Last update! She's comin home!

Well. This is my last update

Its weird. I just got transfered to Santa Fe, in Bacolod City. Its a BEAUTIFUL area. I'm living in a nice house with two other sisters! And both of them came here with me at the beginning of the mission! So, its been a party;) My new companion is Sister Foote. Shes fantastic. Shes my first, blond hair blue eyed American companion so its insane how much attention we get ahahaha. But its fun. WE've been teaching a ton. Yeah what does the word "trunky" even mean?! I dont know! But i'm sprinting to the finish:) I guess it sill hasnt hit me. I'll be pinching myself a lot this next week. 

We have some awesome people lined up for baptism. The ward is AMAZING. So we have a ton of appointments because people usually invite the missionaries over. No one knows when im actually going home. I've been trying so hard to be as vague as possible. I guess its a good thing i got transfered. I wont die when i leave the area. I'll just cry when i leave the island. 

WE have new missionaries this week from the Tacloban mission. They are now officially Bacolod missionaries. I hope they adjust well here. WE have the best mission and the BEST mission president in the Universe. I dont know why Bacolod was spared, but we're here. The people i taught my whole mission and learned to love, are still alive. They still have thier homes and their families. We're still working hard. Yolanda took one of our proselyting days, but she took a lot more than that from others.

Its so weird seeing how much i've really learned in the past year and a half. I really HAVE been learning stuff this whole time! Hahaa, i've become very sarcastic. We have been spending most of our companion study sharing and talking about the scriptures. Its so cool how much we're both able to learn from each other. 

This is my last update. The mission is wonderful. If you want to go, you should. I dont think anyone reading this is missionary age or interested but, COME JOIN US! I'll be a regular member missionary soon. I cant wait to have thanksgiving dinner. I'll probably get so fat.

There are so many people to pray about. The new Bacolod missionaries, the people of Samar, Leyte, Bohol. And a trillion more things. 

This has been the hardest and most difficult thing i've ever done. And i'll never trade it. For a trillion dollar? Nope i wouldnt. I know i'll see the blessings of this for the rest of my life. But most importantly, I've grown closer to my Savior. NOthing else in the world would give me that blessing. I love you all. And i'll see most of you next week. 

Love you all dear family and friends

Sister Martinez

She's alive!

Hello everyone!

I'm alive!

After the flu and a super typhoon, i made it!

Its crazy how sooo much is happening my last few weeks of my mission. I have two weeks so we'll see what ELSE is in store. 

The storm was crazy! We were home the whole time. We had to stay indoors until the storm passed. The only thing i could see out of my window was this huge coconut tree and i was just waiting for it to fall! The wind was so strong! It was interesting how CLEAR the sky was before it hit! There were people talking about how the storm wasnt even going to hit because Negros never really gets big storms. But it did hit! Just goes to show how we should always be prepared! Not just storms and calamities, but the trilas that come to us in life. We had a good number of people come to church. At least the storm reminded people of that need for spritiual preparation. But we didnt see any big damage companre to areas closer to the mountains. There were a lot of fallen banana trees:)

This week was great! The flu was going around the mission and of all the people in the mission (200+) I was the lucky winner! I had to give training for my zone and our mission nurse made me wear a stinking mask! I felt sooo silly talking about the sacredness of the BOok of Mormon with that terrible thing on. AND the Assistants to the President were there. Haha. But it was wonderful. I really enjoyed sharing my testimony i've gained about the Book of Mormon here on my mission.

I'm doing so much better now. We've been working hard, teaching and comforting our brothers and sisters that were affected by the storm. People are so wonderful. Even after all of this, Sister Alvarez just wanted to be baptized and we celebrated two birthdays. I love my mission. 

My bishop just emailed me and I already have an assignment ahaha. I'll be speaking at Monica Ward on December 8. Youre all welcome to attend and see my cry and talk about my Filipino people:0

I love you all!!!!!

Maayong aga sa tanan!

Ay, I cant believe we're so close to November already. I had such a wonderful opportunity to watch General Conference this past week and WOW!

Its was super intense and really inspired me in so many ways. I cant even pick one because alll the talks were so wonderful! My companion and I have been spending hours talking about the things we've heard and our goals to apply what was said. I hope you are all doing the same:) Especially in becoming a member-missionary. There are 80,000 missionaries but there really should be 15 million:)

My last few weeks on the mission will be FILLED with lots to do! We just had General Conference, this week, the Area Seventy will come and visit our mission, on November 2, Elder Anderson of the TWELVE is coming to visit us! THEN, we'll have my last zone training. Ay na ko!

We've been finiding sooo many people, like 50 plus in these last few weeks. CRAZY! We're so busy and just sooo overjoyed at the people who are coming up to us and wanting to listen to our message. 

This past week was a little scary because one of the families we're super close to is having sooo many trials!!! Brother Joemarie was writhing in pain as we taught him and turns out he has an ulcer. He was able to get some help from the ward and they got him so medicine. MY goal is to be back here in Negros for their temple sealing next year!

WE met an AMAZING family. The Bechayda family experienced a terrible tragedy a few months ago where they lost their daughter. She slipped on a bridge they were crossing and she fell into the water where her head made contact with a rock. They are so open and ready to accept the message of the Plan of Salvation. Sister Novie was so happy to hear that she can be with her daughter again.

So many wonderful things are going on here in the Philippines Bacolod Mission. I just have to honestly say, not in a boastful way,BUT, this really is the Best mission in the Universe;) I'm so blessed to be serving with President Lopez and all of the other wonderful missionaries here. My companion will be leaving next week!!!!!!! And i'm so sad! We've been having so much but,but i guess I'm a little excited to see who my new companion will be. I'll find out next week!

WEll my dears. Have a wonderful week!

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:)