Manigong Bagong Taon!! 2013!!

December 30, 2012

     Just as you all mentioned, it was so good talking with all of you on Christmas (or the day after Christmas)! It was a perfect end to a great day! Time is flying by way too fast, and I can't believe that 2013 is here! Sister De Leon and I have had a great last week, and everyday we've had not only one ward missionary join us for work but anywhere between 3-7 ward missionaries at one time come with us to work. It's been great! Too bad I know it won't be like that after the holiday because they all have work. But we've sure been enjoying it while we can. Once again this week we've really been focusing on finding new investigators. Not a lot has changed from what I told you last week. But we did find some real interesting ones this week:) haha.

     One day the office sent us three referrals, and we were so excited about contacting those we went to one that same night. We didn’t know what we were in for. We met him, and he was actually drunk (I didn't know that at first), and he's a Muslim who started speaking Arabic to us because he told us that's the language that Jesus Christ spoke and we all need to learn it. Yeah I can't really remember all of what he told us, but we, of course, couldn't teach him while he was drunk, so we will meet with him again this week.
     Another one of the referrals, Ed was very excited that we came to visit and lined us out that he wanted us to set a schedule with him when we could come back. He wanted to read our pamphlet first and then discuss it next time, and he just had all these things he wanted to do. But we're really excited because he's actually been to the temple before and has a close friend that's a member and says he wants to find the truth. He's already texted us twice this past couple days with questions for us. One being if it says in the bible that we should only have one wife, why does Joseph Smith have so many wives? Yeah so you can see what kind of an investigator Brother Ed is--very smart, and he really knows the Bible well.
     Then we have others as well we'll visit again this week. We found two that we actually were able to extend a baptismal date to on the very first lesson which we were really excited about that! They didn't make it to church yesterday, but we'll go back to them tomorrow. Oh and then our one progressing investigator, Christian, he worked with us probably three or four times this last week which was awesome because he got to hear a lot of lessons and got a good review on the restoration a few times. We were walking to an appointment, and he came up to me and said "Sister... When is my baptism?" It was so cute. We have been planning for Jan 26^th, but the last two weeks he didn't come to church. So my reply to him was, "When are you coming to church?" He then told me that he was going to on Sunday, and starting now he wouldn't miss... and so yep he came yesterday, and he'll be getting baptized on Jan. 26th:) He's a stud.
     Oh and speaking of studs, we were at the temple this last Saturday because Sister De Leon was getting sealed with her family (It actually didn't end up happening, long story.), but while we were there, it was the temple tour for the province areas, and so to my surprise I got to see all my Noveleta friends--which included JohnMark who is now a member!! YAY! He looked so good. He had cut his hair like a missionary and just had that light in his eyes, and it made me so happy! I also saw Tessie who ran up to me and gave me a big hug and said she'll be getting baptized the second week in January and is so excited. Then our Santos family that we found at the graveyard also came, and they've been going to church consecutively. Man, I was just so happy to see all of them, even Sister Richardson and Brother Wilmar and Joyce, and yeah it was a great little reunion.     
    But I can't really think of anything else to tell ya this week. I told you pretty much all on the phone I think. But yeah, I love you all so much and wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope you all have a great day, and I too will be making some goals tomorrow. President e-mailed us and said that's what we will be discussing this next interview coming up in a couple of weeks. Well I love you all! Thanks for your love and support and all that you do!

 

Mahal ko po kayo na SOBRA!!!
Sister Stromberg

MALIGAYANG PASKO!!

December 24, 2012

     Christmas is here! Can you believe it? It just kind of snuck up on me, and now here we are! YAY! So first and foremost I just want to thank you all that participated in the Twelve Days of Christmas for me! I feel SO lucky that Mom got a hold of all the people in my life that I love so much. That was the best Christmas present I could have asked for, hearing from all my great family and friends and getting a little update on each of you. Whenever one of you will pop into my head, I'll be thinking hmmmm I wonder what they are up to in their lives... and now I know:) So thank you SO much! I have the best friends and family EVER!!

