February 19, 2012

Sorry it has taken me so long to get a mass email out! The last few weeks have been so great and SO BUSY! I am so so grateful for Sister Gallagher. I miss her so much already!!!! This transfer was amazing and I learned a ton. I can't believe another transfer is already over. This one seemed to go by ten times faster than the first.

The biggest news of the last couple of weeks- We had two baptisms! The first was a 9 year old boy named Demetrius. His dad was a less active member that started coming back to church and since he is 9 he needed to be taught by the missionaries. His brother who is 8 was also baptized. It was my first baptism and it was both mine and Sister Gallagher's first completed family. So GREAT! With this new focus of reactivation our mission has a goal of "completing" 200 families in 2012.

The second baptism was this past Friday and it was JERWIN!!!! It was amazing and watching his countenance and life change over the past 3 months has been so amazing. The Sunday before his baptism he told me he felt like something changed in his heart and a few days before his baptism Sister G. asked him if he was going to serve a mission and he said, "If it be the will of the Lord." I am so happy for him. I am so grateful to be a missionary!!!! It is really amazing what the Spirit can do when someone allows their heart to be softened and let the Spirit work on them.

After the baptism the rest of the weekend was kind of rough. All day on Friday I didn't feel super great. On Saturday I felt worse and had a little bit of a fever. It's not fun to have a fever in the Philippines- it's like one step above having frostbite in the Pines. HA HA... And Saturday Sister Gallagher left to go to visit her first area, so I had to say goodbye. I went to go work with Sister Osborn, who will also be returning home this week with Sister G., and her Companion Sister Guzman, who I will be spending the week with until transfer day on Friday. The rest of the day I got sicker and sicker. One of the older couple missionaries thought I might have had Dengue Fever, but luckily I probably don't. Sister G. got sick too with the same symptoms, so SAD that she is sick her last couple of days. I did get to have lunch with her today though and say our final goodbyes. I am feeling better today just a little weak still and not quite 100%, so no need to worry about me.

Well I am out of time. Hopefully I will be able to send some pics next week of the baptisms and MY NEW COMPANION!

MAHAL kO KAYO!!!!!

Sister Morton