I’m not jealous of the SNOW ***

So what’s up everyone!  Christmas is over and the New Year is in 2 days! Hope you all have your new year’s resolutions made.  Mine is to work hard in my new area!  I guess that’s not really a New Year’s resolution haha. But it is a goal that I will start on the New Year.  I wasn’t worried about transfers because I was almost positive that I would be staying for at least one more transfer but that plan failed and I’m going to Trece tomorrow.  Actually both me and my companion are getting pulled out of our area and its being given to the Elders.  It’s because there are too many areas and not enough missionaries so they are putting areas together.  But I always worry a little when I have to give my investigators to Elders.  But I guess Elders are ok and they can probably handle it. 

  This week was good.  We had Christmas and we all opened lots of presets.  It was so fun even though we were far away from home.  Then we skyped!!!!!!!!!!  and then just wandered around to different members houses and got left over dinners.  Because here the big thing is Christmas Eve.  So they all have their big dinners then and so on Christmas its nothing special.  But it was a good day.

   This week Marnela came to church again because she is awesome.  And I’ve been asking her for a long time to check my blood type. So she did.  She used the smallest needle she could so that it wouldn’t hurt.  She was really good at it.  I was impressed. I’m excited to find out the results.  It’s going to be great. 

  So sorry this letter is short. I have packing to do!  I’m excited but I’m so sad to leave Sister Raterta.  She is basically the best. It’s sad because you all don’t get to meet them and know all the stories.  You just have to hear it from me.  So I hope I’m doing a good enough job :)  Love you all.  Have fun staying up late and partying.  I’ll be in bed by 10:30 hah.  Oh the good life of a missionary.  Ok love you all! 

--Sister Van Tassell

Short and Sweet!

Merry Christmas everyone!  This week was kind of a rough one.  But there were a few good parts.

We had our Christmas party this week.  We all went to Dasma and partied.  Each zone had a skit and so that was fun. Some of them were kind of awkward but we just kind of laughed at everything so that was good.  Our skit was the life of president and sister Tye. I was sister Tye and so that was fun.  It was really funny…maybe only to us but that’s ok.  As long as we think it went well.  We did the part of their proposal so the Elder that was President Tye ‘proposed’ to me which was funny.  And then everyone gave me crap but it was still fun.    

And then some amazing people from over there in America had sent gifts for all of the missionaries.  So we all got presents.  That was super fun. If you know who did it or if you did it…it was awesome and we all loved it.  Thanks for thinking of us.

We also had a nativity in scripture and song. Which was really cool and really different.  That was the spiritual part.

We also had a ward Christmas party on Saturday which was fun but was supposed to start at 6 and didn’t start until 730.  Gotta love Filipino time! It’s better that Van Tassell time haha.  But here in the Philippines you perform at the parties. So the missionaries had to perform. We sang a Tagalog Christmas song and then the song from Alvin and the chipmunks.

The bummer part of this week was I got food poisoning/the flu.  So that was an awful, awful day.  And I don’t have that much else to report.  So I guess will just see what happens this week. 

Have a great week and a merry Christmas.  Enjoy it and enjoy being at home. Love you all and can’t wait to see you all again.  Remember the reason of the season J He Is the Gift.

XOXO Sister Van Tassell

I SURVIVED TYPHOON RUBY!!!:) And there are now 10 days till Christmas

Well everyone I survived.  Sad to say...or maybe happy for you guys but we didn’t feel much of the storm at all.  It was crazy and super-duper slow and changed direction about every 5 minutes.  But we just got a bit of rain and that’s about it. We stayed in all day long and made snowflakes and played games.  We played scum and slaps and ate sooo much food because when you’re a missionary there is nothing to do inside the house except eat.  I’ll send some pictures later so that you call all see how bored we were.  Our neighbors looked like they were ready for world war 3 because you couldn’t even tell anyone lived there.  They took down all their Christmas decorations and plants and brought them inside. haha I don’t think we saw them for 2 days which is funny because they’re always really loud.  We just stored water in a garbage can and filled our 72 hour kits with snacks haha it’s probably a good thing that nothing too bad happened to us.  You all prayed too hard haha.  joke lang.  Thank you all for being concerned about us over here.  

     But these last two weeks have of course flown by. Crazy crazy fast. We are feeling the Christmas now. I love it.  We didn’t have a tree in our apartment and so we didn’t really feel it but I wasn’t going to let Christmas pass without a tree so I got a little creative.  I took one of the boxes from my package and broke it down and then formed it into kind of a triangle cylinder thing and duct taped it together with my purple duct tape that I brought from home! (I knew there had to be a reason to bring duct tape on the mission and there was Yay Idaho! ) haha anyway then we took some of the green pine stuff that you usually wrap around the banister and we just wrapped it around the boxes.  It is really small and short and fat but it’s really cute and it made it all seem so much more like Christmas.  Then we found some lights in a closet and only half of them work but we put them up too and we play Christmas music once in a while and it’s just the best.  We have our mission Christmas party and ward Christmas party this week. I’m so excited!  But unfortunately here in the Philippines you have to perform at the parties. So the missionaries are signed up to perform at the ward party and were doing a skit at the mission party.  I have no idea what we are going to perform. I’m trying to get our ward missionary to teach me a Christmas song on the guitar and then everyone else will sing.  That’s the plan as of now. I’ll let you know how it goes hah. 

     As far as the work goes...this week has been amazing. Our numbers are low but so what.  We have found some amazing people and we have had some super spiritual lessons. I figure it doesn’t matter that we have a huge list of investigators that don’t progress.  It’s more important to help the ones that are really progressing now.  I think I’ve been saying this the whole time I’ve been here in Molino.  We don’t have a lot of investigators but the ones we do have are amazing and it is so great to be able to teach them and help them.  And that’s why it’s so hard when they don’t progress or aren’t able to continue...because we see so much good in each one of them.  But we’re keeping up the hope that we’ll have a baptism before I transfer.  I have to tell you one story about what happened this week.

   So before I tell the story I just have to say that my companion is amazing and really is great at listening and following the spirit.  She’s the best.  Ok so one day we were walking and it was finding time.  Were just walking and trying to figure out where to go.  And then Sister Raterta says that we need to go visit one of the members. I’ll be honest I thought she was a little bit crazy because she’s a member and we were supposed to be finding at that time but there are some nonmembers that live at her house so I decided to give it a try.  So we go there and she was showering so we had to wait outside for a bit.  And while we were there we saw a lady across the street that we both felt like we should talk to.  So we did. And we just chatted for a minute before the member came out of her house and came over to us.  Turns out that that lady was her friend and she had been wanting to refer her to us for several weeks but she didn’t think that she was ready yet. We invited her to listen and we went and taught her at the member’s house.  It was a really good lessons and she has so many questions.  Of course were not sure what is going to happen and were hoping for the best but it was an amazing experience.  The member just told us how she has been praying for her for so long that she will be willing to listen to the missionaries.  And I think that just is a huge testimony builder that God answers prayers. But even more than that I think we need to look at those of our friends and acquaintances that we are 'preparing' for the missionaries and notice that they might be ready now.  Trust the missionaries! :) Were pretty good people if I do say so myself haha and we LOVE referrals.  And when a member gives us a good referral we love you even more. MISSIONARIES ARE TRUE TEACHERS BUT MEMBERS ARE TRUE FINDERS!   I love that quote.  

