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

JUNE NA!                                                      

Well here we go again.  You won’t be getting too many more of these! 8 more to be exact! You all can now start your countdowns!  It’s crazy! and weird to even think about. So that’s when you just don’t think about it....except for this area is really close to the airport so the airplanes fly over super low and so that’s a little distracting. And gets me excited. 

So what happened this week? We taught a less active family that made me feel really guilty.  They are really struggling with their family scripture study and family prayers.  Because the kids don’t participate or listen. So then I felt bad for all the times that I have been less than excited to participate in our family scripture and prayer.  Because you could really tell that he was discouraged.  So I need to be better about that when I get home haha. But maybe I helped him cause I told him that the kids really do notice the effort. Even though they are fighting and grumpy. They do care and it does affect them. Even though they don’t realize it or admit it until much much later haha.

What else. It’s still hot here.  HOT HOT HOT.  It’s so hot you can’t even sleep.  

We also went to the Ukay Ukay.  It’s like thrift shopping. I bought a skirt, a dress, a pair of jeans, and a slip for 170 pesos which is only like $4.  Doesn’t get much better than that!

Our investigator came to church again this week! For all three hours!! And he listened. And he had the book open and he even opened the hymn book when we were singing.  Gosh it’s so hard for me to explain how exciting it is to see. Me and sister Picar just talk about it and are so excited and can’t stop smiling. Just to see the desire.  Cause we all know that it is one thing to go to church and a whole different thing to participate.  And you can just see the change in his attitude and countenance.  

That’s about all that happened this week. It went by pretty fast. We did a whole lot of walking this week cause we were trying to save money. We just walk our entire area. My feet haven’t hurt this bad since my first area hah. But it’s fun and then we can spend the money on ice candy (popsicles) to keep us cool!  And 7-11. cause there is air conditioning there.  So that is like heaven. To take a little break there. 

Alright well you’ll hear more next week. Take care! Love you all! 

XOXO from Noveleta

-Sister Van Tassell

Cause youre gonna miss this....

Hey everyone!

I like how Jenna did it and just sent a picture. That’s what I want to do this week. But I guess I’ll write a little bit so that you don’t get mad at me! Hah so this week was hot. Like so hot! I’m trying to love it because I know I’m going to miss it when I get home but it is a little rough haha. I know that it doesn’t seem that hot..just 90s but I think it’s just the humidity that gets you. 

So this week we focused on finding. Because obviously if no one is progressing you have to find new people. So we talked to just about everyone that we saw. We got a lot of nos and a lot of people who wouldn’t even look at us.  But there were also a lot of people who listened.  Even if it was just because I was white…it was still nice.   But at least we see the success coming from our efforts.  On exchanges I got a referral but I didn’t think it was in our area so honestly I didn’t think much of it. But then yesterday I finally noticed that it was in our area so we went to contact them. And surprisingly they were super excited and willing to listen to us. They are just looking for a way to make their family happier and we told them we had the solution haha. The dad even joined the lesson half way through and committed to go to church and said the closing prayer.  Which was pretty cool because by the way the kids acted we got the feeling that he wasn’t into church too much. But we are going back to them on Wednesday so well see what happens.

Also we were finding and talked to this girl and she just asked us out of the blue if we could teach her and her family. Of course we agreed and ended up teaching their whole family about the plan of salvation.  Then the next day we saw the dad and he told us that the mom had died that morning (she had cancer).  We were so sad because of course it was such a shock. But we are hoping that through teaching them we were able to give them the comfort they need to get through this trial in their lives.  I just hope that they are doing ok. Cause they were the nicest family.

And last but not least.  We taught the husband of one of our recent converts this week.  He doesn’t want much to do with church to say the least. He doesn’t pray and he doesn’t like us telling him to pray. He’s a little offish but he let us teach him. So we tried really hard to be nice and loving and try and teach in a way that he would understand/accept.  We decided not to try and commit him to do too much because we didn’t want to scare him away haha. So we committed him to read one verse in Alma and come to church for one hour.  (he came to church a long time ago but got so bored and never came back)  So we said ok brother, 1 verse and 1 hour.  And when we got to church on Sunday he was there!  He didn’t stay for the whole 3 hours but at least he kept his commitment.  I was stoked. Oh the little things that make the biggest difference.

So even though this week was a little bit of a struggle…..we did see a little bit of success.  And sometimes the little things make the biggest difference.  And the lesson I learned this week is to find the happiness in every day.  And do all things out of love. And if you do that…you should have a pretty good week.

Love you all!

XOXO from Noveleta

--Sister Van Tassell

These are some pictures of some of the graves for the wealthy people in the Philippines.

Sorry no pictures again this week.  I have to get my SD card fixed

Ok I’m going to put my focus on this letter so I can get it done fast.

