DECEMBER 13, 2015

HELLO FROM THE SCORCHING PHILIPPINE HEAT!

Sunset from our apartment

 
This has been a good week we have done a lot of walking under the scorching Philippines sun! I think this has been the hottest weeks of my mission! Although it is so stinkin hot I pray for help to just be able to endure the heat to work hard and continue without being restricted by the heat. This Christmas will be the first Christmas I will have in warm weather! Yes I miss the snow but this will be such an amazing Christmas I cannot wait!

Sister Thayn & Sister C. take a break

This week we were able to teach an In-Active sister we found a few weeks ago. We have taught her a few times but this is the first time we were able to teach her with her husband. At first I was a little nervous to teach her husband because he is a big guy and looks very hard and strict and we have had some experiences before where we got bible bashed and I was afraid that was what this lesson was going to be... but it wasn't AT ALL! It was a great lesson and her husband participated and at the end of the lesson said he would read and write questions down if he had them and would be there again for the next lesson! I am so excited to teach them again. We have really been focusing on families and what better families to teach than part member families and to get the entire family active again in the gospel! 

We also were able to attend the Christmas devotional last night by the first presidency! That was great! I hope you all were able to watch that! It was also so exciting to have our newest recent convert Tatay Edwardo come to the broadcast. He was in awe at all the people at the conference center and the choir! This church is truly incredible and the gospel is the most incredible and importing thing for us to all be able to receive while we are all here on the earth. And I have the most amazing calling to share the gospel to the people here in the Philippines! I absolutely love being a missionary, although it is very challenging and sometimes overwhelming this gospel is the only perfect thing in the world and as long as I do my best Christ will make up the rest! He will makeup for my language skills, teaching skills, and challenges as long as i work my hardest and do my best! I love this work and am so grateful for the gospel and our Savior Jesus Christ and this Christmas season! 

look what happens when you live together...We all dress alike too!!

Love you all hope all is well at home! Have a good week!

-Sister Thayn

DECEMBER 6, 2015

TRAPPED TOKUS IN THE BATHROOM

Golfing with our District

Hello Everyone! It has been a crazy week but good! We have really been focusing on finding families in our mission and this week we were able to find two families! With one we were able to do a Family Home Evening with them. When we got there it was 6:00pm and it is already dark by then and we thought they weren't home because there were no lights in the house but as we walked closer they were all home waiting for us. They said that they haven't had electricity for a few months so we had FHE in the dark with 2 candles and my flashlight! It is truly amazing how happy people are with sometimes nothing.

Tatay Edwardo was Confirmed this week! He was feeling super sick but still rode his bike as usual to church! Then he was confirmed in Sacrament meet and after when the congregation was dead silent he leans over to the brother who gave him the blessing and said (very loudly cause he cant here how loud he talks) "Thanks for the blessing bro I am just so happy now!" We all started laughing but seriously Edwardo although he is deaf and old he is going to be the life of this ward! We also had a lesson with his this past week where he told us how his life was so hard and his family was so difficult and it got to the point where he considered talking his life then all of a sudden we came into his life! He said we gave him home and we are everything to him! He is now so happy and although his family situation hasn't changed he has and now is incredibly happy all though the gospel being brought into his life! This gospel is truly incredible! 

Something funny that happened this week was right when we came home from proselyting I walked into the bathroom and screamed! (Of course whenever there is something scary or gross I am always
the one who finds it or 

who it touches) There was a Toku in our bathroom! If you don't know what a Toku is, it is a lizard that can get super big that has fangs and when it gets on you it is stuck it is so hard to get off. Yeah well there was one in our bathroom! Luckily it was small so I hurried and closed the door to trap it then we waited for the other sisters to come home so they could get rid of it! So when they got home they trapped it! And this is the result of their Trap! (See Picture) 

Oh man Mission life is crazy! It is so incredible and so fun and so challenging all in one but it is amazing! I am so grateful I am a missionary and get to help bring people to the gospel and to Christ even though sometimes I get attacked by cockroaches or there are tokus in our bathroom. This is such an amazing experience and the feeling I get everyday is indescribable! I love this gospel so much and I don't know where I would be without it! 

Hope all is well at home! Have a good week!

-Sister Thayn

Note By MOM:  Kiera doesn't wear glasses, but she bought some fake ones to keep things from flying in her eyes!!!

NOVEMBER 29, 2015

EDWARDO'S BAPTISM

 


Wow this has been such a fast and crazy week but so amazing too!! We had an amazing zone conference this week that got everyone pumped and ready to work harder than we ever have before! It was so amazing and one thing our mission President really emphasized was having the end in mind. Having an eternal perspective with the people you teach. Don't just think how you are going to teach them or what you will teach them think of their potential and how you can help change their lives and not only make it to the waters of baptism but dress in white twice and make it to the temple! Also one thing that President said that I think is 100% true, he asked what is the cure for stress? and the correct answer is DESSERT!!!!! I like the way president thinks!

This week was Edwardo's BAPTISM!!!!! It was so incredible and When we were taking pictures he was just so happy and so excited to be clean and become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If only we could all be as excited he was about church and this gospel (look at pictures). He was baptized Saturday then on Sunday in sacrament meeting he was supposed to be confirmed but then they realized when he was baptized they didn't say his full name so he wasn't able to be confirmed he was then again re-baptized after church and then next week he will be confirmed! 

We also were working on saturday when we received a text from this sister that she was available to be taught! So we went and taught her and she was so receptive. Her boyfriend is an active member in Peru and told her if she wanted to know him better she needed to try going to church. So she did and now we are teaching her! We taught her about the restoration and then at the end gave her a Book of Mormon.  She said she has been wanting to read it for a while but didn't know where she could find one! We are so excited for her and cant wait to see her progress! 

Life is good and we are being so blessed here in the Philippines! I love this gospel and I love how it truly affects peoples lives and helps them get on the right track and pathway back to our heavenly father. I am so incredibly blessed that I get to share this amazing message with people everyday! Being a missionary is so amazing! 

Love you all and have a good week! 

-Sister Thayn