Week 21

This past week was really good. Me and Sister Evans are really getting along and working well together. And the work in the area is really progressing which I love! I am loving all the people here and want them to progress so badly. That is a problem we are facing is we have a lot of investigators but very few progressing. Oh well we will fix it! So this past week I studied about faith a little. I really liked Ether 12. If you have faith you will overcome ALL your trials and be strengthened. I know this is true. Time really has been going fast. Everyone told me I’d learn a lot and that time would go by fast during my follow-up. It is SO true. So this past week has been really rainy. And its so cold! I keep wishing I had warmer clothing... and I think why didn’t I bring warm clothing with me? Then I remember that my thinking of cold is still like really hot for the USA… Like 80’s… Yeah it will be fun getting home winter time…  So there have been local elections here this past week and so that’s been crazy. People are everywhere and there are motorcades of people (like parades of motorcycles…). And its loud… And a lot of people aren’t home. So teaching has been a little difficult but still good. The overall best part of my week was getting Tatay Berces to church. I may or may not have once made a comment saying “he is just a stubborn old guy and won’t listen to anyone” because I was angry he wouldn’t come to church. He commits everyweek but doesn’t come. (He is less active by the way). But HE CAME. It was such a shock. We get to church (like with 2 minutes to spare) and go sit down and look over and see Tatay Berces! What a shock. I was so happy. The whole branch was surprised to see him. It was a great accomplishment. One time he made the comment to me that he would come to church once I could speak Tagalog. I’m taking this as a sign that I can speak Tagalog now. Joke-lang. Ha. I still sound like a 2 year old when I speak. But I am improving! I swear! Anyways that was my week. I hope you are all doing good.

Mahal Kita

Sister Ianuzi

Week 20

"We set goals to show our faith- we follow up on goals to count our blessings" (Liahona October 2013.) I know that at times I can be a bit too realistic. But positivity is so important as a missionary and it really increases your faith. If you are positive about things your faith will grow in the Savoir and you will see all the little miracles of life. And when you are grateful for even the small things, our Heavenly Father is more likely to give you more. Being appreciative is so important. So have faith and be grateful!! I studied a lot about patience this past week too. I realized just how the Lord works on His own time. And we can't be angry when the Lord plans things and it isn't on our timing. We need to remember that the Lord has the perfect timing for the perfect plan of happiness. Alma 34:40-41 is really great!!

So yeah this past week was fine. We have a new baptismal date investigator and he is really excited. He reads the Book of Mormon like crazy! And is willing to learn. We will see how it all works out! I've learned that the most spiritual lessons we have here in the mission are either the ones where we have no power and have to use like a candle or our flashlight from the cell phone or its the lessons where we are sitting on the ground. Those have become my favorite! It's weird... It's rained pretty hard lately. It's hard to teach when it rains because it's so loud on their roofs and so people can't really hear us. And when we get stuck walking around in the rain... yeah thats fun... and happened a couple times this past week. And its not like we are walking on like a paved ground... no we are in mud... So our legs get really gross. What a life as a missionary! ha. So this past week we got fed FOUR times! That is a record! We usually get 1 consistently. But we had 3 lunch appointments this week and 1 dinner. Yesterday (sunday) we had both a lunch and a dinner. It was so great. I love when we are fed... even if the food isn't that good! We got taken to a Japanese restaurant once this past week too... it wasn't as good as I wished being so close to Japan...but still good! So yeah that was great. My Tagalog is well... I was started to feel good about myself but that has been lost again... Since my companion is a foreigner as well people see her and she speaks fluently and then they see me and are like "why can't you speak like her..." So that is discouraging. But I guess I can only improve that means! Right??

