December 29, 2013

So this week was pretty good! It started really great! But it didnt really end good. Ill talk about that later. Our zone conference with President was awesome! I loved it! And I loved watching the Christmas devotional! Elder Nelsons talk was so good! I loved it! Me and Sister Nielsen loved it so much we watching it again and posted it on our facebook page. And I really loved what President talked about. He talked a lot about tithing and numbers. I love the things he said about tithing. Are you all full tithe payers? You better be! Tithing is one of the biggest commandments and is the only commandment that we literally show our faith by paying our tithing. Its awesome. And so many blessing come when we pay a full tithe. It was really good. He also talked about numbers and the importance of them. A lot of people say that numbers arent important on a mission. Like how many baptisms you have. But President put it very clearly when he said "how many children do you have?" and answered with "I have children, thats the important thing. Not the quantity but the quality of my children." And siempre Heavenly Father knows all of His children and how many He has. He also showed us in the Book of Mormon a few of the missionary stories. They say how many baptisms they have. They always count. Even when there are so many people, they say 8 thousand were baptized or something. It just really made me think about how important numbers are. Its crazy. Because this mission is big on numbers. We are always raising our goals and what not. Its awesome! And clearly it works because our mission is super successful and are always baptizing people. Its great! Then yesterday at church Angel was confirmed a member! It was so great! Sister Mirasol came to church too and even payed her tithing! It was funny, she didnt know how to pay tithing so we helped her and taught her how to pay. Angel loves church now though and was so excited for her baptism and confirmation! Then after church we went out to Bagol and went to see a member. We found out last week that her sister in law who lives there isnt a member. She took the lessons a long time ago and went to church for like a year but her parents and grandparents are strong catholic so they wouldnt let her get baptized and they made her stop coming to church. Well on Christmas we went to visit them and the grandparents were there. We just shared a quick Christmas message with them from Luke and just kept it simple and quick. Well last night when we went back, she told us she prayed for a sign(Jemma, the investigator) and the next day when her grandparents were there, they told her she could go to church again and get baptized!!! Their hearts were softened and now she can get baptized!!! So we set a date for her and are super excited for it! Right now her date is Feb 1. Its gonna be great! After that is when everything went bad. Of course. After that we went to see the Baquias. We had set up an appointment with them at church to come that night. It was the worst thing I have ever seen. I saw the affects of drinking more than I ever have. I wanted to cry. We walked back to their house and heard crying. They dont really have a door, just a curtain and it was kind of open. We looked inside and the whole house was destroyed. We could hear brother yelling and someone crying. We started calling in to tell them we were there and to see what was going on. Dexter came out and we saw Dixon run to the back of the house. Then we saw brother with the stick. He was beating Angel. It was the hardest thing I have ever been through. Sister came out and just told us to come back later because siempre we werent going to go in. Dexter came out front with us and was just crying. It was the hardest thing. There was literally nothing we could do. It makes me so mad but mostly Im sad. I want to go back and see Angel and make sure she is okay but President said we cant go back until we have a leader with us. We talked to bishop this morning and he is going to go back with us tonight. I just feel so bad. I dont know what to do for them or what we will say next time we see them. I just hate alcohol. So last night after that happened we didnt do anything because we couldnt even think straight. Hopefully Angel is okay and we can figure this out soon. But other than that it was a great week! I loved talking to you on Christmas! Did you have a good Christmas? I still havent gotten your email yet so hopefully you send that soon! But I love you! Have a great week!

Sister Remund

CHRISTMAS EVE SKYPE CALL!!!

FROM BRETT & SHERRI-

We got to Skype Sister Remund on Christmas Eve (her Christmas day) and it was AWESOME!  She has never looked happier.  We took a screen shot to show her off.  Is it just us, or is she glowing?
We've also included some pics taken from President Lopez' Facebook Page.

Merry Christmas!

December 22, 2013

AHHHHH!!!!!! I cant believe Christmas is in two days!! Im so excited to see you! Its going to be awesome! Im probably going to get on around 11 here because the internet shop only has 6 cameras so Silay West is going at 10 and we are going at 11. Hopefully the internet wont be too slow so that the video goes good. But its going to be great! We had a pretty good week. Angel Baquia was supposed to be baptized Sunday morning but her parents got too many ice cream orders (they make ice cream and its the best ice cream Ive ever tasted) so we had her baptism Sunday night. So she was still baptized but her confirmation wont be until next week. But it was still great. This week we had to go to Bacolod a lot. Sister Nielsen has had jaw pain ever since the MTC and lately she thought it was a cavity so we went to a dentist in Bacolod to see if it was. He said its a root canal and since its at the very back she should just pull it out. Well Sister Nielsen didnt want to loose a tooth so a few days later we got a second opinion. That dentist said its just her jaw and no cavity but sent us to a different place to get an x-ray. The people who took the x-ray have no idea though and so we still dont know whats wrong with her. But she decided shes just going to wait until she is home to figure it out. So we pretty much wasted the whole week in Bacolod and still know nothing. But its okay. Also mom, you said you sent a letter when you sent my packages. Did you really send a letter? I havent gotten any letters since Ive been here. I got the two packages from you and one from Susan but thats all Ive gotten. So I wasnt sure if you ever sent it. Also this week we had our ward Christmas party! We werent supposed to be there for the whole time. We were only allowed to go if we had a part in the program and we did. We sand the first noel. But we werent supposed to stay the whole time. But We had recently gotten back from Bacolod and Sister Nielsen was still way distracted from the dentist and wasnt in the mood to teach so we stayed. I felt bad because President told us not to stay the whole time but we did. Uhhhh, so much for exact obedience. Sister Nielsen just didnt have a great week so she needed to relax. So it was okay. But this week we are going to be exactly obedient. Other than that though nothing really big happened. I had a good week and Im super excited to talk to you! Tomorrow we have our Christmas zone conference. Its in the mission home and its going to be awesome! Im really excited! And then after that its Christmas! Its going to be a great week! But I love you! Im super excited to talk to you! Have a great Christmas Eve and Ill talk to you soon!

