Week 22 - 6/30/2013

Good news! We have an investigator! Not only that, she has a baptismal date of July 13! She is so prepared, it is so incredible. I feel like I didn't even do anything! So that's been super exciting. And we're working a lot better with our ward leaders, they've been SO busy lately that I feel like nothing has been able to happen, but things are moving forward and it's so great. Inday is her name, she's 18, speaks tagalog mostly, and has a 18 month year old daughter. We had a FHE with the returning members that got married the other week and they invited the whole neighborhood almost to hear our message because they are so happy to be living the gospel again. Inday was there and she had been to church 2 sundays and she told us she wanted to get baptized and have her daughter blessed and a copy of the Book of Mormon all before we taught anything.  And she has read everyday this week and believes it all we just tell her to pray so she can be extra sure. I was kinda worried that she would be too reliant on Weng to go to church because that's who she always goes to church with, but on sunday we showed up and she was waiting for us. She said they were going to be late and so she just decided to go without them. And then we invited to her to a broadcast that night at the church and she came and she got there late because she walked all the way with her little girl because they didn't have money for a pedicab. It is not close... probably at least a 30 min walk. She is so great! 

And that's about it. Saturday there was a typhoon so we were ordered to stay inside our apartment all day until it passed, apparently that doesn't happen super often, but it was raining SO HARD. And it was good to have some study time. Right now I'm making a list of English, waray s, waray h, Cebuano and Tagalog words so that I can have a book full of every language I will ever use on my mission. It kinda blows my mind that I have a book full of 5 languages, but I'm so excited because it will be super useful! especially since there is no waray-waray dictionary. I have so many words written, but it's just in my planners, in the margins, random places and not organized so  this will be really great and other missionaries can use it too. The other sisters in the apartment decided it was time that I started learning tagalog so now they all speak all Tagalog, and it's kinda messing with my mind! but it will be good. 

This week, we found a box of kraft macaroni and cheese and then I taught my companion to make smores in our toaster oven and she is addicted, it is so funny. We had some left over marshmellows so she used saltine crackers and peanut butter to make some more... haha not bad actually! I love sharing with them american food. Then I made spaghetti American/Italian style and they ate it then added a bunch of sugar and milk and turned it into pinoy style which I also like. It was pretty funny. 

I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission and it was so great! I love the book of Mormon! Everyone should read it. There are so many verses that I would read, why have I never seen this before?!?! And now of course I have started over. I actually read it backward started in Moroni and ended in 1 nephi just for kicks and it is so cool reading about the prophecies of Nephi and how true they are! 2 Nephi 28-33 are some of my personal favorites. 

I love you all! Thank you for your support! 

Love, Sister Pike