October 26, 2014

Hello my wonderful family and Merry Christmas!!! Or I guess Happy Halloween for you all! Im glad you all had a wonderful week! I also had a wonderful week! It was great! Victorias baptism was on Saturday and it was the best thing ever!!! I love Victoria! And Brother Joeboy got to baptize her! Have I told you about him? He is best friends with Ivy and Victoria. When I first got to this area, he was less active. But he returned and received the priesthood and Victoria was the first person he has ever baptized! It was just perfect and everything went really well. Victoria was just so happy and it made me so happy! So that was great. Also, I have some really great news!!!!!! Guess what? Aaron stopped drinking coffee!!!! He has now gone one week with now coffee and two weeks without cigarettes! I have seen the biggest change in him and its been the coolest thing. And thats not the only great news. So we have been working on Aarons word of wisdom problems for a long time and he was slowly overcoming them, but a couple weeks ago he said that even if he stops drinking coffee or smoking, hes not sure if he wants to get baptized. So last week we gave him 2 Nephi 31 as his reading assignment. We decided to stop focusing so much on word of wisdom and resolve his concern with baptism. So we came back and he had read chapter 31 and we asked him about what he understood. What he said was just perfect. I dont really know how to translate it correctly, but he said something like, I didnt realize before but I need to be baptized. And so we said, yes brother you do. And then he told us that after he read it, he stopped drinking coffee and it had been a couple days since he had last drank coffee. I then asked him if he wanted to be baptized and of course he said yes. I asked him when he wanted to be baptized and he said Nov 1! It was just perfect because a while ago, me and Sister Maningas had set Nov 1 as our goal for Aaron. We knew he would be ready by then and now he is! He had his interview yesterday and passed and now he is getting baptized this Saturday!!! I couldnt be happier! I really have seen such a big change in Aaron and it just makes me so happy! So his baptism will be this Saturday. Also, did I tell you about Roberto? Brother Bennys dad? Benny is a recent convert and he is the coolest/ strongest member. Well, his dad is just the best and we have been teaching him for a couple weeks and he is just great. Yesterday we taught him about the word of wisdom because a while back Benny told us that he drinks coffee. So we taught word of wisdom and Roberto told us that Benny had already told him about it and stopped drinking coffee a couple weeks ago! Hes pretty old and has some trouble seeing but he is diligent in reading the Book of Mormon and is doing so good! Im so excited for him! His baptism will be on Nov 8. Hes really excited and so are we. He is the best! Also, of course, you saw the pictures from zone conference this week and let me just say, it was the best! I love having training with President Lopez. One thing that I really loved that he talked about was faith. Did you know, our mission had 590 baptisms in the month of September? How crazy is that! He just tied everything back into faith. It was really good. One things he said though that I loved is that while we are on our missions, we should never experience fear because we are always walking by faith. When things are easy, we dont do it. The difficult things in our mission are what increase our faith and show the level of faith that we have. He talked about a lot of other really great stuff too but I just loved what he said about faith. I cant even explain it to you. It was just great and I just really want to have greater faith in Jesus Christ. Thats one of the things I learned this week. So anyway, it was a great week. Things are going good right now. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much! Keep studying PMG and reading from the Book of Mormon every night as a family!! I love you!!!

Sister Remund

After Victoria's baptism.

Our FHE last Monday

Me and Victoria.