     This week has been a really good week for Sister De Leon and me. To answer some questions:  yes, she was here when I got here so she knows the members and most of our area, but we've actually been in some areas that are new to the both of us the past couple weeks. One thing, we made a goal this last week to find all of our recent one year converts because there were some on our list that Sister De Leon didn't know. And to our pleasant surprise we were able to find them all or at least find out where they are. The sad part is a lot of them are less active, and that's so sad because they're just new here in the church and to see them go inactive even before they've been a member for one year is really hard. You know how there are SO many less actives here in the Philippines, and we can't let these new converts just add to our LA list. So yeah we were blessed to be able to find them all and know we just have to work on helping them return to activity again.
     We also found a lot of new investigators this past week so we are really excited to go back to them this week. The new investigators we found last week when we went back to them this week weren't home or were busy getting ready for Christmas parties and such. It's a little rough right now with Christmas and everything, but the Lord is helping us regardless of the fact that everyone is busy. We have only one progressing investigator right now, so we have a lot to do.
     Oh, there was one really exciting thing that happened. So the elders whose area borders our area gave us a referral of an RM that’s in our area. So it took us a couple days, but we finally found his house. He was home, and we were able to share with him. It was a really simple but neat lesson about the Book of Mormon. He was really, really grateful that we visited him, and he came back to church yesterday. It was a neat lesson because he knows everything we have to teach, but he just needed to be reminded of the beauty of this gospel. His wife is in her province right now about to have a baby, so she is with her family. But she will be coming back in February after she has the baby, and I'm excited to help them prepare to enter the temple!
     So the work still goes on:) We also had our temple day this last Wednesday which was so good to be in the temple again. Sister Connie from Noveleta is a temple worker, and I was able to see her and give her a big hug. That was a great surprise:)

     Then on Thursday it was our mission Christmas party which was a lot of fun. We started with a little Christmas devotional given by President and Sister Stucki. They focused on the formula for real happiness this Christmas season (and in fact our whole lives)...

J: Jesus Christ

O: Others

Y: You

We need to always in everything that we do put Jesus Christ first in everything. Then find the opportunity to serve those around you and then yourself very last. I'm sure you've heard this before, but it was just a good reminder to all of us what we always need to do in our lives to find true "joy"! I just love the Stuckis so much; they're great! Then we had a gift exchange, talent portion, and food! We had three whole roasted pigs (lechon) which is a big deal here in the Philippines. Everyone loved that.

    











Then on Saturday we had a temple tour which our investigator slept through, but we did have one of our recent converts come who is 17. I can totally see him going on a mission in a year or so. He's so awesome and really enjoyed the temple a lot. We even had him work with us Saturday for his first time, and he really enjoyed that as well. I love helping members get ready to serve missions and have them work with us so they can feel the special spirit of missionary work! That's one of my favorite things is to see the youth get excited about missionary work just from coming along and working with us.  
     Okay I'm about out of time, but I too am so excited to talk to you all on Christmas:) You actually might need to e-mail me my user name and password again because it's been a while, and I don't remember... then at 7 I'll be logging on:)
     I hope you all have a great day and remember the true meaning of Christmas. There's a cute Mormon message that we watched at the Christmas party if you haven't seen it you should... it's titled "The Spirit of Christmas." I love you all so much and am so grateful for all you do! Take Care!

With Love,
Sister Stromberg

Life in the City!

