Alright family, This week has been absolutely beautiful. Since we now have our district/zone meetings on Monday, p-day, I have the transfer announcement! :) This was the BIG announcement when the mission will officially be split and as I had thought I am staying on NEGROS!!! WOO HOOOOOO! I am so happy about that. President has told me in every interview "Sister Stadler, prepare yourself, because I'm going to need you in the mission." So I felt I would definitely be staying on Negros. woohoo! I'm also officially the senior companion, but thank heavens I am not training yet. But I am 90% positive I will be next transfer. I'm so excited that I am staying in Victorias 2nd ward for at least one more transfer too! Yesterday was one of those teaching days on the mission where you get home and want to collapse and you just fall to your knees and say, "Father, I get it now! This is why I'm here!" We were blessed to have 5 investigators who were at church, 2 new investigators, 9 lessons, we spoke in church, I had the play the piano AND sign every meeting to our deaf investigator. We then were able to invite 4 people to commit to be baptized and THEY ALL COMMITTED THEMSELVES!!! We taught one of the greatest law of chastity lessons to Analyn that I have ever taught. It was the most in depth L of C lesson I have ever taught and we were a little wary going into it. The 4 people with baptismal dates now are Rocky, DenDen, Annalyn, and Emalyn (The family I told you about that their dad wasn't happy about them listening to the lessons). Well we are having FHE with them tonight AND...their father said he wanted to go to church yesterday, but he had work...so hopefully this next week we'll be able to teach him for the first time.) The gospel is so true! I love all of them, but I have a special connection with Sister Annalyn. She is 20 years old, has a daughter who is 15 months, isn't married. Her boyfriend works in another area of the Philippines and won't be able to come visit until December. So we knew going into the lesson that she would either have to get married to him first, OR she would have to decide to get baptized now and when he returns, have no sexual relations with him at all. WHICH...is a huge temptation. So..we started teaching. My companion led the lesson and explained about sexual relationships and then I was suppose to teach about homosexual relationships and continue on from there. I felt like I needed to go back and take the sexual relationships topic into deeper detail. So I opened my scriptures to Alma where he's teaching his son about how serious the transgression is before the Lord and before God. I can honestly say that this week I have been led more by the spirit than at any other point in my mission. I honestly don't remember how or what I said, but I do remember sitting there and watching the weight of her sins hit her. She started crying and I started crying as I testified of our Savior's Atonement and of what she would need to do to become clean again. As we all sat there crying, pouring over the word of God I felt unbelievable love for her. I cannot express how much I wanted to just take her in my arms and rejoice because the Atonement is real! Christ lives! As we continued with the lesson she had many other issues that needed to be dealt with. She had a 3rd piercing, and she took it out on the spot and said, "What else?" The experience was remarkable, someday I'll share it with you in detail if you want. Her baptismal date is July 24th. I'm so excited for them all. I started teaching piano lessons on Saturdays and the girl is ridiculously fast! She didn't even know what a note was and by the end of the lesson she was playing the right hand to "Come Follow Me"....it's insane! Bishop said he would like to take lessons too! haha! That should be a blast. Um...what else....Oh, the whey powder mom was in the zip bag. Tell her not to send nuts....because the nuts didn't make it. there had all these bugs in them. Yeah..I don't know what happened. Knowing the Philippines my box was probably left in the rice field somewhere for 3 days because it got to me. hahaha! Um....OH! Had a gang of drunk and smoking children come and other us while walking home one night. That was cool. I thought my comp was going to be burned by the had girl's cigarette...I have never thought I would have to hit a child in my life..but I thought I was gonna have to take on a group of children...luckily..the Lord took care of it AND....while we were leaving I taught a mini word of wisdom lesson! haha! Then we move on to the woman we affectionately refer to as BUANG..meaning..Crazy in Ilonggo. She is literally insane. I do not know why she isn't in a mental hospital. She is homeless and lives about a 5 minute walk away from our home in a makeshift tent thingy she made. She has been seen eating cats....yep..just sinking her teeth into a cat. Anyway....she never gave us trouble in the past. Well..this week we apparently developed a strong hate for Americans. She ran up to us one morning and stood 5 inches from my face screaming that she was going to kill me and that she would have her husband kill me because I was an American and all Americans are evil. I don't know why she didn't touch me...probably because an angel was standing in between us. I thought nothing of it, told her "Take care sister, God bless you." and we kept walking. Well later that night as we returned she was nowhere in sight. Then the next thing I know I see her crouched down by a building and she gets this devil possessed look on her face and grabs a huge rock and starts running towards us. So my comp starts to freak! HAHAHAHAHAHA! She's running and screaming and the ward missionary is running and screaming for me to run and fast ....now all of you that know me know I'm not one who remains calm, and yet at that moment I could