       So as you all know I’m in my new area. And I was so excited to be here cause it reminds me of my first area. But then I got to know my way around and it’s basically not progressing at all. People listen to us because I am white and then the next time we try and teach they hide in their house or don’t let us in.  So I will admit that this week was a real struggle for me. Because I know that there is a reason for every area I am put in and every companion I am put with…but sometimes that reason is a little difficult to find.  And then you get closer to going home and you have the added temptation of getting lazy and saying oh I’m almost to go home so let’s just not work as hard.  Or the area is dead so maybe I’ll just try and enjoy myself this week. But then I think that there is absolutely no point in being here if I act like that. I might as well get on a plane and go home. But since I can’t do that….I might as well stick it out and work hard while I can :) And I’ll see if I can keep up the good attitude for 10 more weeks haha.

But on the other side of things...Cool things that happened this week:

1. We found a guy with the last name Celestial! We were super pumped to teach him but unfortunately his wife doesn’t want us there.  So maybe next time haha.

2. We were walking down a street and then I just thought of going to one of our OYMs and it turns out that they were at their house and willing to listen. So we were able to teach.  And the coolest part is that when I mentioned it to my companion she automatically said ok, let’s go…maybe its revelation.  So I was impressed with her willingness to turn around and walk right back where we came from even though we didn’t have an appointment there.

3. I had a dream of teaching a family.  I’m not sure if it’s a family that we are going to find (I hope so) or just a sign that missionary work is really my life now.  That I even dream about it.  Either way works for me haha.

      So I have to say that even though this was a little bit of a rough week….im glad that there is always a bright side.  Sometimes I sit around Sunday night and think about what I’m going to write and a lot of it is the down side of things.  But then I get to the computer shop and type it out and it usually doesn’t sound too bad haha.  I read a really cool story about a girl who had to get chemo and she said that she couldn’t go 6 more times and that it was just too hard.  But then her mom asked her if she could go today? And she said yeah I think I can make it through today.  And then her mom told her how she had to do it one day at a time.  We can’t do it all at once.  But we CAN do it one part at a time.  That’s what I love when I look back at my mission so far.  There have been things that at the beginning I couldn’t do. (speak the language, have patience haha, etc) But as the days and months pass I find myself learning how to do the things that I couldn’t do at the beginning.  Slowly and surely. One word at a time. But after a year you look back and see how many words have added up and how you can have a conversation.  And that is what we have to keep us going.  So don’t be afraid to look back…only if it is to see how far you have come. J

I love you all and I’m so thankful for your support. You are the best. Keep on Keeping On!

XOXO from Noveleta

--Sister Van Tassell

SKYPEEEEEEEEEE:)

Heyy everyone!  So I’m in my new area..>Noveleta.  And my companion is Sister Picar.  Sorry we don’t have a picture together yet.  Next week na lang.

        Well this weekly letter will be short.  I just thought I’d share a little experience of our transfer day this week. So transfer day for me is a crazy experience cause I have a LOT of stuff and that means my bags get pretty heavy.  And heavy luggage is bad enough but it is even worse when you have to transport it on busses and jeepneys. So I always pray for a miracle on transfer day.  So that is my short story this week...about my transfer day miracle.   

       So we rented a jeepney to take us to transfers because we all had so much stuff.  And one of the members was the driver so he gave us a good deal.  Anyways we got to Molino and I was super super stressed cause I had no idea how I was going to get all my stuff home. Cause it was just sisters and no elders.  So then I just decided to ask the driver if he would take me.  And he said yes.  Even though it was super far out of the way. So he took all of us and our bags right to our house.  And the elders took them inside.  So I basically did transfer day without having to lift my bags by myself even once.  It might not seem like a big deal but for me it was. And I know God listens to all of our prayers and helps us our physically as well as spiritually :)  Even with heavy luggage!  

      Well Happy Mother’s day to all of you mothers out there!  We love you and I know that I appreciate my mom a lot more especially now that I’m living far away from her.  Especially after I hand washed my own laundry this morning haha.  So I love you mom!  Take care everyone and well talk to you next week!

 XOXO from Noveleta!

--Sister Van Tassell

Well now that I got the call I can officially say that I only have one more transfer call left of my entire mission.  That is as long as nothing crazy happens like emergency transfers and stuff like that.  I’m getting transferred to Noveleta which I really don’t know that much about but I do know that it is close to the ocean. But not really the pretty ocean. The dirty part. But I will survive. My companion will be Filipino again and they say she is a really good cook so there you go.  I will keep you updated as time goes on.

