March 30, 2014

Hello Everyone!

Well it was another great week here in Cadiz! We continued to see many miracles this week. But Im a little nervous for this week. This morning, Sister Smoot transferred. Now my companion is Sister Batalero. Shes a pinay. But I like her a lot already. We have only been together for an hour now but we have already been getting along great! I think this will be really good. And it will really help my language skills because she said shes not very good at English. She mostly has only talked in Ilonggo to me so far. So I think this will be very good. But Im also a little nervous. Just because I will be leading the area and it might be a little harder to communicate with her but Im really excited. I will be able to learn a lot from her. On Saturday was brother Justines baptism. It was so great! He is great. He has a strong testimony and is going to be great! He also referred his aunt to us and we taught her a couple times this week. She is great too! And she came to church yesterday! We were really excited. Speaking of church yesterday... it was interesting. First, we got two elders in our branch now. They are good but it was a little stressful because we had to split our area. That went well though. But in sacrament, two speakers were members of our branch presidency. It was very interesting. The first one went into a lot of detail describing the movie taken. That was interesting. He literally said everything that happened the whole movie. It was weird. Then he related it by saying that the mom doesnt always know best and sometimes the dad does. So that was weird. Then our branch president talked about kind of the same thing and how we need to be careful with our kids because of all the bad people here. It was very interesting. But yeah. That was church yesterday. Also, there was a guy in our branch who Sister Smoot thought was less active. She had been visiting him a few times before I got transferred here and he had been coming back to church. He was supposed to be returned a few weeks ago. Well, we found out this past week that he was never actually baptized. So he has been to church 7 times now and he will be getting baptized on April 12! The reason it took so long to figure out he wasnt baptized is because he is deaf. So its really hard to talk to him. We tried writing down what we wanted to say but he cant read either. He is 86 years old but he has great faith and really wants to be baptized so we are trying hard to teach him and hopefully he will be able to get baptized! Hes great. We also  saw other great miracles this week but I cant tell you about everything! Im just hoping that great things will continue happening now that Sister Smoot is transferred. Speaking of Sister Smoot, right now her family lives in Highland. Her dad is the hospital administrator up at IHC. She told me to ask if grandma knows him. His name is Steve Smoot. Thats really sad  about Edson. I did know him. He was in a couple of my classes. He was really funny and nice. Thats sad that he died. And I did get my package! It was the best thing ever! I loved it! thank you so much! I loved the jerky. And all the food. I love food. So thank you! Well, I hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much! Continue reading your scriptures! I love you!

Sister Remund

March 23, 2014

Well I had a great week! Full of many miracles! It was so great! Sister Smoot was still a little sick this week but we were able to go out and work everyday so it was good. We were actually supposed to go back to Bacolod to see the doctor again today but Sister Smoot decided she was healthy enough and we didnt want to make the drive so we stayed in Cadiz. The internet is still bad here. Thats why Im late today. It took us a long time to find an internet shop that had internet and space. But finally I found somewhere! Thank you for all the pictures today! I loved looking at them! KAMRYN- CONGRATS!!!!!! I cant believe it! My little sister is a cheerleader. Well, I can believe it because you are just so good! Of course you made it! Thats so great! I cant wait to watch you cheer when I get home. You will be great! So this week we had a lot of miracles. We contacted some referrals this week and wow, they were so prepared. First was Anna, we went to visit her and we found out she was actually taught by other missionaries before she moved to Cadiz and she was going to get baptized but she got sick and moved to Cadiz. So now we are going to teach her and she wants to get baptized. Shes great. Then we met Princess, Lady Joy, and Chovee. They are great! And the live in our richest area so they will actually have money to come to church! Thats one of the biggest problems here. No one has money to come to church. But they do! We will return to them this week. Then one of our recent converts referred their neighbor to us. We taught them last night and wow, they are great too. Referrals just are great. My whole mission Ive struggled to get referrals but they really are the best. We saw some great things from our referrals this week. It was great! Everything else went pretty good this week too. Guess what? I dont think Ive told you this. This ward is great. We have 31 recent converts right now. We have had weekly baptisms since Ive been here and we have weekly baptisms set up until at least May 3. And we have people we are going to commit for the weeks after that. Its great! And sometime soon we are going to get Elders in our branch so we have to split our area which will be sad because we wont be able to visit investigators any more but Im excited to get Elders in our ward. Overall it was a great week! Thanks for all your emails and pictures today! Also, funny stories. There was one lesson with Melrose, a recent convert, and I didnt know how to say something in Ilonggo so I said it in English. She was like 'Sister I dont understand." Because shes practically an orphan and has never been to school so she doesnt know any English. Thats what anyone will say though if we talk in English. So Sister Smoot said though "Its okay if you dont understand, you will feel the spirit testify to what she is saying." Then a while later, I didnt know how to say something again (yeah... Im not that great at Ilonggo) so I said it in English and she just starts patting her heart and said "Yes Sister, I feel it." It was really funny. Then in another lesson, we were talking about the priesthood and Sister Smoot asked what some responsibilities of women are because we taught it to all sisters. Nicole, the 12 year old, responded with "nagamens." We were just like, what? We didnt know what that meant. So we asked and she said "Menstruation!" It was really funny. So that was my week. It was great! I hope you all have a great week! I love you!

