Hello Family!! This week has been great! People are on vacation (no school and some no work) so we've been able to teach a lot this week! We even worked on Christmas! While the ward was having their Christmas party at the church we went out in the rain and found some members that were too shy to go to the party and taught them and then brought them to the church and then went around wishing a lot of people Merry Christmas. haha It wasn't ideal but President really pushes us to work no matter what- even Christmas :)
I wish I had miracle stories to share from this Christmas but it was a pretty normal week this week!!
If your interested to know how the people here celebrate Christmas it's ALL ABOUT FOOD! Pork is a luxury, lots and lots and lots of chickens are killed and cooked up and they make this ridiculously yummy (and so bad for you) "fruit" salad. haha it's my absolute favorite! So the people cook all day Christmas Eve until midnight Christmas Eve and then right at midnight it's feast time! No one sleeps. They call it "noche buena". Then Christmas is all about party, family, food, kareoke, and allllooootttt of drinking. We were given a roasted chicken from the relief society president in the ward and I feel like it's Thanksgiving eating it plain out of the fridge the last couple of days. YUM! That's been a tender mercy for me :)
Oh! I guess I can inform everyone that I was able to skype my family on Christmas and it was such a special experience for me!!! My brothers are ginormous I wanted to die when I saw them.. and it was very special to say goodbye to GwenElise who will leave in a couple of week on her mission! The next time we will be able to skype is Christmas 2015! I am so extremely excited for her to experience being a full-time missionary and that she will serve in New Zealand! But of course I will miss her so so much!! Love ya GwenElise!! It was so great to talk to my family and answer some of their questions like what "a normal day" as a missionary is like, to share with them a letter from one of my recent converts, to tell them about the amazing people here from Cabanbanan, and to pray with them in Hiligaynon. I was so touched and overwhelmed with love and gratitude as a was praying I was trying to keep myself together but couldn't keep myself from crying. I was worried that because I was crying they wouldn't be able to understand what I was praying for but then they reminded me that they couldn't understand me anyways- they only caught the word "missionary". haha But I am seriously so blessed with such a supportive family. I felt overwhelmed with love as I was skyping them! Hence the waterfall tears. haha Mother's Day again :)
So our Christmas Baptism was great!!! (with a lot of bloopers that I think I will just wait until I get home to tell you about. just remind me :) haha)
So Brother JollyBen (yes that's his real name) is 20 years old and is on fire! He's so talkative it's so awesome. He LOVES coming to church. And he can't really read (he only went to school until 3rd grade) but his testimony is so strong! He's been taught by missionaries for about 4 months now. He is the oldest in his family and all of them have stopped going to school after about 3rd grade because they live so far away from schools and really struggle financially. Brother JollyBen is such a hard worker and for years now has helped support his family and younger siblings. He's such a rock!
Brother Sanny and Brother Charly are brothers! Their mom was the first convert from Cabanbanan. They are cousins to Brother JollyBen. Brother Sanny (26) and Brother Charly (18) have come a really really long way struggling with word of wisdom (cigarettes) but the long wait and struggle has been well worth it! They are both working also in the rice fields to support their family and make huge sacrifices to come to church on Sunday. Brother Charly also has a huge group of friends that we are also working with trying to teach step-by-step but I really think that Brother Charly is the beginning of a long chain of converts from Cabanbanan! Brother Sanny wants to serve a mission but he is over the age limit.. he will be a great leader!
Sister Angelica is the niece of Brother Sanny and Brother Charly. She is actually legally adopted by her grandparents though. She is 9 years old and hasn't had very much schooling. We're trying to teach her how to read. She has many friends at church and loves primary!!
So I feel like I've literally squeezed my brain right now and have told you all that I can think of to tell you all :) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! Mom and dad don't worry about us this New Year, we have to be home by 6pm on the 31st and 1st because it's a "zombie town" of drunks here and President is worried about "flying stray bullets". Sounds like I'll finally be able to get caught up on my journal this week with the "free time" at home this New Years! Stay safe everyone!! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!
Sister Judd
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