AND THE VERDICT IS.........

Well, I guess the news is out already, but yes - I'M TRANSFERRING!!! I'll be going to an area called Clarin B, which is, of course, on BOHOL!!!! Sister Lange came from the neighboring area, so she's been telling me a lot about my new area. And my new companion, Sister Salima because they were companions in the MTC. So funny. It's like Sister Lange and I are switching places! Haha.   Jayme's new companion is Sister Salima from Samoa.  We asked Jayme to bring home a tarsier (they live in her new area).  They are adorable!!!

Even bigger news: SISTER LANGE WILL BE TRAINING! Yes. That's right. I'm handing over my amazing follow-up trainer to one very lucky missionary. Sister Lange has taught me so much in the time I've been with her. Her new anak will be very lucky to have her.

Yes. I'm super psyched. But yes. My heart is broken in two! I love Consolacion with my whole heart. The past couple of days have been like the hardest days of my mission. Saying goodbye hurts so much. I love these people here. I love our investigators and members so, SO much. And I'm going to miss them so much. And the missionaries here. I will miss the close relationship with the Zone Leaders that I have enjoyed since the beginning of my mission, I will miss seeing my zone every Monday, I will just miss everybody so much. 

On top of that, I'm going to miss other things I've gotten accustomed to since coming on the mission. Like french fries from Jollibee or Macdo's, or Halo-Halo from Mang Inasal, not to mention easy access to anything every P-Day through our huge Consolacion Merkado and, of course, SM.

But I know that I must move on. I must try new things, like a new companion. And the bukid. Yeah, I've been a city sista my whole mission (haha as city as it gets here, at least) so I'm excited to try the bukid. I'm excited to learn and to grow and to love. Love more people, love the work, love a new companion, love God and my Savior!

Consolacion 3rd Ward - I love you and I will miss you!!! Ayaw maglimot mo kanako, okay sa ha? Dili ko maglimot kaninyo - modumdum ko kaninyo kanunay diha sa akong kasingkasing! 

Nahigugma ko kaninyo <3

- Sister Warner -

A trip to the Cebu temple

On our way to Discovery Hills

Live Shrimp - so cute!

It's a Great Week!

First off, congrats to Daniel Florez!!! What a boss mission call. I'm super jealous! Hey Daniel: you're gonna love it!

Now to the good stuff...

I've been thinking a lot about love this week. And I realized that love is the glue that holds everything together. Like from the foundation of the world. It's kind of like this infinite concept that my mind doesn't really understand, but I can see glimpses of. Glimpses of our Heavenly Fathers love for us through His son. Glimpses of our Brother's love for us through His sacrifice. And glimpses of their love for all of us through blessings in our everyday lives. Anyways. Everything is based on love. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Love God. Love His Son. And love our fellow brothers and sisters. Just love everyone. You will be so much happier and you will make others happier and they will love you in return because it's so much easier to love someone who already loves you. Anyways. Enough of that sentimental fluff. But hey, that's legit truth right there.

 My condolences to the Nielsen Family right now as they grieve over the loss of a loved one. Cory, I just want to remind you of our Savior's love for you. Right now, I wear His name on my chest and I'm striving to do and say what He would do and say. And I tell you I love you and I know He loves you. And He has wrapped His arms around you. And our Heavenly Father loves you. And they have created a wonderful plan for us to be happy - in this life and in eternity. We don't always know the reasoning behind the things that happen here - the trials we are given and the struggles we have to face. But I know it's divine. It comes from God. Just don't forget to include Them in your grieving process. I wish I could say more to help or comfort. Just know I love you and you're in my prayers. 

On a different note...So we have this investigator...actually we have this big family of investigators. Like the mom and dad, their four daughters, and the families of their daughters. Anyways, they all live pretty close so the other night when we were teaching the dad and mom (who we "tay" ug "nanay" which means mom and dad) we started hearing this religious music. Like hymns and stuff. And it was really cool. Anyways, so we didn't know where it was coming from, but then like we went to teach the daughter and her spouse and the music was coming from there! So we were enjoying the hymns and the daughter told us: "I always do this cuz papa likes it." It was so great! So that whole neighborhood gets to enjoy spiritually uplifting music every night :D

fdsfsafds

A couple of questions for the week:

1.   What are your plans for P-day?

Answer: Party! Just kidding. Today we're gonna go shopping and then get take-out pizza from Pizza Hut in SM, then we're going to deep clean our apartment before transfers!

