Hello family dearest! We are currently using email time to hurriedly send emails off and then go clean 2 houses and shop and get ourselves ready for our mission tour/conference tomorrow morning. To put this week into one word it would be EXHAUSTING. I have been worn to my limits and it has been interesting for sure. haha! To be honest the last few weeks have been blending all together so this might be some repeating but I hope not. So..here goes. We were told by the office elders that we have exactly one week to find a home and that it was our top priority. SO this entire week we spend packing stuff and spending our entire days looking for homes, including lunch time. Sister Christofferson and I had a total of 5 proselyting hours this week, ...hahahaha...that should give you a little hint as to how things were.

So right now we're sitting here, next to each other on the computers (oh yeah!! That's definitely okay now for each missionary to have a computer! We're pretty excited about that)...anyway...we're both just looking at each other and saying.."hm...what do we type about?" We actually ended up renting a home that we looked at awhile ago, but when we walked into it to look, it didn't have tile and the boarders were still there. The feeling in the home was kind of dark to be honest. The spirit definitely was not present. BUT...we went back to look at it again, and this time, the boarders were gone and as we walked in we felt good about it. Elder Nasis (our financial secretary) Elder Christopher (Our Supply Manager) Elder Stradling and Elder Gruninger (Our AP's) all helped us to move in on Saturday and Sunday evening. Usually we wouldn't move on Sunday, but we had a deadline and a few large things still had to be moved. AND...this Tuesday, tomorrow, we have the mission tour. Elder Teh will be touring La Carlota and visiting our apartments too, so our home needs to be ready for him.

Its to interesting to me how different the home feels now. We were able to dedicate it and the spirit is strong there. We just cleaned all the screens on the windows today and my goodness that made a huge difference. Now we just need curtains for some privacy. We have a sweet older woman who lives in a room attached to our home and she doesn't understand the concept of not entering our apartment. haha! This morning I was eating my cinnamon toast for breakfast and felt like someone was watching me. I turn around and BOOM! There is sweet little Delia's face on the window. hahahaha! I jumped. But we talked to her today and it should be okay now. She was just offering to help clean the apartment. Thank you for your prayers and your faith in us finding a home. We're happy to have moved and we'll miss the calamansi bush, haha, but we're happy in our home. Who knew one could find such joy in a small home and no carpet, no tile, just cement floors and one bathroom with 4 sisters. :) We're incredibly happy..and who wouldn't be? This week we get to Proselyte again!!!! I miss teaching!

These last few days we've had so many assignments from President that we haven't really felt much like missionaries. BUT...we are and alas..this week we will have wonderful experiences to share.
ALRIGHT...its the moment you've all been waiting for....Erwin Espinosa Joguilon was baptized on February 5th, 2011 at 5:30pm. I cannot even begin to express the joy I felt at his baptism. Brother Paolo, a branch missionary baptized him and did a pretty good job. haha..he was nervous and had to say the words about 8 times before he finally for it, then Brother Erwin's hand didn't go all the way under. So they had to do it 3 more times until Paolo said it right again, then he finally did it right!!! :) The spirit was strong. Sister Christofferson and I sang..it was pretty good. But the best part of it was when they invited Erwin to bear his testimony. I thought for a moment..."Oh no...we forgot to prepare him for this and explain about it.." But he stood up and walked to the front of the room, turned around, smiled...his eyes were shining.

If I could only let you see how he looked the first time we taught him. At the point we ha our first lesson with him he has already been taught by 2 different sets of elders, so I can't even imagine how he was the very first lesson with the elders. But here we was now, his whole countenance had changed and he was honestly glowing. He bore the most pure and sincere testimony I have ever heard in the Philippines. The spirit was so strong and I lost it. I know I have said this before, but I don't think I have ever felt that way before for anther investigator. We worked so hard with Erwin, we cried with him and his family, we laughed with them, we knelt with them in prayer in their humble home and we spend many hours on our knees praying in private, pleading with the Lord for help for him, for his eyes to be opened to His potential. Often I remind him that he is not the only one praying for his family, but that many of you are praying for him and asking about his progress as well. Whenever I mention that he gets a huge smile on his face. The elders who taught him before always ask about him and occasionally I would get a note through our mail here from one of them saying. "Sister Stadler...Baptize Erwin!" hahaha! Well, he is now the newest and one of the cleanest members in the church. I could not be happier.

As for a humorous moment this week...at our new home we have a dog, Sonny, of the woman who lives next to us, Sister Delia. Well we can't let him out of the fence...she's very picky about that. Well on Sunday morning, after having spent most of the night moving with the elders and being completely a totally drained, the dog got out. So we were just gonna let him go because we were going to be late for church if we didn't leave immediately. Sister Christofferson was a little worried..she's a huge dog lover...you all know how I feel about dogs. hahahahaha! So I looked at her face and knew she wouldn't be able to focus at church if she didn't get that dog inside. So I handed her my stuff and took off running after the dog. (SIDE NOTE.....I have been jogging in the mornings with Sister Elwood, another sister in the house. I wanted to shoot myself the first morning. BUT..now it's pretty enjoyable.) SO I take off running after this dog. Well my plan was to just run and pick him up. He's way nice, but as soon as I got to him he started growling...In my mind I pictured me in the hospital on the sabbath with a chomped hand...so I didn't pick him up, but the other sisters came around the corner and it just clicked. We ended up all running back, herding him like a sheep back to the house. hahahaha! It was way funny! But it worked. Then....this is the best part, this morning we look outside and Sonny is definitely just laying outside of the gate...and Sister Delia is totally okay with it. hahahahaha! So....good thing we got a huge work out. Fun fun!

Well I hope everything is going well for all of you. I'm excited to let you know what types of experiences we'll have this next week. I have great hopes for this week. You are all in my prayers. I love you all tons! I need to run and get the houses clean. Share the gospel! The church is true! Until next week, God Speed!
All my mushy gooshy love,
Sister Stadler