Let’s see.  I guess I’ll tell you a positive of what happened this week.  We had a really cool experience with our investigators. So we have noticed that in this area we have been blessed with receiving referrals that are very prepared for hearing the gospel.  For example.  We taught Word of Wisdom to three of our investigators this week.  Two of them had really bad problems with the word of wisdom before. They drank coffee a lot!  But about a month before we started teaching them...they both went to the doctor and the doctor told them that they had to stop drinking coffee (for health reasons).  But still that is legit because now they have seen the improvement and are willing to stop drinking coffee forever! :)

And then the other one that we taught is super receptive of all the lessons.  Yesterday we went to pick her up for church and while she got ready her nephew was making coffee. And she saw and she went off on how coffee was bad for him and how he shouldn’t drink that or tea and that he needs to drink milk or hot chocolate instead.  It was super cute. And then one other time.  We were in the lesson and we were talking about prayer and she said that she realized that we don’t have to do sign of the cross because Jesus never did sign on the cross.  Me and my companion about fell out of our chairs cause we had never mentioned anything about this to her and yet she had really seen the importance in following Christ.  We brought her a skirt to wear to church and it was the funniest thing. She thought it was so weird to be in a skirt and she felt so awkward walking by her friends cause she never wears skirts.  She reminds me of Hayley cause she is so dang funny and always makes us laugh so hard.

Also one cool story...maybe I already told you this. But our most progressing investigator now is a part member.  Her husband is a returned missionary that went less active because of work.  We found her by OYMing on the street and we actually taught her neighbor.  We met her cause she listened to our lesson through a little window and we noticed she was interested so we talked to her afterwards.  Then we found out about her husband and started teaching her. Now her husband comes to church every other week when he isn’t working and she comes even when he doesn’t come.  She has such a good testimony and I love teaching her cause she is always so eager to listen to us.  She told us how she never allows other missionaries to teach her and she isn’t sure why she let us teach her but she says even though we are young we make her feel comfortable and she doesn’t want us to leave.  That’s why it’s hard to transfer.  I guess we always have to go but I want to see her get baptized.  I worry about leaving her and I’m going to miss that family so much. It’s so hard to get close to people but I guess that’s a big part of why I’m here. And if everything works out then their family can be completed and hopefully, after a year, go to the temple together.  That would make my life.

Sorry I’ve gone on about my investigators for this whole letter. I guess that’s what is on my mind right now.  Next week I’ll let you know how transfers goes. It’s getting so close it’s crazy. Just got to try and keep the FOCUS.  Love you all. And I’m always praying for you, mahal na mahal ko kayo!

XOXO for the last time from Trece

--Sister Van Tassell

You are braver than you believe…        4/26/15                            

It’s going to be a little on the shorter and sweeter side today so I hope you all don’t mind.  It’s one of those times that I procrastinated the hour of writing my family email until the end and now I’m paying the price haha. Cause soon I’ll have to log off and the day will have come when no work can be performed. haha good times. And missionary humor.

Ok so this week was awesome because we had Sisters Day! Which is the best thing ever.  It’s just basically like a relief society activity and a chance for all of us sisters to relax and chat with other sisters and learn ways to improve the work.  I love, love, love that they allow us to have sisters day cause it’s true that sometimes us sisters need to have those kind of activities in order to keep us sane.  Poor Elders.  But yeah we had a good time. We got to do crafts and had a catered lunch. And the best part was Sister Tye talk for us. She talked about the quote from Winnie the Pooh that I attached at the bottom. She said that we just have to remember that there will be hard times and there will be times when we want to give up but to always stay strong and not melt under pressure. And remember that quote.

That was the main thing that happened this week. Not too much else. We got some referrals from our recent convert who are pretty awesome! We are getting excited for them because they are so interested in hearing the message. We are teaching one part member family and they are just so awesome. We asked the wife if she knew whether or not the Book of Mormon was true and she said "YES!" We were a little surprised at her enthusiasm but we asked why. And she just went on to tell us how she sometimes has problems with getting super nervous and she doesn’t know why. But whenever that happens she has started reading the Book of Mormon. And it just brings peace to her and she is able to relax and forget about the nervousness.  So that was a really cool testimony builder.

We also visited a newly contacted less active and asked her in the lesson if she knew whether or not the Book of Mormon was true.  Her answer was also a "YES!"  She went on to say that if it wasn’t true then she wouldn’t have joined the church and she wouldn’t have changed her life.  I loved her short little testimony because it’s something maybe we forget. That the Book of Mormon is true and therefore the church is true. It’s that simple. We shouldn’t stress about the little things cause it’s like I think Jeffery R Holland said... We already know the score of the game. We know who will win and who will lose. It’s up to us which jersey we will wear. So don’t stress the little things. Just be consistent and know that it is true. And that little testimony will carry you through.

That’s all for this week.

Love you all! See you in less than 100 days hahah.

XOXO from Trece

Sister Van Tassell

The Final Countdown  

Magandang pday sa inyong lahat!  Just to let you all know tomorrow is my 100 days left in the mission mark.  It’s pretty darn cool. Time flies when you’re having fun!

I’d also like to let you all know that I know how you feel. We are all suffering from the weather. It’s too cold for you and too hot for me. Too bad we can’t just meet in the middle. I’m just glad that summer is almost on the downward swing. Bring on the rain!

