IT'S GON' RAIN

What a fantastic week it has been here in Manila.  I've learned so much about the importance of diligence and working through hardships and I'm grateful for it.  I've become a sponge and tried to just soak up new information and ideas.  Also it's RAINY SEASON in the Philippines and I'm so happy!  I'm sleeping with a blanket every night :)  The only bad part is that when it's cold outside, the water that we use to shower gets even colder :(

We had our MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) on Thursday where we discussed a new vision for our mission and the necessary actions that we were going to take to fulfill that vision.  I learned a lot about the importance of realistic goal setting.  We also discussed the importance of matching the dignity of our callings as missionaries through our actions.  The thought of "are my actions accurately portraying the message of the gospel" should be filtering through our minds in every aspect of the work.  I had an amazing time and it was also nice to catch up with some of the missionaries that I haven't seen in quite some time now.  

We just got back from the temple and I had such a spiritually enlightening time there.  It's such a blessing to be able to visit the temple on a regular basis and I can truly testify with all of my heart that temples are indeed houses of God.  If you have not had the opportunity to visit or go through one, I would highly recommend that you take the appropriate steps in order to do so.  I have some sweet pictures to send but I think I'll wait until next week to fill you in on the awesome time we had earlier today. 

Pictures:

1- Elder Palmer and I hanging out during the lunch break at MLC

2- The legendary Sister Training Leaders in Puerto Princesa

3- We also had our ward conference on Saturday and Sunday.  This was taken after the meeting. 

4- We got rained in after the ward conference for a period of time.  The members were so bored while waiting that they actually started doing math problems...

5 & 6- Pictures after our ward conference on Sunday.  The Sister in the flower skirt in the front is Sister Cerbas who recently went home this last transfer and was previously assigned in this ward :)

I know that this church is true and there truly is no greater happiness than serving the Lord and living the principles of the gospel.  I love you guys, I will see you next week!