May 19, 2013

Hello family!!! How is my dakilang family doing??? I hope you are all doing well. It was so great to talk to you last week. It was super short though. But I am glad I was able to see everybody, except the Jesse's because they were out partying on the beach...... ;) 

But this week has been good. Obviously i got transferred two weeks ago. so that was a change. I was very much area sick. But that's ok. it is wearing off over time. My companion is great. She kind of doesn't really know Tagalog....... so we are having a fun time. it has been a little bit to adjust to, but we have been doing great. She can still conect with the people even if she doesn't know hwat they are saying. So we had a baptism last Saturday. It was a 13 girl named Wenzly. i would send pictures but i don't have my camera. SO next week na lang. But the baptism was a success, and we are so happy for her! She is such a great girl and has such a strong testimony. 

So our area is MALAYO!!!!!!!!!!! or that means very very big! And we walk a ton, because fare is expensive... hehe. But it is ok. i'm just working on my figure.... haha. So that has been an adjustment becuase my last area wasn't too big. It was big, but not as big as this. But it has still been fun. I have meet a lot of great people already and things just keep progressing. We had district conference (we are in a branch in a district) this past weekend. It was really great. A 70 came. They are from here. It was really cool to hear his conversion and how he progressed from 19 years old meeting the missionaries to now, a general authority. It just goes to show the potential that we have if we apply the teachings of the church and how much the Lord loves us. I learned a lot from them. 

So the other night we walked into our apartment and it smelled soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad!!!!!!!!!!! We were like what the heck is the smell. So  we moved all the furnature because maybe there was a dead something, but we couldn't find anything. So then i think it was the next day I was in the kitchen cooking and the other sisters called out. We went into our living room and guess what had happened????????? Sister Bonifacio had sitten on a mouse and squished it. So yes we had a dead mouse squished into our couch...... it was soooooooooo gross!!!!!!! So that was the source of teh awful stench. We were laughing pretty hard. 

So that was basically my week, plus or minus a few details. I hope you are all doing well and keeping strong. One thing i learned at district conference is that it all starts in the family. We need to be doing daily scripture study as a fam and daily fam prayer in order to be strong in the gospel. If we don't want our family to get off the path, that is what we will do. I love the verse in D&C123:17. After we do ALL we can, sit still. Watch what the Lord will do with our lives after we do all we can. I hope you guys have a great week. I know you will because you are only 5 hours away from "HOLY MOLY". Lucky! (Napoleon Dynamite voice). I know that this church is true. The heavens are open and God is trying to communicate with us. We just need to open our ears to here the precious words he is trying to tell us. I love you all so much. mahal na mahal ko po kayo. Magingat kayo diyan. Palangga taka. 

Sister Palmer

May 6, 2013

Hello Family. How are you all doing?? I hope that you have all had a great week. Thank you for your emails to me. You guys are the best. Sorry that I don't have time to write you back individually, but I'll try. This week has been good. We had a tri-zone conference. Elder and Sister Nielson of the General Area Presidency did a mission tour of our mission. It was really great. They said so many great things that really helped me stay motivated even through hard times. One thing I learned is to find holiness in all things. We need to look for it. I know that if we do we will be happy because we can see how the Lord's hand is in everything. 

So this is probably my last week in Urdaneta. I have a feeling that I am going to be transferred. And let me just tell you I am really sad. I think I have cried a lot in the past few days because of this. I can't even imagine how it's going to be when my mission is over. I am going to miss the people so much here, as in. And especially SIster Alibogha. She is like my best friend and now we are getting separated. I feel like that happens a lot in life, but we just need to keep on smiling and always remember the people we meet. I know that this life is so short and we will see each other again on the other side. 

Today we had a zone activity. We did the amazing race. It was really fun!!! But soooooooooooooooooooooooooo hot! I thought I was going to die. We were all running around with out an umbrella. Lets just say we all looked like we had been swimming, but really it was just our sweat...... mmmmm yummy. But it was really fun, even though we got last place..... hahaha

So there is a family here that has 6 kids. And they are crazy! At church they are always everywhere!!!! So last week there was a baptism (child of record) in our ward. Sister A and I sat down and little by little the kids came by us too. Oh boy!!!!!! Was that fun. The whole time we were trying to get them to sit down and be quiet. I think we got a little taste of what it's like being a mom. But they are really cute. There's just a lot of them and they are always everywhere!

Our work is going ok. We haven't had a baptism since Feb and it is really sad. We have been working hard and trying to find the elect that are ready for this message. We just need to keep looking. I know that this is the only way to find true happiness in life. Even though sometimes peoples agency is frustrating, I know that it is the only way to show God that we truly love him, is through our actions. We just need to do everything that we can to give them opportinities in this life and it is their choice if they reject it or not. 

Sorry if this is kind of scattered. I am a little tired from our escapade earlier. Thank you for all that you do for me. I got the pictures that mom sent me. You all look great and all grown up! (The little ones). I love you all so much. I know that this church is true. It is god's kingdom on the earth and it is our responsibility to build it up on the earth. We are making a fat feast for the poor. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior. Thank you all for everything. I love you all so much. Have a great week!!!!!! 

Sister Palmer