Hello hello hello!

Magandang Hapon sa Inyo Lahat!!

Hello! The typhoon started Monday night and lasted until Wednesday, so we were told not to work, just to stay inside, for a couple days. A lot of the houses of members and investigators got flooded. Some in the lower parts were flooded pretty bad, but most were just up to the ankles. Luckily our apartment stayed 100% dry. It was kinda exciting - at times we could feel our walls vibrating because of the wind. It was pretty cold too. The lights were out for a while and we used candles and made lumpia and sang lots of hymns about sunshine, just for kicks and giggles. On Saturday we went to one of our investigators houses, only to discover that the entire road leading to their house was completely flooded over, so we got pretty wet making our way over there.

We went to a birthday party this week at a member's house - she had cooked spaghetti and was complaining that it tasted sour, and my companion said "What? they forgot to add sugar!" But I told her, "Wow, this tastes American!" hehe--spaghetti here is very sweet :)

Mary Roces (recent convert) is really catching "the spirit of Elijah." It's interesting- ever since she's gotten baptized, she's kept having these reoccurring dreams where her family members (who have passed on) come to visit her and ask if she can do their ordinances in the temple. How neat! So we've been helping her record their names and send them to the temple. The other day she found a really old Book of Mormon the other day that belonged to her father, who investigated the church a long time ago. How exciting!

I've been thinking a lot lately about Satan tries to distort our perception of things as they really are. He'll use any means or strategy he can. We need to be so careful about what we allow to enter into our thinking. Mainstream media and popular culture often send messages that distort our perception of things as they really are. It can be very deceptive and very subtly distract us away from the things that are most important. I think the words of the living prophets and visiting the temple often are excellent ways to combat that and to see things clearly.

I love you very very much! Stay happy and safe and know that you are loved!

Love, Rebecca