From: Mandy Elsmore <mandy.elsmore@myldsmail.net>
Date: April 22, 2013 12:32:26 AM CDT
Kumusta!
I'm loving this area. The ward is really great and many have been coming to church and they are pretty unified. :) Many people are willing to work with us. Also feed us... Which its makes me really happy, because its delicious and for their kindness, but at the same time, many people have hardly enough money to make ends meet or enough money to come to church. O_o
Yes, my area has a lot of poor people in it. We have a couple neighborhoods though with middle class or wealthy. The social classes here are so dramatically different. Sometimes I think I'm living in the 1800s, just with a bunch of Asians, and instead of coaches its tricycles. ;)
We had a baptism for a Recent Convert's son, Celso Payaga. He's super cute! He really shy, but sometimes shows his 12 year old mischievousness side. HA HA HA! I've enjoyed teaching him these past week and a half. GOODNESS! It feels like yesterday that I got here. Anyway, 40 people showed up to the baptism to support him. :D I've never seen so many people or heard of this many people coming to a baptism in the Philippines. It was AWESOME!!! Only thing was, we did not plan for so many people to come. So we only had 25 spoons for people to eat cake. Plus, Sister Tingney (19 year old from Mesa, AZ my kabahay,[missionary in the other companionship in our apartment]) and I had to get really creative in cutting the cake to have enough for everyone. HA HA HA!
Anyway, the most important thing is that Celso is now a member and starting a new life, on the path towards our Heavenly Father. :) So excited for him!
We are going to have 2 other baptisms this next Saturday for Randy and Manuel. (the investigators who walk about 2 hours one way to get to church). Goodness. Not sure my heart can contain how happy and excited I am!!!
Random things that I've ate here: Cow legs- really rubbery but tasted really good. Also, Dinuguan- blood soup, just tasted like pork broth.
Scripture: Alma 29:4 I like this scripture because it talks about desires and blessings.God will always give us exactly what we need and want according to where our hearts are. However, "he allotteth unto men" in "degrees" To me, this means that most of the time, the lord will not give us what we want all at once, right away. The things we want or desire may be really good things, but sometimes the lord wants us to work for them, wait, and trust him. Little by little we receive the blessings. But we will always have them. The hard thing is waiting, and being consistently obedient, and trusting that his way is the best way. Giving our will to him. Something I'm learning more and more how to do here. Then like in Enos 1:12 after much prayer and diligence, the lord will grant our desires because of our faith. I hope to be the type of person who's desires are in line with Gods and whatever God would have me do, I will do it willingly and happily. Becoming the person he would have me become. I'm still searching and trying to understand what that means, but at least I have my whole life to figure that out. Little by little, everyday. :) Sorry, hope this made sense, feel a bit ramblely right now.
It was super confusing here in the Philippines about the bombings in Boston and the accident in Texas. Apparently, it was all over the news here too; however, Filipinos really like to exaggerate, so I wasn't sure what to believe or what was going on. O_o People were saying that the bombs came from North Korea and now Japan, South Korea and the United States were about to start WWIII. Also there were multiple bombings in Boston. Also in Texas, there was a accident and people were asking me if I knew anything about it since I'm from texas. O~o My heart goes out to all those effected by the bombing in Boston and the accident in Texas. Praying and hoping people feel comforted and peace from the deaths and injuries of loved ones.
Love Ya All Lots!
Sister Elsmore
Celso's Baptism. Payaga Family, Mom- Evelyn member. The others are interested in listening.
Phillipines- good definition to me. Really gorgeous here, but also has such a division of poor and wealthy.
The river. Not sure what its called. Find out next time.
Some of the houses we go to.
Swatters. : )
Some kids that live in the area where Randy and Manuel live. They danced the ChaCha for us, which we recorded on our cameras. They really loved the camera! HA HA HA!
Kids here are so creative when it comes to having fun. They make kites out of trash bags, hula hoops out of tubes, dance, play with cans, flipflops, pretty much anything that they can find. They are so cute and so much fun! Also, our language level is about the same. HA HA HA! Just kidding, I'm learning from them. :D
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