Day 285 Allen, Philippines Halfway already????

Happy Hump Day to me! I'm HALFWAY!! It's really bittersweet, actually.

Time goes by way too quick. I think missions are life on the

fast-forward. So many life-changing experiences crammed into just a

few months.

Well, I have little time too, so I'm doing like Ashley and giving you

bullet points:

-We have four new investigators committed to date! Two of them are

hopefully this month. With Maria, we had invited her before, but we

felt like we needed to move up the date because she's super prego (we

have this funny inside joke: I ask her "Kamusta?" (how are you) she

replies "Mabuti" (tagalog for good) and then I tell her "Diri,

maBUNTIS!" (No, you're pregnant!) She practically died laughing the

first time and now whenever I ask her how she is, she always says

she's pregnant, hahaaha.) When we asked her how she felt about moving

up the date, we were super nervous, but she said she was excited!

-There are soooo many religions in this town! The past places have

been mostly Catholic, but so far I've taught Born Again, Protestant,

Iglesia ni Cristo, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. I like to teach other

religions because it shows they are actually searching for the truth

instead of just going with whatever their parents believe, usually.

-My headlice is gone!!! But so is my hair. . . but I think it's

stopped falling quite as much. Probably just because there isn't much

left, haha. ( I think I've lost about half. luckily, you can't tell too bad

just by looking if you didn't know me before, but it's a lot.)

-We were walking along the street one day and we hear this pedicab

driver yell, "BEEEEEEEEEEEP!" pretending he is a car! (pedicab drivers

ride bikes with a side thingy attached to hold passengers) Then he

died laughing at our faces and yelled, "Jokelang!" (just a joke!)

-On my happy hump day, I think God was like "Well, it's Sister Smith's

halfway mark, so let's give a bajillion people to teach to see what

she's learned." We taught the most lessons I've ever taught in one day

and they were all incredible, Spirit-filled lessons! (eight, if you

wanted to know). Best day of teaching ever.

-On the above mentioned best day ever, we met an old excommunicated

member and his live-in partner (she's a non-member). We were moved

upon by the Spirit to commit them to be married and come to church.

Two days later, we go back and the wife says hey we're coming to

church and we're getting married at the Mormon church! WHAT??!!

Boldness is the key I guess. And Sunday, they really did come! They

were just beaming with joy to be there. And the lesson was on marriage

and eternal families. What?

-One word: nakakapagkabagabag. Yes, it's a real word apparently. I

think it means unsettling.

-Almost finished my journal! Now I have nooooooo idea where to buy

another big nice one. . . Help? Are there ones on store.lds.org? I

couldn't find any for the Philippines location.

-I broke through the bottom of a pedicab. . ."Fat Americans!" The

metal was really old and rusted thin, but the pedicab driver still

wasn't too happy. . . Don't worry I paid him extra. The funny part was

he had painted over it so the thinness wouldn't show and the paint was

still fresh so I got silver paint all up my leg, haha.

-I am working on finding a post office to send something for Alex and

a letter for all of you, so we'll see what happens. . .

Love you all!

Sister Amanda Smith :)