Masskara Festival 2009! I can't even begin to explain the festivities in Bacolod city right now its the most colorful, awesome thing ever! Its like Disneyland electric light parade meets New Orleans Mardi-gras! haha The Parades and dances and costumes are incredible. No worries I got pictures and when you all come back with me to visit we will definetly come at this time of year even with the rain its worth it.
So the work is still going well, I feel so blessed to be in Handumanan it is truly a fruitful area. All the things we hear from the Prophet and Brethren about ward mission processes and working through the members is so true! When we have members working with us and giving us referals and then the auxillaries working with the Bishop, whew wee its GOLDEN! Josie and her son christian will be baptized this sunday, the one that was waiting for an answer and then her husband testified and turned everything around. I'm so excited and her Husband Bro Durmentes can barely breath he's so happy his wife and son are joining him as members of the church its truly wonderful to see. Then on Nov 1 we have another baptism of Jeffrey Palma his wife is a member and they just had a baby boy during conference weekend. He has made a complete turn around from his life before and I know his new sons life will be completely different now that both his parents are preparing to go to the temple and be sealed. Man, there is just NOTHING like this work or this gospel!
Well last wed was my hump day. Yep believe it I'm half way done! I can't believe it, every month just seems to go by faster and faster! Just like everyone says, it's starting to scare me a little bit haha We had our transfer announcment on wed and found out that they were taking Sister Fairweather away from me again...poor thing she has to jump back on a boat over to Panay. We were soo sad, but this last transfer was ablast being able to be close to one another. My new comp is Sister Baraquiel, she is great. Quiet. but we'll see how long that last as my comp haha but she works hard and even though I'm leading in the area now I can tell she's trying hard to help the area and she's only been there 3 days! She was in San Carlos for 7 months so she only speaks cebuano...yup thats a stumbling block in the relatuionship but we're workin on it :)
Well I'm glad to hear all is well and everyone is just truckin along, Let me know about Ben Ray and all that I bet he is freaking out right now. At least thats what it sounded like in his letters haha. Love you all miss you!
Always,
Sister Grant
p.s
Mom I dont know my address either haha sorry I'll get right on that for ya ;)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Water world.......
Hello! well here I am in the Pinoy version of water world livin and lovin Sis Fairweather had a cut on her toe the other day and as we waded thru our individual areas her toe got all "swolled" up and when we asked why they said because of the ihi in the water...ihi means urine...well thanks for that. you should have seen my dear sweet sister fairweathers face I thought I was gonna die I was laughing so hard haha.
Luckily my area is on the side of a mountain so i'm pretty high up so the flooding isn't to bad in my area but up north is crazy bad. the water is over 6ft deep in some places. There are more storms on the way, my district leader told us yesterday at conference at least we'll get to follow the counsel of the prophets and serve more if the storm hits here haha gotta love the comforting words of elders no?
So remember when I hit my 9 month mark in 2 days!! What?! how did that happen? My Companion goes home tom morning I'm SO SAD I love her so much we had such an amazing transfer it was a blast and we worked so hard. I will be sending home a package probably next week with some books and stuff I dont need here and some pictures too I know I know its about time sorry.
I can't believe how incredible conference was! Jeffrey R Holland once again blew me away, I was a mess. I was just crying I was so excited that everyday I'm able to share that powerful book with people!
Sorry short but I have to go all is well I'm safe and not too flooded yet...haha
Love you all soooo much, keep on keepin on!
Love always, Sister Grant
P.s I did not eat the frog legs but I did cook them...gross.
Luckily my area is on the side of a mountain so i'm pretty high up so the flooding isn't to bad in my area but up north is crazy bad. the water is over 6ft deep in some places. There are more storms on the way, my district leader told us yesterday at conference at least we'll get to follow the counsel of the prophets and serve more if the storm hits here haha gotta love the comforting words of elders no?
So remember when I hit my 9 month mark in 2 days!! What?! how did that happen? My Companion goes home tom morning I'm SO SAD I love her so much we had such an amazing transfer it was a blast and we worked so hard. I will be sending home a package probably next week with some books and stuff I dont need here and some pictures too I know I know its about time sorry.
I can't believe how incredible conference was! Jeffrey R Holland once again blew me away, I was a mess. I was just crying I was so excited that everyday I'm able to share that powerful book with people!
Sorry short but I have to go all is well I'm safe and not too flooded yet...haha
Love you all soooo much, keep on keepin on!