   Some other missionary work highlights.  One of our less actives is now no longer less active!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That is better than a baptism for me.  He’s great and now were really working on getting him to go on a mission. But I love teaching him and their family because you can see the difference from when we started teaching and now that they’re coming to church.  I promise that the church and the gospel brings light into people’s lives like nothing else can.   Also a highlight.. one of my very favorite investigators just overcame her concern of telling her family that she was listening to the missionaries.  And now this week we get to go to her house and teach her!!!! Before this we were just teaching her at the mission office.  I am soo excited and I’m just hoping so much that her family will be willing to listen to us as well.

    So that’s a quick rundown of what has happened these last two weeks. That’s the news for you all.  You’re all great and I miss you all.  Have an awesome week!  It’s almost Christmas!

Xoxo from Molino

--Sister Van Tassell

8 December 2014

Dear Brother and Sister Van Tassell ,

  

I am happy to report that Typhoon Ruby turned west before she impacted our area directly and basically has moved out of the Philippines.  We did not get nearly as much rain or wind as we thought we would get.  All of our missionaries are safe and healthy.  We had prepared for something much worse and were blessed with a mild storm.

 There was some very minor water in some of the apartments in a few areas of our mission.  When leasing the apartments, we carefully selected those in safe locations,  and none of our apartments experienced any major flooding.  None of our Missionaries lost cell phone coverage, water or electrical service due to the storm. In summary, we have witnessed a miracle in the fact that the forecast of Typhoon Hagupit were winds and rain of a much heavier and severe degree. Many prayers and fasting of many faithful members and Missionaries have brought the storms fury to a minimum as our Missionaries are all safe and accounted for and are back to work building the kingdom of God in the Cavite area of the Philippines. Your sons and daughters are wonderful faithful dedicated Missionaries, whom the Lord has placed a watchful caring eye upon as this typhoon passed us by. Thank you for preparing your missionary to serve the Lord here in the best Mission in the world. Merry Christmas, Sincerely,

Douglas C. Tye

Mission President

Philippines Cavite Mission

You are all probably wondering about Taylar and the Typhoon.  Well she got to email us tonight and they are prepared.  Here is a letter her Mission President sent.

Yesterday, Friday December 5, President Tye sent an email to every missionary's parent and Stake or Branch President about Typhoon Ruby and our preparation for it. As of this morning, we are finding out that the emails have not been received by the parents, and are most likely floating through an internet "black hole" somewhere. Below is the contents of the letter that was sent and hopefully all will receive the email soon. We wanted you to know that we are preparing and praying. I also have added a few pictures for you to see the information we are receiving of the typhoons path and hardest hit areas.

---------------------------------------

Dear Philippines Cavite Mission Missionary Family and Leaders,

I am writing to inform you of the situation in our Mission relating to your Missionary and the pending impact of Typhoon Ruby.  The Church and our Mission have been observing this storm for days and have made numerous preparations for its arrival.  The track of the storm should be south of our mission, but we will have some wind and rain as the margins of typhoon will be felt here.  It is also possible that the path could go further north and we would be impacted directly.  If that happens, we are lucky because we are located far enough north and west that much of the energy of the storm will be expended by the time it reaches us.

In any event we are preparing for a significant storm. All of our missionaries have been instructed to review our Mission emergency preparedness procedure including personal safety procedures, storing adequate water supplies for their use and enough food to see them through. These supplies would be in addition to their 72 hour kits that each missionary owns within our Mission.  They have also been instructed to keep their cell phones charged.  We have a calling tree in place for rapid communication if needed across the mission.  Each missionary has been instructed to have 1000 Pesos in small bills ready for an emergency.

If the safety of the Missionaries is at all in question, we will be keeping the missionaries safely inside their apartments.  It is the plan to be very cautious and if we error administratively, it will be our intent to error to the side of safety.

If the storm compromises our electrical or Internet infrastructure, this will affect your ability to communicate with your Missionary. If this happens, you will receive your normal weekly email late next week from your missionary.  I, as the Mission President of your Missionary, and the Church will report again when the storm is finished regarding the safety of your missionary.

Please pray for those who will be impacted by this typhoon including all residents of the Philippines, the Missionary force here and all members of the Church.

Thank you for your support and for your love and concern for your Missionary. Sister Tye and I love them as our own, and pray for their safety and well being during this upcoming storm.

Sincerely,

Douglas C. Tye

Mission President

Philippines Cavite Mission

THE CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN!!! (25 days left)

So hello everyone.  It is December!  We are now started on the Christmas countdown!  And I’m happy to announce that it is getting cooler outside.  It is so funny to see us all wrapped up in our blankets and not wanting to lie on the floor because it is so cold. It’s just because it has been raining the last few days.  So that is always nice.  But during the day it gets plenty hot.  So you are all probably jealous because I’ve heard how the weather is treating you over there.

Thank you all for your updates on the turkey trot and all that is going on there. I was totally going to get up and run on thanksgiving but you know how that goes.  I just decided that I would wait until next year haha. 

Also I am very proud of all of you who have completed your Christmas preparations.  Way to be diligent! Haha  also thank you for telling me what things you are making….if anyone wants to know what present they are getting you can go ahead and email me…cause I probably know. But really though I appreciate it and you are all so creative.  Our family could probably put Pinterest out of business J.

But as far as the work is….its going.  Our whole house was sick this week so that was a bit of a struggle.  No one felt too much like working but you have to.  Just buy some vitamin Cs and take ibuprofen all day long haha. It’s not too bad.  Even the long days go pretty fast once you just get out and get working.

The past time of the kids here is spider fighting.  It is soooo creepy but super interesting as well.  They all catch these massive spiders and they fight them. They keep them in little matchboxes.  Inside the matchbox there are several rooms so that they can keep like 10 at a time. And these are little matchboxes. But the spiders kind of just curl up and sleep when they get put in there. But they are super big and the kids just hold them and play with them like no big deal. They all bring their spiders and then they have a little stick and they put a spider at each end of the stick and they just go towards each other and fight. It’s really cool. I’ll probably hold a spider before I come home. Just because if they can all do it then I can to.  Sister Raterta isn’t scared of them so she will hold them too. But I just watch.