2.   How is your Ilonggo language coming along?  

Answer: Wala! I only know like 2 words. But my Tagalog is getting better. Once I'm fluent in Visaya, then I can try to learn a bit more Tagalog. Most people here also speak Tagalog. 

3.   How often do you do a ward caravan?  (We have shared that idea and a lot of people like it!)  

Answer: They've been trying to do it once a month, but one of the members actually just told me that they might be stopping it. Which makes me sad because it's an awesome experience and it's effective. Especially for less-active youth. 

4.   What do you eat when you go to Jollibee?

Answer: Usually I just eat the Yum! Which is basically a burger with mayonnaise and fake cheese. I eat enough rice and sudan elsewhere :D so I don't usually it when I go out to eat.

5.   What was the best thing that happened this week?

Answer: The work! Sister Lange and I have worked really hard. And I love it!

Transfers next week! Gotta go enjoy the rest of my P-Day!!

Love you all!!!!

March 4: It's as Hot as Hades!!!!

Hello everyone!!!

Well, it's March now...meaning it's officially Tig-init (summer). Boy, it's hot. Yeah. Like Hades, I swear! Every day I feel like I'm just being BAKED in an oven!!! It's so, SO hot!!! And here I am, thinking about all of you like freezing in the cold...and how opposite I'm feeling....yeah - sometimes I wish I could just stand in the freezer for like 10 mins, then go back to work!
Speaking of work, how is it going?  

The work here is going great! Zone interviews just happened last week and I told President Tanner that "the work here is a party with the Spirit." He just started laughing and he told me he'd had a lot of people tell him that they were happy, but nobody'd said it was a party! For me, it's definitely a party. I seriously love it here :D

What is one fun thing you did this week?

One fun thing I did...hmmm...Zone Interviews were like ang pinikanindot :D It was great to learn from my leaders and to talk with President Tanner about the work...and, of course, to ENJOY the aircon :D no. Honestly I love working. And Sister Lange loves work, as well. So we've been doing TONS of it! And it's the best. Definitely the work is the funnest thing I did this week. 

What is one spiritual experience you had this week?

Usa ka spiritual nga kasinatian....daghan. It's hard to pick just one! I guess...when we were tracting the other day and we were just wondering around trying to find anyone who wasn't a drunk old man and we walked down this little path through someones yard and I thought we'd get to the end and have to turn around...but we got to the end of the path and it turned into a road! So we followed it and ended up at this little house with a few women, who invited us in. So we're like talking with them and then the conversation took a spiritual route as we prepared to start the lesson when the women started asking if we were Mormons (this is uncommon here...most people don't associate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with "Mormons") and we said yes...then she told the 16 year old girl to go get the Bibles. So I was like a little worried...then the girl came back with not Bibles, but two copies of the Book of Mormon, sa Visaya! They had to be like some of the first copies printed! I was like...whoa! Turns out they're former investigators who slipped through the cracks when they moved!  The lesson was great and they asked us when we could come back. That has been one of the coolest things I've experienced so far... 

Tell us something about an investigator.

An investigator...well, we have a lot of cool investigators. Lately the Elders have been great about including our male investigators in their Wednesday morning basketball games, which has been awesome and had a really positive effect on them. Two in particular, and it's been great. They've been able to have fun experiences with the Church.

Well....We're heading up to Discovery Hills again for a zone activity!!! YAY! Sister Lange's first time up there, so I'm excited :D We also invited a couple of investigators. We have a temple trip planned in a couple of weeks, specifically for investigators. We get to take them down and show them the temple and tell them a little about it. I'm super excited for that, as a couple of our investigators are pretty curious about the temple. Hopefully it will be a cool positive effect!

I'm loving all the mission calls that are coming in! Sister Lange and I are both freaking out about all the calls :D hey, to all of you awaiting the arrival of your calls: Where ever you are called is where you're meant to be. Don't you DARE be disappointed. That's pride - God knows you more than you know yourself. I testify of that. I know it. I never expected to be called to the Philippines. I remember even laughing one time when my mom asked me what I would do if I had to live with all sorts of creepy crawlies, not use toilet paper and shower in cold water with a bucket and a ladle. No way would I ever...but you know what? God knows me better than I know me. And because of Him, here I am. Teaching the most loving people in the world. Watching them change their lives. Speaking an alien language and living like a camper. And I love every second of it. So your call is for you. No matter what you feel, God knows you. Make it the best thing you can.

Sorry about the blurriness of the picture...it's from the Sister's Conference. It's all the Sisters on Cebu and Camotes :D Bohol had their own Sisters Conference.

Love and miss you all!

Sister Warner