Love always, Sister Grant
P.s I did not eat the frog legs but I did cook them...gross.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Rain, Relief Society, & Frog Legs
I cant believe conference is here again!! Can you believe it? Another 6 months come and gone! It was definitely an eventful 6 months in my life and from what I hear in all of yours as well. The work continues to go forth at a speeding rate which is both exciting, fun and exhausting I love coming home and being so tired knowing we did everything we possibly could that day, its a great feeling. The flooding in Manila is soo sad all my batch from the MTC can't work all they do is service projects everyday. With the next few storms coming our way we might be in the same boat as them...pun? haha but as of now we aren't flooded just A LOT of rain and more windy than St Johns could even think about getting. We had a baptism on Sunday morning, Jonefi Lumihoc and now we are teaching her older sister that just moved into town and she sent a Book of Mormon to her parents who don't live here in Negros. Hopefully we can contact the missionaries there to go teach them.
We had our Zone activity today it was soo fun we played a bunch of games and did skits it was hilarious. It felt like girls camp but better haha Plus it was even more fabulous because Sis Fairweather was with me! Man I love that girl. Well all is well as of now, conference comes here a week late so I'll watch it this weekend. I'm sooo excited I can hardly stand it! I was able to watch the General R.S broadcast and I just cried when we sang How Firm a Foundation witch is one of my favorite hymns of course. I just LOVE Sis Thompson and of course Elder Eyring was amazing as usual. I pray for you all everyday especially for dads business stuff to work out so I can have a job when I get home haha and Colton and his business, like father like son no? Well I love you all soo much, no worries I got the Language and my health is back in full charge! LALU
Always,
Sister Grant
We had our Zone activity today it was soo fun we played a bunch of games and did skits it was hilarious. It felt like girls camp but better haha Plus it was even more fabulous because Sis Fairweather was with me! Man I love that girl. Well all is well as of now, conference comes here a week late so I'll watch it this weekend. I'm sooo excited I can hardly stand it! I was able to watch the General R.S broadcast and I just cried when we sang How Firm a Foundation witch is one of my favorite hymns of course. I just LOVE Sis Thompson and of course Elder Eyring was amazing as usual. I pray for you all everyday especially for dads business stuff to work out so I can have a job when I get home haha and Colton and his business, like father like son no? Well I love you all soo much, no worries I got the Language and my health is back in full charge! LALU
Always,
Sister Grant
Monday, September 28, 2009
Mission Milestones
You know your in a good mission and you've been out a while when they hand out worm pills at zone conference like pez and you don't think twice about doing your laundry in a bucket by candle light because you haven't had electricity in 2 days....haha we had an earthquake the other day..it happened during the night. The funniest part about that is everyone was talking about it the next day and all worried there was more coming and fixing their houses and my companion and I didn't even feel it! or wake up! haha exhausted much? we had a typhoon this week a signal 1 it lasted for almost 3 days it made work a little more difficult and I'm buying umbrellas like bread but its ok each one makes for some good stories and experiences ha.
The work is still going really good in Handumanan I really hope I stay there for awhile, we had Zone Conference on Thursday and it was sooo good! I love my new Mission President he his incredible, he is so humble and such a good teacher. He's doing great things here and making very necessary changes in the mission I'm so grateful for. The area doctor was also here from Manila with his adorable wife, it was good to see them again I had an interview/check-up with them and they were so glad to see me doing so well. The first thing he said to me when I sat down was "Well sis grant are you as happy as you look?" haha I'm so grateful for my health, and my area I really am so happy right now. We had a baptism on sat a part member family we reactivated and then baptized little 9yr old Gabriel ADORABLE I love him he's sooo funny haha we have another baptism this sat another part member family we have reactivated I love finding those families and helping them come back to the church. Well I love you all soo much and died laughing at jenny's letter! our stories are soo alike yet we are soo far apart I love it. Thanks for the letters and prayers. I sent home my camera and some other stuff earlier and I'm going to buy a new camera right now, thanks for the money in my account :)
Love you all!