We had an amazing Sunday yesterday.   It was the primary program. I almost died because it was so cute.  I promise it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  They were all in matching clothes. Little white dresses with pink jackets and flowers in their hair. And they all had a little make up on.  And the little boys all had blue boy ties.  And they do all their parts and singing in English.  I’ll tell you what.  The primary program probably brings the best spirit out of all the sacrament meetings.   I know you all know (Dang for some reason Taylar’s email didn’t send the rest of her letter.)

Santa Clause is coming to town in 30 days

hah oh shoot I have to write this fast.  So this week...not much happened.  Sorry to say but it’s true.  We started a new transfer.  Our planner right now lasts until January 2015 so that made me about die. Because in January it means that I have been away from all of you awesome people for 1 whole year!  So that makes me sad and happy..because you are all crazy haha just kidding. But yeah were in the fast lane of the mission right now.  Christmas is just around the corner and were just here doing the work like no bodies business and hoping like crazy that we will get a Christmas baptism. Also my English is getting awful.  Don’t judge me if my sentences don’t make sense.

  This week was like 10000000 degrees outside. I swear I almost died. It was worse than summer because at least in summer you are just hot all the time.  But now it gets a little cooler at night and there is a really nice breeze a lot of the time. So the days when it gets hot are like the worst.  We went to a Tindahan to buy water and they didn’t have anymore but the lady went into her house and got me a glass of ice water.  It was probably the nicest thing that anyone has ever done hah. We didn’t even teach her or anything. She just did it.  That was amazing.

   Also the Filipinos in my house laugh at me because I apparently don’t know how to wash clothes very well.  They said I was 'Cute.'  And then they both spent the next 30 minutes trying to teach me the proper way.  I think I kind of got it. I had to explain that I come from a place where laundry means filling a machine with clothes and pushing a button.  So I have kind of a big learning gap haha. They thought it was funny because "malaki ang katawan mo pero mahina talaga ang mga kamay!" (great body but really week hands) haha.  So yeah, that’s how that went.

    We’ve been going through a phase of showing Mormon messages to some of the less actives that we are teaching. It is amazing and it is working miracles. I love Mormon messages so much and even though they are in English..the spirit is still there so we just work off of that and the response is great. "You can put your money on the Prophet" --the district haha. totoo yun (is true).

       What else...one of our members is moving to California.  So that’s cool.  And another one just got engaged to an American guy. That was also cool.  And the boyfriend of one of our investigators is coming this week so she is going to come to church.  And that is the most cool thing of all. 

   I’m loving it so much here even though everyday seems like the hardest day. But every day I just get stronger I guess and so I just get to have more trials and come out even better in the end!  My investigators probably get bored because I feel like I always teach about making it through trials. But that is the thing I love to teach the very most.  Because I know for a fact that the days that are the very worst are the days right before you see the best blessings.  So you just have to lean on what you know and remember that there is always a way (1 Nephi 3:7)  and through the atonement we can overcome everything. Not just some things.  Not just most things.  EVERY THING. (D&C 6:34)  So remember that. And I’ll remember that.  And we’ll just all keep on keeping on :)

 LOVE YOU ALL 

XOXO from Molino

-Sister Van Tassell  

(or more commonly Sister Van) 

(or even sometimes 'Elder')

One transfer older and wiser too hahah  

Magandang umaga sa inyo lahat. Soo I’m not very smart because for the last ten minutes the internet here has been going crazy and not working…and it wasn’t until now that I figured that I should just open Microsoft word and write the email here first. So I kind of wasted time. But oh well.  So kumusta po kayo? I’m doing well here in Molino. Today is the day of transfer calls but I’m not worried. I’ve only been here for a transfer and a half. And we still have a lot of work to do here.

   So this week was good. But this Sunday was amazing! We had 9 less actives come to church.  We were soooo happy.  We’ve been working with them for quite a while. And to see them progress is probably one of the best feelings in the entire world.  I can’t even hardly explain it cause we were so happy haha. We saw the Pabilin family walk in and me and my companion literally ran out and hugged her and then I said to my companion that it wouldn’t even matter if anyone else came to church. Just as long as she was there.  I guess that was kind of an overreaction. But still haha.

This week we also got to teach sister Marnila. She is one of my favorite people here. She is so nice and so willing to listen to everything we teach.  She works sooo much so we don’t get to see her very often. But those lessons are the ones where you leave and you just have soo much energy.  She saw that we were drinking water out of just regular water bottles like those we bought at 7/11. And she got mad cause those aren’t healthy for us. So she went and bought us real water bottles.

I have officially no time this week because we had to change computer shops and people are rushing me. I don’t like to be rushed.  So I’m taking my time.  Haha I’m so mean. But we can hang out all day for the rest of the week and I only get to talk to you all for 1 hour. So they can just chill.   And I am sorry for everyone that I couldn’t email back. I LOVE getting emails and I just sit there and read them and laugh and it’s the best. And then I don’t have much time to write back.

But this week I was just thinking about everyone that has helped me so much in my life.  Kind of a long trip down memory lane last night. Because we taught a lesson and I told a story about a lesson I learned at girl’s camp one year…the one about the iron rod.  How even the smallest temptations can pull us away and stuff. And I just wondered how in the world I would even be able to be on a mission if I didn’t have all of you guys helping me and teaching me back when I was a kid haha. So don’t ever take for granted the callings you have or the chances you have to teach others. Because for sure I remember the lessons that I had from young womens’ and everywhere.  And even if they didn’t really hit home that much then…they do later on.  So yeah .  I love you all and I really hope you know that.  You don’t realize it until you’re on the other side of the world I guess haha.  But if I was mayaman I would write every one of you a letter and say thanks and say how much it meant….but I don’t have the time or money for that haha. SOoo maybe when I get home I’ll try and do it. But for right now just know that I am thankful for the time you have given to help me and you’ve made the missionaries who they are today! So you’re awesome!

 Have an amazing week!  It’s almost Christmas! Love you all

Sister Van Tassell

Choose ye this day

Alrighty well sorry about this week but there are no pictures. I chose the wrong computer. And its USB slot is broken.  So it will be all up to your imagination this week.

