Caitlin's Chronicles (Sister Bingham in the Philippines)

Maayong udto!  Wow this week was so full of greatness! So on Monday we along with the elders and a YM from the ward who is preparing for his mission went to the beach. Sister Ronquillo took pictures while I collected shells with the help of the elders and Brother Jayjay. The elders then made a small fire on the beach and we made s'mores! They had never heard of s'mores before! I was honored to show them the deliciousness that is s'mores. Thanks to mom for sending hershey's chocolate :) afterwards we went to this nice pizza place for dinner and we got two party size pizzas, a liter of royal orange soda, and some wings&wedges for in US currency $13 crazy right? Anyways it was a good day of fun and mentally preparing for the week ahead.  We went on exchanges with the sisters in Pontevedre this week. I was super excited to work with Sister Ferrolino again and visit a different area from my own. Sister Ferrolino explained to me that we would go to an area called ...

Maayong aga sa tanan! I took lots of pictures this week to make up for last week so I'll explain them first. Last P day we were invited to a birthday of a 1 year old. Her name is Sarika Red, so all the decorations and the cupcakes were red or pink. I'd just like to start this email by informing you all that I'm not sure what they put on the frosting to make it pink, but it was very better and for the next few days our ihi was pink (I'll let you translate that ;) ).  Sister Ronquillo and I celebrated valentines day by going out to dinner and then Typhoon Basyang hit. It was pouring rain and the wind was very strong. The heart of the storm was further south, but it was pretty flooded here in some areas. When we went to Isla Nabuswang once the rain had stopped, the river was so high and the current so fast that they used a boat that had a motor to get across the river instead of the usual paddling. Sister Ronquillo and I helped Sister Mona Lisa, an investigator...

Maayon aga sa tanan! This week was full of teaching and trying to help our investigators come closer to Christ and develop the desire to be baptized. At the end of each day we were very exhausted, but that just means we were working hard. We found lots of new investigators and invited them to church as well as continued to teaching other investigators and invited them to church. So you'd think the chapel hall would be overflowing with our investigator friends right? Hahaha abi nyo....abi namon man. We had one investigator attend our special sacrament in Nabuswang and none at the actual church. The one investigator who did come to church is 18 years old and her father and brother are members. She's awesome and really listens to the lessons and answers questions and adds her own insights. She accepted a baptismal date and I am praying that she'll continue to go to church and prepare for her baptism. It's hard to work so hard and try to do all you can with no results...

Maayong aga sa tanan! THIS WEEK WAS SA KALAYO (ON FIRE)! Sister Ronquillo is super fun and organized and I know I can learn a lot from her! I'm proud to say we did not get lost and our investigators and recent converts asked me not to leave Binalbagan area. It was super sweet and I wouldn't mind staying here for my whole mission. It's so beautiful and the people are so awesome and our area is so big that there are always new friends to make. Saturday we spent some time lagaw-lagaw (like wandering) meeting new people and inviting them to hear our message about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One recent convert asked us where we were going next, Sister Ronquillo said "we're going to find new......" and then she paused and I excitedly exclaimed "FRIENDS" So our recent convert, Judy Ann (11 years old) led us around to people who hadn't met us yet, including her aunt, uncle, and cousins who we (Sister Soriano and I) had passed by ma...