from today:

Magandang Umaga<3

This week was wonderful.
We had more training this week and we really enjoyed it. We're very excited to start the basketball clinic for girls which is something President wants us to get started here. Basketball for girls is unheard of so its super cool! We will be working with the youth so we can start this coming Saturday. There are usually young men who come and play so we will start the girls out in the morning. We will also give church tours so people who have never been inside can come in. I am also very excited to start Facebook here in Silay.We'll have a page for our ward maybe in a few more weeks. So add us! hehee

You know, I never thought I would use Tagalog on my mission. IN the MTC, my main focus was learning the doctrine and the fundamentals so I can be good at teaching. We have a wonderful investigator who just came from Manila and he doesnt know how to speak Ilonggo! Its so difficult to teach him. I throw in the words i remember. BUt, it was such a spiritual lesson. It was completely guided by the Spirit. HE made up what we lacked in our language skillls. I know brother Jedrek felt that and he will be so much more prepared for his baptism on September 14th. He has already come to church so many times and has friends in the young mens. We are so excited to see him progress even more!

The Solinap family is soo excited for their baptism. it was interesting to see how much of a difference a few weeks made in their preparation. They really needed that extra time to ponder and realize the commitment they were making in being baptized. They passed their interview no problem. i'm excited to see the Solinap family enter the waters of Baptism.

Other than that, sister Maloata is doing much better now. She had a really high fever a few days ago but she has so much faith.She received a Priesthood blessing and it hasnt come back again:) I'm very glad to be with sucha great companion. I realize how much more i need to step it up.Shes so spiritual and in tune with the needs of our investigators. I'm stretching even more in this companionship and its great. Its a good stretch.

Exchanges went well. I like visiting other areas and seeing how they work and what works for them.

We will be in Cadiz doing exchanges this week!

Amo lang ina. Hawlong ya'll:)

from August 11:

What a wonderful week!

We've been so busy. We went to Bacolod 3 times!!! In one week!

The first time, we traveled to Bacolod for MLC or mission leaders council. We got to stay the night with my companion from the MTC, Sister Sanders! It was so great to see her and catch up a little bit. MLC was such an amazing experience. We now have 2 sets of Assistants to the President because our mission is just growing so much! The training we received was so spiritual and inspiring. We've been applying what we learned to our area and we really are seeing some great things come of out of it. Miracles miracles miracles!

The second time we went to Bacolod was for exchanges and that was so fun! I met a gentleman who is really interested in the church. His father is paralyzed and he still gave so much service to the church. He was really curious to know about the church and we answered the questions he was asking. I hope he went to church. We also met a super cute kid, Marjoe, and he looks so much like my brother Diego, i wanted to CRY! He's getting baptized soon and he's so excited. Anyway, Bacolod is doing well. I was with a sister who has been here about 7 weeks and it was cool to see how I was like that when i was first here. It was an interesting time of reflection on my mission so far and being able to see how I can improve. 

The third time we went was to get our fingerprints taken for our visas and we got to see a lot of elders and sisters we hadnt seen in  a while. It was a nice and busy week.

We came to a bit of a halt on saturday when we got back from bacolod. My companion got sick! So we were home all saturday and sunday. We're back on it today and hopefully she feels better for this week because we have TONS to do. Like, 3 exchanges, mission President training and we have to find a new apartment because we'll have two new sisters added to our area next transfer! Yay!

I'm learning so much from sister Maloata, like how to slow dooowwwnn. I'm always in a hurry and this is the first companion that has forced me to slow down without driving me crazy. Yay i've learned a lot of patience! We have a few people we're teaching who are Tagalog speakers and its soo difficult. I was so suprised at how much my companion rememebered from the MTC. I was super impressed!

I'm excited for the week. WE have so many pepole going home soon. But at the same time, SOO many coming into the mission. 4 will leave and 24 will replace them!~ EXCITING!

I love this work and the love and care that comes from our Mission President. He says thank you to my family for supporting me and letting me be here. I thank you all as well. 