December 18, 2012

    Wow, I have had quite the week. I know there's no way I can explain it all to you in this one e-mail. So first the leaving part... Of course as always, it was really hard to leave all those I love so much in Noveleta! We had dinners set up all week, and for once in my mission I think I almost got to say goodbye to all of the ones I wanted to. My last night in Noveleta we had dinner with the Seballos family who is the less active family that we found when we had the flash flood. They are just the sweetest people. Then Brother Wilmar, John, Joyce, and AJ came, some of my most favorite ward missionaries, and Brother Wilmar thought it would be a good idea for all of us to go around and give their "last words" to me before I left. Yeah well if that didn't start the tears going, I don't know what would. Sister Seballos retold the story of the night where we found them and walked through their door and talked about that being an answer to her prayers, and we were her angels that night when she saw us in the doorway. John talked about how Sister Dyer and I were the first missionaries that he ever worked with and that helped stir the desire in him to go on a mission, and now his papers are in and he's just waiting for a call. Joyce talked about how when she heard that they were getting another American in the ward, she wasn't excited and wasn't going to work with us, but I changed her mind about Americans. Yeah I can't really explain it all, but there were a lot of tears. Also Sister Richardson said some really sweet things, and I just love them all. I feel so blessed to have been assigned in such an amazing ward and area.
    I also had an investigator, Tessie, whom we had a really neat lesson with. It was funny too because we only teach her on Fridays because she lives kind of far away, and she texted me on Sunday and asked if there was any way I could come teach her one more time before I left on Thursday. So we made it out there, and she's the one I told you the first time we taught her she said she doesn't remember a time when she's really felt the love God has for her in her life. Well she's really been progressing since then and loves the Book of Mormon and has been to church four times so this last lesson I wanted to ask her that question again that I asked the first lesson, and it was SO neat to see the difference. She's just so much happier now, and she said of course she's felt the love that Heavenly Father has for her. It was just a really neat experience. There were some tears in that lesson as well.

 
     Oh and then we did a review for Johnmark and asked him all of the baptismal interview questions, and he knew them all and is awesome and was scheduled for his interview on Sunday! Which I'm sure he passed and will be baptized this Saturday! Yay!:) So yeah times up for my last area.

     Here's the new news.... Yes I'm in the Makati Zone, and my area is Mandaluyong 3. Mandaluyong is where there's a really big mental hospital/rehabilitaion center or something like that so when you say you're in Mandaluyong everyone asks... Sa labas o sa laoob? (inside or outside) as a joke. And let me just tell you I have had quite the shock this last week with the difference of being in the city and the province. Really I feel like I'm in a whole different mission! There are just a lot of buildings and a lot of people here... that's it. It's really dirty. I actually got what they call sore eyes this last week that hasn't been very fun, and I'm pretty sure it's just from all the pollution They're just really red and swollen at times, and a couple days there was goopy stuff in them. It's weird, but it's on the up side now.
     But aside from all of that, the part that really surprised me is the people, and actually missionary work here is SO different. I came from an area with a lot of investigators, and we had a lot of them with baptismal dates and a lot came to church. Here we had four investigators which three of them aren't married yet, so we have that obstacle to fix first. So we're focusing big time right now finding, finding, finding. But even finding is so different. Before almost everyone was interested in our message and wanted to know what we were doing and would invite us into their house pretty quickly. The problem there was we had to figure out who was really interested and who were the ones that just wanted to be nice. Well here everyone is SO busy. We've been rejected many times this past week. They don't invite you in so you have to just take the time they give you, teach them out on the streets, set a return appointment, and hope the next time they'll invite you in. It's pretty crazy. My companion is Sister De Leon, a Filipina again:) She just finished her training program so I'm follow-up training. She's awesome though. She's so nice and wants to work hard and is filling me in on the whole city life deal. We're really enjoying being companions. And I've gone back to eating rice everyday... great:) Yeah and the ward didn't seem to have a lot of trust in the missionaries before, and no one really was working with them so that's another thing we're working on is building their trust and getting the YSA to work with us again.
     So yeah as President Stucki said to me this morning in his e-mail, "The Lord has much work for you to do in your new area." But I'm excited. Although right now it seems a bit rough, I'm just glad I have a companion that wants to work hard, and I know if we be obedient and do our best, the Lord will help us to boost the missionary spirit here and change things around a bit. But, of course, your prayers would be a big help as well:) So yeah I don't know what else to tell ya....  
     As far as answering questions yeah I will just call you on the 26^th, and do you think I could call at 7:00am? That would work best for me so we can still personal study at 8, but let me know what works for yall...
      I have been able to read some of the 12 days of Christmas letters, and I'm loving them! Wootton and Kuresa are bums!:) haha. It's exciting to read them as I eat my breakfast each day. And no, letter #3 never came:( Who was it from? Please don't say that was the one from my cute nephews and niece....