Sister Remund

December 15, 2013

Hello Everyone!

How crazy week! Im sorry that everything happened! Hopefully you can get everything worked out soon and they catch those mean people that stole everything. I hate when stuff like that happens. But for real the van? That was the one thing that was supposed to last my whole mission! Come on! Hopefully everything will get worked out soon.

This week I had to learn a lot about patience. I thought I was a pretty patient person until this week. So on Saturday was Emelie, Rosela, and Lovely's baptism. It was supposed to start at 5:30. The sisters in west ward had a baptism at 4. And we were supposed to teach a recent convert at the church at 4. So we show up at the church and the recent convert isnt there. We wait for a while and he doesnt show up. So we decide to start getting ready for the baptism. The other sisters used almost all the clothes though. So we could either use wet or huge clothes for our baptism. Then 5:30 hit. No one was there. So we wait. Then Michael shows up, the recent convert. Well we were supposed to be having a baptism so we couldnt teach him. Finally Emelie and Rosela show up. They were great. But Lovely wasnt there. Emelie said they stopped by to see if she was coming but her parents werent home so she didnt have anyone to bring her. So she couldnt get baptized that night. Then right as the baptism was starting, there was a brown out! No power! That has happened every night this week. Hopefully it gets figured out before Christmas so we can skype! Luckily its at night so we should be fine. But the baptism happened, and everything was great. After the baptism we went out to visit Lovely and we talked to her parents and we were able to have her baptism Sunday morning. So everything is great. Well pretty much everything else this week was pretty normal. Im glad you have my car to be driving around! So much for waiting until Im home to buy a new car! You would think they would be able to find the van because its hard to miss. Sweet I just got your email! Good timing! I almost missed it! Haha. But I will skype at the place I email every week. They have skype and will be open on Christmas. Glad the van and tv are covered! Thats good. I love the letters from everyone! I open them every morning! Well pretty much everything else was normal this week. Oh also, on Sunday for Lovelys baptism, Bishop didnt show up. So it started like 30 minutes late and we almost couldnt do it because church was going to start. But luckily we got everything figured out. But thats all the news I have this week. It was a good week. I hope your week is better than last week! I love you!

Sister Remund

The kids wouldn't let Sister Remund leave.

Taking a lesson from the GIANT American.

December 8, 2013

Hello Family!!!

Sorry Im late today. I got on earlier but right when I went to email there was a brown out so no power. But anyway, Im on now! First, I would like to start by saying... HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAMRYN AND HALLIE!!!!!!! Wow I cant believe its already here! Kam I cant believe you will be driving! And Hallie, are you really 12 and going into yw? I dont believe that my little sisters are so big! Stop growing up okay?! haha. But anyway, I had a great week! This week was Abegails baptism! It was so great! And this coming week we have Emilie, Rosela, and Lovely's baptisms. Its going to be a great week! I cant believe it snowed in St. George! Why is it that the one year I am gone it snows a ton! I want snow! Its still really hot here so its hard to imagine snow... and looking at the pictures made me want to play in the snow. But thats okay. I like the heat. And mom, of course I opened my Christmas countdown! I can barely wait to open each envelope on the right day. I want to open them all right now! But I will wait, dont worry. Also, I am sending this to Ryanne and Laura because both of them said that I dont give them enough detail in my email to them so hopefully I have more details here. But I kind of stink at details. So dont get too mad at me! We will get to watch the Christmas devotional on the 24. We are having a zone conference and we will watch it there. Im really excited! Haha I love that you are doing to contest again! Good job Laura! Ryanne- do better next time. Haha. I cant believe it was an entire year ago that we did that! Its crazy. Time has gone by very fast. Thats so cool that dad won fireman of the year! Good for you daddy! Thats awesome! So we had a pretty normal week other than the things Ive already mentioned. Just teaching everyone and trying to be obedient always. Our vision for our mission is exact obedience and also weekly baptisms. This is a baptizing mission. The first two transfers were hard since we didnt have any baptisms and we had to find everyone we have now to teach. But now its paying off! This month we should have weekly baptisms! Its gonna be a good month! So like I mentioned, this week is Jisha (lovely), Rosela, and Emilie. I sent you a picture of them a couple weeks ago. But they are all so awesome! They were taught a year ago and were almost baptized but couldnt because of the people that own the lot they live on. But now I guess its not a problem because they are getting baptized! Im really excited for them! They are awesome! Also Abegail! She is awesome! Im so happy she was able to get baptized this week! I love teaching her and talking to her. She is great. Also Angel Baquia is going to get baptized this month. I sent a picture of them last week. The really cute family and Dexter who reminds me of Cru. Pretty much everything is so great! I love it here! Last Monday was good too. For Sister Nielsens birthday we bought ice cream and celebrated! I love ice cream. Also guess what? A family we teach I guess is pretty rich and has some good connections because somehow they had catching fire on DVD. I dont know how. But I saw it sitting there and I wanted to die. I wanted to watch it so bad! But its okay. I will watch it in a year. But I just want to know how they got it! Also, Ashley, I want your professional opinion. Is rebonding your hair good? That sounds weird but everyone here rebonds their hair. And I kinda want to do it so that I can have straight hair. But I dont know. Its really cheap too. So you should tell me what you think about that. But anyway, I hope you have a great week! Thanks for sending pictures! I love the pictures! And I love you! Cant wait to see you soon! Oh also we found out that I will probably skype you sometime between 7-9 pm on the 24 (Utah time) Because thats Christmas morning here! So be ready at that time! I love you!