not have been more calm. I had the thought, "stay where you are, do not run." and so I did...I stayed right where I was, faced her and waited. She stopped and chucked the rock right at me...impeccable aim I tell you...that HUGE rock came right at my head and ..if I had been running and not paying attention to where she was and the rock was...it would have most likely pelted my head causing..a bit of damage. Instead, I stepped to the side about a foot watched the rock fly over my shoulder and just stared at the woman. She turned around and went into her tent screaming, and didn't bother us. My comp was freaking out and asking why I didn't run. I don't know why, but I'm glad I listened the the prompting and stayed. Why was she not afraid to keep running towards me at that moment when I stood and faced her? I HAVE NO IDEA! Maybe there were unseen forces around me that I was unaware of, but she was frightened and retreated. She was outside of the church today too. She hates me and I have no idea why. BUT...it's ok! We've started varying our path. AND...I do have permission that if I need to..I can punch the woman and beat the tar out of her for self defense. haha! I think I'm just gonna see if I can get some pepper spray. haha! Anyway..I'm not afraid. Life is awesome! I have never been this happy in my entire life! My body is getting thinner, but I've got some nasty tan lines, tons of scars and bud bits, scrapes, scabs, little or no hair left, there are permanent dark circles that form from and dark areas on my knees from kneeling so much that WILL not come off no matter how I scrub and use the pumice stone...and yet I am in a state of blissful peace and calm. Christ lives! He loves us! He knows us and HE IS COMING AGAIN! That day is near, and how excited I am to be a part of this latter-day work and watch the beauty of His Atoning sacrifice play out before my eyes. I love you all. I pray for you and I see the effects of your prayers for me daily. Keep writing me...mail is golden. Teach the gospel, love the gospel, live it! Life here is so short! Let us all dedicate ourselves to the Lord and press forward. I love you all! Until next week, with my new companion, GOD SPEED!
All my love, kisses, hugs and happiness,
Sister Stadler
P.S. HUGE congrats to Katie on the engagement! and to Jefferson! As for the choir, it went really well, and our duet went pretty well too. We have plans to sing together in the future again...he's staying in Negros too. I think that was all the questions...oh! ALSO....I almost forgot....
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope your root beer float was a blast! I'll have to make you a strawberry rhubarb pie or something when I get home! Love you tons and I pray for you and think of you often! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Family! ok, well the email was having a hard time here yesterday, we lost all connection, so we decided to just come today instead and email. this week has been full of all types of surprises and happiness and wonderful experiences. First of all, Amanda and Aunt Vikki, I got your packages on Tuesday of last week! Hence the super happy picture of me! best mail day ever, two huge packages and two letters! haha! Amanda, you should have seen the elder's faces when I pulled out the beef jerky. Genius for you to send little packages...I only pulled out one at the district meeting...they all got the deer in the headlight looks... and just stared at it..so of course I shared. haha. Aunt Vikki! Thanks so much for everything you sent! There were no probiotics in the box, and you told me to let you know if there weren't any. The power bars you sent were to die for and the wheyprotien is perfect for me in the morning. I'm not a breakfast person, but I've noticed a difference when I drink it in the morning. So thanks a ton! Ok, moving on, (mom, a batchmate is a person who you came into the mission field at the same time with. Is that proper English? I just read that 3 times...whatever..I'm moving on. they call them batchmates here in the Philippines for some reason.) The Cebu temple dedication was beautiful. President Monson was on his game. haha! He was so funny during the sealing of the corner stone. He was cracking jokes and then he walked past the piano right before they went back inside and turned back around, walked to the piano and asked if he could play a little something. then...I'm expecting a little hymn or something and he says, "I don't usually perform. but this is a special occasion." then he started to play a little ragtime piece! hahahaha! I was laughing so hard! So was Elder Oaks in the background and sweet little Elder Eyring was just grinning like he always does from ear to ear. It was hilarious. During the prayer he mentioned two phrases that made an impression on me. He said we must continue to move forward, continual progression. Then he said, "I pray that we may have the spirituality we need to accomplish our Father's purposes here on the earth." It was beautiful. President Oaks spoke about how the Philippines couldn't qualify for another temple in the past because there weren't enough members paying their tithing, and if you're not paying your tithing, you can't have a recommend and the Lord doesn't allow temples to be build so stand empty. He was so excited to be there and to see the progression of the saints. He said that 6 years ago when they were over the area there were 960 missionaries from the Philippines that were currently serving full time missions, but now there were over 1650! That's huge!!! In 6 years! That's a huge increase! He said it's just a measure of the growth of the saints in their dedication to the gospel. The dedication was amazing. It was silent in the room. The spirit was so strong. Just as strong as if I was in the temple, and it was a true answer to prayer.
