Cge, Family, sorry I'm writing today and not yesterday, but things have been a little bit crazy. So, first of all, big news....drum roll please...I'm stepping back down to junior this next transfer!!!! I'm so excited to give up all senior responsibilities! WOOHOOO!!!!! ok, really though, I just lied. I'm actually going to be training this transfer. So...next Friday I will officially be a "mommy" in the mission field. President must have huge trust and faith in me. I don't think it has even hit me yet that I'm actually training. We have a new curriculum that we're being taught in our mission that is brand new implemented in the MTC as well. I'm pretty excited about it. It's all the same info in Preach My Gospel, just a newer approach of our teaching. Basically, it's becoming more faith filled and more bold in our teaching skills. So we have a 4 day training for all of the Zone leaders, district leaders and trainers. SO...I'm in Galo for the 4 days, leaving my sweet companion, Sister Ball, with the new sister in the other ward in our area. (Can anyone else feel like President is making her step it up this next transfer???? Oh yeah...she'll be follow-up training! HAHA!) I'm way excited for her. That's not official doctrine yet, just a guess. Ok, so in this training, they call me up at the end of it and say, "Sister Stadler and Sister Canaya, President has requested that you two train us tomorrow with the new information. Here's a sheet for you about the new curriculum. Thank you. Please be early." WHAT?! haha! Let me tell you, the stretching never stops. Life is so good though. I could not be happier. Sister Ball and I went to a specialist today ...gastrointestinal...my visit turned out way better than Sister Balls...poor thing..had certain areas checked by the doctor. Lucky me, I was able to be there in the room with her. Our relationship has reached a new level and I can't wait to bond with her after the mission. haha! Alright, so, we had zone conference this last week and it was a spiritual feast, and today was the same. I am so excited to start implementing all of this in the field for the teaching. Sister Ball was sweet enough to loan me a Jody dress.....Yes..the infamous Jody. I heard way too much about Jody's while Sister Grant and Sister Fairweather were here. But my friends, I must repent, because as soon as that baby was on my body I thought I had died and went to heaven. Jody's are the way to go in the missionary field. So....I'm hoping Sister Ball's family sends her a ton of Jody's for her birthday, or now, because I tried to convince her to let me have one...and she gave me the death glare. Sayang! She said, and I quote, "I wear my Jody's as much as I can. I hate putting on a skirt and I do laundry just to make sure I have a Jody ready." Yeah....pretty sure I'm stuck with my skirts....unless one of you would like to send her a 9/10 sized Jody. Or me...Actually...I would prefer a 11/12 for some room to breathe in the bosoms. Alright....now that that is taken care of. :) So...other news, our investigators chose to use their agency this week to be ridiculous....I was quite frustrated. We had NONE....count it... ZERO at church that have a baptismal date. So, not much to add there, I will not give up hope, Heavenly Father is preparing people as I type this. :) As for my camera....yeah....it happened. It's officially broken and I have no idea how. But...don't go buying one. Paul, do you know of way cheap something I could get that doesn't have a wind up flash on the back of it? ;) hahaha! Cause..I know I'm gonna want pictures of the best years of my life, but right now I've got nothing. Alright, I don't have much else to add. I know this isn't the most spiritual letter. I appreciated all of your letters this week.
I'm losing weight, and happy about it. Mom, don't freak out...I'll still wear the same clothes when I get home, they'll just fit me a bit differently. That is where safetypins come in.
Alright, life is ridiculously good. Sister Ball is precious and I only get to cuddle with her for a few more days until they rip her from my grasp and stick me with a lovely little baby to train in the mission. No big problems, just the old classic Satan and his temptations, but nothing the gospel can't conquer! THE Gospel is true! I love you all so much! You're wonderful. I'll send photos next week. Until next week, GOD SPEED MY LITTLE FAMILY! Make me proud...