Love, Sister Martinez

Kassi's companion

from August 4:

This week was great! I wasnt too sad leaving sister Roos. I knew she was ready to move on and share her knowledge and train. She really is a great missionary and i cant wait to see her grow even more! I was so happy to be companions with sister maloata. We actually met in the MTC and we joked about us being companions and here we are! We've been together for a few days now and i've already learned so much from her! I want to be samoan when I grow up:)

We are really working on applying the trainings our mission President gave us about the 10 minute lessons to members and church tours! We have a few people to visit this week and will be sharing the blessings that come from sharing the gospel with family and friends from Alma 31:34-35. We're excited to work closer with our members. We want to train and gain the trust of the members so they can work on retaining while we focus on investigators. We've already have been seeing so many blessings and miracles! 

The Solinap family have been investigators since the previous missionaries were here. Brother Joe Marie would lie to the sisters about his cigarette smoking and we just taught him and were bold and loving and he started to trust us and is being super honest! He hasnt smoked in 2 days now. He says he's getting stomach aches but he says he just prays and he feels better! Yesss! Sister Cecilia has been ready for a long time now. Through them we met Phoebe and Marisel and they will be getting baptized all together on August 24. THEN, we met their daughter-in-law who is a part member and now has a baptismal date for August 31. We met two previous investigators on sunday afternoon and they have dates for September 14. Can you believe it!? Its only been less than a week and we've already seen so much progression! We're already giving dates in september!!

I'm so excited to do more work here in Silay. We also are doing the church tours on fridays at 6pm. We have so many young men who have committed to come and play and last week we met someone who acutally came in and was soooo prepared! She said she has been looking for the truth and we were able to teach her the message of the restoration. She prayed and she said she felt so good about what we taught her. It was my first time teaching a lesson in all english! it was so difficult describing things i've been used to describing in Ilonggo. Also, the First Vision, I should learn it in English:) We will be doing church tours every week now!

Sister Maloata and I will be doing exchanges with sisters in two zones! Its going to be a little stressful but it'll be fun:) Shes soo amazing. I'm just glad i'm doing this calling with her. Shes just so calm and super confident. Its great;) The house i'm in is great. We have sooo many cockroaches but i prefer them over mosquitoes. We have to shower outside in the back of our house cause our bathroom inside is upstairs and the water pressure isnt strong enough hehee. Its a little colder here too! i've actually been wearing my cardigans that i brought! Its nice;) We get a nice breeze at night. 

We're teaching a young man and he speaks tagalog! its sooo hard to speak tagalog! I just taught in a mix of english and ilonggo. Sooo hard! I need to brush up on my Tagalog skills, which are non existent because i havent spoken that language in over a year now! I'm praying in spanish now, and it takes me FOREVER. HOpefully i can get the hang of it soon:) 

I met this young man this week. His name is Michael and hes amazing. He used to be the leader of a gang here in the Philippines. He was being taught and was baptized in May of this year. Now he comes and works with us every week. He is getting ready to serve a misson! SO cool! He has such a strong testimony. I cant wait to see all the miracles he'll be doing on his mission. Seriously such a humble guy. 

Anyway, my week has been amazing. I miss Talisay but i'm excited to be here in Silay:) Lots of work to do here!

~Tofa soifua~

(take care in Samoan:)

Loveyou allssss:)

from July 28:

