Called to Serve: HANGING BRIDGES AND FUNERALS

Hello everyone!

Wow, this week has been packed with so many things! Transfers went great for me! It was hard to part away from Quirino... a part of me will always be left in that area. But I am loving my new area here in Cogeo. It is beautiful here! It's not the city anymore! It is all mountain. There is still a city-ish part of our area, but most our area ni Sister Valikoula is complete mountain talaga. Ay! My new companion! I don't know if I emailed about it last week or not. Sister Valikoula! She's Tongan but she's from New Zealand. I love her so much! Right off the bat we just hit it off and we are getting along so well. We have similar personalities and we are just having so much fun together. This is her last transfer so she's going home in about 5 weeks! Crazy! I'm excited though for this transfer. It's going to be super busy as an STL, but I am going to learn so much.

Oh P.S. HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe it's 2015!! I don't know about you guys, but 2014 just flew by for me!! Time goes by so fast in the mission. Our New Year was pretty fun. We have such a great apartment. It's up on the side of the mountain and it's 3 floors! My bed is the top bunk on the 3rd floor, right next to the window and I can just look out at the whole view! Also, there's a middle part of the building that the landlord owns that is just a staircase going up to a rooftop on the 4th floor. So on New Years Eve, we got permission to go up to the top and watch all the fireworks in the whole valley! It was the greatest show I've seen :) But oh gosh, the fireworks were so loud all night long. haha but luckily I was able to fall asleep and sleep all night. That's me :)

It's a lot different though. Before, I would always have to sleep with an electric fan on at night. But now, it's actually cooler at night! I ended up going to bed with a hoodie on and socks! Just because my body wasn't used to it being cooler. Even throughout the day, there's a nice breeze, and it's not so hot. And when we're studying in the morning, the breeze comes through the window, it's so nice :) And literally....our area is like hiking through the mountains every day. No joke! Haha, it's complete trails and stairs and hills through the green mountains. Ay naku. SO MANY STAIRS and steep hills. I've already seen my legs get bigger, especially my calves and I've only been here about a week. oh shoot... haha. There's also this big bridge we call the hanging bridge! It's literally like what you see in those movies..when there's that wooden bridge in the jungle over a river and it's all swaying and it has missing boards in it.... THAT'S the hanging bridge in our area. haha it's so fun though. But it's got chain link stuff up the sides so you don't fall. Don't worry mom, I'm safe. I honestly though just love this area. It has been a complete de-stresser for me. It has relaxed me with the cooler breeze and nature and all the laid-back people. I'm grateful for it.

I ripped one of my favorite skirts though on a tricycle :( wah... It was kind of funny though kasi we didn't realize that there is this huge rip in my skirt until we were coming back to the apartment for lunch. haha it had gotten got on the trike but i didn't realize it had ripped.. so the whole morning as we were hiking around our area and walking and talking with people, there was this big hole in my skirt on my butt. Ay naku. It's more fun in the Philippines. :)

Anyway, ah, I'm running out of time. We had so many great experiences this week though. We taught at a funeral this week! We were walking through our area and talked to this guy, and he mentioned that he had just lost his wife the day before. We felt so bad for him. He was holding their 6 year old daughter and they have another son who is about 9 I think. He said, "come see.".... and beckoned for us to follow him. Me and Sister Valikoula looked at each other like...uh....okay... Ha, but we followed him into their house where they had the casket viewing all set up with flowers and a bunch of family in the room crying and sitting. We greeted everyone there and he asked us to sit. They asked if we could pray over his wife and said they could go get a rosary... We were like oh no...we don't pray with rosaries. But we offered to share with them and they accepted readily.

It was actually such a powerful lesson. We opened up with singing, "Come, Come, Ye Saints." and the Spirit just came into the room. We then shared and bore testimony about eternal families and the power of the Atonement. The Spirit was so thick and they just soaked it all in. Tears were flowing and...I don't know, I can't even find words to describe it. Sister Valikoula and I just walked away from the lesson amazed. It was an incredible day.

Anyway, I'd better go now. Thank you all for everything you do and the love and support you give to me! Just a heads up, the next few weeks, I might be sending shorter emails, it's going to be so busy with exchanges and I have to report on a lot more to our mission president so my email time with be used up fast. But always know that the Lord is taking care of me and I trust that He is taking good care of you too.

MAHAL NA MAHAL KO KAYO!

Sister Oyler