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January 13, 2014 Last 2 days of the transfer

Hello Hello family!

Well, I am officially done training Sis Hausia and she is doing great.  It will be really good for her to get a new companion and learn new things.  We've kind of hit the point where I have nothing new really to teach her and it will be good for a change.  The transfers really are good because you learn new things from every companion.  I'm excited to be a regular missionary!  So far I haven't gotten out of training yet...haha/  But again, I am in a tri-some with two Tongans and it's a lot of fun.  They just laugh and talk all the time.

This week was really exciting because we have a lot of progressing people right now.  Last week, Mario finally committed to a date to be baptized (Feb 1st).  Right now, he still doesn't feel ready but he said he's going to do his best to be ready by then.  I know that he is going to be baptized!  We just have to keep working on building his faith but he is doing really great.  He hasn't had any coffee this week and is keeping all of his commitments!  Yay!  Unfortunately, he didn't come to church yesterday...we're not sure why yet.  We'll find out on Tuesday.  I hope he has a good reason...not just that he was busy.

BUT....Myrna came to church for the second week in a row!  At first, I really was not sure about their family but now we really like them.  They're really funny and they really like to have us there.  Her husband is SUPER Catholic (in the way that his parents and grandparents were Catholic...not that he goes to church) so he's going to take a while I think but he always listens and is actively participating in our lessons.  And he really likes the lessons too.  So we have hope for him!  But I really think that Myrna will be baptized and I think she really likes coming to church.  She already has made a lot of friends in the church so that's good.  We still haven't taught word of wisdom yet...that's going to be a tough commandment for them to keep.

As far as cultural notes, it has been freezing here!  I'm not sure what the weather really is here (I'm sure this what Utah feels like in the summer) but since I'm used to sweating all the time, the last few days have felt really cold.  Everyone here has been wearing jackets and coats and beanies.  It's really funny because it really is still warm here.  One other funny thing is that we went to pick up our investigator for church and her brother was outside.  We asked if she was there and he went and called her and said "Mayra! Come here!  Nicole Kidman is here!" We laughed about that.

Also, we have this one less active family that we have been visiting and we have had some really great lessons lately.  We've been really bold with them (it's kind of fun). One of our lessons we were focusing on reading the Book of Mormon and how that is important because they haven't read in a long time now.  For some reason, I told them the story about Great Grandpa Tanner and how he was doubting that paying tithing would be possible for them because money was tight.  So he experimented and wrote down how much everything would cost and the money would come out just right.  But then he paid tithing first and knew that at the end of the month, they wouldn't have enough money, but somehow, it all worked out and they had enough.  So then he always paid his tithing.  For some reason I thought of that story and told it to them with the intent of relating it to reading the Book of Mormon (they say they're busy and don't have time to read).  After the story though, they opened up to us and said, "Yeah, that happened to us back when we used to pay tithing." And then they told us their experience.  And they said they hadn't paid it in a while.  We got them to commit to pay their full tithing and read the Book of Mormon everyday.  I know that the spirit was helping me to remember that story and decide to tell it because it really didn't relate very well to what we were focusing on: Book of Mormon reading.  But that was something they needed to hear because they needed to remember their testimony of tithing.  In Preach My Gospel, it talks about how investigator needs and concerns are often like icebergs.  We just see the very tip of the problem and don't see the real problem underneath.  That is why we as missionaries need to follow the spirit because Heavenly Father knows them and knows their real problems, not just the surface problems.  I had no idea that tithing was really what they needed to hear that day, but Heavenly Father did!

Well, I hope everyone is having a great January and still working on all those New Years resolutions.  Maybe this will be my last letter to you from Gua Gua!  We shall see! But I love you all and I know that this is the Lord's work talaga!

Mahal ko kayo!

Sister Sirrine

Posted by Sirrine Family at 5:44 PM Philippines Olongapo Mission Address for Letters