Day 390 Tacloban, Philippines

Sooooooooooooooooooo much has happened this week. First off, I'M BACK IN TACLOBAN 1st WARD!!! I'm not in the San Jose area but I'm in the same ward that I was in during the typhoon. My area is shared with the APs and the ZLs (because somehow I became an STL) in V&G, Sagkahan, and Fatima. I'm not downtown but there's a lot more professionals in these barangays (um. . neighborhoods. that's the English word, haha). There's still a lot of destruction in these areas, but many of the members have been benefited by the home building project by the church and HELP International. It feels so good to be back! Even though I was only in this ward for a month or so, I absolutely loved it. My companion is Sister Woodruff. Love her already! :) All the members joke that we are prophetesses or something because of our last names, haha. We live next door to the Downtown and San Jose sisters in our own apartment. :)

Also GUESS WHAT! Since I get to go on exchanges with other sisters, I get to go back to San Jose AND Carigara (my first area)!!!!! Tender mercy right there. And learning Tagalog in Allen is really paying off here, although I need to relearn the Waray2x here.

Hey do you get letters or emails from my mission office/president? Just curious. Also, I got the multivitamins this week. Salamat hin duro! And Ally Wilkin you are INCREDIBLE! Thanks for the package pal! :D :D :D

So let me back up before transfers.

We weren't able to go back to Mark before I left, but Irene seems to be doing awesome. She brought her neighbors to the lesson and will go to church after the funeral of her brother-in-law. She just keeps having one trial after another.

I found another awesome investigator while i was on member splits with Melanie Habla. I asked her why she had religion in her life or what is the purpose of church in her life? She told me that even though she's been a Catholic forever, she is struggling to find answers to her prayer when she prays to the saints and mother mary. Then she asked us with tears in her eyes, "What is the purpose of church? What is my purpose?" We were guided to tell her that as she follows the gospel of Jesus Christ, she will be able to have the guidance of the Holy Ghost once she is baptized by proper authority, etc. She committed to be baptized on the first lesson! And she said the only reason she hasn't tried attending church before was because she thought we prayed to Joseph Smith. We told her no and she said, "Well, then i"m coming to church with my family on Sunday!" And she gave us referrals. :) Love it when that happens. I can't wait to hear from Sister Mier what happened with her.

I went to the worst funeral ever. I was invited to play piano for the funeral service a member who was a pioneer for the church there in Allen. She died at age 96 or something. Definitely her time to go. But the family (who weren't members) were all in complete hysterics. Like, they had to be dragged out of the room when the procession started to the gravesite. And there was one lady screaming MAMA and stomping her feet and then she laid on the coffin. I was definitely messing up the hymns i was playing because I could not focus. I am SO GRATEFUL to have a knowledge of the gospel of God's plan. I felt happiness and relief that the woman had finally passed on to her rest. Well, hopefully, since the funeral was at our LDS chapel, the Catholics who attended will have their eyes opened and be willing to listen to the gospel in the future. THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE!

Well, I'm out of time, but I love you all!

Sister Amanda Smith

Pictures of goodbye in Allen



A view from my new apartment window as things look right now. It's near the same property as the mission home (not my old apartment which was about a half a mile away from this one). During the typhoon, this new apartment flooded about 4ft.