  Not a lot has happened this week to be honest. We had one day that was pretty good.  We have two subdivisions in our area that are closed, because of the security. You can’t go in unless you know someone that lives there. And you have to know their name and exact address and all of that good stuff. And of course we didn’t know anyone there. But I just wanted to try anyway. Maybe because I don’t like when people tell me no. (I’ve got both Van Tassell and Stapelman in me, I can’t help it hah)   So we went and walked straight past the security guard...no problems.  It was too easy.  And did a little OYMing there.  And then we went to go into the other subdivision. That was a little harder.  The guard stopped us and we didn’t know anyone there so we just said we were going to the house "over there" and he let us through. So that was awesome.  Anyway we did finding there too and we ended up finding a few people. So now we won’t have a problem going back. :)  One of the people we found was because our ward missionary said she remembered teaching there one time. So we just went up and said tao po.  It’s so fun because you have no idea what you’re going to say and you just have to go with it.  Anyway this big guy came out of the house and I was kind of intimidated cause he just said what do you need? But we just oymd and talked and sure enough he let us in.  So that was awesome.  Also there was one rich house in our area and so we decided to go ring the doorbell and just talk. That was also scary but we just chatted and gave a Book of Mormon and he said he would let us in but he wasn’t the one who lived there. He was just the brother.  So he couldn’t. But it was still fun to just OYM and see what happened.

     We had kind of a rough week this week.  On Saturday we got punted from every appointment.  The highlight of my day was a little boy that gave me a high five. But everyone has those days. But I still stick to my theory that the hard days are the days when you learn the most.  So I’ll take a hard day once in a while.....but only once in a while haha. I will take a lot of good days too. 

     We taught one of our investigators and she has 3 kids. 3 yrs. old 2 yrs. old and 1 yr. old. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with her.  And in order to try and help her feel the spirit I spent the entire time 'entertaining' the kids. I hope it worked hah.  I just gave them water bottles and things to play with. I now know why dad had me go with the missionaries to baby sit while they teach. 

  Well that’s all I’ve got for today. I’ve renewed my theory that people that help missionaries receive a lot of blessings.  So let’s make this week say hi to your missionaries’ week.  That way you can get blessings and we can feel loved haha. Love you all so much! Keep on keeping on.

Love 

Sister Van Tassell

It’s still hot in the Philippines

Hello everyone! 

This week was awesome because it was my 9 month mark.  I burned a shirt.  That was fun.  And also because Elder Oaks came….I actually just typed elder Holland.  Wishful thinking I guess haha.  But Elder Oaks was great! We had just a meeting with our entire mission.  We all woke up really early and gathered in Las Pinas and got some great advice about how we can improve our missionary work.  One thing I especially loved was the fact that everyone got something so different out of his visit.  We have been trying, as a mission, to get really spiritually prepared for his visit.  So when he came we could get the things that we needed to hear.  And it was evident after he left that we had accomplished our goal.  We got a chance to share with each other what we learned.  And most people said lots of different things.  So it’s true.  It’s not about what is said.  It’s about what you hear and what you feel. 

 The biggest thing that I got was that missions being hard isn’t a new thing.  He actually took a minute out of his talk and said he was prompted to talk about Noah.  And how the people in that time were really really “hard.”  But Noah still had to do his part and teach and try to help as many people as he could.  The same with us.  We have to do our part as missionaries/members/children of God and help as many people as we can.  It doesn’t affect us whether or not they accept us.  What affects us is whether we have put in all the effort that we could.  And if we did that.  We’re ok.  And God will take care of the rest in his own ways and his own time.  So that was really helpful. We just have to be faithful and diligent and God won’t leave us alone.

Well besides Elder Oaks…we had a pretty good week.  We kind of had a lot of learning experiences this week.  After the mission conference we had some amazing lessons.  It was cool how strong we felt the spirit.  And then the next day our lessons struggled..big time.  It was really confusing to us how lessons can go from amazing to….not so amazing in just one day’s time.  We talked a lot about it and thought about it and prayed about it.  And I think that we really need to make sure to prepare for each day.  Because of course we prepared so much for Elder Oaks.  And then the next day was just ‘normal.’  But in reality it wasn’t. It was just as important as the day before.  We still had to have the spirit and still had to teach.  So yeah haha.  And that kind of goes along with my quote of the week that came from April 2014 conference.  Something to the effect of,”Think how much time we waste looking for the rainbow instead of thanking God for the rain.”  So everyday counts and every struggle makes us stronger. 

Ok sorry for going off about all of that.  Its good stuff.  So I shouldn’t apologize. But let’s carry on with what happened this week.  I got my package of letters and beef jerky.  It was like heaven on earth.  That’s probably the best package I received.  Letters are the best…and the jerky really was amazing too.

I learned that Filipinos do not have the same taste as Americans.  Ok I already knew that. But this week we had pretzels and I ate my.  I offered all of these to both Filipinos and Americans.  They were gone in about a second.  It was like giving out money.  But only the Americans liked them.  It’s funny.  And great because that means more for me haha. 

We attended a funeral.  It was a lot different.

We had exchanges….you already know how I feel about those.  But I guess it wasn’t too bad.

And Sister Tye fed us all sandwiches at the mission conference.  They had cheese on them that tasted almost like real cheese.  It was AMAZING.  I miss cheese hahah.

I got told this week that I was getting fatter and that I was getting skinnier.  So I just don’t know what to believe and I’m going to keep eating as normal hahah J

That’s about it.  I don’t want to take up too much of your time because I know that you are all very busy and you have a lot of things you can be doing.  So enjoy the rest of your night….But wait before you go!  I forgot to tell you that one of our less active families all came to church yesterday!  All 4 of the siblings.  We were only expecting one of them.  And we looked back and all four of them were there.  I was so happy I could have died.  But the only thing that was better than that was the fact that the members were fellowshipping them and making them feel at home. (they were so worried that things at church have changed)  And if that isn’t a beautiful sight then I don’t know what is!

So I hope you have a great week and you keep working on your missionary work and your fellowshipping.  It’s worth your time.  Keep on keepin on. I love hearing about all of you and all the things you are doing.  I love you but most important, God loves you!

Ingat palagi

XOXO Sister Van Tassell

No good scripture this week. besta read your scriptures and find one for yourself haha

Hello everyone!

So I’m being better and I’m writing this at the beginning of my email time instead of the end!  Yay! I kept my commitment!  Now maybe we’ll have more investigators keeping their commitments haha. 

 Anywayss how was your week? I hope it was great and I hope it’s not getting too cold there.  I don’t mean to scare you all but this next week is NOVEMBER!  How that happened so fast…I have no idea.  But it is what it is and the truth hurts hahah.  And whether or not you are prepared…Christmas is 59 days away!!  Too soon?  Ok I’ll let you enjoy your thanksgiving first.  But for us it’s all Christmas now!  There was a little Halloween celebration but not much.  An occasional kid going up and down the street and getting candy.  The crazy thing is that it isn’t even Halloween yet.  Just whenever is convenient I guess hah.   It’s sad to not be able to dress up and eat tons of candy though!

