January 12, 2014

Family,

Another week has come and gone, and it's been freezing here allll week. As in, I wear the only sweater I brought. And in the mornings we have hot chocolate and soup, and I cuddle up in my sheet to keep warm sometimes during studies. It's been a weird change, but also really nice!

And, I officially join the Fitzgerald Biggest Loser. I have never felt so fat in my life this past week. Last week I think I mentioned the bamboo bridge that we have to cross sometimes to go to an area... well I broke through it! Thankfully, it was at the end and not above the river, but one foot stepped on a broken bamboo and my leg just went right through. Scariest thing of my life, but long story short, not only am I scared to cross it from now on, but I came to a sudden realization that things in the Philippines are not made for me, or in other words, I need to lose weight. It's like this past week, I got the envelope of happy notes and wedding announcement, and Maddy included on hers about the Biggest Loser, and how she stopped eating her Albertsons cookie midbite... that's basically my experience, so now I have eleven months to lose all this weight and come home looking stunning. but more importantly, I lose this weight so I don't die the next time I cross the river on the bamboo bridge.

My new area is really fun! The ward is so supportive, even Bishop gave a talk yesterday in Sacrament Meeting encouraging the members to support our work, to give referrals, and fellowship less actives, recent converts, and investigators. Right before I came, Sister Rey and her companion baptized four of their investigators, so we're now kind of starting over finding and preparing investigators for baptism. However, we do have a sister who is getting baptized this month on the 25th! Her name is E, and she's the mother of three little boys. She's so sweet, and is already in Helaman in her Book of Mormon reading. She is so kind, and you can really see how the gospel is blessing her life. Her husband isn't interested, but is supportive of her decision. But she's one member or investigator, I guess, that gets the concept that when a trial comes in your life, you don't leave the church, but you come closer to it. I think that's one of the main struggles with the less actives we teach, that no matter what we're experiencing, come closer to Christ, rely on him, trust him, rather than give up. That's the time to grow even closer, rather than to push away. 

So, I know you want to see the area, but I lost the charger to my camera... and since it's a chargeable battery... I'm out of luck. In the meantime, I guess I'll just rely on Sister Rey to document our life together in the mission. 

Binalbagan is nice. It's so clean compared to Bacolod. It's small, and there's no real grocery store, or american stores like Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds, but it's still nice. It's not a city, but more like a town. You can't find a lot of things, but enough to get by. I'm sorry these emails are so short but with the timer counting down the minutes, I don't have much time left. I still have to write my mission president..

I love you! I don't have a scale to weigh myself for biggest loser... but I guess if I don't break through a bamboo floor this week, I'll call myself the winner:) just kidding!

miss you!

xoxo