Sister Remund

March 17, 2014

Hello Family!

Sorry I missed you today. The internet in Cadiz wasnt working so we couldnt get on. We are actually in Bacolod again right now. This week was pretty good. Zone conference was so great! I loved it! I was able to learn a lot and know a few things I need to improve on. They talked a lot about our relationships with our companions so Im going to try and apply the things they talked about so that all my companionships can be good. Other than that not much has happened since I last emailed though. Sister Smoot has been sick all week which is why we are in Bacolod now. She is going in for a check up. So we werent able to work a lot this week. I was able to go out Friday for two hours on exchanges with ward members and that was a great experience! I learned a lot and really liked it. But then on Saturday we werent able to go out until our baptism Saturday night because the doctor told Sister Smoot to rest. So we went to our baptism Saturday night though and that was great. It went really well. Those pictures will be on facebook soon. Mom you mentioned you added us as a friend, we will accept it we just havent been on all week so thats why we havent. So this week we will and then you can see more pictures. Then Sunday was good. Sorry this is kind of a boring email. I really wanted to send pictures home this week so I decided since I didnt have much to say I would just send a short email and take some time to send pictures. Im glad you all had a good vacation! I cant believe Ive been out for 8 months! Its going by way too fast. But I really like this area. My language skills are improving a lot because no one understand any english. So thats good. Everything is going great! I love it here and am doing great! Also.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY! I cant believe its already here. Ashleys turning 22! So I hope you all have a great week! I love you all and love hearing from you! Good luck with cheer tryouts Kam! I know you will do great! I love you!

Sister Remund

These are some pictures I took from my area. They arent really good but this area is super pretty.

This is everyday here. Hallie would die. There are cats everywhere. I dont know if you can tell but there are 8 cats in this picture. Its pretty crazy.

Me and Sister Nielsen when I was on exchanges and stayed in her apartment!

These were from when I was on exchanges in Magsungay! Me and Sister Jane! Shes my best friend.

This little girl reminds me of Connley. Also, this family knows Elder Clove from St. George! He was the missionary that taught them. The brother of the Clove family in our stake.

People love taking pictures with Americans. Its great. This was when we went to get Sister Smoots blood work done.

Just a picture from our baptism. I dont really want to use my time to send a lot of pictures from my baptisms because they will be on facebook but here is one.

March 12, 2014

Hello Everyone!

