Ch-ch-ch-ch- changes!!!!

SO MANY THINGS TO WRITE!!!!

First off, I TRANSFERRED!! Last monday Sister Peacock and I had just gotten home from the store and had just bought literally 22 apples and 30 things of yogurt (what we were living on haha) and we get the call that I'm TRANSFERRING. We were like "WHAT?? NOOOO" And just sat there so sad and not knowing what to say. And like I said, I have a huge testimony that all transfers and companions are inspired, so I had a really great sense of peace about the change, but I was just sitting there thinking of all my investigators and the members and SISTER PEACOCK. How was I gonna leave it all?? So we hurried back out to try and retreive my laundry from the shop (we take our laundry to shops now, minus garments of course) and they had already sent it out so I was just like "sweet, no clothes" haha. And then we went and bought a crap-load of coco-bread and went back home to pack and stuff. We just didn't even know what to say and we were both so sad! So I started packing and she came in and was talking with me and it was SO WEIRD to PACK. I'd been there for FIVE MONTHS. While packing I got a little glimpse of what this will be like in 12 months when I'm packing to leave the Philippines... didn't like that hahaha. Then we went out to visit our appointments for the night and you're not supposed to tell people that you're leaving because it just causes problems so I just said these wayyy long prayers at the end just blessing their families out the wazoo hahaha. And then SisterPeacock and I went home and were like "Well, we're not letting all our food go to waste on another companion" so we ate like 4 yogurts each and a ton of apples and mangoes and coco-bread and we've been so obedient about going to bed on time our whole time together but we were getting in bed and I was like "...story time?" and she was like "...yeah." haha so we stayed up until 2AM just talking. She is honestly the best. Those 6 weeks with her FLEW by because we were having so much fun and working so hard every day.

   SO. The next day we get all my junk and go to meet our new companions and find out where I'm even going haha. We were both kindof nervous but I knew that good or bad it was what heavnly Father wanted for me.

 

Um.

 

I'm in heaven.

 

My new compaion is Sister Rachel Becerra and I LOVE HER. Sister Peacock is awesome but I love them both in different ways. She's from sandy, utah. Her dad is the mission president over the Arcadia, California mission. We are TWINS and we both love running, blogs (reading all the same ones, like The Daybook), hair and makeup and shopping (don't judge), we have the same sense of humor, we have the same vision for the work, I JUST LOVE HER SO MUCH. I've been on cloud nine. AND ALSO. I'm in the coolest area ever!! We have ROBINSONS! Rememebr I told you about it just last week? Yeah. It's like a real mall. Like, a nice, normal, mall. And they have healthy food and cute clothes and ahhhhhhhh its so great!! And Bacolod has all these adorable little hole-in-the-wall cafes and they have WRAPS and SALADS and such good food. Our apartment is meant for 4 sisters so it's just huge and we have it all to ourselves. I feel so bad because we get along so well and I've never had an issue being on time for bed or things like that, but the first 4 days we literally layed in bed and talked until like 1 in the morning. The past few days we've been like "okay, we can't keep doing this" so we have to be so strict with ourselves to not talk and just go to sleep even though I end up laying there for the next 10 minutes thinking of all these things I want to talk about hahaha. And she is GORGEOUS. Like, the Philippines has no negative effect on her. And we both want to get fit and eat healthy and her sister is a dietician (or however it's spelled) and has set up a workout plan from cross-fit to do in the mornings and tells us what foods to eat and what to avoid so we're just gonna be so healthy and awesome. And we even can go running here! ITS JUST ALL SO GREAT.

 

     The only thing is the area. This area is a little bit of a ghost town with the work. We've got a million eternal investigators and less actives and the ward is super great and invloved with the missionaries but its definitely a little bit of the doldrums here. And I just came from a really successful area in Sum-ag and when I saw what the average Key Indicators were for this area I was like "Oh. Um. Okay" haha so Sister Becerra and I are just working to change up and wake up this area. We've been going out and finding like crazy, adding new investigators to the pool, building up areas, visiting less actives and different ward members, just  getting things back on their feet here. And obviously, every area is going to be different, I can't hold one area as a standard for my whole mission, but I also believe that there is no such thing as an unproductive area. So even though it'll be a little tough at the get-go I'm so excited for the challenge!