So much happened this week! We went hiking at Pico de Loro. If you don’t know it then look it up on google cause it is soooo pretty. The hike was actually pretty hard. And of course the elders took off and didn’t bother to wait around for us. So I got stuck with the slow group. It wasn’t too bad cause I still was getting over being sick so it was a little bit harder to breath. But I survived. About halfway up me and this other American sister got bored with the slow pace and we took off and met the elders at the top. It was super high! But it was just the peak of the mountain. Then we had to go down a little ways further to get up to the actual Pico de Loro.  The elders were all pretty proud of us cause it was high and we were the only two sisters that made it. It wasn’t even that bad though. Pretty easy actually. And so cool.  Defiantly worth it. It’s a different experience hiking in the Philippines though. It’s like jungleish and you sweat a LOT more! But it was still fun. And an amazing feeling to be able to get some exercise and fresh air!

I also got to go on exchanges with sister Edington...one of my mtc companions! That made me super happy. And we basically just got to catch up because we have been on opposite sides of the mission for such a long time.

This week was LEGIT cause we had a baptism. It was my companion’s first baptism so she was super excited and I was too. It was the cute old Tatay that I’ve been telling you about. He was so excited and when he gave his testimony he just cried and cried.  I was a bit worried cause this is the first baptism that I have had to be in charge of as senior companion and leading the area. So it was stressful. But when everything got started I just looked at the picture of Jesus that we had set up in the front and I just felt so good and knew that even though it wasn’t perfect, it was ok cause we had done our best and that Tatay Panny felt the Spirit and so did we and that is what counts. So that was defiantly the highlight of our week.

My next favorite part of the week was Tuesday. We got to teach the husband of one of our less actives who, in the past, has refused to talk to us. But he agreed to listen and we had a really good lesson. We BRTd a lot at the beginning and I think that helped.  When we were teaching though I asked him if he was happy with his life and he answered no.  That was really sad for me cause of course we would hope that everyone is happy.  So then I asked why he wasn’t happy.  He went on to say that he was having family problems and that work was really stressful and so on.  I was like oh ok brother we understand that those things in life are never easy. But now I want to ask what your blessings in your life are. He told us that the blessings in his life are that he wakes up every day and that he has a job and that he has a family.  That shocked me and really made me think!  The exact things that made him struggle and made him say that he was sad with his life were the things that he also considered his blessings.  I found a scripture in  Helaman 12:1-2 that talks about how we are so blessed through the Lords infinite goodness.  But the time when we receive the blessings is often the time that we turn away and we lose our faith and we forget where the blessings came from.  How true it is.  I’ve seen it in the scriptures and in my life. We get too comfortable and we forget how much we need to lean on the Lord.  So I hope well remember to take a second look at the things we consider our trials and try and find the good. Try and find what God is helping you to learn. And always smile...or you will get wrinkles.

So take care this week. I’m getting off now! Love you all and thank you so much for always supporting me!  You are the best!

--Sister Van Tassell

XOXO from the top of Pico de Loro

Were a day late and a peso short

Hey everyone!  I guess I’ll start by explaining the title.  Day late because we barely got to watch conference this last weekend instead of on Easter Sunday. And peso short cause were on the low end of our support and we still have an activity today so were going to be on tipid mode.  tipid means thrifty.

But other than that this week was really pretty good. I got to start working again! That was exciting. This week we were working really hard to get our investigator ready for his baptism interview. In order for him to finish the lessons, we had to go to him every day. He is this really cute old tatay that was a referral.  He’s the one that I told you was a really good cook. And so every day this week we had dinner at their house. It was pretty legit.  And on Sunday he had his interview. He was so nervous! Cause he was really confused about the godhead and he was just sure that he was never going to pass the interview. So we told him to pray. And we prayed with him and he cried cause he was so worried. But he passed and everything turned out ok!  He is the best. He got a new haircut for the occasion and everything.  His friend that referred him was also really nervous about the interview. He kept walking around everywhere and telling us to go check on him.  We just had to tell him that the elder that was interviewing him was a really nice guy.  That kind of calmed him down a little :) good times good times
 

This week at conference was awesome! We have to go to the stake center to watch it. Well I guess not stake center cause it’s not a stake but whatever.  So on the Saturday session it was basically all missionaries there and not many members.  Sunday there were quite a few members though.  It’s pretty cool here cause there are soo many missionaries in our district/stake.  I counted the other day....but I forgot how many. But maybe close to 34 or something missionaries in our stake.  That’s pretty different coming from a stake with 2 missionaries.  But I loved hearing all the messages from our prophet and his apostles and I love the spirit that you feel from watching conference while you are a missionary.  It’s a lot different.  I actually don’t fall asleep :)  One funny thing that happened...when they were announcing temples I couldn’t really hear very well cause our video was kind of choppy so instead of hearing Bangkok Thailand I heard Bangkok china and I was super excited cause I thought that the church was like finally going to be started in china!  But then I realized after about 10 minutes that there wasn’t a Bangkok china and it was really disappointing haha.