Always,
Sister Grant
The work is still going really good in Handumanan I really hope I stay there for awhile, we had Zone Conference on Thursday and it was sooo good! I love my new Mission President he his incredible, he is so humble and such a good teacher. He's doing great things here and making very necessary changes in the mission I'm so grateful for. The area doctor was also here from Manila with his adorable wife, it was good to see them again I had an interview/check-up with them and they were so glad to see me doing so well. The first thing he said to me when I sat down was "Well sis grant are you as happy as you look?" haha I'm so grateful for my health, and my area I really am so happy right now. We had a baptism on sat a part member family we reactivated and then baptized little 9yr old Gabriel ADORABLE I love him he's sooo funny haha we have another baptism this sat another part member family we have reactivated I love finding those families and helping them come back to the church. Well I love you all soo much and died laughing at jenny's letter! our stories are soo alike yet we are soo far apart I love it. Thanks for the letters and prayers. I sent home my camera and some other stuff earlier and I'm going to buy a new camera right now, thanks for the money in my account :)
Love you all!
Always,
Sister Grant
Monday, September 21, 2009
FHE Lesson....gotta love em!
HELLOOO!
Its good to hear that everyone is as busy as I am. I think our family has more mileage on em then anyone else I know! We are definitely a movin gang! So this week was another great one in Handumanan. Yesterday we had a break through with one of our investigators and it was great! She has been an investigator for over a year! She has met with sooo many missionaries but just never accepted baptism, so they dropped her. I came and we decided to visit her and follow up on the story because I was so confused, she comes to church every week, her husband is a member and she asked us to start teaching her 9 yr old son so he could be baptized but she doesn't want to?! Somethin aint right... so last we week we taught her and tried to resolve her concerns. She said she knows its true but its just not the right time...she's still waiting for her answer to get baptized. My comp said she was just nervous and scared to get baptized so we taught about acting on our faith and taking that first step to allow the Lord to show you his promised blessings and give him a chance to answer you. It went well and the spirit was strong, I committed her to not pray for when she should get baptized but to pray and tell the Lord she had the desire and if it was right for her to be baptized RIGHT NOW. We left but I wasn't satisfied. So we prayed a lot for her this week and met with her again yesterday. I told my companion who is the sweetest, kinda on the quiet side kinda girl that we were gonna have to be bold and direct with her, she was nervous so I told her I would start haha, I started by asking her very simple but direct ?s. What changes have you noticed in your life since investigating and living the gospel? in your family? How do you feel personally when you go to church? when you read the scriptures and pray? Of course her answers were that she's so much happier her family and relationship with her husband are stronger and better and she feels the peace the gospel brings. AY SALAMAT. We then helped her realize these WERE her answers! Then we asked her if she believed the Book of Mormon was true and she said yes so we asked her to act on that knowledge and the answers shes received and be baptized and we gave her a Specific Date. She hesitated....out of pure prompting before she could answer I asked her husband ( who is never there when we teach because he works but was off that day ) To bear his own testimony about his own conversion and baptism to his wife. It was the most beautiful testimony I've ever heard Not a dry eye in the room, He expressed gratitude for the gospel in his life, for his family and his desire for them to be sealed together forever in the temple. It was perfect. It was silent for a long time and we allowed it because the spirit was on fire. Then before we could even say anything, her husband turned to her with tears in his eyes and asked if she would act on the faith he has seen in her and be baptized. WOW! she accepted and we set a date. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I loved every minute of it. I was so grateful for his simple but sweet testimony and he has been inactive for almost 10 years! but it was powerful and sincere and just what she needed to hear.
On a lighter note, I got word from another missionary assigned in Valladolid that one of my converts Bro Montano, works with the missionaries all the time and bears a strong testimony where ever he goes. My smile was as bright as my new hot pink jody dress Sis Fairweather so kindly passed on to me. Im so excited for these friendships here and to keep them going even in the years after my mission.
Funny note. For FHE we went to a members house with 2 investigators, and the mother starts the lesson...about Post pardom deppression....um...hahah I was dying in the corner I thought I was going to pee my pants! It was so awkward it seemed to go on forever!then she finally ended and we played games and it was a blast.
Yes I got the calender and it sits on my desk and I love it!
Thanks for everything I love you all!
