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