This week was so full of the spirit! Brother Alan Mana was baptized this past Saturday. Words cannot explain how happy I felt that day. It was really a miracle that we were able to see the baptism go smoothly. We showed up early because we knew we needed to fill up the font somehow because there was a  black out. The first thing we did was kneel down in prayer and asked heavenly Father to help the baptism go well. We didnt know HOW that would happen but we knew brother Alan was important to Him, and that his baptism would go well so he could feel the spirit. It was quite an adventure getting that font filled. We found out there was a water well in the back of the church, so we emptied two 20 gallon garbage cans and used little ones to scoop water out and fill the 20 gallon can. We did like 30 trips. It took us like 12-14 scoops of water to fill one 20 gallon can, then it took 30 times to fill the font enough to immerse Brother Mana. You do the math. Honestly, it was all heavenly Father giving us the srength to do that. We had two brothers helping us take the 20 gallon to the font. So what we did mostly is fill the 20 gallons. AHh! and I'm not even that SORE! Yeah, I have superwoman strength. It was so worth it when, as we sang "I am a child of God" at the conclusion of his baptism, he teared up and told us how happy he was to be baptized. I was filled with such an overwhelming feeling of love for Brother Mana and I just KNEW, God was happy because one more of His many children made that special promise to Him, to follow His Son, and that regardless of the situation, nothing can stop miracles from happening. 

His children had a date to be baptized on August 3, but they will be baptized on August 10 instead so Brother Mana can baptize them. We just know that as he feels the power and love from using his Priesthood, he'll gain a stronger testimony and endure to the end. 

The Barreto boys are going to be baptized on the 17th of August and the young women in the Despi family will be baptized on the 10th. We're working so hard. We know there will be more miracles. We need to be at the right place and the right time and as we are exactly obedient and study out where we need to be, we'll be there and find those who are ready for this gospel. 

So ya, crzyy. Another funny story. We went to a memebers hhouse cause we're teaching her son. Well, its a little down hill and when it rains it FLOODS! As we left her house, we noticed how dirty and flooded stuff was and the memeber was telling us how we should use her rain boots to walk through the water! Only problem, there was only one pair:) So, did I mention my companion is a cheerleader and shes been lifting girls for the past few years? FOr a competitive team? Well, she got to use her skills on the mission because she put on the boots and carried me out to higher land:) it was pretty hilarious. We couldnt stop laughing. But yea, that was my adventure for the week. 

For sister Rizas baptism, we had a problem with the font water. It was like, mountain dew yellow and nasty. So we improvised and used a tampon to filter out the water;) Thanks Tampax!

Theres a seven 11 here in Silay! Like 10 minutes away from us! I cant wait to go get my slurpee:) I've been dreaming of it forever now! yay!

I love my mission~!

sorry I'm a little behind. this is from July 14:

Maung hapon sa tanan mga ambian kag pamilya ko!

WE had a really great week this week! We finally bought umbrellas and our ward is so happy!

We're seeing some great progression with the Despi family! Sister Priscilla, the mother, came to church! We are still trying to work on brother Juan. He fishes on Sunday so we shared the story about Christ and him telling the fishermen to cast their nets on the other side of their boats and they were so much more blessed when they did so. He seemed to enjoy that and says he will go to church this coming week. He read in the Book of Mormon! We did a little dance because we were soo happy to know he had exercised his faith and experimented on his own by reading. He really enjoyed what he read and committed to continue to read. His children ask us for reading assignments every time we visit. They're seriously so stinking cute!

The baptism was wonderful! Joy joy and Em em were so excited and happy to be baptized. I dont think anyone else was glowing as much as their mother was. She was soo happy to see the blessings pouring in to their home. We're now working on Elmer John and trying to get him fellow shipped and feel the love of the gospel and the Spirit its bringing to his home. Sister Evelyn really has such a powerful testimony and started crying when we told her she can fast for Elmer John. 

Sister Riza will be entering the waters of baptism this coming week. She as well has such a powerful testimony and love for the Gospel. 

Brother Alan will be baptized this coming July 27. He too, just blowed us away when he shared with us how he came to know about the Gospel. People really are being prepared to accept these things:) Its a miracle! 

I've really been enjoying reading about the Stripling warriors and about Captain Moroni. I love how brave and how commited and diligent Moroni was to the cause of his country, people, and religion. I have been striving daily to become like him in his diligence with the work. Seriously, il'm obsessed, all of our reading assignments are  in Alma:) 

Great week! I love it:)