La Lu
Always,
Sister Grant
Its good to hear that everyone is as busy as I am. I think our family has more mileage on em then anyone else I know! We are definitely a movin gang! So this week was another great one in Handumanan. Yesterday we had a break through with one of our investigators and it was great! She has been an investigator for over a year! She has met with sooo many missionaries but just never accepted baptism, so they dropped her. I came and we decided to visit her and follow up on the story because I was so confused, she comes to church every week, her husband is a member and she asked us to start teaching her 9 yr old son so he could be baptized but she doesn't want to?! Somethin aint right... so last we week we taught her and tried to resolve her concerns. She said she knows its true but its just not the right time...she's still waiting for her answer to get baptized. My comp said she was just nervous and scared to get baptized so we taught about acting on our faith and taking that first step to allow the Lord to show you his promised blessings and give him a chance to answer you. It went well and the spirit was strong, I committed her to not pray for when she should get baptized but to pray and tell the Lord she had the desire and if it was right for her to be baptized RIGHT NOW. We left but I wasn't satisfied. So we prayed a lot for her this week and met with her again yesterday. I told my companion who is the sweetest, kinda on the quiet side kinda girl that we were gonna have to be bold and direct with her, she was nervous so I told her I would start haha, I started by asking her very simple but direct ?s. What changes have you noticed in your life since investigating and living the gospel? in your family? How do you feel personally when you go to church? when you read the scriptures and pray? Of course her answers were that she's so much happier her family and relationship with her husband are stronger and better and she feels the peace the gospel brings. AY SALAMAT. We then helped her realize these WERE her answers! Then we asked her if she believed the Book of Mormon was true and she said yes so we asked her to act on that knowledge and the answers shes received and be baptized and we gave her a Specific Date. She hesitated....out of pure prompting before she could answer I asked her husband ( who is never there when we teach because he works but was off that day ) To bear his own testimony about his own conversion and baptism to his wife. It was the most beautiful testimony I've ever heard Not a dry eye in the room, He expressed gratitude for the gospel in his life, for his family and his desire for them to be sealed together forever in the temple. It was perfect. It was silent for a long time and we allowed it because the spirit was on fire. Then before we could even say anything, her husband turned to her with tears in his eyes and asked if she would act on the faith he has seen in her and be baptized. WOW! she accepted and we set a date. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I loved every minute of it. I was so grateful for his simple but sweet testimony and he has been inactive for almost 10 years! but it was powerful and sincere and just what she needed to hear.
On a lighter note, I got word from another missionary assigned in Valladolid that one of my converts Bro Montano, works with the missionaries all the time and bears a strong testimony where ever he goes. My smile was as bright as my new hot pink jody dress Sis Fairweather so kindly passed on to me. Im so excited for these friendships here and to keep them going even in the years after my mission.
Funny note. For FHE we went to a members house with 2 investigators, and the mother starts the lesson...about Post pardom deppression....um...hahah I was dying in the corner I thought I was going to pee my pants! It was so awkward it seemed to go on forever!then she finally ended and we played games and it was a blast.
Yes I got the calender and it sits on my desk and I love it!
Thanks for everything I love you all!
La Lu
Always,
Sister Grant
Monday, September 14, 2009
Utopia
Man! sounds like you all have been having fun in Florida and everywhere else. I'm glad things are going well with the Fam and with Grandmas health I got real tickled the other day during an OYM (open your mouth) cuz the old lady sitting next to us in a chair had the "shifty eye" thing going on that Grandma Jones always does haha I was dying.
Anyways, I can't even put in words how amazing things are right now for me. Handumanan is an incredible area, we have been workin sooo hard and the Lord is definitely blessing us and our investigators. Some days we pack a sandwich with us so we don't have to go home for lunch and we just work all day and I love it! We are just so excited and on a roll it seems like there's not enough time in the week to visit everyone. We have 10 people with baptism dates right now and ALL of our investigators are progressing soo well its so cool to see the changes they are willing to make once they feel that "special feeling" and witness for themselves. We go on splits like 2 or 3 times a week so we can make it to all our appointments! Its INCREDIBLE! I feel like I'm back to my old self again and that feeling and joy that seemed so dimmed the last 6 weeks in and out of hospitals and such is ON FIRE! I'm so grateful for all your prayers and help and the love and support you all continuously send my way. The language is there. I've got it. It was like I came home from Manila and someone shot me out of a canon haha everything fell into to place and there's no stoppin it now :) I love you all so much and cant wait to bring my family here one day to meet these people that are soo wonderful. The 2 Bishops are so great they help us so much we get new referrals every week! 4 of our investigators that had smoking problems had such changes this week. We had them all down to 7 or 8 sticks a day and then when we visited this week 3 of them were at 4 and 1 only had 2! I was so happy for them. The confidence they are gaining in the Lord and in themselves is so cool. Well I love you all again and keep you in my prayers.
