Merry Christmas!!!!

I realized that last week I forgot to title my email Merry Christmas so I did that again this week! Well, I have some sad news. Sister Turtal transferred on Wednesday. So once again, just like every other transfer day, I have a new companion. Her name is Sister Maningas. Shes really nice. Guess what? Her birthday is July 12. I keep getting companions whose birthday is right next to mine. Sister Turtal was July 9 and Sister Maningas is July 12. Crazy right? The only difference is the year. Shes a lot older than me. Sister Maningas is 32. But thats okay because shes really nice. She got to the mission one transfer after me. So things are going good. Its been a pretty good week. On Monday, before Sister Turtal transferred, we had a FHE at the Descotido family. It was fun. They are less active and the dad isnt a member but he joined the FHE so it was great! We had a lot of fun. Then on Tuesday we got the transfer call and we went out and worked and Sister Turtal told a couple people she was transferring and it was sad. But literally everyone has been so shocked because I got to the area first but she transferred out before me. It was funny. But it was still okay. Sister Maningas is really good at teaching though. Our lessons go a little longer because she really likes to talk so we havent been able to teach as many people this week as we normally would but its okay. The lessons are good so its okay. I kind of feel bad though because we havent been able to visit all of our investigators. We will work on using our time wisely. Aaron is doing okay. He said he stopped smoking this week but he was still drinking coffee but we went back last night because he didnt come to church and his friend told us hes still smoking. We were really sad. We are trying to figure out how we can help him but I dont know. We will keep trying though. Victoria is doing good. She also wasnt able to come to church though because she had a fever. But she reads the Book of Mormon everyday and she wants to get baptized. We will visit her again tonight. Raymund is doing great! He passed his baptismal interview yesterday and will get baptized on Saturday! He was really excited. It was great! We got to talk to his parents and I finally met his dad. He was really nice. He said he has seen a change in Raymund and he likes it. He also said he would come to his baptism. We hope he does. We really want to teach them but they still wont let us right now. Hopefully they will see a big change in Raymund though and want it for themselves too so they will let us teach them. We will see. Also, we have a recent convert named Benny. Hes really great. He is 48 and doesnt have a wife but he is so converted to the gospel. He has been bringing his dad in lessons with us because he really wants him to listen. And this Sunday he brought his dad to church with him! His dad is actually really interested so we are excited to keep teaching him. Hes great. Overall it was a good week. Im glad you all had a good week too! Im excited for general conference. I wont get to see it until the 11 and 12 though. So it will be a week after you. But Im excited. Also, this week I heard a lot of people listening to Christmas music. I also saw a few Christmas trees. I thought of you mom. It was funny. I feel better this week. On Monday after I emailed my fever came back and my head, throat, and stomach still hurt. But it slowly went away. My fever was gone by Tuesday and my head stopped hurting by Wednesday so Im okay now. Also Im a little jealous that Curtis got to talk to his dad. But thats okay because I will get to see you on Christmas! I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Sister Remund

Our FHE with the Descotido family!

Nonoy Al! Hes a recent convert. Sister Turtal told him she was transferring so he gave both of us a new wallet and signed it for us. It was funny.

This is the Catalans. They are less active.

The Mendoza family! And Raymund! Raymund is sitting in the blue.

Me and Victoria and her daugher Christine! It was Christines 2 birthday!

Us with some youth in the ward. Raymund is wearing the glasses, Sister Maningas in blue, and clayclay in between us.