This week I was in charge of cooking for our apartment! We ate all American food and we didn’t have rice all week! I’m sure my kabahays were not too impressed. But oh well.  I made burritos and pasta and sloppy joes. All of it was very masarap :)

As far as spiritual thought this week...I think we can just count conference.  They say that if you ask 3 questions and pray about it the week or two before conference and prepare yourself spiritually...you will receive an answer.  And I know that that is true. Because every time I’ve tried it I have received an answer.  This time I asked 3 questions and one was about how I can strengthen my faith. And it was perfect because there was so many talks based on faith and how to stay strong even when we don’t see the light. I loved the talk about the little girl that got in a plane crash and then walked the mile to the light that she saw in the distance.  The light sometimes fell out of her view but she just kept pressing forward.  And that’s how we all need to be.  Find the light and just keep pushing forward even though we might lose sight of it for a while. It’s like Neil A. Anderson talk about how we are in the last days. We have to make all of our actions count. This is our time to practice and improve and prepare for the world to come. So make it count :) I love conference and I also want to agree with Jenna and say that I sustain President Thomas S Monson as our prophet today here on earth.  He is the Lord’s mouthpiece and he is the way we can know Gods plan for our day.

Thanks for all your support and all of your prayers! Love you all

Sister Van Tassell

Have I done any good in the Mission this week?       

So this week the typhoon didn’t hit our house but sickness did. We actually didn’t know about the typhoon at all.  It’s crazy how much information we don’t hear about as missionaries. On April fool’s day we got the text from President Tye saying that we needed to make sure that we had our water and our 72 hour kits prepared just in case.  So we weren’t even sure whether it was for reals or if it was just a joke..... so that was a little funny. But we were prepared anyways so we weren’t too worried.

I guess I’ll fill you in about the sickness that happened. So Sunday night we were coming home from Naic and I didn’t feel too hot...kind of like I was getting the flu. So we just stayed home and didn’t work that night just to catch it soon and then get right back in the swing of things.  Unfortunately it didn’t really work that well. Every day after that it just kind of got worse and worse. I couldn’t really eat and I had a fever and my body hurt so bad. So I basically just laid on my bed and on the couch for the last 7 days. I feel bad for my companion because she didn’t really know how to help me. I didn’t know how to tell her to help either. She is really sweet though and always was getting me water and things to do.   So I’m glad she was there to help me out.  Finally on Thursday we went to the doctor and got some medicine so that was good. I had to get blood drawn L But the medicine worked eventually.   

I did have a pretty cool experience that I will share with you so that my letter isn’t all about being sick and sad stuff.  So Thursday night after I went to the doctor was like the worst night. Long story short I was just straight up miserable. I hurt so bad and was so hot and couldn’t hardly breathe because I was coughing so bad. Especially if the fan was on my and there was no way that I could survive if the fan wasn’t on me.  So it was really awful. Anyways I was almost positive that I was going to die haha. But anyways I had gotten a blessing from our district leader earlier that day and it said through my faith I will be healed.  So that night I was struggling pretty hard and I was like what’s up….like maybe I don’t have any faith. Cause it’s only getting worse! But then I prayed and just asked that even if I didn’t get all the way better…all I wanted was to be able to breath well enough that I could sleep a little bit.  Then tomorrow well figure things out.  Then I just got the thought to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth.  Little thing for sure but it worked! And my coughing stopped for the most part. And I could breathe kind of. Now that was a huge miracle for me and proved that the blessing was true. And it reminded me of 1 Nephi 1:20 .

But behold, I Nephi will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

So there is my week in a nutshell for all of you. Don’t forget that the Lord has prepared his tender mercies for each of us and he won’t leave us alone if we will turn to him.

Love you all! Have an awesome week!

-Sister Van Tassell

It’s almost April….What????        

Happy pday everyone.  I’ll just start out this email by letting you know that I got my 'trunky letter' This week. It’s just a letter that you have to fill out things about how you are going to travel home so they can get your flights booked. But everyone here calls it trunky letter. It means you have 4 months left.  It was pretty cool I guess.  But it got me thinking about what it will be like to come home...so that was a little weird. I guess I don’t know what all to expect and it’s weird that I’m one of the older missionaries now.  So that was a highlight of my week.

   Also this week we had 6 investigators at sacrament meeting! It was super exciting. We have one old tatay who is really progressing and is scheduled to be baptized on April 18 so we are really hoping he makes it. He is also an amazing cook so every time we teach him he makes us lunch and it’s so yummy. It’s exciting to have people start progressing.  We are also teaching a bunch of his kids and grandkids and they are the cutest things ever. I love them so much. Mom and dad when you come we are going to visit them.  They had never seen an American before me so they were pretty excited. That is actually how we oymd them cause they were all staring so we just started talking to them. You would be amazed at how well that works. But now we are teaching them several times a week and they also came to church this week. And when we come they always run down the street towards us yelling sister van sister van sister van! it’s really cute. And then after we teach they walk us to our next appointment.  We taught them about word of wisdom and they all committed to live the word of wisdom.  So we follow up with them all the time and their experiences are so cute.  They all are reminding each other only to drink milo (hot chocolate) now. And one of the girls said her mom bought her an iced tea and she was about to drink it but then she remembered she had promised us so she didn’t drink it! :) Super awesome sila.