 This week as far as missionary work goes…

Time just keeps flying by and we just keep working every day.  We had a super bummer week this week though.  We found out that one of our investigators was moving L  They were super progressing and we LOVED going to them because they always had tons of questions.  But wala na!  Hopefully we can get their address and forward them on to the next missionaries.  They’ll be ok. But it’s still hard to let them go. 

One of the days this week we went to an appointment and got punted and we were kind of exhausted.  So we just sat there for a minute.  And then one of the kids pulls out a little ball and kicked it around.  So I went over and played some street soccer with a bunch of 8 year old kids.  And it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.  They were all like attacking me trying to get the ball.  And I’d just dribble around them and they would just laugh and laugh.  Our ward missionary kicked the ball pretty hard and it just smoked one of the kids!  But they were tough and didn’t even cry.  I about died laughing though.  It was super funny.

Our favorite ward missionary turned in her mission papers last week!  I’m praying she goes to America so that I can go visit her when I get home J

This week I also gained some serious respect for the missionaries in America.  We OYMd an American guy.  I’m not going to go into detail.  But shout out to all of you missionaries in America.  You can do it! You’re amazing J I know mission calls  are inspired…because I don’t think I could make it in America.  Haha but the funniest thing was that I forgot the word for pagbabayad sala in English. And it was awkward.  And wow teaching a lesson in English is awkward and super hard.  I love it.  I still feel like I’m in the awkward stage of Tagalog…like where I think that I know it but I still am super bad at grammar.  So I’m hoping I outgrow that fast.

We had an awesome experience this week.  We taught a bunch of people…not a family but they all live in the same area.  So they all come to the same lesson.  Anyway we actually had one of the priesthood leaders come with us.  Which was the best because he was friends with one of them.   But yeah.  They had requested that we taeacht about holy ghost.  It was cool because we got to answer some of their questions and teach them what the holy ghost really was.  Then we had planned to watch the Restoration video.  But let me tell you.  When you try and watch the restoration video with investigators, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.  First they didn’t have a cd player. But thankfully our ward missionary brought her laptop and had the video on a jump drive.  But it still didn’t work. I was just praying and praying that it would work.  It took about 10 minutes but she finally figured it out.  It was really super quiet and it was in English.  But I really hope they felt the spirit.  One of them asked for the other CD so that he could watch it later. The highlight to that story is that three of them came to church on Sunday!  What can you say?  The church is true haha.

But for closing I really do want to bear my testimony that the church is true.  It may sound crazy to others but I know that this is the only place where you can truly find everything that you are looking for.  Prayer is one of the best things ever. And I promise that prayers are answered.  Even the littlest prayers.  So don’t give up. Just take a moment and say a prayer.  There is always someone listening.  And there is always a way to keep going.
I love you all and I’m super thankful for your prayers and your support!  The best po kayo talaga! Miss na miss ko kayo! Mahal ko kayo. Ingat palagi at keep doing your missionary work!

XOXO from Molino!

 Sister Van Tassell

Proverbs 25:25 Write your missionaries :)

Hello family

   So I had an awesome plan of writing first before I did anything else.  And then I didn’t.  And now it is time to go and I am barely starting to write.  Sooo short and sweet :) 

  So this week was really good. I was sick but we had more lessons and it was fun not to have to just walk around on the streets and try to get people to talk to us.  We have some really good investigators. And they are all doing great.  We love them and so it hurts a lot when they don’t come to church.  The mission is really focusing on getting people to church. So I swear every lesson we have ends in inviting people to church. It’s a good thing though.  It really does help.  Because they get to find friends at church and realize that it isn’t a scary place to be.  I just kind of wish that I had a huge van and I could just go all over the place and pick everyone up. But we can’t.  So it ends up on their desire.  And so that’s hard.  But they can do it.  So if you need something to pray for this week. Pray for our investigators to come to church!

   So we had a crazy experience this week.  A preacher showed up to our lesson.  And proceeded to try and bible bash with us.  We ended our lesson with some difficulty...because he kept interrupting.  But then we proceeded to have a conversation with him about the bible.  In which he ended up telling us that we were wrong and our bible was wrong. But instead of getting us frustrated, it just made us laugh because it was so crazy!  Gotta love the life of a missionary.

   We had a really funny thing happen.  I discovered a new fruit.  Atis.  I don’t know what it is in English. But its super masarap!  Anyway so every day we walk around and look for ripe Atis on the trees.  There is never any.  But one day we were fasting.  And we found the most beautiful Atis in the entire world. It was ripe and it looked really good.  It was within arm’s reach.  We had forgotten that we were fasting and so we grabbed it and split in in half and each took a bite. But then we realized that we were fasting so we spit it out and threw away the rest. But then we just laughed about how it was such a temptation.  Which even though it was such a small thing, it was such a big temptation.  Anything to keep us away from doing good things.  Tricky tricky.  

   Also that day we saw HUGE SPIDERS.  If I saw that thing in the house I would probably run out and refuse to ever go in again. I probably couldn’t even squish it.  It would probably just eat me alive.  I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been thankful for the size of hobos haha.

    Ok I promise I’ll write more next week.  I really feel bad. I could make the sisters wait.  Actually that sounds like a really good idea.  Because I actually don’t care that much.  But I’m trying to be nice.  Argh it’s hard to be nice sometimes hahah.  Love you all so much.  Be better than me and keep trying to be nice to others.  Even if you don’t want too!

 XOXOX from Molino!

Sister Van Tassell

Short and Sweet

Hello America!

  How goes the battle? Things are going good here.  Our mission president told us he was tired of us using the word hard.  So we are banned from using it in letters to him.  So I’m going to carry that over into my letters from home. Because even though there are difficult times, you’ve got to go into it with energy and hope so that you can get through it.  So I’m going to start by saying there have been a lot of "learning experiences" this week of the mission.

  So as you all know.  We had transfers this week.  I got a new companion!  Her name is Sister Raterta. She is Filipina.  From Mindanao.  So she speaks bisaya.  But she is really good at Tagalog so it’s not a problem.  We’re trying to speak Tagalog 24/7 so that I can improve. Because when I speak, people understand me but I don’t have the sentence structure and grammar down very well.  So were hoping that practice makes perfect.  She’s been in the mission for 6 months. She’s really quiet but we get along well.  I just have to work on having energy and being loud.  Oh boy.  

     But with a new companion comes the task of leading the area.  I’ve only been here for 3 weeks so leading is kind of really stretching me.  I am super-duper stressed and sometimes we just walk and walk and walk.  The people here are very straight forward.  I used to wish that the ones that weren’t interested would just tell you...but now that it’s happening...I don’t like it to much anymore haha.  The positive side is that the ones that we find really do care.  But other than that there isn’t much.  So it takes a lot of faith in finding.  We just have to really try and keep up the energy with every OYM that we have.  We’ve gotten lost a few times and we can’t always remember which way to go.  But it’s getting better.  And every day we get home and were straight up exhausted.  But somehow we have the energy to do it again the next day.  