     As far as Christmas here, our area is made up of really, really, really poor people (squatters) and then really, really rich people. It's so crazy to me the differences in these houses, and they're within walking distance. It's SO sad! But Sister De Leon said in one of the rich subdivisions, they have awesome lights, and we're going there one of these nights so we'll see about pictures. The trees... I'm not sure where that is; I'll have to ask Sister Ronquillo.... Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you she's in my zone!:) We were so excited to see each other again. She's in Makati Makati, and yeah it's pretty close to the mission office. There's some really cool fountains they say at night we're going to see if we can get permission to go there next p-day on Christmas Eve.
     So yeah that's about all I got. We have a LOT of work here to do! But I know that I'm here for a reason, and the Lord will help us so I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for these great people. I love you all so much, and thanks for the support! I hope you all have a great Christmas break! Play in the snow for me:) Take Care!

Mahal ko kayo na sobra!!!

Sister Stromberg

. . . have to leave all the people that I love so much

Maligayang Pasko!!
     It's been quite the week for sure! Very exciting and yet sad at the same time. But first off, the Dyers did attend our FHE, as you saw. haha That's crazy to think that you saw that; I didn't even realize that she was videoing, but yeah that was our lesson with the Sumilang family. I sure do love them. Did you understand any of it? Then on Tuesday Sister Dyer and I were able to go on splits while we had a ward missionary with Sister Richardson. The Dyers also got to go out with us, and they met Tatay Teodoro and our converts Mark and Maryann. It was fun to have them with us, and I'm sure they either have told you about it or will when you go to Sister Dyer's homecoming.

     Then Tuesday night we got a call from President Stucki telling Sister Richardson that she will be training this next transfer... which also means that I will be transferring. It was really weird knowing so far in advance! But yeah so this time I've had plenty of time to tell people and get ready. I just found out about 10 minutes ago that I'm transferring to the one and only MAKATI! Which, to tell you the truth, I'm SOOO happy that's where I'm going. I don't know much about it, but I know it's right in the center of the city, the one part of the Manila mission I haven't experienced yet. I've been assigned in the Province my whole mission, but this Christmas.... I'm going to the CITY!:) So yeah that helps a little, but as you know, I always have a really hard time with transfers! It's especially hard because I'm leaving right before Christmas, and I have to leave all the people that I LOVE so much! All the members that have become like family and then have to go and meet all new members and investigators a week before Christmas, it’s a little rough, but I know that it will all be okay. I love all the people in Noveleta so much and feel so, so blessed I have been here for four months. Members all have dinners lined up for us before I leave, and I've just once again felt so much love from these amazing people. It's also really, really weird to think that this is probably my last area. WEIRD! Okay so enough about transfers.
    The exciting news I was talking about earlier.... we had a stake conference yesterday, and I was able to see Cavite Stake split into two stakes!! SOO exciting! It was such a neat way to spend my last Sunday. Elder Ardurn came and spoke, and when they sustained the new stake presidents, he had them stand up and said he wanted to give them their first assignment in front of all of us. Then he told them that he was challenging them that after their nine years of being stake president, he expected that each of their stakes would split AGAIN! It's so neat to think of that! That's just how fast this gospel is spreading in the Philippines. It was just a really neat meeting and neat to be there for such a "milestone event," what they kept calling it.
     Okay, okay so I have one more experience that happened this last week I'll share with you and then wrap it up. So we went to visit one of our less active members, and when we got there, brother was outside working with his fishers' net, and sister was inside. Brother was too busy so we just went ahead to share with sister. Well when we got inside, sister just opened up and shared everything with us that had been happening with their family. She shared that brother comes home drunk almost every night. She shared that the past few nights when he comes home, they'll get in a fight, and he'll thrown things all around the house (She mentioned a knife being one of those.). She even showed us some of the sores and bruises on her hands and arms. Then she told us that when he goes out and drinks, there are girls involved, and there's another girl that is interested in brother and maybe brother interested in her, she's not sure. And it was just AWFUL! I can't expain all of it, but by this time we were both just all in tears. I HATE hearing about Satan ruining families. It's the worst thing, and the one thing here in the mission that makes me the saddest, and I can't help but just cry for these poor families. Then I got the impression to share about the atonement and read some of the scriptures from Alma 7 with her. Then in my scriptures I have my favorite pictures of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. It's the painting by Carl Bloche where he has the angel comforting him. Well as I was sharing about the Atonement, I showed sister that picture and asked her to look at the expression on Jesus' face, and when she looked at that picture, she just started crying even harder. She was so touched from that picture. She put it right in her Book of Mormon and shut it and now it's hers:) It was so neat! I love when there is something so special to me or something that has touched me like that painting has, and then I get the opportunity to share that and then touch someone else’s life. It really goes to show that you are in your area for a reason, and there are people that need to hear specifically from you. It's SO neat! The Atonement is so real, and I love sharing about it and helping these great people understand it a little more. The next day after we taught her, we went back early in the morning to do her laundry for her because of course with all those little cuts and scrapes on her hands that would be awful! So it was so neat to help. This work is great!
     It's kind of been an up-and-down week with being excited and being sad, but that's just life. It's also been sad because four of my companions are going home Wednesday! I'll sure miss them! I've been so blessed with the very best companions! All the way down to Sister Richardson who I'm going to miss a lot, and it will be hard to leave her on Thursday. But that's life. And that's been my week. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! Oh and sometime could you send me another Carl Bloche picture? (if you want:) That's all. Thanks so much for all you do and the support that you show me! Take care!