   Another experience with oyming.  So as we walk down the street people will sometimes point and say wow it’s an American!  Sometimes it’s annoying but it just depends on how you look at it. And what your attitude is. So some girls did that to me this week and I decided to go talk to them but I only spoke in English to them just to get them a little flustered haha. It was really funny. But then I changed back to Tagalog and we oymd them and asked if we could teach. And they said ok so we went to their house and about 100 kids followed us! joke that’s a bit of an exaggeration but when we taught the lesson and I think there were 20+ kids there.  It’s not an ideal teaching situation but it was fun and they were all so darn cute.  Sometimes OYMing is fun :)

      Those are the main things that have happened this week. My companion had her money and one of her flash drives stolen so we think someone broke into our house and took it but the weird thing was that they didn’t take the other valuable things that were out in plain sight.  So it doesn’t make any sense that they only took her money and nothing else.  Maybe it was a ghost. The sisters are convinced that there is a ghost in our house and they are freaking out. So we all slept in the same room last night.  Crazy crazy. But other than that we are doing good. Just trying to make the best out of every day.  I’m on D&C 122 today. Not sure if I told you but I’m reading the doctrine and covenants backwards.  it’s kind of like a countdown. One section every day. So it means we have 122 days left haha.  Crazy crazy.  Miss you all like crazy!  Love you all and hope you have an awesome week!

XOXO still from Trece

Sister Van Tassell

3, well after today we only have 2 transfer days left before we meet again :)

So here it is Monday again. And we just heard that I am not transferring. So I’m not really sure of my feelings right now. I really wanted to transfer. But nope I’m here for one more. That means this will now be my longest area.  Oh well. I guess there is a reason for everything. I’m just very sad that one of my closest kabahays is transferring.  LL  Transfer day is the worst.

 But as far as this week it was ok. The highlight was defiantly Monday.  We got to go to the beach. That was good even though we don’t get to swim.   We just hung out and played some games. We played soccer, volleyball, and a game with shoes that I don’t really know the name of.  But it was good to be able to relax and not worry about too much.  It was super awesome to be on the beach. If that was my area I’d probably go there all the time.

This has been a week of learning.  We were all pretty stressed so we all had to learn how to help each other and to deal with each other. And personally I’ve had to learn a good lesson in humility. And I guess I just want to say what I’ve probably said before a hundred times. It won’t be easy but it will be worth it. It’s so hard to see the positive sometimes. Like really sometimes it seems like there is ZERO positive! But I know for a fact that isn’t true.  I read a story during my studies a long time ago that really helped me this week. It’s about a shepherd.  One man asked the shepherd if he counted his sheep every night. The shepherd said no he didn’t.  The mad was shocked and wondered how he could possibly know how all of his sheep were really there and safe. Then the shepherd said that they could blindfold him and lead him to any sheep and he could tell if it was his by just putting his hands on his face.  I thought that was pretty darn cool. Then we kind of related it to the Savior when they say that he is our shepherd. He knows who we are and he knows that we are his. He knows us so well.  I can’t remember where the scripture is but it says something to the effect of how Christ is the perfect Shepherd because he was first the lamb. I love that so much. He knows all of our struggles and so even though there is really no one that you feel like understands…HE DOES.

That’s my little blurb for all of you this week.  Take care and don’t forget to keep the missionaries in your prayers J  I love you!

--Sister Van Tassell

2015 Mutual Theme Song…..Check it Out!

Dear family. 

   The letter this week is short and sweet. This week has been the week of service. We had two service projects. One was breaking out and moving concrete for the wife of our branch president. So that she could plant a garden. The other one was cutting and clearing grass out of this big area.  The problem with that though was that we didn’t have enough machetes and knives and stuff for all of us to actually be able to work. So the elders basically did the work and the sisters messed around and took pictures. It was fun thought because it was really pretty.  And we got fresh coconuts straight from the tree.  It was so tall and the guy just climbed all the way to the top. No problem. It was crazy.  But it was a pretty awesome experience. Also the grass that got cut had to be burned and it was all still green so when we burned it, it was SUPER smoky. So when we got done our eyes hurt and we all smelled pretty bad. But it was a really good time. 

  What else happened this week?  I lost my voice.  There is probably nothing worse than losing your voice here on the mission. Because you feel absolutely fine but you can’t teach.  So it’s hard and you feel bad for not working but honestly even if you do work...the investigators don’t understand so it’s pointless.  I sounded like a mad for an entire week. And I couldn’t hardly talk for like 3 days. Everyone told me that I shouldn’t drink cold things but I really wanted to cause it was hot and cold things taste the best. So I did. And maybe that’s why I was sick for so long.