Sept. 21, 2014

Well I had a pretty good week! Mostly normal until the end of the week but it was okay. On Monday we had a FHE at the Aguado family. They are nice. They are less active/ recent converts/ investigators so it was a lot of fun. I really liked it. We had a good lesson and played some fun games. Then on Tuesday we had a good day. Tuesday was Bishops birthday and do you remember me saying that birthdays here are huge? Well, they invited a lot of members to the church and we had like a huge surprise party for Bishop. It was fun. We just went at the end of the night after all our appointments and ate dinner. It was really good too. I will send you a picture of the dinner. It was a pig! And of course rice. And a lot of other food. I liked it. This week was also great because Victoria came to church!!!! We were so excited! Ivy brought her to church with her and it was great! She really enjoyed it. We were hoping to be able to visit her last night and talk more about it but we werent able to go. Victoria is doing so great. She reads from the Book of Mormon every day and she will be baptized in October. Shes great. Also, Aaron came to church again. He still has word of wisdom problems but hes slowly getting off. He said on Friday he didnt smoke at all and on Saturday only once. So hes doing a lot better. He really wants to change. This week we talked about eternal marriage with him and he talked about how he really wants to change for his future family and so that he can get married in the temple and be with them forever. It was great. Also Raymund came to church again. He will also get baptized in October. Hes good. Hes only 13 but hes probably the smartest 13 year old here. His mom is the one that referred him to us. Shes not a member but a few years ago she listened to the missionaries and wanted to get baptized but her husband wouldnt let her so now she wants Raymund to be taught. Then on Saturday we had family week in Talisay. It was fun. I got to see a lot of members from Silay and Magsungay so it was great! I was hoping to see Jane but she got there after we left. But its okay. So yeah, it was a great week. I hope you all are doing great! I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Remund

Our FHE with the Aguado family!

This describes our companionship... Im always eating.

This is Prince and Coco. They are the cutest.

Me and Sister Turtal waiting for Bishop at the birthday party.

This is Sister Rase! Shes a recent convert!

Ice cream in the Philippines!

The rest of the food! Seriously they always have so much food when there is a birthday.

The PIG!!! It was really good.

This is how you eat in the Philippines! Rice on banana leaves.

Me and Sister Cat! From Magsungay!

More members. I was freezing in church yesterday so they were all hugging me to warm me up.

Sept. 14, 2014

I think I might just title all my emails as Merry Christmas until Christmas actually comes because I love Christmas and I love that its only September and we are already celebrating Christmas in the Philippines! Well, this week was great. I just love being a missionary so every week is great. This week me and Sister Turtal celebrated our one year mark here in Bacolod. We both got here on September 11, 2013 so this year we celebrated it! It was fun. We just worked hard and then ate dinner. We also set our record for member present lessons in one day. We had 10 member present lessons. It was cool. Before that the most I had in one day was 9. We were happy. So it was good. Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!! Sorry I didnt actually tell you that on your actually birthday and Im a few days late, but better late than never right? Im glad you had a good day! I was thinking about you. Saturday was good though. You saw the pictures, the self reliance center opened. Its in my meeting house. It was pretty cool. Im excited for people to actually learn about it though and for people to become more self reliant. We had a good week though. On Monday we had a family home evening with the Bernales family. It was a lot of fun. I really like them. Brother Bernales is the second counselor. They are great. Also, I guess its just stormy everywhere. Like you all, we had a lot of rain and flooding this week. But it was fun. I like when it rains because then its not hot. It was actually really cold this week. Last night, I slept with my sweatshirt again. I was freezing. I am really scared to come home because I know that I will die. But its whatever. Our investigators are doing pretty good. Yesterday was Aarons birthday. He came to church but he still has word of wisdom problems. I dont know what we are going to do. We will just keep trying to help him. We werent able to go to Victoria this week. The one who we had the best lesson in the world with. She was sick. We went to the other Victoria though and shes doing good. She still hasnt come to church but she promised to come next Sunday. She didnt have a skirt this week so she didnt want to come. But shes doing awesome. Raymund is good too. He cut his foot though so he couldnt come to church either. But he is doing good and is probably the smartest 13 year old Ive ever met. Overall it was a good week. Me and Sister Turtal are still doing great! I love her. Also, Im getting fat because of her. All we do is eat and eat and eat. So I am starting to get chubby. Sister Turtal said to me this week, "when I first got to this area, you were so skinny but now you are fat." But its whatever. I dont even care. And Im not fat, I just might have a double chin. But yeah, it was a good week. I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Remund

Casandra and Roxans baptism!

