"B'coz I know the plan"

Dear Family, 

Kumusta na kamo? How are all of you  doing? I hope great. I guess school is almost over on that side of the world, right? School will be back in session here in about 3 weeks. haha. Endure to the end all of you. haha. And I will endure to the end of tag-init (hot season). 

It was great to see you on skype last week! This week has been really great as well. We had seven investigators come to sacrament, plus four other people who aren't investigators yet. And we had a bunch of less active members come too! It was great. In the Leganes banwa (town center) there is a stand called "Mister Siomai" where Sister Aurelio like to buy siomai a few times a week for a snack. The lady who owns it is named Eden and she is really nice, but super busy so we can't teach her, but the good news is, she told us to pick up her son and take him to church with us. So we went to the siomai stand on Sundaymorning and took Ivan to church with us. He is 9. I sat with him during sacrament and he had a lot of questions about the sacrament. And then one of his classmates from school came over and fellowshipped him and took him to Primary. It was great! I am hoping we can figure something out where we can teach Ivan in the banwa or the Elders can at Eden's house. Yay! 

On Thursday, Sister Aurelio and I went to the Town Hall to ask about the process of getting a marriage license. Our investigator, Jenamie, and her husband, John Ray, and two other couples we are teaching with them all need to get married. When we get that figured out, then four baptisms should follow. They are all former investigators who were even interviewed for baptism, but haven't been able to get married yet. Their biggest challenge is  money. They are really poor. While the actual marriage license processing fee is somewhat affordable, the cost of fare for them to travel around and collect the paperwork will be the biggest problem. But I have faith it will all work out, we just need to help them build their faith and do it. :) We are also teaching Catherine (12), Noela (10), and Brian (9) with them. They all came to church. Catherine is the sweetest. She reads the Book of Mormon to Noela, because Noela has difficulty reading. That is what Christ means when He tells us to be childlike.

We had MLC (Tues. 6 May) and Mission Conference (Thurs.  8 May) two weeks ago with Elder and Sister Ardern. I want to share some of the things I learned from them, because it was great! (Plus they have New Zealand accents.) Their and President and Sister Aquino's counsel to us kind of kept jumping back and forth between Teaching & Finding & Missionary work and Marriage. Talk about trunky missionaries...oh brother. jk! They talked about finding and marrying a Man or Woman of God. They also talked about how Education is so super important. Elder Ardern had Sister Ardern tell a funny story to us... 

When they were newlyweds, Elder Ardern still hadn't finished his degree, but he had a teaching certificate, so he thought that was good enough. Sister Ardern didn't think so. She kept encouraging him to enroll in school again to finish his degree, until one day, she pushed him out the front door, locked him out, and told him not to come back unless he had his University registration papers in hand. So he went to "Uni," as they call it in New Zealand, and registered. When he came home, Sister Ardern made him show her the papers through the window as his ticket back in. haha. I loved that story. Go Sister Ardern! 

Elder Ardern taught us that it is the greatest crime for a missionary to return from their mission and fail to apply all they learned on their mission. He also shared that no mediocre persons will make it in to the Celestial Kingdom. That is why we must always strive to be the extraordinary children of God that we have the potential to become. Satan would have us settle for average, but Heavenly Father knows we can do more and be better. 

Transfer day is this Thursday. I thought I might be transferred, but maybe not. There has been some drama in Jaro 1 for the last few weeks, so it will be interesting to see what changes happen there. (That's just one of those stories that can wait til after the mission.) Unity is so important in the work of the Lord, and if we are not focused on Him, we cannot be unified. Leganes is the  greatest. We received a copy of the ward mission plan this week. The work is going well here. I love it. Brother Lito, the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric, lives by the phrase, "B'coz I know the plan." What will  you do differently today because you know the plan of our Heavenly Father? Look inward, Reach outward. I love you all. Halong! 

Love, Sister Winward