   Another fun experience....we ran out of gas at our apartment so we didn’t have a stove to cook on. We used the rice maker to boil water but mostly we just ate out because we didn’t really know where the place to order gas was.  We lasted almost a week.  Finally the elders felt bad enough for us that they came and found the store for gas and got it reordered. It’s probably a good thing but I think we could have probably survived for a little while longer :)

     As far as the spiritual experience this week...I guess I’d just have to say that it was being able to teach again after losing my voice.  It’s amazing to feel the spirit of teaching.  That sometimes we get into the rut of just being used to the same thing happening over and over again but when we stop for a minute and go back we realize the blessings that are coming. It’s really amazing to be able to spend the whole day just teaching and bearing your testimony.  It’s worth the hard times and worth the struggles.  And I hope I’m being the kind of missionary that Christ would want me too. So remember to always take out the time from your day to look at the little blessings in your life.  They are there. I promise :) I just wanted to send this picture that I took the other day. Every cloud has a silver lining and it’s up to us to be sad that the sun is going down or hiding behind the clouds or to be happy and see the beauty in the sunset and the silver lining.  It’s our choice :)

Love you all so much.  You are the best and I love you all. Make this week awesome! 

XOXO Sister Van Tassell

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

Hello mga gwapa.  I’m coughing my lungs out over here.  And it’s not fun. I always get sick on Monday which isn’t fun because then I don’t have the energy to email.  Pero nagtitiis na lang ako para sa inyo. dahil mahal ko kayo :)

So this week was good.  We went exploring which was for sure the highlight.  I loved it. We started to go down into this valley thing and we saw an old tatay making walice ting tings haha. So we stopped and talked to him because that is just what missionaries do.  They can’t help but talk to people.  And it turns out that he is like kind of the care taker of that area so he knows it super well.  So he just kind of volunteered to be our tour guide. Which was legit because I know that it wouldn’t be nearly that fun without him.  He took us around and endured while we took millions of pictures. and he took us to this waterfall.  And then we climbed some stairs and there was an old canal that he said was built by the Spaniards a long time ago.  It was pretty legit because it was super high off the ground.  And my companion lost her flip flop in it haha.  Then we basically just hung out down there for a while.  It was so beautiful.  Because the water in the river was clean!  So it was like a little bit of heaven.  Actually more than a little bit.  It was heaven on earth.  I can’t get over how beautiful the real Philippines are.  Not the city part.  The legit country part.  It’s crazy that anything can ever look like that.  It’s so funny how much more we appreciate the things around us when we get older. I remember mom always saying how beautiful the sunset was and then I would look and didn’t see anything special. But now if the sky is even a little bit pink I just sit and stare and think how blessed we are. It’s pretty cool.

Also this week me and my companion did some good hard missionary work.  There is no feeling that is better than good missionary work.  The feeling when you are so tired that you can’t go anymore and then you still try and hit one more lesson before you go home.  That’s good stuff.  The not good feeling though is the feeling of trying your very best and loving your investigators and thinking about them and worrying about them and praying for them and then them saying that it’s just not going to work out.  That’s a little rough. And then you get thinking about what your purpose really is.  But as long as you keep working hard...it all gets better.  The ones that are prepared are waiting. So that’s all that matters.

This Sunday was super awesome because we had one of our less active families come to church.  We also had one of our part member families come. It’s so exciting when people come to church. It just makes my day. 

I also made burritos and black bean sauce this week.  It was sooooo good.  The black bean sauce turned out a little different than it should but I just didn’t tell them and they had no idea haha.  My cooking skills are improving.  hopefully!

Ok yeah that’s about all I’ve got this week. Summer is on its way here again so it means it’s really hot during the day. But it’s nice because it gets cool at night. So it’s not unbearable.  This is a really nice area to be in. So we’ll see how long I get to stay.

Take care and enjoy the cold weather!  I’m still working on being as tan as I can be before I come home. love you all! ingat po kayo!

-Sister Van Tassell 

The Philippines is better than Costa Rica!!!              

Hey everyone! 

   This week was very, very sad. But it also had some happy parts too. 

The sad is that we had transfers.  My companion left me and my nanay left me.  It’s especially hard because my nanay is obviously Filipina and so that means when I go home she will be far, far away and we can’t visit and stuff.  But I guess its ok.  Like the scripture in D&C that says you’ll be friends in heaven. But that’s kind of far away.  That’s the sad part of missions.  I have to admit that I cried because she was like my closest companion.  But now I’m old in the mission and all the people I was first friends with are 'dying.'  Sad, sad life.  But we drowned our sorrows in American food.  There is a place called ARMYNAVY which is the best thing I’ve ever been to.  They have legit American food but its super expensive.  I got a burrito and fries and it was 270 pesos.  But it was heaven. They had salsa and everything.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Gosh it was amazing.  Unfortunately we aren’t rich and can’t eat there all the time haha. 