Sister Remund

December 1, 2013

Hello Family!!!

Thanks so much for the pictures!! I love looking at them! Looks like everything is going great back home. The roll party looks like it was fun. And I showed Sister Nielsen the pictures and seriously weve decided that Kamryn cant even look bad in any picture. Seriously Kam you look like a model in every picture. What in the world. Crazy! And Hallie your beautiful too! I loved the picture of you! We had a good week this week! And guess what? Abegails baptism is on Friday! Im so excited! We have been teaching her for a while and at first she was really quite and didnt really understand but then she moved in with her uncle and his family. Her uncle is our stake president. Now she understands everything pretty much and is getting baptized on Friday! Shes awesome and Im so excited for her. Last night they called everyone for transfers. Me and Sister Nielsen really though one of us would get transferred but we didnt! We get to stay together for Christmas! Im really excited! And today is Sister Nielsens birthday! So we are gonna party it up! Haha not really but its gonna be a great day! Thanksgiving was good. No one knows what Thanksgiving is obviously but it was still good. We went out to dinner with the other sisters and had a good time. Its still hot here. I always forget its December now because it doesnt feel like December. It still feels summer because its pretty hot. But its not that bad. I like it. Yes mom just send letters to the mission home. No one has addresses here. Which makes it a lot harder to find less actives and referrals because they just tell us what area they live in and we have to ask everyone if they know them. But its great. A couple weeks ago we found a former investigator in one of our areas that was almost baptized last year but last minute cancelled. So we started teaching her again and she is awesome. Her and one of her friends have been coming to church and let us teach them all the time. They are so awesome and so ready to be baptized. Their baptism is going to be on the 14! Im really excited for them. They pretty much know everything already since they have taken the lessons before so its great teaching them. I love it. Pretty much we just had a great week! And I loved starting my Christmas countdown! Is there a different person that wrote me a note for every day? I love reading the notes and Ive only read two days so far! Thanks! And yes I might have opened Susans package... I just couldnt wait any longer. But Bryce is my favorite person ever. Tell Susan thank you so much! I loved the Christmas card and seeing their cute family. And make sure Bryce knows that I love the hot pad he made me! Its perfect! Everything was great! Sorry this isnt very long but I have a lot of pictures to send this week! I love you and miss you so much! Cant wait to hear from you again!

Sister Remund

ps-mom, Ash said that you havent been posting my emails on the blog. She isnt very happy about it. She told me to make sure you start posting them.

Sugar cane!

Angels Baptism!

November 24, 2013

Hello Family!!!