Me and Jane

October 19th, 2014

I will go ahead and continue having Merry Christmas as my title because every single day this week, I have heard Christmas music. Every morning at 8 we start our personal study and every morning at 8:05, our neighbor starts blasting their Christmas music. Its actually pretty funny and pretty great. So needless to say, I had a great week! It was also Masskara here this week! So everyone was partying. Luckily most of it wasnt in my area but I saw a couple things and it looked pretty cool. But it also made it harder because everyone just was roaming around and there were people everywhere and we couldnt teach some of our investigators and recent converts because they were all roaming around at Masskara. But its okay. Its over now. Ivy and Victoria gave me some cool key chains though so it was good. Also, I have my zone conference this week! So I wont be excited for the Christmas carol to be put on facebook but I will enjoy singing it because I love Christmas music!!! Haha. Also, mom, thats cool what Jeff and Susan did! Im glad you have some good music now! So anyway, this week was good! I have good news! Victoria had her interview with President Lopez yesterday and she passed!!!! Shes getting baptized this Saturday!! Im so excited for her. Seriously I wish you could have seen her after her interview. She was literally jumping for joy. It just made me so happy! I love Victoria and Im so excited for her. Shes the best. Also, Aaron is actually doing really good! He has now gone an entire week without smoking and said he only drinks 1/2 cup of coffee in a day! We also set a goal last week and he said that today he will stop drinking coffee! So this week we will see how that goes! Im excited for him! Hes doing great and soon he will be ready to be baptized! We also started teaching our recent converts father. Benny is our recent convert and he is 47 years old. His dad is probably in his 70s but I dont know. But he said that he saw a big change in Benny and he wants it for himself. He has come to church 3 times now and is doing great! He is going to get baptized on Nov 8. He is really funny. I like him. And Benny is just the best for him because seriously, I dont think Ive met a stronger member than Benny. He has such great faith and is the best! He is perfect for his dad and is a big help when we teach him. Its just great! I love it! So overall this week was great! We had another really great new investigator who has come to church twice now but we found out this week that she is moving back to Cadiz so we wont continue teaching her. We were pretty sad but its okay. She can still be taught in Cadiz so its okay. It was just a good week! I love learning more and being able to help others! I have seen so many people become so happy and it just makes me so happy! I love it! I love learning more about this gospel and I hope you will continue in your Book of Mormon and PMG studying because it will really help you so much! I know it! It has helped me and it has helped everyone here who I have taught. Please continue studying! I look forward to hearing what you learn in your personal and family studies this week! I love you all and hope you have a great week! You are the best family in the world! I love you!

Sister Remund

My District

This picture is funny. We have a recent convert/investigator. She was baptized in March but hasnt come back to church since and was never confirmed so she is still an investigator. She in only 13 years old. But obviously we have to keep teaching her and trying to get her to come to church so she can be confirmed. Well, she doesnt like us very much because she doesnt want to come to church. And her house is in the ocean. Well, it was low tide and she saw us coming to teach her. Well, she didnt want to be taught so she climbed out of her house (which is not easy to climb out the back) and jumped down and ran through the mud so that we would think she wasnt home and wouldnt be able to teach her. Unfortunately for her, her sisters saw her and we saw her footprints so we knew what she did. We still werent able to teach her though.

October 12

Well I had a pretty great week! It was full of lots of learning and humbling experiences. I realized a lot this week and I have been trying hard to change and improve. I will start with last Monday. After we went home, I read an article in a book that President gave to us. Its called Mental Toughness by M. Russell Ballard. Its really good. I learned a lot. He talked a lot about the difference between successful missionaries and others who dont have as much success. He talked about missionaries who are constantly working hard and making the most of their situation. I really liked it and learned a lot. He talks about a lot more but... yeah. I really liked what he said though, he said "success does not depend on the message but on the messenger." Every missionary in the world is teaching about the same message, it depends on how they teach it and the spirit that they bring if they will be successful. That is one thing Ive been thinking a lot about this week, my teaching skills. I will talk more about that later. So that was great though. Then on Thursday, we had our zone training and it was great. I learned a lot. The best though was after, I got to go on exchanges with Sister Smith! My MTC companion!!! It was seriously they best! It was so cool to see how much she has changed and how our teaching has changed since the MTC. We had no idea what we were doing in the MTC but on Thursday, it was so great! I felt the spirit so strongly the entire day and I had a blast! And guess what? Her companion is Sister Piula! Also from my district in the MTC! It was so great! I loved it! I love them. I love being able to see a change in them. And it was great because I got to go back to Silay! I wasnt in my area, but it was still the same city so I loved it. Also, on Thursday before zone training, I saw Jane! Remember her? My best friend from Magsungay? Well I finally got to see her! And she attended General Conference at my stake center so I got to see her Saturday and Sunday too. Then she worked with us. It was great. Then Friday was an okay day and then Saturday was General Conference!!! I loved it! Saturday and Sunday were just the best! I really learned a lot. I feel like thats all I keep saying in this email but its true. I learned so much this week. One thing I learned though, that I mentioned earlier, is my teaching skills. Ive been thinking a lot about it this week and I realized that I need to be better. I feel like lately Ive just been going through the motions almost and I havent been as concerned with others salvation as much as I should be. I received a very humbling letter from Jane after she worked with me. I have been pondering about what she said to me and I feel like I havent been as good as I should be. Ive really been thinking about how I can be better and really use these last 3 months to focus on others and not be so concerned with myself. Im still trying to figure out how to improve myself and really just focus on those I am serving. I just realized that I am not the best missionary in the world and I need to continue improving and relying on the Lord to know what to say and do. I need to stop relying on myself so much. I just have learned a lot this week. So it was great. Anyway, I guess thats what I learned. Sorry if it doesnt really make sense. People here are going good. Victoria is supposed to get baptized on Saturday but the baptism will not continue. Her boyfriend in Manila is supporting her and her daughter so it is considered a live-in situation even though hes in Manila.... I dont know. Our district leader told us to ask President Lopez because he is the one that will decide what happens. So Im not sure if or when Victoria will get baptized. Im a little sad because she is seriously so prepared to be baptized and yesterday after she found out she couldnt be baptized, she told us that she was so sad and just wants to be baptized. So we will see. We are going to text President Lopez and ask him. We also have some really great new investigators that were able to attend General Conference on Sunday and they said they really liked it! I will probably tell you about them next week though because I dont have much time. Also, last night the office elders called and told me that I had to go to Manila for my visa on Wednesday and that I would get to go to the temple! I got really excited! Then they called again this morning and said that I didnt need to go. So now I dont get to go to Manila or the temple. I will get to go again a month before I go home so I just need to wait until December to be able to go to the temple again! Anyway, I had a great week! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Sister Remund

