Mandaluyong- week 16...... poison and baptisms

Kumusta!

Thanks for the emails! I really appreciate them! It's been a fun week. It's been really great. First of all, God is continually blessing us every single day and it's great. We were able to find more people who are ready to receive the gospel and have ideas fill our minds that will help our investigators and less-actives out. ALso.....Jeny Marto was baptized on Friday and it was a very spiritual event. Yes, I know you all don't know her because I really haven't written much... but now you can know her a bit more :)  Jeny (14 years old) comes from a less-active family and she was the only one who wasn't a member... but she got baptized. When she bore her testimony, she cried and apologized to the people for being baptized late in her life, even though it wasn't her fault (she was younger than 8 years old when her family went inactive). She also said that she really wants her nephews and nieces to be baptized and that her family to be fully returned. It was a special, spiritual moment. It's a completed family now, but the family is still less-active... they're in the process of returning. She's the key to that family and it was amazing to see her baptized. On Sunday, both of her parents were in church and one of her sisters came too, along with a lot of the children that live in that house. God is helping us out a lot and is blessing us too! Thanks to the goodness of God, we were able to find more people who are ready for the gospel and some of them have baptism dates... It's an exciting time to be alive. I'm learning so much every day and I love the lessons that God is teaching me every day...   I bet you're curious about the poison bit, right? :) well, our apartment has a really bad cockroach problem (easily over ((way over)) 10,000 cockroaches in the apartment) and they're vicious insects, we seem to have all the different types available, really big ones, small ones, white ones, black ones, etc.... and so we cleared out our apartment earlier and put all of our stuff in the elders apartment while we poisoned our apartment. We sprayed the stuff over everything and later on, we need to finish- so it's been a fun adventure :) we get to sleep in the mission home tonight while the poison is taking effect in our apartment... fun eh? :)  I'm really happy that, hopefully, we won't have a cockroach problem anymore.. although, you do get used to it after a day or two (this is my third transfer here), they just liked to eat our area book too and Sister Stucki gave us two options, find a new apartment or completely clear out the apartment and clean... so we chose the latter. All is well! No worries, I'm not complaining about the cockroaches, I just thought you all would like to read more about the things here. I love it here in the Philippines! :D I'm excited for this week and hopefully you all enjoyed this little-longer-than usual email :).  Thanks again for the emails! 

Mahal ko Kayo!

Sister Mohrman

Mandaluyong- week 15.........Jovan

Kumusta!

Thanks for the emails! I appreciate them! This has been an amazing week! I was able to visit the temple and then had a wonderful baptism on Saturday. Jovan was baptized! Yes, you probably don't know him but we've been teaching him for the past four months. He's amazing. He has such a strong testimony and it's been incredible to see the transformation that has come over him. He's 26 years old and his mom is a recent convert... it was a very spiritual event. When he bore his testimony after he was baptized, he had a few tears in his eyes and the spirit was really strong. He's going to be a great leader someday in the church. It's amazing. But it was pretty interesting. He was baptized four times! The first time, his elbow was out of the water... the second time, the tip of hair was out of the water and the third, his head and leg were out (he didn't bend so he just kind of flopped up) and then the fourth time was perfect. This is ironic because we've been teaching him for four months and finally in the fourth month, he was baptized. So it was pretty interesting. Many other similarities were there too but I don't have enough time to list them all. Needless to say... it was pretty spectacular :D.  I love it here in the Philippines. Yesterday, we had our district meeting with President and Sister Stucki (we had interviews with him), which is why I'm emailing you now instead of yesterday... and it was great. I love President and Sister Stucki. They really are one of a kind mission president and wife... I'm so grateful that I get to serve under them... God is truly leading this mission and President and Sister Stucki are so tuned in with God's will. I love this work and am so grateful of the lessons I'm learning every day. God is great and His work is moving forwards! Salamat again for the emails! 

Mahal ko Kayo

Sister Mohrman

Mandaluyong- week 14.......... temple, temple, who loves the temple?

