Thanksgiving!

Hey, it's been a great week!

A lot of our investigators have been seriously reading the book of mormon and you know what that means! They are being converted!
The Book of Mormon is so magical. I can't explain it, but when people read it..something happens to them. They find the answers to the questions they never could answer before. They feel the SPIRIT. It is AMAZING. Without the book of mormon, I could not do this missionary work! It would be impossible.
So there you have it!

Read the book of mormon and feel the magic.

And you know what else?
People matter.
People matter, and not much else does.
But sometimes we focus a little too much on THINGS. That is something I have been thinking about lately. You know? One of our main goals lately has been “teaching people, not lessons”. By that we mean, teaching is more than just talking and telling. We have to teach each individual, find out what they think and feel, who they are and how this message relates to them personally. We have to CARE about THEM, and not just about delivering our message.
It’s like, Duh! Right? But it’s a lot harder sometimes than you might think. I always try to remember “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. So TRUE!
So remember to care a little bit more about people and a lot less about things.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I am extremely grateful for all of you and your support.
I have the BEST FAMILY in the WHOLE WORLD! I am of course grateful for the gospel and for all of the blessing that have flowed into my life because of it.
I have SO MANY blessing….I could count to 1,000 and more!
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you take time to count your blessings!

Love sister webre

P.S. If anyone wants anything specific from the Philippines, you need to tell me this week so I can get it! Thanks.

Email!

A day late, but we got an e-mail after all.

From Jenny:

I didn't email yesterday because we went to Banaue

Checkit out!

This week I got SICK.

It was the first time I have been vomit sick here in the mission. I was throwing up all night on wednesday and had the runs. It was no fun, but now I am doing much better. 

We also got to speak in sacrament meeting on sunday. I talked about how members can be missionaries by 1-being an example 2- friendship  3- sharing testimony

Members should always be praying about WHO they can prepare for the missionaries and then begin their plans in preparing those people. We should always be preparing some one in some way!

I have realized a lot of things on the mission about how things SHOULD work in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. It is quite incredible. 

I think visit teaching and home teaching is one of the MOST INSPIRED programs in the whole church. If members used it as intended, it would strengthen each ward and stake enormously.

If you think about our baptismal covenant (mosiah 18:8-10) visiting/home teaching is one of the best ways we can fulfill that covenant. Its genious. And I want to say thanks, mom, because you have always been such a WONDERFUL example of what a visiting teacher should be. It's a lifetime calling and it means so much more than just a visit once a month.

Well anyway, I guess I'll get off that soapbox now!

I WENT TO BANAUE RICE TERRACES! Aren't they gorgeous? They are not man made. I think they are one of the world wonders honestly. someday i will bring you all back and you can see them yourself.

So, we found a new couple when we were tracting a couple weeks ago. Lenny and Javen Ray Luy. They are AWESOME. They are in their early 20s and have one baby. Lenny is already in 2nd Nephi, isn't that incredible? She has only been reading for 2 weeks. And she  totally remembers what she reads, she tells us about all the stories and stuff. She LOVES it and it makes us SO happy!

Well, I guess thats all for now.

Love you all.

Have a great week

sister webre

No Email

No e-mail from Jenny this week. I don't know about you but this is about how I feel.

Go-Go-Go

This week we totally celebrated halloween as you can see from my pictures. Don't we look great?

Actually I was bummed because we never actually got a chance to hang out at the cemetary. Halloween here is kind of like memorial day for us except that they actually take food and stuff to the cemetary and have a fiesta. I took some pictures so you can see what their cemetaries look like. Some of the graves are stacked like 7 high. It's crazy. 

I included a picture of a hand out that sister carlos gave us a while ago. You should try doing it, it is really really cool. When we pray with specific questions and then search for the answers in the scriptures, we will find them!! It is the miracle of revelation and a testimony of God's love!