We brought a ton of food to conference because it was Sister Maningas year mark!  There was a ton of extra food so we called the elders in to finish it off!

Jane! Yesterday at conference!

The four of us yesterday!

Me and Ivy and Annie

I got to see Jane!!! And it was her birthday so it was even better!

My Zone!

Companions again! Me and Sister Smith!

MTC reunion! Me, Sister Smith, and Sister Piula!

I love Sister Turtal!!!

This is my area right now. Its flooded everywhere. I have to hold up my skirt so it doesnt get wet. There was a typhoon so it flooded everywhere and has been raining everyday for like a week.

October 5th - Merry Christmas!!

So guess what? As Im sitting here emailing right now, Christmas music is playing! Also this week I saw many Christmas lights come out and I even helped our investigator put some Christmas lights on a plant outside their house. Its the best! I love Christmas!!! Also, I cant believe that you got Kam a dog. Its about time!!!! Im really happy! Im excited to meet the cutie! I knew this would happen though. Its just like the Martins. After Marissa left they bought a dog. I always wanted a dog growing up and now that Im gone, you finally bought a dog. Well, at least we have a dog now. How does the dog do with Mitterson? Haha Im shocked. But anyway, I had a pretty good week. Raymund got baptized on Saturday! It was great! His mom even came to the baptism! And it was really good because last night, we went to visit, and Raymund wasnt there but his mom and dad were and they let us share with them! His mom said she felt really good at the baptism and was so proud of Raymund and that they had seen a big change in him. They told us that he carries his Book of Mormon around with him. It was so great. Now we are hoping that they will continue to let us come back and that they will realize that this is true and can bless their family. It was great. And the Mowers came so I got to talk to them for a while. It was great. Also, why in the world did you tell Grandma I was sick?!?! She emailed Sister Mower and made her check on me but Im fine! I told you last week that Im not even sick anymore! You cant tell Grandma those things because she will worry about me! On Saturday we got the attend the womens conference and it was so great! I learned a lot and I really enjoyed it. Im excited for general conference this week. It made me really excited. Aaron is doing okay. We didnt visit him this whole week and went back last night for the first time. He still has word of wisdom problems but he really committed to stop this week. Victoria is doing good too. She came to church and still reads the Book of Mormon everyday. Her baptism in on the 18. Im excited for her. Have I told you about the Mahinay family? Me and Sister Turtal found them. Brother Mahinay OYMed us and invited us to his house to teach them. Weve been teaching them for a few weeks now and they are doing great! They werent able to come to church because Sister Mahinay went to Victorias with her daughter but hopefully next week they can come. I really like them though. Overall things are going good. I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Remund

Raymund's Baptism

Raymund and his Mom