Heeeeeelllloooooooo maganda mga tao!!

     Hope you are all having the most wonderful week!!! Thank you so much for your letters, love, support and prayers! They make my day! I know that I am being strengthened and it's the coolest feeling to be prayed for. I know the Lord is blessing me. It has been such a beautiful and teaching(?) week! haha anyway, I have learned a ton. 

       Our district is crazy! And great. There are 7 of us, 4 elders and 3 sisters. Events of this week include an elder breaking a desk, me getting called Aunt Jemima because of a headband, threats of being shaved to those who offend a sister who shaved llamas in her past life, and lots of laughter. 

We found out that brother in Tagalog is "Kapatid", and the first time we heard a teacher say it, some of our elders thought they said "Cup of Tea", so we now call our teacher Cup of Tea Smith... hahaha

         This week language-wise we learned more conjugations of verbs. I will share a couple just for fun. I really like makapag verbs, which are abilitative verbs:

           Makapagdasal- to be able to pray

           Nakapagdasal- was able to pray

           Nakakapagdasal- is able to pray

           Makakapagdasal- will be able to pray

              Fun fun! Also I forgot to talk about this.. if you put "ba" in your sentence, it automatically makes it a question. Like "Nakapagdasal po kayo." means You were able to pray. and "Nakapagdasal po ba kayo? means were you able to pray. I really enjoy Tagalog. We have been trying to work as hard as we can and we have had a non-English day. It is so fun and I know the Lord is blessing me to learn so quickly.

           Our investigators are doing good, and I am learning so much from them. Marlyn finally prayed! .Also, Daunte is doing well, we were able to teach him about how the gospel can bless and strengthen his family, that they can be more united and have less quarreling. I am starting to enjoy teaching. We learned a very valuable lesson from teaching Brother Estrada, someone who has stopped coming to church because of work. We were trying so hard to get him to come back, to pray and to read, that we didn't make time to show him that we loved him.

        Elder Holland gave the best talk that we watched part of, about understanding the person we are teaching, and not expecting them to jump up to your level, but to take them by the hand and lead them to Jesus Christ, to be patient with them and to love them. It's about teaching PEOPLE not lessons.

 I love teaching, and I love studying the gospel so long every day. It is so refreshing, and I have really received messages from the Lord on how to help those we teach, my companions and others. This work is SO real, and so mahalaga! (Important!) And not only does God want those who don't know about the truth to learn it, but He wants us to come to Him as well. The next time you read in the scriptures, ask yourself this question about the verse or chapter.. "What does Heavenly Father want me to know, feel and do based on these verses?" And don't just ask that, write the answers, pray about it and ponder. I love that question. 

           We had a very special devotional sa MTC last Tuesday! Elder Carlos A Godoy of the 70, (the one who is from Brazil), and his wife spoke to us. It was so powerful!  Elder Godoy was hilarious and used some amazing examples. We love him! 

             I am so grateful to be here in the MTC. It is such a blessing and I am appreciating it more everyday. I only have 18 days left!! I will sad but excited to leave. I love my companions and roomates and I am learning a bunch from them.

                   I love this gospel and all of you! Have the best week ever and read the BOM everyday! It is THE bestest book ever!!!

                 Much mahal!!!!

                             Sister Andelin

Kamusta pamilya at kaibigan ko?!!?
 How was all of your week? Those of you who wrote, thank you so much! If you haven't written me and you aren't an immediate member of my family, I don't have your emails. So send me a short email so I send you letters. (rachel.andelin@myldsmail.net)

     This week flew by! It was a fantastic week of glorious learning! We are now teaching 3 investigators: Marlyn, Daunte and a less active father, Brother Estrada. I love teaching. It is scary, and difficult to plan lessons, because you can't just make a script and read it, you have to teach from your heart. You have to be flexible if the person has a need or question that you didn't know about. There was one lesson that I was quite worried about, Marlyn's second lesson, because the first lesson, we found out that she didn't think God loved her, she had such a difficult life, her father has bad health, and she was just so sad. I prayed so hard and the Spirit just put thoughts in my mind and scriptures to share and she really was touched. I absolutely can't wait to teach REAL people and see the gospel and the love of Christ change their lives! It is a beautiful thing. My favorite thing to talk about is God's love and the Atonement (Pagbabayad-Sala) ni Jesucristo. It is so interesting to think about what difficult lives these people have, and so exciting to think that I can help be the messenger of the "good news": that Christ has truly felt all of their pains and sorrows and will lift them and help them and lift their burdens if they turn them to Him. I have felt that SO much in my life, not just on my mission. I know that the power of the Atonement is real, and that Jesus Christ loves us ALWAYS and will not forget about us. If you ever question the Saviors love for you, or just aren't sure if He knows you, read Isaiah 49:14-16. Love this scripture!!! And there are many more, make a study of it! ;) 

     My companions and I are doing well! I am coming to see so many different sides of them and learning so much about myself. I thought it would be easy, coming from a big family, but it hasn't. I am so grateful though, because in this way I will lean on the Lord more and grow rather than stay on sameness levels.

