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