BAPTISM!

Hello mg minamahal kong kapatid!

How are you all doing? I hope you're all doing great, because things are just going amazing over here!!!

First of all, WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!!! Yes, that's right, we did have a baptism, and it went great!!! I absolutely love these three kids, and I could barely hold in my excitement when they got baptized. It was the best feeling that I have ever felt in my entire mission. It was fantastic! And on Sunday, they got confirmed, and now they're official members of the church!!!

Sister Wilwand's first baptism! And it was a triple! She is absolutely thrilled for these sweet young people!

I think the missionaries are well loved! :)

Sister Bugtong and Sister Wilwand, ready for the baptism.

On Sunday, we had another super fantastic day!! One of our investigators told us that her mom is going to let her get baptized, so now we scheduled her for being baptized at the end of the month!! She is really progressing so much, and she has such a desire to be baptized. It will be awesome!!!

We also had a great experience with one of the families that we are teaching. We are teaching the mom and the daughters, and they are all going to get baptized at the beginning of October!! We're super excited for them as well. They have a little girl who has been coming to church with them, and who has been sitting in our lessons as well. We talked to her mom yesterday, and she said her daughter could get baptized, and also that she wanted to come to church as well!! She even said that we could teach her family!!!

FHE with some of the area's youth

AH! The work is progressing so much, and I hope you can all feel it!! This work really is the work of the Lord, and He wants us to do everything we can to help the people who are here. Whether it's our families or our friends or whoever, we have a responsibility to share the gospel with everyone we meet. It's a great responsibility, and we need to take advantage of it.

I love you all so much!!! (Sorry this email is so short!!) I hope you all go out and do wonderful things this week!!

Sister Clark and Sister Wilwand

Love,

Sister Wilwand

McDonalds delivers?? Talking to people sure does!

Hi!!!! I hope you guys are having fantastic weeks, because we definitely are!!!

This week was the best!! We've been applying the things that Elder Bowen was telling us about in his conference, and it has been so great!! Guess who is finally getting better at talking to people?? That would be my companion =] Ok, just kidding. We're both getting better at it, and it's going great!! One day this week we got punted from all of our appointments, so we just went around talking to people. It was probably one of the coolest days in my mission. We talked to so many people, and met some really cool and some really weird ones.

We also had the chance to go on exchanges with our STLs this week, and it was great! The Sister that I was able to go with, Sister Cestona, is an amazing missionary! I learned so much from her, even in just the little time that we got to spend together. It was way fun! Oh, did you guys know that McDonalds delivers? Well, here in the Philippines, it does. We didn't want to cook when the STLs, so we ordered McDo, and they came and brought it to us =D

McDo (Tagalog for McDonalds???) Delivery

Do you want to know why else this week was so great??? We had baptismal interviews for 3 of our kids on Saturday, and THEY PASSED!!!!! I am so excited!!!!!!!! I can't even explain to you in words the excitement that I am feeling. We were so nervous (for no reason), that our kids wouldn't pass, but they did, and now they are getting baptized on Saturday. It is going to be the best thing ever!!! I just can't even wait. That's pretty much the best thing that happened in our area this week.

And we've also had some other miracles. We have this family that we are teaching, and they are fantastic!! They've come to church three Sundays in a row, and they love it! We've only taught the Dad once, but he seems willing to listen when he's there. This family is amazing, and we just love them so much. We're hoping that they will just keep coming and keep wanting to learn more about the church. It'll be great!!!

We also had a cool experience this weekend with one of our service projects. We were cleaning one of the streets in one of the other Sisters' areas, but while we were doing it, we were just talking to a whole bunch of people. It was way fun! We met some really cool people, and then we also got a bunch of referrals for the Sisters that are in that area. It was a cool area just to get comfortable with talking to people. It was one of the coolest service projects that we've ever done. Love it! It's the best thing to be a missionary here!!

Missionaries ready to perform service!

Elder Egbert, Sister Clark and Sister Wilwand at the CSP (community service project.)

I think that's about it in our week. It's been a good time so far in Malolos!! I love you all! Have a fantastic week!!

Zone Activity

Zone activity - Elder playing volleyball with their feet!

Love,

Sister Wilwand

Missionaries ARE Superheroes!

