kining lingwahay....

To my loved ones,

Haha so I am continuing to learn many things about this crazy language god wants me to learn.  One of the things I learn is that hubad does not actually mean to translate (or at least here is lapu-lapu it doesn't, supposively in bohol it does?), it actually means to get naked.  So for the past three months I have been here I have been saying, Joseph Smith got naked the book of mormon with the power of god.  Hahaha none of our investigators thought to correct us until final Krisha told us.  ... Our poor investigators...  I also found out ambut is a very rude way to say I don't know, and the teachers at the MTC said it was fine...  Also apparently one of the conjugations they taught us in the MTC is tagalog not bisaya...  Also whenever our investigators read the church pamphlets I am constantly having to explain certain words to them, which is hard since my vocabulary is still very limited.  In fact one of our investigators after reading it ask "who wrote this?", and sadly I use those word that no one knows because those are the resource that we have to learn from.  So in conclusion, I am pretty sure in order for an filippino investigator to be converted by a foreigner they have to have the gift of interpretation of tongues.  But we continue to have baptisms here so the only explanation has to be the church is true.

Other then that I went on splits with the STL (sister trainer leaders), this week.  It was my first time ever working outside my area.  Their area is in manduae which is super city.  It was really fun actually, it kind of made me excited to experience different things while I am here on my mission.  I also learned a lot from our STL about teaching to need.  It was a great experience.

Other then that the field is still white here in Lapu-Lapu, cordova.  We have Nikki and Alyn's baptism this Saturday which I am way excited for and their dad came to church for the first time yesterday which made me way happy!  We also got referrals last week and they are super great!  They both committed to be baptized during the second lesson so we are excited to continue to teach them.

I love you all!  I hope you enjoy summer like I have been doing for the past 3 months :).  Amping ha?

Sister Hancock

I forgot to attach the pictures I was going to send.  One is of my companion and I with the STL's, and the other is a picture of what the calling the "swatters" in the city.  The city is also reall gross so hopefully I never actually get assigned to the city.

I love you all, enjoy!

Sister Hancock

So Good to Talk to you

Family,

It was so good to talk to you!  I just feel so happy right now!  I thought I would email you the pictures of julius, krisha, and angings baptism since I have yet to email you that.  

I love you so much! I really have the best family ever!

Sister Hancock

Creepy Crawly Critters

To my amazing family,

So I thought that since I have a samoan companion my days of killing the critters were over, unfortunately for me this was very very untrue.  During daily planning this week I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in my whole life (I took pictures of it and would have sent it to you, but unfortunately this computer won't let me send pictures.)  After several shouts of "Kill it" "I don't kill animals"  I finally bravely and courageously threw the area book on it.  I think that means I have passed a test of some kind.  Also I now know what it feels like to be swarmed by bugs.  We were at a less active house just sitting and then we where swarmed by... they called them ants but I don't think they were ants.  They were every where on everything.  It was so disgusting I can't even tell you.  But despite these challenges I am still living today haha, so no worries.

So I want to share a really cool experience we had while tract (we seem to tract a lot now and I am fairly certain it is because sister salima actually really enjoys tracting, I never did it with sister davis.)  But anyways we teach around and getting rejected (I have learned filipino aren't as nice when it isn't two americans approaching them, every one here thinks my companion is filipina its really funny.  Then when she says she is from samoa they always look at me really confused and I think I have finally figured out why, because sa amoa in bisaya is pretty much from ours so I always just tell them its close to new zealand.)  Anyways we walked past this house and then decided to  turn around to see if one of our investigators was home.  After we turned around I felt like I should stop at this house so I just said good afternoon to one of the girls there and they instantly said "mom" and the mom came and invited us in to sit down.  Apparently before that they were wondering why we didn't stop at there house, and really wanted us to come and visit them.  They were so good and so interested and before we even said anything they were talking about going to our church.  The moved from bohol because their house got destroyed in the earth quake.  I am really excited to continue teaching them, they seem so golden.

In other new Alyn and Nikki have their interviews this week.  (they are two daughters of Anging).  I am so excited for them to be baptized.  I seriously love the ligan family so much!  They are the cutest when we teach them.

That is all for my news.  I hope life is treating all of you well.  Have a fantastic week!

Sister Hancock

One Week!!

To the family that I get to see a week from now, CRAZY!

So I had plans to send you epic of picture of Julius' baptism and me playing volleyball in the sand (it really is like the most epic picture ever), but due to the unpredictableness of  internetcafes, sadly I can't send you any pictures.  Oh well next week na lang.

This week has seriously been such a good week. First off our ward has gotten really excited about missionary work so everyone and their tiki wants to work with us.  It has been so good because when members are at the lessons they are seriously so much better.  It adds a real aspect to what we are sharing.  People don't just think we are two crazy Americans, real people actually believe this, its fantastic. 

We also had Julius baptism which was one of the best baptisms I have ever been too.  There was so many people there (which doesn't really happen here) and the spirit was so strong. I got to lead the music so I got to look out at everyone and the whole time I  was just think about how we are all brothers and sisters united in such a great cause.  I just loved everyone so much.  Then afterwards Julius bore his testimony and he talked about before he had a great job, a beautiful wife, and kids but there was sometime missing.  He talked about how it was hard to forgive people  and he just felt this whole in his life.  After much persistences from his wife he finally decided to take the missionary discussions.  He talked about after that the hole was healed.  He is so happy now.  He hasn't missed a day of church in the past four months and has made so many changes in his life.  Seeing that is what makes life as a missionary so amazing.  I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve the lord!

We also have Anging and Krisha's baptism this Friday.  Hopefully I don't get transfered so I can see it, but if not teaching them has been so great.  They were the most prepared people I have ever met. They are getting baptized a day before their initial set date, which in this mission is a complete miracle. (Pretty much that means in the first week we met them they had to give up all word of wisdom problems and never miss church.)  It has been such a miracle.

In other news we got to play volleyball on the beach which was so fun!  Haha sometimes I forget what normal people fun is like.  It was a shame we couldn't go in the water, but don't worry Julius told me that if we are by the ocean he will do me the favor of shoving me in, and if he shoves me in I have no other options.  But today we get to go to a mexican restaurant.  What?  I seriously thought those didn't exist here, but they have one!  I am so pumped because I have been craving mexican food for so long now...  Life is just fantastic.  And to top it all off I get to skype you all in a week.  I can't wait!

I love you all so much!!!  I hope life goes wonderfully for you this week.

Sister Hancock