All my love,
Sister Stadler

P.S. Sister Ball burned all of her ex's letters and photos and everything. It was the best night ever, we cut our hair, burned away the boys, AND...wait for it....pierced my ears! Now..you may be wondering why I pierced them since I already had a piercing. Well, my piercing has always been WAY low and weird looking, so ...long story short, I remembered mom saying that Lola pierced her ears over her lunch break one day. And so....WE DID IT! It looks great! My right ear is still purple and little swollen and my left ear hole is huge because it connected to the original hole...it's more like a gage really...but BASTA! It's gonna all work out cause we prayed before we did it. Ok really though...it worked out beautifully. The other holes are almost completely healed already and I am so happy. I love you all!

And it came to pass in the days of Sister Stadler and Sister Ball, there was much rain in the land of the people of Victorias. In fact, it smells like rain right now, but here..its not that sweet smelling scent that you want to bottle and keep for those hot summer days to smell...does that make any sense? haha! it makes sense in my head. I love the rain though. This week we were coming back from an appointment and Sister Ball asked the trik driver about the fallen sugar cane and he explained it happened because it was raining like crazy and they don't have deep roots. There were tons of them that had just fallen over, it was ridiculous. He said all that cane was ruined and couldn't be used now. SO...I feel a little guilty now whenever I get really happy and it's raining way hard. It's fun for us, but not for all of them. :) Ok, well that was a random way to start my email for the week! This week has been really good. We both have been feeling better. We're not back to your full health yet, but we are doing much better and we were able to go out and work all days of the week, for at least a few hours. Our investigators are doing well. Emalyn never ceases to amaze me. I was watching her at church with her two beautiful little children and I started to tear up. They are adorable children, but not easy to take care off in sacrament meeting...especially when you're alone. She is determined to get baptized on August 14th. She was suppose to go today with her boyfriend, Recarido, to get their marriage license today so they should be able to get married this weekend. We haven't been able to talk to them today, but we hope it works out. As for Annalyn, I can feel her slipping through our fingers. It's killing me. I realize she has agency, and sometimes it's just not their time to accept the gospel, but she knows it's true! She testifies of it! This week we had a cool experience where we had HER teach to US about applying scripture. We had her read and teach from 1 Nephi 3 and she was adorable! She taught just the same as we do, had us read the scriptures, and then asked us some questions. Then afterward, I asked her how she felt when she was teaching, she got really quiet and then just touched her heart and said, "I feel so good sis." I explained it was the spirit and that the spirit testifies when we teach truth. She said she felt in her prayer like she was suppose to wait until the stumbling blocks were all gone before she got baptized...meaning her boyfriend's anti-mormon feelings because he's a baptist minister, and her parents disapproval....I explained to her that there will never be a time in her life where she won't have trials and Satan fighting against her, it's her decision. BUT...since she has the knowledge that the church is true, she is now accountable for it. She didn't come on Sunday. It is so hard to see people turn from the truth, but it's part of the work. I have faith that she will join, it may not be now or I may never know about it, but I have faith she will. Our other investigators are doing pretty well. We may have to drop Sister Rowena. She is so sweet and fun and she liked coming to church, but she isn't progressing. It's so hard to teach deaf people here because they aren't very educated. So, it takes forever for her to understand a concept. It's like...she has a 200 word vocabulary....even simple words like, "still" she doesn't understand. She doesn't quite get the concept of prayer not being a wrote prayer. It's just hard, but she is still very nice and kind. We're still trying to work with her family. We'll see how that goes.
The choir thing is going pretty well. Elder Potter had a good idea today and I had him go with it and take control and he did a great job. I hopefully will just sing with the choir this time. haha! Hey, Amanda, if there are any way good arrangements of hymns you would like to scan and email to me...like duets or something, that would make me way happy. Mom, I have an arrangement in an EFY book of "I know that my Redeemer lives" could you scan and email that to me too? Thanks...I need some other pieces here. SO....we have zone conference this Friday and we will have interviews with President then. I have heard from 3 different sources that President told them in their interviews "Sister Stadler will definitely be training this next transfer". AH!!!!!!!!! We will find out. There is only one American sister coming in and I am the oldest of the Americans left here in the mission. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? The language is coming and is constantly getting better. It's just a matter of learning and constantly using more words. It's so true, if you don't just throw yourself out there and look like a dork in front of everyone, you never learn the language. :) I am in love with my companion and can't wait for you all to meet her after the mission. You'll all adore her. This morning we both sang the "wake up" songs our mothers would sing to us to get us up for seminary. haha! It was quite amusing...and it definitely made us both a little homesick. I am starting to hear Christmas music already and it's freaking me out a bit. haha!
