked and walked and walked some more. And I’m trying to work on my patience for other people. It was so crazy hot this week and most people weren’t there, were sleeping, or sent us away because they were busy/tired.  It would have been so easy to just tell them what you are really thinking. Believe me. I wanted to.  But that won’t help things at all. That won’t make it less hot and it won’t make them want to let you in any more.  So basically you just have to remember that no matter what they say or do, they are all still children of God and they have their choices and we have to love them. :) All you need is Love haha. 

We were walking and trying to find people to teach and there was no one. So we decided to say a prayer. So we stopped at a quiet spot and prayed to know where to go.  And that’s the moment that you would expect me to write that a miracle happened. Well one did but not in the way you would think. The miracle that happened is that we were given new energy to keep walking and keep talking to people. We didn’t find anyone but that doesn’t matter. Miracles are miracles no matter how small.

Alrighty everyone. Have a great week.  Don’t have too much fun haha. Enjoy your air conditioning. I would kill for one right now. 

Talk to you next week!

-Sister Van Tassell