Sister Carlos (mission presidents wife) called us friday morning and said she wanted to work with us. It was awesome. I love it when she comes with us because even though she has to speak english, her testimony is so strong and it always brings the spirit so powerfully. Even if they can't understand everything she says, they've got to FEEL something in their hearts when she testifies. It's also neat to have her with us to testify, because she is a convert so she can relate to these investigators having once been one herself. 

She took a picture of us teaching Nico, who will be baptized on the 19 of this month. She also took a picture of us at a members store. They sell BBQ at night and it is super good. We eat there every once in a while. 

I have adjusted to the GO-GO-GO schedule and am usually not tired anymore if I drink plenty of water.

So....the work is going fine. We are focusing on working with our branch members and leaders right now. We have been feeling like we're on different teams and so we are really trying to create unity and coordinate effectively with them to make the work progress much better!

It's awesome!

Have a fabulous week!

I love you!

Be good!

Sister webre

Happy Halloween

 

They do celebrate Halloween here but not the way we do it in the states. Their Halloween is called "All saints day" or "Fiesta of the dead" and everybody goes to the cemetary and they clean up around the graves of their dead. They also paint on the tombstones and they light candles and they bring food and stuff. I'll send you pictures next week.

There are a few people who dress up in costumes I guess, but only if there is a special party. They don't wear costumes to the cemetary.

 

I got the Sorensen's package this week, thank you so much! I was seriously WAY excited when I saw that it was just stuffed with fruit leather and the sugared almonds! You guys ROCK!! Thanks for thinking of me. Happy Halloween!

 

This week we did exchanges in the very farthest area north in our mission. I think one of the best parts of being the sisters trainer is that I get to spend time with each sister and get to know their story. I ask them how they were converted and why they decided to serve a mission. One of the sisters we split with last week is Indian and another is Pakistani. Way cool, right? Yeah, they didn't get to learn tagalog in the MTC because they just came here to the MTC in Manila. I admire them SOO much for serving missions. They are both really struggling with the language, but they still just talk to everyone, they aren't scared at all or shy because they cant speak the language very well. They have such sweet testimonies and a strong desire to serve.

Another sister we did splits with was converted about 4 years ago. She told us that before she got baptized she was a chain smoker/alchoholic who loved her coffee. It was so sweet to hear her story.

I told my companion this week in our weekly planning session that I generally feel really stressed out all the time and I constantly think and worry a lot. Sometimes it is hard for me to feel peace because I'm always evaluating and finding everything I am lacking or doing wrong or all the negative things that happen. 

So I made a new goal to BE MORE POSITIVE and MORE GRATEFUL. It is hard to do. But I think I am slowly changing my mindset and I am able to feel more peace and realize that my service is accepted by the Lord, even though it isn't perfect. That is really the beauty of the atonement isn't it? Our efforts will never be enough, we need Christ's grace to lift us the rest of the way.

It is wonderful to take some time at the end of the day and just ponder on all the blessings I have been given and the tender mercies of the day. I like to think about my blessing as much as possible through out the entire days activities because you know its true,  a grateful heart is a happy heart!!

 

We are still just working hard, studying like crazy and teaching filipinos every day. It's still really hot most of the time but sometimes it rains. I like that. Except for when it rains on sunday morning. I always just want to cry when it rains on sunday morning because almost NO ONE comes to church, not even members.

And on sunny sundays, we have to bolt to the door way as soon as the amen of the closing prayer is said because everybody tries to LEAVE after sacrament meeting. We just stand at the exit of the chapel and shake everyones hands and tell them there are two more hours before church is over. I just want to hold my arms out and block their way and say"NO YOU CANT GO HOME YET! IT'S NOT OVER!" Haha...

 

I told sister certicio that it would be ideal if it was sunny weather until 10 minutes before sacrament meeting ends. Then let the rain pour so that people are stuck inside! Hahaha! Just joking but kindof serious at the same time.

 

Well........Its time to get going.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH

sister webre