Kilala at minahal ninyo siya, at kilala at minahal niya kayo

Sister Wood didn't send any pictures this week so I chose one of my favorites to add to the blog. This was the picture she put on her mission papers

Alright, P-Days are usually pretty awesome when we have a zone activity, and we did have a zone activity earlier, so it has been a pretty awesome p-day. We all went to Batac and had a combines activity with the Batac 1 zone. We are Batac 2. We just had it at the church and played basketball and football and stuff. It was super fun though because got to spend time with sister willson and other cool missionaries that i love so much!

The elders are so dumb and came up with a new way to measure heighth. They call it "wood" so instead of feet or meters or yards, they say oh it is about 2 wood's high. Which is 2 of me tall. Haha they are so lame. I miss being at BYU where I am just an average heighth amongst all of the athletes. I literally am a giant here, even amongst the missionaries as you can see haha.

We had a good week this week when it comes to the work. We went and visited Sister Jonalyn who is supposed to be baptized on the 30th and she told us that the reason they didn't go to church was because they were trying to find a way to pay for her son CJ's testing that they were doing that week at school. They told us all about the education and how they have to pay all of these fees. Which clearly most of these people can't afford to pay. And if they don't pay to take an exam, they can't get a grade, which means they can't move on to the next grade. I could talk about the education system for a while, but I won't cause it isn't important. What is important is that they aren't able to go to church because they don't have the money to ride. But I thought it was interesting because she told us that the US government actually give the struggling people here a budget every month. But her issue is, she doesn't have an ATM card to withdraw it. So thank you USA for helping so many people here! We need to figure out our plan to help her, because they need the gospel and are ready. 

We have been teaching a lady name Cherry Asuzano. Oh my heavens she is so awesome. She is not shy, super outgoing and just loves me and my tallness and laughs at everything i do. Basta, she loves the gospel more. She is getting so many questions answered, and things the "mormon church" is so maganda. But my favorite lesson with here was this last week when we were teaching the Plan of Salvation, just about where we came from. She couldn't believe it! We had her read in the pamphlet, and she just kept repeating these words after she was done... "kilala at minahal ninyo siya, at kilala at minahal niya kayo." He knows and loves you and you knew and loved him. She didn't know that. She didn't know that she knew Heavenly Father. More importantly, she didn't know that he loved her. It kind of hurt me because I just thought to myself, there are so many people in this world that do not know that they have a loving Heavenly Father. Isn't that so sad? We are all God's children and he loves us all. But some have no idea. It was a really cool lesson with her. She now knows that she came from a loving Heavenly Father. She knows that she has a purpose here on earth. This is the joy of being a missionary. Her only problem is church. She hasn't come yet. Oh but when she does, she is going to go crazy for the gospel even more than she already is. :)

So do you all know about weekly planning? It is the 3 hour planning we have every friday morning. We plan all our appointments for the upcoming week. Anyways, it is really long, and some people don't like it. It has never been a big deal to me because it goes by way quick. But at the end you have companionship inventory which is the time where you and your companion talk about how you are doing and it is basically the dreaded time where you vent your complaints if you have any. But I just wanted to share that i love companionship inventory. Or at least I have grown to love it. Not because you get to blast each other about stuff, cause that isn't how it should be done, but this week I really felt the Spirit as we talked to each other about our strengths and weaknesses, and more importantly how we can help each other! Sister Servancia is a great person. Very humble, and just like us all imperfect. I admire her, because she is willing to ask for help to be better! And it is something I am working on as well! I have come to understand the power in a companionship if you are willing to humble yourself and be united in the one purpose you have as a missionary. I am blessed to have the companions i do. I am learning so much. 

Last but not least, i am still trying to master this language. I went around and labeled our whole house with sticky notes haha with everything that i now. I could do more than i thought actually! Man, still far far from where i want to be though. the gift of tongues is real though. My favorite thing in the world that i just laugh so hard at is when I wake up in the morning and the first words out of my mouth are tagalog. I just laugh at myself. I never thought I would know a different language! 

Mahal ko kayo. At, namimiss ko kayo. 

Sister Wood

xoxox