Trainer! Transfer! Malolos!

Hello to all of you!

Well, it has definitely been a long and interesting week this week!

We'll start with Wednesday. It was a very long day on Wednesday. It started out with us going to the hospital. Not anything too serious. I was just getting a check-up on my ear. It turns out I have a middle ear infection, but I've been taking medicine and everything, so it should be healing up pretty soon here =] I have a follow-up appointment on Friday just to make sure everything is ok.

View from the 12th floor of the hospital

At the hospital with Sister Apolinario. Smiling through the pain?

Now we'll go to Tuesday. During our district meeting, my companion got called to be a trainer! She's already trained once, and now she's going to train another new missionary for her last 2 transfers here in the field. She'll be great! Well, Thursday, we got a call from the APs, saying that I needed to be at the trainer's training at the mission home on Friday. (WHAT??) It turns out that not only is Sister Apolinario training, but so am I.

So, we went to trainer's training on Friday, and it turns out that Sister Clark is also training! I was definitely excited for that. It will be awesome! 

Yesterday, we had our transfer announcements. This is where we find out where we're going and who is going to be our new companions =] Of course, we were all super excited to know where we're going and everything. So it turns out that Sister Apolinario is staying here with her new missionary. And I'm going out to Malolos with my new missionary. Here's the twist, my new companion has actually already been here for a transfer, but here trainer went home 2 weeks into the transfer. So, I'm going to 'save the day', according to our APs. I'm excited and so very nervous all at the same time. I'm not quite sure what to except, but I know that everything will be ok! Over in Malolos wish Sister Bugtong is where the Lord wants me to be, so that's where I'm going to go! More good news is, Sister Clark is my neighbor over in Malolos! So I'm sure we will have lots of fun!

Goodbye San Mateo Montalban!

We've definitely had a good week this week! Other than those crazy things happening, we've had a lot of progression in our area lately! We finally were able to start a temple prep class on Sunday, so we have a lot of returning less-actives who were able to attend that. It was the coolest thing to see them there! They all looked way excited =D

We've also had some progression with our investigators this week as well! Sister Apolinario and I feel like we have 2 investigators who are really progressing towards their baptismal dates. We think that Sister Apolinario and her trainee will probably have a few baptisms either in the next transfer, or the one after that. I told Sister Apolinario that she'll just have to send me some pictures when they get baptized =] We're really excited for them!

I guess that's about it for the week. Today we're just packing and getting everything ready for me to get to my new area tomorrow. I'm sure it's going to be great!

I'll just share a little bit of something spiritual that I've been thinking about this week. At our last district meeting yesterday, our DL asked all of us to speak on certain Christ-like attributes, and mine was patience. Go figure! Just as soon as I got called to be a trainer, everyone has been telling me I'm going to have to be so patient with my trainee. Well, isn't that the truth! Being patient is not something that just comes, but it comes from the Lord. We have to pray for it and work towards it. In Preach My Gospel, it talks about how patience is not just being patient with other people, but it's also being patient with ourselves. It's not something that is easy, but it's definitely worth it to work on. I testify that it's not easy. It is hard to be patient, but it will help us get to where we need to be. In Alma 34:41, it says: "But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions." One of our greatest challenges here on this earth is to align our will with the Lord's, but as we do this, we will be so much happier, and we will have this promise. We will one day rest from our afflictions, if we follow Christ's example and do the things that he has asked us to do.

I know that this church is true with all of my heart, and I'm thankful for everything this church has helped me to become. Mahal ko kayong lahat! Ingat kayo palagi!

Love,

Sister Wilwand

The jeepneys in Montalban are painted and decorated. Sister Wilwand said she has seen jeepneys decorated with Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, X-Men, etc.

When the jeepneys are full, you have to hang on the back!

Sister Wilwand told me she wouldn't be cutting her hair her whole mission but I guess she changed her mind!

BAGYO (hurricane!!)

Ok, well, let me just first say that yes, we are safe! Don't worry! There was a bagyo (hurricane) here, but we're all safe. 