         As for language this week, we have been working on conjugating Um verbs, I verbs and IN verbs. It is interesting to see how Filipino's minds work! In ever sentence, they have to either put a focus on the actor or the object or the location. They can't just say: Jenny read a book in her room. They say JENNY read a book in her room, or Jenny read THE BOOK in her room or Jenny read a book IN HER ROOM!! or more correctly formatted, Read Jenny the book in her room haha. It is cool and gives you a choice on what you want to emphasize when teaching the lessons. We had some absolutely INCREDIBLE devotionals this week! On Sunday for Relief Society, Sharon Eubanks, the Director of Humanitarian Services came and spoke about identity and who we really are as women, as well as gospel laws. It was something I really needed to hear, and it lifted my spirits SO MUCH! P.S. I will be singing One Voice in Relief society tomorrow in front of all the Sister missionaries here! Woo! Also, the Missionary Dept Media director spoke to us about social media and the incredible reach it has in spreading the gospel throughout the world. IN just one day, because of the #becausehelives movement, there were 44,976 new visitors to mormon.org, 896 people who hit the chat button, and 323 referrals! It makes me think of Moses 7:62 :) And then Elder Larry R Lawrence of the 70 came and spoke about Satan's tactics that he uses on us, that we need to know the enemy's plan and fight against it. We often forget that we are in a battle every day, a battle between good and evil. Prayer is one of our most powerful defences! Never neglect it! He said Satan uses Direct temptation, counterfeits, contention and discouragement. He also said "If our spiritual eyes were opened, we would see that we are never alone" that the righteous have greater forces than Satan. We can get help from those living and those who have passed. I truly believe this. 

      I know this gospel is true. I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who will and does help us. I would like to challenge of you to pray, pray often, pray sincerely and then listen. No matter who you are or where you are in your life, you always need to pray. If you don't know what to pray for, pray to know what to pray for! Prayer is incredible. I am awed by the fact that we can communicate with our Creator, who knows all things. Sometimes its hard to recognize His answers, but as we read the Book of Mormon and the words of prophets, we will receive personalized messages. We are SO BLESSED! I love you all, and I am praying for you! I am so grateful to be a missionary and so excited to go to the Philippines in 3 and half weeks! There's nothing as worthwhile and wonderful that I could be doing.

            Mahal kita sobrang maraming!!!!!!

                                  Sister Andelin

Rachel's Letter 10/11/14

Dearest pamilya at mga kaibigan ko,

How are you allllllll??!!? I hope all of you had a wonderful week in all the various activities you are doing. How's the weather there? Is it cooling down? How is school going for the kids?
Here sa MTC, weeks and days are packed! I am finally getting into the schedule mode of things. Learning tagalog has been so wonderful! It is a beautiful language and the Lord is blessing me so much to understand others and remember the things I have learned! Some of my favorite words... Masaya- it means happy! And I think of how the Messiah makes us happy every time I say it! Also Tagapagligtas- it means Savior. It literally translates as Taga-title Pag-of Ligtas-saving, title of saving. Also the Atonement, Pagbabayad-Sala, literally translates as payment of Sins. There are so many beautiful lessons learned from other languages.

It has been very humbling to teach other people in Tagalog! You have to really rely on the Spirit and on bearing your testimony, and very simple messages. And as you do, the Spirit can teach the person. For that reason I am grateful that I haven't been assigned to teach in English, it would be easier to rely on your own abilities. Every lesson we taught Angelo, I would be desperately praying for help! Haha and after three lessons, Angelo, aka Brother Williamson, came into our classroom and became our teacher. It is very odd to be taught by your investigator, I have to say.

I love our zone!! For anyone who doesn't know, our zone is a bigger group of missionaries, ours is all Tagalog assigned missionaries. We have the kindest Elders, they take our trays every meal, and we have the best volleyball games! It is so fun to communicate sa Tagalog with everyone, I am laughing every day. Not only is the MTC a place of learning and of feeling the Spirit, it is also a place to laugh and love and serve others. I absolutely love the other 3 sisters in our zone also, I'm sending a letter about them more.

My personal hour of study and companion study has become so rich! It is so incredible to learn from the other sisters and to be humbled by their opinions and views. I am actually senior companion, just because my last name was first in the Alphabet haha, but it has been so good for me to learn to listen and not just try to do things my own way. I have learned this week that the Savior is our perfect role model for everything, that if we just do the things he would do, and focus on others rather than ourselves, we will feel true joy and purpose in our lives. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true, and I am so grateful to be led by living prophets and apostles! I don't think we realize what an incredible blessing that is. I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves us so much, that he can help us if we are humble and turn to him in every thought in prayer. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us more than we can comprehend! I love you all!!!!!!!

Mahal kita!!!
Sister Andelin

P.S. If you want to send me a letter, set up a Dear Elder account, and I'll have more time to read them! Ask Jezebel if you have questions hahahaha