January 20, 2014 My Second Area!

 Photos from Gua Gua

My favorite family in Gua Gua.  The Malig family

Me and Sis Evelyn San Juan.  She has family in America and they send her American food.  Skippy peanut butter!!!!!

Hello family!

Well, I got transferred which was bitter sweet.  I feel like I had contacted at every house in Gua Gua and there was no one left for me to talk to, so for that reason, it was good that I was transferred.  But, I do miss my investigators over there and the branch!  I got transferred to Masinloc which is in the very north of the mission.  So I got transferred from the south to the north and it is like a whole different world here! First of all, it is really cold here.  Apparently Gua Gua is one of the hottest places in our mission and here in Masinloc, it is really cool because it is right by the ocean.   It's actually hard to sleep at night because it's cold and so I've been using my towel as a blanket.  And the worst thing in the world is showering here.  It is seriously like showering in a freezing cold Utah river.  Coldest showers I have ever taken in my life. Here it is more of a province so not really very many houses like in Gua Gua.  Lots of trees and rice fields and even some mountains.  The people are super friendly here and life is a lot slower here than it was in Gua Gua. I think this is probably the prettiest area in the whole mission!  And our apartment is literally right next to the ocean. We have an investigator that literally lives in the ocean.  There's a place where all the houses are on stilts and the houses are in the ocean.  Then there are bridges going from house to house. It was really cool!  This is also the mango capital of the Philippines and I was lucky enough to be transferred here right as mango season is starting :)

Photos from Masinloc

This is standing at the corner of my apartment.  At the end of the street is the ocean!!!! What a HUGE temptation for me!

The church here in Masinloc.  It's so little!

Me and Sis Pati-On!

My companion is Sister Pati-On and I live in an apartment of 3 Filipinos.  I am the only foreigner which I am excited about because I think that will really help my Tagalog. It's good to hear Tagalog outside of our lessons because I don't really use those kinds of words everyday.  Sister Pati-On has been out the same amount of time as Sis Hausia so I am her follow up trainer.  It looks like my whole mission I'm going to be a senior companion.  I still feel like I have so much improving to do and I need a follow up trainer.  But it's okay because she's Filipino so she doesn't need help with the language, just helping improve the lessons.  I'm excited about our area because we have lots of investigators.  It's a lot easier to get baptisms and investigators here in the north because it is more provincial here, not as busy as in the city.  And the people are always home which is nice.  We have an upcoming baptism on Saturday and hopefully 3 more in February.

One of our baptisms is a man named Jimmy and he is probably in his 60's.  He is ready to be baptized but he has smoked all his life so we are just waiting for the time period to be up of him not smoking.  So far he's doing great!  My first day here we went and taught him and I loved his prayer that he gave at the end of the lesson.  It was like he was literally talking to Heavenly Father.  He prayed and said "Heavenly Father, help me avoid smoking because if I don't, I can't be baptized. And there are just so many temptations.  I need your help."  It was the most sincere prayer I have heard I think the whole time I've been here.  He reminds me a lot of Mario who I left in Gua Gua.

Mario is really good at playing the guitar!  I'm really going to miss him.  I kind of felt like he was my grandpa here.

Well, right now there's not much more to say.  It's really busy being a new area.  Learning the place, the people, the investigators, etc.  Already though, I really love this area and I'm excited to be here.  I think this will be a progressing area and the people here are so humble and friendly.
Have a great week!

Sister Sirrine