   This Sunday was rough because none of our investigators came to church.  Of course it was conference and it was far away.  But the ones that committed to come had other excuses.  I had a really bad day on Sunday. I really just wanted to give up.  I was super grumpy and just could not understand how they could be so sure about coming and then just drop us.  I was actually struggle with the idea that we had to go visit them later on that day.  Because I wondered how I was going to be able to teach if I was so frustrated.  But we finished conference and went out to work.  And when we got to the appointment later that night and taught, it wasn’t hard.  I didn’t remember my previous feelings until we had left.  Then I realized that I had felt that same love for them that I had before conference.  And before I knew that they weren’t coming.  When we taught, I felt the desire to help them keep their commitments, solve their problems, and build their testimonies.  I know for a fact that the love I felt for them is true charity.  Even though I am farrrr from being a perfect missionary.  Sometimes I question whether I’m even a good one.  But moments like that help me know that Christ is helping me be the kind of teacher that he would be.  I’m so thankful for that help and I know for a fact that I could not succeed without it. I hope that I can continue to live and qualify for that help through the rest of my mission and even afterwards. I’m so thankful for the chance to be here and to grow so much.  Even though I count down months and sometimes even days. (9 months left guysssss)!!  I really do love it here and I hope I can touch some people’s lives.

  You are all awesome and I miss you all so much.  Every day I love seeing the ways that you have helped me and being able to use them to help others.  Remember the talk by elder Bednar.  It’s true.  Use the things that help you to help others and you will feel the love of Christ working through you.  Love you all soo much!

  XOXOX from Molino!

Sister Van Tassell

TRANSFERS AGAIN, but don’t worry, I’m staying.  

Hello everyone!  Another week has come and gone and I once again have to think of something to write that will let you know somewhat of what my week has been like. 

   So not a lot happened until the end of the week.  We had a district activity of watching how to train you dragon 2 which was amazing...and playing sports...which sucked.  Because all the athletic elders went and played basketball and I couldn’t go play because obviously I’m a sister so I was stuck playing volleyball and we couldn’t keep score and half the people didn’t know how to hit the ball.  So I quit and went and taught the kids there how to throw a football.  That was super fun. They didn’t quite get the hang of it but we all had a good time. 

   Also sister Sevia got sick so we just camped out at the mission office for a while and she slept on the couch.  It was nice.  Aircon is nice.  But I think I’m going to die when I get home because when we go into air con we just freeze and need to wear jackets and stuff like that haha.  So I’m not looking forward to next winter in Idaho!!

   Also we didn’t really have any of our investigators at church.  That was a serious bummer and I’m really hoping that changes soon.  

      But I’m going to spend most of my letter talking about our Friday and Saturday experience.  So if you’ve been keeping up with my letters you can probably remember that I REALLY dislike exchanges.  They always turn out ok in the end but the idea of having to go on exchanges is like death and I really dislike it.  If it was my way I would never do it. But unfortunately that isn’t an option haha.  So we had our exchanges Friday night to Saturday night.  We thought we were going to be able to go to the women’s broadcast in our stake on the Saturday so we only planned half a day’s work and everything was good.  Because I’m not super familiar with the area so I was a little worried about not remembering how to get to all the houses.  But since we didn’t have much time to work I was ok.  All was well until we received a text from the bishop saying the broadcast in our stake had been postponed till next week.  I kind of wanted to die because I had absolutely no idea who we were going to go to.  So I just dramatically laid on the floor and then took a nap hah. In the face of crisis what do I do?  sleep it off!  :)  But I woke up a little while later still not ready to face a full day of work when we received a text from president Tye saying we had permission to go to the neighboring stake to watch!  We were ecstatic and hurried and got ready...because the next stake is an hour and a half away.  And we headed out the door.  Just as we started walking the rain started too.  It felt like I just stepped into the shower.  We were soaked in like 2 seconds.  But we just kept going because we didn’t want to be late to the conference.  Anyway we braved the elements and found a member to show us the way to get to Dasma.  It took an hour and the conference actually started earlier than they said, so we were pretty late.  But it was still fun.  And we only got a few lessons in with the STLs hah.   The highlight of the story was that the whole day we were praying and our prayers got answered.  First we prayed for a chance to be able to see the women’s broadcast, then we prayed that we would get there on time, then we prayed that it would stop raining so the sisters baptism could go through, and many many more.  And all of them were answered to some extent.  Even though they were super duper tiny prayers they were all heard.  I’ll tell you what.  My testimony of prayer has grown a ton since I’ve been here on the mission.  No matter what happens there is always someone who knows how you feel.  And can take care of you. And prayer is the way you talk to him. So just remember to pray always.  Especially the times when you don’t feel like you should.  It doesn’t have to be long, it just has to happen. :)

   That’s all the good stuff I have for you today. Hope it was entertaining hah.  I’m just really hungry and I kind of want to go get lunch before we head off on our zone activity to Tagaytay haha.  So sorry :) But I love you all.  And I’m thankful for all your prayers.  You are always in my prayers too.  So don’t worry! Keep being good examples and don’t waste the time you’ve been given.  You are all amazing!

 XOXOX from Molino! 

Sister Van Tassell

You’re Awesome

Hello everyone!   I decided to take a page out of Dayton’s book and title my email like this.  It’s always good to get a pick-me-up.  So there yah go everyone!  YOU’RE AWESOME :)

  Soo now I will start by singing a quick version of happy 8 months to mee!   Is that insane to anyone else?  I for one don’t feel like I haven’t seen you all for 8 months.  But I guess that is because you guys are amazing at keeping me updated with letters and pictures...so I feel like I still get to keep up with your life :) So that makes me happy.  I found a girl that reminds me so much of Macie this last week.  I sent a picture.  I don’t know.  She is really cute.  Hopefully you can see the resemblance and I’m not just going crazy from the heat hah.

    This week FLEW by.  Like I can’t believe it’s over.  We were super spoiled and had dinner appointments every night. Hallelujah ;)  I love dinner appointments.  Seriously we don’t even have to go shopping this week cause we hardly ate any of our food....which is a good thing cause we are currently super low on funds.  Thank goodness support comes on Wednesday!

