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