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