We bought chips and salsa! First time since leaving America. They are pretty expensive so this was a one time thing.

This is the Descotidos house. I like it! Its cool. I like walking on bamboo.

FHE with Bernales family!

How you play games in the Philippines- when you make a mistake in the game, you get lipstick on your face. Its funny! I love it! Also, look who doesnt have any lipstick on their face- me. I always win. Haha just kidding.

Merry Christmas!!!

Hello my wonderful family and Merry Christmas!!!!

Yes it is now September and that means its now Christmas in the Philippines! Last Monday I saw Christmas decorations in Robinsons and me and Sister Turtal are singing Christmas songs as our hymn to start our companion study in the morning. Its great! I love Christmas! This week was really great! A lot of great things happened! So on Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Becerra. She is one of my favorite people. Her dad was Jamis mission president and now hes a general authority. But shes awesome! I learned so much from her and it was just a really uplifting day. She taught me a lot. Also, we had the best lesson Ive ever had. It was the coolest thing ever. We taught a girl named Victoria. I havent told you about her but she was a referral from a member but we havent been able to teach her much. I taught her once with Sister Vargas, and then once with Sister Turtal like a month ago. So all we had talked about was the restoration. Well me and Sister Becerra taught her and she didnt really remember much about Joseph Smith so we just kind of reviewed it and had her pray right then to ask if he was a true prophet. It was one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard. The spirit was so strong. It was like the sunrise. You know how people compare it to that sometimes? Just throughout her prayer, the spirit just came in and it was so strong. That was probably the strongest Ive felt the spirit on my mission, maybe in my life. It was the coolest thing. She said the closing prayer and then Sister Becerra had me bear my testimony on the restoration and I just knew exactly what I needed to say. It wasnt long or in depth, just very short and brief but I know thats what Victoria needed to hear. Then Sister Becerra said she was going to bear her testimony but the spirit said no. The spirit told us to leave. So we stood up and left. When me and Sister Turtal went back, Victoria said she just felt something. She couldnt even really describe it but she just said it filled her whole body. It was the coolest thing. I cant even describe it. I wish you could have been there and felt the spirit that was in the room. It was undeniable. Victoria knows this is true. I just loved going on exchanges with Sister Becerra. She is a great missionary and she just lifted me up. And after that we found a place that sells frozen yogurt so you know we were super happy and ate there. Its the first time Ive seen frozen yogurt here. And we ate cheesecake. It was a really great find. Also this week we started teaching Angelinas husband. Im excited! Pretty soon their whole family will be members and they will go to the temple! Sister Angelina was so excited that we taught him. We also started teaching their neighbor. His name is Raymund. They all laughed because its close to my name. About Aaron, he still has his word of wisdom problems but he came to church yesterday and he is still reading the Book of Mormon! Someday he will overcome his word of wisdom problems. We were sad because his rabies shot is done so he drank alcohol again this week. We will keep working on that! Also I found a video on my last memory card of a family home evening my first night here in 5th ward with Sister Vargas! So I didnt loose everything! I was really happy. And me and Sister Turtal took pictures every day this week because I have a lot of pictures to make up for. So it was a great week! I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Remund

Me and Sister Turtal in a tricycle.

We ate ice cream cake! Just for fun. To celebrate. I dont know what we were celebrating though. Sister Turtals one year again? It was yummy.

Frozen yogurt!! We almost died when we saw this sign!

The cheese cake and frozen yogurt. I was really happy.

The Aguado family. They are really nice. They gave us cupcakes and cake because it was their granddaughters birthday.

I love puppies. This is the Descotido family! They are really nice. The mom is less active.

This picture also describes Sister Turtal. She loves to hug everyone and put her arms around everyone.

This is what happens when it rains in the Philippines! Flood! Its always flooded.

This is just a really cool place. It didnt look cool though because it was low tide so the water is way back. But its still cool. Those two kids are the children of a less active member.