Life is way good, I don't have much else to add. I'm so jealous you all got to see each other these last few weeks. Hug each other for me. The gospel is so true. I am constantly amazed how much our Heavenly Father loves us. As I have been teaching this last week I have felt such strong love for those we have the blessing to share our message with. The love I feel I could never explain and I realize it is only a small portion of what He feels for each of us. Turn to Him. Spend a little longer on your knees this week. I've learned on the mission that aching knees aren't really a bad thing..haha...if the cause of it is kneeling on tile in prayer. I love you all and I pray for you daily. Don't give up. Stay strong, live the gospel, love others, reach out to others, be obedient and witness the miracles unfold in your lives. Christ lives! He's coming again, and soon! Until next week, GOD SPEED!

All my love,
Sister Stadler

P.S. I completely forgot to tell a story. We are teaching a family, Reponte family, and the father is incredibly receptive, but SOOO busy and the mother wants nothing to do with us. Well, the children are so sweet and kind. One girl, AnnaMarie is very sweet, about 13 years old, and she acts like it. We went to teach her on Saturday and her dad wasn't there. So we prayed the start the lesson and she just goes off about how hungry she is and how she would rather have us teach another day because she is so hungry. Well I just started to get ready to teach anyway and said it would be short, and then she keeps saying she hasn't had lunch. Then her father shows up. He explains that they didn't have money for lunch so he spent the morning walking around other areas in the city until he found a tree where he could get some jackfruit, a huge fruit here, off of it to feed his children. AnnaMarie immediately made some snappy comment about how he was gone forever and she was starving. Then, as this man apologized for being late and opened the fruit, prepared it for his family and then came and offered us a good portion of it...my heart just sank. I had never been so grateful for digestive problems. I apologized, thanked him for the offer and explained we were both sick. I am so moved by these people daily. Here is this man, working so hard to fulfill his duties for his family, to provide, and yet his children aren't even appreciative, constantly whining. Sister Ball said it reminded her of Nephi and his brothers when he broke his bow. I was thinking about it a few days later and thought it is the same with our Heavenly Father. How often does he provide us with beautiful blessings that fulfill our needs, and yet often it is not what we wanted, or expected, or it's not in our timing. We may find ourselves saying, like Anna Marie, "It's been forever! What took you so long?" Instead of being grateful and happy and enjoying the plenty. We have so much. I will never be the same from serving here. Sometimes I get so caught up in the work and how busy we are to look around and notice what is really going on around me. While riding home on the bus tonight I was watching the little homes goes by outside and my heart just sunk. I go home in a few months to a beautifully comfortable home and a family who loves me and needs me and to a place with clean water and air and the children are taken care of. Don't take things for granted. I love you all. Count your many blessings, name them one by one--count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Oh family of mine, how I love thee. This week has been pretty good. Before I forget, Thank you Brittany and Sister Lundin for your letters! It was such a blast to hear from you two. Brittany...You should publish that letter you sent me...it's a beast! HAHA! I was laughing so hard and my little heart got a wee it sad with each page I got closer to the end! haha! Also, I am so sorry to hear about Annie. I did have a moment of silence remembering her nestling into my neck while I house sat and having to throw her food in the air piece by piece so she would eat because she was so distraught that you all were gone. haha! I'm sure she'll be there to meet you after this life. Until then, she's probably having a blast playing with Stephydog in doggie heaven. :) Also, thank you Ariel for you emails every week! Your quotes you taught in relief society were exactly what I needed to hear. My goodness, I'm excited for those girls in your relief society group. As for you family....you know how I adore your letters! They keep me going through the weeks. :) That and the fact that the gospel is SOOOO TRUE!!! haha! Ok, to answer many of your questions, we had a follow up check up on Tuesday and he said ...ahem..I quote.." GOOD