So much love to you all

Hello!!! Another awesome week, gihapon. I loved reading all your letters this week! As with every week, gihapon haha. Nate, you are ADORABLE! Clay! Holy happy birthday this week!!! Eight??? You need to stop growing up dangit! *point* :) Just so so glad to hear you're all doing well, and even with the things that aren't so well, know that I always pray for you guys at least 67 times a day :)

So basically I must be way too gorgeous and awesome for my own good cause I had an investigator ask me out this week. Hahahaha and I'm being way sarcastic about being gorgeous and awesome cause I'm just sweaty and smelly and frizzy haired and fat so I don't know how it happened, but yeah. One of our teenage investigators asked for our number, which we give out to coordinate appointments and send reminders and stuff, and later that night we get a text asking if I have a boyfriend... so we are like "okay, crap." and we say no we're missionaries, and he says "thats okay, I can wait." and we were like "nooooo crappppp noooo" cause we can't really teach him now and it was so dumb and yuck I don't want that on my mission, so we told our WML who is his friend and he said he'll talk to him and then we brought it up in ward council when they asked how it was going with him and we totally expected them to be all upset about it and they thought it was sooo funny hahah the whole council was like "Hey, whats the problem! If he gets baptized right?" hahahaha so yay. I can just use that to get converts haha. and then last night he sends a text asking me out to dinner, and the text literally just said "dinner.." hahahahahahahaha oh what a charmer. and like, kay, even if I wasn't a missionary, where on earth would we go to dinner? Would he just cook me some rice? hahahahahaha. Anyways, so now we have one less investigator but we are always working by his house and with his friends and sister so now it'll be so awkward whenever we have to see him so darn hahaha.

The kid on the computer next to me is playing He is We so that's not distracting haha.

The other day Sister Peacock and I were leaving an appt. and we had a few minutes before our next one so I wanted to go try and contact this girl I met like 2 months ago, she is this baptist preachers daughter and can sing wayyy good and makes these like baptism hymn CD's and anyways, she was really nice and I wanted to give it a shot contacting her, so we go to where she pointed her house was and instead find this baptist church (cause she's the preachers daughter so they live in the church) and she wasn't there but all these baptist youths were (sera, please catch the Schmidt reference there) and so we were just leaving and then they called us back and were like "Can we share our message with you?" and my first thought was "well, I ask people to listen to my message all day, I can be polite and listen to theirs for a few minutes" but that's where I made a big mistake cause what I thought was going to be them talking to us outside for a few minutes and then us going turned into them leading us into their church and setting up this preaching session and this baptist youth just yelled bible scriptures at us and talked about how we're all sinners and need to accept that we're sinners and the spirit was really not there and it felt so yucky and I kept trying to save it by offering our beliefs in response and when I pulled out the Book of Mormon you would've thought it was a poisonous snake and they tried to take us on a guided prayer to accept Jesus and confess our sins and reprove the sinner within us and I was like "Oh, sorry, we really have to go, bye" and then we just left really fast and I am such a bad missionary and almost made Sister Peacock and I become members of their church hahahaha so yay.

We've been having a little trouble with people understanding us in lessons so I asked Bishop if he had any critique for us and he said that I speak ilonggo way too fast so it's hard to understand me sometimes. I speak fast? Tell me something I don't know hahaha story of my life. So yay, now I have to focus so hard to not be a motor mouth.

I forgot my nametag so that was a crowning moment haha. I noticed about 3 lessons into our day and I my heart jumped so bad when I realized I didn't have it haha and we had to go all the way home and get it and I just held my hand over the spot where it should've been and felt so naked haha. But I got 5 months into my mission without forgetting it once, so that's pretty good!

5 months in! Holy cow hahahaha. Almost a third done. So crazy.

Maryglore is just so so great. She didn't get married this last week :/ Her husband has been really busy with work and didn't have a chance to go to the City hall for their license. But! We are bringing Bishop with us to their house tonight to talk about maybe having a ward member go with Maryglore so that they can get it this week. And then hopefully they'll be married this week! And she can be baptized as soon as they're married! So in one of our lessons with her this last week we came during their dinner time and I felt bad to interrupt so we tried to just make the lesson short and she says "Oh! Don't worry! Food doesn't matter compared to the word of God. If you eat every day, even a whole 3 meals a day, you'll still die eventually and you're not saved. But even if you had no food but you had the word of God when you died you will be saved." And it was so adorable and she also tried fasting this last week after we taught her fasting, cause they're really reallyyyyyyy poor, like 20 pesos a day for food, which is like 5 0 cents, so she was fasting for help and she thought her kids needed to fast too so her little kids were fasting and she was like "I really like fasting but i don't know how often we can fast, my kids just get so hungry." and we were like "Oh my gosh, no, your kids don't have to fast at all." But her desire is just so awesome, I just want her to get married so bad so she can be baptized!!

We've started involving the recent converts in our investigator lessons and it's so awesome! I LOVE hearing my recent converts help teach to our investigators and talk about their own conversion experience and it just makes me so proud and they're so good at teaching and Gino wants to go on a mission and he's going to be such a good missionary and I just love it so much.