Mahal ko kayo!
Sister Stromberg

. . . like home with Grandma Pat

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
     Wow, it's December now, and I got quite the surprise last night:) Yes the Dyers did make it here safe and sound. They made it in time to attend church yesterday in Noveleta. Bishop Dyer even took the opportunity to bear his testimony to our great ward. It was so fun seeing them. They told me that you were just down there in Orem chatting with them and that just seemed so weird to me that you were just talking and then days later I was talking with them. Sister Dyer gave me a big hug and said it was from you, so THANKS:) And then Bishop Dyer let me know that my dad didn't seem too happy that I was coming home in April; he wanted me to come home in March:) Haha, is that true? It's only one month, Dad, then I'll be home with ya'll! Oh and then Bishop Dyer was telling me that he and Mom have a lot of "mutual friends" in the college of business. Then we went to dinner with the Soletas, and the Dyers joined us. That was a lot of fun to sit and chat. Then that's when they gave me my package with that WONDERFUL FUDGE!! and the pecan rolls and all the delicious chocolate! You just have no idea how much I have been craving Fastbreaks lately! That got me really excited! Yeah I definitely felt the Christmas spirit yesterday and weirdly felt like I was home for a minute. When I tried the fudge, that really made me feel like I was home with Grandma Pat:) But don't worry, not in a trunky way at all. To sum it all up, THANKS!!
     And I'm sending a little something back with the Dyers so you'll have to get it when you go to Sister Dyer’s homecoming talk. It's not a lot, but it's about all I could find here in Cavite. I actually had Janeth get me something in Palawan for my name, but it hasn't made it back to the mainland yet. So I'm really hoping it gets here before they take off on the 12th of December, or I might have to mail it, and it will be late:( We'll have to wait and see. Oh and I've received all of the Twelve Days of Christmas except the Third Day. Hopefully it's still on the way and didn't just get lost.