NEWS SISTER STADLER! You are low on potassium, so that could be the cause to your cramping in your digestive system. Drink more water." WHAT???????????? Since when was water high in potassium???? And I'm drinking water like crazy, so no worries mom. Then he told Sister Ball she had a UTI ..which we already knew, and he said she needed to drink more water too and the cramping was probably from the UTI. REALLY???? Cause the last time I checked, UTI's don't cause you to not be able to go poo poo for 7 DAYS! Ridiculous...But luckily she was finally able to go, and a lot, haha...but she hasn't gone since then. Basically, we have found, when we can just get out the door, the Lord blesses us with not experiencing sickish symptoms..(yes that was beautiful English, feel free to quote it). My point of the story, we are fine. We once in awhile still have crazy stomach cramping but it is sporadic these days. We calm it by giving each other digestive massage..haha...and lots of hugs and by praying. My symptoms are pretty much gone, it's Sister Ball's that are still there. But she says it is getting a bit better. Not sure though...she's a tough little woman. Note to Sister Ball's Mom: You raised an amazing daughter and everyone in the mission adores her, but I'm pretty sure no one could love her to the extent that I do. (except for you, of course) :) haha. No worries, I'm looking after her. Alright, let me see..This week we were able to go out for all but 2 days. We were pretty happy about that. Our investigators that were progressing haven't come to church the last 2 weeks though! Rowena is still coming, which we are happy about. But...The 3 with a baptismal date haven't even come and we had to reschedule the date. I'm so frustrated with AGENCY. haha! One of the boys went on vacation with his family for 2 weeks, but the other two women say it's a problem with plete, or money, for traveling to the church. So we have been working with them to save money throughout the week and exercising faith so they will have plete when Sunday comes around. Annalyn is still experiencing so many stumbling blocks with her family not being supportive of her and her boyfriend calls every day saying she can't get baptized, but she said she wants to, and her mind is made up. I don't know if I completely believe her yet. As for Emalyn, she and her husband are going on the 19th to get their marriage license. They haven't done anything since we taught the Law of Chastity and when I followed up and reassigned a baptismal date to August 14th she looked so upset! Then she said, "I WILL be baptized on that date." She has such a determination. She continues to cruise through the Book of Mormon. She is so cute! We are excited for them. As for miracles, let me tell you a little one. We haven't been able to meet our OYM goal that last 2 weeks because of lack of proselyting hours...and on Sunday we realized we still had 27 OYM's to get in one afternoon because we couldn't go out Saturday afternoon. Sister Ball looked at me and said, "REALLY? 27? No one is every in the streets in this area." But I said, "Let's just try! Pray and we'll see the miracles." AND...we did. I literally spoke to every person I saw on the way. We were walking to your 2nd to last appointment and we knew no one was near the last appointment to talk to...and I said, "Sister, how many OYM's do we still need?" She laughed and said, "14." Just then we turn the corner to meet a referral of our recent convert, Rocky, and I see a group of people gambling. hahaha! Now that may not seem like a blessing or miracle...but it was. Sister Ball said, "Sister, this is awkward." I however observed the situation, there was no alcohol, it was mainly women there playing cards and usually people will talk to you here no matter the situation. So I approached the table and observed for a moment, commented on the large amount of money on the table for bets and then started speaking to a woman who was just watching the game. It turned into an OYM of 10 people around the game...which we had a return appointment on Sunday with. THEN...Sister Ball says as we're leaving, "we still need 4 more" Right then I OYM'd an elderly woman walking towards us on the road and she invited us back the next week to teach and then while I was doing that Sister Ball walks up to these 3 adorable older women at a waiting bench a few steps down the street that we'll be contacting on Wednesday! We finished up the night with a new investigator and another appointment with Rowena. MAN!!!!!!!! If we would only open our eyes more often and notice how Heavenly Father and His angels are involved in our lives! We literally have people placed in our paths daily! I wonder