Specialty dish made of Filipino Chocolate....heheh

So with transfer, I am happy to say that both Sister Salde and I are still companions! I'm super excited about it for sure. The work is really good. there is one Nanay who is so golden and she is so ready for the gospel, but we cannot figure out how to help her come to church and it's so frustrating because she has agency! ;) We have tried just about everything, but I'm not giving up because I know she is so ready. Other peoples' agency is the most frustrating thing about missionary work. 

Honestly, nothing that weird happened to me... That's new. Or maybe I am just used to it now. But I did get tricked into eating this "specialty" dish. So what they told me, because it's a meat that's really dark in color, it that it is cooked in Filipino chocolate (which I didn't believe, but I had no idea what it was). So I ate it and tried to pretend that I liked it (I'm now expert at that...) Nope. Totally couldn't eat it. I literally ate like a bite. Come to find out, it's meat thats cooked in blood. So that's real awesome and for sure I am never eating that again. But I least I tried it. I guess...

There are a ton of new missionaries in my zone and I was talking to an Elder from Highland Utah and he told me I totally have an accent now. So that's a thing. 

I'm sorry that this is such a short one, I can't remember anything else what happend this week. :) 

Love you alll!!! 

xoxo Sister Holmes

Two storms down in one week...

t has been another eventful week here in the Philippines Angeles mission ;) There were two storms, don't worry I survived them both. But I'm sick of the flooding and the raining and maybe I'm excited for rainy season to be over.....

We had a lovely story with a drunk person this week. They really like to speak English when they are drunk here... but there was one man and he was sleeping on this wood table outside of the house of our recent convert. We were in the middle of teaching and he woke up and started singing to himself and laughing so hard and then he told us he wanted to learn more about Jesus. So he listened for a little bit and started repeating everything I said and laughing.... Then he went on to tell us his whole life story about how he was the most handsome person on the street and all sorts of other stuff.... So that was probably the most interesting lesson ever. 

But, I'm really seeing the potential of other people and it's amazing... and I think it's helping me see the potential that I also have. It's one of the coolest things to be in a lesson and to see what that person can become if they will just change a little bit or doing something different so that Heavenly Father can have more influence in their life. 

In other news, transfers this week... we'll see what happens!! Love you all!!! :) :) 

xoxo Sister Holmes

This mission is on FIRE!

Mga mahal kong kapatid, This was one of the bet weeks ever in my mission (and it was not because it was my birthday;))! We were really busy, but those are the best kind of weeks! Our zone here in Camiling is on fire! the work of the Lord is moving :)

On Tuesday, we had our exchanges and I got to lead the area. It was a really good experience and got me excited to improve my teaching! It was also a good time for to reflect the things I need to improve. This transfers is flying by! Next week is transfer week, we don't really know what will happen. We might stay as companions or... we don't really know. :) Surprise is the essence of missionary work... surprise talks in sacrament meeting because the person who was supposed to talk didn't come to church...  surprises at transfers... surprise visits to our investigators so they don't hide... ;) But it really is exciting. 

We also had our Zone Conference on Friday and it was so good!  I learned a lot. They talked to us about being healthy and exercising and eating healthy and stuff like that (I just put this in here for you mom... most likely I will take their advice). There were a lot of good workshops,but most of all I'm impressed with how inspired President Clark is. 

But the highlight of my day was Saturday! We woke up so early and caught a bus headed towards Manila... three hours later, we arrived in Manila and met of with Manylyn, Efren, and other members from my first area in Mabalacat! there are so many changes in that area and I found out a lot of people got baptized that I though had no progress or hope at the time! There are now two wards in that area and I'm so happy that there is so much progress in that area. It was the most amazing thing to be back at the temple! :) And when they were sealed as a family... one of the most beautiful moments of my whole mission. Everybody was crying and it was such a sweet moment that I'm glad I got to be apart of. 

