[Editor’s note: We shared some of the details from
this article http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/865590735/Surviving-the-typhoon-A-story-of-fear-faith-and-what-it-means-to-be-prepared.html
]
Sister LT
is laughing at me because I just started to cry when I read about the
missionaries. I am so thankful they were safe and Heavenly Father was
protecting them. That is so awful in Tacloban. Have they gotten relief yet from
the Filipino government? We saw on the news that they were preparing stuff but
they hadn't delivered it yet. Why
was international aid late? How soon did America help?
Anyway, on a happier note…You'll all be glad to
know that we are teaching Manny from Modern
Family. He’s a 10 year-old kid and he and Manny are the same person...Super
rich, super serious, super adult-like. And he looks exactly like Manny. We found “Manny” and his sister and a couple
of their cousins in a preach by the way. We were asking them where these other
people live and we asked when we could teach them. We’ve had two lessons with
them. I'll let you know how it goes. They have a car and
a gate and air conditioning and everything.
Sister G passed her baptismal interview! We are so
so happy for her and her family. She is excited for her baptism next week. They
are just so sweet. We went to their house every day last week, most days they
fed us too. They are so cute and when they're saying the closing prayer, they
just bless the food. They literally have no money, but yesterday they gave us a
HUGE plate of pansit each (when Filipinos make pansit they make sooo much.) It
was basically a giant feast. They just seem so happy, even though they are
poor. Brother G said the reason he came back to church was because he couldn't
provide for his family without God. Now they are so happy. They just live in
their hut in the middle of jungle and blast music through these huge speakers,
so you can hear it for about a mile around.
Yesterday Brother G was showing us where this less
active member we've been searching for a month lives. We are so happy we
finally found her! She, too, lives in the middle of the jungle (not quite as
isolated as Brother G). She was so happy we came and started to cry because she
said she was thankful the missionaries came to remind her of these things. We
invited Brother G to join our lesson and he bore his testimony about how happy
he has been since he came back to church. He said he was so grateful for the
Book of Mormon and prayer and he can feel Heavenly Father blessing his family.
And he's so happy his wife is getting baptized. But he's so
determined to give up smoking. He now smokes 3 sticks a day. When we first started
teaching him he smoked 3 packs a day.
There are some
people in our ward that sacrifice so much like Bro. Garcia. It's really
touching.
I had exchanges
this week! I was very nervous, because I was leading exchanges so that means it’s
in my area. And my companion was Sister T. She's from Kiribati and she’s still
learning Tagalog and English. So, I was super worried no one would be able to
understand us and that we wouldn't be able to understand each other. But
everything went well! We taught a few lessons and everyone could understand us.
We just asked them a lot of questions to make sure they understood. So that was
actually a confidence booster for me.
Every Christmas each missionary is supposed to make a photo
of 3 words that have meaning to them. So, my three words are "Climb Every Mountain" and my
picture was on a trail on the way to the G family’s house. I like to pretend
I'm in the Sound of Music.
The Dinkels are
having everyone over for a short Thanksgiving dinner, which is good. Everyone
says Christmas in the Philippines is the best!
You should ask the missionaries if they need people
to work with them. We really need a good solid married couple to come with us
to appointments because they could be so influential. Members are so so
important. So, ask the missionaries what you can do to help them.
I love you very
much. Thank you for everything. I had a ton more to tell you but I’m out of
time. Thanks for your advice and being good examples and everything. Have
family scripture study, family prayer, and family home evening. Love you! Have
a wonderful week!
Love, Sister
Mortell
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