Email November 2nd

Hi, so I suddenly realized that my email last week didn't make lot of sense. Sister Mabalot and Sister Abad would like five tops and five bottoms each of garments -- I figure you did understand that because I continued on by explaining sizes best I could and that they want the silky ones but I just thought I'd make sure. I also thought that I really need some sticky notes, not the pad of big ones but the little ones that are square that I can use to stick in people's books to mark their assignment -- I can't find any here and I'm running low. I made an amazing discovery, there is such a thing as slips in shorts style -- I'm wearing Sister Thompson's right now and it's AMAZING, I'm not sure what makes the slip so much better like this but I'm a fan. I'm wearing hers because my one and only one is being washed right now. As for Sister Thompson, we get along too well maybe, haha. We have to be careful not to talk too much (especially in English :) hehe and get everything else done we need to. Of course we're different people but it's really easy to get along with someone that understands everything you say, haha. I miss Sister Victorino and I miss having someone who always understood everything going on but we're learning a lot and we feel really strongly that something about our companionship is going to help our struggling but humble area. As for the area, it's Pola not palo and I'm not sure if you just typed it wrong or what but maybe there is a place palo that you've looked up that is
that tourist place you are speaking of because although I'm sure there are tourist places somewhere on the island Pola is not one of them -- furthest thing from it. It's really hard to even get there so I doubt many people go there unless they have to. There also really isn't anything to do there at all including work so many people are split families with one working abroad or they work in a field an then eat what they grow or sell it to try to make money . Our Branch President for instance doens't work at all, his wife does, and he focuses entirely on his
calling. He couldn't find work before and every since being called has lots of offers that would force him to leave but they've decided they need to stay here and work it out, he acts as branch clerk too and his counselors don't always come -- they also don't have a compute or printer or anything here so our records are really fun to try to keep -- and I have no idea where my apartment is in relation to what you described...sorry. There is a huge cemetery on a hill and we live a little further down the road and to the left of it but that's the best mark I can think of.
Something really fun that recently started happening is that everything I own contracted mold, I'm trying to salvage it all but I wish I could just throw everything but my scriptures and one dress away -- that would be the life. I felt inspired by mom's email to tell you something I don't think I specifically did before. It was kind of interesting and I didn't think too much about it
but back a while ago when Elder Teh was here and he interviewed me he asked me a lot about my family and school and what I planned to do after my mission and something about our conversation lead me to say something to him that I hadn't vocalized or thought much about and is really a simple statement but I had thought about it a little at the MTC but in a different sense and about more the entire family - I guess I started realizing how your entire family is blesses if you sacrifice to serve but it was just a realization and then here actually on my mission and mostly during my interview when I said it -- well what I told him was "I think one of the biggest reasons I'm here is for my mother...and for our relationship..." kind of like that and then I told him it was interesting because dad was the one who always really wanted me to go and I knew it and I knew you'd be so excited for me and had all the reasons and had also served and hopefully our family would be blessed spiritually with callings etc. and financially which all seemed to relate to Dad. Mom, on the other hand, may have liked me to stay home and get married and have a baby boy or something, not that she was against me going but I guess I never thought it would affect you so much that I did rather than didn't -- who knows. I realize this paragraph is a mess but I don't have time to fix it and am choosing not to delete it, haha! As for leaving my mark, I hope I'm leaving the gospel mark, I hope we're planting seeds and at least for a moment helping people know that God love's them even if they never progress while I'm here or ever from that point on but I feel less and less like I have anything to do with it and that anything about me has anything to do about it every day, so I'm not sure what mark I specifically would make of my own. I have a very AMERICAN mark on them because they all love Americans and it's really difficult to speak or express or explain how I might in Tagalog and so instead I say what I can or what I have a little help from the spirit saying about God's message to them but I'm having a great mark made on me which I'm leaving here and will bring back with me and that is a mark cemented deeper than it was, but one that was already there. I love this gospel, I know it's true, I have a desire to not doubt and to improve and to help others and to not falter and it do what I am meant to even if I don't always understand why and that is the kind of mark I have at this point. By the way, Sister Thompson is from Smithfield near Logan not Smithville - retraction from my last letter. As for our apartment -- President and Sister Anderson came
to visit and Sister Anderson really wants us to find a new apartment, but I don't think we'll find better here and it's hard to move. As for water, we often don't have any, depends on the time of day. There are frequent burn-outs so sometimes no electricity. We hope it continues but our one great success story from this Sunday -- well there is a family of members but the father is not active, the older son is recently act ive again and one of the older daughters is married to a born again preacher. They have been the focus family for the last three months Sister Thompson has been here. Their daughter is about my age and the young women president here, she's kind of spunky and really funny to talk to, she wants me to leave my blouses with her, haha. We visited and taught them once and then Saturday we were in the area and we talked to him again and told him to come to church with us and I told him jokingly (because it makes more sense in Tagalog and doesn't sound as weird and it's their personality) that I would give him a prize if he came and I knew his family would be happy and something like that... well the next day he was there at Church and Sister Thompson was so surprised, it is the first time he has come to church in basically forever and his wife shared her testimony and said that it's amazing because that morning she had been tired and was having issues getting to shower
and almost didn't come which means he may not have, oh how the adversary works in all ways to stop progression, but then she found out he was going and quickly changed her ways and was again an example to her husband and as a family they came to church, because he'd promised the sisters he'd come, haha. We taught them and their born again preacher, it would be so much easier to answer his questions if I could speak English, haha! Well, I'm sorry but i'm going to have to close right now. We're emailing kind of late and so we have to leave early. I'll try to finish up answering questions and stuff later and tell Savanna that I'll reply to her email another day and thanks for the pictures, Elli is beatuiful! and they're all so big, wow. I love you all, bye
Britney