Anyway, Mahal na kayo ko kayong lahat. 

Sister Holmes

PS

I forgot some things.... 

Everybody in Manila thought I was related to the boxer, Larry Holmes. So that's a thing. Second, there was an angel we met at the temple.. not a literal angel, but she was so sweet. She just came back from her mission like 3 months ago and she knows one of the sisters in our zone here in Camiling. She had us go with us to the store so she could by some treats for that sister.. She also bought trats for us! And brownies because she found out it was my birthday! :) She was the sweetest thing. Heavenly Father takes care of His missionaries. That's all :) 

September 7, 2014

One of the most memorable week

It has been so HOT this week, but at least it hasn't been very rainy! :) I think I'm used to the weather though so it doesn't really bother me. I have so many things going on this week! It's insane. 

First of all, this last week was one of my most memorable weeks. There were two bpatism! One was a convert baptism and the other was a grandchild of a Brother in our ward who is 8. We were preparing the 8 year old for his baptism and we asked if he drank coffee and he told us he did, but only because his grandpa does too! Caught!! We just laughed and of course explained it to him. :) 

Speaking of word of wisdom, we have an investigator who is the sister of a recent convert. We were teaching her work of wisdom and we asked her if she would live it and she told us she can't give up coffee because it's her favorite. We really bore our testimonies and let the Spirit take the lead... And she committed to stop drinking coffee! I didn't know if that could happen when we first started teaching her, but we are seeing the changes in her! 

And we have another investigator in the family, it's the mom of the same recent convert. She is so golden! We taught her yesterday and she was talking about how she really wants her kids to grow up in the Church because she sees the good influence it has in their lives. In Tagalog, the Boo of Mormon is really hard to read, and even though most people will read it, they don't understand it. But this Sister said that she reads and really tries to understand and she told us that every thing that happened in the Book of Mormon is related to our lives. She says when she doesn't have anything to do, she reads her daughter's seminary manual of D&C and it is giving her a testimony of Joseph Smith. she is just so prepared. 

We also OYMed this old man with a crazy long beard... hopefully I can get a picture of him, but he looks like a karate master or something. He started talking about our Church and he told us he liked the organizationa dn that he has studied all of our books. He said he was really researching what church is ture... but that was about 5 years ago. He says he's "free" now and doesn't need any religion. I'm not really sure what that means, but hopefully he has potential. He's really a very interesting man. 

I don't have time to tell all the stories I would like! But I'm real excited because on Saturday, my companion and I are going to the temple!! A family from my first area is getting sealed and I am beyond excited! Best ever. I really miss he temple 9 months is too long without it! :) We also have zone conference and exchanges this week so it will be busy, but that's what makes the work happy:) 

I love you all!!! Have a good week! 

Sister Holmes

Are you Tagalog or English?

Yay another fantastic week in the mission! It's been a hard adjustment, but it's good. I really love this area and I'm grateful for the opportunities that Heavenly Father is giving me. 

It's Christmas now in the Philippines... Christmas music, decorations. If the month ends in -ber... they start with Christmas. I don't know how I feel about it. But I mean, it's good I guess. It is making me excited for Christmas, but then i realized it's still really far. The reason I'm excited though is that the food is so good if it's Christmas!  As in. 

Anyway, there was a cute kid this week that comes up to me and was like "Are you tagalog or English?" Then I siad, Of course, I'm English. and she then told me she thought I was from another part in the Philippines. I laughed so hard. I think it was mostly the way she said it, but apparently I can pass as a Filipino? 

Also, it flooded real bad yesterday in our area. Thank goodness it didn't flood in the apartment... but needless to say, the water was half-way on my calf and I don't want to even know what was in that water. Probably the grossest thing I have done on my mission and I had no choice. 

But, in all honestly, despite all the weird experiences, I love the mission. I love this work and I know it is the work of our Heavenly Father. 

Mahal ko kayong lahat!

Sister Holmes