I had such a great week! And I have some good news for you! On Wednesday I got a package! And I was really excited! But then I realized it was my Christmas package and I couldnt open it yet. But wow its huge! Thank you so much! And then on Saturday my week got even better! Why? I got TWO packages!!!! I got the one you sent me with the Christmas count down and I also got a Christmas package from Susan! So tell her I said thanks. It was awesome!! And mom, I know you were worried, but nothing got broken into. Dont worry. But what did break this week was my glasses... Sad. But they arent really broken. Just the part that goes on your nose fell off so I can get them fixed. We are going to Bacolod today and there are some stores there that can hopefully fix them for me. Luckily I have two pair! And then on Sunday it was a great day! It was Kynans baptism!!! My first baptism! It was so great! He is awesome! After the baptism was sacrament meeting and he came and sat by us. When he walked in he said, "Im one of you now!" It was really funny. Hes so funny and awesome and Im really happy for him! Our next baptism is scheduled  for Dec 7 for Abigail. She is so great! Im really excited for her. And then on Dec 14 we have 7 baptisms scheduled! Next month we actually have weekly baptisms set up. So hopefully I dont get transferred next week so I can stay and see them all! Its going to be a great month! Sounds like you all had a great week! I cant believe its already time for the roll party at the bakery! I love the roll party! I wish I could be there! But it will still be great without me Im sure. I love that you put the tree up already! Everyone here put their tree up like a month ago. And some people even have lights on their house. But of course not everyone because a lot of people dont even have electricity. But the people that do have electricity put up Christmas lights and I love it! Its awesome. I love Christmas! This whole week and last week too we have been singing Christmas songs in our lessons. Its so great! Its crazy that Christmas is almost here and we will get to skype! Im really excited for that! Glad you are ready and have a new webcam! Its going to be great! Mom Im sure you did great in your talk today. And Hallie too! Sounds like everything is going great there! And mom I for sure think you should wait for me to watch catching fire! Haha just kidding. I wouldnt wait if I were you. That would be too hard! So I give you permission to watch it without me. And Hallie if you want to know what happens just read the books! They are really good! Wow Kam sounds like a crazy week! I never had to get stitches so I dont know what that feels like but Im sure it hurt really bad! Today I hit my head really hard on a tree branch and I thought that hurt really bad but it didnt even bleed or anything so Im sure your eye hurt a lot worse. But Im glad you got the stitches out! You should send me a picture. And you rode the shuttle? Thats crazy! Ive never been on the shuttle. I would be scared... Not really now but when I was 14 (almost 15!! 15 more days! I think...) I would have been scared. So thats awesome! Hallie sounds like you had a great week! I wish I could hear you sing your song! But Im sure you did awesome because you have such a great voice and your just awesome! I had a really good week though. Im still not very good at Ilonggo so I teach a lot in English but this week I lead almost all the lessons! It was great! It was hard though but I really liked it and I learned a lot. I spoke more this last week than I have every other week combined on my mission. Mostly because I was leading so I had the opportunity to talk because Sister Nielsen talks a lot so it was really good this week! But sorry this email isnt very long. And Im going to have Sister Nielsen send you some pictures because all the pictures are on her camera and I am just going to get them off her card later. So I will have her email you them. But I love you all and miss you so much! Cant wait to hear from you and also see your faces soon! Just a few more weeks! Thanks for the packages! Dont worry I havent opened my Christmas packages yet. I will wait until Christmas! I love you!

Sister Remund

November 18, 2013

Hello Family!!!

Wow I had a great week! And a great week will be coming! Well there was some rough spots this week... but overall it was a great week. On  Monday we found out that Sister Martinez was transferring. That was sad. She has lived next door to me since I got here so it was sad saying goodbye. She goes home right before Thanksgiving so I wont see her again. Then Sister Bendoy moved in next door. She got there on Tuesday. She was a lot of fun! Her first area on her mission was my area so she was able to help us out with some of the people. (I dont think this next part should go on the blog) Then on Friday she found out her parents and either one or three siblings died in the typhoon. It was really sad. So she left Sunday morning. Since she only had three weeks left in her mission she just went home. It was really sad. So on Saturday we did exchanges so she could go in our area. So I went with Sister Portugal in their area. It was a lot of fun! Their area in on the beach! So I got to go to the beach this weekend. But no, its not like the beach anywhere else. Its really gross. Its just all trash. But it was still cool. Everyone has been so great in helping each other build new houses and clean up from the storm. Its great seeing how much everyone is helping. And clearly it helped us a lot because we have had more people at church these last two weeks then we ever have. So many less active members that we havent been able to get to come are coming now. Its so great! And this week is going to be great too because guess what? Kynan is getting baptized this week!!! Im so excited for him!! He will be my first baptism! And its great because Im the one that started teaching him! Ive seen him completely change and its been awesome! He is still talking about serving a mission so we are really excited for him and he is going to do great things. Hes 16 right now and so by the time he can leave on his mission he will be so great. I cant wait for him. Thats so cool that everyone back home has been helping so much! We got new missionaries in yesterday but we havent met anyone yet. Sister Portugal will be getting one of them so I will meet her tomorrow. We heard about the 8 or 10 sisters though and I cant believe it. Wow it sounds awful there. Its much worse there than it is here. I feel so bad for everyone there and for all that have been affected. Its crazy how bad it is there. I wish I could do more to help. So thank everyone there for me for all they have done to help the people here! Also I saw something that Sister Dixons parents did for her that I want. They made her a calender! With pictures of her family! And everyones birthdays on it! I want that! So can you maybe make me one? That would be cool. Because I dont know anyones birthday except family. Also guess what I can do? At Mang Inasal, I can eat 5 cups of rice! Everyone thinks Im pretty cool. But thats my record so far. Maybe I will try and get 6 next time. Also Kam, do you know the song 4 minutes? Its at the end of a movie and I remember us singing and dancing to it during the credits but I cant remember the movie! And the song plays here all the time and every time I hear it I die because I cant remember the movie. So you should look it up and tell me. Also mom, I do know Elder Stagg! He is from Sister Nielsens batch! Ive heard a lot about him. Thats so funny that you met his dad! Sounds like Kam and Hallie had fun weeks. Hallie Im glad you are going to be on coach Jensens team! You will have so much fun and learn a ton! Im so excited for you! Also guess what? I get to see you all in 5 weeks! On skype! Pretty crazy. I cant believe Christmas is so close. It feels like summer here so I always forget Christmas and Thanksgiving are so close. But thanks for all the email this week! I love hearing from you and whats going on in St. George! I love you so much and cant wait to hear from you again!