I'm not sure exactly where this photo fits in Sister Wilwand's mission timeline as she just sent it randomly with a note that she forgot to send this one. I do know it is in Montalban, which was her second area. Gotta love missionaries!

Mission Tour

Well, we have had another fantastic week over here in Malolos!!

Our area is really doing so well! I just can't even get over how much I love it over here. We are teaching the best families. They are all amazing, and I really have decided I'm just never going to leave. Ok? I'll see you all in the next life.

Ok, just kidding, but we really are having the best time over here!! We're getting ready for a baptism of three of our investigators on the 30th, and I couldn't be more excited for it! They are all kids, but they are so excited to get baptized. And we're excited for them!! It's going to be great.

So one of the coolest things that happened in our week this week was our mission tour. 

Malolos Zone with Elder Bowen (blue tie) & Sister Bowen and QCN's new Mission President, President Bertin (green tie) and Sister Bertin

Lots of Mission Tour pictures! Sister Bugtong, Sister Wilwand and another Sister.

Sister Wilwand & Sister Clark, together again. And some Elders... :)

Sister Bugtong, Sister Wilwand and more Elders

Sister Wilwand and Sister Clark - not sure who the Sister in the middle is (maybe Sister Clark's comp?)

This is a friend for life, for sure!

:)

Elder Shayne M. Bowen has recently been called to serve in our Area Presidency, and so he came and toured our mission this week. He is amazing!! He talked to half of the mission on Wednesday and the rest of us on Thursday. It was the best talk that I have ever heard in my mission.

He talked to us about 3 things that could change our missions if we decided to do them. He told us that some of us would walk out of the meeting and do those things, and some of us would walk out and not. So I decided that I would walk out and do those things. So here's what those three things were: 1. Get up every morning at 6:30.-- When he said that, I thought ok, easy. Check that one off the list. 2. Do your nightly planning with your companion every night.-- Again, this ones pretty easy to do. As soon as you get home, you plan. Check. And then there was number 3: Talk to at least 20 people everyday. Now when Elder Bowen got to this one, I had to pause for a second and think to myself. "Can I really do that?" But I had already told myself that I would do these things, to change my mission. So, I made a promise to myself that I would talk to more people.

After that day,my mission hasn't been the same. Yes, it was only a few days ago, but my mission has already gotten better. We've already had more miracles just in the past couple days. And this is something that is not easy. Talking to people is scary, but it is so worth it. You never know who is going to accept the gospel until you talk to them. You don't know anything about them, until you talk to them. So this is what we've been doing. We've set some pretty high goals for ourselves, but we're excited. We're excited to go and achieve them and to be able to be the best missionaries we can be.

I was reading in 1 Nephi this week for my personal study. I finished the Book of Mormon, and now I'm starting over again, and I love it! But anyways, I was reading in chapters 11-15 where Nephi is seeing the vision that his father had, and more. In there is talks about the scattering and gathering of the House of Israel, and it talks about the coming forth of the gospel. As members of the church, we have a unique opportunity to know the truth, and we have an even better opportunity to share it to the entire world. So here's my challenge for you. Have you talked to someone about the gospel today? If you haven't, go and do it. It's worth it.

I love you all!! And I'm grateful for every single one of you. You're all amazing!!

Love,

Sister Wilwand

Falling in love with Malolos

Hello from the beautiful land of Malolos!

Let me just tell you right from the start, I am loving being in this area!!! It is so different from either of the two areas that I have ever been in, but it is so great! I love it, and I'm never going to leave =]

Ok, so we've had a pretty fantasticly-awesome week this week. I just can't even believe the progression that we're having over here so far. It really is so different from my last two areas, but I love it!

So this week, we had so many miracles with the people that we are teaching. For one thing, we have a baptism coming up on the 30th! You guys have no idea how excited I am for this!! Everything has just been falling into place with this baptism. Hopefully it will keep going that way. These three kids are so ready to get baptized, and I think we're ready for them to get baptized as well. All we're really waiting for is just to finish the lessons, and get them interviewed, and then we'll have their baptism!!! So exciting!

We've also had some other way neat experiences this week with some of our other investigators. We have one who is awesome! We just started teaching him this week, and he has so many amazing questions for us! He's asking all of these 'questions of the soul', and we love it! He even came to church yesterday, and he's already past 1 Nephi 13 in his Book of Mormon. It's fantastic!!

