June 16, 2014

Family!

Okay Happy Father's Day!!!! Also Thank you sooooo much for our google hang out earlier today! Wow that was awesome seeing all your happy faces and hearing your voices! It's crazy that it's quickly we will see each other again. Ha ha it made me laugh that seeing each other was like "ya cool, okay we'll see each other soon" sort of conversation. Regardless I loved seeing your faces, and just hanging out. it was great. And oh my goodness Linc is so cute! 

Yesterday instead of church we had a Special conference for the Philippines. It was a broadcast coming from SLC with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles and it was an interesting broadcast and really spiritually uplifting. Elder Dean M Daves of the Bishopric of the Church shared the story of how the lot for the Philadelphia Temple came to be. It was a lot of up and downs with if they were actually going to obtain the lot. He mentioned how everything worked out, and then it would suddenly not work out like they thought it would. He shared that the trials and challenges they had for obtaining the lot for the temple were hard, and it was a great and beautiful test of their faith. They obtained the lot through the power of the Lord as it was the Lord's will that it all happened. But as I listened to his experience, I was surprised as I thought temple buildings, etc all work out perfectly and just goes according to plans. I learned that the Lord requires the faith of His servants for the building of the kingdom of the Lord here on earth. The things that the Lord wants to happen, will happen according to His plan; and yet He still requires our faith and our works for things to happen. The Red Seas we face in life will always be there, and when we are on the errand of the Lord, there is always a way through the Red Seas-I know that to be true. :)

Thank you so much again for your love and your support to me. I love hearing that you continue to pray for me, I know those prayers help so much. I ask that you also include Brother Lorenzo in your prayers. He is progressing and has progressed so much and he is so close to being baptized. He is struggling with an addiction that he needs the help and strength of the Lord to overcome this addiction-but I know he can do it. and I look forward to the day when he tells us with certaninty that he is ready. Oh my goodness I can visualize the day, and now it is patiently waiting for that day. Ah man I'm excited. But please include him in your prayers. The power of prayer... indescribeable. I hope you felt the Spirit earlier as we had our family prayer. 

I sure do love you, each of you so much. I sure hope you know that. I hope you know how much I have developed a strong testimony of the love of the Lord for each of you. I see it everyday how much Heavenly Father loves His children and simply He wants them to be happy. I hope you know that, I hope you feel that. Thank you for everything. 

Mahal ko kayo!

-Sister Davidson :)

Pictures! 

1 Every week when we go visit them we take pictures because we LOVE the de Jesus family. Sister Ryeli continues to get bigger and bigger with baby! Still working on getting the name for the baby hehe

2. Us with Sister Adda!! Ha ha she is such a teenager and we just laugh and laugh at her. 

3. It was Bishop Gardian's birthday! Mmm the food we had was... Tacos!!! Oh man it was so delicious!!! Also bishop Gardian is the best ever. He is so on top of how his ward is doing and knowing what each member needs. I'm so impressed with his leadership skills. 

4. I took this picture for Dad. This is Sister Lilly a less active we visit and they are building her house. When we got there they were doing the electircal wiring and I'm so impressed at how simply they wire the entire house just like you see in the picture. Filipinos are SO good at just figuring out how things work out and then just doing it. 

5. Sisters in Tarlac Zone! ARen't they so beautiful!? Ah man I love these Sisters soo much and I learn so much from their sweet and kind and hardworking attitudes! We love them!

1. Sister Casimero and I had exchanges in Capaz! This is a great cute family where the father used to be less active but has since come back to church. His non-member wife wants to be baptized but they are waiting for their marriage first. They have to save up their money to get the license for the wedding and then they can get married at the church for free! But while they are saving money they are so cute and they know and see the clear differences between the weeks when they go to church and when they don't. They have simple yet powerful testimonies that I learned a lot from. Also their baby is like 4 weeks old and was super cute. 

2. Sister Casimero and I in front of a sugar cane field! You can't see b/c it's cloudy but way behind us is the famous Mount Oriah (?) one of the biggest mountains in the Philippines.

3. On exchanges in Concepcion there was this resort that has these cool dinasours that we wanted to get pictures with :) Also... POURING rain. as in. even though we had umbrellas, the rain and wind came from the side and so like even though you can't tell-we were completely soaked from head to foot ha ha it was funny trying to get pictures. 

4. And then Sister Azaña and I recruited a kind enough person who was already wet to take pictures of the 2 of us ha ha

5. Sister Azaña is amazing and our exchanges in Concepcion were so fun! Last time we had exchanges we were both in Baler ha ha. 

. With Sister Zhayne! Her cousin who lives in the States gave her as a referral and now the missionaries are teaching her and she will be baptized later this month! She is 19 and just like she's been a member all her life. It was so fun teaching her. 

2. Sister Azaña and I having to find another way through to our appointment as the walkway through was flooded... but so beautiful!

3. Si Khyle and Ivan made these cute claws out of paper to play with when they stuck them on their fingers. Little kids are so creative. 

4. Ha ha hopefully this needs no explanation. 

5. Okay this group of YSA are... indescribabely amazing. From left, si Brother Christian, Brother Danilo (investigators, us, Brother Paolo (baptized last March) and then Brother Reymart (used to be less active). First. Brother Paolo is amazing and such an on-fire and incredibly humble person. He referred us to his cousins, and they are so interested and ready for the gospel! It is amazing. Their desire to change their circumstances that they are in is so strong. They're coming to church, reading the Book of Mormon and sincerely praying. They ask a lot of questions about their reading. The words in the scriptures are deep and they always have questions when they don't understand who a person is, what is going on, or what a word means. I am impressed with them because even though they don't understand what they're reading, they love how they feel when they read. They for sure have the aturor of not being interested in the gospel-but don't judge a book by it's cover. These young men have the best potential in the world, and I am learning so much when we teach them. 

1. Nanay Wy!!! Becuase it was a special broadcast for the Stake, the stake came! And b/c this is my third area in the stake I saw soo many old friends who I love so much!!! This is Nanay Wy from Lapaz. She literally was our Nanay as she was our next door neighbor and I love her so much!

2. Brother Archie and his family! He was my 2nd baptism here in the mission. His house was the absolute first house I ever went to to teach as a missionary. They are still active and strong and they are preparing for their temple sealing hopefully this October!!!!! 

3. Ward 3 reuninon!!!!!!!!

4. Sister Joy!!! our little sister in the mission! She is going to the San Pablo mission in July!

5. The Garcia family from Ward 3!!! The oldest brother in the Garcia family (not in this picture) was in the same mission as Jared Heywood! 

6. More sisters from Ward 3!! especially Sister Diane!! She continues to come to church with her baby and we looove her soooo much!!!!!!! She was Sister Bongolto's first baptism here in the mission!! Ah I love being in the same stake as my old areas!

That's all folks!

Sure do love you. So much!! I LOVE these people that I am surrounded with everyday and I learn so much from them as I also learn so much from the Lord. Keep reading your scriptures, praying, going to church and fulfilling all your callings to the ultimate max.  ;)

mahal ko kayo!

-Sister Davidson :)