who I missed out on sharing my testimony with when I was in high school, or even in college. I love it! As for other news, we're doing a choir again for this conference. That should be fun. Also...the title of this email....YES...I heard the first Christmas song on the radio today while shopping..and I saw my first Christmas lights. WHAT?!!!!!!!! Yeah...welcome to the Philippines! haha! I love it. I love this area, I love our investigators, I love the missionaries in our mission and I love the Bishop of our ward here. He is so supportive and loving. I just love life!!!! I adore my companion with all of my heart. Also...NOTE TO EVERYONE: We just sent off some letters today and they raised the postage here,,, from 26 pesos to 42 pesos for a normal light letter!!!!!!!! WHAT?! That's basically a dollar to send off a letter. SO....needless to say, letters will be sent sparingly. Sorry...we're way poor. But I love you all and pray for you often. The gospel is true. Ariel sent an amazing quote in her email and I will end with the quote! She quoted Gordon B. Hinckley. He was speaking on Mediocrity. "The distance between mediocrity and excellence can be ever so small. I speak of the need for a little more effort, a little more self-discipline, a little more consecrated effort in the direction of excellence in our lives. This is the great day of decision for each of us. For many it is the time of beginning something that will go on for as long as you live. I plead with you; don't be a scrub! Rise to the high ground of spiritual, mental and physical excellence. You can do it. You may not be a genius. You may be lacking in some skills. But so many of us can do better than we are doing. We are members of this great Church whose influence is now felt over the world. We are people with a present and with a future. Don't muff your opportunities. Be excellent." SO...Lets do it!!!! Lets all push ourselves this week and find something we can remove from our natural man handicap we all have. Those pesky little "favorite sins"...whether it be a trashy tv show or a favorite song, or thinking about past sins of others, or holding grudges or not studying our scriptures every day or not reading the revelation from God through our modern prophets in the new conference ensign! LETS JUST DO IT! I love you all, be strong, do what you know is right. I testify to you all that I know that God Lives. He is mindful of us. Jesus is the Christ, our Lord and Redeemer. He gave everything for us. Everyone minute of every day of His life was for us. I will forever be grateful for His eternal sacrifice. The Book of Mormon is true and God restored His beautifully flawless gospel through the true prophet, Joseph Smith. Until next week, GOD SPEED! :)
All my love,
Sister Stadler

Family,
I just want a hug right now. So this last week we were only able to go out and work for 2 days and for our meetings and correlations and church. Sister Ball has been very sick and is having severe cramping in her stomach, not to mention she's having intestinal issues. So then yesterday we went to Dr. Tan the mission doctor...and I honestly don't know how great of a doctor he is. He was pressing on her stomach and had me press on it too..he's way proper with missionaries which is good...but anyway..She was wincing in pain and he then says, "I've never seen anyone laugh when they are in pain.." WELL...maybe its because she is so ridiculously in pain from you poking her that she wants to cry..but she laughs instead..ah! So then he says, "It's probably just menstrual cramps." WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The weird thing is that her symptoms make no sense. She had all the same symptoms I did when I had the Amoeba. SPEAKING OF WHICH.....I DIDN'T HAVE AN AMOEBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah. So I was looking back through my last charts at the doctor's office and had him explain what the stool sample test meant and then he goes, it says here you didn't have a parasite. WHAT? So then I said, well then I read the results wrong to you over the phone and I took a ton of meds for nothing!!!! AND I STILL HAVE SYMPTOMS!!!!! What the heck is wrong with my body?? and now my beautiful little decrepit junior is suffering the same things and we no one knows what is wrong with us...BUT...it's not an amoeba..cause I had to poo in another cup and the test was clear. REALLY?!?!??!?!?! And I feel the whole time like no one believes us that we aren't feeling good. That we aren't normal and healthy...and I want to just scream.." HEAVENLY FATHER KNOWS!!!!! PRAY ABOUT IT!? We aren't healthy..." But instead...we feel exhausted and want to fall on our faces....but we don't. This