Transfer WEEK!!!

Well, as you can see from the title of this email...this week was transfer week. It has been a long six weeks here in the mission field. My trainer has been through a lot with me. But, I guess president Monahan decided that I needed a new nanay because my trainer got transferred to Dagupan. So now my new trainer, my pagalawa nanay is sister Navarathna! She is great! I just love her. She is from Sri Lanka or however you spell it. I'm not sure. But, anyways, she is just so fun and outgoing and we get along so well and she's really not my new trainer and my old trainer didn't really get transferred we are still stuck together for another 6 weeks...yayyyy:/ haha. Anyways, not much has happened this week. It has been pretty slow. I was sick on Wednesday and Thursday...nothing big, so mom don't freak out;) haha I am ok now:) So yeah, it has just been a slow week. Nothing really exciting. Sister Alvarez got transferred which makes me sad because she was my little 26 year old buddy, we did a lot together haha. But, she is still in my zone she just got transferred to a different area within our zone. So, I still get to see her on Mondays and Tuesdays:) Friday we had exchanges with the STL's again and that was fun. I went with Sister Briones to her area and we taught her investigators there. She has this investigator who's last name is also Briones and we went and taught him. He is an interesting man because when we were teaching him we would ask him if he believes the BOM to be true and he said yes. Then, we asked if he believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and he said yes, and we asked him why. And he said because he testifies of God. And so we asked if he believes that Jehovah's Witnesses are true and he said yes and we said what about Catholics and he said yes. And so we were at that appointment for 2 hrs talking to him. But, for a good hour of that time our member present talked to him. It was such a good lesson, we committed him to read the BOM and pray to know if it is true and if the things we taught him are true. He finally realized that there is only one true faith. So we will see how that goes haha. Well, thats it for this week, sorry it is so boring:( I will try to make next week more interesting haha! Have a great week everybody! Love you!:) -Sister Ramsey

Oh boy...long week!

Kumusta lahat! Oh man this week has been soooo long. Tuesday my companion and I had exchanges with the STL's and that was nice because honestly...things are getting a little hard in my companionship. Having a native for a companion is never easy I heard. But anyways, so I went with Sister Merrill to her area and that was really fun because a lot of the people we ran into spoke super good English because they have had jobs of some sort where they were required to speak English. We also had the opportunity to visit with a man who lived in California for 25 years but moved back to the Philippines because quote "There is no place like home". It was so nice talking to someone who spoke English because learning Tagalog is difficult and finding someone who understands English that well is a blessing haha because its not very common. So that was a great day. We also met a family who's mom is in Baguio because she is undergoing chemotherapy because she has breast cancer. So sad:( I had the opportunity to offer a prayer with them for them and for their mom and we shared a brief overview about the plan of salvation. They really needed to hear that. I am not sure how things are going with them because thats not my area but I will ask the sisters if they went back or not yet. Another cool event for the week was Friday. The six of us sisters performed a community service activity here in Villasis during the Talong Festival (Eggplant Festival). It was soooo cool! The schools make their students perform a dance at the festival and they were so amazing. I have pictures but I cant send them this week...I forgot my cord to my camera. Oops:) I will next week though! Anyways, our service activity consisted of us giving out free filtered water to people who needed it. We also gave out free Ang Ebanghelyo ni Jesu Cristo (Gospel of Jesus Christ) pamphlets. It was so cool. And it was really spiritual because we let the spirit guide us to who needed a pamphlet because we didn't have a bunch of pamphlets and there were a bunch of people. So, we had to pick and choose. And I really think that we allowed the spirit work through us and direct us to the people who were prepared by God to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really good experience. As for today, we had zone studies this morning and we watched the best 2 years. Boy do I love that movie Thank you mom for making me watch it before. It really is a great movie. And it is so much more different watching it while being on a mission haha. Things are just different. I love it out here. I am so blessed to be a missionary for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that the work I do is true and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the one true church on the face of the Earth and that through the Prophet Joseph Smith it has been restored. I am so thankful for that 14 year old boy who knelt down in a grove of trees and offered his heart to his Heavenly Father. Because of him I am here. I love you all and these things I leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!:) Talk to you later! -Sister Halley Ramsey

Wow...time flies!

Well, today marks one month of being in the field already. Holy cow does time fly! I can't believe it! My training will be done it 6 weeks...and I could be training somebody. That's a scary thought haha. This week has been pretty slow because we had curfew on Tuesday and Wednesday due to New Years. But, Tuesday was great! My companion and I were able to go to a FHE with a family who's daughters Birthday it was. She turned 11. The entire time I was thinking of Justin and how I hope he was having a great Birthday. After the FHE we had to go home because we had curfew at 6, pero, the sisters next door stayed the night in our apartment and we had a sleepover haha. We stayed up till midnight and watched the fireworks from our apartment. They were soooo pretty! And SOO loud haha. I felt like we were under attack again. And we watched Mormon messages. It was great!:) Then lets see, Thursday we taught a new investigator and we invited him to church and surprisingly he came. We were in complete shock because that NEVER happens here. They say they will come because they are so nice but they never do. So, it was so great that he came! We found 5 NI this week so we are really excited about them:) Today was a great day, we went to the zoo and we hiked up a big mountain. I don't have pictures of the mountain but I definitely have pictures of the snake! It was so cool! And there was an awesome Iguana that I named Enrique. And there are Koy fish here and they are soooo pretty! It was just a fun day. I will try to attach some pictures of today:) Well, that has been my not so busy week:) Love you all, talk to you later! Have a wonderful week:) -Sister Halley Jean Ramsey Picture 1: THE GIANT SNAKE! And Sister Alvarez and Gonzales Picture 2: Sister Lee, Alvarez and I with our "Just Look Up" faces:) Cute huh? Picture 3: Our zone :)