November 11 A New Companion and a Baptism

Okay, well this has been a pretty good week. D was baptized last Saturday. She wasn't able to be baptized on November 2 because of the typhoon, and so that's why her baptism was postponed. She is so cute. On Sunday, her family was planning to go to the beach, and she really wanted to go, but she chose to go to church instead so she could receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I just love D so much.

 

We are preparing P to be baptized on November 23. We told him we would need to teach him almost everyday so he could be ready for his interview on November 16. There was one day last week that he wasn't available to be taught, so he texted us and asked us if we could do "overtime" the next day, and that we would just text him his next reading assignment. We did. He is so cute. Whenever he reads his reading assignment, he always understands super well, and he explains to us what he read. He already has a strong testimony. He already wears a white shirt and tie to church every Sunday. He looks and acts just like a priesthood holder, except that he's not a member yet. I just love teaching him.

 

My new companion is Sister I. She is a newly-called Sister Leader. She is quiet, but she is very nice. She is also a bit of a germaphobe, like me, so we get along. I've been trying to help her learn the area this past week, but it's been a little hard because we are teaching so many people that we haven't been able to visit all of them yet. But we still have this week before we will start our exchanges, so it's all good.

 

Well, that's about all. I love you all! I am so happy to be serving here as a missionary! It's really hard, but it's the best thing ever. Thank you for your emails every week. I honestly don't know if I could get through my mission without them. You're the best family ever! Keep living the gospel, reading your scriptures, praying, going to church, and going to the temple. Mahal kita!!!

 

Sister Boekweg

November 4 -- Our First Real Typhoon

FYI -- The typhoon described here was Typhoon Krosa, a category 3 typhoon that made landfall on the Northern provinces of the Philippines on October 31 with winds at 160 mph. This is a different typhoon than the recent Typhoon Yolanda, which made landfall farther south, but did not affect the Laoag mission.

We had a typhoon warning on Thursday morning (October 31). President told us we couldn't leave our apartment. I was in Aparri at the time because we had had exchanges, so President allowed us to switch back to our areas in the morning, but after that, we had to stay inside all day. We thought it would be one of the routine typhoon warnings that we sometimes get where there is a little wind and a little rain, and everyone else goes outside, but we are stuck in our apartment. We studied, and we did our weekly planning, and we made fried pizza sandwiches with spaghetti sauce, cheese, and hotdogs, and then we went to our backyard and got some coconuts and tried to carve them for Halloween. But then it started getting super windy. And the power went out. And it started raining really hard too. We slept in the bedroom of Sister H and Sister W because our bedroom is floor level and we were afraid it might flood, and their bedroom was higher up. We had to tape plastic over the windows to keep the rain from coming in and soaking us. The wind was blowing so hard I thought the roof of our kitchen would be torn off. It was kind of scary. And then our cell phones lost their signal. And then we went to sleep.

When we woke up, we went outside. A tree had fallen over in our yard. Our cell phones still didn't have service, so we walked down the road to see if we could find someone who did. No one did. But there were a lot of houses that had been damaged. So we went back to our apartment, put on our normal-people clothes, and went to the houses of our investigators, less actives, and recent coverts to see if they were okay and if we could help. We couldn't proselyte that day because everyone was busy fixing their houses. There were a few houses that were completely destroyed. Everyone we talked to said it was the worst typhoon they had ever experienced. It was a weird day. We still didn't have cell phone service until Saturday morning. And we still don't have electricity. That means we also don't have water. But we have a water pump in the back that we are using. It's kind of an adventure. But don't worry. All the missionaries are safe.

Anyway, the church is true. Heavenly Father loves us. He really is aware of what we need, and He is taking care of us. I know that He wants me to be a missionary right now. Even though being a missionary is not easy, especially as the end is coming, I'm really grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission right now.

Sister Boekweg

FHE Brings 8 New Investigators

This week has been pretty good. One of our investigators who will be  baptized on November 16 has been coming to church, and he even was going to seminary before, but he was never taught by the missionaries until a couple weeks ago when we taught him. He is super cute and super interested in the gospel. We left him a reading assignment last week of the Book of Mormon introduction. When we came back, he had read it, he explained it to  us, and he had already applied the invitation to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. I really enjoy teaching him.

 Another young investigator had her baptismal interview last Saturday. She passed, and she will be baptized on November 2. She is super smart. She always remembers everything we teach her. She's really cute.

 Last Friday we had an FHE with one of our investigator families. It went really well. A lot of their neighbors also came. We got about 8 new investigators just from that, and 4 came to church yesterday.

Well, that's about all this week.

Sister Boekweg