Sister Peacock is SO AWESOME. We just have so much fun all the time. And she does this hilarious "marcel the shell" voice and it's soooo funny and we just laugh at all the crazy philippines stuff all the time and it's just so fun and awesome :)

Okay.... I have one last thing... drumroll please!

I cut my hair :D :D

I had Sister Peacock cut it for me and I took off like 5 or 6 inches and it's so much better and I'm so proud of myself for being spontaneous and cutting it and not caring and I'll send a picture and basically I'm just super brave and awesome now. Be proud.

Anndddd that's all for this week!!! I love you all to death and I love your emails every week and I lovvveeeee being a missionary and I'm so happy to be doing this and even though I miss you all like I can't even describe I am so so glad to be able to be serving a mission :) LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

-Sister Manwaring <3 <3

Yet another awesome week here in the sweatiest place on earth!

Hello to the house! This week has been so great, gihapon (as always). I am LOVING being with Sister Peacock, this is definitely the happiest time of my mission so far!! So many great things happened this week in the work. We found 19 new investigators, we SHOULD have a marriage and a baptism this week if everything goes well with forms and papers and things, and just every day awesome stuff! I'm trying to send pictures this week (finally!!) so my email might be a little short-ish. I'll just focus on the important stuff! 

     So one of our investigators, the seaman, is supposed to be baptized this weekend... but he let us know last time that he wants to wait until he comes home again next year :( He wants more time to talk to his Catholic family and get their support, he was supposed to have gone to talk with them yesterday so we'll see how that went. Sister Peacock and I fasted that it would go well and that something would happen to change his mind, as well as for all our other investigators with W.O.W. problems and for Maryglore and her Marriage/Baptism, and for all our gintudloan to come to church on Sunday... we had 13 investigators at church, one of our W.O.W. investigators hasn't smoked the past 2 days, and maryglore's husband got enough money to go to the courthouse!! Such a tender mercy!!! 

     So the night before church we were panted with some of our appointments and one of our investigators dropped us :/ so we needed to do something to feel better so we went to the market and got a box of groceries to secretly take to Maryglore, we creep to her hut and leave it outside but then as we're walking away we realize that it might rain and ruin the food if they don't see it till morning, so we're standing outside their hut talking about what to do when maryglore walks up and we were like "crap! we're so busted and this is so awkward now!" but we totally pulled it off like we were just coming from another appointment and she didn't suspect anything! Phew! And then at church the next day we saw her and her kids eating some of the bisquits we left and we were happy :)

     My favorite new investigator of the week... This little  10 yr old boy came with Maryglore to church, Jonnie, we've seen him around the area before and he's joined in on a few lessons with some recent convert kids we teach in that area and he always comes over to shake our hands when he sees us walking to maryglores, and apparently on Sunday morning he showed up at maryglores and asked if she was going to our church and if he could come and he had put on special clothes to go to church, this adorable little overalls that were so short and tiny but the nicest clothes he had, and she was like "of course!" so he came and when we saw him he was standing outside the church not going in because he was worried his clothes weren't nice enough and when he saw us he got so excited and asked if we could please come teach him and his family so we made an apt. after church to go by and he kept asking if we could come earlier and earlier haha he was so excited, and then after church when we went by he was SO happy to see us and was jumping up and down and calling his parents over to meet us, and we ended up teaching him and his little brother and parents and it was the CUTEST thing ever. I know that was a really horrible run on story thing but I'm trying to hurry so I can send pictures haha. But yes! He is adorable and I'm so excited to teach his family! 

     Sis. Peacock and I have so much fun, we're both way too big to fit in the trikes together cause they are SO not made for americans hahaha and we just have to squish in them and everyone laughs and calls us fat as we ride by hahaha. And I don't even know, it's just really really fun and I love it :) Okay! I'm gonna try pictures! If I have any time after I'll write another small note, but if not I love you all and I'm so glad that Sera's cheer team can just rule the world this year and hannah and nate holy beasts, you're both gonna kick my butt in running when I get home, CAM AND ALYNE CONGRATS I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT! now only 99 more years to go! (yes, I fully expect you to be married for 100 years), and you're all just so awesome and I love you so much and you're the best family everrrrrrrrrrr <3 <3 <3 <3 BIG HUGS!!!!!!!

-Sister Manwaring :)

Another great week doing the best stuffs in the world

Hello all my loved ones :)))

Great great week. Training is such a big responsibility but I'm really humbled that Heavenly Father trusts me with the job! I know I am going to learn so so much and it will be so valuable for my whole life! 

Sister peacock and i work SO HARD. I am BEAT at the end of every day haha but its so so awesome. We are really good for each other, we motivate each other to do better and shes helping me break out of some of the habits I formed in the first few months here which is awesome!! Its been a challenge splitting the area because we have much less people to work with but on the other hand it just gives us a chance to find new people to share the gospel with! 

We've had some awesome experiences this week, we're planning the wedding of one of our investigators and then soon after her baptism :)) I hope I get to be the maid of honor ;D haha. But yeah, its sups diff for people to get married here because of cost and needed forms and identification but we've been working with the bishop to figure it all out and if everything goes well they should be married this week or the first of next :))) yayayayayay. SOOO happy for them. 