     Moving on to missionary work:), this last week we had a lot going on! We had a great CSP this last Wednesday where we got to go out to the "beach" and help our investigator JohnMark with his job. He's our investigator right now who is closest to baptism:) He's SO awesome! He's 18. We used to teach his brothers and his mom, but his mom moved to Dubia, and his brothers lost interest I guess. But he will be baptized right before Christmas on the 22nd!:) He's such a stud! And because his mom doesn't live with them anymore it's kind of fend for yourself now with them, which here in the Philippines that is really rare. Your parents usually support you even after you're married and have your own family. But he is a fisherman and does that every day and has to get up SO early every morning and gets done late at night and is just such a hard worker. Well we decided we would get up early and go help him with his fish:) So yeah we went out and that just happened to be the one day that their fish weren't coming in until 9:00, and we were there at 6:00 a.m. and only had a couple of hours. So we ended up helping a bunch of strangers with all their fish! haha. I'll attach pics. It was a lot of fun, and hopefully we can teach our new friends when we return to that area! We also had a really neat lesson with JohnMark where he opened up to us and told us when he went to a friend’s b-day party, he was offered a drink. He really didn't want it and told them that but in the end up drank a little and then felt bad and left the party. Then he told us that he didn't feel worthy to be baptized, and he was just so sincere and concerned. Then we just had the neatest lesson about repentance and read some of the scriptures from Alma 36 about Alma the Younger (one of my favorite chapters). It was such a good lesson. JohnMark is so great because he's around the rowdiest crew all day every day. They are always smoking and drinking coffee, and he just sticks with his values and is doing his very best to get ready for his baptism. He had a problem with coffee before because that's what he would eat with his rice when he didn't have any money to buy real food, and coffee is really cheap here. But he's been sacrificing and hasn't bought any since we taught him the Word of Wisdom. Yeah that's why I say he's a stud because he's being such an example to all those around him and going against what's "cool" with all of his workmates. I just can't thoroughly explain. But I'm SO grateful for the Atonement and the miracle of forgiveness and to see the hope that our message brought to JohnMark that he could repent and continue to prepare for his baptism. ASTIG!  

    Then we have a new investigator, Tessie, who is the nanny of a member. We had such an awesome lesson with her, and she now wants to be baptized. She said that she prayed about Joseph Smith and got her answer that he is a true prophet, and, man, she's so awesome! She's so humble and in all of her prayers is just pleading that she can understand everything that we are teaching her and talks about that being her only concern is that she can understand everything, but she has been doing great. We're just taking it slow with her, and she's just such a sweetheart! I'm so excited for her!

     This last week it was Sis. Richardson's birthday, and Joyce and I arranged a surprise birthday dinner at the church! Man, that sure was hard! How do you keep something a secret from someone you're always with and you share a phone with and you literally can't be separated from?Yeah, we can thank Joyce for the most part, but Sis. Richardson was really happy and surprised so it was a lot of fuN! 

     Yeah okay well, I'm out of time; that always seems to happen. I'm really excited to talk with y'all on christmas. President Stucki wrote us today and said we could call or skype; it was up to us what would be more cost efficient and best in our situations, so skype sounds good to me. What do you think? I LOVE this Christmas season, and I'm getting so excited to teach everyone about our Savior! WE have a family home evening tonight that the Dyers will attend where we're talking about Jesus Christ, and I just can't wait!
     Well I love you all so much and hope you have the greatest birthday week! Happy Birthday Jasen and Dad and Ryan!! I wrote y'all letters so I hope they have gotten there or will very shortly!! Take care!

With Love,

Sister Stromberg

P.S.  Oh and I forgot to mention that transfer day is next week, and EVERYONE kept mentioning at church yesterday that I'm going to be transferred:( One of our ward missionaries even had a dream that I did:( It will be really hard if I am transferred right before Christmas! But I know that I'll be where the Lord wants me to be... so we'll see next week!

these amazing Filipino people

Good Morning!:)
     What a great Thanksgiving week it has been! I have so much to be thankful for! So yes to start off, we have two new members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Jennalyn Alde and Khaycie Mendoza!:) YAY!! Khaycie's baptism was Saturday morning, and we did have a lot of Young Women attend and support her. It was also really neat because one of our less actives, Ehra Seballos (the one who we found because of that huge flash flood) actually gave a talk at the baptism. It was so neat to see her up there giving that talk. You would have never guessed that she had been inactive for years and just returned back to church less than a month ago. She did such a good job! And she actually just returned to activity yesterday! (Four weeks in a row). Then at the baptism we had the Young Women do a special musical number. They sang I Walk by Faith, and it was really neat. I'm so happy with how they are all fellowshipping Khaycie. It's almost like she's been a member for a while now.