Love always,
Sister Grant
Anyways, I can't even put in words how amazing things are right now for me. Handumanan is an incredible area, we have been workin sooo hard and the Lord is definitely blessing us and our investigators. Some days we pack a sandwich with us so we don't have to go home for lunch and we just work all day and I love it! We are just so excited and on a roll it seems like there's not enough time in the week to visit everyone. We have 10 people with baptism dates right now and ALL of our investigators are progressing soo well its so cool to see the changes they are willing to make once they feel that "special feeling" and witness for themselves. We go on splits like 2 or 3 times a week so we can make it to all our appointments! Its INCREDIBLE! I feel like I'm back to my old self again and that feeling and joy that seemed so dimmed the last 6 weeks in and out of hospitals and such is ON FIRE! I'm so grateful for all your prayers and help and the love and support you all continuously send my way. The language is there. I've got it. It was like I came home from Manila and someone shot me out of a canon haha everything fell into to place and there's no stoppin it now :) I love you all so much and cant wait to bring my family here one day to meet these people that are soo wonderful. The 2 Bishops are so great they help us so much we get new referrals every week! 4 of our investigators that had smoking problems had such changes this week. We had them all down to 7 or 8 sticks a day and then when we visited this week 3 of them were at 4 and 1 only had 2! I was so happy for them. The confidence they are gaining in the Lord and in themselves is so cool. Well I love you all again and keep you in my prayers.
Love always,
Sister Grant
Monday, September 7, 2009
Danka Shane
DANKA SHANE! haha thank you everyone for all your prayers and your support. It really does make a difference and help me over here so thank you it is greatly appreciated.
Well folks ready set go! I'm in my new area with my new companion both of which are sooo great and I'm feeling better everyday. I can't even begin to tell you how I feel right now, its so wonderful I feel like I got to push a restart button from the last 6 weeks and now nothin can stop me haha I've only been in Handumanan for 4 days now but it's already been great. For the first time I have 2 wards and both bishops are really good and the wards help us alot I'm so excited I'm sure you can see me smile from 4 peaks :) Not to mention the fact that IT finally happened. On Friday at our transfer meeting I SAW SIS FAIRWEATHER!! oh man words can not describe that joyous reunion! They was laughter, most definitely tears hah and the most ridiculous exchange of stories ever! I was soooo happy She took over Sterlings area in Victorias in Bacolod North zone and I went to back to South zone but we will still see each other often if not every Monday at our zone activities because our 2 zones always do stuff together we were both so excited our whole batch is on negros now so we'll see each other which is always fun. It feels so good to be back in the work full force and to have a companion with the same desires as I do, it makes a world of a difference. I'll have more info on my area and investigators next week. Thanks again for your prayers. I love you all so much. Mom and the girls, have fun in Florida! Dad, keep workin hard on your new gig and thanks for the email ;) Colton and Jamie hope all is going well with your growing family I love and miss you all. Have fun keep smilin in whatever you do :)
Love always,
Sister Grant
P.S Yes I got your package before I went to manila thanks! and I also got a letter from Jenny , Ha! I miss that girl soo much I was crying and laughing the whole time I read her letter! That will be another incredible reunion oh man.
Well folks ready set go! I'm in my new area with my new companion both of which are sooo great and I'm feeling better everyday. I can't even begin to tell you how I feel right now, its so wonderful I feel like I got to push a restart button from the last 6 weeks and now nothin can stop me haha I've only been in Handumanan for 4 days now but it's already been great. For the first time I have 2 wards and both bishops are really good and the wards help us alot I'm so excited I'm sure you can see me smile from 4 peaks :) Not to mention the fact that IT finally happened. On Friday at our transfer meeting I SAW SIS FAIRWEATHER!! oh man words can not describe that joyous reunion! They was laughter, most definitely tears hah and the most ridiculous exchange of stories ever! I was soooo happy She took over Sterlings area in Victorias in Bacolod North zone and I went to back to South zone but we will still see each other often if not every Monday at our zone activities because our 2 zones always do stuff together we were both so excited our whole batch is on negros now so we'll see each other which is always fun. It feels so good to be back in the work full force and to have a companion with the same desires as I do, it makes a world of a difference. I'll have more info on my area and investigators next week. Thanks again for your prayers. I love you all so much. Mom and the girls, have fun in Florida! Dad, keep workin hard on your new gig and thanks for the email ;) Colton and Jamie hope all is going well with your growing family I love and miss you all. Have fun keep smilin in whatever you do :)
Love always,
Sister Grant
P.S Yes I got your package before I went to manila thanks! and I also got a letter from Jenny , Ha! I miss that girl soo much I was crying and laughing the whole time I read her letter! That will be another incredible reunion oh man.
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