First off thank you all so much for your love and support and your prayers.  Whenever I get down I just remember all the support I have and just keep pushing forward. You are all the best and I love you so much.  I can’t believe it’s already P-day again!

So this week has been interesting for sure.  I got the flu! YAY.  I've had it for three days now so I’m hoping it gets better soon because I’m not sure how much more I can take.  Achy body plus walking all day to appointments doesn't really work well together but hey its P-day so I get a little bit of a break :)  And of course yesterday we had two dinner appointments and I was too sick to eat anything.  One of the ladies gave us two jars of peanut butter!! I thought I had died and gone to Heaven.  Peanut butter is super expensive here.  Everything is super expensive haha especially when you are on a missionary budget.  We still manage to eat a lot though.  And I think the humidity makes me crave sugar because I always want candy!! The best part is that one of our OYM strategies is by going to a store and buying something small and then talking to them and leaving a pamphlet.  So we get to share the gospel and eat a snack hahah.  Best of both worlds!!   

I had to give a talk on Sunday!!! Like a legit talk.  It was only like 5 to 7 min but still pretty scary.  I wrote it in English and then translated it with a little bit of help from my companion.  When I was giving it she told me that people were asking her if she wrote it for me.  And they said it sounded like I've been out for like 2 months and not just 2 weeks.  So I’m going to take that as a good sign.    So everyone here knows Idaho as land of potatoes.  Super funny.  So I was walking down the street here and I was looking at all the fish vendors and then I noticed that the fish was still breathing!!! They kept splashing water on it so that they could keep it alive.  Whatever works.  My companion bought some fish and they took them and ripped their throats out right there.  It was interesting to say the least haha.    

Oh my goodness so on the jeepney the other day a little boy got on and passed out envelopes for us to give him money and then he went and sat down and sang his little heart out and only one person gave him money.  That is the saddest thing here.  Is that I can’t give money to people.  I saw an old lady selling hot pads on the side of the road and I just wanted to go buy them all so she could go home.  And we were waiting for our other sisters to come and these little boys were coming over asking for food or money and none of them were wearing shoes.  And one picked up a pizza box off the ground and scraped it to get some of the sauce.  Ahh it made me so sad.  They were the sweetest kids too.  They sat and talked to us and I gave them each a candy and they were just so adorable.  

So we have a girl we are teaching and she’s doing so awesome like reading the Book of Mormon and everything and then the other day she came up and asked if she could not get baptized.  We were so sad and we had no idea what the problem was so we planned a super awesome lesson and we tried to go to teach her twice and she wasn't there either time but her mom was so we taught her and then asked her if she knew what the problem was.  And it turns out that she was just scared of the water.  WOW!  We were thinking maybe her dad wouldn't let her or her friends were making fun of her or something but nope.  Thankfully it is not anything that bad!

Also we were teaching a family and they were reading out of the pamphlet and there was a picture of Jesus with the blanket thing over his head you know.  And the little boy was like um is it true that Jesus is Muslim?  haha cause he thought that he was wearing Muslim clothes!  oh good times.

  Also the bumps that I thought were bed bugs turned out to be a reaction to the laundry soap I was using.  Thank goodness hahah cause that’s a lot easier to cure than bed bugs.
As for my homesickness it’s getting a lot better.  I didn't cry every day this week!  So that is better than nothing!  Saturday is my 2 month mark!  crazy huh!  I can’t believe it’s already been that long.  It’s going to fly by.  I do kind of like it here.  Like it’s still so hard but it gets better every day.  I’m super grateful for my companion because we get along really well and she’s great.  Anyway id better wrap it up for now.  I love you all so much and I miss you! Keep on keeping on!  

XOXOXO from the Philippines

- Sister Van Tassell

ps someone needs to tell president Stevenson that he doesn't have to worry.  I’m waking up by myself :)