Sister Remund

Waiting out the Typhoon in our apartment.

Let the clean up begin!

TYPHOOOOON!

Hello Family!!

Wow its been a crazy week! It started great! On Wednesday we had zone training and it was really good! We hadnt even heard about the storm until then. At that point we were only going to have to stay inside on Friday. My follow up training with President was supposed to be on Thursday. After zone training they canceled it though and told all of us to go out and buy canned food for Friday and the following days because they werent sure if we would have power or water. So we bought food on Wednesday and then went out in our area. We started by seeing Billy! He is so great! We taught him about repentance and he loved it. We had such a great lesson with him. He said he had a dream about Jesus Christ coming down to him. He doesnt remember anything else but he woke up crying. He said he knows this church is true now because that hasnt happened when he investigates other churches. He then said he has a lot of sins and he wants to be completely cleansed from all his sins. Then he committed himself to be baptized in December! That was weird. We didnt even need to ask him. He just committed himself! It was great! Then we got a text that said we needed to be inside at six that night and not go out at all on Thursday or Friday. So we spent the whole storm inside. It was pretty boring. We studied a lot... well, tried to study. We kept getting distracted from the storm. We have a balcony so when the storm wasnt very strong we would go out and sit on the balcony and watch it. It wasnt super bad where I am. We kept thinking it would get worse but it never did. And since we live in a concrete house and all the houses around us are concrete we couldnt see any damage. So we thought it wasnt that bad. But then we had a mission wide service project on Saturday. We started by going out to one of our areas called Bagol. Its away from the city so we figured they would have the most damage. Holy cow. It was beat up out there. One of our less active members whos husband is an investigator right now had their huge mango tree fall on their house. They no longer have a house. It was really sad. Then we walked over to other peoples houses. And along the way pretty much every tree had fallen over. We were walking on top of the trees because they all fell down. Then we got to another persons house. Their house isnt much better. The wind was so strong so their house is slanted now. And another members house completely tipped over. It was really beat up out there. We spend most of the day there. The ward was great though and they gave us relief bags to give to them. There was also a ton of flooding out there. There is a river by their house and its normally like 20 feet below their house. They showed us how high it got and it was up around my chest. It was completely flooded there. Its really bad out there right now. But other than that area most everything is okay. My area wasnt hit very hard. Ive heard of other areas that have been hit so much harder. Everyone in the ward was talking about Tacloban and how its flat there right now. I was worried about the missionaries there. Some of my friends from the MTC are there right now. Hopefully they are all okay. But we are all safe and nothing too bad happened. We are still cleaning up but we are good. We only lost power for a day. The power went out Thursday night and came back on Saturday night. And we had water the whole time so it was okay. We didnt really struggle at all because we had flashlights and candles and a gas stove in our house. And since we had water we were still able to make food. And we had bought a bunch of snacks so it was good. The sister training leaders live next door so on Friday night they came over and we talked to them for a while. It was a lot of fun! They are really funny. Its been crazy! Its weird that Ive been here for 2 months and Ive already been through an earthquake and a typhoon! At this rate I will experience a lot of crazy things on my mission! But its great! The people here are so amazing and they are all helping each other. We went to help the family who had their mango tree fall on their house and they were like, "no we have a lot of men here helping us. Go help the Gallo family because they only have one man. They need the help more than we do." It was so great! They are so awesome and they even came to church on Sunday! Its the first time they have come to church in years. It was awesome! But now its pretty much back to normal because we are back on our regular routine. It was cool though. This was the first time I realized how much I love the people here and care about their safety. During the storm I was so worried about everyone and their safety. Before this I havent realized how much I care for them. Im so glad that everyone is safe and is staying positive during this hard time in their lives. I love the people here and love getting to know them. Im excited to continue teaching them and helping them as best I can. Sorry its not a great story but hopefully that gives you enough detail to know kind of whats going on here! Anyway I love and miss you all so much and I love hearing from you! Thanks for emailing me! Cant wait to hear from you again next week!

Sister Remund

November 4, 2013

Hello Family!