So here's what happened. On Tuesday, during out district meeting, we got word that we were supposed to stay inside all of Wednesday because there was a hurricane coming in. Well, on Wednesday, we lost power early in the morning, so there definitely was a storm in our area. While we were doing our studies, the wind and the rain was so strong! It was crazy. I've never seen anything like that, but it wasn't terribly bad. That afternoon, we did our weekly planning since we would be inside for most of the day, and then we finally got word that we were allowed to go out at 5 o'clock. So we went out around 5, but since there was no electricity anywhere, it was a bit hard to teach anyone. So instead, we just went around and checked the members to make sure there were all ok. Nothing was too damaged, although we did see at least one electrical post that had fallen over, and a couple of trees that fell down. Luckily, we didn't have too much flooding in our area by the time we got there. Since then, everything has been pretty good. We've had some rain, and our electricity keeps going out every once in a while, but we're doing good! At least we're doing better than a lot of people. Even the Elders in our ward haven't had electricity in almost a week. So hopefully they get that fixed.

Damaged wires due to the bagyo.

Well, for now, that's about all of my hurricane experience. We'll see what happens in the next coming transfers.

I think that may have been the most exciting thing that has happened in our area this week. We did have a really good Sunday yesterday though! We had 6 investigators come to church! It was way awesome!! We had the husband of a less-active come with his wife, and it was the coolest thing to see them at church! They both looked so happy with each other, it was amazing. We also had these three teenage boys that came to church, and they are just teenagers! But it was still could to see them come. One is less-active and the other two are investigators, but it was just good to see them there.

Otherwise, we've kind of had an uneventful week. This is our last full week of the transfer, so we're excited for the work that we're going to get in here. Hopefully it'll be a good one! We've had some cool miracles going on in this area, and we hope we'll get to see them continue!!

Sorry this email is so short. I hope you all are doing well! I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Wilwand

Note from mom - Sister Wilwand is SO determined to be positive and upbeat her whole mission. I wanted to hear more about her experiences with the hurricane but she really didn't say much about it. And, she was experiencing a horrible earache this week, so bad that her ear drum burst and she ended up having to go to the hospital. But she says very little about such things - she is such a great example to me! Her faith and perseverance is admirable and amazing!

Every single moment is a GIFT!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MAX LAST WEEK, AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MATT THIS WEEK!!!!

Well, this week has been an interesting week! We've definitely had some ups and some downs and some good experiences =]

One good thing that happened this week, we actually got fed a few times! Yay! We had a couple FHEs with some members and less-active members, and it was great! For one of them, we actually got to sit on his rooftop for our FHE. There was a brownout until 8 or so that night, so we thought it might be a little lighter on top of his house. It was way cool! There were some lightning storms going on, so we could see those pretty well. And the moon was full, so that was way neat.

We had a couple of hard days this week because we had to drop some of our investigators. One of them has been taught for a long time, which is exactly why we had to decide to drop her. Maybe she's just not ready for the commitments that she needs to make, but we know that the Lord has his own time table for her, and eventually she'll accept the gospel fully.

We had a really good Sunday! We had lots of people come to church, and it was awesome! It is so cool to see so many of our less-actives and investigators progressing so much! This area really had progressed so much since I was first here. There are some truly amazing people here. We even have a couple of our less-actives who should be preparing to go the temple pretty soon. We're very excited for them!!

Time goes by so fast out here! My companion and I were talking about it as we were doing our weekly planning on Friday. I could possibly only have about 2ish weeks left in this area. Crazy! This transfer really has gone by so fast. For all of those future missionaries out there, do not waste a single moment of your missions. Every single minute you have out here is so precious, and you have to take advantage of them all.

Actually, that goes for everyone here. Every single minute of our lives is a gift, and we need to take advantage of all of them. Especially when we have trials or hardships or anything. Thank Heavenly Father for each one of those. He knows what he's doing way more than we do. He knows exactly what we need every minute of every day, and He gives us trials to make us stronger. He wants us to rely on him in the hard times and the good times. We just need to be willing to trust in him with everything that we have.

Sister Wilwand is savoring the gift of this rainy moment, possibly a little more than Sister Rasmussen. :)

It's the rainy season!

S'mores by fork...

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Wilwand

Half-way!

That's right! It's been 9 months since I've left home! Yesterday was 9 months until I go home, and on Friday, it's 9 months since I got to the MTC. Woo! Crazy. Time goes by so fast!! 