   Then for Jhen, we had her baptism Saturday night after she got off work, and there weren't as many members there, but it was still a nice baptism. One thing that I love about Jhen is she loves to sing, and she loves the hymn book. It amazes me because she'll just be singing different hymns that she has memorized, and she just became a member. I don't know how she does it, but I can just see the love she has for these songs. Another thing I love is her favorite hymn is my favorite hymn as well, :) I Stand All Amazed. And so of course, we had to do that as a special musical number, and she was so happy to hear that. Then probably my favorite part of it all was after she was baptized, we sang Praise to the Man as the closing hymn, and at the chorus she just shut the book and sang it from memory and had the biggest smile I think I've ever seen!! It was SO neat!! Her baptism was just one of my favorites because we've just really connected, and I just love her so much! She's been through so much, and Satan has really tried to stop her from being baptized so many times! But she is so strong, and I know one of these days I'm going to hear that she received her mission call and getting ready to serve! That's how great she is:) So it was such a great day! Probably one of the longest days I've had here in the mission but one of the best!

       Then yesterday I had the privilege of playing the piano for the Primary program. It was such a neat experience, and I just love little Filipino kids! Filipinos (doesn't matter what age) just don't care what others think and will sing their little lungs out. It doesn't matter if they have a good voice or a bad one, they just want to sing! I just love that about them. So even though there aren't as many Primary kids here in the Philippines as there are at home, they sing just as loud and as good! I have a video for Gabey, but a ward missionary borrowed my camera to prepare for Sister Richardson's birthday (It's this Friday.). So next week I'll be sending that to you, especially for Gabe!
     Then also last Wednesday we had our Mission Tour with Elder and Sister Nielson from the Quorum of the Seventy. They had us read 1 Ne 11-14, a little bit of 15 and 2 Ne 31 to prepare, and then he did a training on the revelation process that was really neat. He also just talked about the importance of PMG and had a little question/answer session. It was a really good training. It was really specific to the Philippines and the things that we need to do different in our mission to specifically help these Filipinos.
     Then Thursday... actual Thanksgiving! We were able to go to the Soleta family’s for lunch, and they fed us the best roast beef and mash potatoes which is SO rare! Filipinos don't eat that. They made it especially for us:) Bishop Soleta said he looked for turkey, but it was really expensive here. So that will just have to wait for next year. But they are just the sweetest family and treat us so well! Then after lunch we went and worked, just like any other day.
     Later we were able to have dinner at the Montemayor's house! It was fried chicken, rice, pancit, lumpia just the norm Filipino food, but it was great because out of all the families here in Noveleta they feel most like family to me! Of course they can't compare to my real family, but it was really good being with them:) I love them!! (By the way, I think Connie Montemayor told me that she added you, Mom, on Facebook.) So yeah that was Thanksgiving.
     Such a great week, and, Mom, you were right: the highlight of it all was the two baptisms and then having Ehra and Flor Espila return to activity yesterday with their fourth Sunday! I'm excited to see Sister Dyer this coming Sunday! She said if her parents’ flight doesn't get delayed, they will make it to church! I will for sure give Sister Stonick your contact information so you can make it to her report. They might be on the same day though. Sister Dyer's family is coming two weeks before transfer day, and Sister Dyer is going with them early and then will still do all the going home activities with her batch and leave at the same time as the other missionaries. But I'll give her your number, and you'll find out.
     I love you all so much! Oh and I thought of the three things that I'm thankful for this year, like I told you last year:
            1. The first thing that came to my mind is the Book of Mormon! This book is amazing and changes lives! It has changed my life, and I love teaching others and introducing it to others to change their lives so they can come to know their Savior, Jesus Christ.
            2. Family! That will always be on my list! I love you all so much and am SO grateful for all the love and support that you give to me. I couldn't ask for a better family! I couldn't ask for better brothers! Sisters-in-law too!:) And of course I have the CUTEST niece and nephews ever!
            3. I am so grateful for these amazing Filipino people! I have learned so much from them and continue to. They are the happiest, most humble people in the world! I'm so grateful that I have been living with them for a year now and will forever be grateful for the example they have shown to me!
So yeah those are my three corn kernels for the year:)
     Have a great week! Ry, have a great birthday! I sent you a card so hopefully it has gotten to you or will this week. Ja, too, I sent you one so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Mahal na Mahal ko Kayo,