So tomorrow we have our Zone Conference. It's special because instead of just our Zone and another zone meeting we are having all the zones on Negros Occidental area meet in one chapel since its our last Zone Conference before the mission splits. President loves music and loves good choirs, so he asked if Elder Potter would arrange for a choir to sing. Well, Elder Potter asked me to conduct the choir or play the piano, I could choose. I love playing the piano..but man I jumped at the chance to lead a choir. President said 16 missionaries at the least in the choir. We have about 45 missionaries that are singing and I was nervous. Usually when we try to sing a piece it's ok...but it's like when you sing with the youth in church... it's good, but they just don't have the power as..well...motab! haha...or...a BYU choir...or just a solid and talented ward choir! We only had 3 practices too and they only last 1 hour each. We don't have any arrangements here, its all just the hymnbook..but I wanted something special. Elder Potter wanted us to sing "If You could high to Kolob". Which...at first I wasn't wild about because if you can't sing harmony...it just is kinda bland..and the harmony isn't easy. BUT MY GOODNESS!!!! The blessings of the Lord are remarkable. Yesterday was our last practice and at the beginning of the practice, it was still just words they were singing, there was no feeling, so I did some exercises with them, and I'm sure they all think I'm insane now as I pulled out the rag doll and the hula hoop and the egg in the mouth and the "hold in the orange at your navel" analogies...but it worked. It was up to the last time we were going to run through it, it was getting late..people were getting restless and we still had to travel to our areas, and I thought, they can do this, I immediately remembered the stake conference where Patti Raines had us fast and pray that the angels would sing with us in the choir, that is an experience I will never forget. So I said a little silent prayer in my heart and said, "Alright, lets do this one more time. Remember what the words are saying. This is Kolob we're singing about." I expounded more about it and bore a little testimony and then we started to sing it. We have an all elders octet that sings the first first..it's beautiful..then the choir comes in on the 2nd verse and 3rd verse it's all unity just strong and powerful. Well they started singing, and by the 3rd verse I had chills and I could feel their testimonies through their words, I started to tear up. At the end of the song everyone was absolutely silent, the spirit was strong, I thanked them and we ended the practice. People just lingered there for awhile talking. Usually everyone takes off quickly. Then Elder Potter brought in another music piece, "This is the Christ" and he wanted him and I to sing it as a duet, so we practiced it. He has a beautiful voice and our voices blend perfectly. So people were just sitting and listening to us practice. After I had quite a few missionaries come and ask me if I felt something during the last time we sang it. Then they said, "the spirit was so strong. I almost cried." AH! I love music! I just hope and pray we can have that same power tomorrow as we sing it for conference. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. Directing the choir is like pure joy to me!!!!!! Good grief it's a blast!
Ok, as for other news, pray for Analyn, Emilyn, Rocky, and Dindin because their father doesn't want them to continue in the lessons. They all want to be baptized though. They are all adults, but they of course want the approval of their parents. They said, "sisters, its been really hard. he argues every time you leave, but we know its true. and we want to continue." So just keep them in your prayers.
Oh...Flores and I were reunited for a 24 hour companion exchange so she could teach me the discussions in sign language. Good grief..I was exhausted by the end of the day. Rowena wants the come to church though. She is way excited! I'm excited to see how that goes. She is so sweet and I love signing to her!
