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