Sister Stromberg

. . . so hard to hear

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
      What a great week it has been and what a great week we have ahead of us!:) I'm happy to tell you that, yes, Khaycie and Jhen passed their interviews yesterday, and we will be having two sessions of baptisms on Saturday:) haha Yep, not just TWO baptisms but two sessions. haha Khaycie is in Young Women, and they have this big activity for the YW anniversary so she has to have her baptism in the morning before the activities start. Then Jhen just got this new job which is absurd the number of hours she is working! She is required to work overtime which is from 6:00 in the morning to 12:00 at night, yeah 18 hours! Jobs here in the Philippines are so ridiculous, how much time they put in, and yet they don't get paid what they deserve. It's no wonder there are so many Filipinos working abroad. But anywho that means she won't get home until night time so we will have her baptism around 5:00 p.m. hopefully. So yeah I'm super excited for Saturday!
      But as for this last week, I feel like I just barely wrote to y'all because I wrote you Wednesday night and told you all about temple day and such. Well on Saturday it was our Temple Tour. We brought Bro and Sis Sumilang to the temple tour. They have a baptismal date coming up the end of December, but they aren't progressing the way they need to be. They are part of Couples for Christ. They say they want to be baptized and know the Book of Mormon is true, but they love the members from their community at Couples for Christ and can't leave them. So they're trying to do both right now which makes it hard because sometimes we'll come to teach them, and they'll be at a meeting for CFC and such. So yeah they really enjoyed the temple and said it answered some questions for them, and they really want to be able to enter the temple some day. But then yesterday they weren't at church. So yeah we have to figure this whole thing out with them.
      Then this week one of our members invited us to come and teach their new nanny which immediately I thought about Tina. Do you remember her? She was the nanny of a member in Carmona that we taught, and she was going to get baptized but the week before she moved back to her province. So yeah we'll try again. haha Her name is Tessie, and she is so sweet. She is my age; she's married, but they’re separated. She has a child that is currently living with her mom in Davao. We had a really good first lesson with her, and she really opened up. One thing she said that just hit me really hard... we asked her if there was a time in her life where she felt God's love for her; she said sometimes it's really hard for her, and sometimes she feels that He's forgotten her especially when everything's happened with her husband. Ah it was so hard to hear that, but then it made me SO happy that we have this opportunity now to help her feel that love that Heavenly Father has for her and help her see the hope that the gospel can bring to her life. I don't know I'm just really excited about her because I feel a special connection with her and a special bond with her! We'll have to wait to see what Heavenly Father has in store for her:) So yeah that's my exciting experience for the week.
      Then last night we had a fireside with the stake for newly baptized members and also investigators were invited, and Brother Ben got to be one of the speakers to share his conversion story. It was so neat. He's just growing so much. Last week he was talking with us, and he was saying how he just realized how great the priesthood is and how much of a privileged it is that he was called to be one of the Lord's servants to receive his holy priesthood. It was neat seeing him get so excited about it. A lot of other wards after the fireside were telling us how much they enjoyed his testimony and how they felt the spirit so strong when he was talking. It was a really neat fireside!
      So yeah missionary work is great! It's so fun hearing all the friends back home that are receiving their calls right now! It makes me so happy to think of the missionary force getting stronger! There was a time here in the mission where we had to close a lot of areas because the number of missionaries sent out had decreased a lot. Even in Carmona there used to be four missionaries and now are only two. So it makes me so happy to know we'll have more missionaries to help this work go forth stronger and bolder!:) I hope I'm still here in the mission when you start to see a difference in the number of missionaries here in Manila!
     Oh and I did receive some letters this week for the 10th, 11th, and 12th Days of Christmas! Yaay:) I'm so excited to read them! But I was a little confused because I thought it was supposed to start with the First Day of Christmas...? and on the 12th day it didn't have written "don't open until the 25^th," so does that mean I can open that one?:) I think that's only fair! SO yeah I think that was your only question.
      Well I hope you all have a great week! This Wednesday is our mission tour, and we get to hear from Elder and Sister Nielson from the 70! I'm really excited about that! I'm so THANKFUL for every single one of you and couldn't be more blessed to have you a part of my life!!!!! Love you lots!

Mahal na mahal ko kayo,
Sister Stromberg