As for transfers, I'm not sure. President said "Sister Stadler, you'll be a senior this transfer" and I said, "senior only?" And he said, "Well, it would be really fast if we had you train." So I was relieved! THEN....the Zone leaders keep saying that Elder Potter keeps asking them if they think I'm ready to train and he's asked him about 5 times. So...haha...time will tell. We find out next Monday. We now have our district meeting on Pday which everyone is moaning about..but I think its a good idea. We waste a lot of time if its on other days. Ok, well, I love you all to death. This is eternally long and I need to take off. You're on my mind constantly. you're wonderful, the gospel is so true! just live it! Live it the best you can and you WILL BE HAPPY! It's a miracle...when we follow the principles we are happier than ever...even if we have a plethora of trials! (yes..I had to spell check plethora..hahaha). Stay strong, do what you know is right. Don't make excuses for yourself. I love you all, until next week, God Speed!!!

All my Love,
Sister Stadler

Dear family, thank you to Amanda and Mom for always emailing me so I always have something in my inbox. Many missionaries don't have people write each week. Talk about sad! Thank you to all of you who have been writing me letters too! Robyn, I got the pictures, they were so fun to see! Brittany, I got your letter too! As for questions about the mission split, we won't know until the day of transfer announcements which is on the 23rd, I think. I don't have my calender with me, but its the Tuesday before the 25th. SO...that should be right, the 23rd. I am 99% positive that I'll be staying here in Negros. My companion has been here for 3 transfers now, which they don't usually leave someone for more than 3 transfers in an area here. So I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in Victorias, becoming senior and maybe even training. President told me he wanted me to train last interview, then Elder Potter (one of the AP's) told me the same thing and said I needed to prepare, then he joked about it later in front of my batch mates the next week. Then my zone leaders all said the same thing. SO....not sure. We have interviews with President tomorrow, so we'll see what he says in the interview. haha. I was terrified to at the thought of becoming senior, Mom can vouch for that because of my phone call. haha. But now, I'm ready for it. Wherever the Lord wants me to serve, I know I can accomplish His work. I definitely still have a long way to go in Ilonggo, but the language is getting better and better every day. I have really been focusing on following the spirit and not going off of my own knowledge alone. This week I have experienced quite a few small tender mercies entwined with miracles when it comes to teaching in Ilonggo. I know without doubt that our Father in Heaven is ever mindful of our righteous desires and is more than willing to grant them IF we just believe in Him and press forward. So...Yeah..I'm thinking I'll stay on Negros, it's just logical. Plus President said he needs to keep the Filippinos and the Americans balanced in the two islands, and if I moved, well, there would be no American sisters here, ..haha..except Sister Ball. haha! It would defy logic for me to transfer. BUT....president is full of all kinds of surprises, and sometimes the Lord doesn't work through logic, so really.... I have no idea. haha! As for the girl I talked about int he last email that wanted to hear the gospel, (mom you asked about her). Her name is Analyn.(cute no?) and her sister in law is Emilyn (yes...I know...way cute too...Amanda and Paul and Holly...don't steal those names...take NoyNoy or Ryza first ok. thanks) She didn't come to church because she had a funeral of her neighbor, but she did send a text explaining why they wouldn't be at church, and that they will come next week. Which...they won't because we don't have church next week because of the temple dedication. ANYWAY....she's progressing which is great. She writes down questions she has, or words she doesn't understand. She's way good, problem is, she has a family and she's not married, same with Emilyn. Their boyfriends, which they call their husbands, are working far away too. But, we'll conquer that hurdle when it comes. They are both solid though. We have some way good investigators right now. Speaking of which, good grief...you never know what Heavenly Father has in store for you. So...we went to teach an elderly woman that we OYM'd once, Mila. We have never taught her before, but her husband just recently passed away and we're like..boom...plan of salvation...excited to teach and as my companion is asking her if we could teach a 10 minutes lesson I see out of the corner of my eye someone moving their arms like crazy. haha. So I turn and think to myself, I think she was just signing! So I signed to her, "do you know sign language?" And she started signing back! She's deaf! What are the chances! She's the granddaughter of Mila and so she got excited and came and sat in on the lesson. I translated