Sorry Im late today. We went to Patag with the other sisters in Silay! It was so cool! The reason we went there is because there are falls there and they are really pretty. It was a ton of fun! We had to walk through water to get there and it felt so good! I loved it! I will send some pictures of it later. I love all the pictures you sent me from Halloween! Looks like you all had fun! Was Kiel at the house carving pumpkins with you? Did you carve pumpkins with all of them? Hallie I like your costume! And your pumpkin is by far the coolest thing I have ever seen! I love minions! Speaking of Halloween, you asked about proselyting in the graveyard! It started great! Except we were only there for five minutes. We taught one lesson and then had to come home. Sister Nielsen got sick. So we came home and she slept the rest of the day and I caught up on my journal and cleaned and just relaxed mostly. I was sad we didnt get to do it but it was still okay. She woke up the next day feeling much better! And good thing she did because Saturday was our mission tour with Elder Andersen! It was so cool! I got to shake his hand! It was so great and we also heard from Elder Clayton who is in the presidency of the seventy. It was a great meeting. And then on Sunday we had stake conference and Elder Andersen was there too! I was lucky because he came to my stake and the other missionaries didnt get to hear from him again. After stake conference, we were leaving and we were in the parking lot outside when he came out. It was me, Sister Nielsen, Sister Solomone, and Sister Dixon standing there. He came over and was like "keep up the good work sisters!" It was so cool! He talked to us! It was awesome! Other than that it was a pretty normal week. Did I tell you about Kynan? He is so great! His baptism is on the 23 and really I dont even think we need to teach him ever again. Hes awesome. Hes already talking about serving a mission when he is old enough. Hes 16 right now so he still has a few years but he never misses anything! He is so great and I love teaching him. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met. This week I have follow up training with my batch and with President. Im excited for that. And Sister Nielsen is excited too because she hasnt been to one since hers. She trained one other girl before me but she didnt get to go to follow up training because she got transferred and got me! She has gotten a new companion every transfer. Im the first one she has had for more than one transfer. Thats why I thought one of us would get transferred but we didnt! So thats cool. But one thing I heard this week is that Im not supposed to have an active facebook account so dont ever get on there and update anything. And maybe stop tagging me in pictures. But you can add us as a friend on facebook! Just dont talk to me on there. Mom I cant believe you arent in YW anymore! Thats so sad! That stinks that you might not be there for Hallie. But Im sure you will find a way to get up there. My bites arent bad. I havent gotten any this week. Yes I wash my sheets. Yes I use spray. No I dont need Sister Chin to look at them. Im fine. Hallie- its your decision but you would learn so much from coach Jensen! I loved him as a coach and he would make it so much fun! Hes the best coach Ive ever had! (besides dad) But whatever you want to do, basketball is still basketball and it will be fun no matter what! That stinks that Chelsi Green is in the hospital. I will pray for her. That would stink if she had to come home. Hopefully she gets better soon. But Im going to send some pictures now! Thanks for emailing and for sending pictures! I love them just as much as you love getting pictures from me! I love you and miss you all so much!

Sister Remund

October 27, 2013

Hello Family!!!

Wow thank you for all the emails this week! There were so many and I loved hearing from all of you finally! Its about time Kam and Hallie emailed me! Haha just kidding. I understand that you are all super busy so its okay if you miss a week. I had a good week. Me and Sister Nielsen both stayed in our area! Im really happy about that. Most people will get a new companion after one transfer so I was happy I didnt. Sounds like you all had a good week! Wow Mike and Catherine go all out for their parties! How do they have enough money for that? Thats crazy! But sounds like a lot of fun! Im glad you got to go! Guess you have a lot more pomegranates than you thought you would! Some jam would be nice! We eat a lot of jam! We found a few more people this week who are progressing really well! But we wont have a baptism for a while. Our next scheduled baptism is for Nov. 23. And the boy getting baptized, Kynan, is so great! He is already talking about serving a mission! Hes 16 and is awesome! We have a few other people who are progressing really well but I dont have enough time to talk about all of them! But everything is going great! The language is better. Im understanding a lot more. I still struggle talking but at least I can understand most of what is said in the lesson now! Thats crazy that we have so many missionaries in our ward right now! Its so great! I cant believe Taylor Berry couldnt email for a month! Wow that would be hard. Im glad I can talk to you all every week. On Saturday will be the day Neil L. Anderson will be here. Im so excited! Its gonna be great! For all saints day we will be in the graveyard all day because pretty much everyone will be there! Everyone spends the whole day in the graveyard around the graves of the people they know. So we will go and teach everyone there! I dont think there is anything else I need right now. So if I need anything it wont be for a while so just next time you send a package I will tell you. So my first few weeks here I didnt really use the bug spray and I never got bug bites so I was fine. But this last week they told us there have been a lot of dengue cases lately so they gave us all new bug spray and told us to use it everyday. We have to report at night if we wear it. So I started wearing it and I have gotten so many bug bites! I have a ton right now! Clearly Im better off when I dont use the bug spray. And I have about 15 spider bites. No joke. Its crazy. I havent seen any spiders but every morning I wake up with more. Its crazy! But Im good. Still healthy. Havent gotten dengue yet. Other than that we had a great week! I love hearing from you all and sorry this email is short but I want to try and send pictures! So I love you and cant wait to hear from you again next week! Have a great week! I love you and miss you all so much! Also I cant believe I have been gone for three months now! Its gone by so fast! But I love you! Talk to you next week!

