November 4, 2013: I am Coming to Teach with You!

Hello Family!

This has been a great week of great things and hard things! 

So for Halloween and all souls day/all saints day (what they celebrate here) we went to the cemetery and taught people about the plan of salvation! Awesome, right? So here they go to the cemetery and have a picnic with their whole family on the grave. And they light candles and stuff.. pretty much it's like a carnival at a cemetery. People are selling stuff everywhere and they set up shade tents and eat. It's pretty random but we were able to make the best of it. We went and sang and prayed and gave them plan of salvation pamphlets. It was really good. There were some people that were really touched that cried and were so grateful. It was crazy we were walking around and I just kept thinking "all these people are searching for peace, for the truth." 

And of course there were other people that were not so interested. Some people tried to pay us.. no no no that's not what we are doing! And I asked this lady if we could sing for her "we will sing for ourselves!!!" ...uh ok thanks!  

Ano pa? Oh when there are a lot of little kids we sing head shoulders knees and toes.. in Hiligaynon.. turns out that was a good use of time to learn it in the MTC. And now when we come to their houses they all sing it for me all the time. It's so cute. 

So the hard thing about this week was going to my favorite area Rosario.. we went with the member that knows all of them and this week she slowly keeps telling me that every person doesn't want to hear from us anymore. They are either super active in their own churches or other stuff like their family doesn't want us to come. so that was really hard. 

Now I'm worried about leading the area this week. We need to find new investigators!!! :) I'm just hoping that they will soften their hearts. And 3 people from that area have already been baptized so not all is lost I guess. 

So now for the good stuff. LynLyn and her 9 year old son Axyll were baptized yesterday!!!!! and it was soo good. They are so good. I love her so much. She cried through the whole thing and bore her testimony about how it's hard that her husband hasn't accepted the missionaries yet but she knows it's true so she is happy to be a member, that the missionaries changed her life. And she was a referral from the 1st counselor that spoke and said he has been praying for years that she would be a member. So good. So good. And the best part.. funniest part... the ward choir sang earlier that day so they were all there...and sang 2 songs for the baptism. So literally 30 people stand up and sing for the closing song. Awesome.

AND because there was so many people for the first time not everyone fit in the baptism room so we had to do it in the chapel. Oh life here is so good. I love these people so much. 

(Oh, the Elder's investigator didn't show up and so we were waiting.. and the 2nd counselor and ward mission leader rode off on a motorcycle to go pick her up...only in the Philippines.) 

We had Elder L Whitney Clayton come to our stake yesterday and it was way good. He talked about the pioneers sacrificing so much. He said people don't do that for fun. They knew the gospel was true. It was so deep in their hearts. It was good. Then he asked Sister Joy Aguilar from my ward randomly to bear her testimony and she said she wants her family to be together in the gospel and.. her dad came to church!!! (they have been members for like 20 years but he isn't and he never comes to church. but there he was in a white shirt and slacks. So Good!!!)

Ok and the other great thing! Madel is getting baptized on Saturday. She came to the baptism (ok picture this... we walk into the church for the baptism and Madel, Reynelda, LynLyn and her kids and Sister Almaras  are there... 30 minutes early) That is our recent convert from last week, people getting baptized that day, and people getting baptized the next week. and their fellowshipper. SOOO GOOD!!!! )

So anyway after the baptism I mentioned to Madel. yeah after you are baptized you could come teach with us sometime. Next thing I know she is sitting next to us on the jeepney...Sister where are you going? I am coming to teach with you!!... She came to like 5 lessons and prayed and bore her testimony and everything.  Then she kept saying after every lesson. This is such a cool experience. I love this feeling. AHH so good!!!!

...oh and she asked me to speak at her baptism... 

Oh and the 'highlight' of the week is our investigator's baby pigs were licking our feet during our prayer and my companion kept kicking them off. So funny. Yeah, she has two baby pigs living in her house. 

I love you all so much!! 

Love Sister Foote