   So this week we had Zone conference.  It lasted from 9 am to 5 pm!  Super long but super good.  Jenna said that her mission president is the best but don’t listen to her...because the truth is that President Tye is the best. It was really a spiritual high.  We got a lot of talks about giving our all to the work and then expecting the blessings that will come when we do.  One of the Elders told a story about the dad that bought his daughter a fake pearl necklace and then she had to give it up before he could give her the real pearl necklace.  Anyway of course it was told with a lot more detail but it was so cute and it made me cry.  Which sucks because I cry a lot more now that I’m here on the mission.  Plus it was a mean story to tell cause it’s about dads and we all miss our dads here haha.  But no it was really inspirational. It really makes you sit back and think about the things you want to accomplish while on the mission and then you have to think about what you have to do in order to accomplish them.  Yeah we even got to play jeopardy at our zone conference.  It is crazy how competitive we get when we get to play a game.  That is what comes from having no competition anywhere else.  It was a lot of fun.  We won too....or we did until they did one of those lame questions where it was whoever gets the next question right wins everything.  I was mad.  Because we kicked butt and then we still lost.  But whatever.  It’s not the end of the world haha. It was super-duper exciting to see everyone and talk to the people in my last district.  And the APs took us there and then back home.  And they even stopped by Macdo.  Love it.

   This week we had the chance to go to a chapel open house.  It was for our stake and the missionaries put it on.  It was at a different chapel but we got permission to take one of our investigators there.  It was really good because there were members and missionaries and investigators everywhere.  There was always someone to answer questions and to explain more.  It was really really good.  I loved it.  Plus they had a little mini concert at night....we didn’t get to go to that.  But I thought it was a good idea for getting people educated about what really happens at church and getting them to realize that we have a good time and we are real people.  It reminded me of the Salmon dinner we always have at home.  I don’t think I realized how big of a difference that makes until I came on the mission.  The more fellow shippers the better!  So that’s the challenge of the week.  Don’t be shy to welcome someone at church.  Try to see what they need and help them out.  The missionaries will love you and you’ll feel awesome because you just made a new friend.  Even if it’s a little bit out of your way. It’s totally worth it.  

   Well that’s all I have time for.  I’m off to our district activity.  We’re going to be playing volleyball and hopefully some Filipino games.  I’m super excited.  Actually getting to play a sport is the best feeling ever!  Alrighty!! Have an amazing week.  You are all awesome.  And I love you all.  Keep on keepin on!
XOXO from Molino!

--Sister Van Tassell

Whenever I feel the rain on my face……. Our Typhoon SongJ

Hello Again.  This week was super weird.  It flew by but yet it feels like I’ve been here for about 3 weeks already.  So not sure how that happens but yeah.  Anyways email days are weird for me.  I just go read everyone’s email and laugh at all the good things going on at home and I just go to tell my companion about all of it but then I realize she will probably never understand why I care that beet harvest is going strong or about Aidan’s football games. So I have no one to tell it to.  But it’s ok.  I love hearing about all the little things. 

  This week has been amazing.  My new area is SUPER small.  Like crazy small.  But it’s good.  The members are really nice and we have ward missionaries working with us. We are in the same zone with the APs and the STLs and the Office Elders.  That means it’s a lot of fun.  Our area has the mission office in it.  It’s always hard for me to not stop by...because they have air con!  But we get to have our district meetings there..in the soft office chairs and air con.  It’s kind of like heaven :)  Our area is just a bunch of subdivisions squished together but we have found a couple of "Golden" investigators. Moving to a new area is hard because you have to adjust, but it’s the best because you get to start fresh. We have done a lot of finding this week because we don’t have too many progressing investigators.  Ok I’ll tell you a little bit about the three best investigators this week.

  So last Monday we had a lesson with the girlfriend of one of the members.  Camille.  She is super amazing and has a ton of questions for us.  She’s really excited to learn and seriously just is so open to the lessons.  It’s a lot of fun teaching her because she is 19 and so it’s just kind of like us getting to talk to a friend about the gospel.  The bummer deal is that she doesn’t live in our area X( we asked President Tye about it and he said we probably ought to hand her over to the missionaries that are in her area.  It’s super sad because we can’t teach her anymore.  But I know the elders will take good care of her...or at least they better haha. 

   Then we contacted a referral.  Her name is Marnila.  She is also basically amazing. She has a member boyfriend also and so she is looking into the church because of him.  She is catholic and doesn’t want her parents to know that she is taking the lessons. She lives in our area but the address she gave us to teach at was wayyy out of our area.  We didn’t know what to do but our district leader gave us permission to go find her because she was already waiting for us.  That was probably the hardest house I’ve had to find.  There was no one that knew where it was and we took two wrong jeepneys and walked around forever.  We were just about to give up but we tried once more and finally we found the area that she lived.  We taught her all of lesson one.  The Restoration.  She also had a ton of questions and was super open for all the things that we taught.  The spirit was so strong there.  I taught the first vision and by the end she was crying.  It was the best feeling ever.  Afterwards she gave us dinner and was just telling us about the feeling she had and how good it was.  Gosh she is the nicest person ever. She wasn’t able to come to church today because she had work but hopefully she will come next week.  

  The last two we found were an OYM on the street.  They were salesmen and sitting outside a tindahan chatting and smoking.  We oymed and he invited us to his house on Sunday.  So we went on Sunday and he had a ton of questions saying he had asked several preachers these questions and they haven’t been able to answer....so the pressure is on haha.  We didn’t teach much...it was mostly BRT.  But you could really tell that they wanted to learn. And I’m super excited to go back.  

  Of course there have been the crazy lessons and the ones that don’t care to listen.  We have had several of those as well.  It’s super hard for me sometimes to hear all of the excuses...It’s like ahhhhhhrrrggghhhh.  But we just try to testify and have love for each one. And then if they still don’t want to listen then we have done our part and we don’t have to worry.  But it’s just a lot nicer to focus on the good parts of the week. 

   We had a typhoon pass over northern Luzon this last week.  It didn’t hit us.  We just had a TON of rain.  But not enough to stop us.  We went out and walked and walked in the rain.  It was a little bit not fun haha because we were soaking wet and freezing. But we just tried to keep going until the end.  We were at the very last few hours and we had no idea where to go because we had got punted from like every appointment.  And the ones that weren’t punted were straight up hard lessons.  So we just didn’t know where to go. But then Sister Sevia said well let’s just pray.  She was joking around about it but we actually did it.  In a corner on the side of the street we just closed our eyes and said quick prayers in our hearts.  And then started to work again.  I just felt like we should go right and so we did.  We walked and walked and tried to contact people and wala.  But then we just said ok one more OYM and then well go home.  So we tried to contact a previous OYM of Sister Sevia.  Turns out there was a whole family there and we got to teach them!  Just the fact that we had a lesson and the spirit was there was a good enough miracle for us that day.

  So more about the typhoon...it rained hard all day.  So ibig sibihin...maraming mga baha! soo many floods everywhere.  The other Sisters couldn’t even work because the floods were so high.  Our area didn’t really have much flooding.  There was one area that did though.  The water was coming from the river so there was fish in it!  Everyone was catching fish from the flood!  Just little baby ones but they will grow them bigger and then eat them...Ew.  Also they caught an eel!  