week....we are working every single day regardless of the feelings inside of us. We have found that if we can just get OUT the door...Heavenly Father blesses us so much. Right now we're waiting for blood test results and ANOTHER doctor's appointment with Dr. quack. WHEN REALLY..all we way to do is go see our investigators and teach them about Christ and His remarkable Atoning sacrifice for each of the. However, I am constantly amazed with the concern our Heavenly Father has for our righteous desires. We experienced a beautiful tender mercy as we were in Dr. Tan's office. He turned to me and said, "Sister, could you two please talk to a girl we have in the office here. She has a problem." So I asked about what her problem was and he said, "She is pregnant and she wants to abort the baby. Will you just talk with her." For one second I looked at Sister Ball and almost said, "Are you kidding me? I don't know how to say anything about abortion in Ilonggo." But instead I said, "Dr. Tan we would love to do that for you." So he introduced us to her and said we could go into the other doctor's office and talk with her. So we did. We sat and asked her about her life, she complimented our Ilonggo skills...which made me laugh because I was thinking the whole time.."oh man..just you wait until I start speaking about your baby in a couple minutes and have no idea what I'm saying!" haha...But then...as usual I sat back and was amazed at what the spirit can do. I started asking her about her baby. She referred to her baby as her "problem" and my heart hurt a little every time she said it, So I said to her, "Sister, all children are a beautiful blessing from our Heavenly Father, and He loves each one of them so much. Your baby is not the problem, the problem was the choice you made which now caused you to have a child. Your baby is a beautiful blessing from God." I didn't know how she would respond to it, but I have made it a point to me bold in my teaching, boldness without over-bearance ...and it worked! She stopped and started referring to her child as her Baby - not her problem. I originally was just planning on handing her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and getting her info for other elders in the area, but instead I had the feeling, "You've been wanting to teach all week...so teach!" SO I did...we started with a prayer and the spirit was so strong. Here we are sitting in this minuscule doctor's office with a beautiful 21 year old woman who wants this baby, but her mother is forcing her to abort it...I have never felt such powerful love for someone I haven't known before in my entire life. I could not describe the feelings I felt for this girl. I shared personal experiences and how Robyn chose to keep Rachel and follow through with her pregnancy even though it was such a hard decision for her. There wasn't any pauses or breaks, the lesson was beautiful and just continued to flow. We shared about Nephi and how he was obedient to the commandments of God EVEN when his family was not. I testified that her baby wanted to come to earth and that he was a living, breathing, beautiful child of our loving Heavenly Father and that abortion is murder in the eyes of God. We sat there in the office, all in tears as we both testified of Heavenly Father's love for her. It really was a remarkable experience. I love this gospel. I will never be the same. I love my mission. I ADORE my mission and I adore my companion. I wouldn't trade her for the world. Pray for our energy level and I know the Lord will take care of us. Also...the crazy woman who throws rocks at me...YEAH....your prayers were answered! She moved?!?!?! We saw her in another part of town WAY far away from us. AND...as we walked past her the last day I was way worried and she just looked at us and said, "Maayong Udto." and looked away! WHAT? I was amazed! Then I read your email and it all made sense!!!! President was right...the prayers of righteous mothers are answered. I love you all so much. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!! I'm gonna be such a freak when I get back and make a fake little construction paper name tag and go around teaching in Ilonggo because I cannot remember for the life of me how to teach in English. haha! Anyway...the language is coming. I love life and most of all, I love my Savior. He lives! I know He does! I could never deny it! I know He will come again and the day is soon and approaching quickly. We must do all we can to prepare. TEACH THE GOSPEL! (even to those who know it...be the most amazing examples and get to the temple. man we crave the temple.) Until next week, GOD SPEED! :)
All my love,
Sister Stadler
P.S. Rocky's baptism was awesome!

