Happy Week!

Me and Sunshine, a ward member who is preparing to serve a mission. She's so sweet!

Hello All!

We were so blessed to be able to watch the Christmas devotional last night. It was beautiful. I think my eyes were dry for maybe five minutes. I was overwhelmed by a Spirit of peace and gratitude for my Savior and for His life, example and ministry. If you didn't get a chance to watch it- watch at least Elder Nielson's talk. It was so beautiful.

We had a good week! We got a TON of referrals this week and spent a lot of time dodging dogs and trying to find where they live. The problem is not that there are no house numbers- there are. The problem is that they are not IN ORDER. They go from 308 and then next door is 330 and then next door is 423. haha... so it's always and adventure trying to find exactly where people live! The Filipinos love to refer their friends to us! It's so great, but it can get confusing sometimes when you have 11 referrals. I'm learning how to use my planner effectively talaga!

On Saturday we went to visit a LA family that lives on the beach!! So we got to walk along the beach! It was so beautiful! The gorgeous blue sky and water and sand was just perfect! We stayed far away from the water and kept our shoes on, of course, but I picked up a few beautiful seashells! The point of this story though, is that we met a WHITE(!) person! She was walking along the beach too and we started talking in ENGLISH. turns out she's from Ireland and her husband is Filipino, so they're living here for 6 months out of the year. She was super willing to take the pamphlets we gave her. It was so weird doing missionary work in English! I kept wanting to speak Tagalog haha. Not sure if anything will happen from it, but it was cool meeting another foreigner :)

 This is a picture of the sunset the other night, for all you who are freezing

 in the snow right now ;)

We also had a strange experience this week contacting a referral from some super wealthy members. We went to their house (more like mansion, by Philippines standards) and they drove us in their CAR to their referral's house. It was sooo weird riding in an air-conditioned car! And what's really weird is that it WAS weird. 3 months ago, riding in a car was something I did every day, but now it's weird. It's like a whole new world here.

We had a lesson with a girl we met along the side of the road this week. At the end of the lesson she said, "I know everything you have taught me is true!". Goodness! That was a first for us! Too bad she's only 17... we can't have anyone baptized who's under 20 and doesn't have a parent or guardian who's a member. We actually have a few golden investigators who are under 20, but can't progress without their parents becoming members as well. And their parents want nothing to do with us. It's so sad!

Sister Marlene is good! We have 3 investigators progressing towards baptism: Marlene, Alex, and Perlita. They're all parents and have a strong desire to be baptized. We are continuing to help them come to come to church! It's a huge commitment, but we have a lot of support from the ward to help them!

The primary program was yesterday at church! It was so cute! I love these gorgeous little Filipino kids! 

That's all for now!
Have a great day :)

Love,
Sister Mckenna Gustafson

 

 A sheep and a lamb walking along the road, typical here!