We also had another new investigator this week who just happened to sit in on another lesson with a different investigator, and she ended up coming to church as well! She even brought four of her kids with her!!

And our ward here is amazing! We didn't even have a chance to sit next to our investigators because our ward members were all over the whole fellowshipping thing. It was so great!!

Thing are just going so well over here!! I love my companion and my area and our ward and the other missionaries here! It's all just going great right now. 

I don't think much else has really happened this week. We're just having such a great time in our area. So here's a little thought for the week:

I was reading in Mormon chapter 9 today, and I love this chapter!! This chapter is all about how God is a God of miracles. And isn't that the truth!! I especially love verse 19: "And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles." God is a God of miracles, and I can testify to that. In verse 20, it talks about how God only ceases to do miracles when we don't have faith in him. If we have faith, there will be miracles. I can promise you that.

I love you all, and I now that this church is true!! Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Wilwand

No pictures this week - she forgot her card reader to upload any photos.

Goodbye Montalban, hello Malolos!

Hello from my new area!

Woo, this week has been long and so fast at the same time!

Sister Wilwand's last night in Montalban. They used the candles they bought for a blackout to have a little "campfire" and roast s'mores.

Last night with her companion Sister Apolinario.

So on Wednesday, we had transfer day. It was a little bit crazy. Originally, I was supposed to go straight to my area. I was supposed to travel with another Elder part of the way and then go to Malolos, but that didn't end up happening. I found out on Tuesday night that I would actually be going to the mission home with all of the other trainers and trainees to go get Sister Bugtong from there. So that's what happened =] We went to the mission home on Wednesday morning, had a little bit of training with our trainees, and then we went to our area! We actually didn't get to our area util 5:30 or so because it's one of the farthest areas. But we're here now!

Sister Wilwand's trainer Sister Collins, Sister Wilwand, Sister Collin's new trainee (can't read the nametag...) and Sister Wilwand's new trainee Sister Bugtong.

Thursday was our first day working in our area! It was a great day! The people in our area are so amazing! It's a little bit tough because neither Sister Bugtong or I really know our area, but we'll get there! Sister Bugtong is amazing! She pretty much came to the field already trained. I feel like she's training me! We've had so much success, even if just the past few days. She's awesome!

Sister Clark and Sister Wilwand, together again! Sister Wilwand was so excited to find out that her awesome MTC companion was also going to Malolos and would be her neighbor.

I love this new area! We were able to extend four baptismal invitations in the past few days, and we are so excited!! We have these three kids who have been waiting for a few months now to get baptized, and we were finally able to schedule their baptismal date of August 30th. We are so excited!! We also extended another baptismal date to a sister who seems so ready for the gospel. We hope for her to be baptized in September. I think it's going to be awesome!

Even our ward is so amazing here. We have so much support from the ward, it's fantastic. Ward members really make or break missionary work, and here they are definitely making it! The members here are amazing. We even have relief society members scheduled to work in both areas in our ward every single day this work. It's so great!

I am so excited to work in this area for the next few months. I think it will be awesome!

Sister Wilwand's "awesome" living quarters. One room plus a bathroom. She sleeps in the kitchen!!  At least they have a fan :)

Alright, here's something from my personal study this week that I wanted to share with you all. So I was reading in 3 Nephi the other day, in chapter 17, and I love this chapter! Actually, I love all of third Nephi, but I especially like this chapter. If you don't know the story, first of all, go read it. But I'll give you a little background. So this is when Jesus Christ comes to America, and he's talking to all of the Nephites. In this part, Jesus tells them that his time is at hand, and all of the people are so sad that Jesus is about to leave them. All of the Nephites seems so sad, and so Jesus decided to stay with them for a little while longer. Even just this little part shows how much Jesus Christ loves those people. He has just been killed and resurrected in just a few days. I think that He probably had a lot of things that he was supposed to be doing. But, because He loves all of us so much, He took the time to heal the Nephites' sick, blind. lame, and everyone who had something wrong with them. And then, Jesus Christ calls all of the children to him, every single one, and He blesses them. One by one.  I love this image. Can you just imagine the Savior taking every single one of those children and then blessing every single one of them? I love it. Jesus Christ loves us, and He will never leave us.

I love you all so much! I hope you all have a fantastic week!!

Love,

Sister Wilwand