  Ok I’ve written a long long email this time.  It’s because I wrote it before I chatted with everyone.  So sorry if I bored you all :)  It’s just been a really good week for me.  Me and Sister Sevia are getting along well.  She’s Samoan so that means loud and energetic :)  So that’s always an interesting time.  But it’s good.  It’s different to live with so many sisters...but not bad.  Basically I love my area and I’m excited to see what happens here.   That’s all I’ve got time for :)  I love you all and I’m so glad that I have all your support and your love.  I miss you!  You’re the best.  Keep on keepin on!

Love

Sister Van Tassell

ps...Several people have complimented me on my Tagalog....maybe I’m progressing!!! I sure hope so.

The time has come....transfers

Magandand Umaga sa Lahat!  So the big news of this week.....I received a package!  And it was amazing.  But I have no room for anything anymore.  I realized just how much stuff I have when I had to pack everything up again.  I got emergency transferred to Molino 2B.  One sister had to go home for medical reasons and so I was called to fill in her place.  So I’m not in heaven anymore...joke its heaven everywhere on the mission.  But I no longer have to wear a jacket and drink hot chocolate. I’m back to sleeping with a fan and using my umbrella for sun rather than rain.    President Tye called me Saturday morning during studies and told me that I would be transferred on Monday morning.  He just said that he should have done it a long time ago but he hadn’t received an answer until that morning.  So I was to get packed and meet the APs on Monday.  Those words were like death.  Not transfer...but PACKING.  I hate packing with a burning passion.  You all probably know that.  But it’s even worse on the mission.  Cause it isn’t just an overnight thing.  It’s everything you have and everything you have collected and it all has to fit in your suitcases.  And let me tell you...I have a LOT of stuff.  But it fit and now I’m here in Molino.  It was embarrassing to have so much stuff but thank goodness for elders that help us carry our things.  What would life be like without the elders...very hard that’s for sure.  It’s sad to transfer after only 3 weeks but its good because I’m on to experience new things.  I miss my companions already though.  They were the best!  My new companion is Sister Sevia.  She is Samoan.  I don’t know much else about her cause we’ve only been together for about two hours.  But I’ll let you know more when I find out.  We are right by the mission office so that will be fun.  There are a lot of fun missionaries in our zone.  I’m excited but super nervous to start all over again.  Wish me luck!  Our apartment is huge but I share with 5 other sisters.  Our room is TINY!  Like beds and closets and that’s it.  There’s not even room to put my suitcases down to unpack.  so we’ll see how that goes.  So I’m back on the north end of the mission!   

   So crazy story of the week.  Sister Ortile had a really, really hard time sleeping but she never told us.  For the past few weeks she would always wake up at like 2 am and hear things and was super scared and could never go back to sleep.  Finally one night it was really bad and she woke us up.  She kept getting sick and did not want to even go back to the house.  So we decided to have the elders come bless our house. They did and then we felt a lot better. The one that said the prayer said that it was really hard for him to focus and there was something like yelling in his ear the whole time.  But after that we really felt a lot safer. It’s scary some of things that happen around here with ghosts and stuff.  But you’ve always just got to remember to have faith and we will be protected.    

         But the good news is that we had a baptism before I left!  A little 9 yr. old boy named Jun.  He’s the cutest thing ever.  He was soooo excited for his baptism.  It was supposed to be on Saturday but when we came to the church there was no water.  :(  he had been there 3 hours early because he was so excited but there was nothing we could do.  We decided to push it to the next day.  He almost cried cause he was so sad.  But the next day everything turned out so cute.  We filled up the fount but the water was sooooo cold.  But he was still so excited.  And after he got baptized he just came up smiling sooo big.  And just looking at all of us through the window.  Just smiling so big.  It was absolutely adorable. So good things can happen even if we have only been in the area for a few weeks.  I  just loved  his smile.  I can’t get over it.  I gave him the tie I got in my package.  It just makes me happy to think about him and I really really hope that he can grow up strong in the gospel. I am more and more thankful every day for a family that is strong in the gospel.  There are more blessings than we realize and more than we can even count.  Stay strong and remember that if you are struggling you can always turn to our Heavenly Father.  He has a plan for you and he loves you so much.  I love you all so much and I love hearing from you every week.  Keep on Keeping on.  You’re all the best!

XOXOXO from Molino

--SISTER VAN TASSELL

Is there a record for the longest videokie session? Cause I think our neighbors just broke it!

Ok, so I left this email to the last again.  I really need to stop doing that.  It’s a bad habit.  Ok I’ll try and get in as much as I can. I have 20 minutes to do this one and President Tye’s email.  Argh procrastination will be the death of me.  So this rainy Monday morning marks my second week here in good old Silang. It is already September.  I’m not really sure how.  Not only is it September but it is almost halfway through September.  Time flies when you’re having fun but it flies even faster when you only have one and a half hours on email every week. So I’ll make it fast. 

   So this week we went to Tagaytay! If you don’t know what it is then google it.  You will not be disappointed.  It is on the very edge of our mission so going there is kind of a treat.  Because it is not hot at all.  The weather is perfect.  There isn’t much to do. Just hang out and take pictures which we did a lot of.  We could see so far from up there.  I could see Las Pinas and my old area so that was fun. It was a long ride and of course we had to buy souvenirs so it kind of burned up the money pretty fast.  But it was fun.

   This area I’m in is super big so it uses up a lot of money getting from place to place.  I’m going to have to get back my budgeting skills.  My last area kind of wrecked it.  We ate at macdo so much. Now I have to get back my thrifty shopping skills haha.  We have been doing a lot more cooking here in the apartment. I cooked mashed potatoes and gravy for my companions and they LOVED it.  I’ll have to admit it was really good.  Especially as a break from rice! 

  We cleaned the apartment this morning and it was really gross.  It was an Elder’s apartment before we moved in and you can tell.  Gross gross gross.  And there are a lot of ants.  And I think there is mice in the ceiling. But we did some deep cleaning so it looks a little better.  Still a ways to go but it’s looking better.

   We went on splits again yesterday.  Three way splits.  Talk about getting some serious numbers.  Hahha not really, we got punted a lot.  But it’s kind of cool that we can divide and conquer.  It’s really fun to see the faith of the ward missionaries too.  I love especially when they teach cause it takes the pressure off of you.  Cause they know Tagalog perfectly but my Tagalog is getting better so that’s good.

    Well that’s all for this week. Time to get off now.  I love you all and thanks so much for your support!  More next week!

XOXO from Silang

-SISTER VAN TASSELL