Week 69: NEW PEOPLE

Hey everyone, another really cool week this week, lots of miracles :)

So first I'm mostly excited to share about the referral the elders gave us, I think I mentioned her last week in my email. She is awesome!! We visited her on Tuesday and she's already telling all her friends that she's going to be "mormon" haha. She's 17 years old, she lives here in Sipalay with her aunt and she actually just had a baby two weeks ago. She has been through a. LOT. of trials in her life and she's so ready to leave them behind her and change. It will be a long change process for her but she has a strong desire. She was sooo excited to go to church she brought her aunt and her next door neighbors with her and during sacrament meeting, she asked us if she becomes a member if she can be a speaker too. She's so amazing! We're so excited to see how she progresses. 

Mark is doing really well too! He kind of struggles when his wife isn't here to support him to go to church but we shared to him the blessings of church attendance and he came on Sunday! We were so surprised and happy. We're sooo excited for him!

Annddd, another really fun p-day haha. Brother Gerald, the older brother of Jay, brought us to this place with a HUGE cave and it was sooooo cool! The center of the cave has this big river and it's super pitch black on the inside and we only had one flashlight so.. it was kind of a struggle haha but really fun! 

Tomorrow we're traveling up to the city for a meeting with our mission president since we don't have mission tour so we're excited to receive some new council from our leaders. 

Thank you all for the love and support! It means the world :)

Sister Pope

I'll send pictures next week of Trisha and our p-day :) this computer shop is sketch lol

Week 68: MIRACLES!!

Hey everyone!! We witnessed a few miracles this week that I'm excited to share with you all :)

SO Brother Mark has finally decided to be baptized! His wife went to Manila but she's coming back in December so he'll be baptized on the same day as his son, JM. We're soooo happy and so excited for his commitment to follow the Savior :)

Then we found a lot of new investigators this week, and one of them has actually been going to church for the past two months and we didn't know, he's the younger brother of a part-member family and his name is John Paul, so we make a fun match. Do you guys get it? haha, anyways we finally got to teach him this week and he has a really sweet heart, we're excited to see how he progresses!

THEN the elders met this cool girl a couple days ago.. so the elders live in our area so they talk to a lot of people here because they like live here and one night they were on their way home from proselyting and this girl yelled at them "hey, are you guys mormons" and they were like "yeah" and she was like "I want to join your church. Do you guys have a baptism or something so I can join your church?" We totally thought it was a joke when they told us but it's real, and we're meeting with her on Tuesday. Hopefully it goes well! 

Anyways, p-day was also really fun again, we went to this beach resort called Campomanes Bay and it was soooo fun! We're all recharged for another week of work :) I love being a missionary and I love Sipalay! 

Thank you all for the love and support :)

Sister Pope

1) my upper arm is so white haha.. 

2) campomanes bay !

3) The fish the elders caught

4) we sat in these little bamboo things on the ocean

5-7) Jay's baptismal pictures :)

Week 67: JAY!

Hey everybody! It's been a week of ups and downs but mostly ups :) Sister Santos is a lot of fun though and we had a lot of good progress this week with the work.

So we're at a point in the area where everyone we're teaching is new (except brother Mark) so they're all about at the same progress as of right now. Soo it's really just us against time deciding who we need to go to and who's progressing! We're teaching two really cool families right now that we really hope progress, they just need a little help strengthening their faith.

Jay was baptized on Sunday morning! It was such a good service and he's changed soooo much. He's a part-member family and they returned coming back to church in September. He's older brother, Gerald, actually served a mission and we're so happy to see him regularly come to church now with his small family. But back to Jay, he used to be really annoying, would never pray, and really disobedient. And WOW he has changed so much! Of course, the elders know him since they're in the same ward as him and our district leader that interviewed him, Elder Tabligan, was soo shocked at his change. Even though he's only 10, kids an experience a change of heart too. 

Anyways, just another week! Talk to you all next week :) Thank you and love you all!

Sister Pope

Week 66: SIPALAY GIYAPON!

Hey everyone! Did I send an email last week? I can't remember.. anyways, this was another good week, and we have transfers! Sister Esteban will be leaving our trisome so now it will just be me and Sister Santos :( We'll miss her! 

Our investigators seem to be stuck right now in their progress right now, especially Mark. We're just really trying to build his faith right now. But Jay is getting baptized this Saturday and we're so excited! His less-active family has returned and we're so excited for him to follow their example in baptism. 

Honestly there hasn't been a lot that has happened and I'm reeeeally tired right now from traveling all the way from Sipalay to Bacolod for transfer day, but just know that I love you all and am grateful I'm staying here in Sipalay!

Sister Pope

1) beautiful sipalay

2) sister bartolome!!! saw her at a meeting this week :)) miss her so much!

3) Janelle and Althea, the elder's recent converts. they're soooo sweet and always have us over for lunch/dinner