Sister Remund

*** Right after the email came in, we hopped on the computer and got to exchange emails in conversation-mode with Sister Remund.  There was a lot of good stuff exchanged, so we wanted to include some of the chat!

Girls-  Hi kenna this is kam and hallie!

     Kenna-  Seestois!!!

Girls-  mom wants to know if you're using your bug spray that you took?

     Kenna-  Yeah I was but then they gave us a new one so Im using it first.

Girls-  well it doesn't sound like its working since you have so many spider bites! haha. mom said she will try to send jam but she isn't sure if she can send liquids yet. if you want to send pictures we don't have to chat, but perfect timing cause mom and hallie just walked in!

     Kenna-  Thats great! Im emailing Ash right now so I will send pictures in a minute.

Girls-  okay! seestoi I love you! -teemer

     Kenna-  I love you too Teemer!  And the computer Im on is dumb and wont let me send pictures. Sorry.

Mom-  this is mom...I just got the package of stuff u sent back from the MTC (like dresses, shampoo, etc) i decided I will wear your CTR ring while you're gone...it reminds me of u:)) Makes me feel close to u:))

     Kenna-  Haha thats funny. now you have my ctr ring and my watch.

Mom-  SERIOUS??!! What in the world???I've been so excited. Dang it. Can u get on another computer??

     Kenna-  Well I can but it takes a long time.

Mom-  YEP...you're watch, ring, and the necklace that I showed u (says McKenna Philippines with a heart on it), and a bracelet I got that has charms on it with all my kids names. Also a charm that has called to serve, sister, philippines on it:) So pretty much I'm all Kenna-up!! 

     Kenna-  Haha thats great! So I guess since I cant send pictures we can just chat!

Mom-  Well, maybe try to just send at least one or two? I thought u could send, but it takes a long time? do u not have time?

     Kenna-  I have like ten minutes but the computer wont recognize it when I plug in. Thats why I cant send them.

Mom-  sad. do u know how other people send them? i mean, is there another way? has your mission pres told u that u can't listen to christmas music? do u guys listen to hymns?  do u guys walk most everywhere?

     Kenna-  The other computers work its just mine that doesnt. But we can only listen to hymns so we can listen to christmas hymns! We walk a lot but not as much as others. One of the pictures I will send probably next week will be of some shoes I bought here. Its really funny. They have big holes on the bottom. But I got some new ones now so Im good. I dont need shoes in my package. I know that what you were thinking. And also I have a picture of one of my bakery shirts. My blue one. Its now white and blue. The lady that does our laundry got bleach all over it. She didnt even tell me! I pulled it out and was like, what the heck? But we dont go to her anymore because a ward member that lives next to her was mad we gave her our laundry and not her. So we dont give it to either of them anymore. I still dont know what we are going to do with it yet. But yeah, its great.

Mom-  oh my...thats crazy!! So u dont have anyone to do your laundry yet? WOW! you crack me up about telling me you dont need shoes...haha. You know me well! I wasn't sure on music, because President Lopez told us parents in a message that we couldn't send music. Also, no presents for the kids there. Good on walking some at least...since u said u eat all the time. haha!! Have u felt out of shape? Sounds like a fun day at the graveyard:)))

     Kenna-  yeah. But its okay. We hear a lot of music while we are walking around!  I dont get tired walking around but I think Im getting fat. Haha just kidding not really. But maybe my face a little bit.

Mom-  You're so cute and positive...that's my MuTenna!!

     Kenna-  Haha. But I havent been eating as much lately so yeah. Im getting sick of eating pb&j and eggs and hotdogs. I want real food!

Mom-  You better not be coming home fat girfriend!! Maybe you'll get tired of all the snacking soon:) Do some push ups and sit ups:) I BET!!! I'll make all your favorites in 15 months:)) DO u want any recipes so u can cook??

     Kenna-  We dont have time to cook. We usually dont even eat dinner. Just a snack. Because we stay out until 8 because president wants us home by 8 or 8:30 so depending on the day we stay out until then. Sometime though we stay out until 9 or 9:30. Then we come home and plan and then get ready for bed. Somehow we always run out of time.

Mom-  Wow...hard workers:) Ok, well I guess I wont send any recipes then. I'm surprised that u never really eat with members. Maybe they worry about your health, so they dont want u to? Is your hair color changing more? 

     Kenna-  We just dont really have any members in our area. We eat once a week with the Bactongs and Mojicos but they are in the other sisters area. We have like two active families in my area. And my hair is changing! Its grown out a lot. The top is red and the bottom is dark. Its funny. But you cant really tell unless you look closely.

Mom-  I love it! Have u ever tried to straighten it there?  maybe try to put the bug stuff on before u go to bed, and see if that helps:) Freaky

     Kenna-  No. Im scared to use my straightener because my converter says not to use straighteners on it. So I dont want to break it.

Mom-  oh that's weird. what all do u use the converter for?

