Week 19

Kumusta!

Sobrang masaya ako! (I'm so happy!) Sorry there was no letter last week. Anyways, transfers were this week and I was so anxious for them because I was the only one from my district being transferred. Psh. What did I have to worry about?? Thank you for all the prayers. :) I feel of your love and I'm so grateful for all the support!
 
It's been a great week! Busy, busy, busy. My new companion is Sister Tumagoy and she's from around Central Luzon (Luzon is the huge top portion of the Philippines). We get along really well (so far haha) and she's an amazing cook. She's already taught me a few things and I told her I'm going to be a gourmet cook by the end of our transfer. Let's hope... I'm only really good at cooking pasta and rice right now. hahaha My new area is in Daet, a little over 3 hours from my last area. Our town is called Mercedes and the work is really progressing here! Sister Tumagoy actually trained Sister Coons, my kasama (companion) in the MTC, and so now I just replaced her. They did amazing work in this area. They had a baptism last week, and then we had the baptism of Jane, a cute 11 year old on Saturday, and this Saturday is Daisy. We've been praying for Daisy a lot and we taught her twice this week because she's been struggling with the word of wisdom. She's been doing amazing though! Obviously, because she's having her baptism on Saturday!!! When we taught her on Saturday night, she told us that she just got a new job and she has to work on Sundays, so she can't attend church. We had just finished teaching about temples (because we were also teaching a recent convert, Mark), and so we explained the big picture to her. To eventually get to the temple and gain exaltation. So pretty much choosing between a temporary job and salvation. haha She already knows everything though. She likes to be taught and then join in other lessons when we teach other people. Seriously though, as we were teaching, the spirit was so strong. And it's so amazing to me because when the spirit is present like that, I understand everything in Tagalog. And that's saying something because I'm still REALLY struggling to understand people. Daisy started crying because she has such a huge desire to be baptized and doesn't want to have to move her baptismal date again, this time for church attendance. Last time, she had a little bit to drink and she was so sad that her baptismal date had to be moved. This is the first time I've seen someone with an extremely strong desire to change. My heart is filled with this love that I've never felt before and I just want to help her and EVERYONE ELSE with all the strength I have. I'm so excited for Daisy. Even though I've only known her for a week, I'm so proud of her and excited for Saturday. Now our district has to come up with a musical number for it. Let's hope we can pull that together. ;)

We're teaching so many people. This week we kind of focused on the recent converts since we have a lot of new member lessons to complete. This week we're going to focus on second lessons with those that the sisters tracted last transfer. We'll see how that goes. We're also teaching a beautiful family who is excited to come to church every week and we're hoping they will get baptized next month. .....and I'm having a hard time remembering the names of everyone else we're teaching because I've met so many people this week!

Even though I still can't really understand people, the language is really coming along now. I can all of a sudden speak more and people are starting to understand me. Hallelujah. It sucks being forced into silence. I think one of the reasons Heavenly Father sent me here is so I would say the things He wants me to say, and not say what I think sounds good. Does that make sense? I really have to rely on the Lord. I think one of the reasons I'm always so exhausted is because I'm constantly having to think really hard about how to say things. But sometimes the words just come and I know that's because the spirit is present. I'm not really worried about it now. I know it will come. I'm just doing my studies and it's coming little by little. Another reason Heavenly Father sent me to the Philippines is so I will be superwoman when I get home. hahaha Just kidding. I'm starting to get used to the huge spiders that run around the house (blahhhhhhh). They still freak me out, but whatever. Missionary life here in the Philippines... I have more things to worry about like getting worms. Whoo. Dad, you were right though. I was saved for the latter days for flush toilets and hot showers. I definitely don't get those both anymore. It's like a continuous camping trip. I love it though. It's definitely an adventure. Oh, we live like a two minutes walk away from the beach! You can hear the ocean from our apartment! Since we live so close it's really humid (oh, it's been SO hot lately) and everything rusts. So my companion thinks it's funny how I keep EVERYTHING in plastic bags. We're having fun though. We work hard and play hard. I think I'm really going to like it here in Mercedes. I love the work and I LOVE being a missionary. It's going by way too fast!!! I love you all! The church is true!

Love,

Sister Stettler