Families

Akon Hinigugma nga mga Ginikanan,

HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY!! Wow. I'm so grateful for you two. Thank you for getting married!!

So, thanks mom for the recipes! Unfortunately, Sister Aloc was transferred today! Which is the day that we were going to celebrate, but that's okay. My new companion is Sister Rosario. She has been in the mission for a long time. Only about 4 months left! Her grandparents are currently living in Washington!

This past week we had mission tour. Elder Bowen, a councilor in the area presidency visited. He gave a GREAT training. We were so inspired! He especially talked about the oath and covenant of the priesthood, the house of Israel, Abrahamic covenant, and working with ward and auxiliary leaders. It was great.

I was really proud of Sister Aloc because she participated a lot in the training. Well, we both did. Whenever we knew the answer, we raised our hands...and so we were called on quite a bit. I was proud of her because she was the only pinay (Filipino) that participated. She said that others didn't participate probably because of the language barrier. She went to BYU Hawaii for three years, so she's good at English, even though I haven't really heard her speak it. We speak Ilonggo about 95% of the time, which has really helped me improve my Ilonggo. Blessing gid.

Jameson wrote me about how they prayed for families in their area. I need to start praying more fervently for families. We actually found one really nice family, and the mom and two kids came to church yesterday! We ran into her husband while he was working. He drives a jeepney for a living and stopped us. He was really nice, but we haven't been able to teach him yet. Families are so important because we need to start with the end in mind. The end being eternal life, which requires being sealed for eternity.

Thanks again, Mom and Papi, for being sealed for time and all eternity 30 years ago today!

I wanted to tell you about what I call the pig system. There are water jugs outside lots of houses full of leftover food. I asked Sister Aloc why that is. She then told me that someone comes and collects the food to feed the pigs. We actually met another family this week that that is their livelihood. They have a lot of pigs and they just sell them one at a time. Genius really. Although really stinky. Pork is expensive here, but people love eating it.

I was reading in Mosiah about Abinadi and his mission. One verse stood out to me about the hardness of the peoples hearts and the blindness of their eyes. I took time to make a list of times when I make choices which blind my eyes and harden my heart. The list turned out to be very insightful. Self-evaluation is something I've learned is so important as a missionary. Repentance has changed. It doesn't have a bad connotation anymore. It is a word full of hope.

I just love being a missionary!

Love you all!!

Sister Marriott