Wedding Bells!

Maupay na Udto! 

Good Day to all! And Hip Hip Hooray!! The Adina Family got Married today!!! They are now officially Brother and Sister Adina!! Now they are a complete family and one step closer to their baptism!! It was really simple, signing some papers at the city hall and then a reception at Cafe Maria Rosario. It was so fun! Such a good day!! 

This past Saturday we had a baptism! Four! The Duena kids, Jeffery, Gladys, Jessica, and JinJin. They are the cutest, nicest kids ever! Right after their baptism we went back to their house and had a combined FHE with the Bustillo and Sanico families! It was fiesta that night in Barangay Mercedes so it was kind of crazy, but we had a blast all of us bonding in the Duena family's house. When I first transferred here the Duena family was inactive. They never came to church or read the scriptures. When we visited them they were just kind of sad, but now they are all glowing with the light of Christ! Nanay was SOO happy during their baptism, rushing around trying to help her grand kids get redressed, in and out of the font. I know the the gospel of Jesus Christ is what really brings us true happiness and prepares us for eternal happiness as well. There are so many things in the world that seemingly give people happiness like money, alcohol, a new car,  what ever it may be. But that is not happiness. That is temporal and will all be gone someday.  We need to keep an eternal perspective. I am so blessed to have been able to meet the Duena family and the Adina family because they are some pretty special people. (I mean, aren't we all?) haha 

I am so excited for General Conference in the upcoming weeks, and some of you are so lucky that you get to watch it live. haha But I'm not bitter at all ;) 

I love you all! Listen to the Prohet's voice! Endure to the end! Choose the harder rightrather than the easier wrong! We all know where we want to go and that is to return and be with our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ and to live with our Eternal Families. #JustDoIt

Hinay kamo!

Sister Healey

                                                  

Brother and Sister Adina

Reception after the wedding

The Duena kids' baptism

FHE after baptism

A miracle, a marriage, and 4 baptisms!

Maupay na Adlaw! 

Kamusta kamo ngatanan? Maupay? Maupay! Here is a little update about my week: 

Monday we had a Zone Activity in Calbayog! Games and Budol Fight! So fun.

This past week we had combined zone conference up in Catarman so we went to northern Samar! 

One of our investigator's grandma was super sick but they asked for a Priesthood blessing and right after the blessing she calmed, was able to open both of her eyes and even speak a little. It was a miracle. 

We had a last minute Branch Activity on Saturday which turned out to be a quick presentation about Temples, then Just Dance for the rest of the night which was super fun and funny to watch a bunch of Tatay's doing Gandam Style. It made me miss Just Dance so much and the activity was good because we had SO many investigators there who have been too shy to come to church but were able to attend the activity! :) 

The Adina family has a date set for their Marriage which is SUPER exciting!!! And this Saturday we have 4 baptisms!! The Duena kids! 

I gave a talk yesterday in our branch on Missionary Work. :) Still got nervous right before speaking. haha I don't know why, but it went well. 

Catbalogan is great! Sorry I don't have time to go into details this week but I hope you are all doing well! I keep you in my prayers always! Love you, bye! 

Sister Healey

A busy week!

Maupay na aga! 

Kamusta kamo ngatanan?! Maupay didi ha Catbalogan bisan kon ining urhi na semana, medjo masamok. This last week has been a busy one! There is so much work to be done!! haha 

Some of the fun things that have happened this week. 

Word of Wisdom

Some of our AMAZING investigators, the Adina Family, are already missionaries!! Just last Sunday we taught them the Word of Wisdom and at first it was hard for Brother to accept, but with the help of Sister Adina, they all committed to follow and Brother is going to work on quitting smoking and drinking alcohol. The Adina family own a health business selling CMD, a Mineral Food Supplement, and they go around to seminars, to schools, all over the place teaching and sharing about the importance of good health. Two days after we taught them the WoW, Brother Adina, in his presentation to this whole school, started talking about "Joseph Smith's Word of Wisdom." haha The Church is true guys. People can change. The Adina family are for sure going to be future leaders in the church. 

Multi-marketing Scam

This past week on exchanges, Sister Russon and her companion were making lots of contacts on the street and gave out our number to a few people. Well, one of them texted us back the next day and invited us to go share our message at a seminar. Seminars are a big thing here in the Philippines, so we were thinking this was going to be great opportunity to do another "Dan Jones" thing. We prepared big time, even got lost looking for the location of this seminar. When we finally got there, there were very few people and our contact took us into an office where this guys proceeds to sell us this idea of selling their product for almost an hour. A pyramid scheme. Because we already go door to door. We had to explain to this guy that that is NOT our purpose and we would not be doing that for them. They also wanted an international connection for their business because we are foreigners. Then they told us the seminar might actually be later that day, but we just gave them some pamphlets to hand out. They took a million pictures of the 2 Americans who know Waray-Waray, then we got out of there. 

Relief Society Activity

This past week we planned a Relief Society Activity for the sisters, and it was a huge success! We had 20 sisters show up and it was a lot of fun! It was a great way for the Recent Converts to bond with the other sisters and a good break from their day-to-day work. They could just relax and have fun. We made little invite handouts to invite/remind people about the activity and they were all so excited when they received it! We had a form with Get to Know you questions, taught them a welcome song, played games, watched a Mormon Message, then had some food. So fun. :)

We also had ZTM this week in Calbayog, Sister Russon and I gave a training on Planning and this week we are all travelling all the way up to Northern Samar, Catarman, for our Multi Zone Conference. 

That is basically it! It's rainy season again. We are doing well! I love you all! Until next week!

Peace,

Sister Healey

Relief Society activity

Attachments area

Merry Christmas

Maupay na Kulop!! 

Hello world. It is September now, WHICH MEANS ... it is now Christmas in the Philippines. haha As soon as the "Brrr" months start, it is Pasko na, and I'm not even joking. The other day when we were out eating at this little restaurant, Mariah Carey's Christmas Album came on. It was awesome but also kinda crazy. Houses here are set up and ready to go for Christmas in 3 months. They already have Christmas trees set up. . . I love the Philippines. 

In fact, the other day, in celebration for one of our RC's birthday, they had Videoke (an all-time favorite of Filipinos) and demanded that Sister Russon and I sing.  It's not allowed for missionaries because almost all of it is Babylon songs, BUT they had some Christmas songs so we sang "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "The First Noel." haha It was so fun. Why isn't that a bigger thing in America? 

We had MLC this week so we went to Tacloban and I had a reunion with some of my batch from the MTC and with Sister Prudencio! It was so fun being able to catch up with friends in the mission. It is so crazy how fast time flies. 

This morning for P-day we got up early and went to Buri Baras Beach with the District and some members. It was super relaxing and a nice way to start the day. One of the members in the Branch, Tatay Cortan, drove us out on his tricycle (motor with side-car), and then we just hung out there for a while. Some people there were selling fresh Buko!!! (Coconut)  I was SO excited! It has been over 6 months, since I have last had fresh Buko. It was when I was still in Biliran. So this morning was pretty great. :) 

Sister Russon and I are doing great. We are sweating buckets and are haggard 24/7. It's a million degrees and somehow we still are not tan, but that's the missionary life and I love it. (Not the sweating part) 

Hope you all have a great week. 

Love,

Sister Healey