Well I had another great week! We have continued to see so many miracles that come from exact obedience and its great! It was a little weird not having p-day on Monday but Im glad I get to email home today! So one miracle that happened this week- last week we were out working and we were supposed to visit a less active member that missionaries havent been able to find for a long time. We had seen the the week before and they told us were they live and that we could visit them on Friday night. The area they live in though isnt as safe as some of our other areas though and we didnt know if we should go. We decided we shouldnt go and that we would be safer somewhere else. But we didnt know where to go or who to visit. So we were just kind of standing there for a second and Sister Smoot started feeling really sick. We almost just went home because it was 7:30 at night. She decided she just needed some water though so we stopped at a tiyungge and asked for water. They didnt have any for sale so we just went to wait for a tricycle to take us home. Then the lady came outside and offered her clean water she has for her family. (she just doesnt sell it, she saves the clean water for her family) So we went inside and she gave us some water. We started talking to her and turns out she is a less active member! Her and her husband are members and most of her children are too but one of her daughters is not a member. She was super nice and right when we went inside her house, Sister Smoot said she didnt feel sick anymore. So we were able to teach her and her family and they said we could come back! It was really cool. Its crazy how everything went perfect. So we are going to try and go back to them soon. We have been really busy so we havent been able to go back but they were really nice and Im excited to go back. Everything else this week went good too. Today we are going to Bacolod for our p-day and Im excited. We will be spending the night in Talisay (which is right next to Silay- my first area) and tomorrow we have our zone conference with President. Im really excited for that. Its going to be great. On Saturday we had a baptism and it was great. And we have a lot of people progressing towards baptism and they are doing great! This week we only had 12 investigators at church because our family of 7 investigators wasnt able to attend. But still, 12 investigators at church? Thats crazy. I love this area. Monday still kind of was a p-day for me though because Sister Smoot was sick so we had to stay inside all day. Luckily she is feeling better now though. So everything is good. Overall it was a great week! Im doing great and I love it here! Have fun in Florida! (Im still not very happy about that....) I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Remund

March 2, 2014

Hello family!

I had such a great week! I got transferred on Tuesday and now I am in Cadiz with Sister Smoot! (not the one whos blog you told me you read. Her cousin.) Its been so great so far! I love it! I am serving in Cadiz 2nd branch and its great. Its only a branch but this area is progressing so well. Yesterday we had 21 investigators at church! (thats why the subject of this email is 21!) So it was great! Seriously though this area is so great. I love it. My area is the farthest north area in this mission so its right on the ocean! Its great. Ive seen the ocean a lot but obviously I havent actually gone to the ocean. But its still great. Its so pretty here! I love it. And there are palm trees everywhere (obviously, they are just everywhere in general) but when the sun goes down I feel like I could be in Hawaii. Its just really pretty. Grandma is lucky thats where she is going! Its really hot here though. This is the hottest its been since I got here. Summer is coming... It makes me a little nervous... Just kidding Im excited for it. This area is just great and I love it! But because its the highest area it was also the most affected by Yolanda. Its mostly back to normal but there are a lot of people here that were really affected by it. But they are all doing good now. Our area is really big too. All our areas are far out and so its hard for a lot of members to come to church because they dont have enough money. Thats why we are a branch not a ward. But its great. I love it here so far. And we have seen so many miracles already! We have a girl in our area who has been taking the lessons for a year but hasnt gotten baptized because she doesnt have any money to come to church and her dad is a drunk and wouldnt let her. Her story is really sad. She practically lives alone all week and on the weekend her dad comes home and just drinks and beats her. Its really sad. But yesterday we were able to find her dad and got his permission for her to get baptized on Saturday! It was so great! So yesterday was just a really great day. So yeah, anyway, Im with Sister Smoot like I said and for real, she looks like Jennifer Lawrence. Its kinda weird how similar they look. Do you remember Kenzie? Ashleys friend from hair school that we would call Katniss? Well Sister Smoot looks more like Katniss than Kenzie does. Its crazy. But cool. Anyway, it was a really good week. Sister Smoot is EXACTLY obedient so we are seeing a lot of miracles. Its crazy how much of a difference it makes when your companion is exactly obedient. Its really cool. Well, overall it was a great week. I love it here in Cadiz and Im really excited to be here! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Sister Remund

PS. Sorry no pictures. I just dont have any time and it takes a long time. I will try next week. There are some from our baptisms on the facebook page you can look at.