Kumusta, 

Thanks for the emails! I appreciate them! It's been a great week. Lots of blessings and lots of miracles. God is great and I'm so grateful for the lessons I learn every day from Him... it's fabulous :)  Things are going great. One of our recent converts, Romel, has a friend that we're teaching named Ferdie. He's amazing! He's really ready to receive the gospel! Our other investigators are progressing and it's an exciting time. This past Saturday, I was able to go to the temple... pretty interesting because it wasn't our normal temple day.... it was a great session. Sister George, my companion, had a convert from her first area, 2nd transfer in Pasay and he went through for the first time to receive his endowment. With what our goals are for this mission, President Stucki has said that  the people we teach and then get baptized... and then a year later go through the temple, the missionaries (if they're still there) would be able to go through with them. It was a great experience for me. I was so happy for my companion and her recent convert. Sister George was literally bouncing up and down because she was so happy and excited. Then... this Wednesday is my temple day and then on Saturday will be temple tour... so it's a fun filled temple week for me! :D haha  Since it has been asked... on Saturday is the baptism for Jovan... and I'm so excited and happy for him. He's really ready to receive the gospel. Sister George first started to teach him with another missionary for one transfer and then the other missionary got transferred and I replaced her. So after three transfers of teaching Him, he's finally getting baptized in the fourth transfer! It's a great time! God is so merciful and He's helping us a lot over here. It's amazing. I love the Philippines. I'm so glad I'm here at this time... I think those missionaries who were here 20 years or so must have been troopers to be here without fans! haha... I really do love the weather! It's great! Thanks again for the emails! stay tuned for a longer email next week (maybe... depends on the time) :D! 

Mahal ko Kayo!

Sister Mohrman

Mandaluyong- week 13........ Happy Easter

Kumusta!

It's been an amazing week! I love General Conference. Every single talk was amazing and it helped me out! I especially liked Elder David F. Evans talk, particularly when he said something like "letters from home are not just quick emails" :D haha  just kidding. I appreciate what you all send. Thank you very much for the emails. I was just entertaining myself :) hehe. Anyways, yes, Conference was great. They were so powerful and it was what I needed to hear. It's a great blessing we have that we have a living prophet and the apostles, not to mention the other church leaders. I was really surprised about Bishop Burton being released and Sister Beck. I loved Sister Beck and I really loved her talk. It's amazing to see how the Lord directs His Church and it's a marvelous time we live in. Happy Easter! It was a great Easter! I got to listen to General Conference on Easter :) It's always a great time in really remembering what Jesus did for all of us and an opportunity we have to refocus ourselves. I love this work and it truly is a great blessing to serve here in the Philippines. Things are going great here. I love the lessons I'm learning every day... and guess what. I received my package! Thank you very much for my mini-PMG and for the fruit snacks! Those went down fast! :)  Thanks again! 

So... Easter time in the Philippines is really big... particularly the holy week portion (I think mainly starting on Wednesday to Good Friday.. something like that)... During the few days leading up to Good Friday and on the day itself, the majority of the stores close and lots of things go on. There's not enough time to list everything that goes on but I hear google is a great website :)  haha. Thanks again for the emails and all that you people do for me!  Nice pictures of the munchkin.. thanks for those! He's getting big!!!  I'm happy for you all and your exciting adventures that are going on... I was surprised to hear that Grandma is moving... I would say "Welcome to Utah" but I'm not in Utah at the moment but welcome anyways :)  Welcome again to Grandpa as well :D... I think that covers everything... if not... accept my apologies and stay tuned for next week :D 

Mahal ko Kayo!

Sister Mohrman

Mandaluyong- week 12..........surprise, surprise ;)

Kumusta!

Salamat for all of the emails! I appreciate them! I'm excited for General Conference this Saturday (and yes, I know you've already had it but this week I will) :)  This has been an incredible week. I'm learning so much and I appreciate the lessons that God is teaching me every day. Surprise... Surprise. I'm staying here in Mandaluyong for this transfer and probably the next transfer too. My companion and are staying together for our third transfer in a row! That was really surprising. There's a reason for everything, though. I'm excited for the upcoming lessons I'll learn! :)  However, it's Sister George's (my companion) last transfer so unless things change by Wednesday, I'll be her last companion... pretty interesting. (and also why I'm probably staying here the next transfer too) Stay tuned.... dun dun dun dun :)
This week has been great! It's rained too! I love the rain, it makes me very happy :D. Anyways, on Saturday was a very spiritual event. It was the baptisms! The Joseph Soleno family is now complete and all are active in the gospel! We're still working with them, but it's great! Teresa (the wife), Elyza (the 11 year old daughter), Kristine, and Romel all got baptized! It was a very powerful and spiritual experience. It's truly an incredible thing to see people come alive in the gospel and be complete!  In a year, the Soleno family will be sealed, that's their goal! God is great. On Sunday, they all got confirmed in Sacrament meeting and since it was fast sunday, it was a testimony meeting. Amazing, a lot of the testimonies being born were about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and not working. So they told stories about having a hard time trying to find a job but then as the trusted in God, they were able to find work that wasn't on the Sabbath... It was great because that's what Romel needed to hear. His job is on Sunday, and so we're praying that his boss's heart will be softened or a new job will come up for him when he speaks with his boss. I'm so blessed to be here in the Philippines and have President Stucki as the Mission President. So many miracles and I'll never have enough time to list just a few..... Thanks again for the emails!
Mahal ko Kayo!
Sister Mohrman