Sept 8, 2014 Kamusta ang aking pamilya!

This is what rice looks like while it is growing.  When it turns golden brown, it's ready to harvest!  Lots of rice growing right now in our area :)

Kamusta ang aking pamilya!

Well, this week was a pretty great week!  (I think this is about how I start every email...) The best part of the week was yesterday when we had 9 investigators come to church!  That is the most that I've had come to church at one time in my whole mission!!!!  So that was exciting.  There were two families there and that made it even better.  It's always awesome to see families come to church.  The Trajano family we are really excited about.  We finally got the kids interested in what we were teaching when we taught the plan of salvation and I had all the pictures and cut outs and everything.  So we're really hoping that they can all be baptized together because that would be an awesome baptism.  Mark Trajano (the dad) is really excited to be baptized and he really gets what we are teaching him.  I have a feeling that he'll be a leader in the church.  He's really good at understanding the doctrine and the scriptures.  And the good thing is that they have friends in the church so that always makes it easier.  I'll try and get a picture of their family next week because they are my favorite!  But I have a feeling that I'll be transferred this transfer and I won't get to see their baptism....

And Jocelyn Roque is the other investigator that we are super excited about.  She is the wife of a less active that really wants to be active now.  It's so funny because before, she did NOT want to talk to the missionaries ever, and she was even pretty rude to the previous sisters here.  But now she loves when we come teach her and she is sooooooooo excited to be baptized!  And, one night when we left, she said to us "You sisters are welcome here any day, any time!"  what a big change from what she used to say! But she's really excited for the baptism and during one lesson, she asked about 5 times about her baptism and if it was still happening.

We've also started a Book of Mormon reading program in one of our areas.  It's kind of like a book club where they meet once a week and discuss the assigned reading for the week.  We did it in an area that has a lot of recent converts and also Jocelyn and Junior Roque live there.  The area presidency is really trying to push that recent converts FINISH the Book of Mormon, not just get to 2nd Nephi.  But it's been good because one of the recent converts there previously never read and always said that she didn't have time.  Since we've started this, she has always read and actively participates and shares in the discussion.  I think it's been good because sometimes it's just hard for recent converts and less actives to understand the Book of Mormon and so they eventually just stop.  But so far, this is being successful!!

Well, that's about all the news from Pilar, Bataan, Philippines.  We had a really big rainstorm the other day and that was the loudest thunder I've heard in my life.  And tons of lightning.  I'm going to miss the rainstorms when I go home.  We don't have rain like that in Utah.

Love you all! Hope you are doing well and always sharing your testimony with your friends!
mahal ko kayo!
Sister Sirrine