Pheliz Cumpleanos in the Philippines

Thanks for the birthday greetings! I had a nice little birthday dinner last night, provided by the white people in our ward (the Colons)…complete with a cake and candles. So sweet!

Anyway, I have a new companion-- Sister Tune (too nay), from Kiribati. She's very nice and so far we are getting along really great. She is obedient, humble and willing to work hard. I am really happy. Sister Dial is in la Trinidad. Too bad not Baguio! But we saw her at general conference and it was so happy. The 3 of us were finally reunited. Sister Ackerman even burst into tears, haha.

Sister Kasan [from San Fernando] is so sweet. She rode around on her bike and got ward members and people I used to teach to write me a little birthday message. Then she sent them all to me. It was very thoughtful and I really appreciated it. Also, some members in Sevilla ward remembered my birthday and sent me a little greeting. So sweet!

I thought general conference was really good. I really liked Elder Bednar's talk. He quoted a lot from a previous talk he gave at a BYU devotional a lot of years ago. Also, President Alder [our stake president when Ally left on her mission] is now an area authority!  And yes, President Eyring is Glen Robert Ward. I was so excited for general conference and I enjoyed it so much…such a missionary. I also really liked that talk in Sunday afternoon with the guy [Elder Corbridge] that just talked very simply about the restoration and Joseph Smith. I loved how simple it was. The longer I’m a missionary, the more I’ve been realizing how simple the gospel is and how perfect Heavenly Father's plan for us is. Our area has really been struggling lately, but I am thankful for the opportunity I have to share my testimony with others every day.

In other news, everyone has been telling me that Brother Romero [from San Fernando] gave a 30 minute talk after his baptism (it's usually about 3 minutes), detailing the entire history of the missionaries teaching him. Haha. He announced to the ward that I was his favorite missionary because of all he learned. He has also written me two letters in English. Hilarious! And so sweet.

We had a very rough week. I was in a threesome for 3 days with Sister P because her new companion hadn't come yet because her old companion's father just died and they went to the funeral (she happens to live inside of our mission boundaries because she submitted her mission papers in Manila). So we had to split our time between our areas and we mostly taught people in her area. We have stopped teaching some investigators. One of our investigators told us that missionaries in Gisad were teaching her because that's where she lives (we teach her at her restaurant in our area). She even gave me an Elder’s name. I asked him about it and they've never met. Then we were so sad. Yesterday, we had the perfect fellowshippers for Brother D and then he wasn't home. I don't know what happened. But, we did find a man and taught him one lesson. He seems very serious, but hopefully interested. We’ll see where that goes.

Also, Sevilla C [my first area] got turned into an Elders’ area this transfer…partly because it is a little bit dangerous.

Have a great week and I am so proud of all of you! Remember what they say in Baguio,
#youcannotgettoheavenwithoutyourbishop.