It's more fun in the Philippines

I will be transferring to my third area tomorrow, and finding out where it is... tomorrow. The Lord blessed me with 7 months in Antipolo, but I guess I was only meant to be here in Quirino for 6 weeks. We have at least two baptisms coming up in this area, and there's lots more potential, but I'm excited for Sister Goud's new companion. She'll be training so a new missionary straight out of the MTC will have some really good experiences to start with here. So we had Sister Josefina's baptism this week!!! Those who spoke at the baptism shared some really powerful personal experiences. And several people attended, including one of the upcoming baptisms so he had the chance to see what he'll be doing in a couple weeks. The day of the baptism we went to the church earlier to fill up the font and set up chairs. We were in and out of the room, and had set our bags there. A random lady came and talked to us, said she was a member of our ward (she had probably read it on the bulletin board), and asked us if we were married (ibig sabihin, she wasn't a member). In short, my camera was stolen and Sister Goud's 2,000 pesos and temple recommend. I had two memory cards and a total of 6 GBs of mission memories. But that's life. Thankfully, I have e-mailed many of my pictures to my family, but not all. And that's not all, on the roller coast of mission life. We experienced some flooding this week. Most of our area is pretty high, but we were teaching down the way of this one skinita (kind of like alley), and it started raining hard, and then it didn't stop. It started coming into the house of our investigator and rising to calf level. We asked if she wanted any help, and then told her we should get going because it was getting higher and we needed to get to some appointments. The current was reallly strong and by that point we were up to our thighs in very dirty water. We realized we couldn't get to the street because there was this one part where it was too strong. We watched a couple kids playing in it, and then a refrigerator passed by us. And a wooden cart :) We said a little prayer and a lady invited us in. We waited until the rain stopped and the water had gone down. We helped scoop water out of her house, and then it was just a normal day. But I will never forget the ipis (cockroach) that I had to get out of my hair... Eek. Haha... So in spite of all these happenings, we've had 4 dinner appointments in the past three days, and I've had some good last lessons here. We got punted the other night, and Sister Goud felt prompted to go to one of our less actives. We were teaching according to one of his concerns, and it was amazing because he opened up about some completely different concerns. And so we can better meet his needs. I testify that the Lord is helping us in His work. I've seen it time and time again. We also received another great referral, and we were able to teach both an investigator and less active there. The investigator is receptive and the less active is ready to come back to church. Another day we got punted a ton and I've really been wanting to learn how to better tract. It's all about paying attention to who is around you, and having the courage to follow the spirit. We spotted this family (young grandparents taking care of their grandchildren). They mentioned how they had seen us pass by the other day. Their hearts were ready and they let us in. I've been studying in talks and scriptures and seeing it in my work, the Lord has really prepared specific people to receive the gospel at the right time. Pray to know if your friends are ready. The missionaries need your referrals!! It's a lot of work balancing less actives and investigators, but this week and last week have been some of the happiest this transfer because we've been busy. It's in stark contrast to when I was sick and I had to sit at home. And part of the reason we've been busy is the amazing referrals we've received. I also had the privilege of teaching Erina one last time. She's a Korean that I have had really special experiences while teaching her. It's in slow and simple English and the Spirit is abundant. We took a step back and instead of continuing with the lessons we tried to focus on who God was and helping her understand the relationship we can have with him. She had been praying to know He exists and the things we're teaching are true, but she didn't realize she could pray for other things like for help in school. We are so blessed to have such a loving Heavenly Father who cares about what we care about, and who will help us with everything--temporal and spiritual. Who knows where I'll be writing from next week, but it's comforting to know that God has prepared people there for me to meet. And I was so happy because I got a chance to bear my testimony in sacrament last week. It's hard with a ward so big and it really is time for the members, but I felt prompted to. There had been a lot of people testifying about the temple and getting your recommend. But I know some people have committed sins that make it hard to get there. But I testified, and testify, that the Atonement is real. Regardless of what we've done in our past, we can overcome it and become new and clean. It says at the end of "The Living Christ:" God be Thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son. I'm so grateful for the love that each member of the Godhead has for us. Mahal ko kayo, Sister Cope Pictures of the week (from Sister Goud's camera): 1. Brother Mike (a Recent Convert. He was baptized the week before I got here, and already had the privilege of using his priesthood!! So cool), Sister Josefina (baptizee; sobrang humble and full of faith), Sister Goud and I. 2. A supportive turn out for the baptism and building up of Zion in Quirino 1 :) 3. Quezon City South Zone... but not all of us because we had about 20 different camera that were on timers and yeah.... 4. My district :) 5. Yes, those chairs are upside down. 6. This is Pan de Amerikana, where Sister Goud and I ate our last companionship lunch together.. :( She's been a really masipag companion and I've learned a lot from her. She'll be going home in six weeks so I might not see her again, until I visit her in India :)