Family!!!

Wow I had a great week! Well, most of the time. Obviously there are hard times but for the most part it was great! I loved general conference! It was so great! Ashley- I hope you got the same thing that I got out of Elder Oaks talk... its time for you to have a baby. Haha just kidding. I think it was Elder Oaks talk... I dont remember. But anyway, I loved everything and learned a ton! It was weird watching it at the church and not at home. I missed being able to stay in my pajamas but it also made me pay so much more attention. It was great. We had to go to Talisay to watch it because thats where our stake center is so we had to leave like an hour before it started so that we would for sure get there on time because we are never sure if we will be able to get a ride or not. But we got there on time and it was great. On Thursday, we did a service project which was pulling weeds. Its was great. I love pulling weeds (yes, sarcasm) Haha just kidding it was great. The best was when we were done, the sister whos house we were at gave us coconuts! I got to drink right from the coconut and even cut it open myself! It was great! And it tasted pretty good too! Thats cool that you went to the cabin this week. Im jealous! It looks and sounds like a ton of fun! And Kiel would fit right in here if he is already playing Christmas music. Wow Kiel you are just like my mom! Haha thats awesome. But wow it seems like you are doing all the fun things without me! Dont have too much fun while I am gone! Just kidding. We will do all the fun things when I get home. Last Monday we went to out stake presidents house for FHE and it was so much fun! We played a really fun game and pretty much everyone was laughing at me because we had to talk in Ilonggo and I would always forget what to say and how to say it. They thought its was funny. And after the game they fed us dinner. We had sushi! It was so good! Remember when I didnt like sushi? Yeah thats changed now! They had a lot of other stuff too that was really good! I love food! And then on Tuesday we went to a members home because it was her sons first birthday. Birthdays are a big deal here. They go all out. Like a big banner and a ton of balloons and food and he was only turning one! But it was so much fun and I got to try a lot more food and it was all really good! I love it all! There is another family that we have been going to a lot because they are less active and the kids havent been baptized. They are probably my favorite family here. They are really shy but they have started opening up around us. We taught them how to play duck duck goose and they loved it! One of the little boys, Dexter, is my best friend. He is 5? I think? I dont know. But we have become best friends and he always sits by me. He is the funniest little boy. He reminds me of Cru because he has so much energy! All the time! Its great. Dad you didnt tell me about grandmas throat? What happened? But when they do come to St. George, Im fine with them driving my car. I dont care. As long as I have something to drive when I get home! And yes I want a photo album! I only have like two pictures of the family and I want more! The pictures on email are great but I want some printed out so I can have them through out the week! Cyril is doing great! She came to conference this weekend! We will be visiting her again on Tuesday. Its hard visiting her because she is in school a lot but we are finding time and shes doing great! Right now her date is set for Nov. 9. I have seen one big spider since getting here but Sister Nielsen told me it wasnt even big. So... Im not very excited to see more. But pretty much there are cockroaches everywhere. We dont have one shoe for killing them but Sister Nielsen wont kill them! She makes me kill them all. Good thing Im not scared of them! And its a good thing grandma isnt coming here. The rats are so big! Its crazy! But anyway, I love you all and miss you so much! I cant wait to hear from you again! Have tons of fun (without me...sad) and keep doing great things! I love you!

Sister Remund

Pictures from the Silay East Ward Facebook Page

Baptism!

Bacolod Family Day Activity...helped kids make family trees

Played fun unity games with kids

The PEDICAB

Had Family Home Evening with this family (this was their house)

City of Bacolod "Celebrate the Family Day". The full-time missionaries were invited to sing Love at Home in Hilygaynon. It rained outside, so celebration got moved inside. Notice how crowded ALL the people! HOT! McKenna is the tall red-head center right:) Kinda loud and unclear, but cool anyways:))

Sept. 30, 2013

Hello Family!

