October 11th ~ General Conference

soo grabeh....dont be scared...haha. But there is a big typhoon coming in tonight, we are preparing 72 hour kits and everything, I hope this isn’t a complication for Holland and we have interviews this week...hopefully. the winds are supposed to reach up to 66 miles per hour. but I know im protected im just worried about my investigators in little huts. The strouds think we're crazy, cause we have been having super heavy rains here and Im too cheap to go out and buy an umbrella so, we just walk around with trash bags and a hole cut out for our heads...haha. also, im too cheap and too big for the shoes here so I’ve had to repair my shoes about 3 or 4 times. and all my clothes are stained and ripped but I only have to hold out for 2 more months so im just gonna be kinda a raggedy ann for awhile, I am in the philippines...haha.

LOVED CONFERENCE....Matthew Richardson...the talk about missionaries, sunday afternoon, was my teacher at BYU, he taught family and marriage relations i loved him, and I was SHOCKED when I heard he was speaking, small world plus we all jumped (all the americans) when we heard about the provo temple!!! WOW@@

so my pday is on thursday next week, so expect your email on wednesday, and I get to go to the temple....its gonna be an amazing experience b/c wow have i increased my understanding for the temple.. if i were to pick my biggest christlike attribute that has been changed, it would be knowledge. I definitely KNOW and love the scriptures. I finally have seen how far I've come b/c I now am able to just quote and pull out scriptures to address our investigator’s concerns. I now see how the BoM answers, every concern, every question and yes a man cannot be saved in ignorance. hours just go by that seem like minutes while im buried in the scriptures, and I know what it is to receive revelation and just have doctrine click for me, it is literally amazing. I love my scriptures, its not boring anymore but the most exciting time while the mysteries of God are being unfolded for me. I’ve been trying to teach sister bosio about it, and to be super diligent in study and she is loving it, we have soo much fun, in our studies. I can’t wait to show you what ive learned. I had an awesome experience the other day while I was teaching about adam and eve. Well I have been having a lot of questions about the whole situation with them. and during our lesson an investigator brought up the same concern. and I sat in silence for a little while. b/c i had had the same question, then all of the sudden "click"!!! It just came to me as I was talking why it had to be like that, and while i was talking I was just like wow....that’s soo true! So its amazing, i still don’t have the gift of patience cause i just study for hours and feel like I have to know everything NOW, i am soo excited to learn, and afraid to go back to school, cause i think i'll wanna study the scriptures instead of my classes.

So General Conference was amazing, and HARD. We got to church after working soo hard the whole week to invite EVERYONE to church, we broke a record with over 400 i2ls and when we got to church, no investigators!!! AHHH!! I literally could not concentrate i was soo distraught and sad, i prayed, “what am i doing wrong? we are obedient, diligent and trying to do everything for you? why?” Then i went to the bathroom I was soo uneasy, and as I returned Robert D. Hales was speaking and he said, trust in the time of the lord...and it was all about trusting in the lord and trials. I was like bitaw, and felt like my prayer had been answered. and my heavenly father spoke to me through his servant and mouthpiece. also, after that session we ran, all the way to the house of our investigator and said GO TO CHURCH! and they came the next session,,,,yay!!! so we have a baptism this week. She’s 9 but her whole family has been reactivated and now are preparing to go to the temple. WOW!! and her father will be receiving the priesthood this sunday and baptizing her, when before, he didn’t even want to go to church or pay his tithing.....I LOVE THIS WORK!!!

so yes im totally freaked out to go home. I love everything about my mission, im especially freaked out b/ i haven’t talked to an american girl my age in like over a year (filipinas are way different and way more relatable for me) I know satan is gonna bombard me. But I have already felt that on my mission, I know he has really tried to stop this work...I have seen him really trying to distract and even physically harm us. But I am confident in the power of god. As I look back on my mission so far, my heart is soo full. Prez. Schmutz described it perfectly in his email. Just like the people during the time of king Benjamin, they only wanted to do good continually, mom please save those emails also, and the ones from pres. hansen, they are really special to me and give me motivation. I have been blessed on my mission. I now know my savior, I love these people. even people I don’t know if I would have loved before my mission. I feel overwhelmed with love sometimes. for everyone even my friends and family that aren’t here.

well I love you all....and for my missionary friends, carry on! dont waste even a minute.