Oh, and WELCOME HOME TO MY BROTHER MATT!!!

Ok, we've had such a good week this week!!

We'll start with last week. Last week, we had exchanges with our STL's. I went with Sister Loo, and we were in our area. After one of our appointments, we decided to go tracting for a little bit. Well, the first house that we tracted, they let us in. At first I was a little worried that they were just being nice, but this family turned out to be amazing! They really were awesome! They really seem like they are ready for the gospel, and as a family as well, not just individually. It was so cool to meet them! We're going back to them on Sunday, so I'm praying that our lesson with them will go well!

Next, we had a fantastic Sunday! We had so many less-actives come to church! Some of them, we've been working with for a long time. One of them actually got up and bore his testimony. It was the best!! We were so excited to see him up on the stand in front of everyone. I loved it! We've just been having so much success lately with our less-actives. And then later that night, we contacted a referral, and she seemed like she is so ready for the gospel! Oh my goodness. She was amazing. We didn't get to teach her yet, but just from talking to her, she seems great!

A typical jeepney - a missionary's main mode of transportation

A little P-Day fun

On Monday, we had our 'Meet the President'. Let me tell you, it was a bit different having a new mission president and wife, but the Bertins are way awesome! We had some amazing talks and workshops, and we had a interview with both of the Bertins. It really was such a good experience to get to meet them! I know for sure that they have been called by God specifically for our mission. I'm excited to be able to serve the rest of my mission with them.

New Mission President!

Today, we've had a way good day so far as well!! We got to go to the temple today, and I loved it! It was truly amazing. It was nice to be able to be in there with all of the missionaries in our zone, and just to feel the peace and comfort that can come from being inside the temple. I have such a strong testimony of the temple!!

The beautiful Manila Temple

Sister Wilwand, Sister Apolinario, Sister Miner and Sister Rasmussen after attending the temple

Other than that, we've had some good time and some hard times. We found out that our baptism that was scheduled for July 26th is not going to go through. And we understand why, so it's ok. The baptism is just on hold for a little while, it's not officially off. So that's good. But we've been having success in so many other areas!

Now we'll talk about yesterday. This may include a little soul searching/baring (bearing?), so stick with me here.

Yesterday, we had some amazing workshops from our STLs and our ZLs at our zone training meeting. It really was the best. I especially liked our zone leaders workshop. Theirs was all about being bold and being confident. Ok, now you get to see a little piece of my soul. If you know me really really well, you may or may not know this, but I am actually pretty shy around people when I first meet them. Around my friends or family, I'm pretty outgoing. I like people to laugh and smile and have a good time, but when there are a whole bunch of new people around, I sometimes (most of the time) just don't even have any idea what to say to people, so I just stay quiet. (You can all take some time to marvel in that... I know, it's weird right! =P.. But, it's true.) Obviously, when you're out in the mission field, you have to talk to people every single day. It's hard. I'm not going to lie. This is one of the hardest parts of missionary work for me, is just talking to random people. But yesterday, our zone leaders gave us a workshop about confidence and being bold. Have confidence in Christ, and be bold with your testimony. This can apply to each and every single one of us.

I'd like to share with you a scripture: Romans 1:16... It says this: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." I LOVE this. I especially love this first line. Let me emphasize one thing. Don't you ever be ashamed of being a member of this church. EVER. Don't you even dare. It is NOT something to be ashamed of. It is something to hold proud in your heart and on your face every single moment of every single day. Don't you ever give it up for anything. As a missionary, I get to wear the evidence of that membership on my chest everyday, but you guys aren't so lucky. You have to show people. Be confident in Christ. He is the only sure foundation that we have on this earth, and He is the only one that will support us forever. Do not ever be ashamed of being His. Do not ever be ashamed of taking His name upon you when you were baptized. I know with all my hear that this church is true, and I'm proud to be a missionary who gets to represent Christ every single day. I hope that when I face Him in the next life, that He will say that He was proud of me. That would be the best thing I could ever hope for. I say these things in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all! I hope you all have a fantastic week! Remember to look up and always believe in Christ.

Love,

Sister Wilwand

A BBQ & Rice restaurant - pretty typical food for the area she is serving in

What?? She went to a cheesecake place without me?? :)