Ahhh!!! I cant believe I've been gone for two months already! Its gone by so fast! I had a pretty good week but not much to say about it. Its pretty much the same as the last two weeks I've had here. But yeah, we've continued teaching and having a great time! I love the ward I am in! Its so great! Its still hard understanding everyone but I've gotten much better. Our ward is so funny! There is one sister in our ward who was less active so we started visiting her my first week here because its really the only house we could find but we started teaching her and it was going really well. She has a store in the market though and Sunday is market day so that's why she hasn't been coming to church. Last Sunday she came though and it was so great having her there! She is awesome! We tried visiting her through out the week but she was always gone when we went by so we weren't sure if she would come to church this week. But she did! She told us that she realized that she needs to come to church and said she is coming to church every sunday from now on. Its so great! She is awesome and I love talking with her. She has such a strong testimony! Then there is a guy in our ward who is awesome. I thought he was a RM because his testimony is so strong but he was just baptized in May! He is seriously the nicest person I have ever met. He is always offering to come out with us and show us around. Hes great. His personality reminds me of Kiel a little bit. But yeah I like having him come out with us. And our Bishop is super great. He has been bishop for 10 years now! That's a long time to be bishop. But pretty much everyone in our ward is super funny. I had my first dinner appointment this week! It was a lot of fun! And the food was really good too! I love it! That's cool that Jenessa had her farewell yesterday! I cant believe she is finally going! She is going to love it! I cant wait for her! That's awesome that you went to the cabin. I'm sad I couldn't go this year but I'm glad you had a good time! Weird that no one was there. Its crazy how everyone is growing up so fast and everything is changing. And whats up with grandma going to Hawaii?!?! Are you serious?? That's not even a mission. That's vacation. Haha just kidding. But yeah we should for sure visit her when I get home. That would be pretty neat. Good luck with the marathon this week! I'm sure you will miss all of my help... By help I mean me eating ice cream while you all hand out bread slices. Haha. I will miss that! Haha mom I cant believe you fell at church. Just kidding I can because you fall a lot... Just kidding. I'm the one that is always falling. Speaking of falling/ injuring myself... I might have burned my finger really bad this week. I had a huge blister. Don't worry, I will send a picture. Its great. We were making no-bakes for Sister Solomones birthday and I burned it. Clearly I should leave making no-bakes to Dave, Jeff, Mike, and Mark. Haha. But anyway sorry this week is kind of short. I'm going to send pictures though! I want to leave some time for that. Thanks for emailing me and keeping me updated! I love hearing from you! I love you and miss you all so much! Cant wait to hear from you again!

Sister Remund

 Doing laundry by hand! 

And a fruit that looks really cool! And it tastes really good too!

Tayup is really pretty! 

My blister! Ouch.

A cool little boat in one of our areas. 

The Silay East Ward Choir.  They take their choir SERIOUSLY in the Philippines.  Uniforms required!

September 23, 2013

Hello Family!!!!

Thank you so much for the pictures! I love them all! I love seeing you all! And um Kam, you are so cute!!! I LOVE the dresses! And I think its funny that you are taller than Laura. Haha. Thats crazy! This week has been great! Its still hard because we dont really know where anyone lives still but the ward has been helping us. We have mostly only taught less active members but we have found a couple new investigators! Also I have been taking some pictures just not as many as I would like. And sorry my email is so late today. We went to Tayup this morning and when we got back there wasnt any power so I couldnt get on email. But Tayup was really pretty and I got some good pictures there! But I forgot my cord again... sorry. I will for sure remember next week! I am better understanding people here but sometimes its really hard to understand. And I can actually talk in some of the lessons! Just kidding I talk in all of them, but yesterday I led the lesson! It was great! Since we dont really have any active members in our area, we dont eat at peoples houses but this week we are going to someones house for dinner. And tonight we are going to a LA house for FHE. We mostly eat at home and all we eat is cereal, pb&j, eggs, hotdogs, toast, and fruit. Not anything great but I like it! They have really good fruit here! I love it! Its funny when it rains because its like the world stops. No one here likes the rain and most people wont go out in it. Its hard on Sundays because literally no one comes to church if it is raining. Its weird. But I like the rain so its okay. We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was great! I finally met Sister Manwaring! It was cool talking to her. She thought it was so cool that I had met her mom. But I was up front in the picture because they were celebrating birthdays and they did it for July, August, and September so I got a toothbrush for my birthday three months ago. But thats why I was in the front. Its funny that you mentioned grandpa dying a year ago because I kept thinking about it too. Like I didnt remember what day he died but I knew it was sometime around this time and I kept thinking about it. Its crazy that it was so long ago. Im adjusting good to missionary life and the Philippines. Its still crazy here but I kinda like it. One thing that is really weird is we will be teaching a lesson and they will have a baby and they will just start nursing right in front of us! Its so weird. But anyway, I feel like I had so much more to tell you and now I dont remember. Oh yeah! Kam- Sister Nielsen was a cheerleader in high school! And she reminds me a lot of Ashley! Its great. We are getting along really well. But other than that I dont remember what I was going to tell you. Everything is great and I love it here! And I love hearing from you! I love you all and miss you so much! I cant wait to hear from you again!