all I could into sign language and then continued to teach in Ilonggo. She was WAY WAY WAY good at reading lips..in Ilonggo! I'm just in awe...her family forces her to use Ilonggo, which she is pretty good at, but she prefers to sign. Her son is deaf too. They are both incredibly shy though, and especially of me.. because..wait for it.. I HAVE WHITE SKIN! AH!!!! Curses! So we went back yesterday and Mila was super busy and leaving so I asked where Sister Rowena was and I saw she was hiding across the street, so I went over and started telling her we were gong to come back on Wednesday if that was ok. She said she was shy of me and I asked why and she said, "you're beautiful and I'm ugly." oh my heck! I wanted to grab the girl and shake her! She's a beautiful woman. I'm not just saying that because she's a child of God....she's really is beautiful! Anyway...so I said she was beautiful and we would be back on Wednesday, after which she invited us to her birthday party on Tuesday night. SO...if we have time we'll say hi, teach a short lesson hopefully and get a return appointment. WHO KNEW I would be signing to a woman in Victorias! I am so glad I took 1 semester in signing at BYU before I came out here and I fully intend on continuing to study it once I get back. Anyway...tender mercy. I'm meeting up with Sister Flores today to have my practice teaching the first lesson to her and part of the 2nd lesson too hopefully in sign language. I'm excited. Real quick..one cool experience from following the spirit. So we were teaching Renell and his brother Jezrel and their friend Lyka, who are all solid investigators. They have been praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith is a true prophet. They say they feel good about it, but they just can't say they feel it's a true answer from God yet. So we've been trying to resolve that concern. We talked about sincere prayer and how to pray and to be alone and wait after prayer... everything, they prayed again, same thing. I love my sweet companion, but she seems to be stuck in her set way of wrapping up lessons. She doesn't personalize it and when an investigator expresses a concern she listens and then says something like, "uh huh....well we know all the things we have taught are true. So will you pray about it? Okay...who wants to pray?" AH! I'm like.. WHAT?!?!?!? They are reaching out for help here! So I had been looking, while she was teaching, for a scripture to share...and the normal scriptures about prayer just didn't seem to feel right. Then I remembered, Ashley...stop preparing! Pray for your companion and for your investigators to feel the spirit and trust that the Lord will lead you through the spirit and give you what you need to say! So I closed my Book of Mormon and did just that. She finished and turned to me to ask if I had anything to add, and it came to me...at that very moment. So I gave an example to them about how the Spirit has its own language. If we're not in tune with his language, then even if he is trying to communicate to us, we won't understand what he's trying to say. I then had the thought to just start speaking in English to them about something completely unrelated so make a point. So I started to speak about the speed I would if I were at a slumber part with Brittany and Ariel and just started going off about shopping and how I needed to do laundry and how I really needed a new black skirt....just random stuff and they all just stared at me with these blank stares, including my companion. hahaha! So I stopped mid sentance and said, "Did you understand that?" And Jezrel, the 22 year old just started laughing and said, "Sis, please speak in Ilonggo again." Then everyone started laughing, it lightened the mood, but it clicked for them! I shared a scripture in Helaman about how the spirit has a still, small way of communicating. Not a way of thunder and lightning, but in whispers. Then I had the thought, ask them how long their prayers are. So I said, now here's another question, how long are our prayers? If I were to walk up to Sister Cortes because I had a question for her, then I asked my question, but I took off before I allowed her to give an answer, would that be effective? They smiled again..knowing exactly where I was going with it. Of course it's not effective! You have to give time for an answer...wait for an answer. A 10 second prayer isn't going to get you very far. It was just beautiful the way it played out. AND...brother Renell came to church on Sunday for the first time and asked if he was allowed to join us for the cultural broascast celebrating the dedication of the temple, the night before the temple dedication! YES!!!!! I'm just excited. The Lord truly does fill our mouths with His words in a way we wouldn't think of ourselves. Heavenly Father loves His children so much, and knows us each as individuals. I love you all! The gospel is true! Don't give up, don't slow up, don't let down....Press Forward always! You're in my prayers! Be good, share the gospel, and until next time, God Speed!
All my love,
Sister Stadler