Hello Everyone! :)

Happy Late Velentines Day!! 

So this week has been good and kind of rough! 

Well I'll start with today! I am emailing late because we were at the Church with some of the members! We played Volleyball with them and then had lunch with them!! It was so much fun!! I love our branch so much!!! I wish I had pictures but I was just having so much fun that I forget to take pictures! maybe next time!!!

Well this week we found a new Investigator! She is actually former investigator and she seems really interested in being taught!! I don't know why she was dropped before! She has a little boy that is so cute and he is about 4 years old! then her husband... hmm.. he doesn't seem to like us that much! But maybe one day he will come around! 

Well on Valentines Day was kind of rough! We only had three lessons! but it was okay! Because all of our youth investigators attended the Valentines dance in Bongabon!! Which is so great because we know that they are really progressing and making friends with the branch! Actually Brother Jerome had his Interview On Saturday and He passed!! :) So he will be baptized this Saturday!! We are so excited for him!! So I will be sending pictures next week of that hopefully!! Sometimes it's hard to send pictures because there are some places that I am scared that my card will get a virus on it!

Well this next part it the rough part of the day! This is actually part of my Email for President Clark! It might seem stupid that we would cry over that, but in missionary work when you are just really trying to get close with the members and the branch to become one in the work of salvation... your whole heart is in it and it hurts when we get rejected.

Well yesterday was kind of a rough day for us! We were both crying at church! One of the recent converts that we had taught last week came to us with a problem; She had accidentally put the shirt in with Clorox and it ruined the shirt, However, this shirt belonged to the women she was working for, who is also a member. The Recent Convert was so scared that she would be so mad because it was her favorite shirt! Well we used that has a teaching opportunity! We shared a scripture about "Seeking first the Kingdom of God before the riches of the world." and we even shared an experience to her! We told her that she needs to tell her boss the truth so that she has no sin upon her, and then we said if her boss gets really mad at you, then she is the one with the sin upon her head because she loves that shirt more!... Well we ended the lesson and we were on our way! Then about a week later we went back to the house to teach her again! However, this time, no one came to the door even though we could hear them talking inside. It made us a little sad but we figured they were just busy! So then the next day at church we see the member, or the boss, and we went to say hello to her! However, she just ignored us! We told her we went to her house yesterday.. but she just said.. "you two have a sin to me." We asked her what it was and she told us that a couple of days ago she had asked the Recent Convert where her shirt was.. Well the Recent Convert told the boss that we had told her to hide it from her! So the boss was really mad at us! We talked to her and we told her that it's not true and we told her exactly what happened.. but she was so mad at us! She said some really hurtful things to us. That's not the only reason we were crying.. we had went to pick up our investigators for Church and they just did not want to go! We actually ended up dropping them because they are attending another religion. We just felt so hurt! After church during our coordination meeting our Branch Presidency asked us why we were crying! We told them the truth and they said not to worry about it and that it's just is part of missionary life and you just have to keep going and working! So that is exactly what we did! We went and worked and it seemed that all those feelings hurt just went away! We were just able to really focus on our investigators and their needs! I am so grateful to be here and for everything that we are learning!! Even though it was kind of a tough week! We still were able to find blessings and joy in the work!

I'm so sorry that my english is so bad in this!!!! I actually am a little embarrassed now! haha anyways! One of the things that helped us to really find joy was our lesson with Tatay Manuel Domingo! He did not go to church that day because he had an emergency come up with someone that wanted to kill his friend! And Tatay Manuel is a retiered army person so he found the guy that wanted to kill his friend and got the licence plate and then called the cops and gave it to the cops! Okay when I get home you have to remind me to share some of his stories from the Army! They are really cool!! He is a really great person!! Well anyways, he told us at the end of the lesson! "Sisters I want you to know that you are not wasting your time! I really am willing to be baptized and I am really willing to change" He just kept saying how willing he was and how much we are not wasting our time! He is seriously the Elect! He however, did start smoking again because the addiction is really strong! But now he is just slowly giving it up! So please everyone continue to pray for him!! He really is so amazing! It literally made us so happy to see how much of a desire he has to change!!!

Well I know that this is the True church and I am so grateful to be a missionary to share it with everyone! I Love the people here so much and I just have to say that I have the best mission in the World!!! I am so blessed to be serving the wonderful people of the Philippines!!!! I am grateful for the blessing of the gift of tongues, and It really is true!!! I am grateful to be here and to serve the the Lord with all my Heart, might, mind, and strength!!! I am grateful for the blessings my family receives from my service! I wish that my mission would never end so that they could be continually receiving these blessings! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! I really hope that everyone that even considers going on a mission will just do it and GO!!!!

Well I just want to share one thing that my Nanay (Sister Bagano) Shared with me in her email to me! It's really awesome! For me I just think of the scripture Mosiah 2:17 "...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

So here it is:

One day a man saw an old lady stranded in the side of the road, he could see that she needed help so he pulled up and got out of his car which was sputtering.( it was old and run down.)When he approached her with a smile on his face he could see that she was worried, no one had stopped to help her for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her, he didn't look safe and he looked poor and hungry.

He could see that she was frightened standing out there in the cold, he knew how she felt and it was that chill which only fear can put into you. He said." I am here to help, why don't you wait in the car where it is warm? By the way my name is Bryan Anderson." Well all she had was a flat tire but for an old lady that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire, he was dirty from head to foot from being on the road and his hands hurt. As he tightened up the nuts on the wheel she rolled down the window and began to talk to him, she told him she was from out of town and that she was just passing through.She couldn't thank him enough for coming to help her, Bryan just smiled as he started to leave, the lady asked how much did she owed him, any amount would have been alright for her.

She already had imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Bryan never thought about being paid. This was not a job to him, this was helping somebody in need and he knew that there was plenty of people who had given him a hand in the past. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help she could give that person the assistance they needed and Bryan added and think of me. He waited until she started the car and drove off. She was very happy that things had turned out really well.

It had been a cold and depressing day but he felt good as he headed for home. A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe, so she went in to grab a bite to eat and take the chill off her before she made the last leg of her journey home. It was a dark dingy looking restaurant, outside there were two old petrol/gas pumps. The waitress came over and bought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair, she had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet all day couldn't be erased. The lady noticed that she was around 8 months pregnant but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan....After the lady finished her meal she paid it with a $100 bill or note.

The waitress quickly went to get change for her but the old lady had slipped out through the door, she was gone by the time the waitress got back. The waitress wondered who the lady could be, then she noticed something written on the napkin or serviette. There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote, " You don't owe me anything, I have been there too, somebody once helped me out and I am helping you. If you really want to pay me back here is what you do, do what I have done to somebody else."

Under the napkin or serviette were 4 more $100 notes or bills. What a surprise ,well there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill and people to serve but the waitress made it through another day.

That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written, how could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed the money.

With the baby due in the next month it was going to be hard...she knew how worried her husband had been and as he lay sleeping next to her she gave him a soft kiss and whispered softly and low " Everything is going to be alright, I love you Bryan Anderson."

Well I love you all so much!!! take care and always be happy and serve others!! I promise Heavenly Father will bless you more then you know!!! Take care always!

Love,

Sister Freeman

P.S. Sorry no pictures!