My Last Transfer:  Jan. 26, 2016

  Staying in San Mateo :)

Well it's official.  I'm staying in San Mateo ward with Sister Miole to finish out my mission!  I'm actually really happy about it and super excited to work for these last 6 weeks!  I've learned a lot but I know I have so much more to learn!  

FHE with the Carpio family.  

I kissed my lunch before I ate it.  This is a very typical way to eat fish here...just gut them and fry them!

The Bernadas family.  Brother Bernadas is just returning to church and Sister Bernadas is a recent convert.  Their family is just adorable.  Especially Rachelle (the young woman in the stripes).  We are helping her get her Young Womanhood Recognition Award.

My testimony is strengthened as I read and ponder the scriptures.  I read in Doctrine and Covenants 43:28 "wherefore labor ye, labor ye in my vineyard for the last (transfer)--for the last (transfer) call upon the inhabitants of (San Mateo)".  My eyes welled up with tears as I felt Heavenly Father giving me a little pep talk for the last 6 weeks of my mission.  I realized that this is it.  This is the last chance I have to set goals and make something happen here in my area.  

Down to my last toothbrush!!

January 2016

When I packed for my mission I packed 9 toothbrushes (one for every 2 months) and I only have one left!  I guess my time here in the Philippines really is winding down.  

Just wishing my "seester" Sarah a Happy 19th Birthday!!

On one of our p-days we went to the Wawa Dam.  You can't see the dam in this picture but I just thought it was a cool spot.  It was beautiful here.

New Year...New Companion

Meet Sister Miole

January 2016

Sister Miole is my new companion/trainee.  She is actually waiting for a visa to the United States to serve in San Diego.  I'm excited because she wants me to help her with her English and preparing to serve in the states.  Hopefully her visa will come just in time for me to have a traveling companion as I go back to the US in March :)

I hope you all have had a great holiday season!  It's 2016 here in the Philipines and I cannot believe how much I have experienced in the last 365 days.  It has been such a full and blessed year and I am so happy to have been able to spend it in the service of the Lord.  This picture was taken at a zone conference.

Sister Miole and I watched the fireworks on New Years Eve from our window. My companion was SO cute.  Fireworks are bawal (not allowed) in the province she is from.  She was using a mirror and sticking her arm out the window to see the fireworks around the corner and just kept saying "it's so pretty!  It's so fun to watch!"

Merry Christmas 2015 !!

It was so great to skype my family on Christmas Day!  My cousin, Max, just returned home from his mission in Kentucky so it was the first time I've been able to talk to him for 2 years!!!  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, or as they say in the Philippines, Maligayang Pasko!