Oh my dearest and sweetest family! Have I got a transfer announcement for you! So the week of transfers I totally sat down and tried to figure out who was staying in Negros and who would be going to Panay and where each junior was needed. We only had 3 options open for transferring juniors and my dear, sweet sister Ball was transferring. I thought, "Merciful Heavens, I would give anything to have that girl as my companion! But President would never put two Americans together who are 1 transfer apart." So here comes transfer day and my past zone leader grabs me and says, "you're going to be very happy!" So immediately I am thinking, oh man!! NO WAY!!! This would be way too good to be true! So I was looking at where luggage was, and I realized that I had a 50/50 chance of actually getting her as my companion. Let me preface this by saying we both requested this like 2 transfers ago and the AP's just laughed at us...because of course we said, "If it is the Lord's will to have us serve together, we would love to support the Lord in His will." Elder Potter always just chuckled and said that transfers will happen when they happen. So I also had a hint because I told the AP's about the crazy woman and asked what I was allowed to do IF something went down, and if there was a place I could buy pepper spray. haha! So one AP said to me, "Sister Stadler, do you feel it would be dangerous to have another American in the area?" OH MY GOSH! I about freaked! So then I thought, ah man....I blew my chance to have an American companion because I have 2 random crazy women attacking me in public! COME ON! So....anyway...Fast Forward to transfer day again. We are sitting and waiting for the announcement and my heart was pounding like crazy...it's so silly because I have learned whatever the transfers are, they are the will of the Lord and His will is ALWAYS better than ours...but I was still nervous. ah! So right before Elder Potter brings up the slide of our zone he gets a phone call...ah! you're killing me!! So then he puts up the slide and BOOM BABY!!! Sister Stadler and Sister Ball are officially companions for at least the next 6 weeks in Victorias 2nd ward! AHHH!!!!! We were freaking out...silently..and gave a large high five...which then Elder Potter cautioned us to behave...as he was laughing at our reaction! HOLY ANSWERS TO PRAYER! I would never wanted anyone else to be my first junior and I am already head over heels in love with this girl! We have the most spiritual experiences while having a total blast. The language is really our one huge barrier, but we are being forced to use it like we've never had to use it before! It has been wonderful for us. Keep praying like crazy for us and for the language. I have already witnessed beautiful blessings though on how the Lord will prepare people who are ready and excited to hear the gospel. We had a hilarious experience a few nights ago where we went out to get some load down the street for our cell phone. If you don't have "load" here then you can't text or call and sisters are suppose to have load at all times...Well...the other sister went to bed WAY early because they were sick and the new sister was just exhausted...she's from Wyoming by the way. So we now went from a 1:3 ratio to a 3:1 ratio American:Filipina. My goodness! So sister ball and I went out to get some load real fast and the door has a lock on the bottom that you can only lock in the inside. WELL....FUNNY STORY.....so we'd been companions for like 5 hours and then.. the door locked on us!!!!!! So we didn't get load because the little store was closed early and then we got locked out of our house! So then...we're like trying to break the door down, and throwing rocks at the window yelling the sister's names...it's still like 10. OH my goodness...but It was pouring rain and when it's raining in the house you can't hear a single thing because of the metal roof...and we have 2 stories in this home..its a mansion. SO....Sister Ball decides she can go through the window..which has iron bars and a screen with a little 8x11 sized hole to fit through..YEAH!....But I am her companion and so I supported her in her decision..So then she got stuck in the window with her head and shoulder there. Oh my goodness I was laughing SOOOO hard standing there holding the umbrella over her as it's pouring and she's stuck in the window in our front yard in the Philippines and I almost peed my pants! So THEN...I really had to go...and you all know that I am squatting challenged. Sister Ball gave me a pep talk on how to squat properly...so then I did so for the first time successfully in our back yard! And she did too!!! It was hilarious!!!! The greatest part is that our neighbors were watching us try to get into our home for like 45 minutes! Filipino people are the nosiest people in the world...and they can stare for FOREVER!!!!! They were so concerned for us. But we weren't in any danger cause we still have a huge gate that was locked and our house is incredibly safe. They were concerned because it was raining ad we didn't have blankets or anything. So we decided we needed to fake them out that we got into the house so they wouldn't be watching us sleep outside all night. So...Sister Ball slammed the screen door and I started pretending like I was speaking in Ilonggo to our roommates and the neighbors then asked, "Ari na sila??" "Are they