    We have this one recent convert that I have to talk about. His name is Derek. He is BRITISH. Meaning that we get to teach them in ENGLISH. He met and married his wife here years and years ago, and she found the missionaries and was baptized 10 years ago and he only just a month ago followed her in becoming a member. And he is AWESOME. We visit them on Wednesdays and they feed us the best food and we share a lesson and answer his questions and it was probably one of my favorite teaching appointments of my whole mission. He has only been a member for such a short period of time but he is so strong and has one of the coolest testimonies I've ever seen. We all just had a gospel discussion basically for the lesson and Sister Becerra keep bringing up stuff he said or that we talked about in our companion studies all week hahaha. And he's BRITISH. Its so great!!! He got up to use the C.R. and says "Excuse me, I need to go find you-know-who" and the Harry Potter fanatic in my just about died of happiness haha.

     Honestly, I have no idea what I've even done to deserve all these tender mercies. Literally 99% of my prayers are just thanking Him for all of this. He knows me SO WELL. And knows all those big and little things that just make me so happy. And it just makes me want to do everything I can to show how grateful I am. I want to be the best missionary for Him and for His children. And I know that I would want that even should I have been placed in a less desirable area or with a less desirable companion, but I'm just so so so thankful that I'm where I am and doing what I'm doing right now.

 

MISSIONS ARE THE BEST.

 

I love you all and I had a ton to write about this week so I'm getting close on my time but I love all your emails!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!! I can't wait to read and write you all again next week and I hope you all have the best week ever!!!!

 

All my love, Sister Manwaring :) :) :)

The baudelaire orphans

Yet another fabulous week here in the mission field!! I'm kinda scattered right now but I'll try and remember all the things that happened.

First off, I locked us out again earlier in the week hahaha. Not the whole house this time, just the back room with our clothes and stuffs. Meaning that we couldn't shower or change clothes or anything, so, gross haha. But! At least it wasn't the room with our beds! or the bathroom! And we have a spare key to literally every room in the house.. but that one haha. SO! You can basically say that we are the Baudelaire orphans because we took my MTC card and used it to bend the brackets on the window of that room, slipped out the panes of glass, took our mop and broom handles and roped them together with a strainer on one end, took our curtain rod and lashed a bucket ladel on the other end, slipped them through the bars and open panes across the room to the dresser with the key on it and using both strainer and the ladel captured the key and pulled it back in through the window.

Please hold the applause.

It's also the start of CHRISTMAS SEASON in the Philippines!! So MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We sing christmas songs in our comp. study every day and people already have fully decorated trees up in their houses. It's basically my dream come true. (Morg, *if you're reading this haha* remember how we started christmas in october last year? Yeah this is a whole new level of christmas cheer haha)

We have these two new investigators who are golden. As in, golden gid. (also, don't remember if I talked about them last week so sorry if this is a repeat). Juliet and Julian. They have a friend at their work who is a member and gave them a Book of Mormon and encouraged them to attend church, so they've been at church the past two weeks, reading for two hours every day, and all of this before we could even get out to their house to teach them. They live wayyy on the outskirts of our area and only have one day off each a week so we teach them separately and only once a week but when we went out to visit Julian last week he not only already had a testimony of the restoration but he wants to serve a mission. Yeah. They basically just fell into our laps and are ready to be the strongest members ever. God is SO preparing these people. I wasn't even sure I understood him right on the mission part so I asked "A mission for what?" and he holds up the Book of Mormon and said "To tell everyone that this is true".

We also had exchanges this week and I left the area!! I went to Paglaum to work with Sister Portugal and it was sooo great!! It's the first time I've left Sum-ag to work and it was so much fun to experience a different area!!! Sister Portugal is really really great and I always learn so much from her!! But I definitely missed Sister Peacock haha :) Speaking of that, transfers are on wednesday and I'm soooooo hoping that nothing will change and we can just stay comps and stay in Sum-ag. We have so much work to do here! Investigators to help, people to baptize, people to find, people to activate. But. I do know that whatever happens is exactly what heavenly Father knows is best for me. So I'm mentally preparing for change but holding onto a little hope that I get to have one more transfer with Sister Peacock in Sum-ag :)

Andddd I have pictures this week!! So I'll wrap this up and get those sent. Basically, I LOVE this mission, I LOVE these people, I LOVE my companion, and I LOVE doing the Lord's work every day :) I also LOVE YOU ALL. Like, you have no idea. Distance really does make the heart grow fonder! And stronger! And I completely cherish every day of my mission but I can't imagine the insane happiness of when we see each other again :) Until then! Know that I love you and that I hope you all have the best week ever and are so happy and have all the good things!

LOVE LOVE LOVE, Sister Manwaring <3 <3