Hi!

Hi family!

Life is great!

So, I've already started becoming disaccustomed to my first name. More than once, someone I know has called out my first name to get my attention, and I just don't recognize that they are trying to talk to me. I'm too used to being called "Sister Boekweg". It's kind of funny.

The other day, Brother Ward was gone, so we had a substitute named Brother Lopez. He was super super nice, and he gave us a lot of advice for our missions. He said that struggling in Tagalog is actually a good thing because it shows people that you love them enough to struggle in their language, and it shows that your message is really important. He also said that becoming fluent in Tagalog is not as important as becoming fluent in the language of the spirit. I think that's really true.

Last Tuesday, Marlin K. Jensen spoke at the devotional. It was SO good! Everyone in my district thought it was the best devotional we have had yet. He talked about how important it is to have the spirit with you when you teach, so that people will recognize that your message comes from God.

The other day, my district and another district that has been here for 7 weeks took turns playing investigators for each other. It was really cool. It was a lot easier to teach them because they couldn't give a us really long complicated answers in fluent Tagalog, like our teachers sometimes do. It was cool because I was able to come up with how to say the things I felt like I should say, just on the spot, without memorizing it beforehand, which is pretty awesome, since I've only been here 4 weeks. I still have a long way to go in Tagalog, but it's coming pretty okay.

Yesterday, I had a service assignment at 6:05am. I was assigned to clean the drinking fountains in 10M (which is the building Liza works in, and she was the one who told me what to do). As I was cleaning one of the drinking fountains on the second floor, I suddenly beheld a very grievous sight. There before my eyes, on the very drinking fountain I was cleaning, stood a fiend of deathly terror. I do not like finding fiends of deathly terror on my drinking fountains, especially fiends with eight legs and maliciousness in their hearts (okay, the fiend was a spider). It very much displeased me to the point of condemnation unto death for the spider. The spider was almost lucky enough to escape death, however, because it was big, and ugly, and nasty, and I didn't want to touch it. But death and destruction won out in the end because my zone leader was just around the corner, and I appealed unto him for help. The spider didn't stand a chance. With one mighty swing of his shoe, the spider was destroyed forever, never again to cause pain and sorrow for the children of men.

Well, that's all the time I have today. I hope you're all doing great! Thanks for all your letters!

Love, Sister Boekweg (ha ha! I remembered not to sign it with my first name :D)

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIE AND JESSIE!

P.P.S. I will probably send home my SD card today.