there???" So...I said "Oo Sister! Salamat! Ari na Sila" (while pointing to their room ...so I wasn't technically lying!) hahahaha! So then we hid for like 10 minutes silently and IT TOTALLY WORKED!!!!! They went to bed and shut their light off. So...we have this broken trik in our front yard and it has a little cushioned seat that we used as a pillow and I had luckily just done all of my laundry...so it was all dry hanging up and I laid out my clean laundry on the concrete next to the front door and then we used other laundry to cover us. We had our umbrellas too so we opened them up and set them in front of us so no one could see that people were there if they walked by. It was ridiculous! I kept thinking..man...Elder Potter would kill me if he knew we were out here! haha! So we didn't sleep all night because the mosquitoes were ridiculous..hence the picture of my legs. hahaha! Here is the best part, the new sister totally heard us screaming their names, but it was her first night and she thought it as some crazy ward missionaries that just liked to throw rocks at the missionaries windows! HAHA! oh my goodness. So WHAT ARE THE CHANCES...the next morning Elder Potter calls us right when we get inside and the sisters heard us at 5:30 throwing rocks again....and he's like, "Sister Stadler, when will you two be going out today because we're dropping off new mattresses?" my response.."WELL...funny story..." him: "oh no...what happened?" And then I proceeded to tell him and he was laughing WAY too hard about it. hahahahaha! It really is one of those stories that needs to be told but REALLY????? That would happen to us! So..we are fine now. No worries and we had a lot of companion bonding time and a new appreciation for our super mattresses and wooden beds. :)
Now for updates of the family with the 4 people getting baptized. No, the father hasn't gone to church yet, but we are working on him. also, we will start teaching Emalyn's boyfriend on Wednesday. AH! Life is SOOOOOOO good! Rocky's baptism is this Saturday and I just remembered telling you all that in the last 8 months they had 1 baptism....and now I am witnessing how people are prepared and you just have to have faith and work with the Lord. Pray for Annalyn. She wants to be baptized so bad, and her boyfriend just talked to her and said IF she does get baptized that he will not be a part of her or her child's life anymore. She was sobbing telling me about it and I was too. Sister Ball was praying like crazy that I would be able to understand what all she as saying because the language is so difficult for us. And I did understand about 85% of what she said, which was a miracle! then Sister Ball told me later, "I was praying..Please! Heavenly Father, give my companion the words to comfort her, because I know I don't have the words." And the prayer worked. I don't even remember all that I said, but I did say, "Annalyn, I know without a doubt that when Heavenly Father gives us a commandment, he gives us a way to obey it and we will gain greater happiness than in any other way. We MUST be obedient Annalyn, but the decision is yours. Even if everyone you knew told you not to get baptized and that they would desert you, it is still a commandment from God. A God, who loves you, and knows you and wants your happiness! So when you feel upset or angry or discouraged, pray. Pray like you've never prayed before and we will pray for you too. Pray about being baptized again and give us your answer this next week." SO....she said to me, "Okay I will again. But I know the church is true Sister Stadler. I know I need to be baptized, but this is hard." AH!!!!! She is soooo strong! I love her! Our investigators are progressing and our Bishop adores us and is so patient and helpful! I love you all! The church is true! Live it! Live it like you're dying tomorrow! Share it with everyone!! You're all in my prayers! Until next week, God Speed!
All my heart,
Sister Stadler
P.S. I forgot the best part of our transfer story! So Elder Potter was talking to me about an investigator's baptismal record after announcements and he says to us, "Sisters! Do you know how long this transfer has been in the makings? It was killing me when you requested to be together because President has this planned for the last 2 transfers!!!!!" To which we said something like this.." WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???? That's amazing!" Then he said something that President said after they made the transfer decision about us that I will NEVER forget...: "The Lord answers the prayers of righteous mothers, and of FUTURE righteous mothers." Oh my goodness..my heart melted! I love President Tobias! He is amazing! That is all, we need to go buy fish and send off a couple letters and some cool looking red spiky fruit that I can't remember what it's called..and then we're gonna go study Ilonggo like it's going out of style!!!!!!!!
To all my lovely friends who I adore and have been quite good at writing so far....the letters are pretty much at a stand still.BECAUSE!!!! I am leaving all things behind and focusing on my studies like crazy. So, I still love you and I pray for you every night, and I will write each of you at least once before I come home. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! No really. Alright, well, we're gonna take off. love you all tons! Don't do stupid things...ha.
~Sister Stadler