     But the happiest part of the week was I got my new companion.  She is really nice. She is 6 months in the mission so she is fun to work with.  She still has that new energy for the work so it is kind of rubbing off on my again. Our area right now is struggling with progressing investigators and its getting a little old to show up to the houses of less actives and find them drinking.  So this transfer we’re going to kick it in gear and see what we can get done.

   We have a family that we absolutely love.  The dad is still a little unsure and doesn’t make any commitments but the mom and the kids are awesome.  Well the dad is awesome too haha. But they are the ones I’m really hoping will progress.  I love that we have a family that we are teaching.  Teaching families is such a challenge because everyone has their own different concerns. But in the end it will be all worth it. 

     We had zone meeting this week.  That was fun.  Except for everyone was running on not much sleep because they had been up late the last night packing. Transfer week is always an adventure.

Well I’m sorry I don’t have much else to say this week.  

    This week we did find a really cool part of our area. We saw it from a ways away and I wanted to go there and so did my companion so we just said let’s go!  And we explored and found a way there.  It was down through this valley thing and across a river and up a hill.  haha over the river and through the woods....to the investigators house we go!  Being a missionary in the province is a whole different experience!

   That’s all I’ve got for this week though. Love you all and I hope you are enjoying your month of love haha. Happy late Valentine’s day!  Talk to you next week!

--Sister Van Tassell 

I'm trying to be like Jesus

magandang pday sa inyo lahat!  I’m not really sure how 6 weeks has already passed but its transfer day again!  This time I’m staying but my companion is leaving me already.  They told me that my new companion is also Filipina so that should be good. But it’s a little exhausting to have another transfer so quickly. I guess its ok though.  4 more transfers left.  That is a little bit crazy ;) but who is counting. 

 This week was awesome because we had a baptism!  Very, very exciting. There were a lot of people that attended and us missionaries sang I am a child of God.  In English, Tagalog, and Samoan. So that was cool.  It’s been a while since we’ve had a baptism so it was a nice change! 

    Also this week we went to visit our recent convert who just had her baby.  We heard about it and we couldn’t resist.  It was an interesting experience though. Because she was in a 'ward' which is like one room with a lot of people in it.  There were a ton of beds and three moms and their babies to one bed.  So it was really crowded and hot and there were a lot of babies!  But they were all sooooooo cute! and had so much hair!  We just went around and talked to people and looked at their babies.  One girl was 16 and had no husband, only her best friend there with her.  So that was sad.  I wish things like that didn’t have to happen. But at least her friend was there.  And her baby was so darn cute.  

   Let’s see what else happened.  Oh remember last week how I told you about the refried beans.  Well this week I made burritos for my kabahays and they were so delicious!  They were only simple ones with just beans and cheese but I forgot how amazing something that simple can taste hah. We didn’t have ketchup to dip them in so we used tomato sauce. But it worked and it was yummy.

   Kanina we went and played sports as a district for our morning exercise. That was super fun because we found a football and so me and the Samoan elder in the district threw the football.  He is teaching me how to throw it rugby style too. Its legit.  It’s fun to have someone else in the district that likes sports.  It gets a little old playing just for fun haha.  You know how I am! 

      As for a spiritual experience this week. We went to teach one of our investigators and she wasn’t there. So we stopped by the house of one of our old OYMs to see if we could teach her.  Of course she wasn’t there either but her asawa and his friends were.  So we were chatting with them and then one of the friends says that he knows some Mormons that live 'over there.'  We were able to get a general idea of where they lived and we went to find them. We circled a few times but actually ended up finding their house and they were there!  It was a family that was all members except for the son who hasn’t been baptized yet.  They have been sealed in the temple and everything but they moved and now they are less active and busy.  So that was a spiritual experience in itself!  It’s amazing to find new people to teach and to help.  But the real part that hit me was yesterday on Sunday we told them we would come pick them up for church so they don’t have to be shy to go alone and they said ok and they were perfectly happy about it and we didn’t see any difficulties.  So then Sunday we went and took a tricycle to their house...and let’s just say it wasn’t super cheap and on top of that we were running a little bit late so we were stressed.  And then we got to the house and out of the tricycle and they come out the door and say ehh sisters were not ready and we forgot and were busy.  Next week na lang.  So there was nothing else to do but just turn around and go wait for the jeepney to take us back to the city and we knew we were going to be late and we didn’t have anything to show for it and so I got a little bit mad.  I’ll be honest. I was so frustrated and I was just about to start telling my companion how ridiculous it was but right at that minute I just started humming the song that said I’m trying to be like Jesus.  It just came from nowhere and it made me stop and think how if we are really trying to be like Jesus we shouldn’t say things like that because we don’t know peoples situations.  Now I’m for sure not perfect and sometimes I complain a lot.  But I love the fact that when we are really trying to improve our actions...we have help.  Even something as little as a primary song coming into our minds when we struggle.  The little things mean the most!

    That’s all I’ve got for this week! Thank you all for your prayers and your love and I love you all so much!

XOXO

Sister Van Tassell