I LOVE the Philippines

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOM EVER! I hope you had a great birthday! :) Wow! This week was amazing! We saw so many miracles. So there is a boy here named Anthony. He is 16. His mom is catholic his brother is baptist his dad is Mormon and he had no idea what religion to choose. Sister Foote has been teaching him for 5 months since she got here. He comes to church every single week he just wont make any commitments. Last week i committed him to be baptized. He said he would think about it. On monday we were in the middle of the lesson and out of no where he said "Sisters when can i be baptized?" We were sooo happy!!! He is going to be baptized this Saturday. We asked what made him decide and he said he read the Book of Mormon and knew it was true and that he needed to be baptized! We are so happy for him. Also last Sunday we were on the tricycle on our way home from church and we asked the driver jokingly if he went to church. he said no and we invited him to come to our church if he wanted. He was really interested. He wanted us to come teach him. His name is Mark. We went to his house and his brother Airoll and Airolls wife Cherel were there and wanted to hear the lesson. We taught about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. It was a great lesson. We gave them all their own book and they said they wanted us to come back the next day haha so we did. When we went back they were so receptive! We taught lesson 1 and then his mom walked out of the bedroom holding a Book of Mormon and said "what time is Church?" We were so surprised! They are such an amazing family and just want to know everything about the gospel. Every Saturday we have a basketball clinic because basketball is super popular here. We invite investigators and members to come every week. This week Mark and Airoll invited all their friends. We had 12 new investigators at basketball which is like unheard of! it was so cool! We did a Chapel tour after so they could feel the Spirit in the Church. While we were in the room with the baptismal font we told them about the importance of baptism. We invited them to our baptism later that day so they could observe. Arioll didnt understand it was just to observe and he was like "I am so exited to be baptized! What time does it start? What do i need to bring? hahah Then he told all of his friends to come back at 3 so they could be baptized! We had to explain that the baptism wasnt for him..he had to come to church first and get the lessons before he could be baptized. Haha People here are so willing to hear the gospel. Im so grateful for that! A few days later we were trying to find a house but we couldnt find it. We walked past this house and there was like 7 people sitting outside talking. We walked past and at the same time me and Sister Foote had the impression to go back and talk to them so we did. We taught about how God loves all his children no matter where they are at. We told them that the reason we are here in the Philippines learning Hiligaynon is because the lord care about them and wants them to hear the gospel in their own tongue. They were also receptive and asked us to come back again. All together this week we found 19 new investigators. The Church is growing so much here its so great! I love being a part of it. We had another baptism on saturday. Her name is sister Mylene and she is so amazing! Im so greatful for this experience i have learned so much in such a short time. I have realized how important it is to bring Gods children back into the fold. The people here are so humble. As we sit in their little bamboo hut with a dirt floor and no chairs or tables i just think of how amazing it will be for them to enter into the Celestial kingdom one day! I want to be there to see them all with their families and loved ones forever! So some more random things about the Philippines: Everything they sell at the grocery store is in packages, not boxes or jars. Like mayo, laundry detergent and pasta sauce all comes in packages its so weird. There is no such thing as traffic laws here or traffic police. There are no lanes on the roads or anything so everyone just drives really fast and dries wherever they want its scary!! The money exchange is way different from U.S money. Every two weeks we get our money and its 2,600 pesos and that is like the equivalent of $85 dollars in america. its so crazy! Like to ride the tricycle its 10p so in america that would be .25 cents. They work for like nothing here its so sad! Well i hope everyone is doing good! I miss you all so much! It doesnt feel like Christmas because its like 100 degrees here but thats okay! I love it here! Have a good week everyone! Love Sister Leifson :)