Ok well I hope you are all doing well! Mahal Kita

Sister Ianuzi

Week 19

Meet my new companion: Sister Evans, taga New Zealand. So this past week we have just been trying to go around and teach as many people as we can so she can meet people. Things have been a little crazy because it was conference weekend here and then the Sisters from Catanduanes couldn't get a boat back to the island because of bad weather. So they have been staying in our apartment and going on exchanges with Sister Pangilinan and Sister Mwea everyday. Well last night we did some but only for a short time. So that has been a little crazy but fun! I love them! General Conference was great. I felt like a lot was about the importance of enduring to the end. My feeling is that the end is near and it is so important that we continue to live righteously until that time. Basically if we stay on the path of the gospel of Jesus Christ we are going to be happy despite trials. "As we patiently, faithfully, and consistently follow this past throughout our lives, we'll qualify for eternal life" I know this is true. So another thing from conference. Elder M Russell Ballard challenges everyone to prepare someone before Christmas. I hope everyone tries to! You don't need to baptize someone before Christmas but at least attempting to share the gospel is so important. Planting gospel seeds really helps missionaries later on. What an exciting time it is. God is trusting us all so much and is letting so many miracles occur. I know this is the true gospel and the way for us to have eternal happiness. Not much has happened so sorry for the short letter this week. the Besmontes are doing great and we were told they have some callings in mind. I love that the Branch is taking care of them. I also want to invite everyone to read Matthew 20. It is about how the Lord loves us all and wants us all to have the same reward. There is no need to be bitter because someone gets the same blessing without having done as much "work". I hope you are all doing good. 

Mahal kita

Sister Ianuzi

Week 18

This week went by really fast! I know this is long, if you want just read from saturday to the end! :)

Tuesday we went to Legazpi for Mission Leadership Council because of Sister Andrada being the Sister Training Leader here. It was fun. I felt a little weird being there and not being a leader but hey it was all good! Ha. 

Wednesday nothing happened, just the usual missionary life of studying and teaching. 

Thursday was me and Sister Andradas last weekly planning session together! And in the afternoon we ended up going to the hospital because Sister Pangilinan had been sick for a few days and Sister Guanzon told us to take her. Well, we went to the hospital close by, not knowing it was public and TERRIBLE. Like I've never seen a grosser hospital. It terrified me to ever get sick and need to go to a hospital here. Little did we know...I'll tell you later. 

Friday was zone training and it was good. Except I had learned the workshop already at MLC on tuesday. Ha oh well. The zone leaders did great! 

Saturday. the BIG day :) First off in the morning we had Missionary Coordination Meeting with the Branch Leaders and Branch Missionaries. We had it at Cumon, the group off the branch here. Their "meeting house" is like a tarp off the side of a members house... They get like 40 people! Anyways after the meeting we had a farewell party for Elder Aldredge who is going home this week. There was SO much food. like SO SO much. It was all good :) They even had ice cream which is rare! It was super hot out though and I started feeling sick but we had a lot to do that day so I tried to ignore it. Then we went to the church in hopes of watching the relief society broadcast. But we ended up having to clean the baptismal font... Oh well! But so then the Besmontes show up :) We get the dressed in white :) And while they are dressing the baptizer shows up, any guesses who? It was President Guanzon, the Mission President! HA. Sister Besmonte requested him, and He did it! So yeah it was an amazing baptism. After they were baptized they each gave a testimony. It made me so happy to see how strong they are. They all felt so clean and different after being baptized. I was so glad for that. I really can't put into words the joy I felt seeing them baptized :) I love this family. So yeah I was still feeling sick after the baptism but we were invited to a birthday party of a branch member and the Besmontes were going as well so we went. Wow. Philippinos know how to party. There was SO SO SO much food. And it was SO good. And So fun. But I just felt so sick. My stomach was in pain. And my head hurt. We finally went back to the apartment and decided to call the Elders over to give me a blessing. 

Sunday I woke up still not feeling good but we had to go to church because the Besmontes were being confirmed! It was really special. They are all so happy :) After church I still didn't feel good and Sister Guanzon (we had called her) told us to go to the hospital. I started feeling even sicker at the thought of going to the hospital because of the experience on thursday with S. Pangilinan. But we found a private "nicer" hospital close by and went there. It wasn't as bad but still not great... Yeah so that was an experience. We figured out what was wrong and all. But trying to explain to a doctor what is not feeling good when you can't speak their language very well- kind of just makes you feel worse. Later sunday night we were invited with all the other missionaries and the Besmonte family over to the Branch Presidents house for a small family night and dinner. It was so kind of them and really fun. The Branch here really is so great. Yeah so that was my week.

So training is over. Sister Andrada is the one being transferred  I'm staying here and happy with it :) What I have learned from training :) 1. You need to be positive as a missionary 2. The Lord DOES prepare people 3.You cannot get frustrated when people don't progress the way you want them to. Everyone has their agency 4. Missionary life in the Pines is nothing like I expected, but I love it nonetheless. 5. The ONLY way to learn Tagalog is to SPEAK Tagalog. So yeah IT was a good 2 transfers with Sister Andrada and I feel she did a great job at training me. I am excited to continue to learn more next transfer. I hope you all have a great week :)