Hi! Soooo... here we go again. I feel like weekly emailing is writing in a journal I've abandoned, when I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast. Actually I remember that one, because I found a bread shop, that was selling "Cinnamon Rolls". Eagerly excited to possibly taste something American, I bought one, and quickly indulged in bread wrapped in cinnamon. Like a Literal cinnamon-roll. Things are taken pretty literal here. Sister ordered a milk shake the other day, and that exactly what she got. Shaken milk. I suppose we gotta call things what they are. Cinnamon-sugar-icing-syrupy roll. or frozen-icecream-blendered. Literal translations don't really work either. Try explaining to a non-American what "we've been working our patooty off." yeah, It just doesn't work.

You can see the strangest things here in the Philippines. We did see 3 blind mice the other day. Or in other words, three blind grown men holding onto each other train style, the leader waving a stick. We have also spotted many cards on the side of the road, we started collecting them, we've almost made a full deck. A lot of weird things happen to us as well. On Saturday, A guy screamed Mormons! at the top of his lungs, he was quite a distance away, and we weren't quite sure what to do. We motioned for us to come near. He jumped out of his garden, and ushered us inside a house. He said his sister was Mormon, and we should talk. Although his inactive Sister must have bailed out the back window, because she wasn't anymore to be found. So we invited this guy to hear our message. He protested that he was pretty busy to listen, so he quickly ran outside by a basketball court, and ushered about 15 little boys into his home we were now sitting in. He said that they all would listen to us. Then he bailed out the front door. So now there was 2 confused white girls, staring at 15 confused little boys in an unfamiliar home. We chuckled a bit, and just gave them all pass along cards and told them to give them to their parents, and If they're interested we'd come back next Saturday. I told them to tell their parents we have a message about how to have an eternal family, but I tried simplifying the message to a kids understanding, and jokingly told them it's like gluing your family together forever. Kind of like linking arms in eternity. But, then I thought about the whole literal thing, and I hope they don't think they're going to be glued to a bunch of dead people. Okay I just can't go into Alllll the weird things that I see or go through here. I'm just going to have to bring you here. Oh but when I get home, remind me to tell you about meditating. Its a long story, better told by person.

So our work is coming along just great. If everything goes as planned, we will be holding another Baptism this Saturday!!! RAYMOND is getting baptized! you don't know how thrilled I am for this one. I wish I would have updated you more on this guy. He's the 22 year old that his parents abandoned his family a few years back. It has been a tough fight to battle, but righteousness won this Match. I'm super proud of him, and he has gone though some serious changes to form his life with Gods ways. Takes a great deal of humility to do that. I can only hope he continues on this wonderful path that he's gotten on. God is wonderful! I am soooo thankful for the strong spirit that God has given us each time we teach Raymond. This is such a spiritual work, the gospel cannot be taught any other way. The spirit plays the entire role in conversion. Its what helps give the motivation for anyone to attend church, to yearn to feel that spirit, truth, enlightenment. It has been so rewarding to feel the spirit everyday, in such an undeniable strong feeling. That light, peaceful, innocent feeling is what real happiness is. Sometimes people that are weighed down with sins, thinking that drugs or alcohol could numb the pain of unhappiness, oh how much I wish they knew the feeling that the holy ghost could give them! If only they could repent, and then seek to have the presence of the holy ghost. That is true happiness. Not fake happiness, more formerly described as pleasure. Something that just wares off. Sometimes people just fall into a repetitious cycle, of sinning over and over again, thinking their pleasure producing sin will give them happiness. I suppose that is why there is missionaries, friends, members, bishops to help these people know how giving up pleasured sins, even though hard and warring the process may be, in the end your will find yourself free from the weight of sin, and genuinely happy. Commandments are what sets us free! I want to suggest you to all start your day off feeling the Holy Ghost. before you do anything in the morning, sincerely pray to God, and then read your scriptures. I promise, your entire day will have a different feeling. You become enlightened, on how to further free yourself from sin, and enabling yourself to become more worthy to feel the holy ghost. Like for reals you're like a different person that day. just try it.

Any way,

Love you all!

Sister Hancock!!