     We've been having trouble though getting people to follow through on their commitments :( Stupid agency! hahaha kidding, kidding, its very important and good i just want to force people to do whats good for them sometimes haha I'm just satan I guess. But yeah, Sunday comes along and one of our investigators isn't at church.. so we wait.. and wait.. and finally decide to just go get him haha, he lives right across from the church anyways so its so easy for him to come, so we leave class a few minutes early and go to his house and make him get dressed and come hahaha. Hopefully next week he'll remember that if he doesn't come we'll just go get him haha. 

     Yesterday was a little rough, everyone was sleeping and/or hiding from us haha. like, literally, they hide. its exactly like on the RM when he's trying to do his home teaching at midnight and he's like "Sister Jones I can see your arm!" hahaha. "why are you hidinggggg we just want to share the gospelllll". It's all good, we'll keep doing our best.. and they can't hide forever ;) 

     To answer questions, no, we haven't found a bigger apartment yet, but hopefully soon! The other sisters are about 10 min jeepney ride from their area. I'm not sure how many sisters are in our mission now.. a ton haha :) And also, I can't believe how fast time is going now! Almost 5 months into the mission! Geez Louise. Every day is a million years but the weeks zoom by. I'm just enjoying every second though, good and not so good haha :) I can never explain it how I want to but I just love being here so much. MISSIONS ARE SO AWESOME EVERYONE. And i love being here and I can't wait to be able to just stay up all night telling you all about everything when my time is up and I have to come home. 

   As always, so glad to hear you're all doing so good!! MOM HOLY BEAST. While you are a running monster I am turning into the pillsburry doughgirl. But really. I walked into the computer shop today and its one I haven't been to since my first few weeks here and the lady was like "long time no see! Oh! You're getting fat! Chubby cheeks!" -__- Thanks, I'll go kill myself now. But i'm ACTUALLY doing lots better now that I have an american comp and we just eat fruit and pb and js hahah. But would you all still love me if I came home fat? 

I love you all so much and I miss you but this is exactly where I need to be and I'm so so happy and Im glad you all are too!!!! LOVE YOUUUUUUU

-Sister Manwaring 

Meg is training :)

Hello!!!!! So yes, the rumors are true, I'M TRAINING!!!!!!!!!! What??!?? Yeah, I am still a baby so I don't know how this happened hahaha but it has been so so great!!! My new companion, Sister Peacock, is AWESOME. She's from Orem and her family is so cool, her parents are BYU Professors and they have gone on travel abroads basically her whole life so she's been to 20 countries and lived in france for 2 years, she's studying neuro science and all her brothers and sisters are becoming doctors and stuff. She's already so skilled at the language and teaching also! Heavenly Father is hastening His work and He needs these new missionaries to be ready the second they come out of the MTC and they totally are. Such a great batch that just came in. BUT OH MY GOSH I AM SO BUSY ALL THE TIMES OF THE DAYS. I locked us out of the house the first morning hahahaha so that was a great way to start the transfer, but no worries our guard brought a gangster to open our apartment for us, he literally said "I know a gangster, wait one second" hahahahaha. So not ideal but it worked! And no, I am not with Sister Bendoy, our area still split but the other sisters are Sister Shakespear (Utah, one transfer ahead of me, and wayy awesome) and her trainee Sister Clark (utah also, and way way funny) but our apartment is too small for 4 so they are living with the sisters in the next area and just working in our area until we can find a bigger apartment. So yes, training, splitting an area, lots of fun! Like I said, I am so so so so so busy always but it's good!! Sister Peacock and I get along really well and she's adorable and it's only been a few days but I'm so so excited to be with her. She's had a crazy few days, dealing with all the changes and different schedules and things but shes adjusting really well, I'm way proud of her! I'll probably write a letter-letter if I get time today because since I'm all training now and everything I have to be a great and wonderful example to her and that includes computer time ;D But I love you all!!! and I'm so so glad to hear you're all doing so well!! I hope you guys had a great time at the temple, I'm way jealous, we won't go to the temple while I'm here :( But that's fine because I'm going home to the land of temples so I can go as much as my little heart desires!! Much different than the members here who go twice a year as a ward, if they have money to go. We are so blessed!! So sad to hear about Baxter!! Oh and my money is all figured out, I can withdraw just fine now!! And wow you guys, thank you so so so so for making sure I have everything I need while I'm here!! Your sacrifice is beyond words. I just love you all so so much :) So yes!! Please ignore my fat and ugly pictures that President keeps putting on facebook haha, another pro about an american companion!! We can get skinny!! Yay!! Not that I need it, I'm beautiful inside ;D hahahaha. I hope you all have a great great week and have so many nice things happen to you and know that I'm insanely busy but also so so happy!! I love my mission!!!! Man. Just so great. So hard but so WORTH IT. I love you alllllllll for forevs and infinity!!!!!!!!!!! *BIG HUG*

Your favorite missionary ever- Sister Manwaring ;)