Sister Remund

First REAL missionary email! From Silay, Philippines.

Hello Family!!

Holy cow the Philippines is crazy! But its so great! I cant remember if I told you about their driving, but mom you would die here. Literally the only rule is if you are in a spot on the road, that's your spot and if no one is in a spot next to you, then you can go there. They will just drive up the middle of the road and swerve around everyone. At first it was so scary but now I'm used to it and think its great. My companion is Sister Nielsen and she is from Mesa Arizona. She knows Sister Evans brother! And Sister Evans is in my district! Its great! I love getting to see her around sometimes. Right now I am in Silay East and its great! I love it! But it also stinks because they just split my area so me and Sister Nielsen are new to the area. Neither of us know where anything is. We have two other sisters in our ward and they have helped a little but mostly all we have been doing the past few days is walk around and try and figure out where everything is. We finally started finding our way around in a couple parts of our area, and then the Bishop split the area a different way because he thought it wasn't fair to the other sisters so now we are pretty much starting over again. The only people we knew in our area are in the area we lost. Its great. But luckily the ward has been helping. Last night two members came around with us and showed us where a lot of things are. Also we have no progressing investigators. The other sisters had focused more on other areas before we got here so there aren't any progressing investigators which makes it even harder to find things to fill our time with. Everyone in our area in less actives pretty much or a recent convert. But the recent converts don't come to church either. We have a lot of work to do. Really all we have done is go around and try and find the less actives and try to get them to come back to church. But it will be great! Sorry I'm not sending any pictures home this week, I forgot my cord. And I don't have a lot of pictures from the Philippines. I have a lot from the MTC and traveling, but not here. President Lopez has a rule where we cant take our camera with us. He doesn't want us to look like tourists so we cant really take any pictures. It stinks because we will be walking around and I see something really cool and want to take a pictures, but I cant. I just wish that someone could follow me around and video everything that happens because its all so cool! Its funny because we will be walking around and everyone will just stop and stare at us. Most of them are really nice though so they will smile and wave. Its great! And I am really tall. A lot of people have commented on that. The other day three little girls were following us around. They were so cute! I wanted to take a picture of them really bad but of course I couldn't! But its okay. I will get some pictures eventually. On music, we are only allowed to listen to hymns. So I don't know what CDs I have that I can listen to. Its funny because the people in my ward think I am famous. I had one member tell me I look like Taylor Swift (what?) and some others though I was in the Harry Potter movies. And another thought I was a Hollywood star. Its great. So far the food is amazing! I haven't tried much because mostly we eat in our apartment and neither of us know how to cook their food but from what I've tried its great! Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!  On Friday that is, sorry its a couple days late. Also small packages and letters only take like two weeks to get here! So you should for sure send me letters! And also I need a couple things... I need more pictures of the family! And friends! Since I sent the digital one home I only have like two pictures of our family and none of my friends. So send some of those. I also need a little hymn book. We sing a lot and I don't have one so its hard. I think that's all. For now. We will see. But everything is going great! I love it and its all great! I will try to remember my cord next week to send pictures! I love you and cant wait to hear from you!

Sister Remund

Sister Remund and her new trainer, Sister Nielsen.

McKenna with her Mission President, President and Sister Lopez