Splits & Temple Tour with Elder Sidillo

(Received 02-13-12)
Hey hey hey!!! :)  How's everybuddy doin?  Kinda tired here in the Philippines but for once it's not too hot haha.  We played basketball in pouring rain for about an hour earlier haha, fun stuff :)

So we went on splits for the 2nd time yesterday.  Exchanges is when you go with a different missionary.  Splits means that you go with one ward missionary (usually 16-18 yrs old) and your companion goes with the another.  HOLY FREAKING STRESSFUL!!! haha :)  The first time we did it was terrible haha.  I didn't understand hardly any of the Tagalog and we walked around for between 3 and 4 hours and only got 1 lesson in because noone was home.  Blech haha :)

This time went A LOT better.  It wasn't easier.  I was DEAD tired afterwards because I had been stressed out all day.  But things worked out pretty well :)  We ended up teaching 4 lessons.  I got lost a bit sometimes in the Tagalog and teaching is still hard for me but Heavenly Father definitely helped us out.

I've received a TON of help from our Heavenly Father with Tagalog.  In my first area I didn't understand hardly anything that people said and had to ask my companion what was going on a lot of the time.  But now I understand A LOT that people say.  My brain has to be 100% concentrated and it's really tiring but I'm getting it :)  So Heavenly Father's definitely blessed me with the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues, the Gift of Speaking in Tongues is still a work in progress but I know what I do have is definitely coming from him :)



Santa Ana Family with Elder Powell

 So this last weekend we had a Temple Tour and I saw.....  Tatay ko!  haha, Elder Sidillo and his new companion.  They brought an AWESOME recently baptized family.  The Sta. Ana family :)  (Sis. Santa Ana's name is Jenny, just in case you wanna know :))  They were AWESOME investigators.  Every time we taught them they would feed us a HUGE meal haha :)  They had been searching for the right church for quite a while and had some deep questions and through the Spirit we were able to answer them and they gained STRONG testimonies.  They got baptized 2 weeks after I left Panghulo (Awwwww man!  I missed it! :P) and it was great to see them again.  They were super excited when they saw me haha. Good times :)

Kenneth Mendoza with Elder Powell

The other picture is another convert from Panghulo.  Her name is Kenneth Mendoza.  SUPER cool! :)  I know that God answers prayers because of her.  She was friends with the Bishop's daughter and came to live with them because her home was FAR away from her job and she needed a place to stay.  We taught her twice and then weren't able to teach her for a while.  The 2nd time we committed her to pray for an answer as to whether Joseph Smith was a True Prophet and if the First Vision really happened.  We came back about a week later not expecting much to happen because a lot of the time our investigators didn't keep their commitments.  When we asked her if she had prayed she said yes.  When we asked her if she felt she had received an answer......... she started crying....... WOOT! :D  haha, that's a GREAT sign for a missionary! :)  She really had received an answer and a strong testimony from simply asking.  I know now that anyone who asks for any answer or anything will receive it if they ask with a sincere heart :)

Kenneth got baptized the week after I left Panghulo (Awwwwwww man!!!!! I missed that one too! haha :P)

Oh yeah, Happy Valentine's Day and stuff haha :)  I was looking at the calendar yesterday and realized that I completely forgot THE MOST important holiday of the year!!!  Groundhog Day was a whole 2 weeks ago and I didn't even notice?! haha :o)  Time flies when you're havin fun eh? :)

That's awesome that Michael's hitting the MTC on Wednesday! :D  Tell him he's gonna be great for me :)  Just have fun and work hard..... at the same time..... maybe that only makes sense to missionaries haha :)  Tell Cousin Bruce and everyone hi for me :)  Tell him I miss him, hope he's doing well and we'll hafta go bowling sometime when I get back :)

Tell Elder Sanford congrats for me :)  I've heard Florida's weather is a lot like the Philippines.  Tell him to drink LOTS of water now cuz he won't stop sweating for the next 2 years haha

I love you all TONS!!!!!!!!!  Sorry I can't respond to all the emails but know that I read them, laughed my head off, love and miss you, and can't wait to get back and party as a family again :)

MAHAL KITA!!!!!

Da Beej