     Kenna-  So funny story though. Tell Kam. Last night we were teaching a lesson to like 10 kids and after we were done they were like, we want to sing! So we asked what song. They were like "do you know just give me a reason?" Because its really popular here. But I was just like Yeah!!! So we sang the whole song! And they didnt remember all the words but I still remembered all of them! Which is weird because I dont remember the words to any song anymore because I obviously dont listen to them but I remembered all the words and led a little jam session with all the little kids! It was so great!  I dont really use the converter because I dont have anything really to plug in.  What time is it there right now?

Mom-  what about a blow dryer? If u don't use it for stuff, u might as well try to use it with straightner...just turn heat down some. it is about 9;45 pm.  I'm laughing because I dont even know that song. Oh...Kam said I do know it..oh ya, she is singing it:)) How funny!!! I bet the kids loved it:)))

     Kenna-  I dont use my blow dryer. I just scrunch it and let it dry on its own. I was wondering because Ryanne said she was getting on at like 10:20 so I felt bad because I figured it was about that time.  It was so great! It was the funniest thing ever! 

Mom-  Hahahahah...what in the world is on your head?? I love it!!! 

     Kenna-  My great harvest shirt that started blue but now has a big white spot in the middle.  I had a little bit of a headache so I was holding that on my head to help. And it did so I dont even care that I looked weird.  But I have to go. I love you! Thanks for talking to me for so long! I love it! 

Mom-  that's awesome!! Whatever it takes:) So funny. Thats my girl!!!!  Me tooo!!!!! LOVE YOU!!! Have a great week!!

END

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Hello Family!!!

Birthdays are a really big deal in the Philippines!

Wow I had a crazy week!! It was great! Yes I did feel the earthquake and I will talk about that more in a bit. To start the week, we did exchanges! It was great! Our sister training leaders live right next door to us so it was really easy. On Monday night at the end of the day we just walked over and switched. I stayed in our area with Sister Maloata. It was weird. I had to lead the area and plan for who all we could visit. But luckily everything went great. We met with almost everyone we needed to (we ran out of time because we had to come in early for the zone conference on Wednesday). But Tuesday morning while we were having personal study is when the earthquake was. When Im studying, I always bounce my leg. So we were sitting there and I was bouncing my leg when I started feeling the table shake. I thought it was from my leg and I was just like "wow Im bouncing my leg really hard." Then Sister Maloata was like, "Do you feel that?" So I stopped bouncing my leg and we realized it was an earthquake! It lasted for a while and started getting worse so the other sisters ran outside. They called in to us and were like "Sisters come outside! Its an earthquake!" Then we went outside and it lasted a little longer but then it stopped. It was actually a lot of fun! It felt like being on a boat. One of the members of our ward told us it was a 3.0 where we are. It was so cool! And then later during the day when we were in the members home we felt the after quake. It was a lot of fun! No damage anywhere here though. I felt like I was back on the cruise on the night it was really stormy, except a little more shakey. Obviously. It was a lot of fun though! Anyway, then that night we changed back and so Im back with Sister Nielsen, for now. Exchanges are this week so we will find out either today or tomorrow if one of us is getting transferred. So next week I might be in a new area with a new companion or same area different companion or everything could be the same! We shall see. But then on Wednesdaywas the Mission Tour with Elder and Sister Nielson. It was great! They are so great and I learned a ton! Did you see the pictures on Facebook? President Lopez said he would post them all on there. So check them out! It was a great experience and now I cant wait for November 2 for Neil L. Anderson! Its gonna be great! After Wednesday it was a pretty normal week but still great! We went over to Bishops house last night as kind of a going away party for Sister Molina. She goes hometomorrow. It was a lot of fun though! We have a new investigator named Kynan. We started teaching him on Tuesday and he is so great! We taught him the restoration on Tuesday and since he lives far out we werent able to visit him until Saturday but when we went out there, he had started reading the Book of Mormon and read the pamphlet and everything. He was already really interested before we started teaching him because his friend is a member and he is doing great! He even talked about serving a mission! Hes 16 right now so he still has a few years. Hes great! He came to church yesterday and participated in the lessons! Its great! But pretty much all our other investigators didnt come to church so we have to reschedule all of their baptisms... That stinks. But its okay. Thats what happens. So we will keep working with them! Sounds like you had fun in California! Thats funny that the ward you went to was all Spanish! Thats awesome! So you probably felt like I do here. Didnt really understand anything that was going on... Just kidding Im starting to understand! I actually understood most of what was talked about this Sunday! It was great! But other than that I had a pretty normal week. Um... I think you should put some oreos in my package though... Me and Sister Nielsen eat a lot of oreos. And maybe goldfish. Sister Nielsen ate all the goldfish I brought with me and now I really want goldfish. Other than that anything you want to send me I would be great with! Pretty much I love food so I would be great with some snacks. And dont forget the pictures! And I cant think of anything else right now so if I need anything else I will tell you next week to send in my Christmas package! Actually can you send me some bobby pins? I havent seen any here so maybe send a couple of those. I dont really ever use them but I think I will need some. But anyway I love you and miss you and cant wait to hear from you again!

Sister Remund

Taking part in a family home evening in the Silay East Ward