500 Days of Serving : Can't think of a good subject this week. Its like being forced to write a status every time you get on Facebook

Hello everyone :)

So mom, timing gid on your questions, I guess I really have to start figuring out what the heck I'll do when I get home haha. Shucks. So yes, I want to go to school and ideally BYU Provo. But I know that I need to start applying now, preferably for the spring sememster that starts in January. So can you please find out when the application deadlines are so I can be all set to go? I may need help on your end with filling out applications since I don't know how much I'll be able to complete from this end. As for finances, I'm planning on using those few months while I'm home to work and save up for school. So.... Cam... my dearest favorite older brother.... ;) If there is any opening in that bazillion dollar business enterprise of yours I would be uber grateful :) Just a thought. Also, congrats on the Oscar. But like, legit that is ridiculous. Send me a picture of you holding it pleeeeeeezethankshaveagreatday.

Monday is always a day for printing pictures because no one here has access to an actual camera or money for printing. So we always take pictures at the baptisms, at church, and at their homes and I print them out for them. I remember when me and Cam visited his mission and he did a family photoshoot for a family there, totally something I look forward to doing when I have a chance to come back and visit. No one here has nice family or individual photos here like we have at home, its all the selfie-facebook-pictures. So I'll be soo happy to bring a nice camera and take legit pictures for them.

Edralyn was baptized on Saturday :) Her mom attended, hooray!! But shes one of those stress case moms and has something evil against her youngest daughter, for instance when we were taking pictures she refused to have the littlest girl in the pictures because she said she was ugly and would just ruin it. I just grabbed the girl and put her in the pictures anyways haha. So then during the service Edralyn gets up to go out to the font and we get up to follow, only to realize that her mom is no longer in the room. We ask them to wait and run outside and there she is walking down the road with the little girl, taking her home because she thought she was being bad. So we run and catch her and tell her to come back so she doesn't miss the actual baptism (gani) so she comes back, watches, then goes home. I'm so so happy for Edralyn's choice, shes such a self motivating little kid, and every time we baptize someone I'm just that much more thankful for my own experience when I was baptized, mostly that it was much more full of love and care, the kind we can't give as missionaries.

We have a group of 3 girls, Viva, Red, and Johana, who were planning to be baptized at the end of the month, but yesterday Red and Johana's parents decided that don't want them baptized right now. Viva will still be baptized, so thats great, her uncle is an RM living in Manila and is flying in just so he can baptize her. Red is her best friend and lives with them and Johanna is the cousin, the uncle was going to baptize all three of them, they're all 10 years old. We were super sad that their parents are doubting, we're not going to let it go so easy though, please pray for them to understand how important this is for these girls.

Remember Jade? He was supposed to be baptized this Saturday. Then... we got an "I love you" text from him. Ratz!!! We pretended like nothing happened, the text came about an hour before we were supposed to meet with him, so we went anyways and he never showed up. Sunday was supposed to be his interview and he didn't even come to church. So now he is MIA and apparently in love with us, not the gospel. Curses be to all. Also not quite giving up on him yet, although we might pass him over to the elders...

Saturday after the baptism we offered our help to Bishop and he asked if we would clean out the storage shed at the church. So us and the elders spent about an hour battling dust, cockroaches, rat poop, moldy church manuals, and definitely the black plague. In our skirts and suits hahaha. Oh, where is the district crew when you need them?

Random things- The Suarez family couldn't do their laundry this last week. Why? Because one of their chickens fell in the well and died and got all moldy and dead gross and made the water disgusting and so they finally found it and fished it out but the water still stunk for like three days. And I'm pretty sure they're going to die now.

- We were teaching and something plopped onto my hand, this huge lizard just fell off the ceiling onto me. I didn't scream but I did throwy scriptures on the ground in a spastic effort to get it off. (Flashback to Hawaii when we had harmless little geckos in the house and Cam threw one in my direction and I got scared and mad and locked myself in the car for three hours. Oh how times have changed).

- I am in love with fishballs, tempura (fried squid), and kwik kwik (deep fried egg). Literally so delicious.

Mom, do people from here chat you on facebook? I was at Bob's last monday and the guy who played violin with me at the Christmas concert, nic or something, was there and was like "Hey! I chatted your mom on facebook yesterday!" and I was like "what??" hahaha so yeah, do random people from here just chat you guys?

Its so weird to hear about everyone getting their mission calls.... like what? Next time I see you all you'll be wearing garments too? And will be RM's too? Oh yeah, I will be home September 25, I asked my buddies in the mission office. So mom, you can sign up for your race, no worries!

I love you more and more each day! Thanks for putting together a package, you guys are the bessssttttttttttt. Shoutout to Gramma Jenkins! I finished reading grandpa's journal, super in awe that we're related :) Have a fantastic week, keep doing all the good things, you're in my prayers and I always feel yours :)

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXO Sister Manwaring

Erdalyns family!